The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-17 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.

THIS EVENING, at 7, MY PRECIOUS BETSY: Mr Atkins and
Miss Johnstone. At 8, THE SERPENT ON THE II EARTH:
Mr R. Phillips, Mr E Atkins, Mr Stuart, %It's M. Eburne, Mrs L.
Murray, &c. And DOMESTIC ECONOMY: Mr Atkins and
Mrs Leigh Murray.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, ➢irs. Swanborough.
THIS EVENIN(I. at 7.30, AMONG THE BREAKERS: Mr
Clarke. THE TOODLES. JOAN OF ARC: Messrs. Thorns,
James, Fenton; NI esdames Goodall, Lydia Maitland. Button. To
conclude with THE CHOPS OF THE CHANNEL. Mr. D.
James,

ROYALTY THEATRE.
Under the Management of Miss M Oliver.
TIES EVENING, at 7.30, A ROVING COMMISSION. After
which CHECKMATE. Followed by THE MILITARY BILLY
TAYLOR. To conclude with IN FOR A HOLID Y Mr
Dewar, Mr. Danvers, Miss M. Oliver Miss Saunders, &c.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Vining,

This EVENING. at 7, PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. After
which. AXIS D oALAT BA : Herr Formes, Mr V. Righy,Mr
M. smith, and Miss Blanche Cole. To conclude with A QUIET
FAMILY.

PRINCE OF WALES'S ROYAL TJIEATRE.
• Under the Management of Miss Marie "Wilton
TnisEvEtstrlG, SCHOOL: Messrs. Hare, H. J. Montague'
Addison, Glover, and Bancroft: Mrs. Buckingham White, Miss
C. Addison, and Miss Marie 'Wilton. After which, A WINNING
HAZARD. And A LAME EXCUSE.

CIIRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLETS
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. is. Box-office
o pen from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL G ,IRDENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays, Gd. Children
under twelve, (id

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LONDON, IUESDAY, AUGU,S7 17, 1869.

At last NAPOLEON 111. has so acted that even his
hitherto implacable antagonists and depreciatory be-
lieve for once in his sincerity. The exception proves
the rule according to a familiar axiom. The rule
jest now with the French Press is to eulogize the
General Amnesty. The exception, the one dissentient
voice, is that of the Pays, which, regretting the act
of grace, designates it an act of feebleness. Other-
wise, the Paris journals have been unanimous in their
approval. According to the Gezette de France, the
amnesty is an act of good and great policy. Accord-
ing to the Opinion Nationale, it is a conclusive evidence
of the sincerity of the EMPEROR'S acceptance of Perso-
nal Government. That it may, reasonably, be so re-
garded is recognisable in the fact that the Imperial De-
cree is countersigned by all the Ministers. According to
the Journal de Paris, the course taken in the grant-
ing of this full and unconditional Amnesty is at once
wise and able, is calculated to obliterate the past,
and to afford a guarantee in regard to the future
that the development of a thoroughly liberal policy
is really practicable under the rule of a NAPOLEON. M.
EMILE DE GIRARDIN'S paper, the Libertj, pronounces
in favour of the Amnesty unreservedly and with en-
thusiasm. The Presse owns that, coupled with the
ImpCrial Message of the 12th ultimo, the Amnesty of
the 11th instant will win for the EMPEROR the
support of all those who love order and liberty.
The Temps, the Patrie, and the illoniteur all speak of
the Amnesty—but that as a matter of course—with
unreserved approbation. The Patrie terms the
Amnesty one of the grandest and one of the most
manly acts of the reign of NAPOLEON M. The
Constitutionnel proclaims it to be an amnesty as large
and as complete as possible, and adds that, announced
yesterday by telegraph to all parts of the country, it
has been, everywhere, welcomed with the most una-
nimous satisfaction ; asserting, as we ourselves did
yesterday, that it was assuredly impossible to cele-
brate more befittingly the hundredth anniversary of
the birth of the Founder of the Imperial Dynasty.
As for the Decree itself, it has been already acted
upon—the prisons being at (mice thrown open to all
political offenders ; and the liberated disturbers
of the peace quitting their place of in-
carceration with spontaneous shouts of " Vive
l'Empereur." At Paris alone upwards of one
hundred and fifty persons have been set free. Aud, in
the midst of the satisfaction manifested by this most
gracious and most graceful celebration of the Cen-
tenary of the birthday of NAPOLEON the GREAT, the
popular festivities have passed off with the utmost
possible success throughout the whole of France.
There is but one regret mingled with the otherwise
unmixed satisfaction felt all through the country—
that awakened by death, on the very eve of the
National Festival, of one of the most glorious soldiers
of France, Marshal NIEL, the Hero of Solferiro.
It was upon that great battlefield that the late
Minister of War won his baton. It was upon
the morrow of that victory that the EMPEROR, writing
from Cavriana, at one o'clock in the afternoon of the
25th of June, 1859, to her Majesty the Empress-
Regent, after observing "I have passed the night in
the room the Emperor of AUSTRIA occupied on the
morning of the battle," added, "General NIEL is
named Marshal." As a statesman, as a Parliamen-
tary orator, as a military administrator, he has, since
then, very wonderfully enhaced his reputation. His
memory will live in the History of France not simply
as associated with his career as a great soldier, not
merely as the worthy companion and contemporary of
men like LAMORICIERE, BOSQUET, ST. ARNAUD, and
M‘MatioN,but as an organizer of the school of CARNOT,as
a great administrator in the Cabinet as well as a great
leader in the battle-field. A General of Brigade at
forty-seven years of age, he has died now in his sixty-
seventh year, having been ten years a Marshal of
France, and holding still within his grasp until it was
relaxed by death, in one hand the baton, in the other
the emblazoned portfolio of the War Departmen t of the
Imperial Government. He leaves the French Army in
the fullest state of efficiency, thanks to the activity of
his administration. A quarter of a million men
250,000), horse and foot, artillery and engineers,
are always, even during times of profound pcaee, at
the beck of the EMPEROR, to go whithersoever the
exigencies of the moment may require. That quarter
of a million may readily be increased, moreover, to a
tull half million (500,000) in the event of any sudden
and untoward necessity. With this masterly reorgani-