The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-24 00:00:00

FRANCE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, FRIDAY EVENING.
Although this is Good Friday, and although, as
befits the solemnity of the day, the churches have

been thronged, and the theatres are this evening
shut up, the shops and the Bourse have been open

as usual

The Congress has not assembled today.
I hear that the Prussian negotiators are not at
all pleased with their reception. Everybody looks
coldly on them, not knowing whether to regard
them as friends or enemies, and they themselves
know not what attitude to assume.

Although peace is considered so certain the
government has not the less transmitted to the
Legislative Body the bill for the levy of 140,000
men. It is expected that the enforcement of the
levy will occasion some discontent in the provinces;
but the government seems disposed to brave it.
What is certain is that the peace will not be allowed
to cause any diminution either in the number or
the efficiency of the army. This fact has, as you
will suppose, given rise to not a few conjectures,
some of them rather wild ones ; one of them is that
the government contemplates extending its do-
mination in Algeria at the expense of Ka.bylia and

Morocco.
If we are to believe the Independence of Brussels,
the question of the destruction of the Russian
forts on the Circassian coast, threatened at one
time to lead to a rupture of the Conferences, but
the "moderation " of the Emperor of the French
removed the danger, by modifying the exigencies
of England. According to another journal, the
Congress has charged not only one sub-committee,
but several, to settle matters of detail—a separate
sub-committee, in fact, formed for each question.
At some of the theatres, pieces in honour of the
proclamation of peace are already being prepared.
The Assemblee Nationale remarks, that from the
terms of the amnesty mentioned in the Moniteur
yesterday, it will not be probable for the dis-
tinguished members of the legislative assembly,
and the " illustrious generals " now in exile to take
advantage of it. The remark is not made in terms
the most complimentary to the government.
A bulletin issued today says, that the Congress
is still going on well, and that the health of the
Prince Imperial is so good, that no more bulletins
will be issued. Prince Jerome is not quite so well
to day, and a relapse is feared.
An account of Mdlle. Rachel's visit to the
United States—written with a great deal of ill-
feeling to the Americans—states that her receipts
at New York and Boston only amounted to
110,758 dollars, whilst those of Jenny Lind in the
same places for an equal number of representa-
tions were 335,409. The great French tragedienne
is said to be galled to the very soul at not
having made as much money as the Swedish
nightingale.
A Prussian despatch announces that the Eng-
lish fleet has established a blockade at Libau,
and declared that all other Russian ports are to
be considered as blockaded likewise. From
Berlin we hear that the King has hastened to
write a letter of congratulation to the Emperor
on the birth of his son.
A letter from St. Petersburg says that the speech
delivered by the French Emperor, on opening the
Legislative Body, had been published in Russia,
with some sentences softened down, and others
exaggerated. The hopes in peace continued, but
the slightest circumstance caused them to waver.
P.S.—The article of the Assemblee Nationale,
above referred to, has given great offence at the
Tuileries, and it has been deliberated whether or
not the journal shall be suppressed—a thing which
can legally be done—seeing that it has received
several " w arnings." But it is believed that this
would be doing it rather a service than otherwise,
as it is in such a ricketty financial position that it
desires to die with eclat !
The state of the Bourse greatly alarms the
Government, and it has this day ordered that, in
the hope of checking the continued fall, shares of
companies not legally authorised, shall not be
allowed to be quoted.

PARIS, THURSDAY EVENING.

I was able to infOrm you some days ago, (exclu-
sively, as usual), that the birth of the Imperial
Prince would be made the occasion for offering an
amnesty to political offenders and exiles, This
morning the iiloniteur, as you will have seen, con
firms the correctness of my intelligence. It noti-
fies that such of the exiles as may choose to acknow
ledge the government may return to France. The
obligation thus imposed on them will, however,
deprive the amnesty of nearly all its value—or, as
I said the other day, how can an exile or con-
demned offender accept a government against
which he has fought, and against which he pro-
tests ? According to the official journal, out of
11,201 persons who were expelled from France
after the coup d'etat, there now only remains 107)8 ;
but, on such a matter, this assertion of the official
organ must be received cum grano salis.
The Congress was to have held a sitting to-day,
but it has been countermanded. The committee
which has been formed from its members, and which
comprises plenipotentiaries of all the Powers, except
Prussia and Piedmont, met, however, at the
Ministry of Foreign affairs; but they did not
deliberate long. When they broke up, they all
amused themselves smoking cigars in the garden,
with the exception of Aali Paella, the Turk, who
contented himself with a humble clay pipe.
I hear that the Emperor admires Lord Clarendon
greatly, and that he proclaims that, of all the
plenipotentiaries he is incomparably the most
capable.
An official announcement of peace being con-
cluded, is expected to appear almost daily in the
Moniteur.

I am assured on very excellent authority, that
the Copenhagen telegraph was quite mistaken—
not to use a stronger word—in announcing the
other day, that the United States had demanded a
prolongation of its treaty respecting the Sound
Dues for two months. The information that has
reached the French Government is to the
effect that the States have done nothing of the
kind, but that they abide by their definite resolu-
tion of refusing to pay the duties on the expiration
of the existing treaty, which takes place very
shortly. They are, however, it is added, disposed
to pay something in consideration of the heavy
expense to which Denmark is put in lighting her
coasts.

The Empress and her child are going on well.
In the chapel of the Tuileries, this morning, a
Te Deum, for her delivery, was sung. The govern-
ment porcelain manufactory, at Sevres, has
demanded and obtained permission, in accordance
with ancient custom, to present her Majesty with
an elegant cup. By the way, the Imperial child
has blue eyes, like his mother—a fact which may
interest your lady readers.
Prince Jerome has so far recovered that he has
been able to leave his bed for an hour to-day.
Of late an immense number of mushroom news-
papers, pretending to be devoted to the interests
of commerce, have sprung up ; but as a great
many of them are of a deceptable character—
attacking companies and undertakings which will
not pay them, and praising those, however bad,
which do—the government, I am told, has deter
mined on sweeping a portion of them away, and,
with that view, means to require them to deposit
caution money, like political newspapers.
There has again been a decline on the Bourse
to-day, in spite of all the efforts of the government
and of the Credit Mobilier to keep up prices, and
even to obtain an advance.
The Italian journals announce that orders have
arrived from London to suspend recruiting for the
English Legion.
A despatch from Berlin says, that immediately
after peace, the Russian government intends to
reform its commercial policy; also, that marks of
hostility between Russia and Austria may already
be perceived.

TILE CRYSTAL PALACE AND ITS FRIDAY VISITORS.—
The friends and advocates of rational enjoyment to the
middle classes will feel much pleasure Frith the fact, that
notwithstanding the vast crowd of that class who visited
the Crystal Palace on Friday (upwards of 17,000), not a
single charge was brought to the Lambeth police court on
Saturday, from that vast assemblage, nor did there appear
to be the slightest complaint, on the part of the police, of
any injury being done to the property of the company,
either en the grounds or in the building. These circum-
stances were mentioned to the lion. G. C. Norton, who
expressed much satisfaction and pleasure at them.