The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-01 00:00:00

LOA'DON, TUESDAY, DEC. 1, 1868.

In the person of AI. BERRYER one of the Great
Men of France has disappeared. He was the BOS-
SUET of the French Bar. He was a MALESHERBES
from his youth upwards to his old age. In an epoch
of inconsistency, he has from first to last been re-
splendently consistent. Gifted with a rare natural
genius, his was an intellect sedulously cultivated,
sustained by unflagging industry, burning• with
generous enthusiasm, exalted by noble aspira-
tions, inspired with ardent convictions, with
living faith, inextinguishable hope, and a
charity so instant and so comprehensive, that
it knew no barrier of prejudice or of party, of race
or of religion, but covered all misfortune with its
sympathies. Born at Paris in the midst of the
Great French Revolution, he has survived until his
seventy-ninth year—a Bourbon among Bourbonists,
a Legitimist among Legitimists. And yet—com-
pletely though Bourbonism has become a thing of
the past, has become obsolete throughout the
whole of Europe not in France only,
but in Spain and in Italy as well—BEratvEr.
was no anachronism. His political antagonists
respected to the last his devotion to that ancient
house which had reigned over France during
so many of the centulies intervening between the
age of CHARLEMAGNE and the age of NAPOLEON the
GREAT—that house of CAPET, associated with so
many of the glories and misfortunes, the triumphs
and vicissitudes, of the foremost of all the races
of the European Continent. It is significant
of the courage and of the generosity of the noble
heart that has but just now ceased to beat after
nearly eighty years' pulsation in the breast of PIERRE
ANTOINE BERRYER, that, in his capacity as the first
advocate and the first orator at the Bar of France,
BERRYER bas championed the cause of the greatest
personages who have, at intervals during more
than this last half-century, been arraigned at
the Bar of Justice in that country as
offenders against the State. In this he has been
true to the memory of his distinguished father, who,
in his time, and i❑ his capacity as an advocate,
towards the close of the last century, appeared before
the regicide tribunal of the Revolution among the
dauntless defenders of Louis the SIXTEENTH. As
unhesitatingly, in his turn, the son of that worthy
associate of Malesherbes, our own BERRYER,
the BERRYER of our own time, stood forward,
as occasion required afterwards, happily in less %Au-

guivary times, but for all that none the less daunt-
lessly on his own part, in defence of CHARLES the
I im!, when the old vessel of the monarchy went
down, as the phrase then was, with colours flying,
nailed to the mast, and every hand at quarters. Be-
fore that, he had signalised his courage, and his
inherited devotion to the old dynasty, as far
back as in 1814, when he openly displayed
the white cockade of the Bourbons, and as openly
predicted, sometime before it came to pass, the down-
fall of the first empire, of the Empire of the first
NAPOLEON. Subsequently, on the return of the
EMPEROR from Elba, BERRYER, civilian though he
was, shouldered the musket in the cause and in the
name of Louis the EIGHTEENTH. For the subversion
of the Orleans rulecupon the occasion of the third
and last (it is to be hoped, in truth, the last) French
Revolution, BERRYER naturally enough cared little
if anything for the misfortunes of one whom from the
first he had regarded askance as an usurper, or, at
the least, as an interloper. His faithful adhesion
was to the elder branch of the Great Old House, and
it was with no disdain, on the part of either Repub-
lican or Bonapartist, that the illustrious advocate in
these days of the Right Divine ,of Kings, was seen
to the last, attending, with almost reverent loyalty,
in person at the restricted Court of the
exiled heir of so many Kings the Count
DE CHAMBORD, as he might be to every one else, but
King HENRY the Fifth as he was. to BERRYER until
only a day or two since when BERRYER breathed his
last. Bourbonist though he was, however, through-
out the whole of his great career, M. BERRYER cham-
pioned alike, in his grand capacity as Advocate, the
brave and unfortunate, of no matter what party, of
no matter what political colour. Friend or foe of the
principles he himself maintained with such serene
and unfaltering consistency, it signified nothing to
him. He was the defender of heroic misfortune, and
as such he pleaded the cause at the bal. of France—
now of Marshal NET, now of CAMBRONNE, the
leader of NAPOLEON'S Old' Guard, now of the
Minister POLIGNAC, now of the then Pretender,
Louis NAPOLEON, but at this hour his Majesty
the Emperor NAPOLEON the THIRD, now last, not
least, among the great historical causes with
which the name of BERRYER must always hence-
forth be so honourably and gloriously identified,
net, we say, but not least, among them all,
of the pure-hearted, high-minded, noble-souled
MONTALEMBERT. No wonder that as the natu-
ral and inevitable fruits of such a career, M
BERRYER won for hiinself the respect, the affection,
and the admiration of his contemporaries.
Whoever came within the range of his generous
influence, or of his noble sympathy, was touched
to a responsive and electric appreciation of IiER-
RYER'S civism. What wrote NAPOLEON 111., then
Prince Louis NAPOLEON, before leaving the French
capital for the fortress of Ham ? Why this:—
"My dear M. Berryer' " he' said, " I will not quit
my prison in PariS without reiterating to you my
best thanks for the nale service you have ren-
dered me during my trial. The moment I knew
that I was to be tried by the Peers I had the idea
of aking you to defend me ; because I felt sure
that the independence of your character would make
you superior to the petty susceptibilities of party, and
that your heart was open to all the unfortunate, as
you mind was capable of comprehending all great
thoughts—all noble sentiments. I selected you then
out of esteem—l now leave you with gratitude and
friendship. I know not what fate has in store for
me ; I know not if I shall ever be in a position to
prove to you my gratitude ; I know not if ever
you would accept any proofs of it; but whatever
may be our reciprocal positions, irrespectively of
politics and its bitter obligations, we can always feel
esteem and friendship for each other : and I declare
to you that if my trial has no other results than to
gain for me your friendship, I shall think I have im-
mensely gained, and I. shall never complain of my
destiny.
"Farewell, my dear M. IlEttuYEn. Receive the
assurance of my Een Cin en ts of esteem and gratitude.
" Louis NAPOLEON."

What, again, was that noble, expiiite inscription
which M. VILLEMAIN caused to be engraved upon
the silver statuette of DEMOSTHENES, in commemora-
tion of the French DEMOSTHENES' defence of M. de
MOSTALEMBERT? Why this—

Hanc antiqui Ddmostenis cffigiem Demosteni nostro
Pietro Antonio Berryer
Quern Patronutn
Ac ultorcm
Habuit
Die XXI. Decembris MDCCCLXIII.
Carolus Comes de Montalcrubert
Quid si ipsum tonantem audivisses !

It is the echo of the admiration of 2E3CIIINES—Quid
si ipsum tonantem audivisses ! And it was deserved
—and it will be remembered of him--this later, this
true, Gallic, Catholic DEMOSTHENES! For ourselves,
we cannot but exult in the remembrance that, so very
recently, upon the occasion of his visit but a very few
years since to this country, the Bar of England bad
the opportunity upon one memorable evening in
the grand old Hall of the Middle Temple, of offering
the tribute of its admiration to the greatest advocate
and the greatest orator of the Bar of France. The
venerable white bead of Lord BROUGHAM was there
beside him—Sir ROUNDELL PALMER was in the Chair
—the most eminent of the Judges and of the Barris-
ters of England were assembled there together in his
honour— when M. BERLINER rose in acknowledment of
that signal homage to his genius, his career, his cour-
age, his consistency—Quip SI IPSUIL TONANTEM
AUDIVISSES !

ALARMING EXPLOSION A7' THE NEW

MEAT MARKEE—This Day.

This splendid structure was opened to the public
this (Tuesday) morning at four o'clock, with a
splendid assortment of meat of every description,
and a brisk trade was carried on until about half-
past nine in the forenoon, when people carrying
on business in the market were startled from their
propriety by a loud explosion taking place in the
first floor over one of the butchers' shops in the
second avenue. The explosion was followed by a
sheet of flame shooting over the top of the meat
hanging up, and about 12 feet of lath and plaster
partition was blown into the avenue of the market.
Several of the tradesmen rushed with buckets of
water, and they speedily extinguished what little
fire there was between the lath and plaster walls.
The present makes the second explosion that has
occurred since the market has been handed
over to the corporation of London. On the
day of the grand opening banquet a similar
explosion took place, when about 12 feet of flooring
and joisting was burned, but the firemen of the
Metropolitan Brigade being on duty at the time the
flames were quickly extinguished, and the damage
done, as on the present occasion, was, considering
the magnitude of the place, inconsiderable. The
market and most of the tradesmen are understood
to be insured.

ACCIDENT ATM ATERLOO STATION'.—On Saturday
evening an inquest was held at St. Martin's Vestry-hall,
Charing-cross, before Mr. Bedford, coroner, respecting the
death of Mr. 'William Rolfe, aged 51, a superintendent of
porters in the employ of the London and South-Western
Railway Company. From the evidence it appeared that on
Saturday morning, the 21st inst., the deceased stepped off
No. 2 platform at the Waterloo station, and while he was
in the act of crossing the line the 9.50 a.m. train came out
of the station. The buffer of the engine knocked him
down, and the wheels of several carriages passed over
his feet. He was conveyed to Charing-cross Hospital,
where died on Wednesday last. Mr. Charles Neckle,
house surgeon of the hospital, said that both :he deceased's
feet were much crushed. Both wore amputated. 11":3 wont
on very well until Monday ; symptoms of exhaustion then
set in, and be died. The jury returned a verdict of " Acci-
dental death."

BUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exports
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. DunTille and Co.,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, London W.C.--[Ad
Tertisement.]