The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-20 00:00:00

FRENCH RAILWAYS.

In the Chamber of Deputies, on Wednesday, the Minister
of Public Works introduced several Railway Bills, which
have been looked forward to with great interest by specula-
tors both in France and in England. The Bills introduced
on Wednesday are for the construction of the following new

lines of railways :-
1. A Bill for the classement (fixing of the line) of the
railway from Vierzon to Chateauroux and Limoges on the
one part, and from Vierzon to Bourges and Clermont on the
other.
2. A Bill to raise 28 millions of francs for the continuation
of that part of the railway from Paris to the Atlantic, si-
tuated between Tours and Nantes.
3. A Bill for the classement of a railroad from Paris to
Rennes, by Chartres and Laval.
4. A Bill demanding a credit of eighty-eight millions of
francs for the completion of that part of the railway leading
from Paris to the frontiers of Germany, situated between
Paris and Hommarting, And passing through Epernay, Cha-
lons, Bar le Duc, and Nancy, with a branch railroad to
Rheims and Metz.
These different Bills comprise the formation of railroads to
the extent of about 500 leagues. They are all to be made
according to the mixed system laid down in the law of 1842.
The Debats says—" The outlay on the part of the State will be
about 60,000,000 f. per annum during six years. With the re-
sources at the disposal of the Minister of the Interior the
amount set aside for railroads is available without any embar-
rassment to the Treasury. The outlay, at the expense of Com-
panies, will be about 250 millions. The whole comprises an
operation of 600 millions, without counting all the other
public works which the State executes on the roads, the
rivers, the canals, and in the harbours, and independently
of that which is expended by powerful public companig, such
as the Rouen and Havre Railway Company, whosPworks
alone will absorb about forty millions."

ASSASSINATION.
(From the Gazette des Tribunaux.)
COUR D'ASSIZES DES BASSES PYRENEES (Pau).
Jacques Hourquebie exercised the humble offices of
garde champetre and garde forestier with rigorous in-
tegrity. The zeal with which he performed his duty
excited the hatred of all marauders. There was one, in
particular, who regarded him with a feeling of implac
able resentment ; this was the accused, Mathieu Labuig,
a man of a violent and passionate character, and great
bodily strength.
Jacques Hourquebie, it should be remarked, was de-
formed and of a slight make, and oppressed with infirmi-
ties, which rendered every movement of his body slow
and painful.
Mathieu Labuig, the accused, wearied with the con-
stant watchfulness of the garde, which formed a con-
tinual obstacle to his marauding propensities, and irri-
tated by an imprisonment which he had undergone for
the space of three years, ceased not to utter the most
horrible menaces against Hourquebie.
Fifteen witnesses deposed as to the threats uttered
" They will not kill that wretch," said Labuig, speak-
ing of Hourquebie. " How I should like to cut off his
hump with my bill-hook; what delight to crush him be-
tween two millstones." On one occasion he actually
predicted the manner of his death, saying he ought to
be killed with the bill-hook and thrown in the mill-
dam. "Ah ! if I could find him between the dog
and the wolf" (parts of the mill which are called chicn
and loup). On one occasion last summer, the prisoner
offered 40 francs to a witness to detain tli garde at a
cabaret until night, that he, the prisoner, might have
the opportunity of meeting him on his return home. On
the 26th of last January, Hourquebie did not return home.
His step-brother, who is the instituteur communal, uneasy
at his absence, commenced an active search to discover
what had become of him. At some distance from
his house he found his brother's walking-stick,
and a loaded pistol, which he usually carried for his own
defence. There was also a large spot of blood on the
road. On tracking the marks of blood along the
road, he arrived at the mill-dam, where he found the
body of the garde horribly mutilated by what ap-
peared to be a bill-hook. Suspicion was instantly
fastened on the prisoner. The police searched his
house, and found a blouse which he had worn the
night before ; it had been washed in some places
only, and was hanging out to dry. On his being asked
to produce his bill-hook, he showed one that he was not
in the habit of using ; the one he actually used was
afterwards discovered in a bee-hive. Footmarks were
discovered at the supposed place of the murder. They
presented an exact counterpart to the nails in the shoes of
the accused. The evening of the murder, just after the
" Angelus " had ceased, the garde was seen to pass, and
soon after the accused.
A witness deposed that about the same time h 3 heard
four piercing shrieks, at some considerable distance.
It appeared that before his arrest, the prisoner, con-
versing with a gendarme, said, " They cannot condemn
without proofs." " They will find proofs," said the
gendarme. The prisoner, after a moment of reflection,
said, as if it were a thought full of consolation, " They
do not now condemn to death."
This deposition caused a general shudder in the Court.
M. Laporte, Avocat•General, showed that though
there was no direct evidence of the prisoner's guilt, there
must Le a moral certainty of it.
M. Lamargnere, with singular ability, endeay.oured.
to show that the evidence was consistent with the pri-
soner's innocence.
Labuig was condemned to 20 years' hard labour and
exposure. He is 60 years of age.

MONTHLY STATISTICS OF IN

SOLVENCY.

Daring the month of April, there have appeared in the
Gazette, the names of persons who have received orders
vesting their property in the provisional assignees, that
is to say, as much of their property as they have not
squandered away or placed beyond the reach of their
creditors
Assignments to trustees for equal benefit of creditors 28
Declarations of Insolvency
Bankrupts

Making a total of lnolvents for the month of 349
This is a considerable reduction as compared with the
corresponding month of the previous year. If we assnme
that for one insolvency that appears in the Gazette there
are nine settlel by private compromise, the monthly list
will amount to 3,490 ; and if the loss on each case be
estimated at the very moderate sum of 2001, the monthly
loss to the nation will amount to 798,000/, and on these
assumed data, the loss during the year 1843 was twelve
millions. Persons concerned in the administration of the
insolvency laws say that this estimate is, in all proba-
bility, much below the truth. Under Lord Brougham's
late Act, by which vesting orders protect the persons of
theinsolvents, a hundred cases were adjudicated by one
Commissioner in 1843, in which the total amount of
debts were 100,000/., and the total amount of assets 3901.
or hardly 4/. a case ! If these one hundred cases be
taken as a rule for the 60,000 insolvencies of the year
1843, the total of bad debts during that year would have
been sixty millions ! and the assets may be anything the
reader in his experience may estimate them at.
These are fearful sums to be transferred from the
pockets of the capitalist (oftentimes a man in very
humble life), and to be lost by illicit distribution. Some
Parliamentary returns, which are in preparation, will
supply a nearer approach to the real truth ; but the
actual annual amount of loss cannot be ascertained,
until it is by law prohibited to make any private com-
promise for debt. All cases of insolvency should be re-
gistered in the Courts, the names, amount of debts, and
amount of assets. Several attempts have been made to
obtain this wholesome regulation, but they have, been
hitherto defeated by sinister influences.
The subject of insolvency laws is again under discus.
sion, by the introduction of Lord Cottenham's Bill, which
will place the person of the debtor still more beyond
the reach of the creditor, and confiscate a larger amount
of honest men's capital. The business men in the City
with one voice declare this will be a further confiscation
of their property ; but they say that in the present
mood of the Legislature it is of no use to stir, nor will
it be, until the fatal,!and vice-protecting error of
.sympa-
thising with the debtor instead of the creditor, repu-
diated. One Commissioner of Bankruptcy said, the
other day, that he heard much commiseration for the
unfortunate debtor and his family, but none for the un-
fortunate creditor and his family. Bad imsolvency laws
demoralise the middle classes, as bad and ill-adimnis-
tered poor-laws demoralise the lower classes.

FABRICATED OUTRAGES.
The extraordinary charge against Mr. Edward Fry,
son of a magistrate of the county of Roscommon, was
further investigated on Monday last, at the Petty Ses-
sions of Boyle. The nature of the charge against this
gentleman, who, it is stated, is highly connected in the
county of Roscommon, must be fresh in the recollection
of
our readers, as the proceedings at the opening in-
quiryv i dedy , inducinginto
and,his twosuhte
subsequently,
edr
la,
unEec
dial i el
were so recently reported. The accusation is di-
vided
kill a
affidavit, mare,
ihni hie pwhichro-
Ee r t
a being persons unknown, his object
e stated that the mar";
sardsfiwscreso;tlmntgor. Fry was accused of
by some person or
compensa-
tion of the county for the alleged to recover
was also charged with having ot malicious injury. He
of Burns to write a threatening ilieFerson of the name
" Young Smart." The original of ttehristo him, signed
notice, it was
staled by one of the witnesses, was retaine
in order that its contents should be embodied
in his affi-
davit for compensation.
After the examination of witnesses, chiefly persons in
the employment of the accused, the Magistrates received
informations against him, and he has been held to bail
to stand his trial at the next assizes.
Under the circumstances, we shall refrain from any
observations on the case, as regards the guilt or inno-
cence of Mr. Fry, merely referring to the report of the
investigation, which seems to have been conducted with
fairness, by Mr. 'Wray, R.M., and other Magistrates.
The matter in issue is of the deepest importance, espe-
cially to the county. of Roscommon, where so many
outrages of an agrarian character have recently been
committed.—. Dublin Post,

EXETER HALL PETS.
(From Punch.)
Religion, like fancy, has her peculiar favourites.
Ladies and gentlemen have, among the various heathen,
their pet proselytes, just as among birds and dogs they
have their pet macaws, their pet poodles. It is an
adage old as truth—whose register of birth was not lost
at the flood—that the human heart must love something ;
hence, beautiful is it, in this balmy month of May, to
see crowds of lovers—spiritual lovers we mean—as-
cending the chrystal steps of Exeter Hall, to testify
their affection for the benighted sons and daughters of
earth thousands and thousands of miles away.
Elastic, indeed, are human heart-strings, for they
stretch from pole to pole. Indeed, with many of the
worthy people of Exeter Hall, distance is essential to
love. Just as connoisseurs take a backward step truly to
consider the beauties of a picture, do many of these good
folks require distance to see the miseries of human nature
through an attractive medium. They have no taste for
the destitution of the alley that abuts upon their dwell-
ing-place, but how they glow—how they kindle at the
misery somewhere in Africa I Familiarity truly begets
contempt. The famishing shoe-binder or sempstress is
a homely common-place ; the benighted Chinese an
exotic darling. With some folks sympathy, like Madeira,
is all the better for a sea voyage.
We have said that proselyte-mongers have their spe-
cial pets ; among them, the Hebrew people bear a great
price. Hence, as was shown at a late meeting, upwards
of 25,000/..are annually subscribed for the conversion of
the Jews at Jerusalem, Hebron, Beyrout, Constan-
tinople, Smyrna, and we know not at how many other
places promising in apostacy. We must confess, we
should like to see a fair balance-sheet of this account.
We should like to know the exact number of converted
Hebrews, that we might arrive at something like the
market-price of a renegade Jew. We own it ;we more
than fear that he is a great luxury ; a bird of Paradise
of exceeding cost. Hence, we confess it, we would have
our gentle countrywomen retrench their outlay on the
foreign curiosity, that they might better afford to buy
up somewhat of the misery produced at home.
A day or two after the meeting was held of these be-
nevolent people. whose hearts yearn for the Jews in Sa-
pet and Strasburgh, there appeared in the papers—but
then the tragedy happened at No. 1, Angel-court, Long-
acre, not a quarter of a mile from Exeter Hall—an ac-
count of the death of one Mary Wall, aged 35. She
died famished. John Bitton, of St. Martin's Work-
house, testified as follows :
" On opening the door of a room on the ground floor,
or, more properly speaking, a lumber room, there being
no floor to it, he found the deceased lying on her face on
the earth, her body covered with shavings, and her head
resting on part of an old basket similar to a wine-merchant's
hamper. She was groaning, and seemedlquite insensible."
Mr. Leonard, surgeon to the out-door poor of St.
Martin's, deposed:—" On being taken to the workhouse,
remedies were used to restore animation ; but she never
rallied, and died within twenty-four hours after. The
place where deceased dwelt emitted a most noisome
smell from the quantity of decayed garden-stuff. On
making a post mortem examination, he found inflam-
mation of both lungs, which no doubt arose from the
non-application for medical assistance ; which, together
with her not receiving any domestic comforts, and ying
on the bare and cold ground alone and neglected, pro-
duced extreme exhaustion, of which she died."
It must, however, be allowed that the death of the
woman was doubtless accelerated by her determination
not to go into the workhouse ; nevertheless, had we
societies as actively benevolent in the Angel-courts of
London and our great towns as in Constantinople and
Smyrna—had we home missionaries of charity to tempt
the Redd dangers of Seven Dials and Spitaifields, could
these scenes of horror be enacted ? But then there is
this bar to the zeal of the philanthropic—both Seven
Dials and Spitaifields are close at hand ; they are real,
tangible foulness ; the eye turns from them—the nostril
shrinks at them ; whilst what a picturesqueness invests
Constantinople—what a halo of beauty does distance
cast about Jerusalem

Again ; consider the great difference between the
objects to be succoured. The dwellers of English
lanes and alleys are common, vulgar things ; creatures
of foul and violent speech ; commonplace in their very
rags and ghastliness. But the Jews—the spiritually
forlorn of Jerusalem. Oh, the evangelical imagination
clothes them with the mystic beauty of the place ; up-
lifts and sublimates them by the magic of re-
ligious fervour, and the very tatters of the He-
brew become rareand_beautiful as Joseph's coat of many
colours. And so, soft-hearted lathes and gentlemen,
rapt by the forlornness of the far-off Jew 2 write their
cheques, or put their money in the plate, too deliciously
possessed by the sweet apostate in the distance ever to
dream of the famishing Christian at their right hand.
Could we but transport our destitute population to
China or to Africa, we have no doubt that many English
Samaritans would then be marvellously piteous of them.
Oh, ye miserable Christians, who hunger and waste un-
visited in English lanes and cellars—why arc ye not Jews,
glorified by distance, dwelling at Bey rout and Hebron ?
On the last meeting of the Society in question, the
Bishop of Winchester preached a sermon. Eloquent no
doubt was the discourse ; heart-touching, pocket-pene-
trating. We would, however, that his Grace—if only
for one round—would visit the Angel-courts of London :
the pilgrimage might, we think, give an impetus to the
sluggish imaginations of those who think that true
misery, real mental darkness, is only to be found, like
their fine hyson, in a far country.
Allowing, however, that it is necessary to the apo-
plectic philanthropy of some folks to bleed their purses
for the heathen, we think that at least the Jews might
be left as they are until every other unbeliever should be
converted.
Here, Madam—you who at the last meeting in-
vested five pounds in apostate Jews—here is a map of
the world. Cast your eye over it. Here is the poor
Esquimaux doomed to whale-blubber and a soul-blight-
ing creed --here the Red Man—here the Hottentot—
here the New Zealander—here people on people, and
tribe on tribe, all in utmost darkness. Enlighten them,
and then, if you will, begin with the Hebrew. Mean
while, for ourselves—we confess it—we have more than
a sneaking respect for a people mho had Moses for a
leader and a law-giver. We rarely meet a long-boarded
Rabbi that he does not carry our thoughts to the plains
of 111amre—to the first patriarchs of the first nation.
And ye, who would convert the Jews, first copy the
Jew's great virtue—first take care of your own
poor; feed and clothe them, and then, if you will, with
the superfluity make proselytes of the Hebrew. Mean-
while, with misery wasting thousands of our fellow-
Christians at our very doors, we hold the subscription of
large sums of money for, at best, the questionable con-
version of the Jew, as the offering of a miserable, morbid
egotism; and should still think so of the purpose, though
the whole bench of Bishops wagged their silver tongues
in aid of if.