The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-25 00:00:00

FRANCE AND THE MIDDLE STATES•

VIENNA, Feb. 21.
The Neue Freie Presse of to-day contains the
following :
" The Dresden Journal has recently stated that
negotiations had taken place between Saxony and
France upon the Schleswig-Holstein question, but
added that no mention had been made of a New
Rhine Confederation, or anything of the kind. We
have received the following details as to the inter-
view which took place upon this subject and the
French dispatch, which was its result :
" During the late negotiations between the
Courts of Vienna and Berlin, Herr Von Beust had
some conversation with M. Forth-Rouin, the Mi-
nister of France at Dresden, and expressed his
regret that the Cabinet of the Tuileries had not
made a more energetic use of its influence in favour
of the Duchies, or, to speak more correctly, of the
Middle States, to prove a counterpoise to the two
great German Powers.
. _ _

" ' The French envoy reported this interview to
M. Drouyn de Lhuys, who sent him in consequence
the dispatch referred to. Recalling the reserved
attitude France had been careful to maintain hitherto
in this question, the dispatch stated that the Cabinet
of the Tuileries had the less reason to adopt a course
entirely in agreement with that of the Middle States,
or to pursue a policy exclusively from their point of
view, because those States themselves had neither
hitherto stated the precise object they desired nor
the means by which they hoped to achieve it. Fur-
ther, the experience France had had up to the pre-
sent time of the Middle States, in no way tended to
induce her to oppose in their favour the two great
Powers from whom France had received in general,
as well as in many particular instances, more testi-
monies of sympathy than from the Middle States ;
remarks which were still further confirmed by the
attitude of the periodical press, and of the chambers
of those countries.'

" Such is very nearly the tenor of this dispatch,
which has probably also been communicated to the
Bavarian Government. M, Drouyn de Lhuys has
also made similar verbal statements to Baron See-
bach, the Saxon representative at Paris."—(Reuter's
Express.)

EXTRAORDINARY Acc IDE NT IN THE WESTMINSTER -
ROAD.—Yesterday, about noon, an accident occurred
in the Westminster-bridge-road, Lambeth, of a somewhat
singular character, which destroyed a great amount of pro-
perty and jeopardised the lives of several persons. From
the inquiries made it appeared that Messrs. Alderson and
Co., the great linen-drapers, of 83, 85, and 87, Westminster-
road, had been for some time past enlarging their ware-
houses, and were adding to the buildings another house.
In order to carry out the designs of the architect a heavy
scaffolding had been erected in front of the four storeys of
the buildings, and the men were actively engaged in run-
ning out the cornice work at the top of the building, when
just at 12 o'clock a strange rumbling noise was heard within
the middle shop of the three. One of the superintendents
seeing the ceiling of the shop cracking gave the alarm to
the assistants, who succeeded in making a safe retreat, and
they had no sooner done so than the front of the wall be-
tween the two houses fell, and the whole of the scaffolding
from the base to the roof of each structure parted asunder
and fell halfway across the wide thoroughfare. An Atlas
omnibus was passing at the moment, and it seems a miracle
that it had time to get clear of the broken poles, as they
came rattling across the road. At first it was feared that
several of the workmen had perished, but we are happy to
state that such was not the fact, and those employed in
assorting the goods in the warehouses also escaped unin-
jured, but covered with dust. Towards the evening the
front of the three buildings were completely barricaded,
so as to prevent the public from getting into danger.

PLYMOUTH, Feb. 25.—News has been-received
here that the Ordnance screw steamer Balaclava,
from Woolwich for Liverpool, with Government stores is
ashore at Carnshore Point, on the south-east coast of Wex-
ford. The crew have been saved. The Medusa has been
ordered to proceed hence to the scene of the accident, to
render assistance, but was not ready until late last night,
and will leave this at 9 a.m., with Commander Smith and
100 men from:the Prince Consort. A later telegram says :
—" It is believed that the Ordnance steamship ashore on
the Wexford coast is not the Balaclava, but the Lord Pan-
mure, Commander Moore, which left Woolwich on Satur-
day last, with four 600-pounders, for the armament of the
Scorpion, fitting out at Birkenhead."—Reuter's Telegrams.

The skating club at St. Petersburg has given its
grand night ball on the Neva. To the usual splendour of
this festival was added a magnificent pavilion, constructed
of blocks of ice four feet thick, which, being brilliantly
lighted up in the interior, produced the effect of a palace of
crystal.
The Moscow Gazette publishes the following let-
ter from Maklda, a Russian customs station on the
frontier of China :—" A destructive fire occurred on the
25th Dec. at Maimatchene, a Chinese frontier town near
this place. Three warehouses containing 2,000 chests of
tea were entirely destroyed. The loss is estimated at
120,000 roubles. The Chinese were thrown into great con-
stethation by the disaster., for which they were altogether
unprepared, as no fire had happened there for above 24
years. They also have a superstitious notion that to ex-
tinguish fire is a sin, and they consequently had no fire-
men or engines : but they worked hard in carrying water
to the Russians, who did their utmost in mastering the
conflagration, and saved about 4,000 chests of tea.
A MASQUERADE IN PARIS.—A masked ball was
given at the hotel of the French Minister of Foreign
Affairs on Monday night. A Paris letter says :—Madame
Drouyn De Lhuys, decreed to the costume of Cleopatra
the success of the evening ; and it was certainly most
remarkable, the black hieroglyphics and massive gold, in
Egyptian device, on the white drop de velours train and silver
petticoat, being most characteristic, and having so striking
an effect that the dense crowd separated to make way for
the Egyptian queen. Lady Cowley wore a domino of white
lace, which was most becoming. Lady Feodora Wellesley
wore an English court dress of the time of Queen Anne.
Lord Cowley merely wore a Venetian cloak, as did also
Lord Albert Leveson Gower and Mr. Miles. Lady Edward
Thynne wore a black domino. There was one Indian
squaw, whose costume was entirely composed of feathers
which were not, however, transparent. Madame Drouyn
De Lhuys did the honours with her usual grace and fasci-
nation, and well recalled the traditions of the courtly epoch
which her gorgeous costume of the time of Lous XV. typi-
fied. Her coiffure consisted of a mass of diamonds. Mdme.
de Lima, as a winged Mercury, looked lovelier than ever ;
the reel of her many-coloured wings was truly dazzling.
The mysterious black domino with the blue shoulder-
knot was walking about leaning on one of the equerries
of the Tuileries. A fair friend of mine to whom the
domino was introduced as an English lady compatriot whom
she was requested to patronise, tapped this mysterious
personage on the shoulder, and, bent on discovering her
identity, tried to elicit a reply to her questions in her native
language, and then had recourse to French, but was fain to
retire from the one-sided war of words, as the domino with
the blue shoulder-knot had taken the vow of silence for
the nonco. The domino was right, as that domino gene-
rally is, for his or her voice is well known in Europe
When I add that Princess Korsakow was disguised as a
Russian peasant, Mrs. Miles as Cleopatra, Madame Bartho-
lomi as a peacock, the lovely Pole, Madame de Schinskoff,
as Pallas, the classic waggon and horses forming a helmet
which was wonderful to behold, I shall have told you of
the prominent characters of the evening, with the excep-
tion of the Princess de Metternich, who shot her never-fail-
ing wit and ready repartees with unerring skill at the
passers-by."

Great alarm was caused at Stutgardt three days
since by the sudden fall of a large house in Essling-strasse,
inhabited by a great number of persons. So great was the
concussion caused by the fall that all the windows of the
adjacent houses were broken, and even the stained glass of
Ldonard. Measures were promply taken for extricating
the persons buried under the ruins, and most of them were
soon got out, either dead or seriously injured. Among the
former was Mme. Diez, the wife of the owner of the house.
Several persons who happened to be passing at the time of
the accident were much hurt. The accident is supposed to
have been caused by a violent explosion of gas in a shop
on the ground floor. The King and the burgomaster soon
came to the spot and superintended the work of removing
the rubbish, which had only been partially effected when
account was sent off, se that the number of sufferers is no
yet known.
WIFE MURDER IN LIVERPOOL. yesterday
tween 12 and 1 o'clock, Thomas
Liverpool went home l
Andwell, a a
employed at Messrs. Jacks' foundry,
with his wife about a
to his dinner, and began quarrellinthg
her a heavy
pawn ticket. The quarrel ended
with
hh is 1 L
striking bo übr, eer
blow on tho side of the head wi is fist.
She fell down,
ht back a doctor, but on his arrival
as dea
WHlSTLE.—Yesterday morning
ing dispensary and brought and he, alarmed at what be had done, ran to the neighbour-
the woman was Andwell is in custody.
THE RAILWAY
inquiry at the London Hospital re-
specting the death of .
1 b 119 K, said that Th
William Ratchford, aged 39 years.
on urs_
Police-constableMr.Richardselitd anninmbe
upth eslwosivtlhygraneadt
the deceased driving a cart used for the car-
rdiaaygehoef sawon along the street close to the Blackwall
cameßail-
ea.ndAthteranianse c ond
way
engineviaduchattsLtleimdeohnoceus,
The horse the deceased was leading took fright
and dashed off. The deceased caught
loudness.the
hold of the bit to
stop the horse, when the animal reared up and dashed him
down, his head striking the curbstone, and then the wheel
of the cart went over and crushed his skull. He was killed
on the spot. The shriek of the railway whistle was the sole
cause of the accident, so far as he could see. The jury re-
turned a verdict of " Accidental death."