The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-21 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROSt OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tuesday Evening.
Some days ago I mentioned that private advices
of authentic character from Madrid gave reason to
anticipate another important insurrection in Spain.
The information was well founded. The movement
now in progress, indeed, is more than an insurrec-
tion ; it is a revolution of a very grave character,
having for its object the overthrow of the present
dynasty. Nothing so important has taken place in
Spain for many years. Catalonia is the focus of
this revolution. It is so serious that martial law
has been proclaimed at Perpignan. The movement
seems to be well organised, for the revolutionists
have made many manifestations in various parts of
Spain. What gives importance to this outbreak is
that there is now union between all the various
shades of Democrats and reformers, and it is not a
mere excited demonstration like that of General
Prim a few years ago. That General has now en-
listed formidable and numerous adherents, including
Generals Pierrad, La Porre, Coulveras, and Milans
de Bosch. From the rigorous measures adopted by
the Government, it is evidently in great alarm lest
the movement should be successful. From various
communications which I have seen from Spain I
think that important events arc at hand. All who
have watched the despotic course adopted by the
Government for some time past must be convinced
that danger menaces the present occupant of the
Spanish Throne.
Garibaldi has made another sign, but this time,
for a wonder, it is in support of a very pacific and

praiseworthy object. He has written a letter to a
friend in Catania, in which he expresses his great
admiration of and love for the people of Sicily, and
the grief he feels at the ravages of cholera there.
Garibaldi does not seem to have sent any money to
assist the sufferers, but he gives them good advice,
urging them to abstain from crowded assemblies,
where bad air exists, and urging cleanliness both in
streets and houses, and particularly personal clean-
liness. _ _

The proprietors of newspapers and periodicals
have been particularly disappointed that the session
passed away without any relief being afforded in
regard to stamps and postage. There are some
curious anomalies in regard to the postage of news-
papers. I have before explained that the postage
of a newspaper from Paris to London isnearly double
that of a newspaper from London to Paris. The
great grievance, however, is a want of uniformity.
It is as much or more needed as uniformity in
weights and measures. Those acquainted with the
details of the French system are astonished that it
is not changed to something like the " printed ma t-
theerr'
e'
system
in
puzzle a conjuror.England. rriiefralc'thioeneanlvsetlaompepsof myused
letter to-day will give an illustration of this. 1 t
bears no less than seven stamps. The amount of
the postage is S sous or 40 centimes (say 4d. Eng-
lish), but I have put on stamps of the aggregate
value of 41 centimes—viz., one of 1 centime, two of
4 centimes, one of 2 centimes, two of 5, and one of
20 centimes. I waive the overplus of one centime
for the benefit of the Post-office. Besides, I am
not, like Michael Cassio, " a great arithmetician,"
or even like Joseph Ilume; and as Bonnycastle and
other professors of arithmetic have described frac-
tions as " vulgar," I would not trouble myself with
the calculation how I could avoid the expense of a
centime, the fifth part of a sou. The reader may
imagine the difficulty which would be created at the
Post-office if some dozen persons, a few minutes
before post time, were to demand 40 stamps of one
centnne ; or suppose a heavier letter, requiring the
amount of ls. for postage. As such stamps exist,
of course they may be asked for, and a letter
requiring one shilling postage must bear no less
than 120 stamps of one centime, should the sender
have the fancy to use that description of stamp.
The Post-office clerks would be rather bothered if
such demands were frequent and numerous.
A very extraordinary affair is the subject of ge-
neral conversation in Paris. A few days ago a
commercial traveller, who was enjoying the Exhi-
bition, met a handsome and intelligent young gir,
there, Miss Julia K. They entered into conversation'
both seemed pleased with each other, and the lady
without difficulty accepted the gentleman's invita-
tion to dine with him. When it became bed time
Julia invited her new friend to go home with her.
Her apartment, near the Invalides, is furnished so
beautifully and luxuriously that the gentleman
could not avoid expressing his surprise, which was
increased when the lady briefly told him that she
was not an adventuress, but was perfectly free
and above all prejudice. She added—" We met.
Your society pleased me, and I have profited by it.
Now you are at my residence. I have a room at
your disposal. I will condUct you to it, and wish
you good night, and retire to my own room." The
gentleman did not seem to expect to sleep alone,
but Julia replied, with severity, to a remark he
made, and said she took him for a man of
honour, and had confidence that he would act like
one and retire to his bed. He did so. At day-
break he awoke in great agony. By the side of his
bed he saw what he believed to be a phantom
dressed in white. It was Julia. She gave him a
furious look and laughed convulsively. In her hand
was a razor covered with blood. She had effected
a horrible mutilation upon the person of the unfor-
tunate man. He was with great difficulty able to
open the window and call for assistance. Some
persons rushed up stairs and a surgeon was sent for.
When the police came Julia was quietly occupied
with her toilet. Her replies to questions were so
I incoherent that she is supposed to be insane.

There has been a murder and suicide in the Rue
Beautreillis, quarter 3t. Paul. A wine-shop keeper
in that street opened his shop at a very early hour
in the morning, and then closed it again about 7.
A few minutes afterwards two reports of a pistol
were heard. The neighbours broke open the door,
ani on going up stairs it was found that the husband
had shot his wife dead with a revolver. In another
room was the assassin dead. He bad shot himself
also through the head with the revolver. The crime
is attributed to jealousy.
A vine plague, or extensive disease among the
vines, has manifested itself in the South of France
at Narbonne, and it has also made alarming pro-
gress in the departments of the Herault and Gard.
It is not now the leaf but the grapes that are
attacked, while the green and black grapes become
tinted with a grey colour. When pressed the
grapes emit a very disagreeable smell. The roots
have been dried up. Some cultivators say they
have discovered a small worm in the grape.
We had a heavy storm of thunder and lightning,
with much heavy rain, this morning about eleven
o'clock. The temperature was peculiarly oppres-
sive. Some singular effects from a thunderstorm
were observed a
,few days ago near the Verry
station (Cote d'Or). The telegraphic posts are