give. Gold has now been discovered at a place called Campbell | Hope. Judging from the numbers that have emigrated Town, about fifty miles from here. I marched through it the during the first four months of the present year, the other day, when they were prospecting for it. I saw a lump of total for 1852 promises to be far higher than in 1851gold yesterday, which a man found, valued at 15007. Think of that. One young fellow, who was a clerk in the Australian perhaps even 500,0007. Bank, at 140l. per annum, left for the diggings, and has just returned with an immense sum of money. In consequence of the extravagant price of everything here, I find it hard enough to rub it out. We have, on an average, to pay 25s. a month over our pay, as contributions to our mess and band, and that without indulging in the slightest luxury whatever. Colonel Despard has written home to have our pay increased, as we cannot live on it. One poor fellow is ruined by it already. Lieut., of ours, after seven years' service, threw up commission and all, and went off to the diggings. I am afraid if something is not done, the regiment will soon be without officers or men." The New Brunswick journals report that the first locomotive engine in that province had just been put in motion on the opening section of the St. Andrew's and Quebec Railway, A new British Colony has been established in the Bay of Honduras. This event is announced by the following proclamation. "This is to give notice, that her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen has been pleased to constitute and make the islands of Ruatan, Bonacca, Utilla, Barbarat, Helene, and Morat to be a colony, to be known and designated as 'The Colony of the Bay Islands.' "By command of her Majesty's Superintendent, AUGUSTUS Frederick Gore, Acting Colonial Sec. "God save the Queen. "Colonial Secretary's Office, Belize, British Honduras, June 17, 1852." The journals of the United States look upon this proceeding with suspicion; and observe, that this new station will serve for similar uses in the Carribean Sea which Gibraltar and Malta serve in the Mediterranean. PROGRESS OF EMIGRATION AND COLONISATION. The Liverpool magistrates have ordered the charterer of an Australian emigrant ship to Repay the PassageMoney of an intending passenger, with 37. compensation, announced when the berth was engaged; the charterer as the ship did not sail for fifteen days after the time not having paid the owners the sum agreed upon. The sitting magistrate at the Mansion House ordered Mr. Thomas Woolley, a ship-broker, to Return 101. PassageMoney paid by Mr. Bastard, with 67. compensation, the Australian packet in which Mr. Bastard had taken a passage not having sailed for more than a month after the time appointed. Counsel for Mr. Woolley contended that the applicant was entitled only to 1s. a day subsistence-money; but the alderman construed the act of parliament differently. An appeal was threatened. consented to abide by the arbitration of Captain Lean, A number of other passengers who had been disappointed the government emigration agent, as to the compensation they should receive for the delay. A meeting of the Emigrants' Aid and Transit Society was held at the Apollonicon Rooms on the 17th. Lord Erskine presided. There was a crowded attendance, and many females were present. Mr. Guedalla, a gentleman who had resided some years in Australia, gave an explanation of the principles and objects of the society. He noticed the rapid progress of the colony of Victoria, only settled in 1835. With a population of 60,000, its exports amount to 127. per head of the population, and the imports to between 87. and 107. He recommended emigration, not for the sake of the gold diggings, at which he believed a short spell would sicken most who went out; but that they might put their shoulders to the wheel, and engage in the staple labour of the colony, sheep-farming. It was the great object of this society to carry out an organised system of emigration, as recommended by Mrs. Chisholm. The The number of Emigrants that left Liverpool during directors of the society would make it their business to the month of July, including those for Australia from superintend the fittings and arrangements of the vessel, the government depot at Birkenhead, was 21,325. The and in particular the dietary, over which but a very number in the corresponding month last year was partial supervision could be exercised by the government 13,770. The emigrants bound for America were com- inspector. The society had a respectable agent in the posed almost entirely of Germans and Irish. Three colony, Mr. W. Hawkins, through whose means those large ships-the Dinapore, the Admiral, and the emigrants who were fortunate in the colony could Chalmers-containing an aggregate of about 800 emi- arrange for the sending out of their relatives, thus grants, sailed from Gravesend, on the 1st inst., for Port avoiding the danger of sending over remittances in Phillip. The Chalmers carried several of Mrs. Chisholm's specie. The committee of the society were not a body groups, mustering 250 strong. On the 2nd, the North- of speculators seeking to send up their shares in the umberland, carrying some thirty-six distressed needle-market; their sole object was was the benefit of the women, from the Female Emigration Society, set out emigrants, a fact which was attested by the society for the same destination. receiving the sanction of the Right Hon. Lord Erskine. The members of the society were divided into two classes-emigration classes, and colonising classes; the weekly or monthly payments of the former were applied to enable them to proceed to Australia; in the latter they formed a fund for the purchase of freehold land in Australia. At present, the number of government licenses for the diggings taken out and paid for was 12,811. The prices of labour were enormously high, but they would be considerably reduced when the thousands of emigrants arrived who had left this country A resolution in the course of the spring and summer. was unanimously passed, declaring that co-operation, through the efforts of the working classes, unaided by any kind of charity, was the true principle on which any system of emigration should be founded, and that the plan proposed by this society afforded the best means of accomplishing that object. in The twelfth report of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, that for 1851, has just been issued. In the twenty years ending 1851, no fewer than 2,640,848 persons emigrated from the United Kingdom: more than one half of this emigration occurred in the last five years. In 1851 there was the largest number any one year-335,966: this exceeds the largest estimate of the annual increase of population in these isles. But the great majority of those who emigrate are Irish it is estimated that in ten years 1,289,133 Irish people have sought new homes across the ocean. The commissioners prognosticate that this stream of emigration of the young and vigorous, leaving behind the old, the feeble, and the destitute, must end in the desertion of Ireland by its Celtic population. The money sent home from North America during the four years, from 1848 to 1851, or contributed as prepaid sum than passage-money, amounted to no less a 2,947,000l. The amount so paid in 1848 was 460,0002.; in 1849 it was 540,000Z.; in 1850, 957,000l.; in 1851, 990,000Z. The amount expended out of the public funds for the conveyance of emigrants was, up to the end of 1851, about 800,0007.; of which about 45007. was derived from parliamentary votes for sending out free emigrants to those colonies which have received convicts, and 102,000l. obtained from the emigrants themselves. The remaining sum of about 653,000l. was furnished from the land revenues of New South Wales and South Australia, or the general revenue of the Cape of Good Official returns have been published, showing the number of Emigrants to Australia during the years ending the 30th of April 1851, and 1852, both unassisted and in government emigration ships. The numbers are: 1851. 1852. 4,583 .1,941 7,634) .2,883 3,822 An increase, in twelve months, of from 5676 to 16,039 or of 10,363 individuals. It is to Victoria that there has been the most marked increase of emigration from this country, as the numbers who went out to New South Wales in the year ending April 30, 1849, exceeded the numbers of the year to April 30, 1852, by 5101 to 4583; and in South Australia, during the same relative terms, by 6363 to 3822; while the amount of emigration to Victoria (7634) is greater in the year just past than in any former year, the nearest approach to it being in 1849, when the number of emigrants was 6049. These facts show that the gold is the great attraction, for, while it is not difficult to obtain ordinary labour in New South Wales or South Australia, it is not obtain able in Victoria. It appears by a communication made to Sir J. Pakington of the date of April 24, 1852, that there were 30,000 men engaged at the gold diggings in Victoria alone, 15,000 of that number having been diverted from their previous occupations in that province, and probably 5000 from the adjoining colony of South Australia. The remaining 10,000 is to be accounted for principally by the emigration from this country. There are at present, according to the official returns, no fewer than 117 ships and vessels in the United Kingdom entered outwards for ports in the Australian colonies nearest the gold-diggings. Of these forty-four are loading at the out-ports, and seventythree in the port of London. In the latter number there are for Port Philip, Melbourne, and Geelong fifty-five, and for Sidney eighteen. These vessels vary in in tonnage from 300 to 1000 tons, and two or three of a larger amount; all are fitted up for the conveyance of passengers, and are to sail for their respective destinations during the present month. Admitting that on an average each vessel will carry sixty emigrant adults and children, the total number would be 7020, or nearly one-third of the emigration to the Australian colonies, including New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land, that took place from the United Kingdom during 1851, the number as stated by her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners being 21,532. The Times gives extracts of a letter from a young man now at Adelaide to his parents in this country, which contains some points of information that may be useful to persons intending to emigrate. The letter is dated March 1st, and begins by stating that "trade in Adelaide is at an end, and the town deserted," there not being more than 100 men at that date in the colony. Last December the writer joined a party who travelled on foot overland 500 miles to Mount Alexander to work at the diggings, but, not liking his companions, he returned to Adelaide by sea, and was about to start afresh with more congenial associates. He thus describes the labours and sufferings he underwent in his golddigging excursions:-"I have been ten weeks sleeping | on the ground, without a bed, and for weeks not undressed. I have gone through swamps up to the middle in water, traversed burning-hot sands, deserts thirty miles across-travelled under a scorching sun, nearly dead with thirst, and for days not able to wash myself, from want of water. One of our party was killed on the road, and we had to bury him 200 miles from home." Again: "The gold is not to be obtained without hard work, such as labouring men can hardly endure. Advise every one who is getting a good living in England to remain." Thousands, he anticipates, will be disappointed; and he observes that none are fit for the liggings who cannot sleep under a tree in the open air, drink water of all colours, go for a week unwashed and unshaved, and submit to be overrun with vermin. The Californians are coming over. There are about 30,000 diggers at present, all well armed. Hitherto they have successfully resisted the attempts of government, to overtax them. They have commenced Lynchlaw, and the sooner it gets general the better, to get rid of the hordes of ruffians who are prowling about. Lynchlaw has no terrors for an honest man." Provisions are very high: the 4lb. loaf, 1s. 9d.; butter and cheese, 5s. a pound; and everything else in proportion. The writer, who hopes to make his fortune at the diggings, expresses his intention of returning to South Australia to spend the remainder of his days in that colony, which he has no doubt will in a year or two become exceedingly Mrs. Chisholm addressed a large public meeting in the Parochial School-room, Clapham Common, on the evening of the 23rd, on the subject of Family Colonization. The Rev. S. Bower, the Rector, presided. Before she began her address, it was stated that just before the opening of the meeting, the chairman had received a letter warning him from taking the chair, because Mrs. Chisholm was a Roman Catholic. When she came forward, she was loudly cheered. She said this was the first time she had appeared on a public platform, and she felt diffident in addressing them. It was a great trial for her to do was a great trial for her to do so, but in great trials they met with great support, and it was a comfort to her to feel that if the day of persecution had not gone by, there were some minds filled with that charity which God gave to bless. She believed that if she honestly did what was right the clergy of the Church of England would help her. She had had sixty families at one time under her care at Sydney, and anxious that they should get a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, she had entreated them not to accept government work at a lower rate, which would have pauperised them, and she had gone with them into the interior, and though there was only one complete set of agricultural implements for 30 families, yet some of these parties were now remitting 607. each to aid the emigration of their friends, and there was not one of them that was not now in good circumstances, and able to give his 57. subscription for any public, object. In commencing her work with single female emigrants she commenced with two, one a Roman Catholic and the other a Protestant, and she kept them till she found them situations, and hundreds and thousands had been thus provided for. Her being a Catholic was the one thing brought against her. But the Bishop of the Church of England in that colony was a noble-minded man; he did not privately slander, but his chaplain was directed to write to her, and to put a few plain questions. These questions were as plainly answered, and to this day there was a good feeling between them. After her return to this country, on examining into the accommodation in emigrant ships, she found that aged men, and women, and children under 14, all slept in one compartment. She determined upon arranging what were called enclosed cabins, which provided for the separation of females. A benevolent nobleman, hearing of her efforts, said he would raise a few hundreds to help, but the shipowners, who were afraid she was going to ruin their trade, called upon him, and dropped the venom in. They said, Mrs. Chisholm is a 'good kind woman, but people cannot trust her; she is an agent of the Propaganda. The nobleman was afraid, and the subscriptions did not come in. She persevered, however, with regard to the enclosed cabins. She had sent off ten ships with these arrangements, and now there was scarcely an emigrant who did not inquire if there were enclosed cabins. She had lately had a communication from a large shipowner in London, who said he would cut out her plan and give more space. She told him in reply that she would help him to carry his plan out. There was nothing now wanting in emigration but that the people should have confidence in ships, and in the provisions, and that the clergy of all denominations should come forward and do their duty to meet the depravity that now prevailed, in order that emigration might be moralised. Her husband and herself had been separated now about a year, and she intended to return to the colony in the spring, and to devote herself specially to the care of the single female emigrants. Meanwhile the work was proceeding. They had received 20007 from her husband; and in a letter he stated that there were several servants paying 3s. and 4s. a week to maintain their parents with greater comfort in England. Upwards of 70 agod parents had been sent for, and a number of wives. Many young men, also, were sending for the girls they had left behind them-and when they arrived her husband always looked up the clergyman and had them married at once. She had no doubt that this system of remittances would be effected by bankers, shortly, but at present, except through this society, there were no means of remitting small sums with the certainty_of their being applied to the purposes intended. Mrs. Chisholm then spoke of the hospitality of the country, and said that when she was going into the interior with arrangements to be made for the passage, when she hoped the rev. chairman, if he was not afraid, would again preside. The Chairman said he was not at all afraid, but should be happy to preside. Three cheers were then given for Mrs. Chisholm and three for the rector, and the meeting separated. NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS. THE French Ministry has been reconstructed. M. Achille Fould, formerly Minister of Finances, has been placed at the head of the Council, under the title of Minister of State; Casabianca lapsing into the post of Senator, with salary of 30,000 francs. The official departments are filled by Bineau, Finance; Magne, Public Works; Drouyn de l'Huys, Foreign Affairs; Ducos, Marine; Abbatucci, Justice; Fortoul, Instruction; Persigny, Interior; St. Arnaud, War; Maupas, Police. Three members of the Council of State have "resigned" their posts-in other words, have been dismissed, because they opposed the government on the Orleans confiscation question. Their names are Maillard, Cornudet, and Reverchon. Their successors are notable men: M. de Cormenin, who under the name of Timon" was a scourge to the Orleans dynasty; and M. Persil, formerly an Orleans Minister. The other changes are unimportant-except that M. Giraud, formerly Minister of Public Instruction, has succeeded the late M. Eugéne Burnouf as Inspector of Superior Instruction. at least two hours before the appointed time the stream of population flowed towards the scene of action. A frigate from Cherbourg, the Ville de Paris,_was anchored in the middle of the river between the Pont des Invalides and the Pont de Jéna. The stand for the President of the Republic was erected on the Champs de Mars side of the river, and on either side of it, extending to a considerable distance, were platforms containing reserved seats for invited guests. The whole length of the quays, from the Pont de la Concorde to the Pont de Jéna, was thickly crowded with anxious spectators, of whom not one in a hundred could see any part of the sight. Shortly after four o'clock the President of the Republic, attended by his household and the grand dignitaries of state, arrived at the grand stand. Great bustle then prevailed, both on shore and on the river. Boats with naval officers pushed rapidly to and from the frigate, bearing orders. It was not till half an hour after the President's arrival that the preliminaries of the battle commenced. A boat put off from the Arcas steamer, which was stationed near the Pont de Jéna, A great fête has been given by the President; and reconnoitred the position of the frigate. This was Sunday, the 15th of August, the fête-day of the an easy operation, for the frigate, to the great disapEmperor Napoleon, having been chosen for the occasion. pointment of multitudes, remained close reefed in an The guns of the Invalides opened the ceremony of the inoffensive attitude at her moorings, where she had day by firing an imperial salute; and the national been for several days past. The frigate fired a gun at guards, whose standards were to be blessed and distri- the boat, which instantly retreated, pouring a sharp fire buted, began to assemble about seven o'clock. They of musketry into the frigate. Upon this, about twenty drew up in line, three deep; one wing resting on the small boats, with soldiers and sailors on board, left the Place de la Madeleine, and the other on the Porte Arcas, and proceeding towards the frigate, attempted to Maillot of the Bois de Boulogne. Soon after eight board her. Two forts upon the banks of the river o'clock, the Judges of the Court of Cassation arrived at supported this manœuvre by a tremendous cannonading, the Madeleine, and for above an hour there was a suc- which enveloped the whole mise en scene in a vast cession of visitors-soldiers, diplomatists, officers of state, cloud of smoke. The rest of the battle can only be ministers, and members of the Institute; all decked out described as a long succession of clouds of smoke, and in ceremonial trappings. The coming of M. Bonaparte deafening peals of artillery. A general impresion prewas announced by the advanced guard of the Guides, vailed that the frigate was to spread her sails and a handsome regiment, who were loudly cheered. These manoeuvre, but she remained motionless on account of were followed by lancers, carbineers, and cavalry of the the want of water in the river. The exhibition was, national guard, forming the escort of the President. indeed, as little like a sea-fight as possible. In the On the steps of the church, M. Bonaparte was received evening, there was to have been a grand ball to the "Dames de la Halle," or market-women, with whom by a body of general officers, who stood bareheaded. He was led to his place near the altar by the arch- the President is a great favourite; but it was postponed, bishop of Paris and the cure of the Madeleine, and this to their great disappointment and indignation. It took priest took occasion to remind him that it was the fête place, however, on Tuesday evening, but turned out a of the Assumption of the Virgin as well as of the failure. The crowd was tremendous, and of a most Emperor. M. Bonaparte is said to have replied, that motley description, the heat being almost unbearable. he placed himself under the protection of the Virgin It was nearly half-an-hour's work to get from one end and the "Genius" of the Emperor. High mass was High mass was of the ball-room to the other, so terrible was the crush. celebrated by the archbishop; the ensigns of the The rain came down in torrents, and penetrated through national guards were blessed, sprinkled with holy the roof, forcing the guests in some places to hold up water, and sent out to be distributed to the troops. umbrellas. Very few functionaries were present; there The clerical ceremonies were over by half-past ten were scarcely any refreshments; and, finally, the, o'clock. M. Bonaparte mounted his horse at the steps President of the Republic did not attend. Various of the Madeleine, and rode up the front and down the causes are assigned for it. The friends of the Elysée rear of the guards, saluting the eagles, which were declare that it was the heavy rain which fell about ten lowered as he passed. He then placed himself at the o'clock that prevented his going out. It is believed, Pont Tournant of the garden of the Tuileries, and sat however, that the real cause was, that the Ministers quietly for two hours while the guards defiled before were decidedly opposed to his risking his person in the him. When this was finished, he galloped off to the midst of a close crowd of nearly 20,000 guests of every Elysée. Different accounts are given as to the intensity description. The effect of this absence, however, of the cries; but the general opinion in Paris appears to amongst the lower classes, is certainly unfavourable have been that the President did not receive as warm a to the President, as they say that if he did not intend greeting as might have been expected from a body to meet his guests he ought not to have invited them. The Nothing else but this matter was spoken of the next day of men selected by the government itself. at the Halle; and the President's want of politeness was weather was very unfavourable throughout the ceremony. The great attraction of the day was the freely commented on. The names of all the distinguished mock naval combat on the Seine. All the other persons who condescended to dance with partners of low entertainments have been seen over and over again degree in the quadrille of honour, at the ball of the Halle, in former years, but the greater part of the Parisians has been carefully chronicled, and the list is curious. M. de never in their lives saw a three-masted ship. For Persigny, Minister of the Interior, danced with Madame Clement, greengrocer; General Magnan, with Madame this tablet was, it was a vexation to the Ruler of France, Amboster, fruit-seller; M. Romien, with Madame and a mute accuser of the splendid sepulchre of the InDaniel, butter merchant; M. Pietri, Prefect of Police, valides. It has, therefore, been recently removed, diswith Mademoiselle Glaize, mushroom merchant; M. T. membered, and totally destroyed. The coffin has been de Montour, chef de cabinet in the ministry of the removed to a small room adjoining the vestry, and left interior, with Mdile. Marie Jemmaire, herring merchant; there without any inscription. This cowardly profanaM. Collet Megret, with Mdlle. Bessin, bacon merchant; tion took place by night, but in the presence of the Captain Moutour, of the navy, aide-de-camp to the commanding officer, and by the hands of soldiers, after Minister of Marine, with Mdile. Brisemontier, tripe a visit from some of the President's orderlies, and of seller; Captain de Lastic, an aide-de-camp of the Lucien Murat. The accusing epitaph has been broken Minister of Marine, with Mdlle. Prosper, offal mer-in pieces, and all traces of the crime, and of the reparachant; M. Genet, of the Ministry of the Interior, with tion, have as much as possible disappeared. Mdlle. Narmer, oyster seller; M. de Najac, of the Beaux Arts, with Malle. Celestine France, butter merchant; M. de Lagnean with Madame Hoguet; M. Lepage, the chief porter of the butter market, with Madame de Persigny; M. Wair, the chief porter in the meat market, with Madame Ducos; M. Arnoult, a "fort" in the oyster market, with Madame Drouyn de l'Huys; M. Delahaye, of the butter market, with Mdlle. Magnan; and M. Lepage, of the oyster market, with the Countess Ornano. M. Odillon Barrot has declined to sit in the Council General under the present régime, in a letter addressed to the Electors of the Department of the Aisne. The following passage is of general interest:— "Now that on the ruins of the constitutional and parliamentary government of my country is founded—not in the form of temporary and incidental dictatorship, but as a permanent government-the most absolute power that perhaps exists in the world, now that France, traversing the fatal circles around which she has been turning for sixty years past, has again passed from the most excessive liberty to authority the most concentrated and the most devoid of all serious control,-when the deceitful forms of universal suffrage and of popular sections, with the absence of all free discussion, of all possible assembling, of all previous concert between the electors, leave to the candidates indicated by the authorities the secure chance of success, and do not seem to have been maintained but only to mark the false semblance of liberty-the sad and humiliating realities of despotism-what co-operation can you require of me for such a government? What good could I do? "The implicit adhesion which I should give by my oath to the destruction of our dear and old liberties, would it not effect ten times more evil than any good resulting from my presence in the council-general? I appeal to you, my dear fellowcitizens. Habituated, as we are, to think very nearly in the same way to consult each other, as it were-say if, by the determination I adopt, and which pains my heart so much, I do not render to our liberal cause the last and only service I can render to it. The good that we have commenced in the canton of Crécy has made sufficient advance to make it almost a matter of Crécy has made sufficient advance to make it almost a matter of indifference, so far as regards our material interests, whether I remain or do not remain your representative in the councilgeneral. And as to the public and moral interests, believe me it is much better for us all that I should maintain our faith in liberty, and fidelity to our liberal banner. It is much better, when it is everywhere proclaimed that France is not worthy of that liberty she has followed amidst so many vicissitudes, earned by so many sacrifices, that there should still be men who persist in believing her worthy of it. I ought, and I desire, to be one of those men, should I die before I see my hopes The letter was published in the Indépendance Belge, and that journal had been stopped by the French post. The hostile feeling of the President of the Republic towards both dynasties of the Bourbons has shown itself recently in two very remarkable instances. The first refers to the Orleans family: After Louis Philippe had caused the remains of Napoleon to be brought from St. Helena to France, a magnificent mausoleum was designed, by the king's orders, to receive the body under the cupola of the Invalides. This monument is not yet entirely completed, but on each side the staircase descending to it a bas-relief had been introduced into the wall, the one representing the arrival of Prince de Joinville at St. Helena, with the Belle Poule, to fetch the body of the Emperor; the other King Louis Philippe receiving the funeral procession at Paris. Upon a recent visit paid by Prince Louis Napoleon to these works, he peremptorily ordered that these tablets, which commemorate the share taken by the House of Orleans in the funeral honours paid to the Emperor Napoleon, should be removed. The other retates to the elder branch.-In the early days of the restoration a small monument was raised in the chapel of Vincennes to the memory of the Duke d'Enghien, whose remains were discovered near that spot. Yet humble as Proudhon, the notorious red republican and socialist, has published a book in which he advocates the legitimacy of Louis Bonaparte. "Louis Napoleon," he says, "is really the elect of the people. The people, you say, were not free. The people were deceived. The people were afraid. Vain pretexts. Are men afraid? Are they deceived in such cases? Do they want liberty? We, the republicans, have repeated, upon the faith of our most suspected traditions, Vox populi, vox Dei.' The voice of God has named Louis Napoleon. As the expression of the popular will, he is the most legitimate of sovereigns.” M. Proudhon, no longer proscribed, is in high favour with the powers that be, and is in the way of making a fortune, it is said, by the sale of his book. Great sensation has been excited in Paris by a trial of a murderer before the Court of Assizes of the Seine. The miscreant, whose name is Pradeaux, in the space of a single month, last May, assassinated three persons, two of whom were old women, and attempted a fourth murder. The resistance which he encountered in his last crime happily prevented its completion and led to his apprehension. He is 32 years of age. His parents were connected with the manufacture of artificial flowers. Before he took to assassination, he had been three times imprisoned for robbery and swindling. As 300n as he had obtained two or three hundred francs by some criminal means, he spent the money in a few days, and then had recourse to a fresh crime for a new supply. His first victim was a cotton-manufacturer, whom he murdered in his bed on the night of April 5, to rob his chest, which contained some 700 francs. About the same time he contracted an engagement to marry the girl Dardard. To defray the expenses of the nuptial feast he committed a fresh murder. This time his victim was a woman of 60, the widow Chateaux, of whom he pretended that he wanted to hire a lodging. He paid a visit at midnight, knocked down the old woman with a violent blow on the head, and strangled her with a handkerchief. He then rifled her effects, among which he found a bag of savings amounting to 300 francs. Henceforth this became the pattern for Pradeaux's assassinations. He sought out the weakest victims, stunned them by a sudden blow, and then strangled them. Having murdered the widow Chateaux on the 25th, he proceeded to assassinate in precisely the same way four days after a woman of the same age, Suan, engaged in the artificial flower trade. But he ransacked in vain the drawers of this poor creature, who, notwithstanding her industrious habits, was obliged to eke out her subsistence by the charity of the Bureau de Bienfaisance. The next day Pradeaux led his bride to the altar, decorated, perhaps, with some of Mdlle. Suan's artificial orange-flowers. He passed the night in wandering about the orchards whose walls he had scaled to murder the cotton-manufacturer, and at daybreak entered the cabaret of an old woman named Naudin. He asked for a glass of brandy, and while she was getting it he struck her on the head with a bottle, and knocked her down. He then attempted to strangle her with a handkerchief as usual; but the old woman bit him with force, and her screams brought the concierge to her assistance. The assassin fled, was pursued and caught. The jury found a verdict of guilty upon all the charges, and the prisoner was condemned to death. The appearance of Pradeaux is insignificant, his features are small, his eyes sunk, tures are small, his eyes sunk, his complexion pale. His whole life seems to have been one tissue of crimes. As soon as he had strength enough he knocked down his mother and trampled upon her, and nearly assassinated his father with one of the tools used in their trade. |