The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-23 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR
,OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
P. ABIS, SUNDAY. Dec. 22.
Yesterday was a great field day in the Corps Ldgis-
Itif. The Army IteOrgaEation Bill has practically got
is mittimus, and the cli,scusSion of details commences on
lionday. As the Government have a decided majority,
verything will go as the Emperor wishes, despite the
emonstrances of Jules Simon and M. Magnin. The
brmer seemed to prove till:elusively that the enforced
:elibacy of the French soldiery during ile-ttrm of their
ervice—nine, or rather nine-and-a-half years—had a bad
;ffect upon the population, in so far as that while the
trong and vigorous youth of France were not
permitted to marry until their best years were
iearly over, the feeble and weakly, who were
mfit for military service, and who in the absence of their
nore gallant brethren had the field all to themselves,
night marry when they pleased. But of these unhealthy
'athers the children were unhealthy, and tiles the national
:ype of French strength and manliness wasbeing lowered.
This plan of enforced celibacy seems very unjust. I
ion% care to look at it at all from a moral point of view.
Let the French bury their dead. But, on the face of it,
tore should accompany military glory, and everybody
knows that " none but the brave deserve the fair."

The Archduke Louis-Victor, brother of the Emperor
Francis Joseph, will arrive immediately at Trieste, in
)rder to be present to assist at the funeral ceremonies of
Maximilian.

The discussion on the abolition of capital punishment
seems to me a foolish and a fruitless one. Very seldom,
indeed is the last penalty of the law exacted here, even
In cases of unprovoked murder. Until the number of
these cases has greatly diminished, the law on this ques-
tion might well be allowed to remain as it is. A dreadful
crime, which forms an instance in point, was committee
at Marseilles the other day.
An architect named Vachier had recently dismissed his
coachman, an Italian named Vigil°le, but had suffered
him to remain as labourer at his country seat at a place
called Quatre Chemins, in the neighbourhood of the city,
until the servant should find some other employment.
Vignole was consequently in constant company with the
new coachman, his successor, named Dol, the two men
living in the same house, and appearing to be on good
terms with each other. Three days back, however, M.
Vachier informed Vignole that he could not allow him to
remain any longer. The Italian, thinking that Dol had
been instrumental in his dismissal, determined to be
revenged, and, getting up in the night, he murdered Del
by stabbing him several times with a knife, and then set
fire to the premises. Although the flames were subse-
quently got under, a portion of the house was destroyed,
and the body of the victim was completely carbonised.
Vignole was afterwards arrested.
Prince Lichtenstein, whose mind for some time has
been in a state of aberration, and who has been staying
at the Maison de Sante 3f Professor Leidcsdorf, is about
to quit that establishment, his sanity having been re-esta-
blished.

M. Laboulaye has published a second volume of his
delightful " Old Wives' Tales." The collection is illus-
trated by Yan d'Argaut. Together with one or two
others—Jean Mac 6, Desnoyers, and T. de Saint-Ger-
main—M. Laboulaye is classed in the very first rank
of writers for young people. Many other spindidly illui-
trated and ornamented New Year's books are at present
being published here. The house of Firmin Didot has
an edition of the Nouveau Testament, illustrated in
the purest style of Italian and Renaissance art.
Other magnificent gift-hooks, beautifully illustrated and
sumptuously bound, are "La Vie et la Legende do
Madame Sainte-Notbury," by M. de Beauchesne ; " Imi-
tation de J6sus-Christ," by Monseigneur Darboy, Arch-
bishop of Paris ; " Correspondance de Madame Elizabeth
de France," published from the original munuscripts ;
" Thorwaldsen ; his Life and Works,"_by EugZ;ne Pion..
A rather amusing case appears in the Paris journals of
to-day. Charles IV., Prince of Monaco, appeared in.
court two days ago as defendant to a small money action,
before the Civil Tribunal of the Seine. His Royal High-
ness had employed a certain M. Blaise, a French archi-
tect, to repair or alter his stables. M. Blaise did the work-
and sent in his bill, which amounted to over £SO ; hut
the high, serene, and dread sovereign, being just then
scant of cash, could not pay, and has not paid since-
The case was an excellent one for the counsel, who seem
to have enjoyed it extremely. M. Peronne, counsel for
the Prince, pleaded that no sovereign could be sued before
a French court. He knew of no writer who was
opposed to this doctrine ezccpt one, a German, whose
name was never heard because nobody could pronounce it.
M. Duverdy, on the other side, contended that sovereigi s
could be sued for private debts before a French court, and
this was distinctly a private debt. Charles IV. bad asked
the builder to repair certain stables. The request did not
come from a Parliament or Council of State, and there-
fore the princ;2ality of Monaco, which an author de-
ecrib3s as a " pretty place on a rocky promontory," was in
no wise responsible—the responsibility not being trans-
ferable from the Prince to his 2,000 subjects. We shall
hear more of this case, as it has been postponed.