The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-08 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN ANTI-CORN.-
LAW ASSOCIATION.
A meeting of the Chairman ''.and most influential
members of the Metropolitati: Anti-Corn-law Asso-
ciations, took place on TuesdayAt the Central Office, 68,
Cheapside, for the purpose of taking into consideration a
plan of operations suggested by the parent Committee,
to be immediately acted upon. There was a numerous
attendance.. P. A. Taylor, Esq., took the chair.
Amongst the gentlemen present were Ralph Ricardo,
Esq., W. A. Wilkinson, Esq., George Beacon, Esq.,
T. M. Gibson, Esq., &c.
. The object of this plan is to combine the metropolitan
boroughs in an effective manner in the free-trade move-
ment. The scheme as detailed to the meeting is. of con-
siderable length, and embraces meetings of the members
of the branch associations, and the lbrmation of .coni-
mittees in each borough, to take charge of -the free•
trade registration.
The CHAIRMAN said that the exact mode pointed out
might not be the most proper to be adopted in every dis-
trict, but their friends in the different localities were the
most competent to judge how far the details were ap-
plicable in their own neighbourhoods. They had
undertaken (what was never before attempted) to com-
plete an alphabetical list of all the voters in the City.
This effort involved much labour and expense ; but they,
notwithstanding, anticipated a successful termination to
their labours in a few weeks.—(Cheers.)
Mr. COATES congratulated the Committee on the very
efficient plan they had suggested. He feared, however,
some collision between the registration societies already
existing and the new associations proposed. He thought
it advisable, if possible, that they should be amalgamated,
and act together.—(Hear.)
After some further observations from members pre-
sent,

Mr. SOUTH MORSE moved that the plan now read be
adopted, printed, and circulated without delay amongst
the metropolitan constituencies.
Mr. TODD seconded the motion, and it was agreed to
unanimously.
Thanks were voted to the Chairman, and the meeting
separated.

PARIS POLICE COURTS. •
The Correctional Tribunal of the Seine was occupied
on the 23d and 20th ult., with the trial of a woman,
' calling herself the Baroness Pillay, for swindling. On
being asked her age by the Court, she replied 45, on
which the President observed that the information said
35 and her act of baptism 55. It appeared from the
evidence that a M. Delilliers, a man in business, being in
want of money, was recommended to apply to Mme. Pillay
for
,a loan of 17,000 f. He proceeded to the Villa St.-
James, in the Bois de Boulogne, and was very politely
received by the prisoner. She promised to let him have the
sum he required, and as security, required him to sign bills
for the amount, which, however, she pledged herself not
to negotiate. This he did, but could never get the sum
he had applied for. His bills were soon put into circu-
lat!on, and as he did not like declaring how they had
been procured, through fear of injuring his credit, he
said to the persons who came to inquire if they were
good, that he had purchased some bills from Mme,
Pillay with them. He, at once, however, repaired to
her residence, and reproached her with breaking
her word, and negotiating the bills. She re-
plied that they had been given to the Mar-
quis de B—, who was a great friend of hers,
and that •it must have been by some error that
they got out of his possession. • K.Dejilliers never got
back his bills, whch, it appeared, the prisoner had raid
away to a person named Chapelier, from whom she hired
her apartment at Villa St. James. Another victim Was a
M. de Montzaigle, who signed bills for 15,000 f., and
received in return 100 bottles of Madeira, and the pro-
mise of a manuscript work, by M. de Balzac, his uncle.
The prisoner said in explanation, that M. de Balza°, as
well as many other distinguished persons, frequently
came to visit her, and one day the author offered that,
as her life had been a varied one, if she gave him
her notes, he would work them up fur her. This was
the work she promised. The most curious instance
of the prisoner's powers in extracting money was in
the ease of a dressmaker named Colicamp, who, led away
by her boasting, lent her 3,000 f., which she never paid.
The prisoner, this witness declared, always was speaking
of great persons, and particularly the Marquis de
B—. The witness had once seen him at the prisoner's,
at Versailes, but he refused positively to give the
prisoner a farthing. This assertion the prisoner treated
as a joke, and assured the witness that she would
go to his country seat, and obtain a sum of money from
him. Some time after, the prisoner announced that she
should set out next lay, and would take the witness
with her. A travelling- carriage came to the door in
the morning, and they got into it with their luggage.
The postilion asked where he was going to, on which
the prisoner said to the witness, " Ah? by the by, where
are we going?" " Good heavens, Madam," replied the
witness astonished, "I thought you said to the
Marquis de B—'s country seat?" "So I did,"
said the other very coolly, "but I find he
has gone off to a watering-place, and I really
forget where. But I am certain it is either Baden,
Aix-la-Chapelle, or Dieppe; so we had better draw lots,
and decide where we shall go to." She then took three
pieces of straw, and very gravely arranged them in the
witness's hand, and, drawing one out, said that Dieppe
was the place. The witness said that she had lent
2,000 f. additional to defray the expenses. They remained
at Dieppe, where they found no Marquis, until their
money was gone, and then, being at a loss to return to
Paris, the prisoner, having met a M. Clamont at a ball,
went to him, and persuaded him to lend her money,
with which they returned. They went to Versailles,
and lived en that sum until it was nearly spent, when the
prisoner was arrested. The prisoner declared that the
greater part of the witness's statement was false, and
that slip had never declared that the Marquis de B—
was to give her money. She knew him intimately, she
said, and considered him a man of talent ; but she also
believed that he would not give apiece of sf. to his very
best friend. All the story of drawing lots was, she
added, a mere fable. Had she desired to swindle, she
could have done so for sums of 100,000 f., and not for
such trifles as those just alluded to. This was the whole
of the case on the 23d. At the close of it, the Court
announced that it would deliver its judgment that day
week. Consequently, on the 30th, the Court again met,
and, after acquitting the prisoner on three counts of the
indictment, declared her guilty on another, and sentenced
her to a fine of 501., and 15 months' imprisonment.

LITERATURE.
JAMES OF THE HILL. 3 Vols.
Newby, London, 1844.
The hero of this romance, "James of the Hill," is
a Scottish outlaw, whose wild and varied adventures
occupy a considerable portion of the work. The scene
of action is laid in Scotland, chiefly among the High-
lands, and the period chosen is the year 1630—a stir-
ring and troublous period both in England and the
sister country. The story is told in some places with
spirit and ability ; but the dialogues are frequently
prolix, and the incidents are scarcely numerous enough
for the space they occupy. The descriptions of Scot- •
tish scenery are uniformly good, and constitute the
redeeming features of the work.

THE HERETIC. 3 Vols.
Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1844.

This story is a translation from the Russian of M.
Lajetchnikoff, by a gentleman named Shaw,
_ Professor
of English Literature at the Imperial Lyceum of
Tsarskoe-Seloe. Of course, being unacquainted with
the original, we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the
translator's version ; but we may observe that his
language is spirited, especially in the dialogue portion
of his narrative, and that he has placed before us a
fiction which will be read with interest, if only for the
minuteness and apparent fidelity with which it deli-
neates the manners of the Russians in the middle and
lower walks of life, and the skill with which it deli-
neates the character of the Czar, Ivan. The epoch
selected by M. Lajetchnikoff is the fifteenth century
—an epoch, says the translator in his preface, "most
powerfully interesting in the history of every country,
and not less so in that of Russia." The best sus-
tained character in the story is that of the traveller.
Aphanasii Nikitin, portions of whase curious itinerary
—which is, we understand, still extant in the chief
public libraries in Russia—the author has adroitly,
contrived to interweave with his romance.