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

TEM SUN, lONDO f. FRIDAY g NII!IG, OCTOBER 11, 1861.

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 mankind.'

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 matter without 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 dis-
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."

IWhile 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 in 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, 3. 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 ber obtaining the benefit of something
like political freedom—and oven, 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 FLING, we can yet turn with undiminished
intertst 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
cultivators 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 very briefly, but at the same time
very pointedly, direct attention. There was the
meeting at Hounslow on Wednesday. And there
was that other meeting at Egham on the day pre-
ceding. In neither instance have we very far to go.
Each of these convivial assemblies we find within
easy distance of the metropolis. One of them—
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 put 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
the now habitual toast of the "Army, Navy, and
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 whomwe 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
f themthe Volunteers, that
tandsustained not the least
hey are undertaken
namely
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 neither a 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 bees
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 I 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 " Rowland." 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—enough 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-
BURY, to the effect that the policy of the British
Government 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
Non-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-
quence in Western Missouri, and commands the
waters of the vast river of the same name, the

larger branch of the Mississippi. All navigation of
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 they
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 Lexington, 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 are 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
put 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 check-
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 PALMERSTON 70

P ORTLAND.

Lord Palmerston, accompanied by Colonel Jervois,
RE., 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 4.60 train for
London.

His Excellency the Turkish Ambassador has ar-
rived at Brussels from llolland. Madame Musurus and
family are passing the season at St. Leonards-on-Sea.
His Excellency the Marquis d'Azeglio, theltalian
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 Mine. de
Solras' 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 world 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 Dangar, who for many years had filed 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 aft3rwards 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 aims were broken and the
head fractumd. 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 gianted by France to her colonies of
Martinique, Guadaloupe, 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 pro-
duce, either to their port of shipment or to France. The
production of sugar is expeeted 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
culony 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 broad 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-general 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 Menars, 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, Mine. and Mlle. de Castro fell dangerously ill,
and died within a few days of each other. Ho 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 wo 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 oisened. 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. de 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! The
coffins were taken away, to be sold for the benefit of the
commune!" The journal concludes by declaring that 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 50,000,000 f., for which Three per Cent.
Rentes are to be given as security. The French houses aro
to draw first.

lEST " \II, zy.

THE BANK OF FRANCE.

PARIS, OCT. 111.

The Noniteur of to-day publishes the usual
monthly return of the Bank of France, which
shows the following results, as compared with
the September account :