The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-15 00:00:00

23,10
24'64

20.08

The table is read thus—Loch liatrine water contains in the
gallon 3'16 degrees or grains of foreign matter in solution, of
which •96degrees or grains are of vegetable or animal origin.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 30.114 in. The mean daily
reading was above 30 in. on five days of the week. The
barometer fell from 30.36 in. on Wednesday to 29.82 in. on
Saturday. The mean temperature of the air in the week
was 40.1 deg., which is 5 deg. below the average of the
same week in 43 years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher).
The mean daily temperature was below the average through-
out the week ; and the amount of this depression was gene-
rally from 5 deg to 7 deg. On Wednesday the thermometer
in the shade rose to 51.7 deg ; its lowest point in the week
was 29.5 deg on Sunday. The extreme range in the week
was therefore 22.2 deg. The mean daily range was 12.5 deg.
The difference between the mean dew-point temperature and
air temperature was 2.5 deg. The mean degree of humidity
of the air was 91, complete saturation being represented by
160, which point was almost attained on Saturday, when the
humidity was 97. The wind was generally in the east ;in
the middle of the week it was in the north-east. The rain
in the week was 0.18 in, nearly all of which fell on Satur-
day, when rains were frequent and heavy. The mean tem-
perature of the water of the Thames was 48.8 deg.

TILE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND
THE "PETER'S PENCE."

The Minister of the Interior has just addressed
;he following circular to all the prefects of France :
Paris, Nov. 10.

M. le Prefect,—The imperial Government has in noway
fetterel the efforts which have been made to as6ist the
financial operations of the Pontifical Government; it autho-
rised the negotiation in France of the loan which the Pope
decided to contract; it left the fullest liberty to the sym-
pathetic manifestations which exhibited themselves in in-
dividual offerings, and those offerings have reached Rome
without any obstacle. But the Government has never ad.
mitted that there could be founded, without its authority,
throughout the empire, and as a permanent institution,
committees or associations having for their object to or-
ganise, to stimulate, and to concentrate the collection of a
sort *f tribute for the court of Rome.

In a circular dated May 5, 1860, his Excellency the Mi-
nister of Public Instruction and Worship reminded the
bishops what were the prescriptions and the traditions of the
French law upon this point. Nevertheless, some attempts
are being made in a sense altogether contrary to the direc-
tions of that circular, and documents which have become
public have announced the intention of forming an associa-
tion represented by committees acting together, obedient to
a common impulse, and constituting a kind of hidden insti-
tution organised in the bosom of the country.
The Government cattnot tolerate this neglect of regula-
tions which it has laid down, this violation of laws which it
has resolved should be respected. I invite you conse-
quently, M. le Prefect, to warn the organisers and the
members of these committees, if they have commenced to
act in your department, that they must immediately dis-
solve, and you will inform them that if, notwithstanding
this notice, they persist in their enterprises, they will ex-
pose themselves to the penalties decreed by the law.
Individual donations to the Holy Father are, and will re-
main free ; but as to associations into the secret activity of
which political intrigues under the veil of religion may
very easily glide, their existence is unlawful until after the
authorisation of the government, and that authorisation
has not been granted them.—Receive, &c.,
The Minister Secretary of State in the Department
of the Interior, BILLAULT.