The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-27 00:00:00

TUNIS, JULY 18.

It seems that fate will not desist from oppressing
the poor Maltese, who have chosen Tunis for their
asylum ; since their Consul, on one hand, permits their
dwellings to be searched so as to ascertain whether
any smuggled tobacco is there concealed; and, on
the other, the people and the Bey's public force avail
of such permission to profit by the detection of such
smuggling. Such, therefore, is the sad condition of
the poor Maltese, who speculate in that article. Now
for facts :

A few days ago, the tobacco contractor took eight
quintals of tobacco from a Maltese resident at Tunis,
besides many more quintals of that same article, from
various other places in the same city. Moreover, on
the night of the 22d of June a Mussulman of Nabel
thought proper to surprise some Maltese, who were
introducing into the city some tobacco from the shore.
When the Maltese had nearly saved their tobacco, the
impudent assailant advanced abreast of the leading
escort, and ordered them to lay down their tobacco.
The Maltese offered to transact in some way or other
with the Mussulman, but the latter, instead of coming
to the proposed terms (though he was not one of the
contractor's employes), more wantonly persisted in
annoying the Maltese, who, having lost all hopes of
carrying on his contraband, discharged a pistol at
the Mussulman and killed him on the spot.
Next day a report was circulated, that the killed
Turk had, before his death, declared that his mur-
derers were persons lodged at an inn kept by a certain
Shellughi, whose real name is Giuseppe Muscat.
The British consular agent of Nebel (Salvatore Borg),
in consequence of Sheih Abdilla's report, arrested all
the persons found in the said inn indiscriminately,
without inquiring whether the innkeeper, or the other
inmates, had any hand in the business, whilst Vin-
cenzo uereb, who had murdered the Turks, had
already embarked for Susa, and thence, God knows
where. Sir Thomas Reade, on hearing the agent's
report, detained in gaol for some time the pretended
murderers, and afterwards sent them to Malta.
Queen Victoria has sent to this Bey a present con-
sisting of jewels, worth nearly 8,0001. sterling.
The Sardinian steamer is preparing to depart for
Genoa, and the cause of so much disturbance has not
yet come to light, it being still unknown how the
Sardo-Tunisian difference was settled. The general
opinion is, that all the manoeuvres of the Sardinian
navy, in the seas of this regency, will only tend to-
wards weakening the respect formerly shown by the
Tunisians towards Europeans.
The corn crop is plentiful. The olive trees and the
vineyards are wonderfully loaded with fruit.

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respectable woman, aged forty-seven, named Graham
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cine throughout the civilised world.
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS' LIBRARY.—The pre-
sent library is wholly unworthy of the first assembly in
the empire. It consists of little more than 4,000 volumes,
and is in many respects imperfect for the purposes of ge-
neral reference. It contains no collection of cases heard
by the Lords or Privy Council ; nor is there a complete
series of private Acts of Parliament, nor yet of the mul-
tifarious official papers printed by order of the House.
But it is in other particulars defective. Small as the col-
lection is, the arrangement, or rather the want of ar-
rangement, has been found to create much inconve-
nience, whenever it has been necessary to search for
precedents. This difficulty was remarked particularly
during the discussion of the memorable question of
" privilege" raised by the arrest of the Sheriff's, when
the librarian and three assistants were occupied nearly a
whole week in searching for a particular case supposed
to bear upon the subject. The contents of some of the
presses are not known to the oldest officers of the House ;
in one is deposited a very mysterious green bag, which
again encloses a Post-office bag of letters, unopened, of
the year 1690. During the session there are generally
from sixty to eighty Members consulting the musty
archives. Strangers are admitted to the library on the
Speaker's warrant, but the privilege does not appear to be
held of much value, for it is very rarely solicited. It was
admitted, when the state of the library was referred to a
Select Committee, that a complete set of the printed
papers of the House of Commons is not in existence ;
though it is believed that detached portions are preserved
by private individuals, the possession of which by the
House is an object of much tinxiety: It is understood
that the collection will be greatly increased before the
opening of the new Houses of Parliament, several impor-
tant addttions having been recently made by the pur-
chase of private libraries.
INGENIOUS EXPEDIENT.—On Saturday one of the
most ingenious expedients which the endeavours of cab-
men and omnibus drivers devise to elude the vigilance
of the police was discovered by the merest accident at
the Bow-street Police-court. It is the custom, on the
conviction of a cabman of any offence, for the clerk of
the Court to write on the back of his license the descrip-
tion of offence he is convicted of, the date of the convic-
tion, and the penalty inflicted, which is signed by the
convicting magistrate, and the number of convictions
guides the registrar of licenses as to the propriety of
issuing fresh licenses to the same drivers, three convic-
tions in one year incapacitating a driver from holding a
license for the next year. On Saturday a well-known
cabman having been convicted by Mr. Twyford, handed
in his license to have it marked. Some surprise was
evinced by the magistrate and clerk, who knew him well,
that he had beee allowed his license again this year, as
he was a well-known offender, but still greater surprise
was caused by Mr. Bowstead, the second clerk, declaring
that as fast as he wrote on the license, his writing be-
came dim, and when dry he could rub it out with ease.
Mr. Twyford expressed his surprise, when, in holding
the license between the light and the eye, the signature
of the same magistrate was dimly traced to a previous
conviction six weeks before, but so very dimly as for the
signature alone to bo visible. The driver was questioned
about it, but he, of course, knew nothing, and it was not
until one of the summoning officers proved that he had
been convicted in the same Court six weeks before, that
he gave in. The fact was, that a chemical process had
been used so as to eradicate, except to the most prying
eye, the fact that the defendant had been convicted, so
that for several years one of the most refractory of
drivers had been bearing with the registrar the most
unexceptionable character, besides incurring only small
fines from magistrates on account of first offences. Mr.
Twyford detained the license, and declared he should
make a representation in the proper quarter, so as to
put a stop to such underhand proceedings.
SINGULAR CAB ACClDENT.—Yesterday afternoon,
a singular accident occurred on the cab-stand in St.
Clement's-churchyard. The driver of a cab was quietly
sitting on his box waiting for a fare, when the horse
suddenly took fright, and by its plunging overturned
the cab, throwing the man with some force into the
road. Attempts were made to quiet the animal, but
without success, until at length the cab was so much
knocked about that the body fell off. The horse then
galloped off towards Temple-bar, and was not stopped
until it came in contact with the shaft of a large waggon,
and suffered such injury that it was soon after killed.
Though the streets were much crowded no one was hurt.