The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-11 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.—Morning, 6h. 50m.—Afternoon, 7h. 24m.
To-MORROW. -Morning, Bh. sm.—Afternoon, Bh. 46m.

THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, OCTOBER 11, 1861.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
63—highest since noon yesterday.
67—lowest this morning and during the night.
66 —this:day at noon.
BAuomETER-29.52 ; a fall of nearly half an inch.
WI-ND—S.-Westerly—blowing fresh and squally. It
has been very stormy all night, with dirty weather ; now
fine, but cloudy.
TWENTY MINUTES PAST Two.—Storm of thunder,
lightning, and rain. Weather very sultry all the forenoon.

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THE SUN.

LONPOrq, FRIDAY, OCT. 11, 1881.

The annual banquet of the Mayor of the city of
Oxford is seldom inferior, as respects the after-
dinner part of the entertainment, to a banquet at
the more pretentious Mansion House of the City
of London. Indeed, though we heard much, re-
cen'tly, of the Lord Mayor's claim to re-election on
account of his festive hospitality, we do not re-
member that anything was said of his haVing con-
trived to secure the best speaking which the coun-
try could afford. The Mayor of Oxford had at
least two men of mark last Wednesday evening--
men whose opinions are always listened to with
attention ; unfortunately its ministerial member,
though he had hastily left Switzerland to be pre-
sent, was detained at home by sudden illness.
Sir W. P. WOOD seemed to regret that his ac-
cepting a judgeship had excluded him from the
line of politics. The recollection of days when he
had been a Parliamentary representative was evi-
dently grateful to him. Almost with a sigh he
raid to his audience—" The time has now passed
when I could take any active part in the struggles
of party. It is one of the regulations of judicial
life in this country, and it is not for me to cavil at
it, that only one judge, the Master of the Rolls,
shall be permitted to occupy a seat in Parliament.
At the same time my interest in the political
questions which spring up from day to day has not
ceased, and never can. On the whole I think the
opinions I entertained when I had the honour to
represent you have been confirmed by the events
which have since occurred." So quiet had his life been
for eight or nine years, that he seemed to wake up
as from an absence from the old city of as many
weeks rather than of years. And he glanced
back to the Russian war as quite a natural
topic. The results of both that contest and of
the Italian struggle he adverted to with pleasure.
Russia had been compelled to turn her attention
to domestic improvement and the emancipation
of her serfs, " which conferred so much honour
on the present EMPEROR ;" while in Italy, " a
great constitution had started into existence in a
country which has long been distinguished by
its love for fine arts, its genius, and its poetical
temperament, but which for many long years has
been kept down, and the aspirations of its people
crushed by foreign despotism. For more than 500
years—from.the time of the poet DANTE—there has
existed the most ardent desire on the part of the
people of Italy for liberty and independence,
which it is to be hoped will be attained by the
conversion of petty states and sovereignties into
one great kingdom. If, however, Italy is to
enjoy real independence, ani to become happy
and prosperous, its actions must be unfettered by
party squabbles and animosities, while at the
same time it must be left entirely free
from foreign intervention." Mr. HENLEY
also expressed strongly his satisfaction with
the prospects of Italy, and affirmed that
there was no Englishman, whatever his political
feelings may be, who would deny to any other
nation a participation in those blessings which
this happy country now enjoys. It is one of
those mercies which

"is twice blessed

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."
The American war could not be overlooked. A
speaker recently illustrated the " wisdom of Par-
liament" by its refusal to discuss the merits of the
great quarrel between our relations across the
water; but wisdom does not, it seems, forbid in-
dividual speakers, any more than editors, from
giving expression to their thoughts. Sir W, P.

WOOD'S sympathies were with the North, yet he
observed that " it must be a great public principle,
be it right or wrong, which can actuate so large a
body in the South in carrying on the struggle.
They must feel they have grievances which require
redress, and there must be some strong reason to
induce 180,n00 or 200,000 men to band thetmelves
together and make sacrifices, not only of life
and property, but of the future material ititerests
and prosperity of their country." It is cer-
tainly not very difficult now to determin3
what are the public principles which actuate both
sides. His view of the issue was this :—" It has
been said that Liberal institutions were on their
trial. Nothing of the kind. What is really on its
trial is whether an enormous eontinent like America
can be governed by ono government, and I cannot
conceive how Liberal institutions can be said to be
on their trial in any other respect. Each party is
willing to be governed by a central power. Instead
of one government you have now two, one in tbn
n arth and one in the south ; whether or not 'two
ought to be continued seems to be the real issrie."

France had her turn at Oxford ; Sir 11r. p.
WOOD contrasted our municipal self-government

with her centralisation, spoke with ,ride on our

having given an asylum to four French kings, and
yet having refused to deliver up:a political offender

accused of participation in an atrocious act :—" The

real question, however, was whether, if we handed
him over, we should not forfeit the reputation we
enjoyed of affording a refuge to all political offen-
ders_ What is it that WALLER tells us :

Whether this isle was by convulsion rent
Of the rude ocean, from the Continent,
Or so created, sure it was designed
To be a sacred refuge for mankirid.'

That passage was quoted by Earl RUSSELL in the
debate on the Conspiracy to Murder Bill, and as
long as that noble earl presides over the foreign
affairs of this country we may rest assured that
those are the principles he will still continue to
echo."

A graver question by far was what we may term
our military relations with France. All spoke of
them, as they were in duty bound, as being just now
" friendly," "peaceful," and so forth ; all such sen-
tences, however, are followed by the ominous little
word—" but"—introducing something of rather a
different cast. Sir W. P. WOOD tells us that " Our
relations with France I sincerely believe to be
friendly, but there never could have been a more gal-
lant, sensible, or rational answer given to the swag-
gering, bullying balderdash of the French colonels
than the state of preparation we are now in for any
emergency." Mr. LANGSTON, the member, spoke of
our peaceful relations with France, but " remarked
that the best means' of preserving a future amicable
understanding would be for both countries to agree
to a reduction of their warlike armaments." And Mr.
HENLEY cannot discuss the mattemvithout resort-
ing to the ever-recurring—" but"—"The consequence
of this national demand to arm is, that we have
heavy taxes to pay. I wish it could have been
otherwise, but I do not see how we could have avoided
taking the steps we have taken. We must not for-
get that we have a neighbour on the other side of the
water who might render himself extremely die-
agreeable. I have no reason to suppose that he
means anything but what is right ; but if he does
not mean what is right he certainly is in a position
to make himself very unpleasant. Our best course,
then, is to keep on terms of amity with him so long
as we can in honour do so, but at the same time to
be prepared for any emergency. We all know very
well that no man is ready to pull the gloves off and
attack another man for the mere pleasure of the
transaction, if he knows that his antagonist is not
only his equal in strength, but has just as good fists
as he has. If it were not for the suspicion we have
of our neighbour, and he has of us, I believe we
should always be the best friends, but as it is we are
each tempting the other to do that which he would
otherwise never dream of." Verily LOUIS NAPO-
LEON and his unwarrantably large army and navy
are become the "but" of every English speaker,as
they certainly are the real—butt—of our Riflemen.
Both Sir W. P. WooD and Mr. HENLEY had
also a little to say on the subject of Parliamentary
Reform ; we may possibly pay some attention to
these remarks on a future occasion. At present
we conclude with heartily endorsing one observa-
tion of Mr. HENLEY'S :—" I sincerely trust with my
hon. friend Mr. LANGSTON, that our good friend
over the water will get rid of some of the legions
which he now possesses, so as to enable us, without
unnecessarily alarming the country, to contract our
warlike expenditure. At present we are simply
spending money because we have neighbours who
are supposed to delight in keeping us in a perpetual
state of alarm. Our armament is therefore great,
and consequently requires great taxation to support
it. ELglishmen, however, do not care one farthing
what they pay, provided they have only got money
to pay it with: If they are called upon to pay
heavily when the breeches ' pocket is empty,' it then
becomes a serious matter. But strong as these
reflections may be, I trust that circumstances may
arise which may enable whatever government may
be at the head of affairs in this country to rednce
taxation before any lengthened period rolls over
our heads."

While news no less important comes to us from
Naples than that recounting the trial and execu-
tion of BORGES and his companions—while yet
more important intelligence from the far East comes
to us via St. Petersburg announcing the unlooked-
for death of the Emperor HIEN FUNG, the des-
potic ruler of 400,000,000 Chinese—we have still
leisure, and not only leisure, but inclination, also,
to note the more peaceful tidings brought to us from
our own provinces. Agricultural banquets still
possess an interest for us. This, although autumn
is now fast dying out into winter, and though with
the fall of the leaf and the gathering in of the last
portions of the year's harvest, there arrives infor-
mation as momentous in its way as that we have
but just now particularised ! Not that we are
in any respect whatever indifferent to the course
of events either iri Italy or in China. The de-
mise of the Sovereign of one-third of the human
family now peopling the globe, cannot possibly
be viewed by even the most thoughtless spectator
of events, with a mere affectation of apathy.
Nor again, can the most blase politician amongst
us assume with any appearance of sincerity an
air like that attributed by SYDNEY SMITH to
Lord MELBOURNE, i, e, an air of " careless deso-
lation," while watching the progress of Italy
from one step to another on her advance to-
wards the realisation of her complete indepen-
dence. Only—we have such perfect confidence in
that happy course of events which the world has
been noting of late, whether in the south of
Europe or in the east of Asia, that we have long
since come to rely upon it that every fresh occur-
rence, here or there, will by necessity be found
tending eventually to the good. Italy has a foe
the less to the development of her political emanci-
pation. China has an opportunity the more, now
that her late Sovereign has passed away, and that
his successor is ascending the throne of those vast
dominions—China has an opportunity the more
for the dawning yet further of what she has
already had a glimmering of, namely, the possi-
bility of her obtaining the benefit of something
like political freedom—and even, be it said, the
divine blessings of our common Christianity ! Of
the future of Italy we have no fear. Of that re-
served for China (though more remotely) we are
hardly less confident. So that it is really indi-
cative of any thing rather than of callousness
whether with regard to the prospects of the
Chinese or of the Italians, the fact that, while
the telegrams flash to us tidings from Naples like
that of the execution of BORGES, and from the
East via St. Petersburg like that of the death of
HIEN FUNG, we can yet turn with undiminished
interest to the peaceful intelligence brought to us
from our agricultural districts.

- -
Turning to these latest records of the festivities
indulged in at this season by the tranquil
cultivatorn of our soil, presided over for the most
part by the respective representatives of each locality
in the Imperial Parliament; there are two.to which
we would here ver
ver y briefly, but at the same time
y pointedly, direct attention. There was the
was that other
meeting at Hounslow on Wednesday. And there
meeting at Egham on the day pre-
ceding. In neither instance have w v to
Each of these convivial assembliesewe thad ery far
wi go.
easy distance, of the metropolis. One of thethin
m—
in Surrey. One of them—in Middlesex. Both,
nevertheless, thoroughly bucolic, And yet, in each

instance, we find the themes usually discoursed
upon at agricultural assemblies pat aside for the
nonce as of comparatively small attraction, not a

word about long horns or short horns, about turnips
or mangel wurzel—the views taken by the speakers
being far more imperial of its kind, relating now
to our National Defences, now to our Foreign
Policy.

In reference to the Question of our Defences, for

example, it was very happily said on Tuesday, at
Egham by Mr. GEo. CUBITT, the county member—
when that gentleman, as chairman, was proposing
" Army, Navy, and
the now habitual toast of the

Volunteers"—that the latter are kept " not for
defiance but for defence.' In these few words, the
fact was put as truthfully as epigrammatically. And
we do heartily commend the consideration of the
fact as so put to the calmer judgment of those
French journalists, our contemporaries, who have
latterly been so exceedingly sensitive in regard to
our armaments here in England, whether by sea
or by land. According to the views taken of events
here in the United Kingdom by the Parisian publi-
cists to whom we are now more particularly referring,
there has been a wonderful amount of irritation so
far as French feelings are concerned in the build-
ing of our iron-plated war-ships like the Warrior,
in the advance of the Portland Breakwater towards
completion, in the very cruising about of our
Channel Fleet, in the mustering of from 150,000 to
200,000 of our Rifle Volunteers. And yet, all the
while, in reference to every one of these move-
ments, it may be said quite as truthfully as it was
said at Egham on Tuesday evening by by Mr. GEO.
CUBITT, in reference exclusively to the last men-
tioned of them all, namely the Volunteers, that
they are undertaken and sustained not the least
atom in the world in defiance, but simply, solely,
exclusively in defence ! The irritated Journalist
of France cannot, of course, in the smallest degree
comprehend how England or any other Power upon
the globe can by possibility cast an eye askance
upon the gigantic fortifications of Cherbourg—upon
the imperial army of 600,000 men kept up, in a
time of peace, upon a war footing—upon the gigan-
tic and still rapidly increasing navy of France, in
spite of the two glaring facts that the French Em-
pire has neithera commerce nor yet colonies
requiring any maritime armament of the kind
And while viewing proceedings like those amongst
themselves so very complacently with such imper-
turbable serenity—those same journalists across the
Channel can view responsive proceedings amongst
ourselves with such entirely illogical indignation •
They have actually been gibing at England of late
because, forsooth, according to them, she has been
imitating France so very sedulously in the mere
manner of her armaments—making the Warrior as
a Pendant to La Gloire—answering the com-
pletion of the Fortifications at Cherbourg
by the rapid construction of the Portland
Breakwater, and so forth, When—even accepting
those very facts as they are thus put—really and
truly the so putting them is their most perfect jus-
tification ! It is simply that, for the " Quo" of
France, England deems it but prudent to give the
" Quid" instanter. It is, that if France deems it

advisable to advance what may be termed an

" Oliver"—England can hardly be reprehended for
confronting it with what may be defined significantly
as a "dlowland." No—the hon. gentleman who
uttered the words already quoted in reference to
the Volunteers, at Egham, on Tuesday, was simply
articulating with manly truthfulness and brevity
words that are equally applicable to all the rest of
our armaments—namely, when he said, as truly
as tersely, that they are kept, in Defence and not in
Defiance !

As to the other provincial meeting—the dinner,

namely, which took place on Wednesday even-
ing at Hounslow—a meeting addressed by the
county members—Lord ENFIELD and Mr. HAN-
BURY—enaugh if we particularise, as worthy of
(
especial note, one passing remark uttered upon the
occasion by the last-mentioned representative. That
significant assertion—the accuracy of which who
shall venture to gainsay—uttered by Mr. HAN-
BURT, to the effect that the policy of the British
Governmekt must henceforth be the policy of the
People of England. And that, moreover, whether
the Foreign-office be presided over by Earl Rus-
SELL or by the Earl of MALMESBURY, whether
the Prime Minister of England be my Lord
DERBY or my Lord PALMERSTON. And this
Foreign Policy this Policy of the People of
England—this Policy of the British Government.
Well, in one compact phrase, it is the Policy of
Nen-Intervention.

The loss of Lexington in Missouri will prove of
serious importance to the North. The " City," for
such it is termed, is itself a place of much conse-
thaendsaemome commands the
the
waters of
larger branch of the Mississippi. All navigation of
rsouorfi,
oi in
the Western
vast
ast
rAilvies
its waters from the North Western States will now
be obstructed, and of course the free passage of men
and stores. From the most trustworthy accounts
also of the affair, there must be a very large num-
ber of Confederates in that part of the State. And
however strong FREMONT may be at Cairo and
St. Louis in the Eastern part, the rebels
must be absolute masters of its entire
West. As to the battle itself, now
that the extravagances about it have given place to
authentic narrative,it is still evident that MULLIGAN
and his men were no Bull's Run soldiers ; they
lost their fort, if so it could be called, but not their
honoar. During the eight days of the attack the',
seem to have done all that should become men, and
succumbed only to want of ammunition and want
of water. They would accept no terms till no
alternative was left them. The rebels seemed to
have cannon sufficient ; they brought 16 to the
attack. Their small arms were shot guns and
squirrel rifles ! The commander of the fort himself,
Col. MULLIGAN, was wounded in the leg with buck
shot,

How it was that no reinforcements reached the
place has never yet been explained. It must have
been known that some 30,000 rebels were getting
around the 2,000 or 3,000 men at Lexirigton, yet
there they were, left to themselves, without even
ammunition enough for more than a day or two's
defence. We can hardly suppose that FREMONT
was sullen about the Presidential interference with
his proclamation, and, therefore, left his brave sub-
ordinate to his fate; yet it would seem to have
been no difficult matter to send reinforcements up
the broad stream of the Missouri from St. Louis,
where, already, to all accounts, he has 80,000 men.
If, again, he meant to concentrate his troops east-
ward, and to think more of Kentucky than of
Western Missouri, it seems to have been suicidal
folly to leave detachments of three thousand men
to be captured by the enemy, and thus lost for the
rest of the war. It would appear that he ought to
have recalled them. We confess that at present
the affair is to us a mystery. One thing only is
plain, that in Kansas and Western Missouri the
rebels arc now the strongest, and have dismissed a
small army to their homes stripped of everything,
and pledged not to fight against the Confederates
again.

And this is the State whore rebel masters are not
to be deprived of their slaves ! A State in which
the Union men most certainly largely pre-

dominate, but into which great numbers
of half bandits, half soldiers, have penetrated
from the more decided slave states, and are at this
moment coercing and overawing the Union men.
If in any state in the old Union, slavery ought to be
nut an end to, to clear the course of war it is Missouri.
The slaves are now but few, only about one-tenth
of the population ; loyal masters, if there were any,
could easily have been compensated for their negroes,
while if slavery had been once abolished there,
it would have been next to impossible to restore it
again successfully. Never surely did the timid
PRESIDENT make a greater mistake than in cheek-
ingFßEmoNT,indeed in not going further. He ought
to have declared Missouri a Free State, by the same
right by which he suspends the Habeas Corpus Act
in Maryland.

VISIT OF LORD PALME.RSTON 20
PORTLAND.

Lord Palmerston, accompanied by Colonel Jervois,
R.E., and Deputy Inspector-General of Fortifica-
tions, visited the Portland Breakwater yesterday
(Thursday) morning, and was received there by
Mr. Coode and Mr. Beaufort, engineers. His lot d-
ship afterwards drove to the Verne Fortifications,
over which be was shown by Major Nugent, com-
manding Royal Engineers of the district. Lord
Palmerston then proceeded to the Convict Prison,
over which he was shown by Captain Buller, in
charge of the establishment. His lordship, who
evinced general interest throughout his visit, re-
turned to Weymouth, and left by the 4.30 train for
London.

His Excellency the Turkish Ambassador has ar-
rived at Brussels from Holland. Madame Musurus and
family are passing the season at St. Leonards-on-Sea.
His Excellency the Marquis d'Azeglio, the Italian
Minister, has taken a mansion in Lower Brook-street for
the ensuing season.
Mr. Laing leaves England by the present India
mail via Marseilles, and is expected to remain at Calcutta
till May next.
It is stated that the Chambers of Commerce of
Lyons, Rouen, Mulhouse, and other manufacturing places
in France, the trade of which with the United States has
been prostrated by the civil war, have addressed memorials
to the Imperial Government urging an immediate recogni-
tion of the Confederate States, and the raising of the
blockade.

A communication from Baden, in the Courrier du
Bas Rhin, declares that the intelligence given of Mme. de
Solms' death is altogether erroneous. She is in good health
at Wiesbaden, the writer declares, and is expected at Baden
in a few days.
THE GREAT EASTERN STEAM SHlP.—Reporters
were excluded from the meeting held at the offices of the
Great Ship Company, 90, Cannon-street. A gentleman
attended from this office, but he was informed the proceed-
ings were of a preliminary and private nature. The meet-
ing suggested by Mr. Taylor, at the London Tavern, did
not take place.
THE ALLEGED ATTEMPTED MATRICIDE.—On
Wednesday, at the Loddon petty sessions, Martin Pearce
was charged with feloniously shooting at his mother, Mrs
Rebecca Pearce, with whom he lived at Toftmonks, Nor-
folk, with intent to murder her. The case has been already
reported. Mrs. Pearce would not admit that her son in-
tended to murder her, but persisted that what he had done
was merely to frighten her. The magistrates decided on
binding over the prisoner (who had been in custody since
the 25th ult.) to keep the peace in sureties of £2OO, and him-
self in £2OO. They sternly admonished him on his unduti-
ful conduct, and expressed a hope that what had taken place
would be a salutary lesson to him.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday morning Mr.
William Danger, who for many years bad filled the situa-
tion of coastguardsman, was drowned at Bude on Tuesday
last. On Monday evening he had been engaged for several
hours in firing rockets, whereby attention was attracted to
a distressed barge outside the breakwater, The crew were
saved, although the vessel and the cargo were lost. About
midnight, as was his wont, he took his usual rounds on the
cliffs, and two hours afterwards was seen and spoken to.
On Tuesday forenoon Mr. Thomas Ham and Mr. Francis
Spettigue, both of Launceston, were walking on the break-
water, when they were alarmed at seeing a human hand
protruding from the sand. On making an examination it
was discovered that the body of the deceased coastguards-
man was firmly imbedded in the sand. On its being disin-
terred it was found that both arms were broken and the
head fractured. On the cliffs above were his lantern and
walking-stick, from which it is surmised that at the time
he fell he must have been watching an object,— Western
Morning News.
' THE FRENCH COLONIAL SYSTEM.—The new
commercial system granted by France to her colonies of
Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the Isle of Reunion, super-
seding the former prohibitive regulations, came into force
in the beginning of last month. By this change the above
islands are opened to the commerce and navigation of the
whole world. The importation of merchandise will take
place on the same terms as into France, except where the
colonial tariff is more liberal, in which case the latter rate
is retained. Trade can be carried on under any flag,
but, with certain exceptions, a differential duty 'is
charged on foreign as compared with French ships.
All export duties on colonial merchandise are abolished.
English vessels will now be enabled to take cargoes of
foreign goods to these islands, and return laden with pio-
duce, either to their port of shipment or to France. . 'the
production of sugar is expected to be largely benefitted, and
increased activity is also looked for in the coffee, dyewoods,
and spirit trades. The principal articles imported by the

three islands are wood for building, manufactured iron,
salted meat and fish, butter, oil, flour, and coal, and at each
colony there is a port offering every convenience to mari-
time commerce. The change from exclusive prohibition to
a-system more nearly approaching free trade appears to be
the commencement of a new and important era for these

dependencies.
AERATED BREAD.—The machinery for the manu-
facture of aerated bread has at length, it is stated, been ren-
dered sufficiently simple and inexpensive to be adapted to
the working of small bakeries, and proposals have accord-
ingly been issued for a general meeting of the patentees.
Strong allegations are still made as to economy of the pro-
cess, and Sir J. Liddell, the Director- G eneral of the Medi-
cal Department of the Navy, has just given the following
testimony with regard to the quality of the bread produced :
" Admiralty, Sept. 30.
"Sir,—ln reply to your letter of the 7th inst., requesting
that you may be furnished with a report on the aerated
bread supplied to Haslar Hospital by Mr. James Smith, of
Southsea, I herewith send you extracts from a letter received
from Southsea Hospital, dated the 27th. inst.:—
" Having consulted the medical officers in charge of the
various departments of this establishment in regard to their
opinions of the aerated bread supplied to the patients under
their charge, I find that the general impression is that the
bread now supplied is very much more approved by the
patients tnan any bread supplied by any former contractor
of which either of them have any recollection.
" No rejection has taken place since the aerated bread
has been supplied.'—l am, sir, your humble servant,
" J. LIDDELL, Director-General, &c.
" Dr. J. Dauglish, Reading."

PROFANATION OF TOMBS IN FRANCE.—The
_France Centrale of Blois, under the title of "Profanation of
Tombs," give the following account of an affair which, it
says, has caused a great sensation :—" About twenty-five
years ago a Portuguese gentleman, named De Castro, took
up his residence with his wife and daughter in the village
of Metiers, in order to be near his son, who was in the col-
lege in that place, founded by the Prince de Chimay. In
May, 1838, Mme. and Mlle. de Castro fell dangerously ill,
and died within a few days of each other. He had their
remains placed in leaden coffins, and interred in the ceme-
tery of Menars. At that time the municipality of the village
made neither temporary nor perpetual concessions of ground
in the cemetery, and accordingly nothing was said to M. de
Castro on the subject. But that system having been sub-
sequently adopted, a letter was sent to him in 1848, in
his own country, to which he had retired, asking if he
would purchase the ground In which his wife and daughter
were buried. He replied that he would speedily proceed to
Menars, and have the bodies exhumed to be conveyed to
Portugal. But he never presented himself, and whether
he wrote or not, is not certain; but would even his absence
justify the act we are about to relate ? On the 12th Sept.,
the gravedigger of the village received orders to proceed, in
presence of the deputy-major and the garde-champetre, to
the exhumation of the two bodies. The two coffins were
found intact, but they were opened. The bodies had
not undergone any decomposition, so that at first
the supposition was that they had been embalmed.
No details have been given to us respecting the body of
Mme. do Castro, but, as regards the daughter, we are told
that beneath her shroud she was completely attired in the
white dress of a maiden. Among other things, it is said
that she had on gloves and white satin shoes, and that the
latter alone had begun to decay. The bodies were subjected
to a sacrilegious examination, in order to ascertain if any
articles of value had been interred with her. They were
then taken from the coffins, and in order that they might
decay more quickly, were merely rolled up in the shrouds,
and ignobly cast into the common grave of the poor I The
coffins were taken away, to be sold for the benefit ohe
commune!" The journal concludes by declaring that t the
inhabitants of Menars have manifested great indignation
at this profanation, and express doubts that it is even legal.
The suggestion that the Bank of France ought
to contract a loan in England has been acted upon, but
with modificatio.. s. It is not with the Bank of England,
but with French and English houses that an arrangement
has been made for 50,000,00 f., for which Three per Cent.
Rentes are to be given as security. The French houses are
to draw first.