The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-20 00:00:00

In the evening the Jardin Botanique of the town
was splendidly illuminated, as part of the festivals,
which are kept up here for the whole week.

Gakpactni, to-day, in allusion to the Great Con-
gress, the inauguration of which has been here
described by our Special Correspondent, thus noti-
fies the loyal reception accorded by the people and
visitors at Malines to King Leopold and the Royal
Princes:—" A grand fete at Alines, in Belgium,
on the occasbn of the Jubilee of Notre-Dame d'ilans-
wyck, commenced two days back in presence of a
great concourse of spectators. At 1 o'clock the King
with the Duke and Duchess de Brabant, arrived,
and were received by M. Broers, the Burgomaster,
attended by the Communal Council, and by the
Chevalier Pycke, governor of the province. The
Royal party at once proceeded to the Archbishop's
palace, amidst loud acclamations. At two the
authorities were received by the King, when the
Burgomaster delivered a loyal Address. At the
close of the reception a grand cavalcade was to have
taken place, but, unfortunately, the weather was so
unpropitious,the rain falling in torrents, that it was
postponed to the 20th, In the evening the King, and
the duke and duchess, were present at a grand ban-
quet given by the town. At the dessert M. Broers
proposed the health of the King. The toast was
drunk with the loudest acclamations, which his
Majesty briefly and appropriately acknowledged,
amidst repeated cries of " Vive le Roi!"

F THE FRANKFORT CONGRESS.
THE EMPEROR'S SPEECH.
FRANKFORT, Aug. 18, 7 p.m.
The military part of the population of Frankfurt
was a-foot at 5 o'clock this morning, and greatly it
disturbed the slumbers of the burghers and of the
strangers now residing here. At the hour mentioned,
military bands paraded the streets, and at short in-
tervals guns were fired in honour of the Emperor of
Austria, who to-day celebrates, at Darmstadt, his
birthday. His Majesty wished to spare his fellow
potentates the trouble of calling on him to offer
their congratulations, but in matters of etiquette
German Sovereigns are great "sticklers," and they
therefore proceeded in corpore to a railway terminus
in this city, at which the Emperor was expected to
arrive at half-past 10 o'clock. His Majesty was
as punctual as usual, and, as a matter of course,
he was obliged to accept the more or less lung-
winded felicitations of his illustrious " brothers
and cousins." The banquet given by the Senate of
the free city of Frankfort went off with great éclat,
but the fireworks partly failed, as it rained heavily
in the afternoon. In the evening the weather
cleared up, but the air was so damp and cool that
few persons were inclined to remain long out of
doors. The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Mary were to have seen the fireworks from a villa
on the right bank of the Maine, but it is very pos-
sible that their intentions were not carried out.
The Duke of Cambridge is frequently here, and the
names of the Earls Granville and Clarendon appear
in the strangers' list. The Emperor of Austria gave
the following toast at the oivic banquet :
" I speak in the names of the Sovereigns here present,
and thank the Senate and municipality of the free city of
Frankfort for the hospitable reception given to us. I think
that we—the Princes of Gtarmany assembled in this federal
city—cannot better express our gratitude to our patriotic
hosts than by proving to them that a heart-felt love for our
common Fatherland is the bond of union between it.
" We all cherish a friendly feeling towards this honour- ,
able city, which is so rich in historical recollections, and
your illustrious guests will therefore readily join me in
emptying a cup to the welfare and increasing prosperity of
Frankfort."

The speech which the Emperor of Austria made
at the opening of the Congress of Princes is as
follows :

' Most illustrious and beloved Brothers and Cousins,
' most valued Confederates,—An assembly of the heads of the
German nation, for the purpose of deliberating on the wel-
fare of the Fatherland, is an event which has not occurred
for centuries. May we, by the blessing of an Almighty
Providence, be on the eve of a happy future.
"Confiding in the elevated sentiments of my fellow
Princes, confiding in the just spirit of the German people
who have been enlightened by experience, I have sought to,
bring about a meeting at which the German Princes should
in a fraternal spirit unite their hands for the strengthening
pefestigung) of the Confederation. I have deemd it my
duty openly to express my conviction that Germany justly
(mit _Becht) looks forward to a development of its constitu-
tion (rErfassung), which shall be in accordance with the
necessities of the times, and I have come in person to ex
change ideas and opinions with my Confederates, and to state
what I consider feasible, and what I, for my part, am ready
to grant.
"Your !'Majesties„ and all of you, my illustrious and be-
loved Confederates, accept my thanks for your kindness in
consenting to act with me.
" I have forwarded to my illustrious Federal allies the
draught of a project of reform which was drawn up under
my immediate superintendence.
"Being of opinion that the sphere of action of the Band
should be enlarged, I, in my plan of reform, propose
its that
the executive power shall be placed in the hands of a Direc-
tory, which shall have a Federal Council at side. We
require the periodical meeting of an assembly of Deputies,
which shall have full power to participate in the legislation
and in the control of the finances of the Band. I propose
that there shall be periodical meetings of the German
Princes. By the introduction of an independent Federal
Court a satisfactory guarantee is given for the proper ad-
ministration of justice in Germany. Ire all these matters
the principle of the Equality of the several independent
States will, as strictly as is possible, be upheld. At the
same time, due regard must be paid to their political in-
fluence tend to th 9 nuyabcr of Clair iAlittbitug, iu Qvia teat

establishments of the State, where the teaching of
' professors was specially devised to undermine their
faith, while he closed all colleges and schools kept
by men of religious independence, and secured to
himself a monopoly of science. This iniquitous
process was not devoid of certain outward forms of
liberty. He recalled this not from any wish to
revive any ill-feeling against the neighbouring
Dutch nation with which Belgium became daily
more united from commercial intercourse, and the
common interest of the defence of their individual
independence. But he wished to show that now
the system of a free press, under which they were,
was less corrupting than the influence of power, and
that it was amply compensated by freedom of edu-
cation. In fact, while they considered the moral
statistics of Belgium, and watched there the
struggles of the parties which divided the world—
tt e Christian and the anti-Christian—they must
take into consideration the immense good produced
by such a University as that of Louvain,
which has now been in existence for more
than thirty years. As we shall find the Baron de
Gerlache's admirable discourse published by all the
Belgian and French religious journals, I refrain
from giving you a more extended report of it. At
the end of it, the brief addressed by the Pope to the
committee was read to the assembly, which stood
up during its reading; after which the address
drawn up in answer was unanimously approved, and
a telegram sent to Cardinal Antonelli to apprise his
Holiness of the dutiful wishes and thanks of the
assembly. An address signed by 750 pupils of the
Louvain University was also read, and the nomi-
nation of the officers of the five sections of the con-
gress took place. The secretary announced the list
of the orators who would address the meeting on
the successive days, among whom is included the
Count de Montalembert, who is expected to speak
on Thursday, on the principle of a free church
in a free state, a principle which has been so mis-
quoted against him. Cardinal Wiseman is to
address the assembly on Friday on the state
of religious and charitable works in England. At
5 o'clock, the members of the congress met again,
dividing their numbers and attention among the
five sections into which the discussions of the
Assembly resolved themselves. I attended on this
first day the fifth section treating of the press, and
especially of the question of founding in Belgium a
great Catholic international journal. The first
three articles of the programme were approved of,
after a most animated and interesting discussion,
in which the following gentlemen took part :—The
able president of the section, M. Ad, Dechamps,
Minister of State; Mr. Charles Audley; M. Digard,
of Paris; M. Lemmens, of Ghent; Prince Ladislaus
Czartoriski, the celebrated preacher ; Abbe Mer-
millod, of Geneva; Senor D'Albeida, from Lisbon,
the superior of the Polish mission in Paris ; Herr
Meyer, from Cologne; M. Armand Neut, of Bruges;
and Count de Theu.s, Minister of State in Belgium,
The discussion of that section, which lasted a little
longer than that of the others, terminated at eigh
o'clock.