The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-02 00:00:00

FRANCE.

The following appeared in the Moniteur :
"Subsequently to the questions addressed to the
Cabinet, relative to the banquet of Toulouse, two in-
quiries had been ordered, one of an administrative na.
ture, confided to a councillor of the prefecture, and
the other of a judicial character, conducted by a judg
of instructioe. 131 witnesses were examined in
the first, and 57 in the second. Those inquiries
gave the following results:—The democratic ban-
quet of the 22d September had been originally
organized with a violent and culpable intention,
which appeared to have been modified when the
authorities consented to be present at it. It would ► e
wrong, moreover, to suppose that the ideas of the
founders were shared by all the guests. In accepting
the invitation made to him, the prefect expected that
his presence would restrain the malcon'ents and pre-
vent the disorder he apprehended. The decorations
of the enclosure in which the banquet took place
had been greatly exaggerated. The badges of the
stewards were made of red worsted ; the pillars
were covered with red paper. Some of the
guests wore red dahlias in their hats, but a
greater number wore the tri-coloured cockade, and
all the flags, which surrounded the bust of liberty,
and waved at the extremity of the pillars, bore the
national colours. The two toasts to the National
Assembly and to the Chief of the Executive Power
were interrupted by insulting murmurs and cries,
proceeding from one point of the hall, but which
were immediately repressed. The authorities were
saluted with respect when they retired. They were
absent, when a column of about 1,000 persons, who
had not all participated in the banquet, began to tra-
verse the streets of Toulouse, preceded by the sappers
and drummers of the National Guard. During the to
multuous promenade,violent cries directed against a por-
tion of the population of Toulouse were uttered. A few
infamous cries were also heard. It is to be wondered
that no attempt was made by the authorities to arrest
the progress of those manifestations, which terminated
of themselves. It is exceedingly regrettable that the
representatives of the Government should have taken
part in a reunion from which they could not abso-
lutely exclude the spirit of disorder, and thus have
placed themselves in the impossibility of preventing
the tumultuous scenes of the evening. The difference
which subsequently arose between the prefect and the
Council General of Upper Garonne was the conse-
quence of it. The good intentions of the prefect
cannot be questioned ; but it was to be feared that he
could not retain in the department the high influence
and the moral authority of which the Government
stands in more need than ever. Those reasons have
induced the Government to utilize elsewhere the
tried zeal of that functionary and his incontestable
devotedness to the Republic, by removing him to the
prefecture of the Vendee.
The ftioniteur publishes the returns of the corn
trade, in the different markets of France, during the
two first weeks of October, from which it appears
that the hectolitre of wheat sold on an average at
Toulouse, Gray, Lyons, and Marseilles, for 171. 7c. ;
at Marans and Bordeaux, 15t. 18c. ; at St. Laurent
and Le Grand Lemps, 16f. 40c.; at Mulhausen and
Strasburg, 16f. 12c. ; at Bergues, Arras, Roye,
Suissons, Paris, and Rouen, 15f. 99c. ; at Saumur
and Nantes, 14f. 47c.; at Metz, Verdun, and Char-
leville, 13f. 39c.; at St. Lo, Paimpol, Quimper, and
Hennehon, 15f. 85c.

A popular banquet at lf. 50c. a head, at which M.
Pierre Leroux presided, took place atßatignolles-
Monceaux, under the walls of Paris, on Tuesday
afternoon. It was attended by at least 1,000 opera-
tives, the greater number of whom reside in the
neighbouring villages. Several of the National Re-
presentatives had been invited, but only two, MM.
Pierre Leroux and Grappo, attended. The assem-
blage separated without the slightest confusion or
disturbance.