The Press.
London, England, 1858-08-07 00:00:00

jortign doutsponbenct.

PARIS, Thursday.
PARIS at this moment, though containing as usual
its teeming population, is little better in an intellec•
tual point of view than a huge desert. The Emperor,
must of the Ministers, and nearly all the diplomatic
body are at Cherbourg, and when they are absent the
vlitical machine stands still, or at least makes only
unimportant movements. " Society" broke up weeks
ago, and is still away at chateaux, or on the seaside,

or in German watering•places; in the literary, thee-
trical, artistic, and scientific worlds there is nothing
doing ; and ►he chattering, sauntering, coffee•sipping,
ice•eating, and insignificant crowds who on fine even-
ings fill the boulevards have, by the extraordinary
attractions of Cherbourg, become considerably di•

minished in numbers. Nay, even the very people
who remain here, though present in body are absent

in spirit—their thoughts being fixed on the grand
spectacle which Cherbourg must this day present,

and their talk being about the manner in which the
interview between the Queen and the Emperor will

" come off."

In London the public will be sooner informed of what
takes place than we shall be here, for the London press
is far more energetic and enterprizing in procuring
intelligence than that of Paris. It will, therefore,
no doubt, be stale news to you to be told that the
Emperor and Empress, having left St. Cloud on
Tuesday morning, reached Cherbourg yesterday
afternoon at about five o'clock, after stopping en route
for periods more or less long at Evreux, Caen, and
Bayeux, and one or two other places, and that at
each place stopped at and at Cherbourg their
Majesties were greeted with enthusiastic acclama-
tions. Nor will it perhaps be new to you to learn
that the Queen reached Cherbourg last evening, and
was visited at once by the Emperor and Empress;
that this day at midday her Majesty breakfasted with
the Emperor and Empress at the Hotel of the Mari-
time Prefecture ; that after breakfast (which was
limited to seven personages) the Emperor and Em•
press accompanied the Queen on board her Majesty's
yacht; and that this evening her Majesty is to dine
with the Emperor and Empress on board the
Bretagne line-of-battle ship, and is then to leave.
But though no doubt you know all this, you will per-
haps not know that people here in Paris are in grave
perplexity as to whether Prince Albert has accom-
panied her Majesty or not, the name of his Royal
Highness not having figured in the list given in the
official Moniteur, nor been mentioned in telegraphic
despatches. It may perhaps also be well to tell you
that some little disappointment is felt at Lord Derby
and Mr. Disraeli not having attended her Majesty as
well as Lord Malmesbury : the more Ministers tnere
were the more important in the eyes of the French
would have been the visit. You will be glad to hear,
however, that, in spite of this little drawback, the
visit is regarded with profound satisfaction by the
great majority of all classes of the people ; and it is
so because it is felt that it cannot fail to strengthen
the alliance between the two great Western nations.
Although the details of it are not yet known, it has
already had the effect of causing an improvement on
the Bourse.
The Emperor, it is understood, intends, in the
course of his stay at Cherbourg, to deliver a political
speech. It will naturally be of a peaceful character.
It, is reported in political circles here, but whether
true or not I cannot tell, that Lord Malmesbury
intends to press on his Majesty, in a very decided
manner, the necessity, not only of making such a
speech, but of acting up to the spirit of it. His
lordship, it is said, will plainly tell the Emperor that
public opinion in England has been a good deal
irritated by the somewhat extensive warlike prepara.
tions that have lately been made in French dock-
yards, and that if these preparations be continued
it will not be easy to maintain a good understanding
between the two countries.
As usual on the approach of the Emperor's fete,
which takes place on the 15th, rumours are spread
that a general amnesty is to be declared to political
offenders, and to the greater part of political exiles;
also, that the newspapers that have received
" warnings," and are consequently in danger of being
suspended or suppressed, are to be relieved there-
from. I do not, from all I hear, believe these
rumours to be well-founded ; but, nevertheless, there
is little doubt that the Emperor will exercise more
or less extensively his power of pardoning. The
Prmoe Napoleon, the Emperor's cousin, is, it appears,