The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 10, 1842.

COVEN r-GARDEN THEATRE.

Semirantide was performed on Saturday night to a
crowded audience, and was eminently successful.
The opera was followed .by a new farce, said to be
written by Mr. Morton, and resembling, in some re-
-spects, a short piece, entitled A Wife for a Day,
played someyear or two ago at the Haymarket. The
language is common-place, and the few jokes at-
tempted are not of the highest order. The audience,
however, were in good humour, and bestowed their
applause with liberality upon the slightest provoca-
tion. The plot runs thus :—Squire Mulberry (Mr.
Bartley), a jolly fox-hunting country gentleman, has
a niece, who marries Captain Bantam (Mr. Walter
Lacy). The captain is a duellist—an accomplishment
which the Squire detests—and being engaged in
an affair of honour soon after his marriage, Mrs.
Bantam (Miss Cooper) endeavours to conceal the
fact, by passing off her cousin, Doctor Lambkin (Mr.
Harley), upon the old gentleman as her husband.
Tlge Squire, who had never seen either of the gentle-
men, is delighted with his new relative—and the
Doctor, who is really in love with the Squire's ward,
Rose Maynard (Miss Lee), finds himself under the
disagreeable necessity of sustaining the character
which had been forced upon him. In the meantime
the real Captain Bantam, having disposed of his duel
by wounding his antagonist, resolves on paying a visit
ineog. to his wife's uncle on his way back to town, and
assumes the name of Cousin Lambkin. The Squire
receives him as his ward's intended suitor, and the '
mistakes arising out of this double personation are
very laughable. The Captain gets furiously jealous
when he learns that another person has usurped
his name and place, and the Doctor is equally enraged
to find that there is another Richard in the field who
is making love to his intended. At length the Captain
and the cousin meet, a mutual explanation takes
place, and they each agree to keep up the decep-
tion. The honest Squire perceives that there is
some mystery which he cannot penetrate—passes
himself as Captain Bantam to a strange gentle-
man, who is making particular inquiries for the Cap-
tain, and gets himself arrested for a breach of the
peace, instead of the real delinquent. A general ex-
planation and reconciliation at length takes place, and
all parties are made happy and comfortable, according
to stage custom. Bartley played the old Squire ex-
cellently ; and Harley was quaint and humorous, in
a part which afforded little scope for his talents. Mrs.
Humby- had a little chambermaid part, which she
did well.

TRANSMISSION OF THE MAILS

TO FRANCE.

(TRANSLATION.)
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Boulogne sur Mer, 4th Oct. 1842.
Mr. Eneron,—lt is the duty of the independent
press in every country, whatever may be its political
opinions to point out abuses, more especially when
the public service is compromised by them. It is the
best course for procuring their removal. At a time
when the Governments of France and of England are
endeavouring to improve the old and defective manner
in which the service of the transmission of the corre-
spondence of the two countries is performed, it is ren-
dering assistance to the Post-office administration of
both countries, which appear disposed to enter boldly
on the career of improvement, to direct their attention to
certain important facts which must make them ac-
knowledge the necessity which exists for re-organising
this service on a new basis. I make, therefore, Sir,
an appeal to your patriotism in requesting the inser-
tion in your journal of the following statement, of
which I guarantee the accuracy.
On the 27th September the English mail packet
boat left Dover for Calais. The state of the sea off
this latter port, and the want of water, prevented her
from entering. She was forced to fall back upon
Boulogne, into the harbour of which she entered, and
landed her dispatches.
On the 28th September another English mail
packet boat left Dover for Calais, remained eight
hours at sea, and after waiting an hour and a half in
the Calais roadstead, in order to have water, entered
that harbour at half-past four. It was then too late.
All expectation of her arrival had been given up ; the
estafette through Boulogne, after waiting an hour
and a half in that city, had set off for Paris. All the
letters and dispatches were thus delayed for twenty-
four hours.
On the 29th and 30th of September the captains of
these packets, alarmed at the consequences of their
conduct, steered from Dover direct for Boulogne, and
arrived in that harbour by ten o'clock in the morning.
If, in conformity with the orders they had received,
they had done this on the 27th and 28th, the delays
complained of would not have occurred.
It is sought to excuse them by alleging that the
state of the sea was terrific—that there was a violent
tempest at the time. But if such were the case, how
were the packets from London, Ramsgate, and Dover,
for Boulogne, enabled to cross the Straits, and with
the tide against them ? On the 27th, 28th, 29th, and
30th, three packet-boats which left Dover arrived at
Boulogne in three hours and a quarter, and three
hours and a half. They went from Boulogne to
Dover, notwithstanding a contrary wind, in three
hours and a half, four hours, and four hours and a
quarter respectively. Four packets from London
made their respective passages to Boulogne in eleven
hours and a half, thirteen hours, and thirteen hours
and a quarter. They returned to London from Bou-
logne in thirteen hours and a quarter, sixteen hours,
and thirty-five hours, including the time consumed
in touching at Margate. The packet from Ramsgate
made the passage, on the 27th, in four hours and a
half, and returned on the 28th in five hours and a half.
It is very true that the City of London packet,
which left London on the 27th, at five o'clock in the
morning, did not arrive at Calais until the 30th, at
six o'clock in the evening, after having been tossed
about at sea, or weatherbound in Ramsgate harbour,
for three days and thirteen hours, with her fifteen
miserable passengers.
It is also true that the packet, the " Belfast,"
which left London on the 29th at six o'clock in the
morning, with thirty passengers, did not arrive at
Calais until six o'clock in the evening of the 30th,
that is 36 hours after her departure.
It is moreover true, that the packet, the " 'William
Joliffe," which ought to have left Calais on the 29th, at
six o'clock in the morning, did not take her departure
until that hour on the 30th, and that the French
mail packet, which ought to have left on the 29th
with the mail, was unable to do so, and forwarded her
dispatches by a fishing boat.
But what dces this prove as to the tempest against
the fact, that on the 27th and 28th, the packets be-
tween London, Dover, Ramsgate, and Boulogne,
made their passages without delay ? It proves simply
that the harbour of Calais, boasted Vas complete, and
called the European harbour, in consequence of the
state of the sea at its entrance, through want of a suffi-
ciency qf water, was four days closed and not approachable.
This is a fact of which no one in the neighbouring
ports is ignorant, and with which the English cap-
tains ought to have been acquainted; and what ren-
ders them still more culpable, in having compromised
the public service as they have done is, that they have
distinct orders to come to Boulogne when they are
not certain of arriving at Calais beFore the departure
of the estafette. _ _ _

The time has at length arrived when a stop must
be put to those delays which have arisen in conse-
quence of permitting the English captains to exercise
a discretion on the subject, and which have so fre-
quently given occasion to just and repeated com-
plaints. There never was a more striking proof of it
than at present. We should profit by these occur-
rences to prevent a return of the evil by which the
public service is continually compromised in a most
scandalous manner.

I have the honour to be, Mr. Editor,
Your very humble and very obedient servant,
The Mayor of Boulogne,
AL. ADAM.

COMMISSIONERSHIP OF CITY
POLICE.
Should Mr. D. W. Harvey accept the office of
High Bailiff of the borough of Southwark, it is ex-
pected there will be a warm contest carried on for
the vacated office of Commissioner of the City Police.
The two principal candidates are Colonel Campbell
and Captain Kincaid. Popular feeling seems to run
strongly in favour of the Gallant Captain, whose
highly meritorous military services, for a period of
twenty-five years, are borne ample testimony to by
the Duke of Wellington and some of our most dis-
tinguished Generals. Capt. Kincaid served throughout
the whole of the Peninsula war, in that most redoubtable
fighting corps ever nearest to the enemy, the Rifle Bri-
gade, in the first battalion of which for several years
he discharged the arduous duties of Adjutant.. After
having been wounded, and repeatedly distinguished
by his intrepidity, Captain Kincaid closed his eventful
military career on the sanguinary field of Waterloo,
where his horse was killed under him, shot in five
different places. Added to Captain Kincaid's high-
military testimonials are several of a civic character
from the Sub-Committee of the Governors of Bride-
well _Hospital, who speak in terms of strong corn-
mndation of the very excellent manner in which he
has discharged the duties of Superintendent-Keeper
of the Prison for the last six years. As an author
Captain K, incai hasdhav e
b writtene enpublished, snoml
is
hd
thesome of
h his
best“ Randommilitary
narrativ( s that
Shots
tof a Rifleman" and " Adventures" are well-
known.

" Gentlemen of the Jury," said a Western lawyer,
" would you set a rat-trap to catch a bar ? Would
ycu make d-d fools of yourselves by endea-
vouring to spear a buffalo with a knitting-needle ?
Or would you attempt to empty out the Mississippi
with a gourd? No, gentlemen, I know you would
not. Then how can you be guilty of the absurdity
of finding my client guilty of manslaughter for taking
the life of a woman i"

-11/1,

filled breeches-pocket seems to lain the
best of all possible legislation. This feeling
pervades every sentence of his Charge, and he
recurs to it again and again, with a pertinacity
and a solicitude that at length become quite ludi-
crous. As for knowledge, respectability, and so
forth, forming a necessary portion of a legisla-
tor, Lord ABINGER lays not the slightest stress
on these qualifications; property is what he
chiefly looks for; he who has it is every way
qualified to legislate; he who has, it not, is a
dangerous member of society, who is not to be
safely trusted with the slightest shred of power.

The speech of Mr. FEATHERSTONHAUGH at
Falmouth, given in another part of the paper,
knocks down all those castles in the air, built on
the faith that the Commissioners appointed to
survey the disputed territory would come to the
aid of the revilers of Lord ASHBURTON. In
fact the treaty, according to this gentleman, who
it cannot be denied is good authority, is more
favourable than the public have been led to be-
lieve. The territory has been divided into equal
moieties; it secures to us every object that was
essential to the welfare ofour colonies; our com-
munication between them, both civil and mili-
tary, are placed beyond hostile reach ; and all
the military positions in the Highlands, claimed
by the Americans, without exception now belong
to Great Britain. He disposes in a like sum-
mary manner of the loud talk about the exclu-
sive navigation of the St. John; but the different
points are so well stated, and the defence of Lord
ASHBURTON 'so complete, that we cannot do
better than refer our readers to the speech itself.

Accounts from Madrid are to the Ist inclusive.
Financial measures occupied the Government
beyond all ether subjects, which can cause no
surprise. Empty pockets generally cause no
little anxiety to their owners.
The Gazette publishes the decree of the RE-
GENT, convoking the Corks for the 14th of No-
vember.

It was believed that the session would be
opened without a speech from the REGENT, in
or&r to avoid a debate on the Address.

The Amnesty Bill, drawn up by M. ZUMALA-
CARREGUI, the Minister of Justice, was found
tOo liberal by his colleagues. The publication
of that Act was accordingly adjourned. M. Zu-
MALACARREGUI proposed to exclude only 25 per-
sons from the benefit of the measure.

The Government contemplated to reduce the
provincial militia by 25,000 men.
The Five per Cents were done on the 30th ult.
at 20j for cash, and 21+ at 60 days; and the Five
per Cents. at 26j at 60 days. On the Ist the
Three per Cents. sold for 20/ for cash, and the
Five per Cents. at 25f fbr cash, and 261 26 25/
at 60 days.

We have received the Paris papers of Friday
and Saturday, which still dwell on the late ac-
counts from Africa, evidently with little satis-

faction.

-The Journal des Debats of Saturday informs
us that the Algerine war may last three years
more, which is not surprising, JUGURTHA and
others having resisted the Romans much longer;
and that, consequently, the 75,000 men de-
manded by General BUGEAUD must be granted
him. Nevertheless, great results have been
gained, according to the French journal, and the
war, but lately at the gates of Algiers, has been
displaced to fifty leagues distance from the coast.
The mission of Sir HENRI( ELLIS to the
Brazils has excited some attention in Paris.
The Opposition journals contend that the ap-
proaching termination of the treaty between
England and that empire presented to the
French Government an opportunity for effecting
an alliance with the latter, which would neces-
sarily produce important advantages to France,
and inflict a heavy injury upon England.

La Presse calls the attention of its readers to
the efforts now making by the. British Govern-
ment to conclude commercial treaties with
Austria and other German States. " This
tactic," .it says, " merits the most serious
attention. If we are to believe what is said,
France is at this moment making arrangements
to unite herself to Germany by an alliance based
on the commercial interests of the two nations ;
it becomes therefore necessary to inquire what is
the true position of this country with respect to
a Power whose influence has alWays been so fatal
to us in the Germanic Confederation. It is, an
evident fact that the movement which has been
progressing for the last fifteen years throughout
Germany is diametrically opposed to British in 7
tere4s. Politically, Great Britain strengthened
bii.Self by the division of the Gernia►i people,
the result of which was to prevent them coming
to an understanding with Russia or with
France, and thus oppose an obstacle to the
alliance of the Continental Powers. Com-
mercially, the consequence of the tendency
of Germany to unite her force and her in-
terests is naturally to withdraw that country
from the yoke of the British manufac-
turers. As long as the German States were un-
acquainted with the mode of combining tile
elements of their wealth, England took advan-
tage of their state of isolation. Thus she inun-
dated all Germany with her manufactures in
exchange for agricultural produce, which she
received in return from the southern provinces.
The advantage which that part of Germany de-
rived from her trade with Great Britain became
in some measure a source of ruin and of misery
for the other German States, whose manufac-
tures were crushed by British competition. No
doubt all the advantages of the German Union
have not had time to be developed. Germany
still presents a magnificent market for British
produce, but everything proves that she is at the
eve of emancipating herself completely."
The Courrier Francais, in adverting to the in-
crease of the British navy, thus remarks :
Although the relations between Great Britain and
Russia are not on a friendly footing, and the British
feeling towards France is not warm, we believe that
Great Britain does not mean to threaten any foreign
Power whatever. But such preparations, particularly
when we compare with them the desire shown by Sir
Robert Peel to arrange the differences with the
United States, prove that the statesmen who govern
the United Kingdom regard the future_ prospects of
the country as gloomy, and that they do not wish to
be surprised by coming events. This increase of the
British navy is a formidable peace establishment,
approaching very nearly to a state of war. The Tory
Ministry, it is true, do not make use of the provoking
language of Lord Palmerston, but they are - besieged
by the same apprehensions,_ and imbued with the same
conceptions. France ought not to cease to be on her
guard because her adversaries, although not on terms
of intimacy with her, observe a less hostile demeanour,
or use less acrimonious language.

At one o'clock on Friday, the various tenders
for supplying the Post-office steam-packets with
38,000,000 kilogrammes of sea-coal were opened at
the Council-chamber of the General Post-office,
by M. PIRoN, Deputy Postmaster-General, when
the first contract for delivering 13,600,000 kilo-
grammes of coal at the port of Marseilles, was
adjudged to M. COHEN, at 3f. 49c. the quintal.
The second, of 1,500,000 kilogrammes for Calais,
to M. PEQUET DE BEAUREPAIRE, at 2f. 54c. the
quintal; and the third, of 24,300,000 kilo-
grammes, for the five ports of the Levant, to M.
.MACQUEUR CHAPEMANN, at the price of 883,300 f.
The wheat crop of France in 1842 is esti-
mated, in a document just published by the
Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture, at
85,988,432 hectolitres. The produce of this im-
portant article almost doubled during the last 30
years, and that of potatoes increased to fivefold
during the same period.
The Nile steamer (one of the finest vessels of
the Egyptian cet) entered Marseilles on the
4th inst. ; she had on board eight splendid Ara-
bian horses, and several shawls of great value,
which MEHEMET Am sent as presents to King
Louts PHILIPPE and his family. ARTIN BEY,
Secretary to the PACHA ; Dr. LABAT, who had
completed his second historical tour through the
East ; M. MOUCHELET, an engineer, in the ser-
vice of MEHEMET ALI ; M. JULES RoMAIN, a
young Orientalist, and several other travellers,
came passengers on board the Nile.
The following interesting extract .is from the
Gazette de France :

France, whose coasts are bathed by four seas, to
which Nature has given magnificent harbours, ivers
accessible to large vessels, a coast of 1,600 kilometres

from Dunkirk to Bayonne, and from Antibes to Port
Vendres, which a century ago possessed Canada,
Louisiania St. Domingo, and Guiana, in America,
the Isle of France, and ladagascar, in Africa, and
almost the whose coast of India, in Asia, has now de-
clined from this splendour, and holds only the fourth
place among the Colonial Powers. It has not a port
in the Indian Ocean. England enjoys the monopoly
of steam navigation in the Red Sea. Martinique,
which ought to be the entrepot of all the French com-
merce in the Gulf of Mexico, is going to ruin in our
hands. The bay of Fort Royal, one of the finest
naval stations in the Antilles, is neglected. The Isle
of Bourbon is destitute. We are hardly beginning to
form some plan relative to Guiana, the lands in which
are as good as those in Demerara; and Surinam,
which sends in cotton that is often sold in our market
at the same price as that of Pernambuco, which, in
short, only wants encouragement and security, to give
us the monopoly of the spice trade.
Those modern nations which have been led by ne-
cessity or carelessness to neglect this powerful re-
source, have generally paid the penalty for so doing.
What has Portugal become 7 Spain vs as effaced from
the list of naval powers on the day that she lost her
possessions in America and Asia, where she suffered
herself to be stripped of her equatorial empire. On
the other hand, look at England, the most complete
manufacturer of the development of colonial power.
How has she suffered for her indefatigable ardour ?
She obtained the maritime and colonial sceptre of the
world. Her manufactures have increased in propor-
tion to her conquests and her commerce. She has
bound nations to her by the most solid ties—those of
interest ; and her power has become, as it were, so
necessary (se fatal), that it cannot be destroyed with-
out convulsing the universe.—La Gazette de France,
I Oct. 8.