The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-18 00:00:00

THE LATE SIR ALEXANDER

BURNES.
The late insurrection in Cabool has deprived the East of one
of its best soldiers, and the literary world of one of its chiefest
ornaments. The particulars of Sir Alexander's melancholy
fate are not at present clear ; the only certaic fact is that he
was killed along with eight other officers, of whom his brother
was one, on the 2d or 3d of November last. By placing in
chronological order the events of his life, the natural activity
of his mind, and the steps of his premotion will be best seen :
Mr. Burnes was born at Montrose, in Scotland, May 16,
1805, and greatly distinguished himself at the Academy of that
place ; and from hence obtained the appointment of Cadet for
the Bombay army, and arrived at the Presidency on the 31st
of October, 1821.

Dec. 25:1822;LAppointed Interpreter in the Hindostanee
language to the Ist extra battalion at Surat, and was employed
by the Judges of the Budder Adawlut to translate the Persian
documents of that Court.

1825.—With his Regiment the 21st Native Infantry, he was
ordered to Booj, and acted in the disturbances which took
place at Cutch, and was appointed Quarter master of Brigade.
At this time he was only 20 years of age. In the November
of the same year, he was appointed Persian Interpreter to a
force of 8,000 men, assembled for the invasion of Scinde.
1827. —Mr. Burnes drew up a valuable paper on the statis-
tics of %gar, which highly pleased the Indian Government.
A memoir of the eastern mouth of the Indus, also met with
great notice.

1829.—Appointed to act with the survey of the north-
western frontier of Cutch ; an account of which may be seen in
the transactions of the Royal Geographical Society of London,
'1834.

1830.—Lieutenant Burnes was selected to accomplny the
present of horses from fhe King of England to the Maharajah
Runjeet Singh, and during the journey, made a full survey of
all the months of the Indus, and a map of the lower portion of
its course, and of the land route to Tette, and at Loodianah
first met the present King of Cabool, then living as a guest
within the British territories. In the December of this year he
visited,Kurnaul and Delhi, and was presented to the Great
Mogul, the 15th descendant from Timour.
1832.--At the commencement of this year, Lieutenant
Burnes obtained the sanction of the Governor-General to pro-
ceed into Central Asia. His great and admirable work was
the result of this journey, and the account which he himself
furnishes of it is thus expressly given :
" I shall not pause to reflect on the feelings with which I
again set foot in India after so long and weary ajourney. In the
outset, I saw everything, both ancient and modern, to excite
the interest and inflame the imagination—Bactria, Trans-
oxiana, Scythia, and Parthia, Kharasm, Khorasan, and
Iran. We had now visited all these countries ; we had re-
traced the greater part of the route of the Macedonians;
trodden the kingdoms of Porus and Taxiles ; sailed on the
Hydaspes ; crossed the Indian Caucasus, and resided in the
celebrated city of Balkh, from which Greek monarchs, far
removed from the academies of Corinth and Athens, had once
disseminated among mankind a knowledge of the arts and
sciences, of, their own history, and the world. We had beheld
the scenes of Alexander's wars of the rude and savage inroads
of Genghis and Timour, as well as of the campaigns and revel-
ries of Baler, as given in the delightful and glowing language
of his commentaries. In the journey to the coast we had
marched on the very line of route by which Alexander had pur-
sued Darius ; while the voyage to India took us on the coast of
Mekran and the track of his Admiral, Nearchus."

1833.--. After his return to India Lieutenant Burnes, accord-
ing to instructions, proceeded to Calcutta, from which after
having received the thanks of the Governor. General, he ar-
rived in London in the October of this year, and his reception
at the India House was most flattering. On the 30th of
December he was introduced at Court, and received the
special acknowledgments of tLe King for the unpublished map
and memoir he had presented to his Majesty. Ihe success of
this work for a book of travels was unrivalled. Mr. Murray
gave the author 8001. for the copyright of the first edition, and
nearly 900 copies were sold off in a single day, and it was imme-
diately translated into French and German.
1834.—1 n the May of this year, Lieutenant Burnes received
from the Royal Geographical Society the fourth Royal pre-
mium of 50 guineas, for his " Navigation of the River Indus,"
and " A Journey to ilalkh and Bokhara across Central Asia."
1835.—At a meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society on Feb.
21, Earl of Munster, Viee-President, Lieutenant Burnes was
elected an honorary member, for having "fixed with accu-
racy the position of Bokhara and Balkh, and the great Hima-
layan mountains, and having done more to the construction of
a map of those countries than had been done since Alexander
the Great." On this occasion he was complimented by Sir
Alexander Johnstone for having almost ascertained a con-
tinuous route and link of communication between Western
Asia and the Caspian Sea, as also for his excellent diplomatic
arrangements with the Ameers of Scinde. The museum et
the Royal Asiatic Society also contains the Bokhara eloak
worn by him in his travels in the Punjaub.
April 4.—After remaining eighteen mouths- in England,
Lieutenant Burnes at this date returned to India, where he
arrived on the Ist of June. On his arrival at Bombay, Lieu-
tenant Burnes resumed the duties of assistant to the Resi-
dent at Cut
t, Colonel Patinger ; and shortly after in ac-
:,wdment of his diplomatic and other services, was
Knighted, and advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
1839,..-Sir Alexander Burnes, on tiss final restoration of
the Shah Soojah, was appointed political Resident at Cabool
with a salary of 3,0001. a year. Ilia brother, Lieutenant Burnes,
obtained his appointment of k Cadet on the Bombay establish-
ment, chiefly as a cornpli.mant to Sir Alexander's greatservices.

.UMAER OF TEETOTALLRRS IN IRELAND.
,rty the accidental omission n two eiphers in the figures
given by Mr. O'Connell cm Saturdiy, as the number of
teetotallers in Ireland, the appeared to be thousa
nds.
where** the Lord Mayarot • said that the last ticket he
saw signed by Father Mathew was marked FIVE MILLIONS, TWO
THOUSAND. SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWO. At least 10,000
more have taken the pledge since the date of that ticket.
A fire broke out in the bureau of the Maritime
Prefect at l' Orient, a few nights since, and rapidly communicated
to the Library of the Arsenal. Assistance was given as
promptly as circumstances would allow, but the Library, con-
taining about 9,000 volumes, was totally destroyed. Some
manuscripts of value and nearly all the archives were burnt.
The Municipal Council of Nantes has voted the
erection of a monument to the memory of General Canibronne.

- .
Art. 13.—A sum of fifteen hundred thousand francs is
apropriated to the completion of the plans and surveys
of the great lines of railways, defined by art. 1 of the pre-
sent law.

Art. 14.—0 n the appropriations mentioned in the
preceding articles, amounting together to one hundred
and two million five hundred thousand francs, there.is
opened to the Minister of Public Works on the estimates
of the year 1842 a credit of eleven millions—viz. for the
railroad from Paris to the Belgian frontier, four mil-
lions ; for the portions of the railroad from Paris to the
Mediterranean, between Dijon and Chalons, and be-
tween Marseilles, Avignon, and Beaucaire, four mil-
lions ; for the portion'of the railway from Paris to the
ocean, between Orleans and Tours, two MillionS ; for
the continuation of the plans and surveys, one million.
And upon the estimates of 1843 a credit of twenty-two
millions five hundred thousand francs, viz., Paris to 'the
Belgian frontier, eight millions ; Paris to the Mediter-
ranean, eight millions ; Paris to the ocean, kix millions ;
and for the continuation of the surveys and plans, five
hundred thotuand francs—total for 1842 and 1843,
25,500,000 francs.

" CitAPTEn 3.—WATs AND MEANS.—Art; 15. The
portion of the expenditure, authorised by the present
law, which is to fall upon the State, shall be provided
for provisionally out of the resources of the floating
debt ; the advances of the Treasury shall be definitively
covered by the consolidation of the funds of reserve of
the sinking fund, which may be disposable after the,
extinction of the deficits of the budget of 1840, 1341,
and 1842.
" CHAPTER 4.—Art. 16. Every year
there sbull be
rendered to the Chamber, by the Minister of Public
Works, a special account of the works executed by vir-
tue of the present law."
The Minister said that the average cost of one-third
of the ground, of embankments and works of art, of all,
in fact, that Government undertook, would not exceed
24,0001. the league. Supposing the whole of the in-
tended lines to reach 600 leagues, this would be an ex-
pense to the Treasury of from 360 to 400 millions of
francs. This would be adding 400 millions to the 360
millions deficit, and the 500 millions for extraordinary
public works, making in all 1,200 millions to meet. The
Minister observed that this might be done, The part of
the State being estimated at 24,000/. the league, the funds
to be furnished by productive industry would be abOut
20,000/. a league.

•
ON THE LAWS OF MARRIAGE.
(From the Congregational Magazine.)
As an effort is to be made at the ensuing Session of
Parliament for an alteration in the law on this subject,
it becomes important that the people should understandi
the matter. From an article signed " Rusticus" that tip-
peered in your Magazine of this month, it seems that
your correspondent supposes that the Marriage Act: of
1835 prohibits the widower from marrying the sister of
his deceased wife. Now all that the Act of 1135 says
to justify such a conclusion is, " that all marriages which
shall hereafter be celebrated between perstins within the
prohibited degrees of affinity shall he absolutely null
and void," but what these " prohibited degrees" are, the
Act says nothing, and we are, therefore left to construe
the legal interpretation of these words from the state of
the law as it was prior to this Act. Persons seem ge•
nerally to have supposed that the law on this subject is
laid down in the tables published in the Church of Eno.--
land Prayer-books, and some Bibles, beginning with "A
man shall not marry his grandmother," &c. But this is
only what is called the canon law, and this tabled. prc:_
Minted degrees forms part of the canons of 160.3.
.ow
Lord Hardwicke, in delivering the judgment of tilts 'whole
Court of King's Bench, in 1736, respecting these. canons,
decided, that not having been confirmed by
they do not bind the laity. The principle: On which he
founds his decision is this:—These canons arc passed in
an assembly of the clergy and offieersP7f the Established
Church, sanctioned by the King 9's the head of the
Church, but it is not ivasonable or lawful that the people
should be bound by au authority which does not repre-
sent them, so that the only legf,l interpretation we can
obtain as to what are the " F-01,ibited degrees" is to be
derived from the previous Ac,cs ofParliament on the sub-
ject. It is greatly to be regretted that these Acts aro in
such a confused state, t',ltit it becomes very difficult to
say what the laW is 'on the subject. About 1534 Henry
VIII. got a Marfiage Act passed, containing thulium
prohibitions t 9.. those in the canon law ; but this was with
a view to :,ustify his divorce from his brother's widow,
and his 'marriage with Anne Boleyn. Afterwards, how-
ever, his daughter Mary, whose legitimacy was thereby
affc.ated, got all these prohibitions repealed ; the Act
declaring that Henry's marriage with Catherine (her
mother) was a lawful marriage in accordance with
God's law and his Holy Word. Indeed, Henry himself;
who seems to have got his obsequious Parliament to, enact and repeal whatever suited his fancy, or was
agreeable to his wife at the time being, about 1543,
got the Act 32, Henry VIII., c. 38, passed, which
declares all marriages to be lawful not prohibited by'
God's law, and that notwithstanding any law to the con-
trary, no prohibition (God's law except) shall impeadu
any marriage without the Levitical degrees. This is now
in force, the part respecting prohibitions having • been
confirmed both in the reigns of his son Edward, and his
daughter Elizabeth ; so that the legal construction of
" prohibited degrees" appears to be those prohibited in.
Leviticus, and in order to help us to decide what thou,
are, the statute of Mary informs us that Henry's mar
riage with his brother's widow was a lawful one. It is
true that lawyers seem generally to think that if,ihe
question as to the legality of a widower's marriage 'with
his late wife's sister in England were to come befc,se our
courts of law, it would be decided against .the VegalitX
but it is quite uncertain, awl if this be the law., it ifttir
for the'poor—not for the rich—for if a coupk., Otkit Aninra
to travel to another country where so ahstr
not prevail, and become domiciled (as it ii4s LI
there be married according to the law 0e
1 re/ft
a high legal authority unhesitatingly.',Ays', t
the English Courts would be bound tc. recoginze the mar-
riageraslin
; and it is a remarkable circw.ostaaae,
‘i. down tint
that there is
hardly another country
in the would, professedly Chris-
tian, where there is any •
it at all about a Widower
marryin his late wife's sister.
that the vs` lue of the jewellery, col-
lected in the woo? shops of tke Palais Royal, is 10,000,000 f..
It is calm a

TEXAS.—NOTICE to PURCHASERS of
LAND in TEXAS.—Having maintained, de facto, its
independence of Nfexico, during six years, and been recognised
a, a Sovereign Government by the United States of North
America, by Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Holland, the
Republic of Texas does not require the sanction of the Mexican
Government in order to render its acts within its own territory
valid. Purchasers of land in Texas are informed that their
titlei wilt not ho affected by the notice respecting Texas re-
cently issued frosn the Mexican Consulate.
The Texan Land and Emigration Board, Exeter Hall, London

THE NEW ROMANCE,
AR AH K APLAN
Or, THE KOORDISH CHIEF.
A ROMANCE of PERSIA and KOORD.ISTAN.
By the Hon. CHARLES STUART SAVILLE.
In 3 vols. post Bvo.,
IS NOW READY, and can be had at all the Libraries.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

PRICE EIGHTEENPENCE, the First Number of
AINSWORTEI'S MAGAZINE,
containing the fist two chapters of " THE MISER'S
DA UGHTER," and contributions by several distinguished
writers.
ILLUSTRATED by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
" Ili; Magazine has, we hear, met with extraardinary sue-
ees. It deserves it, we have rarely seen a periodical which
held out greater promise."—Observer.
London : Hugh Cunningham, St. Martin's place, Trafal;ar-
square.
• .

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.
THIS EVENING, FEB. 18,

\Fill be rrformed, Otway's Tragedy of VENICE PRE-
SERVED Mr. Elton; Jollier, Mr. Anderson;
Pierre, Phelps; Renault, Mr. G. Bennett; Belvidera,
111k4 }ien Faucitt.
After which will be repeated the New Comedy,'entitled Tilt
PItISON,ER OF WAR.
• Doers t: be opened at Half past Six, and the Performance
to begin t Seven o'clock. Boxes bs.. Second Price, h, 6d.
Pit 35., Second Price -2s: Lower Gallery h. 6d., Second
Pr-ce Is. Upper Gallery Is., Second Price 6d.

-THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN.
UNDER the AIANAGEUENT of MADAME VESTAIS.

THIS EVENING, FEB. 15,
• Will be performed Sheridan's Comedy of THE SCHOOL
FOR SCANDAL.—Sir Peter Teazle, Mr. W. Farren ; Sir
Oliver Surface, Mr. Bartley; 'Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mr.
Harley; Joseph Surface, Mr. Cooper; Charles Surface, Mr.
Charles Mathews; Moses, Mr. Meadows • Lady Teazle, Ma
dame Vestris ; Lady Sneerwell, Mrs. Meadows;
; Maria, Miss
Cooper; Mrs. Candour. Mrs. Glover!:
Atter which will be repeated the New Grand Christmas
Pantomime, entitled GUY 'EARL OF WARWICK ; OR,
11ARLEQUIN AND THE DUN COW.
Doors to to opened at half-past Six—the performances to
commence at Seven. Dress Boxes, 7s. ; Second Price, 3s. tid.;
First and Second Circles, ss. ; Second Price, :Is. 6d. ; Pit, 35.;
Sand Price. 2:.; Gallery, Is. Tickets and places for the
Boles to be taken of Mr. Grogan at the Box-dee, from Ten
till V.ur, where Season Tickets may be had upon application.
Private Boxes to be had so!ely of Mr. Andre xs, bootseller,
1,..;7. New }fond-street.

To-morrow, Elena Llberti, with the Pantomime.

►LOYAL SURREY THEATRE.

Extensive norzlty. Another New Drama and " Norma," in
conjunction with the grand Pantomime and." Elizabeth La-
zartu," a combination of attraction defying competition.
THIS EVENING. FEB. 16

Will be acted an entirely New Drama, called RABY
RUINS; or, the MOTHER'S STATUE; with new Sce-
nery and the entire Company.
After which, MRS. NORMA, with Eeliiui's Music —Nor-
ma, Signor Nevilli ; Agelgisa, Signor Waltoni ; Pollio, Sig-
nora Martini. _ _ _

After which, the Grand Christmas Pantomime, entitled
HARLEQUIN AND THE ICE QUEEN ; OR, JACK
FROST AND KING THAW —With gorgeous and charac-
teristic Scentry, splendid Properties, ludicrous and Quaint
Dresses, ingenious Tricks, magnificent Panorama. by Brun-
ming, &c. Ilaalequin' M. }}aline ; Patch, AI. Rochet ; Pan-
taloon, M. Lehman ; Flip, Signor Feliz Carlo ; Clown, Mr.
Buckingham ; Columbine, Miss Sharpe.
To conclude pith Haines' new and successful llama, enti-
tled ELIZABETH LAZARUS, THE JEWESS, founded
On Captain Glasscock's " Land Sharks and Sea Gulls.'
Private and Public Boxes can be had of Messrs. Sams, Ebers,
Mitchell, Andrews, and Seguin, during the run of this popu-
lar Pantomime.