The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-12 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL CRISIS IN FRANCE.

M. Buffet, the French Finance Minister, and
Count Daru, the holder of the portfcilio for Foreign
Ailairs, have resigned. Their successors, according to
good authority, will not be appointed until after
the plebiscitum. M. Parieu and M. 011ivier will
take charge of the Ministries for the time being.
This grave event is the result of the Em-
peror's determination to submit a new Consti-
tution to the individual votes of the people
—a resolve which has created the sternest discontent
thoughout the country. The well-known Parisian
correspondent of the Times stigmatises the plebiscitum
scheme as ridiculous and dangerous, and quotes
the saying of Oxensteirn, " Go, my son, and see how
small is the wisdom by which the world is governed."
" What is the use," asks this able Frenchman, "of a
Constitution, a House, a responsible Ministry, and
all those springs of Parliamentary Government, if
the whole machinery can be laid aside whenever the
Emperor thinks fit and proper to have a private con-
versation with the people on the question whether it
is the right tine to keep, destroy, or amend the
Constitution? "

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENCE.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
NEW YORK, March 23..

Water-street has not lost all the interest once
attracted towards it by the " wickedest man." The
Rev. Mr. 8001, of Williamsburgh, has founded a
home for women at his sole charge in that street, and
there are now in it thirteen inmates reclaimed from
the purlieus of the neighbourhood, with Mrs. Had-
ley as matron, while the reverend gentleman can-
ducts the services, preaching there forcible sermons.
Next door, however, Kit Burn has started a dog pit.
The mission formerly was his home, and when he
goes anywhere old association cart ies him back to the
Home. His father, Mr. Keyburn, lives with him,
and goes to church, and is a constant attendant at
the new Mission House, while Kit carries on hisdis-
reputable proceedings next door. On Monday the
funeral service was perforinedover the remains of the
late Gulian C. Verplanck in Trinity Church, the
address being delivered by the Rev. Dr. Dix, who
spoke of the deceased as a link between the time of
Washington and the present. On the same day
two other well-known men were buried—the late
W.W. Cornell and George Wakeman; Henry Ward
Beecher giving a touching address to the frien3s
who had gathered around the remains of the latter.
Wakeman was long engaged as a wit er for the
Ledger, the World, and the Galaxy, and in 1868 was
cho.en stenographer of the State Senate. The mam-
moth caisson, upon which the tower on the Brook-
lyn side of the East River Bridge is to be built, is
finished and launched. It is 168 feet long, 102 wide,
and 24 deep, weighing about 2,500 tons, resembling
in shape an open box. It is to be loaded when placed
in position with timber and concrete, the inside
forming an air-chamber accessible by shafts two
feet in diameter, and will be gradually sunk to its
final position. It was built at Green Point, in the
yard of Messrs. Webb and Bell. The intelligence
communicated by the Secretary of the Navy to the
Pres dent, on the strength of our fleet in Cuban
waters, is stirring up the Executive to rt L.force
our Navy there. The Spanish Government have
89 vessels of war in the harbours and on the coast
of the island, carrying 13,000 seamen and 600 guns;
while the American fleet numbers 50 vessels with
8,000 seamen and 310 guns. The monitor Terror,
Captain Ransom, is here from Boston, on her way
to the West Indies via Hampton Roads ; and other
ve,sels are under orders, so that Cuban affairs are
still not without their threatening symptoms. The
friends of Cuba are particularly active just now, and
they have completed arrangements for a grand de-
moust ation ar Cooper Institute. Gen. M' Mahon is
President of the Cuban Society, and Genera's Banks
and Cassius Clay are hearty supporters of the cause.
I am sorry to say that the Woodhull, and
Co., woman bre k rage firm, has in a bad way
dropped into a li tle t ()able. They deposited in
the Fourth National Bank a certieeet cheque on the
Gri en wich Bank for $1,366 55c., drawn by Perk
and Tilfoed, grocers. Jhe cheque was originally
drawn for $lO, the name of the person tea be paid
not b:ie.g at first fided in, but it was suba:quently
reade 1-a3, able to the ladies fur the amount specified.
The Greenwich B-.nk certified the cheque. and iu
due course it was returned by the Fourth National
Bank ; but before making any payment the presi-
dent of the latter sent it for inspection to the former,
where it was pronounced to be good, and the loss
therefore falls on the Greenwich Bank. Nor was
this all, for another cheque, also drawn by the
grocers in favour of Woodhull, Clatlin, and Co.,
was presented to the New York County Bank,
when, on suspicion being aroused before payment
had been made, it transpired that it also had been
altered from a small to a large amount. On apply-
ing to the ladies for information as to how these
cheques came into their possession, they said a man
who represented himself as coming from Park
and Tilford had brought them, stating that the
firm desired gold to the corresponding amount,
which he received. Among the meetings here has
been on to consider what ought to be done with
the surplus of the Chinese Indemnity Fun 1, of
which Professor W. T. Jones, who was lately our
Consul at Amoy and Canton, gave a sketch. During
the war of 1856-57 you may remember that the
foreign settlement in Canton was captured and
burnt to the ground ; and afterwards, Mr. Reed,
our Minister, secured a sum to indemnify our citi-
zens of $700,000, promising that in case the loss in-
curred by Americans did not reach that amount
the surplus would be returned. It was afterwards
discovered that there remained $200,000, and this
is the sum with which it is now proposed to deal:
The late Mr. Burling time advised the fouedwion
with it of a literary institute at Peking, for the
benefit of both Chinese and Americans, considering
$lOO,OOO to be ample to introduce a knowledge
of scientific principles among the intelligent and
industrious Chinese. The Committee recognised
that the money belonged of right to the Chinese
Government, and must first be offered to it; but,
if declined, it should be appropriated as Mr. Bur-
lingatue directed. Much interest is takeu by our
citizens in cutting a canal across the Isthmus of
Darien, and among the lectures delivered on the
subject was one by S. P. Dinsmore to the Geogra-
phical and Statistical Society. He enumerated the
various routes, as well as that of Tehuantepec and
of Nicaragua. Mr. Dinsmore condemned the Ni-
caragua line, as the lake is 110 feet higher than the
Pacific, and would have to be connected by locks,
and the line would be 194 miles long, and vastly
expensive ; but it was the route favoured by the Em-
peror Napoleon. Mr. F. M. Kelley long ago proposed
the San Blas line, only thirty miles wide, but there
the drawback is that the mountains rise out of
the sea, necessitating riot only three miles of
rock cutting, but a tunnel of seven miles. Mr.
Dinsmore inclined to the Darien Canal, while Mr.
Squier held that the way by Lake Nicaragua was
the only one practicable, the coat being es imated
at $31,500,000. Senator Fenton presented a reso-
lution on the 18th inst. in favour of Tehuantepec,
and that, if I am not mistaken, is the route recom-
mended by the American Society of Civil Engi-
neers. The nation is fully aroused to the neces-
sity of the work, and will carry it through. One
of the most curious designs is the Girdle Railway,
the line having been long ago defined by " An Act
to Establish Bulk-head and Pier lines for the Port
of • New York." It is intended to run with the
curvature of the river outside the high-tide mark,
at an elevation above that level of five feet, pro-
viding eight tracks for cars to move in both direc-
tions. Faction feeling in our city is broadly divid-
ing the Democrats, and there will be a riot, if
affairs continue to wear their threatening aspect,
within the sacred precincts of Tammany. Some
Senators have made efforts to get a larger share of
the appointtneuts, and the consequence appe irs to
be a difference at-Albany between the Senate and
the House. A breach is also talked of as arising
between the President and the Senate at Washing-
ton about the ratification of the San Domiugo treaty;
but these rumours, however confiden ly male, ge-
nerally turn out to be untrue or exaggerate 3. At
a recent sitting of our Aldermen $125,000 were
voted away ; one sum of $75,000 being awarded to
the owner, whose name is not given, of 106, 108,
and 110, entre-street, to house the officials of the
Court, although they have alrear'y good quarters
in the Tombs. Among the city employds is a Public