The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-23 00:00:00

THE FOOD QUESTION.

(From yesterday's Moniteur.)
The Minister of the Interior has allressed the
following circular to the prefects :
" Monsieur le Prdfet,—ln placing this day at your
disposal a part in the credit of ten millions opened by
the Imperial decree of September 22, I at the same time
musk remind you of the thought which should guide you
in the employment of it.
"As soon as the small yield of the harvest became
known, the Emperor instantly ordained ail the measures
which might alleviate the calamity. By his orders the
prohibition on the export of corn, buck-wheat, maize,
potatoes, and chestnuts was renewed, and not one of
thee() products of our soil can at this moment, even in
the smallest quantity, be withdrawn from French con-
sumption. The distillation of grains has been prohibited.
The cereals of our Algeria are exclusively reserved for
us ; the most complete security has been guaranteed
to commerce, which demands of the foreign markets
their corn and flour for distribution amongst ours.
Every possible favour has been granted to these impo'ta-
tions, and to the navigation which realises them. The
railway tariffs for the conveyance of corn to the interior
have been reduced. Severe measures are prescribed
against any stock jobbers attempting to create a fraudu-
lent rise in the rural districts. In a word, whatever was
possible has been done, and the complement necessary
for our consumption of a year will assuredly be found in
the corn arriving every day from abroad, and also in the
abundance of our accessory crops of potatoes,buckswheat,
maize, &c.
" ut while thus engaged in securing the general pro-
visioning of the country, the Emperor has specially re-
membered that numerous parts of the population which
only lives on the toil of each day ; he has wished to mul-
tiply the works in their behalf, and where the wages
were not in proportion to the temporary dearness of the
necessaries of life, to elicit the beneficent organisation
of a helping fund. It is with this twofold object that
the credit of ten millions has been opened, the distri-
bution of which forma the subject of this circular. In
order to obtain a fruitful employment of the portion accru-
ing to your department, Monsieur le Piglet, all your
zeal will be requisite, all your influence, all your acti-
vity. You will not fix in an absolute manner the con-
tingent of each commune in proportion to the sacrifices
that it might itself be able to make ; that would be to
deprive of succour the poor or exhausted communes,
that is to say, those who stand most in need of it ; yet
you will actively rouse the municipal councils, and you
will keep an account of their efforts. You will also
make an urgent appeal to private charity ; it forms in
France an inexhaustible treasure. You will visit in
person the communes ; you will place yourself in com-
munication with every person whose devotion may be
willing to second your own ; you will give an impulse to
every work capable of being usefully organised; you will
aid and give rise to, in case of need, every combination
(bread doles, cards of differences, economical ovens, so-
cieties for the distribution of food, &c.) which can lighten
for the labouring classes the transitory dearness of pro-
visions. In seeing you thus employed, and with you
all worthy men the people at large will perceive how
actively and efficaciously the Emperor is occupied with
their wants. They will comprehend that if the abun-
dance of the harvests depend solely on God, those who
suffer from their inadequacy are at least sustained and
assisted by a government animated by a really paternal
anxiety in their behalf. If, notwithstanding your efforts,
a few agitators should endeavour, for the sake of their
own passions or folly, to work on the sufferings of the
people, repeat to the working classes that agitation and
disorder would not add one single grain of corn to the
harvest, but would strike a quick and serious blow at
confidence labour, and merely aggravate their misery ;
then while lavishing on them both help and good advice
make them understand that they have an evident interest
in repelling the fomenters of disorder, and strike these
last-named with immediate and severe repression. They
must not forget that the Emperor, who is doing fer
France so many great and glorious things, will know
well at the same time how to maintain that calm and
tranquillity which his energetic will restored to us.
" In the performance of the various duties which the
situation imposes on you, I ask of you, Monsieur le
Prefet, sustained zeal, resolution, and a vigorous initia-
tive. Give me frequently an account of your efforts, of
their results, and point out to my notice the individuals
who shall have best seconded you.
" Receive, Monsieur le Prefet, the assurance of my
most distinguished consideration.
" The Minister of the Interior, '

' i BILLAULT."

FORMATION OF AN ADJUTANT'S Dg-
TACHMENT TO THE FIELD BAT-
TERIES AT WOOLWICH.

The Government having decided on a more systematic
mode of instruction for non-commissioned officers and
men for the field batteries belonging to the Royal Artil-
lery, so as always to have on hand a supply of well-
drilled men to fill up any vacancy that might ocour,
have resolved on forming an adjutant's detachment for
this purpose.
The greater part of the horses of the reserve battery
having been withdrawn from the public works in the
Royal Arsenal, and as the remainder will be given up
by the civil depsitments as soon as circumstances will
admit, the reserve battery is to be broken up, and the
following arrangements made for the formation of a de-
tachment to be called the Adjutant's Detachment of the
Field Batteries, for the instruction of non-commissioned
officers and men in stable duties, riding, and driv-
ing. The detachment is to consist of the sergeant-
major, quartermaster-sergeant, the drill-master of
the field batteries, three rough-riders, twenty
non-commissioned officers, and one hundred gun-
ners and drivers, six trumpeters, and one hundred
horses, with harness, sadlery, &c., for a nine-pounder
field battery of six guns, also the artificers who do not
belong to field batteries at Woolwich, and all men under
instruction for artificers.

The trumpet•major is to be considered attached to this
detachment, for the purpose of giving the trumpeters of
the field batteries and this detachment occasional prac-
tice in the sounds of the bugle and trumpet. The officer
commanding the field batteries (Colonel W. Anderson)
is to furnish to the Adjutant-General's office a list of all
the non-commissioned officers and men belonging to the
reserve, distinguishing those whom he wishes to retain
orders, and the remainder are to join their respective
battalions.

Officers commanding battalions are to send in to the
Adjutant-General's offico lists of the Dames, age, service,
arid character of one non-commissioned officer from each
battalion who are recommended to be placed under in-
struction in this detachment. The individuals to be
selected for this course must be smart and intelligent,
not over ten years' service.

The non-commissioned officers and men who join this
detachment are not to take with them any arms or ac-
coutrements, and, when they have once joined for duty
with the field battery, they are not, under any circum-
stances, to be withdrawn, except by authority from the
Adjutant-General's office.

GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION, REGENT-

STREET.

The new pictures of the Capture of the Malakhoff. the
Attack on the Redan, and the Burning of Sebastopol,
which Messrs. Grieve and Telbin have just added to
their exhibition of the " Events of the War," are, it may
naturally be supposed, among the most attractive of the
whole series. Like all the rest of these diorainio views
they are not drawn from the imagination, but are bona
fide representations of tie different scenes ; and for the
opportunity of presenting them to the public the artists
have been indebted to the sketches made en the spot by
Major Tupper, of the Royal Horse Artillery. They bear
every appearance of scrupulous accuracy, and form two
of the most exciting scenes which it is possible to ima•
gine. They were exhibited for the first time yesterday,
and were received by the company assembled with (or
thusiastic applause. It is perhaps almost superfluous to
say that these new and most interesting pictures are
painted with the same talent that distinguishes all the
views of the "Events of the War" which compose the
present exhibition.

;be Past
Works,
averting
I for the
Mail•