The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-05 00:00:00

THE }FRENCH EMPIRE.

The Monite ur contains a decree which, allowing
the, superior military commands of the armies of
Paris and Lyons to subsist, owing to the continu-
ance of the same state of circumstances which had
occasioned their being organised, suppresses all
other superior military commands within the terri-
tory.
Several columns of the Moniteur are filled with
the names of officers and sailors of the navy, de-
corated with the Cross of the Legion of Honour.
The Moniteur and other Government journals
are filled with an account of a procession of relics
of St. Genevieve. The following is one of the
soberest accounts which appeared
"The solemn inauguration of the Pantheon as a place
of religious worship, and under the name of the church
of St. Genevieve, took place yesterday. On Sunday the
relics of that saint, which, after 1830, had been de-
posited at Notre Dame, were exhibited to the public
in the cathedral, where they were placed on a pe-
destal hung round with draperies of velvet bordered
with gold fringe, and with wax lights burning in
candelabras around it. Yesterday morning the relics
were transferred to the church of St. Genevieve with
great ceremony, the cortege being composed of all the
clergy of the churches on the left bank of the Seine. The
streets through which the procession passed were filled
with a dense crowd of spectators, and many of the houses
were hung with white drapery. On reaching the church
of St. Etienne-du-Mont, in which church the tomb of St.
Genevieve stands, and which was magnificently orna-
mented and lighted on the occasion, the clergy of that
church, after offering incense to the relics, and accom-
panied by a band of young girls dressed in white, joined
the cortege, and proceeded with it to the Pantheon, the
front of which building was surrounded by an immense
crowd of persons. On the head of the procession reach-
ing the entrance of the Pantheon, the Archbishop of
Paris, surrounded by his clergy, went forward to receive
it, and preceded it into the church. The mass imme-
diately after commenced, at which the Archbishop offi-
ciated, after which he ascended the pulpit and delivered
a sermon appropriate to the occasion. The ceremony
was terminated by aTe Deum. The church was crowded
in every part. After the inauguration, the Abbe Du-
quesnay, the senior of the clergy of St. Genevieve, gave
a breakfast to the Archbishop and his grand vicars, and
at which MM. de Persigny, Fortoul, Romieu, de Con-
tencin, and M. Constant Dufeu, the architect of the
church, were present. The Archbishop proposed the
health of the Emperor, which was drunk with the great-
est enthusiasm."

According to the Moniteur, there assisted at the
reception of the relics of the saint their Excel-
lencies the Ministers of the Interior and of Public
Instruction, the Director of the Beaux Arts and
the Director. General of Public Worship, the Pre-
fect of Police, and the Prefect of the Seine, &c.
The Archbishop, in his discourse, recalled to mind
the various desecrations to which the church of St.
Genevieve had been subjected since Louis XV.
had laid the foundation-stone. Louis XV., it is
hardly necessary to add, was one of the greatest
monsters of depravity the world had ever seen, but
the alliance of superstition with immorality is a
fact as familiar as a proverb. Superstition, sys-
tematically employed as a means of government by
unbelievers, although proved by experience to be
dangerous to religion as to government itself, would
seem still to hold its place in the science of rule.
As yet we perceive only the immediate fruits in
such acts of persecution as took place the other
day at Troyes, where the authorities insulted the
Protestant clergyman and
his flock at the funeral
of a young Protestant girl, and in the exclusion, in
other places, of Protestants from burial grounds.
By and bye we shall see something more.
On the occasion of the reception of the ladies on
the evening, of New-Year s-day, at the Tuileries,
the Emperor entered the salons at half-past nine,
preoeded by the Duke de Bassa no, Grand Cham-
berlain, and the Count de Baciocchi, Master of the
Ceremonies, and followed by Prince Napoleon, his
military household, some of the Ministers, the
President and Vice-President of the Council of
State, and several other grand functionaries. His
Majesty was in the full dress of a General-in-Chief,
and wore the Grand Cordon of the Legion of
Honour, and the insignia of the Order of the
Golden Fleece, and several other decorations, all
mounted in brilliants. Prince Napoleon was in a
black coat, with the Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honour. The first salon was reserved for the mem-
bers of the Imperial Family, the Ministers, and the
foreign diplomatic body. In the second salon and
in the Salle des Marechaux were a number of
ladies, generals, senators, councillors of state, and
several members of the Legislative Body, of the
magistracy, the Institute, and of the Municipal
Council.

The band of the Guides, in their new scarlet
uniform, were in attendance and played during the
evening. Among the persons of distinction present
besides the Ministers and the Senators were Mar-
shals Magnan and Vaillant, the Pope's Nuncio,
the English Ambassador and Lady Cowley, the
Belgian Minister and Madame Firmin Rogier, the
Swiss, Danish, Greek, and Portuguese Ministers,
the Prince of Hesse, the Duke of Brunswick, the
Prince de Monleur, and Prince Czartoriski. The
Emperor made the rounds of the salons several
times, speaking to several ladies who were pointed
out to him by Count Baciocchi. He walked suc-
cessively with the Princess Mathilde and Lady
Cowley, and at eleven o'clock his Majesty retired.
The sums paid into the Paris Savings' Bank on
Sunday and yesterday amounted to 651,565 f.,
from 5,819 depositors, of whom 1,028 are new.
The amount drawn out was 280,750 f. The receipts
of the Caisse de Retraites for Old Age from the
27th ult. to the 2d inst. were 1,715,163 f. from 1,405
depositors, of whom 489 were new.
The Bourse opened heavily to-day in consequence
of forced sales of Three per Cent. Government
Stock on account of speculators unable to pay their
differences. After those sales were concluded
prices improved. The Four-and-a-Half per Cents.
opened at 105 f. 90c., and closed at 105 f. 85c. for
the end of the month ; the Three per Cents. closed
at 811. 35c. ; Orleans Railway Shares, 1,025 f. ;
Rouen, 990 f.
Havre, 530 f. ; Great Northern, 886 f.
25c. ; Bale, ;
360 f. Paris and Strasburg, 812 f. 50c. ;
Paris and Lyons, 925 f.; Lyons and Avignon, 767 f.
50c. ; Western f France, 700 f. for the 15th inst. ;
Caen and Cherbourg, 625 f. ; Bordeaux and Cette,
605 f. ' • Shares of the new Bank of Credit Mobilier,
issued at 500 f., 890 f.