The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-20 00:00:00

world from the nation generally, and that if they
yielded at all—which they averred they would not—
submission would be due rather to fear than to
conviction. Yet Mr. BRIGHT'S letter was mild and
gentlemanly. Lord GRANVILLE himself, who has
been so often called upon to explain away his col-
league's expressions, could not have written more
blandly. There is in this second epistle none
of the scarcely-concealed satisfaction that the
Lords are making fools of themselves which there
was in the first. There are no threats of what
will happen. It is in sorrow that the great Minister
views the proceedings of the Peers. "It is (he
says) a grief to me that the House of Lords does
not more clearly comprehend the wishes and
interests of the country. To me it seems of the
first ;importance that true harmony should be esta-
blished between the two branches of the Legislature."
Wise words these, and we sincerely trust that they
will not be without effect. We should not care to
have instead of them words of the kind which were
current at Blackheath on Saturday afternoon, when
things were said of the Peers which they would not
care to hear, and which the morning papers, no
doubt wisely, suppress.

PARIS CORRESPONDENCE.

MONDAY.

The Emperor, after weakening the good effect of hie
concessions by choosing a meaningless Ministry of the old
materials, has finally destroyed that good effect by his
treatment of the Corps L6gislatif. It has been determined
to continue the prorogation. That this decision will
have the worst possible effect there cannot be the
least doubt. So far as I have been able to ascertain
this procedure has given general dissatisfaction. Every-
where is the Emperor's determination condemned. The
prorogation of the Corps Ltislatif after the reforms were
announced caused great indignation. The verification of the
elections was not complete, and fifty-five deputies whose
seats were to be contested were left in painful uncertainty.
Moreover, as the decree of prorogation was published in the
Journal Officicl before it was announced in Parliament,
the Chamber thought itself disrespectfully treated. liut
there was then, at any rate, the excuse that a Ministry was
being formed, and that some inconvenience would be the
result of debates without Ministers. This inconvenience,
however, can el7list no longer. The Ministry is formed.
The cause of the prorogation is no longer ope-
rative. Why, then, refuse to reconvene the Cham-
ber, and allow it tó finish the work of confirming or
annulling the contested seats ? The only possible plea that
can present itself is that the Emperor desires no manifes-
tation of opinion from the Corps Ltigislatif whilst the
Senate is engaged in discussing the reforms. If the
Senate were to curtail the concessions in any way, no
doubt the Lower House would manage by some means
to get up a troublesome debate on the subject. it
would have no power to do so ; but the ingenuity of
Frenchmen in evading the law is great. To avoid this
the Emperor continues the prorogation. I fear that to
avoid one evil he has decided to incur a greater. The
exasperation here is intense. The Sovereign is accused of
promising the country Reform, and yet of continuing the
exercise of his arbitrary will without the slightest abate-
ment.

A commission has been making inquiries as to the pro-
bable time required to complete the validation of the
elections. It was determined that at least twenty days
would be needed for that purpose. Hence the continu-
ance of the prorogation ; for if the Corps L6gislatif sat
twenty days, the session would not terminate before that
of the Senate began. The latter body is convened for the
2nd of August.

The funds have gone down, and Paris is a prey to much
agitation. There is, however, in some quarters a hope
that the Emperor will alter his mind, and that the
Chamber will yet be gathered together.
The nomination of Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne to the
post of Foreign Minister was due in great measure to the
influence of the Empress. The Prince is well known to
be intimately connected with the Catholic party, and his
entry into the Ministry cannot but be regarded as a mani-
festo in favour of the status quo at Rome. It is even
thought that the question which the Catholic party in the
Corps L6gislatif proposed to submit touching the occupa-
tion by the French troops will now be abandoned. The
Prince is only 46 years of age.
The Tenips gives an account of the doings of M.
Bourbeau and M. Alfred Le Roux, the two new Ministers
who have seats in the Corps L6gislatif. It shews that
every Imperialist measure of late years—Mexico, the
military laws, &c.—has received their support ; every
Liberal motion their opposition. What are *e to expect
from such men ? it asks.

As the four Republicans who have been elected twice
all choose for the departments, there will be another con-
test in Paris. Electioneering has already co menced.
For the circumscription left vacant by M. Picard's elec-
tion fur Montpellier—very reluctant he was to give 111)
Paris—six candidates have presented themselves.
The Left holds its meetings every day. Yesterday it
bad a banquet, at which "secret resolutions" were taken.
These frequent meetings are the cause of some little dis-
quietude.
An amusing story of a mysterious package is related by
she papers. Two men were observed to throw a basket
into the Seine. A man who saw thehi fished up the
basket, opened it, and found it filled with fragments of
flesh. A horrible murder had clearly been com-
mitted. The men who had thrown the basket into the river
did so very cautiously, as if desirous of not being
seen. The finder took his prize to the police, who clearly
perceived that part of the remains was a human leg. A
medical man was of opinion that the contents of the basket
were pieces of human flesh. Further inquiry, however,
revealed that the horrible murder had been perpetrated
on the person of a fine bear, and that the basket contained
one of the legs. It had been delayed by the railway com-
pany in transmission and spoilt. The owner refused to
take it, and it was thrown into the river.