The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-10 00:00:00

FURTHER PAR rICULARS.

CALAIS, OCT. 7.—The accused
.party is a M. Sa-
lier, Commlssary of Police in Calais.
ft appears that on Saturday last, M. Salier had
dined at Meurice's Hotel, had afterwards visited a
masonic lodge, and finally adjourned to Dower's
Hotel, where he joined a party who were constantly in
the habit of spending their evenings there, among
whom was Dr. Thorn. The evening passed off with
hilarity and good humour. After one o'clock, M.
Salier, who had drunk very freely, and Dr. Thorn,
who had drunk also, but not to the same degree, de-
parted; they went to M. Salier's office, which is on
the ground-flo)r o' the Town-hall, and were seen
through the window, some say dancing, others say
struggling, but not so as to attract particular notice.
Thus matters passed till about two o'clock, when
Dr. Thorn was found dead, with a wound in his side,
only a few yards from M. Salier's office, at the en-
trance of the Town-hall. On inquiry being made, it
was ascertained that M. Sali4r had been with deceased
but a short time previously, and on searching M.
Salier's office a dagger was found thrown carelessly
among papers, but bearing marks of beir°, used;
some affirm that there was also found a cloth, others
a piece of paper, bloody. On this discovery, two
gendarmes were sent to M. Salier's lodgings, and
he was placed under arrest. An express was sent to
Boulogne to require the immediate attendance of the
Procureur du Roi, who- arrived here about three
o'clock yesterday. M. Salier was then brought
to the Town-hall, and an investigation took
place (the body of the deceased being in the
apartment, according to the law in this country),
before the Procureur, the Mayor of this town, and
the second Commissary of Police. It was, of course,
a painful and delicate situation for those officers to be
obliged to examine witnesses and receive proof against
M. Salier, who, to that hour, had long acted with
them, and had enjoyed their utmost confidence in the
discharge of his various duties. This investigation
was strictly private, and lasted till half-past ten o clock
last night, when it would appear there was thought to
be sufficient circumstantial evidence against M. Salier,
as he was sent off under a guard to the prison of Bou-
logne, and from thence he will be transferred to St.
Omer, and tried in the course of next month.
M. Sailer has not, admitted his guilt, but during
the investigation constantly alleged that he had no
recollection of any of the acts imputed to him. It is
allowed on all hands that he was very much intoxi-
cated, and it is said that Thorn, when they left the
hotel, carried Salier's coat for him, and otherwise as-
sisted him. There are reports that some differences
had arisen between them on a play debt of about sixty
francs, due by Salier; but the general belief is, parti-
cularly from their conduct to each other during the
evening, that they were on very friendly terms.
This nsornipg the body of Dr. Thorn was removed
to, annitamined--itt, the hospital. The wound was
extremely small, very little blood issuing from it; but
the dagger had struck more than -an inch into the
heart.

Dr. Thorn has left a widow •and three children,
objects of great commiseration, and highly worthy
of the sympathy of the benevolent; he is very gene-
rally regretted, and was about fifty-six years of age.
A very nemerous assemblage will attend his funeral
on Thursday. ••
M. Salier, in the discharge of his public duty,
attended to the passport and permit department, and
as he spoke English pretty well, was very attentive
and useful to the English residents of this town, and
to travellers generally. No precise motive can be
assigned, unless the excitement of drink, which is said
in the account to have been apparent during the
whole of yesterday. In the early part of the morning
he was doggedly stupid.
The dagger used to lie about M. Salier's office. It
is said he took it from a Spanish lady, who was men-
tally afflictei.

THE POLITICAL MARTYRS'
MONUMENT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW SATURDAY POST.
Sir,—l lately observed that an excellent article of
yours, regarding the Scots Political Martyrs, was
transferred to the columns of the Scotsman of the
31st ultimo, the editor of which highly respected
paper has undertaken—in a foot note to the article
referred to—to set right a mistake which he says you
have fallen into, by stating that the " authorities here
declined to gr..7.nt a suitable site" for the purpose of
erecting a monument in honour of the exalted virtue
displayed by these illustrious patriots.
Now, Sir, you have, in fact, committed no mis-
take at all, for the Provost's Committee—if I am not
egregiously misinformed—sent for three stout Tory
limners, and desired them to select, on the Calton-
hill, such a situation as they would consider suited to
the purpose, and they, like all steady adherents to the
cause of despotism—the ruling passion of their great
Macamos, George lll.—recommended an abominable
hole near the bottom of the hill, and which the Pro-
vost's Committee approved of and readily granted!
I therefore take leave to repeat that you certainly
have been guilty of no mistake whatever, for the
authorities you alluded to had abundance of suitable
sites on the hill in their gift, without resorting to their
Tory limners to counsel them, but they rather chose
to act on their suggestions, and gave the Committee
for erecting the monument a vile hole to place it in,
while they had plenty of most excellent situations in
their power.
Was this not tantamount to " declining to grant a
suitable site ?" Where, then, in reality, is the mis-
take that you have fallen into ?
But this sharp-sighted editor, who sees mistakes
that do not exist, feels no hesitation whatever in
making palpable misstatements himself, when he says
" that the Town Council granted the site which was
asked for by the Committee, viz., in front of the
Regent-terrace."
I can, however, set this editor to rights, for I be-
lieve that I have attended all the committee meetings
which have been held for nearly these twelve months
past, except one, to which the treasurer did not invite
me, either through neglect or design, and I can affirm
that the hole given by the authorities below the un-
seemly pile set up by way of doing honour to the me
mory of the illustrious Burns, was never once thought
of or asked for by the Committee, unless it may have
happened on the occasion when I was excluded, for if
such a proposal had been made in my presence, I
would have instantly opposed it, though at the risk of
being outvoted by the treasurer and the section of
the Committee who generally adhere to his views.
But after all, it must be confessed that the hole
given by the authorities was quite good enough for
the hideous structure that was intended to have been
erected upon it, for our secretary had appointed a
Tory architect to the Committee, who gave us a very
abomination of a design as an appropriate mark of
gratitude towards those illustrious men to whom
every individual in the country, save the Conser-
vatives of corruption, owe the warmest tribute of
affection and esteem. So much for the Provost's
Committee hunting after Tory limners to select a
site for a monument to commemorate principles which
they abhorred ; but which will become dearer and
dearer to the people of Scotland in proportion as their
intellectual powers are enlarged through the benignant
influence of education, and that their love of liberty
is increased by a calm and deliberate comparison of
Governments springing from the arbitrary will of
despots and those that are founded on the just and
immutable rights of man. These elite of the civic
authorities could not but know that their Tory em-
ployes would naturally irritate and disgust the true
friends of liberty, by their endeavouring to get placed
in an obscure and unsuitable situation a monument
which will hand down in fond remembrance to the
latest posterity, the worth and valour of men who
hesitated not to sacrifice themselves for the liberty
and welfare of their country, while at the
same time it will remain a galling eyesore
to all who participate in the odious principles
of despotism by which the country was then
governed, and may soon be so again under the
present Tory Government, if we look to Ireland for
a test of their inclination. As to our treasurer select-
ing the Tory architect who gave us the hideoausadelo-
sign, I hope it may be attributable to a more laudable
motive than that of getting a building erected which
would have excited the ironical scoff of the Conserva-
tive of corruption every time it met his eye. But
thanks to Messrs. —, the Tory interdictors and
suspenders, who came boldly forward as partisans of
their ifaction, and kindly rescued the monument from
the hole into which it would most likely otherwise
have been betrayed.—l am,
A MEMBER OF COMMITTEE.
Edinburgh, sept., 1844.