The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

lied and cheered up at the bare idea of a prompt
return to their foyers. The happy arrangements,
moreover, made by the officers for their reception,
contributed no doubt to produce these good effects,
and I trust that the dictates of humanity may be
fulfilled without compromising the hygiene of our
ships. During all our melancholy labours on shore
as on board, I feel the highest satisfaction in de'
daring how much I am indebted to the onerous
zeal and assistance of our ship's crew. I furnished
before quitting this port a provision of lint, linen,
&c., to the surgeons destined to attend remaining
sufferers, and who had escaped from the catastrophe
to the neighbouring villages.

" PIRAIID,
" Surgeon-Major of the Mogador.

FRANCE.

At the hour of going to press, the Paris papers
of yesterday had not arrived.
The following has been received by electric
telegraph, dated Paris, yesterday evening :
Lord Cowley attended to-day (Friday) at the
first meeting of the Commission of the Great
Exhibition, and assured the members of the co-
operation of England in this great undertaking.
The Prince Napoleon, as President, thanked
Lord Cowley in behalf of the Commission.
An Imperial decree closes the College of St'
Michel au Montant, on account of the occurrence
of factious demonstrations, which were not repressed
by the authorities.

Four officials, employed on the Orleans Railway'
who were prosecuted for negligence on the occasicn
of the accident at Beaugency, have been condemned
to six months' imprisonment and 300 f. fine each.
According to Vienna advices, of the 26th, the
Ambassadors of France, England, and Prussia had
on the 24th a fresh conference with the Austrian
Minister of Foreign Affairs on the Eastern question''`
Count Buol communicated to them a second de".
spatch from Baron Bruck, which confirmed the
hope entertained of a pacific arrangement.
Advices from Bucharest, of the 23d, bring no

news.
Th

e Vladika of Montenegro has addressed'`'
letter to his uncle, Petrovich, in which he justifiel
his conduct, and begs him to return to M°ll,
negro, and afford the Vladika the benefit of AP
advice.

Petrovich replied that he would never return
till his nephew had banished from Court those Till°
had plotted against his life.
The Bourse was heavy yesterday (Friday), and
all securities declined. The Three per Cents
closed at 73f. 80c. for the end of the month, An
the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. at 101 f. 25c.

•
• The severe cold which has prevailed in Paris forf
some days past has been felt in various parts °f
France. The thermometer fell at Arras and at
li
Valenciennes to 19 degrees below zero. Snow' I
in such quantities at, Lille that, according to letters
from that town, it will cost 50,000 f. to clear the
streets.
The Seine is frozen over between the Pont Not
Dame and the Pont Royal. It is expected that,
the frost continues without a thaw for two or three
days more, it will be possible to cross the river on.
the ice.
At the Council of Ministers which assembled on
Wednesday, it is said the war party appeared t°
have the advantage, M. Fould being obliged t°
yield on several points to M. de Persigny. 11"
further resolution, however, has, it is said, been
come to, matters being left as they are for the
present.
The Emperor received on Wednesday at a public
audience General Francois Solano Lopez, who pre"
sented to his Majesty his credentials as Envoy xt.
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Parnuay. M. Solano Lopez was on'
veyed to the Tuileries in a Court carriage.
An Imperial decree appoints M. Cornudet, Can"
cillor of State, to be a member of the Mixed Corn'
mate* of Public Works.
Captain d'Herbinghem, aide-de-camp of the
Minister of Marine, who has been appointed to the
command of the steam-frigate Vauban, has left
Paris for Toulon, to take the command of his ship:
Four new regiments which have recently arrived
in Paris for garrison duty were reviewed on Thurs-
day, at half-past 12 o'clock, by the Emperor in the
Place de Carrousel. The E peror, who was on
horseback, put the men through their movements,,
after which they defiled before him. The cries of
"Vivo l'Empereur !" were frequent.
It is was generally expected that the Ihroniteur
of Thursday would contain an article explaining
the actual state of the Eastern question, the posi;
tion of the Powers, the acceptance by Turkey 0-1'
the proposition for sending a plenipotentiary to the
Conference, and the terms on which she may con: ":
sent to treat. The silence of the official journal
has produced a very unfavourable effect ; and it is
taken as an indication that the difficulties still in
the way of an arrangement without a European
war have grown more serious, and that, such en
arrangement is as remote as ever. Almost every'
thing connected with this question has been MY.;
sterious and confused from the beginning ; but,
anything clear and palpable now appear, it is the,
perfidy of Russia, and the double-dealing 01.
Austria. This last Power may yet pay the penalty
of her bad faith, and even at the present morsel?'
it is doubtful if she is better appreciated by Russia
than she is by England or France. It is said that
the Emperor Nicholas has very- recently—since the
signing of the protocol—expressed himself in angl
and contemptuous terms of that Governmeutt
which has not the courage either for good or evil.;
and it is doubted if the moat earnest and most
humiliating protestations from it would inspire
him with confidence.
It is right that it should be known that in Paris?,
as well as in St. Petersburgh, the Austrian and
Prussian ambassadors attended at a Te Deum Per"
formed there to celebrate the great and glorions
victory gained by the Russian arms over Turkey a'
Sinope and other places. This will serve as Wu.
as any other straw to show how the wind blows-
It is useless to deny that in Paris an amicable
settlement of the Eastern Question is considered ag,
all but hopeless, and war on a large scale as all but
certain. Public opinion is in this respect the safe
as that of the Government ; and as matters sr
proach nearer and nearer to a crisis the most des'
perate efforts are made by every partisan of Ruseitlf
native and French, and by her agents, from the
highest to the lowest class, to create discord NY
tween France and England, to excite jealoueo
and hstreds which no longer exist, and to throf
doubts on the good faith of both. These persons
are not discouraged or daunted by the ill success
that has hitherto attended them, and they return w
the task as if it were one of honour, of humanitif
and of patriotism.

If Louis Napoleon wishes to bring to a prelo-
- end all the conspiracies formed against hit°,
whether in the salons, the chateaus, or among tm:
defeated parties, he would have only to publish
declaration of war against Russia in the Moniteoro
and it would be hailed with enthusiasm by of
tainly nineteen-twentieths of the people of t""
country. •

SPAIN.
The Duchess de Montpeniier held, on the m-,
inst., a grand levee at the Palace at Madrid. Til"
corps diplomatique, the grandees of Spain, the an'
thorities, the chiefs of the army, the judges of tiln,
different courts, the senators and the deputies, 01
other personages, presented their congratulation:
to her Royal Highness on the occasion of be
arrival.

The position of the Marquis de Turgot 35
satisfactory as possible, and it was hoped that 136'
would be able to rise in a few days. The Ambas-
sador was to be represented at the Queen's confine'
ment by M. de Montherot, First Secretary of tb°
French Legation.
One of the most distinguished men in SpaiT
Don Alvaro Flores de Estrada, died on the 166'
inst., at Novena, in the 88th year of his age. ,e
According to the returns of the revenues ofti'd
island of Cuba, the Customs' receipts amounte
in 1850 to 100,960,200 reals ; and in 1851 6'„
108,079,040.
The most perfect tranquillity prevailed through'
out the whole monarchy.
The Three per Cents. were done at 43i ; tbet
New Three per Cents., at 22 ; the Debt of the Fill
Class, at 8a ; and that of the Second, at 41.

ITALY.
The Piedmontese Gazette of the 26th publishes A
royal decree giving force of law to the postal een;
vention lately concluded between Sardinia an
Austria. By this convention the two Governmeni_ts
engage to convey letters and printed papers by tul
most speedy means at their command. Pos
communications are to be kept open provisionally
at five different points of the frontier, until the
construction of railways shall render other arrange-
ments necessary. Letters may be franked or not)
at option,
to their places of destination.

SWINEY Pitfm—The Council of the Society of A:!to
announces that, on the 20th of January next, in aeeold'
ante with the will of the late Dr. Swiney, "a oiler
goblet, of the value of 100/.. containing gold coin to tbe
same amount," will be awarded "to the author of the
best published work on Jurisprudence."