The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-01 00:00:00

TIER SUN, LONDON, 'TUESDAY EVENING, MAY I. 1855

penditure of men and money, Russia becomes a
suitor for peace, much more onerous terms will
be demanded and enforced than those which were
tendered by the Allies before her hardness of
heart and obduracy of purpose placed her
completely beyond the pale of indulgence.
It is not in the Euxine only that she will be at-
tacked. It is only her means of defence that
must be crippled. The Baltic provinces must be
restored to their rightful owners, and regenerated
Poland interposed as a barrier between the un-
scrupulous aggressor and other nations with which
she has been brought into dangerous proximity.
We have already suffered enough for the mistaken
leniency which spared Odessa. Henceforward we
must not attempt to wage a " rose-water war,"
or heap courtesies on those who do not appreciate
our kindness or forbearance.

If Lord PALMERSTON manifested one-half the
concern for the feelings of the public he has dis-
played for the vindication of the aristocracy we
would not at this moment be unable to give any
positive intelligence as to the real state of the
siege of. Sebastopol.
Here is an event in the development of which
the entire community is more or less directly in-
tereAed—an event respecting which the most
painful rumours are everywhere current, and the
deepest anxiety is generally entertained, and yet
no trustworthy information aboutit is forthcoming,
though, by means of the electric telegraph, de-
spatches are transmitted from Balaklava to the
War-office in twenty-four hours ! Really such a
lordly indifference to public opinion, such disre-
gard for the feelings of the middle and lower
classes more especially, is unpardonable.
Were anything to be gained by concealment
the reticence of which we complain might be ex-
cusable ; but whatever be the nature of the in-
telligence received we can discover no valid reason
for withholding it. If the bombardment has en-
tirely failed, if the guns are used up, and nothing
has been effected, what harm can be done by
saying so ? If, on the other hand, the prospects
of the siege are in any degree encouraging, why
maintain a silence that conveys a different impres-
sion ? The people of England. are not children to
start at their own shadow, or fall prostrate and
enervated before the breath of miffortune. If
the news be bad, the sooner it is communicated
the sooner the public will rally from the shock,
and rise responsive to the magnitude of the emer-
gency.

Not that we would have it inferred that we
give credit to the rumour adverted to. On the
contrary, from Lord RAGLAN'S inquiry respecting
the sailing of the Sardinian contingent, and the
contents of the despatch from St. Petersburg,
published in another part of our impression, we
are inclined to hope all is going on more or less
satisfactorily. What we have off-handedly at-
tempted to show is, that no colourable excuse
exists for a concealment we cannot but attribute
to a culpable indifference deserving of severe re-
probation.

LATEST NEWS.

THE CRIMEA.

MARSEILLES, TUFSDAY, Mar 1.
The Caire, which left Constantinople on the
19th of April, has arrived.
Despatches leave at 9 a.m.
General Forey has arrived here.
BALAKLAVA, APRIL VT.

General Bizot was buried yesterday.
On Sunday, 15th, Magazine No 1. of the right
attack exploded ; one man was killed and five
wounded.

On Saturday, 14th, the French fired three
mines under the Flagstaff Battery with partial

success. The Russiana, fearing an assault, opened

a furious cannonade along the whole line.

The French lost six officers and 300 men dur-
ing a sortie on Friday night (13th). The Russian

loss was enormous.
Every night a man-of-war fires broadsides
against the town.
The Russians receive provisions daily ; they
are constructing immense works to the north and
east.
Our sailors have lost 116 in killed and wounded.
Two Polish deserters announce that there are
100,000 Russians in the vicinity of Sebastopol,
and 60,000 have arrived from Simpheropol.
Two Russian ships were burnt yesterday (16th).
The fire is slacker on both sides to-day."

PARIS, TUESDAY.

The Moniteur publishes the following :
Telegraphic despatches from the Crimea, dated
April 28, announce that the besiegers have mo-
mentarily suspended their fire, so as not to exhaust
their ammunition, awaiting reinforcements, which
were hourly expected.

BERLIN, IVfoNDAY.

A despatch from St. Petersburg, dated the
29th, says Prince Gortschakoff, unler date of the
24th April, writes from Sebastopol :
The fire of the enemy continues, but is slacker.
The damage done to the fortifications and the
losses of our garrison are also less in proportion.

THE ATTEMPT ON THE LIFE OP THE
.EMPEROE OF THE FRENaH.

•.:3-

PARIS, Sunday.—The attempt made on the life of the
Emperor last evening is, as may easily be supposed, the
most interesting topic of the day, and for a while the
siege of Sebastopol and the Conferences of Vienna are
lost sight of in the horror excited by such an act of
villany, the contemplation of the consequences to Europe
had it taken effect, and the general satisfaction at its
failure. The following particulars, which are not noticed
in the MoniteuT, are believed to be authentic

The Emperor, accompanied by two of his household,
Colonel Ney and Colonel Valabreque, in plain clothes,
left the Palace of the Tuileries about 5 o'clock to take his
usual ride in the Champs Elysees, and join the Empress,
who had preceded him, and was at that moment in the
alley Dauphines in the Bois de Boulogne. His Majesty
on these occasions is never accompanied by an escort,
and was only followed by two grooms at some dis-
t ince. The weather was fine, and the grand avenue of
the Champs Elysees„ through which he passed at his
ordinary, slow pace, as well as the side alleys, was
thronged with people, who showed the usual courtesy,
and saluted him respectfully. As he approached the
Barriers de l'Etoile, and when nearly opposite the well-
known place of amusement the Chateau dee Fleurs, a
man apparently about 36 years old, of dark complexion,
and a little under the middle size, advanced forward
from the throngs that crowded the pathway on the
right, and approached to within five or six paces of the
Emperor. He put one band to his hat as if to salute
his Majesty, who was in the act of replying to
the compliment, when he drew a pistol from
underneath his grey paletot, deliberately pre-
sented it at the Emperor, and fired. At the same
moment Colonel Ney, who was on the Empe-
ror's right hand, but riding a very little to the rear,
advanced his horse, when the assassin, supporting
his pistol on his arm, fired a second shot. At the first
report the Emperor's horse shied a little, but it was
probably that movement which saved the rider, together
with the tremulous motion of the assassin's arm, occa-
sioned by the failure of his first attempt. Neither shot
took effect. The second ball is said to have grazed the
Emperor's hat, or even passed through it, but this is not
known with any certainty. The shots were very sharp,
and the report loud enough to be heard on the third floor
of the houses on the side of the avenue. The assassin
was at once seized ,by two masons who were working at
a house hard by, and who had left the' building to have a
sight of the Emperor as he passed. He was thrown by
them on the ground. A police agent named Alexander, a
native of Corsica, whose duty it is to follow the Em-
peror when riding or driving without escort, leaped out
of the small carriage he occupied, ran to the spot where
the assassin was struggling with his captors, and pre-
vented him from drawing another pistol. The police
agent took hold of him, and, as-the other made the most
violent attempts to shoot those who detained him, in-
flicted on him, and, in self-defence, two wounds with a
poniard cane. The sergent-de-vilie aiding the police
agent succeeded in mastering and disarming him, but it
required ell their efforts to prevent him from being torn
to pieces by the people. He was hurriedly taken off to
the Octroi station at the barrier, which was not far dis-
tant, and there sheltered from the popular rage until a
carriage could be brought, in which he was conveyed
under the guidance of the police to the Conciergerie.
After the first shot was fired the Emperor bent his
head a little, either by ad involuntary movement to
avoid the bullet or owing to , the horse shying.
When he saw the assassin in the hands of the people,
and his clothes torn, he called out to spare him, and I
am assured his words were, " Epargnez le—ne le tuez
pas, le miserable I" The Emperor did not lose his pre-
sence of mind for an instant. He gratefully and grace-
fully replied by frequently taking off his hat and bow-
ing to the thousand acclamations with which he was at
once saluted a s he still slowly advanced towards the
Triumphal Isiah. A messenger had been sent on at a
gallop to inform the Empress, who was at the Torte
Dauphine (Bois de Boulegne), of what had occurred,
and to reassure her as to the safety of her husband. In
less than half an hour the Empress returned from her
drive in an open carriage, with the Emperor riding
close by. The sight was touching in the extreme.
Her Majesty was deeply affected ; her tears • flowed
in spite of her, she in vain essayed to dry them,
and she sobbed convulsively amid her efforts
to smile with joy at her husband's escape from
the murderer. Evidently she could not subdue her
emotion ; she leant back in her carriage, and relieved
her heart in an uncontrolled burst of Mears. Then, in-
deed, it was that the people who thronged the way gave
full vent to the more generous feelings of our nature.
The sight of the young- and lovely woman unable to re-
strain the agony of her feelings produced an instanta-
neous effect ; die shoots at once rose from the thou-
sands who beheld: her, and hundreds of workmen who
were employed on a row of houses constructing near the
spot from which the assassin fired lined the half-finished
walls, the windoav-sills, or clung to the poles of the scaf-
folding, and rent the air with their acclamations. Ac-
coinpanied by these manifestations of popular feeling,
the Empress proceeded to the palace. In a short time
the news was spread abroad, and the members of
the Imperial family; the Ambassadors, the Ministers
of the Emperor, the high functionaries of State, and
the members of the household, besides a considerable
number of other persons having no functions under the
Government or in the Palace, hastened to present their
congratulations.
Tile Emperor had previously announced his intention
and that of the Empress to be present at the Opera
Comique on Boulevards Italiens, nearly opposite the
Rue Laffitte. He and the Empress, not withstanding what
had occurred, were punctual to their word. They arrived
at the theatre about 9 o'clock, but long before that hour
an immense crowd had collected on the boulevard, from
the Madeleine to the Rue Vivienne, to manifest their
sympathy at his escape. It is calculate d that there
could not have been less than 200,000 people of every
condition collected. .The reception was most enthusias-
tic as the Imperial carriages, attended by an escort of
Guides, drove up the Rue de la Paix and Boulevard
until they stopped at the door of the theatre •; and on
their Majesties appearing in their box the whole house
rose and uttered the warmest acclamations. For a con-
siderable time it was found impossible to commence the
piece, and during the 'performance the audience, as if
unable to keep down its feelings, rose three or four times
to give vent to them. The Emperor and Empress left
the house at half past 11, and even at that horn' the
multitude still lined the Boulevards ; the shouting was
enthusiastic, as before, and followed them until they
entered the Palace of the Tuileries. _

The prisoner was taken to the prefecture of police,
and .there, in the presence of M. Billault, the Minister
of the Interior, and M. Collet Meygret, the Director of
Public Safetv, was interrogated in the Italian language,
first by M. P ietri, the prefect of police, and secondly by
M. Abbattuctli, the Minister of Justice. He expressed
his regret for his crime. He denied that he had any
accomplices, but said that numbers had sworn an oath
to do what he .only bad yet had the courage to attempt.
He declared thatt he had nourished the project ever since
the siege of Rattle.
The name of the assassin is Liverani. He was born
at Faenz's, in the States of the Church, and kept a shoe-
maker's shop at Rome, which he was obliged to quit
when the city was taken by the French army in 1849.
He is described as a man of from 30 to 35 years of age,
well dressed, wearing a black frock coat and polished
leather boots. His hat, of English manufacture, con-
tained in the lining- a print of the Crystal Palace— the
sign, probably, of Vie shop at which he bought it. He
had, in his pocket wh en arrested five Napoleons in gold.