The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-03 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Friday Evening.
There is a " little cloud" in the German horizon
which seems likely to lead to serious disturbances in
political elements. The controversy continues as to
whether a Note has been sent to the Cabinet of
Berlin by France. There is some disbelief in the
disclaimer of the Moniteur, and there are journals
which draw distinctions between a note and a
despatch. The Ministerial organ of Berlin, how-
ever, cuts the Gordian knot in a very trenchant
manner. The Gazette de l'Allemagne du Nord sup-
ports the statement that no step has been taken by
France in regard to the non-execution of the treaty
of Prague. This is all very well, but it goes a little
farther, for M. Bismark, through the means of this
organ, hints that it is quite a matter of indifference
whether there has been a Note or not, for France
has no business with the matter, and that Germany
will not certainly allow any French diplomatic in-
tervention in regard to Schleswig. Here arc the
chief passages of this important article of the
Gazette:—

" If the French journals be sincere in their com-
munications relative to the impression produced in
Germany by the diplomatic attempt of France rela-
tive to the question of North Schleswig, our neigh-
bours of the other side of the Rhine will be
astonished at the unanimity which exists amongst all
parties against all foreign interference with our
internal affairs.

" But besides, we claim to have the right to be
not troubled with affairs in which French interests
are not concerned, and for this reason we ought to
attach the more importance to the pacific declara-
tions of the French Moniteur, in the hope that they
will put an end to the continual provocations of
which Germany has for too long a time been the
object."
rhis language there is no doubt is meant as a
manifestation of the policy which will be adopted
by M. Bismarck in regard to Schleswig. It may
be considered as speaking his own words, and it
tells Franco pretty plainly that Prussia will not
allow her to interfere in regard to Schleswig.
What the French Government will have to say in
regard to the tone and attitude of Prussia will not,
I think, long remain a secret.
The Moniteur announces that the Emperor has
received the address sent to him by the Lord Mayor
of Dublin in the name of the Corporation of that
city.

The Emperor Napoleon having expressed to the
Emperor of Austria his desire to mark his
sympathy with
his Majesty in consequence of the
terrible catastrophe in Mexico, it has been arranged
that the Emperor and Empress will go and stay
with him a short time at Salzburg, but iu the
strictest incognito.
Accounts have been received at the Hague of
immense damage done by an earthquake in the
Dutch colony of Batavia last month.
The object of the Emperor's intended visit to
Lille, which I mentioned yesterday, is to be present
at the grand second centenary anniversary, com-
memorative of the annexation of Walloon Flanders
to France. Intending tourists should take a note
of the date—the 27th of August—as the fete will be
a very splendid affair. It was on the 27th of August,
1667, that Louis the Fourteenth, who commanded
the French troops in person, obtained possession of
Lille, after a siege of 18 days. The next day the
King made his solemn entry into that beautiful city,
the possession of which was subsequently insured to
France by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The in-
habitants and soldiery fought very valiantly, and
the King paid very dearly for his victory. There
was no rancour on either side, however, for the
King invited his new subjects to a ball on the very
evening of the day that he took possession of the
city, and the invitation was cordially accepted.
This idea is to be followed out at the coming fete,
and the inhabitants of Lille have invited the Em-
peror Napoleon the Third to a ball on the evening
of August 27.
The most ardent defenders of the city were the
resident caunoniers. They maintain their reputa-
tion to the present day, and recently carried away
all the prizes at a national shooting match. The
corps is a sort of rural artillery corps.
The corps performed remarkable feats in defence
of Lille. It was then only composed of two com-
panies, commanded by Captains Niquet and Ovig-
neur, in all 220 men, but they kept at bay an army
of 30,000 besiegers. One of the balls from the
Lille battery nearly destroyed an Austrian mortar,
the remnants of which are now exhibited at Lille.
In the midst of one of the most terrible days of the
siege, when the balls of the enemy set fire to the
town in several parts, a citizen rushed into the pre-
sence of Captain Ovigneur. " Captain," said he,
in a tone of terror and sympathy, fly in all
haste. Your house is in flames, and your wife is
confined." "Is my wife still in the house?" asked the
Captain. "No " was. the answer. " Then I re-
main at my post," replied the gallant artilleryman.
lie
then
le besiegers, he
thei
pieces of his
battery,
said—"Ah !my house is on fire. Very well. Fire
for fire." A terrible explosion followed the
and went,
coollypointingto
ittowards
one
the

remark.
France has paid homage to the courage of this
corps. By a decree of the Republican Government,
dated August 31, 1803, it was ordered that a pre-
sent should be made to the cannoniers of Line of
two four-pounders bearing this inscription :—" The
First Consul to the Caunoniers of Lille. 29th
September, 1792."
Some of these very cannoniers and their descend-
ants will be in the foremost ranks of the procession,
which in a few days will be organised to receive the
Emperer Napoleon on his entrance to his good city
of Flanders. They will personify the bravery and
patriotism of the tiatives of Lille, and will march
with their arms, inscribed with the letter " N."
Such is an outline of the coming fete, of which I
shall have more of interest to say very shortly.
The statue of Napoleon I. will be uncovered with
appropriate ceremony at Montereau on the 18th inst.
It has been erected on the spot where Napoleon
used the memorable expression—" The bullet by
which I am to die has not yet been moulded."
The Exhibition has been very full to-day. On
Wednesday about 37,000 persons paid for admis-
sion.

THE RIGHT NAME IN THE RIGHT PLACE.--A
journal has recently been started in Paris, called
La Rue—the Street—but the authorities, no doubt,
upon sufficient reasons have refused to allow the
requisite permission for it to be sold in the street.
The first number of the Bulletin des Lois, of the
German Confederation of the North, issued yester-
day, contains a Royal declaration, dated Ems,
July 26, countersigned by the Ministers, and
couched as follows :
" We, William,
Federal Constitution of the North, voted by the
Reichstag, accept by the present, for us and for
to
Our successors, in virtue of the clauses of the
the Crown of Prussia, the
rights, privileges,
and obligations which are con-
ferred upon us by the Federal Constitution."

THE HEALTH OF THE QUEEN.—When a fort-
night since we stated that we had good grounds for mak-
ing public the reasons which prevented her Majesty from
appearing at evening crowded assemblies the statement
was accepted by the vast majority of the press and the
public as neither exaggerated nor incorrect. There have,
however, been some exceptions to this rule. These would.
be scarcely worthy of notice had not the writers assumed
that they wore more or less authorised to impugn the accu-
racy of the paragraph which appeared in the Lancet.
Upon a subject of so much delicacy wo spoke with what
we believe to have been a becoming and justifiable reserve.
Our report was iu no respect sensational or over-stated. Ii
was a plain narration of facts, which, in justice to hut
Majesty and to the source from which we obtained it., we
felt bound to make public. The appearance of the Queen
in public on a recent occasion was followed by a most
listrossiug attack of sickness and exhaustion, which lasted
for several hours. The inner life of the Court is neces-
sarily known to but few, even those in immediate attend-
ance upon the Queen aro not always in a position to arrive
at a correct knowledge of her Majesty's real condition.
The privacy of the Sovereign should be as much respected
as that of the hum' lest of her subjects. There are occa-
sions, however, on which that privacy may be held too
sacred. This is more especially the case when erroneous
reports have gained general credence. Then it is right to
be known that her Majesty, with the greatest desire to
fulfil these duties which appertain to her dignity or her
hospitality, is occasionally prevented from performing
them by bodily suffering of a character most difficult to be
borne.—The Lances.