The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-07 00:00:00

THE GERMAN DWARFS.

ire understand that the fortunate holder of General Tom
Thumb has already realised a very pretty sum of money by
his speculation ; and it is well for him that lie. has done so in
time, for here are three wee-wee things come from Germany,
who bid fair to divert a smart share of the public attention
in respect of dwarfs, from the Transatlantic imperfection to
themselves. The General, who purports to be twelve years
old, is twenty-five inches high (though we have just seen an
announcement that he is now to be a little longer) ; one of
our new visitors, Christian Brocksted, is thirteen years old,
bona fide, " right up, straight down, and no mistake," to quote
classic Jack Brag, as may be known unto all men by the
certificate of 'his baptisin and birth, duly signed and sealed
by the local authorities; and yet he is only three inches
taller than the abridged American, andweighs but one pound
more. • Moreover, the German blows lustily on the horn, and
smokes no end of cigars, and takes leading parts .in a ballet
of action, and does all sorts of things marvellous to behold in
one .so very small: Then, there's his sister, Maria Brocksted,
18 years old, yet only 32 inches high-, and of but 22 pounds
weight, a very nice little woman, indeed, chubby, rosy,
smiling, apparelled in a an dress of mature form; with a good
head of hair, dressed a /tt mode, who sings a song, and dances
a dance as 'twere a fairy. of the olden time; or an elfin sprite of
more modern Germany; and; indeed, we are by no means
clear that these soi-disant Brocksteds are not a party of these
charming little folks, to whom Grimm, and Muswus, and
other historians of ffiery, have introduced us, come to the
earth, as was their wont, at once for a bit of fun on their
own account, and to do a good turn to some fortunate mortals,
by letting these pass as their guardians and exhibitors. At
all events they are something very much out of the common.
There's another brother, ITenric Brocksted, 22 years of age,
36 inches high, and weighing but 36 pounds, who takes part
in the ballet. Not the least curious feature in the matter is,
that these three so small personages had for brothers, born
alternately with themselves, three persons rather above than
tinder the ordinary proportions. The " Klaverbad," as the
diminutive trio are designated when they are at home, have
been exhibited before, and have received the patronage and
approbation of the King of the Netherlands, the ducal family
of Baden, the royal family of Saxony,- Prince Albrecht of
Prussia, the regal court of Anholt, the Duke of Altenburg,
the ducal court of Saxe- Coetben, of Saxe-Gratz, &c., as ap-
pears from certificates duly authenticated.

We are happy to have it in our power to set at rest
all doubt as to the Polish Ball. It will positively take place
on Monday next, the 10th inst. At a very full Commateeof
Lacbratronesses, which met again onWednesday afternoon, at
Willis's Rooms (the Marchioness of Ailesbuty, as usual, in the
chair) it was stated that ,there was nothing whatever to in-
terfere with the ball on that day; and that the prospects of

its success were the most brilliant. Three times as many
tickets have already been sold as were disposed of at a cor-
responding period last year. Every arrangement has been
mate to prevent confusion, in consequence of the very
large number expected to attend. We rejoice in thinking
that- this entertainment will be attended with all the eclat

and .all the success which the cause in which it is given so

well deserves.
FRENCH PLAYS.—ST. JAMES'S TMEA.TRE.—Made-
moiselle Plessy's final performance on Wednesday, attracted a
brilliant and densely-crowded audience, amongst whom we
observed the Duchess of Roxburghe, the Earl and Countess
of Kenmare, Lord and Lady Blantyre, the Countess of Zet-
land, the Countess Charlemont, the Baron De Talleyrand,
Lady Charlotte Talbot, Lady Ridley Colborne, Lady
Georgiana Codrington, Lady Domvile and the Misses Dom-
vile, Lady Deere, the Countess of Mansfield, and the Lathes
Murray, Lady Winnington, Sir John and Lady Doveton,
Mrs. Chatteris, Mrs. General Grey, Mr. John Sandford, &c.
THE SENTENCE ON MR. O'CONNELL, &C.—The fol-
lowing is the form in which Mr. T. Duncombe has entered in
the books of the House of Commons his notice respecting.the
judgments against Mr. O'Connell and the other traversers in
the late trials in Ireland 1—" On reading the Order of the
Day for the House resolving itself into a Committee of
Ways and Means, or Supply, to move an address to her
Majesty, that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to
direct that the further execution of the sentence passed upon
Daniel O'Connell, Esquire, and others, by the Court of
Queen's Bench, Dublin, be suspended until the writ of error
is decided." Thus, it will be seen that no particular day is
yet fixed for this important matter being brought before the
House ; though, in all probability, the Hon. Member .who
has thus taken the subject. in hand will lose no time un-
necessarily in drawing the attention of the representatives
thereto.

,a•
A FAIR WIND FOR THE HOMEWARD-BOUND AT

LAST.—DOVErt, JUNE 4 —This morning, about daylight, we
have' much pleasure in announcing, the boisterous north-
easterly winds which have prevailed on this coast for the very

long. period of seven week's, chopped round to westerly, and
continue from that quarter. By these winds the homeward-
bound and coasting vessels have been detained in hundreds,
ay, we might say thousands, in the Channel awl its" chops,"
some of them for the whole of that period. Not to mention
the loss sustained by the owners of the shipping thus de-
tained wind-bound, the greatest privations have been en-

dured by the crews in numerous instances from want of
water and provisions; and for weeks back cruisers have
been supplying vessels in the channel with these. At an early
hour this morning the most busy and interesting scene was
presented by the vessels leaving Dover-roads, and by the
immense concourse of ships passing from the westward to
the river. Beachy-head, the West Bay of Dungeness, Dover,
and Margate roads, have sent forth their fleets; and vast
numbers of craft that have for weeks been lying in Dover
and Ramsgate Harbours, are, while we write, hauling out
and getting under way on the top of the tide. Many hun-
dreds of vessels have passed here to-day up Channel, and if
the wind holds westerly, the throng that will be stirring in
the same direction to-morrow we have no doubt will be
equally great. To add to the magnificence of the spectacle
to-day, there is just as much wind as to allow vessels to
crowd almost every stitch of their canvass on their poles,
and they may be seen, therefore, dashing and bounding over
the slightly agitated waters in their most imposing aspect.
By the recent gales much loss of property has been sustained,
though we are glad to say few lives have been lost; and.
though much damage has been done to anchors, chains,
spars, sails, and rigging, we have not heard of any vessels
becoming total wrecks. There was a report in some of the
papers of a schooner having sunk off here on Sunday, the
26th ult., and of all hands having perished, but we are happy
to state that the report was without foundation in fact.
EXTRAORDINAY 5T0RY.....-The Bombay Courier of
Tuesday, April 9, in a letter from a credited correspondent at
Kaira, details a sad event which happened to a gentleman
who lived at Kaira. He went out tiger shooting and shot
himself by accident through the heart. On the body being
taken to Kaira for interment, the officer commanding the
station proceeded to discharge the last offices to the departed
by reading over the grave the funeral service. No sooner
was the service commenced than there issued from a hive in
a corner of the church, outside, a swarm of bees, which flew
at the congregation and stung them in all directions. Every
one of the congregation, including the acting parson, de-
camped, leaving the body exposed to the heat of the sun.
The writer of the letter proceeded to the spot, and found that
the bees had abandoned their hive and taken possession of
the coffin ; their attack upon him and his horse compelled
a retreat. What eventually became of the corpse has not
transpired.
EUROPEAN REGIMENTS IN INDIA.—The Bombay
Times calls the attention of Government and every one
concerned to the. want of sanatory arrangements for the
European soldiers. The cost of an European soldier
before fit to do regimental duty in this country is abdut
1001., and every death occurring amongst their
number is a loss to the Company of this
amount. .But little care, however, is used in re-
ference to the men sent out as recruits ; the only know-
ledge possessed by the 'military authorities of India of
the fact of troops coming in is derived from the Eng •
lish newspapers, which mention the number of troops
that leave by vessels for India. Were the troops re-
garded as Manchester prints they could be duly in-
voiced ; hut, under the present system, the notice
from the home authorities simply intimates that
a few scores may be looked for by such and such
opportunity. In the course of the rains of 1842, about
100 AN ere cut off by local causes in the barracks at
Colaba, and 80 casualties occurred last year in the
2d battalion of Artillery in 'Fort Geroge Barracks en•
tailing at once a loss of 18,000 men to the Com-
pany. Sir George Arthur has bestowed careful at-
tention upon this matter, and recommended a measure
to the home authorities which will not cost more than
the above sum, and rid the recruits, in great measure, of
local sickness. Our Contemporary recommends that the
Hugh Lindsay, now lying useless in the harbour, may be
moored off the lighthouse and metamorphosed into a
floating hospital for the sick of European regiments, who
will thus be enabled, at a trifling cost to the Government,
to derive the benefit of sea air.
A NOVEL INSULT TO THE FRENCH FLAG.—MALTA,
MAY 29, 1844.—An affair occurred at Messina on the
day the Geyser was to start which may form the subject
of a newspaper article, headed somewhat as follows :
" Insult to the French flag by a British steamer :" and
as the French will have the first tale, I feel it im-
perative on me to put you in possession of a plain
fact, that having heard the alteram partem, you may
give its full weight to whatever rhodomontade may
appear in the French papers. The facts are as follow:
Miss Tomlinson, the Bishop of Gibraltar's sister, having
expressed a wish It) land at Messina a boat was placed
at her disposal by Commander Kitchen. As there were
several -shore boats alongside, and the descent of *a lady
by the ladder might excite vulgar curiosity, the captain
ordered a flag to be thrown over the ladder to
prevent intrusion. The flag used for the purpose was
the signal, No. 2, the French flag with the colours re-
versed. At this moment a French war steamer was
coming in, and the captain seeing, as ho sup-
posed, the flag of France submitted to such an' office,
rounded to, and became very noisy and boisterous, com-
plained that the flag had been trampled on by a woman,
and consequently degraded. All explanation was useless;
the irascible Frenchman was deaf to all but his own
clamour, and was even so rude as to refuse giving
the name of his boat, referring Commander
Kitchen to her stern, where the name was
painted. The captain of the Geyser went on board in
order to pacify the doughty Frenchman. If he suc-
ceeded in doing so, still the affair is too rich, the oppor-
tunity of puffing up their national honour too tempting,
to induce others on board to be quiet. It is a positive
fact, one on which I can stake my reputation, that on
board of the Geyser at the time there actually was not a
French flag.
THE AMERICAN EMBASSY TO CHINA.—His Excel-

lency the Hon. • C. Cushing, Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of
America to the Court of Pekin, with his suite, arrived
in Macao roads on Saturday last, the 24th instant, on
board the United Staws flag-ship Brandywine, Commo-
dore Parker. • His Excellency's suite consists of six
gentlemen, Mr. F. Webster, Secretary of Legation,
Mr. O'Donnell, Mr. M'lntosh, Dr. Kane, Mr. West,
and Mr. Hernisz. And we understand that the Rev. E. C.
Bridgman, D.D., and the Rev. P. Parker, have been ap-
pointed joint Chinese Secretaries to the Legation. His Ex•
ceilency has apartments on the Prays Grande, where he
will remain until the Brandywine shall have taken in her
stores and made other necessary arrangements, to proceed on
her voyage to the mouth of the Peiho.—Canton Press.
A WOMAN' KILLED BY A BEAR.—On Friday last
the wife of Mr. Hesselgrave, of Back-lane, Wakefield, came
to her death in the following manner :—Her husband keeps
a plea Sure garden, and amongst other things . to be seen
there was a bear, which was confined in a pit, in which
there was a pole. On Friday, Mrs. Hesselgrave was near
the bear pit, when the bear climbed the pole, sprang from
it, and reaching the wall of its den, made its escape, seizing
Mrs. Hesselgrave, and mangling her dreadfully with its
teeth and claws, tearing away one of her breastPand other-
wise seriously injuring her. Her screams brought assist-
ance, and the bear was with great difficulty beaten off, and
was shortly afterwards shot. The poor woman lingered in
great
.agony until Sunday morning, when she died. Her
sister, who came to her aid when attacked, was also bitten,
and she still lies in a dangerous state, but hopes see enter-
, tAintti other ;cove'.