The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-03 00:00:00

FRANCE.

--•••

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, TUESDAY EVANING.

This, le jour de Pan, is the g;tandest holiday of the year.
All the public offices, "and the Bourse, are closed, the Post,
office closes at an early hour—the Emperor is receiving the
great bodies of the state, the principal state dignitaries,
deputations of the army, navy, and of all public bodies.
a, • • ,
Parisians, of ills elaises, .are hurrying to and fro, paying
visits, kissing, hand-shaking, and making presents; in
short, amusement, cordiality, and " good will to man," are
the order of the day.

The 3foniteur contains not fewer than eleven columns of
promotions in, or nominations to, the Legion of Honour.
The latter consists of several hundred persons of all classes
of society, from the highest to the lowest, and of sbldiets'of
all grades from the colonel down to the drummer.

• A telegraphic despatch from KonigsbUrg alleges that
the Russian Gavernmett has issued a circular to its diplo.
matic agents, in which it decl

s ready t

accept this

o not r

which h

to been co

A despatch from Warsaw says, that the Russian
Government has granted the peasants in Poland the right
to possess real property, and has decided that they shall
be allowed to pay an annual visit to the nobles, instead of
doing personal service.

PARES, .110NpAY

- - -r • r •
There is nothing -new about the •peace negociations;
except it be that a German newspaper pretends that
Russia has aceepted the proposition of the Allies for
neutralising the Black Sea, provided she be allowed to
effect the object by a direct treaty between her and Tur-
key, and provided also that she and Turkey be allowed
to keep four, or six vessels of warafloat for police pur-
poses. The newspaper adds, that the Allies have
granted the first part of the Russian demand and rejected
the second. For my part, however, I do not believe
that Russia has made any concession of the kind, and
her newspaper at Brussels (Le N''.orc?) asserts positively that
she has not and will not do sri, but will peremptorily,
reject the propositions which Count Esterhazy has con-
veyed to St. Petersburg.
A Berlin despatch says that the nomination of Prince
Menschikot to the command of Cronstadt, which I
announced to you yesterday, was considered both in
that city and at St. Petersburg, as aproof of the deter-
mination of the Russian government to continue the
wars r outrance.

New Year's Day is the great national and family
holiday of the French, and on it everybody visits every-
body, and makes presents to everybody. For days
before, the shops, especially those which deal in the
elegant trifles, called etrennes, are crowded with pur-
chasers, and the sums laid out in these are enormous—
£4oo,ooo at least, it is said. For the convenience of the
lower classes stalls are erected all along the Boulevards,
and there are to be purchased at them everything,. from
household utensils down to child's toys. In consequence
of the preparations for to-morrow, Paris is, to-day,
quite topsy turvy ; the streets are crowded with
carriages carrying home people with piles of goods, and
at every step you take in the streets you will find papas
hurrying homewards with loads of toys and bonbons.
The Emperor, as usual, has, had to make new year's
gifts, in the shape of an extensive distribution of deco-
rations of the Legion of.lionour, and to day the 3loniteur
publishes the names of the first batch of the happy
recipients.

The large purchases made on the occasion of the new
year's day have, naturally, given a good deal of activity
to trade, but it has been.canfined almost exclusively to
the retail trade ;• the wholesale continues in a state of
stagnation. From the prudence displayed 'since the
commencement of the financial crisis, or what thePatik
of France choses to consider such, it is belie7ed that the
settlements of the end or the year will he effected with-
oiat difficulty, The Thud; of France has recently made
extensive discounts, and has an immense number of bills
Aq.present. , .

The companies which have been formed, to obtain
from the governmert - a ecineessioa of Trnn::,tls-nti,•

navigation, witty

ying to effect 13

fusion