A letter from Paris relat...
The Times, 1824-12-30T00:00:00

A letter from Paris -relates the foUowing anecdote : "One morning, as the Xing was going to hear mass at the Royal Chapel, an old emigrant, placed hlimself in htis way ; ' Sire,' said he, I I have an important secret to communii- cate to yo. Speak!' replied the King.I 'Bit, Sire, I wish ttoyhoave a private audience of your' Majesty.' ' No, no ;.speak openly.' ' Sire, there is a conspiracy against you in your own palace.' I'Pray, who conspires? I I amn profoundly grieved to be obliged' to sav, it is the Dauphin!' At these words all the attendants lost their gravity, and a general burst of laughter, in which the King could not htelp joining, was the oiily answer received by the -unILecky revealer of this wonderful secret, who retiredI in confusion." LisBox, Dec. 18.-A repori.has reached this place of an Algerine squadron having passed the Straits, and that two frigates and a brig biad been seen offthe coast of Algarve, for the purpose, it Is believed, of cruising against the Portuguese. The master of a Portuguiese vessel has arrived here, who says he saw offthe Rock a Portuguesefrigate following a sHspicious brig, under easy sail,rntand- in tthe northward. A Portugeeqadron, consisting of two Ifrigates land a corvette, sailed frm heTgus on the 16th instant, unexpectedly. M. Ouvra-rd, the Cointraetor-General of the Armyr of Spain, was arrested on Christmas eve, betwieen one and two o'loekc, in a fiacre, in the Rue de Bac, at the suit of one of his creditors. He' required to be conducted immediately to the President of the Tribunal of First Instance, before whom M!. Cottinet. his advocate, coptended, that as Md: Oevrard had already suffered five years' im- pnisonment, at the suit of thie fMinister of the Public Treaure, in 1811, he could not now be imprisoned for debts which had accrued previously. AlI. Drouin, the coanzel for the creditor by whom he was arrested, argued that M. Ouvrard had nost suffered, the five year' iprionmnt wichwer spkenof: and even if it were so, thatwas or aublc det. M Morau,the President, directed that M. Ovrar s~uldb detine, an hewas forthwith coinducted in a hakne.coch o 8' Peagi, werehe was handed over to the Admial Kusester haswriten to Professor Barlow, of Woolwich, a very satisfactory and complimentary letter on the re- sult of gome experiments made on a ship of the Rugsiana navy, at Cronatadt, with the guard-plate for correcting the errors of the mna- riner's commuass needle from the local attraction of the iship's guns and other irbon stores; and the Russian Government,min consequence, have gi~'en orders for all1 their ships to be furnished with correcting compass.plates, similar to those now fitting up for the ships of'our navy, and many of our merchant vessels.-Kentish. Gazette. Extract of a letter of the I11th instant, from Berlin "The North Pole has sent us, by an American Captain, to gratify the public curiosity, two young Esquimoaux, a male and a femazle, from Baflin'g Bay, the former 23 years old, and the latter 22 ; a dog of the species which the natives of that country yoke to sledges;, a panorama of Baffin's Bay, where Captain Parry took up his winer-uarer; ad coths,furitue,and even objects of luxury, afte th Esuimux ashon.It s kown that there people mnake ther lghtcanes f he kin ofrei..eer and sea-dogs, and steer themwithremrkabe skll.Theyarealso skilful in killing fiesh and seados wtharowsfie eetinlegth. They kW.l birds on the win-with the same weapon; and scarcely ever miss their aim. At the request of'the spectators, the mana pierces through a piece ofcoin, at the distance of ten paces. Silver coin pleases him more than gold. The dog is of a particular rare, which, ac-cording to every appear- ance, will not propag-ate the species here; for, out of ten brought over, he is the only one that remains alive. He is lazy and equally insensible to bleows and caresses. Lie is taine towards mankind, but rushes with violence upon cats and dogs, which he tears to pieces without having any thing to t'ear, on account of the thickness of his slein. As soon as thie Esquimautx seats hiimself upon his sledge, to which the dog is yoked, the aniimal lays aside his sluggishness and draws it with reat rapidity roun-d the room ; but as soon as he is uyoke~d, ho falIs into his accustomed torpor, and does not recover fro ,.t t Il he is agai:n yoked." Thurday evening, Mr. Kean performedl at the Glasgow Theatre. The houge was exceedingly crowded. During the per. formance. a barnd of miscreants who bad taken their seats in the upper gallery compelled several ladies to retire from the front boxes, bv continuing to throw peas and small pieces of stone from 'some ki'nd of machines constructed to give them great force. One lady had her hair comb broken by a piece of stone thrown in this manner. -Glasgew Chronicle. ADJ,Lrum TLIEATRE.-This house, wihieh, generally speaking, upholds the character of "the minors" very creditably, has furnished, as usual, its annual pantomimaic contribution to the Christmas holyday gmusements, under the title of Mother Red Ca,p, or Hlarkeqniiinad tire Fairies of the Rose. The introductory pairt is rendered intereting by comie p leasing scenery, and the pretty dancing of a numAber of little girls, who really look what they represeont, so many tripping fairies. The succeeding part of the pantomine isalso sufficiently amusing for somie time; but it then grows tame anti languid, and continues so, with little exception, to the close. 'L'he incidents, though droll at the commencement, become paltry as it proceedr, and there is amiserable deficiencyof point throughout. There is, however, hustle enoughi to amuse "the gods" and the children; and so thr as physical capabilities go, the performances of Signor Pauuo, Mleasra. W. Kirby and Ellioi. and Airs. Searle, as the Clownz, larlequhs, Paint.aloon, and Columbnera, are all excellent in their way. Seinie curtailment has already taken place ; a little inore would be advisable : itr present length is exhatisting-to the performners, we should think-to the audience, we know. At the sale of M. Motteley's collection of- books, which closed on Friday last in the rue des Dons Enfanis at Parit, a num-- ber of valuable Eizevirs were dispoed of. Among these was a fine [,atin Psalter of 1653. There were also various books that belonged to Henry II., King of France, particularly the Latin Bible of R.. Etienine, 1545, and Plutarch's Lives, Vaseooan 1559. There were a beautiful Persian manuscript 1376, with 18 miniatures in gold and colours; a superb Gothic Mystery 1541, richly bound by Thou- venin, &C. Extract of a letter, dated -Toullousle, Dec. 10:-- On the nigiht of the 20th of September. at the hour of eleven, Alexan- der Prax andl Berna-rd Jourd.ia, both of them under 9- years of age, and residing at Belesta entered bv the mieans of a ladder and through a window, into alhouse lnlsabf ted by blladeleindllsnegre apd her brothers; the latter -were from home at the time. The young- person, who is 21 years of age, and re-markable for her personal at- tractions, had retired to rest anid was asleep ; they approached her bed, stripped off their clothes, anid pladed themselvest by her. side. Mladeleine, suddenly awaking, was on the point of seizing the bell, wheim she wasq prevent-4 by the threats of the yottng men who were in her bedt, andl wilft&4Nore they would murder her if she made thie least- resistance. They isoon intimated their horrible intentions. It was only at the expiration of two hours, that the young girl recovered her liberty. She instantly fled to the house of a bee.. ther wise resided at Belessa, to whom .she related her misfortune, exclaiming -with. all -te-eeec-o ref_'1 .-am, --bat-br ever ! 'What will become of the wretchedIladeleine I Alex-5 ander and Bernard have caused my rain !" and the in-terestinig uni- fortunate creature, overcome with the intenseness of her feelings swooned, and feil senseless into the armis of her brother. On the following mnorning, at six o'clock, the brother repaired to the Mla. gistrate, and stated the eircumnstances and the names of the two villains. B1ernard Jourdia was immediatelv arrested, but the other had found means to escape. Proceedings commenced against Jourdia; lie was tried at the Assizes of Arriege, and a verdict of guilty wvas found hy a majority of seven to five. The Court were unanimous in their decision, and according to the Articles 20 and 333 of the Penal Code, he was condemned to hard labour for life, and to be brandedL A very curious, and uniqiue circum- stance in the trial of a Fiench crimninal, however, occurred, which caused the whole business to be considered as null and void. The witnesses on the trial having necessarily to enter into details that were not of a nature to he miade public, the Judge, empjowered by article 64 of the Char-ter, ordered the doors of the Tribunnaltobe clos,ed. After the hearing of the wit- neLsses, and before summing up, the Judge allowed the doors to be opened. All this was strictly to the letter of the law, hut, unfor. tunately, the Clerk of the Arraigns, in drawing up an accognt of the proceedings of dlie Court, omitted to mention this circumstance, and Jourdia took advantage of the mistake of the clerk. Judgment was arrested. Hie was; sent for a second trial before the Court of Assize of Pl'aute Garonne. Here, as at Foix, the trial took place with closed doors, until ttie summning up of the Judge. Ml. Dugabe, a lawyer, wlio had been retained by Jourdia to-def'end him, attempted to asperse the character of Aladeleine, and assured the jury that she was the mistress of Alexandeir Praa. Hie admitted tgat his client. had been for a moment only, on the 29th of Senteinber, to MAt- deleine's house-that he had- accomipanied his friend, wvho bad an appointment to spend the night with her, and f'earing that one of her brothers miight return, hurl requested him to watchi. The lawyer added, that the conduct of 51adeleine was noto- riously- bad (although he brought no witnesses to substantiate this iofanious charge)-that ishe had complained to her brother solely fromn motives of interest. The Judge would not permit thisi mnan of the law to vilify this already too unfortunate girl, but toldi him, to "1hislegal fa " that such amede of defence was dis. grircefol to any man and'e more so to a professional one.. The Avocat-General contended, that niever did there appear a clearer case, and closed a long and eloquent ispeech by saying, thiat although his learned brother had thought proper, for the interest of his client, to pursue such a scandalous line of dcfence, still he begged the jury to understanid, that our laws, as those of England, mnake no diatiie. iion. Truth overcame all obstacles that had be en thirown in the way, and the satne verdict was passed by theC jurTy Of the Haute Waronne, as that whiich had been a-nnulled in stie Deptartm-ent of Arriege, at a mnajority of'seven to live. Thec Judges were uniani- mnous. Jourdia wafs sen~tenced to Mird Ilabour for life, and s ebad ed withi the letters T. P."