The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-29 00:00:00

FROM THE FRENCH PAPERS.

A Vienna letter says :—" The Archduke Frederick
will next spring visit France and England by way of
practice in his proteggin of the navy. We do not know
whether the Prince will confine himself to visiting the
ports of France, or whether 112 will go up fa Paris, but
it is certain that he will go to London."
A letter from St. Petersburgh says that the weather
at the beginning of this month was still so mild there
(hat the fields were greeil. Other accounts from Stock-
holm say that the winter is there unusually mild also.
On the night of the 15th inst. a fire occurred in the
Palace at Berlin, but the flames were promptly extin-
guished, and the damage was inconsiderable.
The Messager gives the following as a corrected list of
the imports at Strasburgh by the Rhine, since the con-
clusion of the treaty of commerce with Holland :—Cot-
ton, 1,470 bales r coffee, 802 sacks ; indigo, 57 parcels.
The St. Etienne papers state that a canal is in con-
templation for uniting the Loire and the Rhone, which
will have to pass through a tunnel .of 20,000 metres, or
about eleven English miles in length, and consequently
will be the longest in the world: The idea was given
by M. Bergeron, a late pupil of the Polytechnic school,
and M. H. Fournel, the engineer who has been to in-
spect the locality, is going to England to visit the
great tunnel of the Bridgewater Canal.
The Revue du Havre relates that, three nights ago,
about nine o'clock, the diligence of that town, on reach-
ing the top of the hill at Bolbec, was stopped by a
traveller, who wished to be taken to Rouen. Being
told that there was no place except on the roof among
the baggage, where, however, he would be perfectly
safe and warm, he got up and laid himself snugly down
to sleep in the straw. In about twenty minutes all in
the coach were alarmed by his tqrrific cries of " Mur-
der ! and destruction !" The conductor stopped the
coach, and, imagining that the man in the straw was
troubled with the nightmare, called to him to rouse
himself, and change his position. This he did most ef-
fectually, for, with the nimbleness of a cat, he instantly
descended to the road, and made off with his utmost
.peed. At first, suspicion was entertained that it was a
trick to rob the coach, but the conductor, on inspecting
the luggage, found it all safe, and at the same time dis-
covered the cause of all the alarm. An inside passenger,
lately arrived from America, had with him a young
Texian bear, which, being inadmissible within, was put
on the top, and whose presence was forgotten when the
way-faring traveller was allowed to get up. The ani-
mal, being in an advanced-state of civilisation, had no
doubt wished to be sociable with his companion in the
straw, and had, perhaps, rather too abruptly tendered his
paw of friendship to one who was not prepared to accept
it, and feared that the clasp might be too close.

STATIONERS AND PAPER MANU-

FACTURERS' PROVIDENT SOCIETY.

A dinner of the Stationers and-Paper Manufacturers
Provident Society took place on Wednesday, Sir James
Williams in the Chair,. for the purpose of presenting
their Honorary Secretary, Mr. John _Egger Cooper, with
a piece of plate, as a testimonial for his valuable ser-
vices. The Chairman, who is President of the Society,
was supported by Messrs. Dickinson, Garesser, Gardi-
ner, Chater, Towgood, Smith, Wiggins,lEvans, and most
of the principal paper manufacturers and wholesale sta-
tioners in London.

In proposing prosperity, to the paper trade the Chair-
man alluded to its importance as an article of universal
consumption, and to the pleasure it gave him, as one of
the oldest members of the trade, to preside over so highly
respectable an assemblage of its members, and his hope
that a meeting like the present would banish the rival-
ries of trade and unite them heart and hand in the work
of benevolence and good feeling.
The piece of plate, which was a candelabrum, was
formally presented to Mr. Cooper by the Chairman, who
said, I have observed the opening talents of that gen-
t!emen. I think highly of his legal attainments, which,
in a straight manly course, will, I trust, lead him to emi-
nence in his profession, and I was so fortunate as to in-
troduce him to my excellent friend Mr. Clark, whom you
all know to be universally esteemed, whose example has
been, and I have no doubt will further be, of great advan-
tage to him. We are met to present a piece of plate to
our friend as a small tribute of grateful acknowledgment
of his unbought services. I know not whether the honour
conferred on us by voluntary subscription for purchasing
this article; or the honour conferred upon Mr. Cooper by
its presentation, be the greater. He might have made a
heavy charge, but no payment could have produced•..in:-
him a greater desire to meet our views, and. foster .the
beginning of our exertions for the benefit of the rack.,'
Addressing Mr. Cooper, he said—" Receive this plate its:
a proof of our e?teep„ and also of our earnest wishes,
for your happiner ;" y be handed down as an.heir-
loom to future 4encf4fons. accompanied • by the blessing
of the Alatighey'7o,Op.,of all Mercies."