The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-27 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, JAL 26.
The 2loniteur of this morning announces that the
bill for the optional conversion of 41 per Cent. into
3 per Cent. Stock has been submitted to the Council
of State, and that the obligations trentennaires are
included in the scheme of conversion.
The Paris papers of to-day publish a telegram
from Cadiz, dated the 25th inst., containing news
from Vera Cruz to the 26th December, according to
which General Gassett was collecting the custom
duties for the benfit of the three Powers.
General Serrano had given a splendid reception

to the admiral of the Admiral of the French squad-
ron and General Prim on their arrival at Havana.
General Prim and the French admiral were to
leave Havana for Vera Crux on Jan. 3.
It was rumoured that the Mexican Government
would propose a conciliatory arrangement.
The Mexican Chambers were closed, and the
President had been left with authority to take any
extraordinary measures which might be necessary.
The Constitutionnel states that General Almonte,
a Mexican, is now in Belgium conducting negotia-
tions for placing the Archdude Maximilian on the
throne of Mexico.

" General Almonte," adds the Constitutionnel,
" will accompany the French evedition to Mexico."
The receipts of the Paris and Orleans Railway
Company, for the week ending the 14th January,
amount to 1,067,714 f. 09c., being a decrease of
154,932 f. 29c. as compared with the corresponding
week of last year. The receipts from the Ist to the
14th January amount to 2,115,879 f. 47c., being a
diminution of 234,694 f. 47c. as compared with the
corresponding period of the year 1861.

The weather continues exceedingly mild at Paris,
with slight falls of rain. The following, according
to the bulletin of the Observatory, was the tempe-
rature at 8 o'clock yesterday morning :—Above
zero—Paris, 2 deg. (35,75 F.), and about the same
all over France; Brussels, 5.2ds C. (41.75 F.) ;
Madrid, 4 8-10ths C. (39.75 F.). Below zero—
Vienna, 4 2-10ths C. (24.25 F.) ; Sr. Petersburg,
7 6-10ths C. (18,50 F.); Moscow, 15.5ths C.
(4.25 F.); Stockholm, 2 C. (28.25 F.)
It is satisfactory to find that, emulating the ope-
rations of the National Lifeboat Institutions of
England, some of the maritime nations of the con-
tinent are making vigorous exertions to establish
lifeboats on their shores. The Spanish Govern-
ment has recently had seven lifeboats built in Eng-
land for its coast, and others are in course of con-
struction for that country. Lifeboat stations are in-
creasing on the shores of the Baltic. The Italian
Government is erecting new lighthouses, and life-
boat stations must, of course, iollow. The system
of lighthouses on the French coast is an admirable
one, but it is to be regretted that it continues to be
unprovided with sufficient lifeboats. Within the
last two years the boats of the National Lifeboat
Institution have saved 500 lives from shipwreck on
the coasts of the United Kingdom. Many of the
persons shipwrecked were foreigners. Altogether
naarly 13,000 shipwrecked persons have been saved
by the Society's lifeboats, open boats, and other

means since.the first establishment of the Institu-
tion, for saving whom it has granted £15,250 as
rewards. It has also expended nearly £60,000 in
lifeboat establishments. The whole of this large
amount has been liberally subscribed by the British
public, and there is good reason for hoping that the
philanthropic efforts of the Lifeboat Institution
will be long continued by similar generosity.
BOURSE, Jan. 25.—The upward movement con-
tinues unabated, with a large amount of business
doing. Threes, for the Account, are now at 74f.
Railways firm, but without any material change in
quotations.

The following are the last quotations :-
41 per per Cents ... 99 30 Credit k oncier 1267 50
Do end month.... 99 45 Belgian 42 lOO 75
3 per Cents
Do. end month 7l 05 ; Roman
Bank Shares 2960 Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 747 50 Spanish Threes —
Do. Account 750 Home Debt

RAILWAYS.
Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern
New, ditto 915 917 50
Lyons and Mediterranean 1063 75 .. 1065
Geneva..
• . --
Southern 685 .. 686 25
Western
Eastern
Sardinian —
Austrian
Lowbard

AMERICA.

QUEENS 1 OWN, JAN. 26.

The Royal Mail steamship Asia, from New York
on the 15th inst., arrived here at 12 20 p.m. to-day,
with 46 passengers and 203,903 dols. in specie. She
landed two passengers and 65 sacks of mails, and
proceeded at 12 45 p.m.; all well.

(PER ASIA, via QUEENSTOWN).
NEW YORK, JAN. 14, EVENING.
Mr. Cameron, Secretary for War, has resigned,
and will be replaced by Mr. A. M. Staunton. Mr.
Cameron has been appointed Minister to Russia.
Mr. Cassius M. Clay, the present Minister to the
Russian Court, will return to America and take a
command in the Federal army.
General Burnside's expedition has sailed from
Hampton Roads. An impression prevails in the
South that it is destined for Norfolk.
A motion to take up the Bill for the relief of the
owners of the British ship Perthshire has been
brought forward in the Senate.

The New York journals express doubts concern-
ing the safety of the British ship Rinaldo, which
was bound to Halifax but has not yet arrived there.
Mr. Seward, in his Report on Consular Appoint-
ments, says :

" The Government having ascertained that efforts
were making to introduce arms into the Southern
ports by shipping them from England to the West
Indies and the British provinces, for reshipment to
the South, salaried Consuls were appointed at
Cardiff, Bristol, St. John's, and Prince Edward's
Island. Malta, from its central position, mili-
tary occupation, and means of telegraphic com-
munication, has become an important Consulate,
the Consul at that port often forwarding valuable
information. Certain Canadian ports having be-
come ❑otorious as ports of arrival and departure of
rebels for Europe, and the intercourse with the
rebel States having been systematically carried on
through Canada, paid Consuls have been appointed
at Quebec and Gaspe Basin, who, in addition to
their regular consular duties, act as confidential
agents of the Government at those places,"
A schooner which has arrived at New York, from
Nassau on the Ist inst., reports that the British
steamer Conqueror had struck on a rock near Rum
Cap. The captain was using every exertion to get
her off. The steamer Bulldog had left Nassau to
assist her.