The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-31 00:00:00

THE NEW F.RENCLi GRAND ARMY.

The Paris correspondent of the Times (second
edition), in his letter of yesterday, says :
" The brief harangue addressed by the Emperor
yesterday to the troops assembled on the Place de
la Bastille will do away with any effect which may
have been created by the supposition that the late
pamphlet on the Congress for the pacification of
Europe was traceable to a high source. That harangue
you may consider as the best commentary on the
decree for the organisation of the Imperial Guard,
and which appeared in the Monitcur two days ago.
When the Minister of War says in his report which
precedes the Decree that "the moment is oprortune
for constituting this select body on a larger basis, by in-
troducing the excellent elements which the army of the
East can now provide it with," he expresses strictly the
truth, but it was left for the spirited address of yesterday
to complete his meaning. The intention is that the Im-
perial Guard, and the other corps that have fought in the
Crimea, and shared in the hardships and dangers of a pro-
tracted siege and a sanguinary assault, shall form the
nucleus of an army which can be directed to any point
where its services shall be required. I have no difficulty
in supposing that that point will be on the Rhine in
case Russia does not accept the conditions we propose
to her, and in case Germany again allows itself to be in-
timidated or seduced by our enemy. Nay, more, if peace
be not concluded this winter, if the spring still Bees Prus-
sia timid and uncertain, not to say hostile to us, and Rus-
sia still obstinate, I have no doubt that the next campaign
will commence on a scale commensurate with the power
of the two greatest nations of the earth, and that the war
will then become one a l'outrance. The grand army to which
the speech of the Emperor refers, and of which the
Guard and its companions in arms are to form the
centre, is destined fur great things, and fertile in events
as the year which is just going out has been, it may
be far less rich in material for the historian of the
present war than the one on which we are about to
enter. Two camps of 100,000 men each will, it is
believed, be formed without delay on the French
territory, and serve as schools of instruction, to be
swelled by successive arrivals from the Crimea. In
the Crimea it is said that our united forces—French,
English, Piedmonteee, and Turks—are not less than
200,000, and are far too numerous in a place where ac-
tive operations are not soon expected. Their services
will be more valuable elsewhere. It is said, therefore,
that only sufficient troops will be left in the Crimea to
keep the positions we now occupy, and which will be
strengthened so as to defy any force that can by any pos-
sibility be brought against them. The rest will probably
be called back to France to form part of the immense
host which is destined to put an end to the Russian
question for ever. Russia had better look to it in time.
She is looking to it, and she is now, as when I informed
you a week or two ago, doing her utmost to regain by
her diplomacy what she has lost by defeat on the field of
battle. I told you a few days ago that we were not so sa-
tisfied with Prussia as we were a week previously. Con-
sidering the:sort of incomprehensible man we have to deal
with that news could have surprised no one. It is now an
ascertained fact ; Prussia has been one' moment pro-
mising and making engagements, and the next moment
talking and acting as if no such promises or engagements
had ever been so much as hinted at. She is dawdling
between honour and dishonesty, between courage and
cowardice, and the benefit of the doubt she will no
assuredly have. She must make up her mind soon
however, under which King, Bezonian, speak or die
The winter will soon pass away."

CABINET COUNCIL.—On Thursday next the 3d of ,Tan.
a Cabinet Council will be held at the Foreign-office,
Downing-street, the summonses for which were issued a
few days ago. Lord Palmerston, who is now at Broad-
lands with Lord Palmerston, receiving a party of visi-
tors comes to town on Thursday morning to attend the
meeting. The other members of the Cabinet, the great
majority of whom are absent from London, will return to
town on that day, in order to be present at the Council.
Despatches from the Governors of the Australian colo-
nies and New Zealand, and also from the Governor of
Heligoland, were received on Saturday at the Colonial-
office.

SOUTHAMPTON, Dec. 29.—Lady Palmerston, accom-
panied by their Excellencies the Turkish, Danish, Swedish,
and Sardinian Ministers, paid a visit to the Southamp-
ton Docks this afternoon, and were apparently much
gratified with their examination of the many magnificent
steam-ships now in the basin, in which they were at-
tended by Mr. Hedger, the dockmaster. The distin-
guished party also inspected the United States' mail
steam-ship Washington in the great gravingdock, which
ship, it is now ascertained, has received nu injury, be-
yond damage to the copper, during her temporary
stranding on the Long Sand on the 22d inst.
THE MISSING ENGINEER OFFICERS.—Tho body of
one of the missing engineers was picked up in the River
Medway yesterday. It is placed in the
schoolroon, of
the Royal Sappers and Miners for a coroner's inquest.
THE AMERICAN MAILS. LIVERPOOL, Satan day
Afternoon.—The United States Mail steam-ship, the
Atlantic, Capt. J. West, sailed from the Mersey for New
York, with the usual mails for the United States and
British North American possessions, 62 passengers, and
a full cargo of general merchandise on. freight. Prior to
her departure, copies of the London journals of
this date were placed on board by Messrs. Wilmer and
Smith, of Liverpool, for the press and public institutions
of the United States and Canada. The British and North
American Royal Mail Steam-ship (Cunard) Company
resume their weekly Railings (commencing with the Ame-
r;ca for Boston) on Saturday.
STOCKHOLM, Dec. 30th.—A. Royal Decree has just
authorized the entrance of foreign iron into Sweden, as
well as woven goods and ready-made articles of sloth-
Swedish iron is declared free of duty on exporta-
tion,