The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-22 00:00:00

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of Saturday
and yesterday.
The PRESIDENT of the Republic returned on Fri-
day night from Angers, where he had assisted at the
funeral service performed for the victims of the late
catastrophe. He visited the wounded in the hospitals
and personally distributed to them pecuniary relief.
The Journal de Maine et Loire, of the 18th, gives
the following account of the funeral.
" We have just been present at the interment of 180
of the victims of the frightful catastrophe of the 16th.
Never have we witnessed such a heartrending scene—
never have we experienced such poignant grief as in
seeing the twenty-three waggons laden with the dead
bodies which were being slowly conveyed to their last
home. Esch of them was accompanied by the officers
and soldiers who had escaped. Who is there that could
have been unmoved at the sight of those unfortunate
men, the great majority of the wounded, some of them
scarcely able to walk, and all deeply affected, and
striving, but in vain, to restrain their tears at the
fate of their unfortunate comrades? Almost all the
shops are closed; the deepest gloom prevails in our
town. In order to tranquilize the famillies and
friends of Colonel Thomas, commanding the 11th
Regiment, wo hasten to say that the Colonel
was at Saumur at the time of the accident. He had
been called to that place by General de Castellano, to
present to him his 2d battalion, which had given such a
proof of energy in the repression of the emeute which had
been got up on the occasion of the arrival of the General.
As soon as Colonel Thomas heard of the misfortune
which had fallen on his 3d battalion, with which he
generally marched, he immediately came to Angers, and
has commenced taking measures for the reorgan z ttion
of his troops. He has already had them placed in bar-
racks, and is always in the midst of his men, by whom
he is much beloved."
The town of Angers has ordered a monument to be
erected to the memory of the victims, among whom
are five officers. The number of wounded in the
hospitals is fifty-seven ; the number missing when
the muster-roll of the regiment was called after the
accident was 219 ; consequently there are still thirty-
eight bodies in the river, for which search continues
to be made. The only civilians known to have
perished are two police-agents, who were on duty on
the bridge.
The Atoniteur, in announcing the return of the
PRESIDENT to Paris, states that at " Angers he had
been perfectly well received, and that his presence had
Produced the best effect."
The Moniteur also publishes the following an-
nouncement of the.appointment of a Committee to in-
quire into the causes of the accident.
" The terrible catastrophe which has just thrown the
town of Angers and the whole of France into mourning,
and has so cruelly defeated all the foresight of human
prudence, at the same time that it imposes on the Go-
vernment the duty of repairing as much as possible,
the misfortunes which have been the result of this deplo-
rable accident, renders it also imperative on it to exa-
mine into their causes and into the means of preventing
a recurrence of them. The Minister of Public Works
has just formed a Commission, composed of M. Kcr-
maingant, ex-Inspector of the Ponts et Chausees, as
president, and. MM. Frissart, Drappier, and Mary,
divisional inspectors, and M. Belanger, engineer-in-
chief of that establishment, charged to again study all
the questions connected with the mode of construction of
suspension-bridges, and the trials to which they are sub-
jected ; and to propose such improvements as they may
consider necessary in the precautionary measures now
adopted."
The Voix du Peuple was seized on Saturday fo
the publication of an article on the Angers catas-
trophe. This is the seventh • prosecution hanging
over the head of M. PftounnoN, who is at present
under sentence of impriionment for three years. On
Saturday morning he was hurried off by the autho-
rities from the Conciergerie to the fortress of Doul-
leuis, without being permitted to communicate with
his family. He has protested, in writing, against this
treatment, which is unprecedented. Never before
has any public writer, condemned merely for libel,
been removed to a fortress. His colloborateurs have
published a notice in the Voix du Peuple, an-
nouncing their determination to pursue the same
course that M. PROUDHON has pursued for the last
twenty-two months.
The discussion on the transportation Bill was re-
sumed on Friday, and was rendered remarkable by the
refusal of the bigotted parti-pretre to listen to
M. DE LAMARTINE, who, in consequence of the " in-
articulate sounds" uttered by those who are inca-
pable of using any other argument, was compelled
to quit the tribune, and in quitting it aimed with
Parthian dexterity at his interrupters a shaft which
struck home. " I wonder," said M. DE LAMARTINR,
" that the judges should have so little patience, when
the victims shall one day have need of so much." It
would appear that this retort produced its effect,
and caused the reactionaries to pause in their reckless
course, for we find that the next day, Saturday, the
Ministers were defeated on the vital point of the Bill,
viz., its retrospective operation. In proposing the
Bill, the. Minister of the Interior declared, that his
great object was to obtain the power of send-
ing BARBES, BLANQUI, RASPAIL, and the condemned
of Bourges and Versailles at once out of the country,
but on the clause being put making the Bill applicable
to persons actually under sentence M. ODILON BARROT
proposed an amendment in the following terms :
" The present law is only applicable to crimes com-
mitted posterior to its promulgation." In supporting
this amendment, the ex-Keeper of the Seals said
that he had himself, before quitting office, prepared a
transportation Bill ; but in doing so he had taken care
to introduce a clause, expressly relieving from its ope-
ration those who were now suffering sentences
awarded by juries of their countrymen. In fact, he
stated, that nothing could be more repulsive to his
ideas of justice than an interference with the measure of
punishment settled by the courts which had tried cases.
However the law may have stipulated for the provid-
ing of a place of transportation, yet the law had not
done so at the time when juries could only have
had in view the means of punishment actually
in existence. Had a penal settlement 4,500 leagues
from France been established no one could tell what
influence a knowledge of the fact might have bad in
causing sentences to be modified. It appeared that
his successors thought otherwise, and the present
Government had adhered to a proposal of the Com-
mittee on the Bill fur erasing the exceptional article
which he (M. O. BARROT) had left in it.
Notwithstanding the opposition of the Minister of
the Interior, the amendment of M. ODILON BARROT
WAS carried by a majority of 64, the numbers being—
For the amendment ..
Ministers —33605164
M. oAngiinststi t
BARROTMajority has thus succeeded at length
in giving the Ministry a coup de patte by way of re-
prisal for his own unceremonious dismissal from
office.

The National states that, in consequence of this
decision, the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice
have tendered their resignations.
The Precurseur de l' Ouest and the Democrate,
published at Angers, have been seized for articles on
the late melancholy catastrophe at that place.
The candidature of M. LECLERC is supported by
the Napoleon.
The majority of the Parliamentary re-union of the
Rue Richelieu have decided against applying to the
benefit of the families and survivors of the disaster at
Angers the 200,000 f. destined to celebrate the anni-

versary of the promulgation of the Republic.
The Archbishop of PARIS has addressed a circular
to the clergy of his diocese directing that a Te Deum
be performed in the churches after the evening ser-
vice on Sunday, returning thanks for the happy re-
turn of the POPE to Rome.
Two sergeants of the 63d Line have been arrested
at Wissenbourg, Alsace, for on the 15th inst.,
paraded the town with a red flag. and shouted " Vive
la Republique Democratique et Sooiale."
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-E.XCLIA.NGE, Arum 20.
East Indian, sAi—Namur and Liege, s%—Orleans and
Bordeaux, 2%—Sambre and Meuse, 216.