The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-04 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLLGENCE

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ITALY.

FLORENCE, May 3.

In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies the
&Alice on the revenue estimates of 1869 commenced.
Signor Ferrari stated the programme of the Pied-
moatese party, of which he is the leader. Its prin-
cipal points are—liberal Government, strict admi-
nistrative economy, and the firm maintenance of
the national as;iration3. The mi,sion of the party
of action he said had entirely ceased, and Parlia-
ment was now the sole source of the national

strength and initiative.
Count Cambray-lligny, Minister of Finance, de-
monstrated the necessity of a strong and compact
majority for the execution of the Ministerial pro-
gramme. The Minister strongly insisted upon the
inviolability of engagements with public creJitors.
Liquidation or a conversion of the public debt
would be tantamount to bankruptcy.

Signor Ferrari said that it was the intention of
his. party resolutely to support the Government,
without, however, implying that they approved
of all its past measures. He concluded by propos-
ing that they should pass to the order of the day,
consisting of three paragraphs. The first two de-
clared that the Chamber is persuaded, that the
nation wishes-for the greatest union and concord
in Parliament in order to ensure the restoration of
the finances to a sound condition by strict economy
and a better organisation of taxation ; the Cham-
ber-is convinced that the firm maintenance of these
principles will insure a national and orderly de-
velopment of Constitutional liberty.
These two paragraphs were voted unanimously.
The third paragraph was as follows :—The
Chamber, hiving heard the declaration of the Mini-
stry, is confident that the Cabinet .will conduct the
public Administration in that sense, and passes to
the order of the day. On a division, this para-
graph was adopted by 168 ayes against 20 noes ;
77 members of the Left abstained from voting.

FRANCE.
BOURSE, May 3.—Threiii.o'clock—The market
closed as follows :-
4i ver Cent.
Eud of month —
3 per Cent
End of mouth— 72 03
Credit Mobilier 260

Bank Shares ;, 2900
ItaEan Fives 56 70
End of month 7-•
Mexican Loan
Do. Bonds
Spanish Threes
Home Debt —
Deferred ...... 29 75
RAILWAYS. Cash.

End of month... 260
Credit Foucier —1557 50
End of month...

Orleans

... 915

Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern..... 615
Western
Eastern

Sardinian
Austrian

Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Roman

4931
oM
533

CORRESFOVDEECE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

16102MA:7.

The Belgian difficulty has at length been settled, or
rather the preliminaries of settlement have been arranged.
The French Government withdraws its demand for the
ratification of the leases, and the Belgian Government
undertakes to provide a thoroughly efficient system of
international traffic. Trains arc to be run through France
to Belgium in charge of French officials the whole of the
way, fares are to be lowered, &c. A commission of six is
to be appiinted to arrange the details. This is a clear
victory for Belgium, for the Ii reach Government has
shifted its ground, and given up the leases by which
it set so much store. But in some quarters
it is said that the Belgians arc much dissatisfied with the
arrangement, and the Pays, in its blustering style, de-
clared that the Brussels. Senate would not ratify the
treaty. But the pairc informs us that no treaty has been
signed, but only a protocol, which will not require
the ratification of the Senate. The Belgians seem
to have thought that the negotiations ought to have
been broken off without making any concessions what-
ever. But it is dangerous dealing in this way with a
powerful neighbour like France. Assuredly M. FrZre-
Orban has managed the matter well, and has in no way
compromised the honour of his country.

There is nothing particularly new to report respecting
the elections, save abundance of not very trustworthy
speculation as to the result. M. Thiers, who is a candi.
date both for Paris and Marseilles, is vehemently opposed
by the Government at both places. At Marseilles, as I
have said before, M. de Lesseps, of Suez Canal fame,
will stand in the interest of the Government, though not
precisely as an official candidate. He will prove a formidable
opponent. At Paris M. Tillers will be combatted by M.
Devinck, a highly respectable mediocrity, who at first
declined to oppose the great orator. It seems, however,
that the authorities have persuaded him. The defection
of the Constitutionnel is still the topic of the day, but
nobody seems to know the exact motive which has led to
this important going over to the enemy. One thing is
certain. It is not a design of the Government to secure
votes for moderate men against the ultras. That the
desertion has caused the greatest irritation in administra-
tive spheres is attested by the most conclusive evidence.
The cashier epidemic has taken rather a remarkable
turn. The cashier of the Convent of Pr4montr6s, esta-
blished near Vilvorde, in Belgium, has absconded with all
the funds belonging to the institution. It is not stated
what the sum is, Lut, notw:thstanding the poverty of con-
vents, the affair is so serious that the Pope's Nuncio has
gone to investigate it on the spot.
There is yet another case of the epidemic. M. T—,
agent d'affaires, receiver of rents, and steward to several
considerable properties, has vanished with more than a
million of francs. The Due de B—, the hero of the
famous bonbon story, is the principal sufferer. He loses
many thousand pounds.

Another and still more serious crime is becoming alarm-
ingly frequent, at least in France. Scarcely a week
passes without the discovery of some wretched woman
who is in the habit of gaining her livelihood by the viola-
tion of the most sacred duty of her sex. A little while ago
a case was tried in which the principal offender was a
woman who regularly practised the arts of child murder
and abortion. No less than six instances of one or the
other offence were brought forward at the trial. When
the woman was sentenced, she had the impudence to inform
the court that " they did not know all." This week a mid-
wife, named Garet, has been tried in the Drome department
for procuring abortion in the case of two young women.
She pleaded not guilty, and conviction was secured only
by one of her victims turning evidence. She was sen-
tenced to .five years' imprisonment. Cages of ordinary
murder cannot be foreseen or guarded against, but this
traffic in child-murder and abortion, which is clearly very
common in the South of France, ought to be provided for.
Salutary examples, at least, might be made of those
offenders who are discovered. Hitherto comparatively
light sentences have been inflicted.
The velocipede is clearly destined to accomplish a social
revolution. Notwithstanding Mr. Lowe's playful satire
in his Budget speech, the French and Americans
seem determined to supplant the horse by these
machines, and even the tradition-loving Spaniard
has not escaped the influence of the mania. We
are now informed that the velocipedes are to take the
place of horses at the Madrid bull-fights ! No doubt they
will be successful in a certain sense. A charge on a
velocipede is well calculated to paralyse any bull, though
if the animals do manage to get over the novelty of the
thing, the consequences may be awkward for the rider.
But how will the Spanish spectators regard this " degra-
dation" of their national pastime?

The weather here is remarkably hot for the season.
Thunderstorms are very frequent and destructive, remind-
ing one of the electric visitations of last autumn. At
Creullly, near Caen,' during a violent storm, a woman
was struck dead, and a man and a young girl
seriously injured. At Amblie the electric fluid fell on the
church, and demolished the steeple and part of the roof.
In the commune of Cresserons the lightning struck simul-
taneously a man named Laurent and his wife and daughter,
all at work iu the fields. The woman was killed on the
spot, the girl was sevirely wounded in the legs, and
Laurent himself now lies in the last extremity.

The trowel used by Miss Coutts in the eerP.mony,
and which is the manufacture of J. W. Bens'Jo, 25, Old
Bond-street, boars the following inscription t• Presented
to bliss Angela Georgina Burdett Corals, Patroness
of the Royal Society for the Prevete.ion of Cruelty to
Anim Ils, upon her laying the foundr.tion stone of the in-
stitution building, 103, Jertnyn-street, May 4th, 1869."
Ibe quotation of gold at Paris is about at par, and
Vie short exchange on London is 251. 1740. per £1 sterling.
otiniparint; these rates with the English Mint price 01
100. per ounce for standard ;old, it ,ippe rs that
gold at the above price is of about the same value In Loaf
dim ant l'ArLe.