The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-30 00:00:00

FRANCE.

THE FETE AT BRUSSELS.

Two balls were given in the course of the evening--
one by the Royal Society of the Grande Harmonic ;
the other by the municipality in the equare of the
Hotel de Ville.

The King entertained at dinner the directing
committee of the Exposition, the jury, and the other
artists who contributed to the grand Jae of the 24th,
both native and foreign. The King, the Count of
Flanders, and the Princess Charlotte, presided at one
table, and the Duke of Brabant at the other. His
Majesty and the Princes conversed often and with
much affability with every one present. The foreign
artists were the object of particular attention.
The finest weather favoured these interesting fetees
from the commencement. The ball in the open air
last night was, however, interrupted near its close by
a heavy fall of rain, which commenced about eleven
o'clock, and continued nearly the whole of the night.
But the following morning was cloudless as the pre-
ceding ones, though the rain chilled the air. The day
held up well to the last moment.
These files will be long remembered with pleasure.
Brussels has not been so crowded for many years, and
the hotels must have made a golden harvest. The
city will to-morrow, no doubt, resume its wonted
appearance; as, even at the late hour at which I
write, I hear in all directions the note of preparation
for departure by the morning trains. Times.

MORE 'MAN A CENTENARIAN.—An elderly lady
named Power, who is now in her 110th year, w„ s_, ,
ojour n
during the early part of week, et the Clinon Hotel. si,,
had just returned from visiting the Great Exhibition ! The
old lady appeared to be in excellent health and spirits._
Bristol

AMERICAN NOTIONS or MATRIMONY.—The 2V ew
York Leader entertains some strange notions upon mitri-
mony. Tho editor thinks that custom will reconcile any
extremes. I The spirit of our century has destroyed the ro-
mantic notion of first love, and all those arabesque fancies,
implanted within the female breast by a fallacious admira-
tion of puerile poetry. Habit and continuous presence re-
duce us town admiration of a rattlesnake, and why not then
of a mite? That man, we aro afraid, has had a peculiar j
caperleace.—Allicrican Paper,
117
11 8 •

The following are extracts from a document dis-
covered amongst the papers of one of the persons
lately arrested in Paris, and who was implicated in
what is called a German plot :
" The Central London Committee to the Sections.
" Present Month of August.

" The moment is not distant when the middle class

sha?ll;compelled to abdicate power in favour of the
prole.taires. The important point in the approaching
revolution is to place the government in the hands of
the operatives. The Congress has consequently re-
solved to transmit the following instructions to all
the sections, to be observed at the approaching revo-
lution :-
1. At the moment of the revolution all existing
Governments shall be overthrown.
" 2. The people themselves shall immediately elect
revolutionary committees which shall take the go-
Yernmont into their hands. The central committee
shall be established in the first important city in the
hands of the revolutionists. All the revolutionary
committees :,hall forthwith send delegates to the cen-
tral committee.
"3. All taxes shall be abolished. The means for
supplying the expenses of the State shall be furnished
from the confiscation of the property of the princes
and the traitors to the people ; by the seizure of thc
banks and Treasury ; by a forced loan on all capi-
talists ; by a new paper currency.
" 4. All the debts of the State shall be cancelled
without any indemnity, and the circulation of the old
paper money forbidden.
" 5. The State shall take charge of all mortgages,
and no mortgage can be redeemed.
"6. All the enemies of the people shall be dis-
armed. The revolutionists between 17 and 60 years
of age shall compose the army ; the unmarried men
Shall fight abroad, and the remainder at home. The
people shall be constantly armed.
" 7. All the ordinary tribunals shall be closed, and
replaced by others named by revolutionary commit-
tees. The public prosecutor shall be appointed by
the central committee.

" 8. The means of existence of all the defenders of
tile revolution, as well as that of their families, shall
15si secured. Everybody shall labour, but the State
must provide each with employment, and sufficient
wages sball be fixed by the committee of operatives.
" 9. The State takes possession of all railroads,
steam-ships, and all other means of public communi-
cation. Tile same course AM be adopted with re-
spect to manufactories and workshops which shall
not be fully employed, and of which the State may
be under the necessity of employing all the operatives.
The agricultural labourers shall be employed on the
lands of the State.
10. Schools and other institutions shall be estab-
lished in the palaces of the princes and tae mansions
of the rich. Children shall be brought up and edu-
cated gratuitously."

BRUSSELS, FRIDAY, SEPT. 26, MIDNIGHT.--This
day is the last of the festivities with which this city
less commemorated the epoch of its independence.
Even at the hour I write the crowds that throng the
squere of the Hotel do -Ville, or the Boulevard d'An-
yens, are yet on their way home ; they still linger
near the scene of the splendid fireworks, and still ad-
mire the illumination of the building which is so en-
deared from its historical association with the Bruxel-
lois. The Hotel de Ville of Brussels is so well known
that any description would be superfluous. Of all the
buildings of Brussels nut of a religious character, it
is certainly the one that presents the greatest inte-
rest both as a work of art and as a historical monu-
ment. Its tower, bold and graceful, rising to the
height of :370 feet; its delicate open work ; its hall,
where the rich guilds of Brussels were wont to as-
semble; its saloons, where the states of Brabant were
wont to congregate ; the buildings in front that
witnessed the terrible punishment of the Counts of
Egmont and Horn by order of the stern Duke of
Alba; the Bruidhais, near at hand, where the dread-
ful night that preceded the execution was spent ; the
window where, it is said, the inexorable Viceroy be-
held their execution ; in fact there is not an inch of
ground, not a stone in that square that does not tell
some wild tale of the past while the house of Austria
held dominion in Brussels.
The fag sde of this grandest of those municipal
palaces with which the Netherlands abound, is this
night one blaze of light. The escutcheons, the
shields, the painted, the graven, and sculptured em-
blems of ancient municipal or baronial persons, that
cover its front, are delineated with the utmost accu-
racy with lamps of many colours. The houses with
the Gothic facades that form the square, the old pa-
laces of the wealthy burghers of the Netherlands, are
similarly decorated ' • flags wave from every balcony
and house-top ; and festoons of lamps presenting the
triple colours of the banner of Belgium, run in curious
tracery all round. Bands of music perambulate the
streets, playing select passages from the favourite
operas ; or, more grateful still to the Flemish spirit of
the old town, the national airs. Many private houses
in the neighbourhood of the Hotel de Ville, particu-
larly the Montagae de la Cour, rue de Madeline, des
Fripeurs, &e., are also illuminated.
Tac great display of the night, however, is that of
the fireworks on the Boulevard d'Anvers; and there,
long before the hour appointed, the mass of the popu-
lation of Brussels assembled. Tee darkness of the
night, the heavens only dimly lighted with stars
ecareely seen through the hez is most favourable for
the display. From every quarter of the city and the
surrounding villages human beings are pouring, and
the busks of the canal of Anvers, the grand basin,
the borders of the Senne, are lined with spectators.
From the gate of Scheerbak to the canal on one side,
and to the Boulevard de i'Observatoine on the other,
is one mass of people. Detachments of troops of the
line, infantry and cavalry, are stationed here and there
to preserve order and maintain the pessage free. This
daty they perform, however, with the greatest ease, as it
would be difficult to find a more orderly population.
Every one seems in good humour, and desirous of
remaining so. The fireworks began precisely at the
hour indicated, half-past 10 o'clock. The first rocket
that shot up was hailed with the loudest acclamations
by the multitude, and the shouts of joy increased
as the dazzling meteors traversed every part in the
heavens until they became one vest sheet of flame.
This display lasted till half-past 11 o'clock ; it
was admirably executed, and does great credit to
the pyrotechnists ot Brussels. The effect produced
by the blue lights, in the brilliancy of which
nearly every face in the multitude could be seen,
was very fine. At half past 11 all again was dark,
and the multitude began to move away ; and
before midnight the Boulevard d'Anvers and the
Porte do Schaerhals were nearly as lonely as they
usually are at such an hour. Numbers of persons go
to teke a last look at the Hotel de Ville, and then
etude one to his home. The display closed the faes of
Brussels.
Yesterday took place the distribution of medals of
honour to recompense acts of courage, devotedness,
and humanity during the past year. The ceremony
was held in the ancient temple of the Atigustinee ; at
one extremity a gallery was appropriated to the
members of the Royal Family. The Princes arrived
at one o'clock, and were received with demonstrations
of the greatest respect. The Count of Flanders oc-
cupied the royal box, and the Duke of Brabant took
his place in the fauteuil. The whole of the Ministers
were present.
The Minister of the Interior opened the business of
the day in an excellent speech in praise of those citi-
zens whose conduct rendered them deserving of re-
ward. The medals, which were of gold, silver-gilt,
and silver, were then distributed by the Prince Royal
to those who most distinguished themselves during
the inundations of 1850. Pensions were also granted
to them on the Caisse de Retraite. The ceremony
lasted till five o'clock, and at their departure the
Princes were again acclaimed with the greatest en-
thusiasm.

THE NEW NATIONAL GALLERY.
, The following is a copy of the report of the Com-
missioners appointed to consider the question of a
site for a new National Gallery :
" Office of Woods, &c., July 15, 1851.
"My Lords,—ln compliance with your Lordships'
directions conveyed to us in Mr. Hayter's letter of
the 26th of March we have considered the question
referred to us—namely, an eligible site for a new
National Gallery.
" The evidence obtained in the session of 1850 by a
Committee of the House of Commons in regard to the
present National Gallery, and the report of a Com-
mission appointed in the preceding year to examine
into the state of the pictures, have convinced us that
no site will be so far suited for this purpose as to
justify a large outlay of public money in the con-
struction of a new gallery unless it shall combine the
following advantages :
" An insulated position, where the gallery may be
secured from the obstruction of light and air occa-
sioned by neighbouring buildings, and where addi•
tional space may hereafter be provided for the increase
of the collections, or for the other departments of art I
which it may be deemed desirable to unite with a i
National Gallery.

" A site which may be easily accessible to visitors
resorting thither on foot and in public conveyances.
" If these conditions are admitted to be indispens-
able in the selection of a site, it is obvious that the
choice is limited, sand other considerations have been
pres4ed on our notice, tending still further to reduce
the number of the sites which we can venture to re-
commend.

" The neighbourhood of the royal parks would
supply fame of the above-mentioned requirements,
inasmuch as they would secure the gallery, at least
on one side, from the obstruction and inconvenience cf
adjoining buildings.
" There are, however, objections to the vicinity of
Re'gent's-par's on account of the clay soil, which is
tilought to be unfavourable to the preservation of
pictures, and not to he selected while preferable situ-
tionl can be obtained.
The dry soil of Hyde-park and Kensington na-
turally attracted our attention. 1