The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-31 00:00:00

FANATIC INFIDELS.

There are certain persons in Paris who are not only
infidels, but fanatics, who not only disbelieve in Chris-
tianity, but are determined to insult those who believe in it.
They have chosen a singular way of shelving their hatred.
pnGnna Tirm,v_ which; as all the world- knows, is kept
m Roman Catholic countries as, par acettencr, uair
abstinence, a number of these unbelievers dined together
at a public eating-house. This banquet de Libre pensle,
as they called it, may have lightened their consciences,
but it must have lain rather heavily upon their
stomachs, for it consisted of cold veal and roast
pork. It must have been rather mortifying
to the men who thus incurred the horrors of nightmare to
see that the churches were more crowded than ever.
While they were feasting at the risk of a fierce attack of
indigestion, the people whom they hoped to convince were
thronging the Madeleine and Notre Dame and St. Eustache
and St. Roche to such an extent that it was necessary to
station sergents de rille at the doors, in order to prevent
serious accidents. In the cathedral the crowd kept con-
tinually moving, leaving or entering, and they were com-
posed of every class of society—working men in theirblouses,
women of the faubourgs, or peasants from the environs
carrying their child' ren in their arms, and mingled
with those of the higher class, the owners, possibly, of the
handsome equipages outside. There was no gorgeous
ceremony to attract them, and a few hours' stay in the
church enabled one to see that they came for no other
purpose than to pray at the different shrines or at the
" stations of the cross "—to kneel and kiss the crucifixes
exposed in the chapelsof the side aisles or the silver circlet
containing the relics for which Notre Dame is famous.
Priests were in attendance in the chancel to present them
to the salute of the crowds who knelt before the altar.
The priests relieved each other every hour, and this
ceremony lasted till after nightfall. The sermon of the
Passion was given by the celebrated preacher Father Felix,
and there were hundreds who for want of room had to
stand outside. The preacher announced at the close of his
sermon that, judging from the crowds attending the ser-
vices during the last week of Lent, the male communicants
on Easter Day would be far more numerous than in pre-
vious years, that measures were taken to abridge the
ceremony, and that four priests would be in attendance at
the same time for that purpose. All the other churches
of Paris were crowded in a similar manner. Clearly
Christianity is not going_to be vanquished by a fillet of veal
and pork chops.

BUDGET OF PERSONAL ITEMS.—The Queen has
approved of Mr. Oliver Mungen as Consul at Turk's Island
for the United States of America.—General Breckenridge
reached his home in Lexington on the 4th inst., and has
commenced practice as a lawyer, eschewing Politics of
which he has had quite enough. George F. Hoar, brother
of the Attorney General, and whom the Times correspon-
dent insisted on making Attorney-General, was admitted
to the bar of the United States Supreme Court on the 9th
instant. The Sioux Indians call General Sherman " Ge-
neral Walk-a-heap." A monument to General Lyon is to
be erected in St. Louis. Major-General Ames has been
assigned to command the Fourth Military District. Walter
H. Smith, of Ohio, has been appointed Solicitor of Inter-
nal Revenue, in place of Binckley, removed. Mr. Frede-
rick Seward, Assistant-Secretary of State, will remain in
Washington a short time to settle family affairs and to
give over the department to the incoming Secretary. Mr.
Seward has closed a continuous residence of twenty years
in Washington—twelve as Senator and eight as Cabinet
officer. Secretary Browning returns to Quincy, Illinois;
Secretary M'Culloch settles down near Washington ; Mr.
Evarts remains for the present, as does Mr. Randall, while
Secretary Welles goes to Codnecticut next week. 0. L.
Grant, of Chicago, brother of President Grant, is at the
St. James's Hotel. The Hon. William A. Faxon, en-As-
sistant Secretary of the Navy, is at the Fifth-avenue
Hotel. F. M'Cracken and John O'Neill of Stratford,
Canada, were poisoned on the 11th of March by taking a
cough mixture procured from a druggist. There is no
hope of O'Neill's recovery, and very slight hope of
M'Cracken. Chas. Wallace, editor of The Warrenton (Ga.)
Clipper, was shot and instantly killed on the 12th
by Dr. Darden, also of Warrenton. Wallace had attacked
Darden in his paper, calling him a liar and a villain.
Superintendent Kennedy, on th 3 12th inst.., returned from

his Southern tour. le left President Acton at Aiken,
Georgia, much improved iu health. Thurlow Weed was
stopping at the same place, and was also recovering his
health and strength rapidly. Mr. Seward will shortly
there pay him a visit. Representative Dawes has
become the Father of the House, now that Mr.
Washburne has accepted the miFsion to Paris. Mr.
James M. Mason, of Mason and Slidell fame, was to leave
Canada in a day or two, and expected to be at his old home
in Winchester, Virgina, by the middle of March. Lieut.-
General Sheridan arrived at Washington on the 12th, ac-
companied by his Acting Assistant-Adjutant-General and
Aid-de-Camp, Brevet-Lieut. J. Schuyler Cris bout
Brevet Major-Gen. E. Mory. Beverley Tucker o
is about to
establish an hotel at St. Catherine's, Canada. General
Hancock is at the residence of a friend at Clinton-place.

THE "SUN" NEWSPAPER.-G. R. GLENIE
delh2rs the LATE EDITION at Chelsea, 7.40; Kilburn,
8 ; Starch-green, 8; Woolwich, 7.30; Uxbridge, 9.20; Watford,
9.45.