The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-31 00:00:00

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the English nation should not have been consulted
in so great a crisis as that which at present has occurred,
and that the English Minister has treated as a question
of purely foreign interest an affair which is of the greatest
importancefor England and for Europe. And, moreover,
during a period of seven weeks at a most critical junc-
tures there should have been no Cabinet Council held.

THE OCCUPATION OF AUXERRE.—A. letter from
Nevers says :—" We have news from Auxerre, which has
been occupied a second time, and is again free. The Prus-
sians remained three days only in the town, but during
those three days more disputes arose between the
municipality and the enemy's staff than during the first
occupation, which was of so much longer duration.
When the Prussians discovered the rifles which had been
preserved for the outposts of the town they were very in-
dignant, and reminded the mayor that on their preceding
visit the French had promised to deliver all the arms
possessed by the citizens, and this promise had been broken
seeing that some of the arms belonging to the
National Guard had been secreted at the Mairie itself.
The mayor explained that as the town had been deprived
of all public force for purposes of police, he had kept
these guns to arm a few citizens. The Prussian
officer, however, carried off the guns, and orders
were given by public notices to all the inhabitants
to surrender any arms they might have. The
Prussian commandant also ordered the arrest of
the Colonel of the National Guard, reproaching him
for having intended to constitute a military force
by the re-organisation of the National Guard, shewing
letters which the Colonel had recently addressed to the com-
mandants of the National Guard throughout the districts
occupied by the Prussians. He refused to accept the colonel's
defence th tt the object of the correspondence was merely
to maintain public order, and kept him under
arrest until he left Auxerre, when he carried him
off with him. Another difficulty arose respecting an
hussar from Posen, who had come from Joigny to
Auxerre, and declared he " wished to be a Frenchman."
The authorities sent him on to Nevers, and this greatly
irritated the Prussians. However they were at last
pacified, and let the matter rest.

AN IRISH ADDRESS TO M. JULES FAVRE•
In the address to M. Jules Favre prepared at a French
sympathy meeting in Dublin, the promoters declare—
" For ourselves and for our countrymen, and for the
Irish race throughout the globe, we repudiate, disown,
and anathematise the neutral policy that consigns Paris
to destruction and a gallant people to extermination. Ire-
land having felt herself the evils of foreign domination,
the wounds inflicted on France cause her own to bleed
anew." The party who supported this declaration were
nationals of the Irishman newspaper stamp.

LUXEMBURG AND THE CONFERENCE.
The Berlin correspondent of the Indkpend,ance Beige,
referring to the London Conference, says that it is be-
lieved definitive stipulations may be signed at the meeting
of to-day (Tuesday), which will be submitted to the dif-
ferent Governments. Another sitting, probably the last,
would be held on the 7th of February. It is not believed
that the question of peace or war has been touched upon
even indirectly at the Conference. Some details are ex-
pected concerning the exchange of dispatches
between Prussia and Luxemburg. Count Big-
marck's dispatch cf the 6th was written in German,
and alluded to the departure of a special plenipotentiary
to Luxemburg to treat with the Government of the Grand
Duke concerning the measures to be adopted to prevent the
recurrence of past errors. The reply of Luxemburg was
in French, and alluded to the plenipotentiary
as a commissioner, but the functions of the
person are evidently the same in both documents.
The proposal for this inquiry emanated from the
Luxemburg Government, and was put forward with
the probable intention of forestalling the proposal of
Prussia. The Luxemburg inquiry was also communicated
to the other Governments, and it was intimated that a
counter-investigation on the part of Prussia might be ren-
dered necessary with respect to the affairs of Greven-
macher.