The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-29 00:00:00

FRANCE.

A Council of Ministers was held yesterday at the
Tuileries, the Emperor presiding.
On the occasion of the late visit of the Emperor
and Empress to the Tribunal of Commerce, his
Majesty, on arriving at the grand vestibule, where
the members of the council were assembled, con-
ferred on M. Berthier, President of the Tribunal,
the cross of Officer of the Legion of Honour, and on
M. Basset, one of the judges, that of Knight ; also
when visiting the hall. reserved for the sittings of the
Council of Prud'hommes,' his Majesty expressed his
sense of the services rendered by that body, and also
conferred the cross of Knight on M. Thierry, a mas-
ter, and on M. Boulon, a workman, each of whom
had been in functions as members for 18 years.
Business commenced yesterday in the new tribunal,
M. Berthier first pronouncing an inaugural address.
The Emperor has just decided that General of
Division Count de la Rue shall preserve his func-
tions as permanent inspector-general of gendarmery.
The honourable Senator is President of the Com-
mittee of that arm, but being 70 years of age, he
was liable to the effects of the decree which relieves
definitively from active service the generals of divi-
sion, senators, who have attained that limit. The
Emperor makes for General de la Rue a flattering
exception. By that officer's functions of inspector-
general all the reports of the Gendarmery of the
Empire are centred in his hands, and he is also in
direct communication with the Sovereign. His post
is, therefore, a ministry of police on a small scale.
By an Imperial decree, issued at the instance of
the Minister of the Emperor's Household and Fine
Arts, M. Robert Fleury, member of the Institute
and Director of the School of Fine Arts, is ap-
pointed Director of the Imperial Academy of France
at Rome, for six years, in the place of M. Schnetz,
whose mission has expired. By another decree M.
Guillaume, member of the Institute, and professor
at the School of Fine Arts, is appointed Director of
that establishment for five years, in the place of M.
Robert Fleury.
The ifoniteur publishes an Imperial decree de-
claring of public utility the construction of a rail-
way from Vassy to St. Dizier, and sanctioning a
provisional convention signed on the 23d inst. be-
tween the Minister of Public Works, on the one
part, and Baron A. de Rothschild, MM. Danelle,
du Chaulaire, Cornuel, and Guyard, on the other,
granting the concession of the said line. The decree
also approves of the treaty signed on the 24th April
last, between the above-named parties and the
Eastern Railway Company, for the execution and
working of the said line, on condition that the com-
pany shall keep a separate account of the working
expenses and receipts of the line. The shares are
not tobe negociable until two-fifths of their amount
shall have been paid up.
It may be remembered that the Civil Tribunal
of Modena was some time since called on to try a
suit instituted by the Prince de Crouy-Chanel, who
claims the title of Marquis d'Este as a direct de-
scendant of the Arpads of Hungary, who were
invested with that title. The ex-Duke of Modena
opposed the claim, but denied the competence of
the ordinary tribunals to entertain the question.
The Royal Court of Appeal of Modena has, how-
ever, just given a judgment rejecting the pretensions
of the ex-Duke and affirming the competence of the
Civil Tribunal. Francis d'Este, abandoning a sys-
tem which could not be sustained, has just appealed
to the Court of Cassation against the decision given
in favour of the Prince de Crouy-Chanel, and by
so doing has consequently recognised the jurisdic-
tion of the ordinary judges.
The Roman Archeological Academy has just
held its first sitting for the present season, M. Sal-
vator Betti presiding. M. Visconti, the perpetual
secretary, announced the death of Mgr. Cavedoni,
corresponding member at Modena, and briefly re-
capitulated that prelate's extensive labours. He
then stated that the new excavations made in the
Palatine Mount, under the direction of Baron Bal-
dins, Minister of Public Works, for the purpose of
discovering further remains of the Emperor's
Palace, had been crowned with success. A suite
of rooms had been cleared, in which were many
well-preserved frescoes and bas-reliefs. There had
also been found a bust of Britannicus of the best
epoch, a fine statue seated, without the head,
numerous fragments of bas-reliefs, and marble
columns. The excavations at Ostia had also been
resumed, and had brought to light several inscrip-
tions of the good epoch of the Roman Empire, and
a well-preserved mosaic. In the excavations made
by Mgr. Guidi, in his vineyards near the baths of
Caracalla,i a mosaicfn
a tomb on the
hadbeendiscoAveprpeidan resem-
blng that found
Way.
It represents a human skeleton, of the natural
size, reclining on a bed, and pointing to an in-
scription in Greek of " Know thyself!" That
sentence in the foreign language would seem to in-
dicate that the mosaic belongs to the time of the
Antoninws. In the same neighbourhood, near the
villa Quintilli, a fine statue of a woman without the
head had also been found.
Galignani says we have often had occasion to
mention Dr. Demarquay's important communica-
tions to the Academy of Sciences on the therapeutic
effects of, various gaseous substances. The special
researches be has for many years pursued in this
line impart peculiar interest to the work he has just
published, entitled—" Essai de Pneumatologie
MCdicale," in which we find the following facts con-
cerning nitrogen, which, it amid be remembered,