The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-01 00:00:00

EPOOL, TUESDAY, APRIL 1, Me.

FRANCE.

THE SIGNING OF THE
TREATY OF PEACE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

My telegraph despatches will have informed
you of the great event which has taken place
this day, and which will make this day one of
the most memorable in history. At one o'clock
the Treaty of Peace was signed at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs ; at two o'clock a salute of 101
guns from the Hotel des Invalides, was tired in
honour of it, and by three o'clock placards were
stuck up all over Paris announcing it. The
Placard was in these terms :
PREFECTURE OF POLICE.—CONGRESS OF PARIS.
" 30th March, 1856.
Peace was signed to-day at one o'clock, at the Hotel of
Foreign Affairs.
The Plenipotentiaries of France, Austria, Great Britain,
Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey have attached their
signatures to the treaty, which puts an end to the existing
war, and which by regulating the Eastern question, places
the repose of Europe on solid and durable bases.
(Signed) PIETRI, Prefect of Police.

The news has been received with marks of satis-
faction by the Parisian population ; in all the
principal quarters of the town, groups assembled
to read the placards. The weather is brilliant—
a sky without a cloud, and a glorious sun—fit
weather for the signing of peace. To-night Paris
will be illuminated.

The treaty might have been signed on Friday,
as every thing was concluded on that day, as I told
you, but the Emperor was anxious to have it signed
to day, because this is the anniversary of the cap-
ture of Paris by the Allies, in 1813. To
sign the treaty, all the Plenipotentiaries put
on their most splendid uniforms, and
made use of the famous plume d' aigle ( eagle-pen)
which has made the Parisians laugh so much, and
which, par parenthese, was plucked from an eagle
in the Jardin des Plantes—an operation which
made the poor bird screech. After signing the
treaty, the Plenipotentiaries proceeded to put their
initials, or as the diplomatic phrase is, to parapher
the protocols—a long operation, seeing that they
have to put not fewer than three hundred and eighty-
four initials.

The precise conditions of the treaty are not at
present known, but the Patrie, an evening paper,
announces that the treaty is of a nature to
give a complete and legitimate satisfaction to
the greatinterests for which France and England
took up arms. It secures, it declares, " a peace
glorious for us, and which will be advantageous
(Jructueure, id est, fruitful) for all." The four
guarantees it contains are largely applied (sic), and
the fifth paragraph has been realised in a manner
to give to Europe all that she could demand for
her security, without, however, humiliating Russia.
After the signing of the treaty the Emperor
drove upon the Champs Elysees in an open car-
riage which he conducted himself. He was loudly
applauded.
Now that peace is settled, it may be well to state,
that the English press will commit a great mistake
if it begins to attack or even sneer at France, for
having shown impatience to conclude peace—im-
politic and undignified,- though impatience be—
the thing is done and can't be undone ; and all that
the English can gain by railing or grumbling at it,
is the bitter of the French. I have more
than once hinted to you that, even in the very
thick of the alliance, the real sentiments of the
great bulk of the French people towards us were
not what we imagined ; and you may be sure that
those sentiments will become intensely hostile, if
our press wounds their vanity, by representing that
the peace they have accepted is not a creditable
one, and that England has reason to think herself
aggrieved by their haste in jumping at it. The
articles in the London Times, in which the French
are sneered at, have already produced a mis
chievous effect in high quarters, and even the
grave Journal des Debats replies to them somewhat
tartly this morning by reminding the English that
they have not done so much in the war as the
French ; and that though they boast that now
their fleet is strong enough to burn everything,
and their army to go any where, they are, after all,
only like the man in the novel who was ready to
do anything when it was too late. As a proof of
how sensitive the French are to newspaper
attacks, I may mention that a day or
two ago, a gentleman who holds a high official
situation, and who is a great partizan of the English
alliance, said to me very seriously, " For God's
sake, let the English press refrain from attacking
or insulting us, or the English alliance will be cast
aside foe ever ! The Emperor is surrounded by
people who hate England and love Russia, and
who will certainly make him come to a flagrant
rupture with England if the press insults us !"

The A ssemblei Nationale has received another
" warning " for having commented on a recent
decision of the Court of Cassation, that voting
tickets in elections cannot be printed or circulated
without permission of the Departmental Prefects,
inasmuch as they are, in the eye of the law,
"writings." The comment was to the effect that the
judgment threw great light on the real political
situation of France, meaning thereby, no doubt,
that France is in a state of political slavery—and
this is considered an insult to the government.
Notwithstanding the peace, the government is
proceeding with the bill in the legislative body for
the levy of 140,000 men. A committee of the
chamber has reported in favour of it, on the ground
that in spite of peace, " foresight makes it a duty
to remain ready to draw the sword," if necessary.
From Warsaw also we learn by telegraph that on
the night of the 26th a new levy of 30,000 men,
aged between eighteen and thirty-five, was made.
Yet it had previously been notified that the inten-
tion of making this levy had been abandoned.
_ _

The Moniteur announces that the En:peror sent
yesterday General Edgar Ney„bis aide-de camp,
to thank Lord Clarendon, Count Cavour, and
Count Orloff, for the demonstrations made by the
English, Sardinian, and Russian ! armies in the
Crimea, on the receipt of the news of the birth of
his child.

The prospect of peace has caused the attention
of the mercantile classes to be turned towards
Russia, and it is certain that within a very few
weeks after peace shall be concluded, we shall see
project after project for establishing railways,
banks, mortgage societies, manufactories, ship-
ping companies, perhaps even agricultural
colonies, in that country. Indeed, it
is said that Count Orloff, who, as I have already
told you, is to remain here, after the conclusion of
peace, as Ambassador Extraordinary, has already
had communications with some great capitalists on
the subject, and has caused it to be understood
that he is " open to offers" from others. Many
young men of enterprise have determined to go to
Russia without delay, convinced as they are that
that country is about to undergo a complete meta-
morphosis, and that there will be a great demand
for talent and energy of all kinds.

P.S —I am assured that Prussia has signed the
treaty on the same terms as the other Powers.

PARIS, SAyIIRDAY EVENING

The Constitutionnel, the great semi-official journal,
announces this morning that the treaty of peace
will probably be signed to-morrow, and that the
armistice will be prolonged for six weeks to enable
the ratifications to be exchanged. It mentions a
little fact which has occasioned a good deal of
ridicule—namely—that as the Empress thinks
that the arrival of peace, shortly after the birth of
her child, is a happy presage for him, it has been
determined that the pen, with which the treaty is
to he signed, shall he made from the quill of AN
EAGLE, and presented to her Majesty

A telegraphic despatch from Marshal Pelissier,
dated the 23rd, says that the news of the birth
of the Imperial Prince was greeted by the firing
of 101 guns, by the French, English, and Sardinian
armies in the Crimea and of the fleets, and by the
lighting of bonfires at night--those of the Scotch
and Sardinians being mentioned as very
brilliant. The Marshal adds, that the
Russians lighted fires on the heights
occupied by them, to, as was supposed, take part'
in the rejoicings of the allies. From Berlin, also,
we learn that the Russians shared in the celebra-
tion of the said event, by attending the 7'e Deum,
chanted by order of the French ambassador. -
The Toulon newspapers say that, on the con-
clusion of peace, 38,000 of the army in the Crimea
are to be sent to Algeria, to undertake a grand
expedition against Kalrjlia.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

•
THE PLENIPOTENTIARIES

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING,

The first re=union of the Plenipotentiaries
recently occupied in the reace Congress, will
take place on Wednesday, for the consideration of
certain questions of minor importance.

THE WEST INDIA MAILS

SOUTHAMPTON, MARCH 31.
The mail steamer La Plata, with the West India
mails, arrived here at 8.30 p m.
The La Plata brings 3,000,000 dollars in specie,
of which 45,000 dollars are to pay dividends.
She also brings fifty passengers, and the dates
of her advices are as follows:—Tampico, March 4;
Havanna and Trinidad, March 10; Jamaica; March
12 ; and St. Thomas, March 18.
From St. Thomas via Panama, the La Plata
brings seven days' later intelligence from Cali-
fornia, with the intimation that new gold discoveries
have been made.