The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY 'EVENING, JANUARY 6, 1844.

ing a decrease in the year of 64,9451., and in the
quarter, 38,1011. The Taxes, also, have decreased
on the year 83,1061., and on the quarter, 17,306/.
The Post-office, while exhibiting a decrease on
the year of 13,0001., has increased in the quarter
2,0001. On Crown-lands there is a decrease both
in the quarter and year; and in the Miscel-
laneous there is an increase of 1,055,3301., with a
decrease on the quarter of 9,620/. The total
ordinary revenue, including Imprest and other
Moneys, is 50,071,9431. ; while, in 1843, it
was 44,329,8651. We are gratified on seeing
these results, because they prove that, under the
greatest difficulties, this country shows her
immense strength and activity, and is prepared to
meet every danger. Sir ROBERT PEEL now has
a surplus, and he can afford to abate some of the
most obnoxious taxes.

The plans in active operation in Hindostan,
Sinde, and the Punjaub, cannot fail to excite
some interesting discussions in the ensuing session.
Every additional information from these quarters,
together with the circumstances in which the
Indian Government is placed, however, only lead
to the conviction that the great measures in
progress will receive a deliberate and impartial
consideration at the hands of nearly all parties, and
that it will be generally admitted that the occupation
of the countries bordering on the Indus is the result
of necessity and not of choice. Most persons who
have viewed the extent of our dominions in India are
quite satisfied that they are sufficiently large, and that
it would be desirable, under ordinary circumstances,
to confine them to the limits settled within the last ten
years ; but if it become a question whether it is safer to
extend them, or to risk the loss of those already attained,
no man can hesitate for a moment as to the alter-
native. We have powerful and restless neighbours in
the west. The Punjaub would be a rich prize to a
body of Affghans, Persians, and Russians ; the Go-
vernments of these countries or their agents have
made no secret of their intentions ; and England would
justly be regarded as guilty of cowardice and suicide
if she allowed any Power whatever to take possession
of districts_on our frontier absolutely necessary for
self-defence. We want no more territory, but we
want to preserve what we possess ; and unless we
have the thorough command of the Indus, from its
source to its mouth, and the great tributary branches ;
unless we can raise a strong barrier against encroach-
ing neighbours, and use these rivers not only for
trade but for protection, the peace of some of the
most valuable districts would not be worth two years'
purchase. This is the view of the question taken by the
two great parties in the State. For this purpose the
Whig Government, at an enormous expense, sent an
army into Caubul, and the Tories have the same ob-
ject in annexing Sinde to Hindostan. The Whigs,
in fact, have the merit of discovering the plan, and
their opponents have the merit of carrying it into
effect. What madness, then, in a Whig journal to
attack Sir C. NAPIER and Lord ELLENBOROUGH
for doing what Lord AUCKLAND fully intended, and
wickedly magnify the sickness of the brave Sinde
army for party purposes ! In the Chronicle of yes-
terday we find these words :—" Sickness has in-
gloriously decimated the gallant army under Sir
C. NAPIER in Sinde. Of 8,504 men, composing the
garrisons of Hyderabad and Kurrachee, 3,856 were
sick. ' The malaria of Sinde,' says the Bombay Times,
'is much more formidable than the snows of Caubul.'
Any position on the Indus, after its fall, must prove
fatal to the occupiers ; and thus the boasted
conquest of Lord ELLENBOROUGH proves nothing
but a pestilential grave." Why will this
paper not leave Sinde alone ? Why will it
heap coals of fire upon the heads of its patrons, and
compel impartial readers to contrast the sickness of
Chusan, and the heart-rending disasters of Caubul,
with the partial and temporary sufferings of our troops
in Sinde ? "Sickness has ingloriously decimated the
gallant army of Sir CHARLES NAPIER!" Who ever
heard of a glorious decimation ? But what did the
withdrawal of Sir Joust KEANE, with the best of his
army, and the appointment of General ELPHINSTONE,
do in Caubul ? The troops were not ingloriously
decimated by sickness, but they were ingloriously
defeated by an enemy that common foresight and
common bravery might have set at defiance. They
were not confined to their barracks and hospitals
by the inclemency of the climate, or by diseases
brought on from natural causes ; their General and
their officers gave them up to the enemy without
a struggle ; when in the snare, they were slaughtered
like noxious animals, and out of fifteen thousand
men, women, and children, only one reached
Jellelabad to tell the tale. But what is more, they
were located in a country where every man's hand
was against them, leaving no excuse for a surprise ;
while the decimated troops of Sir CHARLES NAPIER
are hailed as friends, and their sickness, which the
lying writers in the Bombay and Delhi papers seem
to exult in, is as much lamented by the natives as by
every true-hearted Englishman. We have given ex-
tracts from these papers, as in duty bound, but at the
same time place little confidence in their state-
ments. They are exaggerated to an enormous extent.
No writer who says that the army of Sinde could
be overpowered by a handful of Beloochees, is a
friend of his country, or to be believed upon his
oath. Of the same stamp is a paragraph in the
Canton Press, which states that " the Plenipoten-
tiary loses no opportunity of denouncing the gross
iniquity of the invasion of Sinde; and on this
question there is, perhaps, no man alive more com-
petent to give an authorative decision than Sir
HENRY POTTINGER." This lie is easily put down, by
no less an authority than Sir HENRY POTTINGER
himself. In the blue book containing the correspon
deuce on Sinde, we find the following decisive ar-
gument in justification of Sir CHARLES NAPIER'S
conduct, long, be it remembered, before the
Ameers had committed the treacherous acts which
roused the vengeance of the Indian authorities.
" They," said Sir HENRY POTTINGER, " had
themselves literally imposed upon us the nem-
siLy of dictating the arrangements provided for by
the late treaty, and they must henceforward consider
Sinde to be, as it is in reality, a portion of
Hindostan, in which our position makes us para.
mount, and entitles us to act as we consider best and
fittest for the general good of the whole empire." So
much for the adverse opinion of the man best com-
petent to judge. But without the opinion of such an
authority any one acquainted with the history of the
transaction can judge for himself. The Ameers are
not the rightful owners of Sinde ; they were, till
they set up for themselves, tributaries of the
Caubul Sovereigns, and having ground down
the unfortunate native population by every
possible extortion, and ruined the trade, and con-
sequently the resources, of the country, like Brother
Jonathan they became repudiators. They did
more. They broke treaties ; they intrigued with
Persia ; they received and entertained Russian
spies disguised as Turks ; they attempted to raise
Lahore against liindostan ; and committed such acts
of treachery on the march of our troops to Caubul,
that Lord AUCKLAND, if he had remained in office,
had no other alternative, but to crush them at
once, as Lord ELLENBOROUGH has justly done. While
animadverting on the aberration of one Liberal paper,
which attacks its opponents and kills its friends, we
see with some degree of pride that two Tory journals,
once equally adverse, 'sut from a different cause, to
the occupation of Sinde, have changed their opinions.
On mature deliberation, the writers in these papers see
that self-preservation, and not conquest, is the object;
and, with a frankness which does them honour, they
albjure their former doctrines and support a system
essentially necessary to the prosperity of British
India, and the very existence of our empire in the East.

The Marquis of WESTMINSTER, it will be observed,
has signalised the commencement of the new year, by
the munificent donation of 5001. to the " Great
Fund" of the Anti-Corn-law League. If there had
been any reasonable doubt before of the 1•11ble Mar-
quis's adhesion to the principles and the object of the
League, this costly evidence of his decided approba-
tion of its views, and his sanction of its course, would
suffice to set that doubt at rest. But his Lordship's
letter, covering this subscription, is a document that
carries the expression of approval to the language of
hearty congratulation. It is a very characteristic
letter. The strong good sense and manly simplicity
which used to distinguish, in years past, the well re:
membered speeches of the Marquis in Parliament, are
conspicuous, here, in every line. The receipt of so re-
communication must form
markable .a memorable
a

feature in the history of the League. The almost
regal income of the Marquis, and the very extensive
influence which his public acts are calculated to ex-
ercise (not only on account of his great wealth, and
his vast landed property, but also because of his ac-
knowledged judgment, experience, and sagacity,
in all questions of domestic economy and legis-
lation), impart a character of almost public
authority, as well as of public interest, to
his denunciation of the corn-law monopoly.
Even the landed interest itself—that portion of it
which still obstinately adheres to the principle of pro-
tection to home-grown corn, and the bungling imbe-
cility of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S " sliding-scale,"—cannot
fail seriously to consider, that if there were really any
substantial benefit to the landowner or farmer in re-

twining such mischievous absurdities on the statute-
book, the Marquis of "WESTMINSTER must have all
the reasou,in the world to uphold them,—at least, so
far as considerations of his own personal advantage
might influence him. Now, we will not put this
view of the question on any principle to be deter-
mined by the greater or the less degree of bias which
interested views might exercise on the opinions of
this particular individual. We shall assume that he
would be as much swayed by a regard "to his own
interest," as it is called, in looking at this matter, as
any other opulent landowner ;—that he would be as
much governed by an universal impulse of
our nature as any of his own tenantry,—
neither more nor less. But it will hardly
be denied to us, that a public man who has, through-
out a long and very able career, developed such
powers as the Noble Marquis has brought to bear in
the House of Lords (we may select for our illustra-
tion, the debates on the Pains and Penalties Bill
against Queen CAROLINE in 1821, especially as to
the exclusion of her MAJESTY'S name from the Li-
turgy ; those on the Repeal of the Test and Corpora-
tion Acts in 1828, and those, again, on the Roman
Catholic Relief Bill in 1829), may be supposed to
form an accurate estimate of the real working of any
fiscal or financial project. Observe how briefly and
distinctly he disposes of the Customs Duty question,
in calculating the effect of losing the amount of reve-
nue now received into the State coffers from the
occasional imports of foreign corn :
" As to the duty—that it is said would be lost to the coun-
try, if not insisted on—l am satisfied that such would be the
prosperity of all classes from the abolition of this impost, such
the advantage that would accrue to all the moneyed concerns of
the community, that, in a very short thee, the general wealth
would be so far augmented that the national revenue would
outrun the amount of any duty that has been proposed, whe-
ther 35., is., or tis."
What Sir ROBERT PEEL'S opinion on this point is,

—the most unpleasant upon which the view of a First
Lord of the Treasury, governed by the or-
dinary feelings of Ministerial leaders, can rest—
it is not for us to anticipate. But we warn
him, notwithstanding the smart array of im-
proved receipts which appears in the financial
statement just published, that the people will not
continue to pay the agricultural taxes to which they
are at present subject, nor the enormous Excise and
Customs taxation which so scandalously increases the
charge of the first necesssaries of life, and of those
other articles of consumption and food which custom
and the care of their health have almost incorporated
into this class of necessaries. From his productive
property and income tax (by which, during the last
year, he has managed to squeeze out of the recesses
of John Bull's exhausted pockets no less than
five millions and a quarter (!) in addition to
assessed and all other taxes), the Premier will
assuredly have to provide for some such coming de-
mands as the repeal of the whole, or the greater por-
tion, of the malt duty; of the duties on tea, sugar,
coffee, &c. And as to the duty on foreign corn, the
handwriting on the wall " has already shadowed
forth the prediction that it has gone front him. Lord
WESTMINSTER has now expounded the intimation for
him, with a perspicuity calculated to silence the last
efforts of Treasury scepticism.
But, perhaps, our high-spirited and capacious-
minded Premier is solacing himself, still, with some
secret hope that he may yet charm to a grim repose
the now excited and angry vigilance of the over-
burdened people. Haply he trusts to allay the ap-
proaching tempest of their discontent, (whose coming
is announced by muttered "curses—not loud but
deep"—upon the selfish, legislation which paralyses
our domestic industry, impoverishes and starves our
native artisans, cramps and depresses our commercial
enterprise, and clogs the healthful action of the na-
tional industry with unnatural restraints and factitious

impediments, and monopolitical checks)—by some
new devices of his " lulling craft." Vain of his suc-
cess in political Mesmerism, he speculates, it may be,
on as quietly casting the high spirit of the British
public into a dreamy torpor and patient inanition,—as
if he were plausibly prosing to Tamworth farmers
about some day " buying them the best bull in all Bir-
mingham," for the amelioration of their stock. Perhaps
he hopes to extend his school of dupes from tythings and
hundreds to counties; from counties to cities; from
cities to the broad limits of the whole United King-
dom. But the days of shadow-catching are over.
Ile will not tempt the farm labourers of his own
manor, again, to any such amusement, unless they
have previous demonstration and experience of the
fact that he has repealed the giant grievance of the
existing corn-laws. If, however, Sir ROBERT PEEL
will not do us the honour to listen to our assurances,
let him take what comfort he can from the Marquis
of WESTMINSTER. That Noble Lord goes at once to

the cream of the practical question, and extinguishes
the whole puppet-show delusion of recent landlord
and tenant festivals, with a straightforwardness of
purpose, and a simple vigour of expression, that re-
mind us of some of the best hits of COBBETT in his
best time. We have always given, and shall con-
tinue to do so, full credit to the great landowners who
meet, at agricultural dinners, the farmers and graziers
of their vicinity, for the sincerity of the expressions of
good feeling and sympathy which they are in the
habit of addressing, on such occasions, to their tenantry
and fellow-guests. But these interchanges of feeling

and good will, valuable as they are, will never go to
the remedying of our existing distresses, till the incu-
bus of a corn-law monopoly is removed. Until that
he done, landlords—nobles or commoners—must put
up with such stern truths as these :
"It may be all very well" (writes the Noble Marquis)
"at agricultural meetings, to talk of the advantages of long
leases, of tile draining, &c., and to drink the health of the
labourers; but to what good effect? Long leases are, in cer-
tain districts, and under certain well-known circumstances,

desirable enough; good draining has long been understood and
practised, where there have been sufficient means, sufficient
enterprise, and a soil requiring it; praise has no doubt been
deservedly lavished upon the farm labourers ; but there is
something still to be done much more important to them,
which is, to give them the means of obtaining an independent
livelihood, solid pudding being preferable to empty praise, and
this cannot be effected without the abrogation of these mis-
chievous enactments."

In a preceding article we explained the process by
which it has happened that Church lands, and espe-
cially the episcopal estates in Ireland, have become
generally deteriorated, and the progress of agricul-
tural improvement in them intercepted, more than
on any other estates in the kingdom. We return now
to the subject, with the view of showing how effec-
tual an amended kind of tenure might be rendered,
for the better providijlg for the spiritual wants of the
whole mass of the population, Catholic as well Pro-
testant, in Ireland.
Let it be conceded, then, that the intermediate
letting of the bishops' estates to undertakers on leases
of twenty-one years' duration, subject to annual fine,
is an evil. What we propose is, that a compromise on
the part of the State should be immediately entered
into with the bishops, in esse, with the view of ter-
minating this obnoxious kind of tenure. It is calcu-
lated that about the sum of 83,6301. is annually
realised by fines, under the present system. This
sum may, therefore, be considered as the annual
value of an annuity, terminable with the various lives
of the existing annuitants. Let a composition be
effected on this calculation, which it should be im-
perative on both parties, bishops and undertakers, to
accept. It would follow then, that all their lands
would be immediately cut of lease, and they would
come into the possession of the State, subject to the
perpetual annuities payable to the bishops, to the
amount of 45,2581. per annum, this being the present
yearly income derivable from the rents.
It would be necessary, then, to form a corporation
agiregate, in which this property should be invested,
in trust. It has been calculated by eminent survey-
ors that at a very moderate computation their lands
might be made to yield at least a rental of 500,0001.
We should recommend the State to employ this ex-
tensive fund, first, in the payment of settled stipends

to the Protestant archbishops and bishops ; and, se•
condly, in the purchase of glebe lands and other en-
dowments for the Roman Catholic clergy.
By adopting the course we have pointed out, it ap-
pears that an arrangement might in the first instance
be entered into, which would be exceedingly benefi-
cial for the Protestant hierarchy; and secondly, a suit-
able fund might thereby be created, which would de-
fray the expense of educating, and maintaining in re-
spectability, a body of men of competent attainments
to minister to the religious necessities of the great
mass of the population. It seems to us that no possi-
ble objection could be offered to such an arrangement.
The present resources of the Protestant prelates would
be rendered certain and easy of payment ; while, by
means of an improved mode of culture, introduced by
a better security for the investment of capital, an ade-
quate provision might be made for the maintenance of
a body of men, who, rightly or wrongly, must exist,
and whom, therefore, it behoves the State to secure by
such a tie.

We shall not here enter into the discussions of cer-
tain objections, which we are aware might be urged,
of an abstract character to the plan we have suggested.
Those objections are best. met by a simple reference to
the present frightful condition of the Irish nation, to
the fearful amount of poverty, ignorance, and crime
which may everywhere be discerned, and which de-
mand a palliative, and, if possible,, acure, too urgently
to admit of delay—too emphatically, to be postponed
to the settlement of nice theoretic points of system.

Madrid journals, of the 29th have been received,
from which we learn that meetings, both of the Con-
servative and Reform parties, had been held to discuss
the late ordonnance of the QUEEN. A deputation of
the former, consisting of MM. OLIVAN, POSADA,
NOSEDAL, and others, waited upon M. GONZALES
BRAVO, and demanded some explanation of the in-
tentions of the Government, and also some informa-
tion of the programme which it was said they were
to publish. M. GONZALES BRAVO assured the Depu-
tation that it was his intention to govern constitu-
tionally. He said he had prorogued the Cortes
merely for the purpose of hastening- some mea•
sures which were important and urgent, and those
more especially which had reference to the pro-
vincial deputations and the organisation of the
National Guard, and he added that three weeks
or a month would be sufficient for these prelimi-
nary labours, and that he would then call toge-
ther the Cortes, and ask for a bill of indemnity.
The answer satisfied the deputatioia, and they retired.
At the meeting of the other party, Senor MAnoz
being called to the chair, a proposition was made to
issue a manifesto to the nation. This was judged in-
expedient by the Chairman, and the plan was aban-
doned. A Committee, however, was formed, con-
sisting of CORTINA, MADOZ, and SERRANO, who are
to take legal steps to oppose the despotic acts of the Ge-
vernment. Several of the individuals committed on a
charge of attempting to assassinate NARVAEZ, had
made their escape from prison.

The Three per Cents. were done on the 29th at
25 5-16, at sixty days ; the Four per Cents. at 18;
and the Five per Cents. at 201, for cash.

The accounts from Paris now leave no doubt that
the Government have given up all intentions of pro •
posing a pension for the Duke of NEMOURS as Regent.
The Members of the Chamber of Deputies had been
sounded, and as all the Opposition Members, and a
considerable number of M. G UIZOT'S friends were
hostile to the measure, it has been considered more
prudent to wait for another session. The Committee
of the Chamber of Peers met on Wednesday, when
the draft of the Address, drawn up by the Duke of
BROGLIE, was read and adopted. It was to be
presented to the House on Friday, but the
discussion will not take place till the Bth
inst. The Presse says the Duke has inserted
a paragraph relative to the pilgrimages to London,
which would probably compel the Marquis DE
DREUX BREZE, to defend the conduct of his political
friends. If we are to believe the National, the
French Government are afraid of an invasion from
the Duke of BORDEAUX. " IVe learn," it says,
"from Cany, near St. Valery-en-Caux, that an active
watch is kept up along the coast. The posts are rein-
forced at all the places where a landing can be effected,
and supplies of arms and ammunition are conveyed
thither. All these precautions, we are assured, are
adopted against not less than an invasion of the Pre-
tender. The Custom-house officers, gendarmerie, and
cruizers have a great deal to do to calm the terror of
the Government." This is a very improbable story,
for though the Duke of BORDEAUX, who is to
arrive at Brighton this day, might easily make a
voyage to the French coast, we cannot believe that even
BOURBON folly would lead him to take a step which
would make him a fellow-prisoner at Ham with that
bright adventurer, Louis NAPOLEON. The follow-
ingFrancais is the only
lIIERS and his party
and his Minister have
oseneema rwtt
to believe
he
lf
ireoevxneit
rt
aht
chi:
nti:o urn
KAli iN.eG;
been so bittten by Queen VICTORIA that, by and bye,
they will address the Chambers in the English
language :
~ On Tuesday, in the bureaux, M. Thiers demanded an ex-
planation of the meaning of the words ' cordial understand-
ing' between the Governments of England and France. The
Minister of Foreign Affairs replied, that after having dis-
cussed each question they understood one another. Without
offence to the Ministre academician, this answer is no more
than ajeu de mots. ' Understanding,' in the sense in which it
is used in the speech from the throne, is very rarely so used in
diplomatic idiom, and more rarely by us in the ordi-
nary expression of our sentiments. But it is the literal
translation of an English word constantly employed in this
acceptation. If, then, Al. Thiers, no less an academicien
than Al. Guizot, insists upon ?snowing the difference between
' cordial understanding,' and ' close alliance or friendship,'
he may convince himself without any trouble, or, as we
may say, ' understand each other like thieves at a fair;'
Ai.
but the expression ' cordial understanding' is a pure angli-
cism, created, no doubt, during the Royal effusions at Eu,
and applied to the speech from the throne by Al. Guizot
twoof Nillemain. Thus the do e alliance
betweenwt nations, in 1843, has been baptised with a
i h the t
11 se s en t
British name. This is certainly flattering to England. What
would we have ? If we are to believe the Englih papers, there
can be no safety for France but iu a full renewal of her alliance
with England. According to them this was the profound con-
viction of the King of the French, expressed with emphasis.
In these papers the King is treated more respectfully than be-
fore. Far be it from us to lay the least restriction upon the
homage paid to his courage and political sagacity. How, then,
are all these eulogiums to be divided in halves between the
Throne and the Cabinet ? Is the praise addressed to the King
to be only a passport to the praises conferred upon the Ministry,
while the Parliament, the country, all France, in fine, disap-
pears from the vision of those fulsome flatterers on the other
side of the Channel, who thus extol the alliance between the
two nations? Who amongst us will believe in the sincerity of
desire of the English to see their friendship again flourishing ?
They play their part badly by wounding our just susceptibility,
and though they may have the Ministry on their side, they
will have public opinion against them. klave they nothing to
lose by this?"
BOURSE—PARIS, TH MIS DAY, JAN. 4.
First Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. 124 30... 124 40... 124 30 .. 124 35
Threes B2 70... 82 85... 82 65.. 82 80
Bank of France. 3200 ...3202 50 ..3200 ...3202 50
Laffitte Bank I,ooof 1100 _llOO —.llOO —.llOO
Belgian Bank .....
Belgian Fives, 1840 lOB ... 108 i ... 108 ... 108 k
Spanish Active
... 29 ... 291 ... 294
Passive ..... 54 sh ... 5h ... 5h
Portuguese Fives
Neapolitan
It .man ...... ........... 1041 ... 1041 .. 1041 ... 1041

RAILWAY SHARES
St. Germain
Versailles, R.B 3/2 50... 312 50.. 312 50... 312 50
L.B.—
Rouen
Rouen to Havre ......
Orleans.
tI
860 .. 860 ... 855 ... 855
Strasburg to Bale
Avignon to Marseilles €65 ... 670 ... 665 ••• 670
RAILWAY SHARES,
IACCOUNT.ti2SO.. .
182 5
Versailles, L. 8...
Rouen
F 011409 THE...

... -
Rouen to Havre..... 660 ..•
670 . 660 .. 670
Orleans B6O . 860 ... 855 ... 855
Strasburg to Bale 212 50 215 212 50... 215
..
'
Avignon to Marseilles b7O ::: 670 ... 670 .. 870

ACCIDENT TO TRIG EN. —WINDSOR, FRIDAY. Qc 1
—A slight accident, which, happily, proved of no
consequence, happened to her Majesty, wh) was
,
being driven in a
of Douro. The postilion took too short a turn from
Pliny cirriage with the Marchioness
one road into another, and the left wheel of the car-
riage went into a broad ditch, which threw the car-
riage against the hedge. her Majesty and Lady
Douro were speedily rescued from their unpleasant
position, and returned to the Castle in a small pony
car, driven by Colonel Arbuthnot, which was kindly
given up br a lady
who was driving close by ; and
his Royal Highness Prince Albert accompanied the
car on horseback. We are gratified to learn that her
,Majesty has not experienced any inconvenience from
this accident.

THE LATE CRUEL " MATCH AGAINST TIME."—
We are informed that Mr. Thomas, the Secretary of the Royal
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has pre-
ferred informations against Burke, the person who drove the
pony to death in a match against time. Summonses have been
issued and served personally on Burke, at Tom Spring's, the
Castle Tavern, Holborn. The case will come before the MP-
gistrates at the Town-hall, Hitch( n, Hertfordshire, on Tuesday
next, the 9th inst.

SUMMARY OF MIMS

A 1`; 1)

Vut)tit epinion.

" Who runs may read."

ronzxGr.r.
A further rise took place in the French funds on Thursday,
when the Three per Cents. closed at 82f. 85c., and the Fives
at 1241. 65c.

No Bill will be proposed in the French Chambers this ses-
sion for a pension to the Duke of Nemours.
The Tribunal of First Instance has declared itself incom-
petent to decide on the claim of Louis Napoleon against the
public Treasury for the sum of 1,800,000 f.
According to a calculation in the Prairie, the cost to France
of the conquest and occupation of Algeria amounts to 670 mil-
lions of francs. On the other hand the Government has re-
ceived—lst, the treasure taken at Algiers, and the treasure of
the materiel, estimated together at .54,737,000 ; and 2d, in
revenue, from 1831 to 1843, a sum of 46,000,000, making the
total loss hitherto sustained .i69,263.000f. (22,400,0000
The Frankfort journals of the Ist announce the arrival in
that city of the Duchess of Cambridge, and the Pt incess Mary,
her daughter.
The Prussian State Gazette, of Dec. 31, publishes a royal
ordonnance for organising benevolent societies. As a preliminary
measure, it restores the ancient, order of the Swan, founded by
the Elector Frederick 11. New statutes are to be drawn up,
and a council is to be formed to direct the efforts of the society.
The King and the Queen are to be at the head of the Order,
and all other benevolent societies are to be subject to the dir:c-
tion of that of the Swan.

A letter from Rome announces the death in that city, on the
23d ult., of General Paskewitsch, brother of the Governor-
General of Warsaw.

The Augsburgh Gazette states from Rome, Dec. 22, that
the Papal Government has ordered a levy of men for the army,
for the purpose of placing it on a footing to resist any attempt
that may be made to disturb public order.
Accounts from Athens of the 19 h ult. state that the
National Assembly had concluded its preliminary arrange-
ments, and was preparing to discuss the draught of the Consti-
tution. The greatest tranquillity prevailed throughout Greece.

CITY OF LONDON SESSIONS.
(THIS DAY.)
lhe sessions for the City commenced this morning before
the Ite.J)rder, Mr. Alderman Huraphery, and Alr. Alder-
man
The Ittcoantit having addressed the jury a number of as-
sault cases were disposed of, after which
Edwin Bates was brought up from the Compter, where he
had been confined since the 6th of last June, in default of finsi-
ing bail to keep the peace towards John Vasterman, jun., the
Well-known banker of Nicholas-lane, Lombard-street.
The prisoner, who is a most respectable and gentlemanly-
looking young man, described himself as an artist, and sta•ed
the bail which he was required to find was two sureties in
W. each, and himself in 200/. He said he was unable to
get more than one person willing to become his surety, owing
to certain transactions with the Northern and Eastern Counties
Railway, by which he lost a deal of money. He was here
about to enter into very lengthened details as to the nature of
those transactions, and the part which Mr. AListertnan took in
them when,
The RECORDER said, this was quite irrelevant to the matter
before the Court.
The Clerk of the Court then proceeded to read the affi-
davit of Mr. Masterman, It was a most voluminous docu-
ment, and nearly an hour was occupied in reading it. It
detailed the contents of a number of letters addressed to the
deponent, by the prisoner ; and then went on to state, that as
a matter of kindness, he had from time to time given sums of
money to the prisoner, in order to enable hint to pursue his
profession as an artist, until he thought those donations were
given as a matter of right. At length, his dettideels becoming
so frequent and importunate, the deponent was eVentssally
compelled to refuse to give him any more. The letters Con.
tained most dreadful threats against Air. Alasterman's life,
such sentences as the following appearing in them:—" You
are a moral butcher." " You shall find to :our sorrow
that I am no coward "—" You are a murderer in heart, and
your father, having other sons, he would not care if you were
shot, provided the honour of the family was kept clear; and as
for myself, all that would happen to me for shooting would be,
to be shut up in a lunatic asylum." Several other equally vio-
lent expressions appeared in those letters.
Alderman II estrum said, as the prisoner had been first
brought before him, and he considered the life of Mr. Master-
man to a certain extent to be in danger, he had fixed the bail
so high. He now suggested that the prisoner should be brought
before his Lordship to fix the amount of bail.
The prisoner said lie hoped the Court would consider six
months' imprisonment a sufficient punishment.
The RECORDER said the character of those letters was
marked by such a strong spirit of wild revenge against all the
parties, by whom the prisoner imagined himself to have been
injured in connection with his transactions with the Northern
and Eastern Counties Railway, and more particularly against
those who showed him most kindness, that it would be an act
of the greatest cruelty to Mr. Alasterman, and the Court
would lie under an awful responsibility if any unfortunate
event occurred were the Court not to grant him the protection of
the law from an individual who had been capable of using
such threats to any person. He (the Recorder) thought that
Mr. Masterman, in requiring the prisoner to find bail, was
pursuing the most merciful course towards him. Under all
the circumstances of the case he thought the amount of bail
required in the first instance by the Lord Mayor was by no
means exorbitant, and he should not reduce it.
The prisoner, who said when he was leaving the ,bar, that
his professional prospec's by the course now adopted would be
blasted for ever, as also his property ruined, was then taken
back to prison.