The Sun. — 1844-02-26 (London, England)

PROMOTIONS IN THE ROYAL ARTILLERY.—In addition to the retirement of Lieutenant-Colonel Darby, who has recently returned to Woolwich on sick leave, from St. Helena, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. W. Arbuthnot, whose routine of service placed him first for the command at that station, has signified his intention to retire, and it is said Lieutenant-Colonel Fraser will proceed to St. Helena. Lieutenant-Colonel Macbean, whose tour of service placed him first to relieve Lieutenant-Colonel Browne in the command at Gibraltar, has also signified his intention of retiring, but his successor has not yet been named. Lieutenant-Colonel Whitty also retires, and the vacancies occasioned by the retirement of the four Lieutenant-Colonels above named, will be tilled up in the month of April next by the promotions of Major J. W. Wood, Major W. E. Jackson, Major G. Dornford, and Major Dalton, to be Lieutenant-Colonels. Four Second Captains will consequently be promoted to be First Captains; and four, if not more, Lieutenants to be Captains, as there are several of that rank about to retire on full-pay in the course of April next. Lieutenant-Colonel Chesney, the enterprising traveller, whose routine of duty gave him the command of the Royal Artillery in China, has arrived at Hong-Kong, and assumed the command of that branch of the service, and ranks as Brigadier-General. This gallant officer, immediately on his arrival, ordered the commencement of operations to ameliorate the unhealthy state of the island, and has given instructions to drain the land, and build hospitals on the north or most healthy side, and the works were commenced at the date of the latest letters from that quarter. The murderer of M. Donon Cadot, the banker, of Pontoise, who was at the same time robbed of cash, bank notes, and bills, to the amount of 600,000 f, has' at last, by the vigilant activity of the police of Paris, been discovered and arrested. A man named Rousselet, a blacksmith and wheelwright, at Sannois, near Franconville (Seine-et-Oise), bore a bad name, frequently leaving his home, often in the night, nobody knowing where he went. His means of subsistence were precarious, and he was much in debt. At about the period of the death of M. Donon Cadot, the circumstances of Rousselet suddenly changed. He paid his debts, and made considerable purchases; accounting for this improvement in his fortune to some, by stating that he had inherited property, and to others by telling them that he had found a heavy purse of money at the railroad station. These tales, however, did not satisfy his neighbours, who observed that he had become sad and silent, ceased from working, and, indeed, scarcely ever went out of his house. These indications of a disturbed mind reached the cars of the magistracy, and, coupling them with the dates of the death of the Pontoise banker, and the unaccountable alteration in the affairs of the Rousselet family, the police determined to arrest them. On Sunday this was executed by officers sent expressly from Paris. Searches produced the most overwhelming evidence. Bills drawn or endorsed in favour of M. Donon Cadot were found in the dwelling. These were strengthened by comparing the address of the envelope of a packet sent to Pontoise, containing a great number of stolen bills, with the handwriting of one of the children of Rousselet, which was unquestionably the same. Rousselet, his wife, and three children, were secured, and brought to Paris. When Rousselet saw that he was detected, and that his conviction was inevitable, he attempted to commit suicide, but was prevented. He had evidently for some time contemplated this act, for he had dug a sufficient hole in his garden to make his grave, and had chalked on the wall his desire that his body, when found, should be buried there. M. Gay Lussac was two days. ago seriously injured in the laboratory at the Garden ef Plants, by the following accident :—As the professor was opening a bottle, in order to make an experiment, the sudden admission of the air inflamed the contents and burst the bottle with such violence that persons outside conceived it to be the report of a musket. Gay Lussac was thrown down, with his face and hands dreadfully cut by the fragments of .therhottle, but it is hoped that none of the sinews or articulations of the hands are materially affected. A young assistant who was with him received a few*, wounds, but they Ns° comparatively,slight. PRIZE MONEY FOR THE Ri4w-0,7-,The-Officers and crew of this brig, lately arrived from- tie. coast) under Ile command of Lieutenant Sprigg, will be paid, on and afte-r the sth of March, their respective proportions of the prize Money arising from the tonnage bounty of the slave-vessel Amino Grande, captured by the Curlew on the 3d of April, 1841. The whole amounts to .831/., and Will he distributed as follows :—Flag of the station, 64/. Bs. 10d; commander, 1201. 16s. Gad ; second class, 601. 13s. hl ; third, "30/ 6s. 6 d ; fourth, 201. 4s. 4d; fifth, 10/. 2s. 2d; sixth, 61. 14s. 94d; veveh, 34 73.