The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-15 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ACADEMY.

A letter from Paris says :—" You are aware of
the usage which requires that every newly-elected
member of the French Academy must be presented
to the Emperor by the president for the time being,
The only exception ever made was in the case of
M. Berryer, who declared that he would rather re-
nounce his seat among the envied " forty" than go
to the Tuileries; and the Emperor, with a magna-
nimity for which he deserves credit, remembering
M. Berryer's services to him as his counsel when
he stood at the bar of the Chamber of Peers to
answer an indictment of high treason, agreed to
dispense with his attendance. On Monday last
the academic regulation brought into the Emperor's
presence the Count de Montalembert, who some
three years ago was convicted of a libel against his
Majesty's government, and was relieved from the
penalty by an imperial pardon, which he publicly
repudiated. This repudiation, moreover, was not
a mere barren formality. The judgment of the
Correctional Tribunal of the First Instance was
based upon grounds which rendered M. de Mon-
talembert obnoxious to the law of public safety,
and liable at any time to be transported for life at
the Emperor's pleasure. He contended success-
fully before a higher tribunal that the pardon,
whilst relieving him only from the specific sentence,
left him still under the tremendous collateral liabi-
lity, did not deprive him of his right of appeal ; and
on appeal the judgment was so modified as to leave
him in the category of ordinary citizens, and not
in that of men who may be destroyed at
any moment by the Emperor's breath. A forced
meeting between the Emperor and M. de Mont-
alembert, in which they were officially bound to be
complimentary to each other, created, therefore,
what the French call a difficult situation.' There
was, however, no help for it. M. de Montalembert,
as the Chancellor of the Academy for the year, was
bound to present to the Emperor the new member,
M. Octave Feuillet. The ceremony took place on
Monday last, and both parties got through it
with the honours of war. On the novice being
presented, the Emperor said that he was highly
gratified at the choice made by the Academy, and
that, in fact, no election could have been more
agreeable to him. He considered M. 0. Feuillet
as a writer of rare merit ; he would even venture
to say that there was no living author more
eminent. M. de Montalembert, like Corporal Trim,
made his bow. The Emperor added, M. Feuillet
is devoted to my person and family.' NI. de Mont_
alembert bowed again. The Emperor then, ad-
dressing himself particularly to M. de Mentalem-
bert, said (referring to the death of Col. de Monta-
lembert), You and I sustained a great loss two
years ago in the person of your brother, one of
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M. de Montalembert, with that satirical and
laughing accent which is peculiar to him, said,
hurriedly, My brother and I now and then talked
politics, but we could never agree.' The Emperor
continued, With the utmost calm, These diEsi-
dences prove to me that the most honest men may
march in opposite paths. lam very sorry, in this
case, for you and I, M. de Montalembert, were made
to esteem and understand each other.' M. de
Montalembert again made his bow, and retired
without saying another word."

A Parliamentary return, moved for by Mr. Greg-
son, has just been printed, which furnishes some important
information with regard to the working of the law of
limitel liability. From this it appears that in the period
since the issue of the previous term—namely, from the Ist
August, 1859, to the Slst December, 1861, the number of
companies formed upon that principle was 901 in England.
that about point
three-fourths connection
e
56 in Ireland, and 41 in Scotland, and that at the date of
the present return the whole of these, with the exception
of 79 which had been abandoned, dissolved, or wound up,
withwere thestill in
English operation.
companies
-fourths of
the entire number are county or town undertakings, formed
in numerous instances for purposes of local usefulness,
only about one-fourth having had their origin in London.
Many of these have capitals as low
is about £ as from £l,OOO to £5,000,
20,000. ri
and the average --'-'e aggregate number
of limited liability companies started in the United King-
dom since the introduction of that law seems to have been
2,099, of which UP to the 31st December last 308 had ceased
to exist.