The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-30 00:00:00

THE FRENCH EMPIRE.

Sir William Boyd has been honoured by the Em-
peror with an audience at the Tuileries. Sir Wil-
liam presented to his Majesty the first, second, and
third volumes of his " History of Literature," and
tendered the homage of the dedication, which was
graciously accepted. His imperial Majesty pre-
sented to Sir W. Boyd a magnificent gold snuff-
box, richly set with diamonds, as a souvenir of his
esteem.

General Count Ornano, who replaces the Duke
4e Padoue as Governr of the Invalides, was born
in Corsica, and is allied to the Bonaparte family.
Ile is now in his 68th year. General Lebrun,
Duke de Plaisance, who succeeds him as Grand
Chancellor of the Legion of Honour, is the eldest
son of Lebrun, who, after the 18th Brumaire,
shared the Consulate with Bonaparte and Camba-
ceres, and was a peer of France under the Restora-
tion. General Lebrun was born in Paris, in 1775,
and entered the army after the 18th Brumaire, as
lieutenant in the guard of the First Consul, and
joined in the campaign of Italy with the rank of
captain. He was aide-de-camp to General Desaix
at Marengo, and was afterwards aide-de-camp to
General Bonaparte, with the rank of chef d'escad-
•ron. He went through the campaigns of 1806 and
1807 as colonel of the 3d Hussars, and was charged
by the Emperor to bring to Paris the news of the
battle of Austerlitz. He took part in +ho battle of
Jena, and was made general of brigade on the field of
.-Eylau, and general of division in 1812. In 1813 he
commanded the garrison of Antwerp. At the Resto-
ration Gen. Lebrun gave his adhesion to the new go-
vernment and was decorated with the Order of St.
Louis.

The grand fete offered by the members of the
Legislative Body to the Emperor and the Empress
took place on Monday night with great magnifi-
cence. Not only were the splendid decorations of
the Legislative Palace worthy alike of the illustri-
ous guests in whose honour the ball was given, and
of the high body of the State who offered this mark
of respect to their Majesties, but all the arrange-
ments were of the most perfect description. The
persons invited began to arrive at 9 o'clock, and
from that hour until half-past 12 o'clock an unin-
terrupted stream of carriages was to be seen advanc-
ing towards the scene of festivity on each side of
the river.

Three entrances were opened for the guests ;
the principal one, that by the Court of Honour
of. the Palace from the Place de Bourgogne, was
reserved for the carriages of the Imperial party,
of the ambassadors, and of a few privileged per-
sonages ; a second entrance was by the avenue of
the hotel of the President of the Legislative Body ;
and the third, on the other side of the Palace, was
by the steps in front of the Pont de la Concorde.
To make this arrangement available, _ it was neces-

vary to unite together the hotel of the Presidence
with the Palace of the Legislative Body, and this
was effected by means of a temporary construction
erected over the whole length of the garden lying
between the two buildings. The building thus
raised, and which formed the very centre of the
fête, consisted first of a vast jardin, d'hiver ; next,
of an immense ball-room ; and lastly, of a supper-
'room, capable of accommodating 250 persons at a
'time. The first-named of these constructions was
separated, throughout its whole length, into three
:distinct galleries communicating with each other
13y means of wide arcades, and all most tastefully
arranged with flowers, evergreens, statues, foun-
• tains of falling water, mirrors, long lines of chan-
deliers from the ceiling, and thousands of lights
=along the walls. The side galleries were ornamented
.with a trellis-work of green and gold, through
which creeping plants were made to twine
their tendrils, whilst statues of boys, so formed as
to appear to be made of silver, and supporting cor-
boils of flowers, were placed at suitable distances

down the sides. The centre gallery was simply
ornamented with festoons of flowers on a white
ground to prepare the eye for the decoration of the
ball-room to which it led. This immense hall, for
131.1.0 h it may be justly termed, was hung with white
transparent muslin, trimmed with blue satin, white
-curtains similarly ornamented, hanging in thick
'folds over its several entrances. Festoons of
glowers and escutcheons, in white and gold, bearing
the cyphers of the Emperor and Empress, were the
ornaments of the walls. Midway on the right,
;Strauss's orchestra was placed ; and exactly oppo-
site the spot where he wielded his baton, the tempo-
rary construction communicated with the Legisla-
tive Palace by means of the Salle des Pas-Perdus,
transformed for the night from its usual severe sim-
plicity into a grand saloon of honour for their Ma-1
jesties. The groups of statuary, which usually at-
tract the eye of the spectator, had been removed
from their places at each end, and the whole of the i
walls were so covered with crimson velvet and gold,
immense mirrors, shrubs and draperies, that had it not
been for the beautifully painted ceiling from
-iforace Vernet's pencil, the hall would have been
beyond the possibility of recognition. Rich chan-
deliers of cut-glass and gilt bronze were suspended
from the sides, and above, just under the cornice,
were to be seen the arms of the 86 departments of
France. In the centre was placed a lofty dais of
crimson velvet, the drapery being brought to a
point above, where an eagle, with outstretched
wings, appeared to grasp the folds in its talons.
Under this canopy were placed two chairs of state
for their Majesties, and three arm-chairs of crim-
son velvet for the members of the Imperial family.
To this room before the arrival of the Imperial
party all access was denied, except in the cases of
the ambassadors, the marshals, a certain number
of functionaries, the members of the Senate and of
the Legislative Body, and a certain number of
ladies of distinction. The passages leading from
this room to the other parts of the building were
all ornamented with flowers, evergreens, and ta-
pestry, as were the Salle du Trone, which served
as a withdrawing-room to their Majesties in the
course of the evening. -
At half-past ten, the carriages of the Imperial
party entered the court-yard of the Legislative
Palace. Their Majesties were received at the foot
of the steps by M. Billault, the President, at the
head of the members composing the bureau of the
Chamber, and the deputies appointed to act as
stewards of the fête. Their Majesties were then,
-conducted through the Salle des Armures, men-
lioned above, which they stopped a moment to ad-
mire, to the Salle du Trone, where the other mem-
bers of the Imperial Family and the Ministers had
already arrived. Almost immediately after their
Majesties, accompanied by a most numerous suite,
proceeded to the Salle des Pas Perdus, and took
their seats on the chairs of State prepared for them.
The Princess Mathilde occupied the seat on the
right of the Emperor, whilst Prince Jerome and
Prince Napoleon were on the left of the Empress.
The Emperor was in the uniform of a general
officer with high boots and white inexpressibles,
and wore the Grand Cordon of the Legion of
Honour. Reappeared in excellent health and spirits.
The Empress excited, as usual, universal admira-
tion the male portion of the spectators exclaiming
" How lovely a woman ! " and the ladies crying
out " What a charming dress !" Her Majesty
wore a pale-pink satin robe with magnificent point
lace, and trimmed with white roses, surrounded
with their green leaves. Her hair was worn off the
forehead, the back of the head bearing a quantity
of flowers sprinkled with diamonds. On her neck
was a necklace of diamonds and emeralds of great
value, and her Majesty wore en sautoir the cordon
of the Order lately sent to her by the Queen of
Spain. After their Majesties had graciously sa-
luted several persons whom they recognised in the
crowd before them, and had conversed with some
of the Ambassadors, the Imperial quadrille was
formed to open the ball. The Empress danced
with M. Billault, President of the Legislative
Body, and the Emperor with Mlle. Billault,
daughter of that functionary. The other persons in
the quadrille were the Princess Mathilde, who had
M. Fould, the Minister of State, for her partner,
and their vis-d-vis being M. Rogier, the Minister
of Belgium, and the Countess de Hatzfeldt, wife
of the Prussian Minister. As soon as the qua-
drille had concluded, their Majesties resumed their
seats, and conversed for some time with the per-
sons around them. The Emperor also descended
from his place to speak to others. Their Majesties
then walked through the rooms, and appeared
struck with the taste displayed in the decorations.
They then withdrew to the Salle du Trone, where
they remained conversing for some time with the
persons admitted to their presence, and about half-
past eleven proceeded to the Salle des Conferences,
which was fitted up as a supper-room, tables being
set out round three sides of it, and capable of
allowing 300 persons to partake of refreshment at