The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-04 00:00:00

manufactory of fire-arms at Saint Cloud. Great
secresy has been observed in the experiments with
this arin, and it is evident that its construction,
modus operandi, &c., arg things to be withheld from
the public yet awhile. All that has been learned
concerning it is, that it is composed of three barrels,
manufactured separately, and then so arranged as,
by means of an ingenious tourniquet, to enable the
person handling it to fire as many as 50 shots per
minute. The projectiles employed are said to do
murderous execution at 2,000 yards distance. Pro-
digious results have been obtained from experi-
ments made and its efficacy seems to be settled be-
yond all doubt. When " wars and rumours of
wars" are the order of the day such a weapon derives
additional consideration from the possibility of its
being, at an early day, brought into useful service
against the enemies of France.
In the collection of cannons which decorate the
Pru,sian section at the Universal Exhibition is now
shown a monster specimen, which weighs, waggon
included, over 110,000 lbs. To prevent damage to
the railways a special waggon was constructed for
its transportation. After considerable detention en
route it
admiring has been
een landed,
gsaafzeelyofspeeta as a specimen of
in tors and is now exposed
to
what Prussia can do the way of fabricating
death-dealing machines. I have he.trd some ac-
count, almost fabulous, of the quantity of powder
necessary to charge the immense gun, but have now

forgotten it.
On Sunday the Prince Toko-Gawa-Min-Bou
Taiou, son of the Tycoon, Emperor of Japan, was
received in public audience by the Emperor and
Empress, surrounded by the grand officers of the
Crown. The young Prince was accompanied by
the plenipotentiary and chamberlain of the Tycoon,
his preceptor, and different civil and military officers
of his suite. Through the medium of an interpreter he
assured the Emperor of the friendly sentiments en-
tertained by Japan for France, and announced that
he had come to France to witness the Universal
Exhibition, and complete his education. In
reply, the Emperor expressed his sympathy for the
Japanese Government, and thanked the young
Prince for his visit to France. A letter, enclosed in
a leather box, and fastened by an enormous loop of
red silk, was then presented to the Erni:LA.or ou bi-
half of the Tycoon, and afterwards .the party re-
tired, bowing, a rec. ulons out of the room. The pre-
sents sent by the Tycoon to be delivered on this
occasion were far from princely in their value or
appearance. They consisted of three sm ill houses,
one in wood and paper, and two in crystal drops or
balls, for the Emperor; pieces of silk for the Em-
press, and a large sabre for the Prince Imperial.
That the World's Fair is not a failure is proved
beyond all question by the immense multitudes that
are daily flocking to the Champ de Mars. On
Easter Sunday 62,000 persons were admitted, and
on Monday following more than 100,000 were pre-
' sent. Consideringthat it was the opening month, and
the weather has been exceedingly disagreeable the
greater part of the time, this is surely enormous.
What will it be, when the crowds of foreigners who
are to come, have arrived, and the numerous plea-
sure trains from the provinces are in operation, and
. hourly landing their hosts in the capital.
The reserved garden of the Exposition was
inaugurated a few days ago by the Empress,
who has taken the most charming and agreeable
part of the park under her patronage. In this
garden are collected the rarest shrubs and flowers
from the hot-houses of Paris, the aquariums of
fresh and salt water, cascades, basins, and a minia-
ture river. Concerts of military music are to ba
given there every day hereafter, as also in the cen-
tral garden of the palace.
A series of official fetes, in honour of the Ex-
hibition, commenced last Saturday, the Minister
of State, and vice-president of the Imperial Com-
mission, giving the opening one in his magnificent
saloons at the Louvre. About 5,000 of the elite of
the city were present, numbers of distinguished
foreigners, &c. The next took place at the
Minister of Marine's, and from the 15th of May
to the 15th of June the Tuileries will open its
splendid halls frequently on the occasion of the

fetes.
The King of Greece is now on a visit to Paris.
The King and Qieen of Portugal are expecte.' in
a few days, and the Viceroy of Egypt and Victor
Emmanuel ab >ut the middle of next month. These
are the only sovereigns whose visits are looked for-
ward to with certainty at this time.

NEW YORK, April 22,

The cession of Russian-America has been the grea
topicof the past few weeks. Did we know the Russian
mind, I dare say the Romanoff nation fancies it has
made a good bargain. Had every transaction suc-
ceeded as well with the Czar of all the Russias, had
he been able to gain two thousand per cent. by every
sale, the Russian exchequer would not be as unfilled
as it is. The Cossack sells for ten million dollars
in gold what he purchased for seventy thousand
pounds sterling. Independently of the pecu-
niaryw:seitrlslsaltLeetohnteolynennxasisitiiibaoniiti
fancies view
he
e i
s connected
shnkitlgYork
howraiknt with
sptal
that rivals his owwnhiciini
tbheroaudnieoxnphaansseatt:finetedrritis-
tthoreyp. r 0 g
rTelsisei 0
nNheyw
present magnitude, and to hint at the infinitesimal
series of developments which arc to be effected by
the future life of the Union. Louisiana, Texas,
California are, it may be, mere fragments in
Ttoir;thielnleedindc
comparison with the vast stripes of territory
which the Union is to acquire. Already by
the acquisition of Russian-America the map of the
Union looks deformed and ill knit together ; Canada
is an eye-sore, and the Union has a broken unity,
in the . •
till the stars and stripes flutteirntoto
the
ee
Arctic Ocean.
winds on
gussian-America has
ywtl
which
ilecl
rshe thattishe
anothertread
cessionaw
feeling
l i
Russian-America
American
into life—namely, the facility with which the
Union blends and fuses together heterogeneous ele-
the homogeneoussuprentney mass. With With the
the mUenniotsn uipnhtoeldoanned
Washing-
ton powers vindicated over the autonomy of State
Government, the American beholds a seminal unity
established which might grasp the whole world
within its arms. It matters not how numerous or
of what sort the governed population ; it easily
marches under the folds of the Union banner.
Local legislatures can consult for local wants and
pander to local prejudices, but the great directing
power at 'Washington,while
army extended, likewise feels
that its own supreme
jurisdiction remains
intact. Hence let Esquimaux
govern Esquimau
x, but if the work of the cold
north is to be done, those sons of the cold must
harness the reindeer to the sledge to traverse
frozen steppes or endanger their lives to explore
Mount St. Elias •
in forwarding the interests of
brother Jonathan. In the same way, and by the
agency of the same principle, the hybrid races
of Mexico may be welded on and cohere
to the same centralising Union. Aggressive
Americanism
is the order of the day, and
who shall say to this aggressive Americanism—
Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther? One thing
is certain, that the propagandists of Republican
no
institutions knows bounds, and roam the earth
from pole to pole, and from ocean to ocean. The
American loves to picture to himself how thrones
shall fade away, and all men of all races and colour,
from the man of Ca ucasua to the descendants of
H am, shall arise blessed with equal rights, powers,
and prerogatives, borrowed • • •
from the institutions of
Columbia. To-dah
the thought no e deems , .
day-
dream, nor does hy
consider tile tune of its realisa-
tion far distant that an era shall come when he may
transport himself in spirit to the Capitol, and behold
the whole North American Continent one compact(Republic.
Rbanner
epublic. His
shall float from the waves
of the Mexican Gulf to the ice-bound coast of the
Arctic, and be b • rightened by the sun in his course
from ocean to ocean. Countless families shall mul-
tiply in kis vast terri • tory, cemented together by the
agencies of steamboats, railroads, and p 1 teleara l 0
wires. Leviathan men-of-war shall scour the ocean
ou either side, and Cause the sea-going nations of
the earth to bow before the flag of Columbia.
Limitless resources, boundless territory, number-
less inhabitants, unapproachable power, and excel-
lence—these ideas d •
are the of destiny. Such are the
thoughts conjured up by the cession of Russian
America, and these cast a spell around it in the eyes
Of the American. There is no love of ice, or cold,