The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-13 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OW;NARclso,R,RrEshurrosxdpaymening.
The Steele has a commentary on the speech of the
King of Prussia, which is worth attention. It says
have sought in the speech pronounced
the—"lli We
y
King of Prussia at the opening of the Reichstag
relative to anterior treaties, engagements contracted,
and other matters, for some elucidation in regard
to the present position of Europe and Germany.
The speech is distinguished for extreme ution, and
for reserve carried to excess. The questions which
have excited the most storms, that of Schleswig for
instance, are not mentioned. No allusion is made
to the complications which may arise, and we may
opportunely recall to recollection the famous saying
of Tacitus--,1
E o magis conspicua quod non vide-
bantur." Frederick William takes care to limit him-
self strictly to the Federal Constitution of the North.
It is only by words which escape involuntarily that
one can discover the tendencies of. Prussian policy,
the real object of which is not to infuse
Prussia with an extensive German unity,
but to absorb Germany into Prussia. Thus
the King insists upon the organisation of the mili-
pturruysssioarnvira,ndanweobrr. ganirsiaetiosnpetaoks beof copied from the
the important
step taken for the regulation of the national rela-
tions of the Confederation of the North, and alludes
to the necessity of laying the foundation of a union,
supporting the national interest between the Con-
federation of the North and the German States of
the South. His Majesty, above all, as chief of that
Confederation, desires to consolidate it by giving
the same rights to all the members of it, and then
refers to various projects of laws relative to natives,
passports, weights and measures, the post-office,
and the merchant navy, as affording proof of pro-
gress towards the completion of the Federal Con-
stitution. In this enumeration of the projects
which the Reichstag will have to discuss, why did
not the King leave a little place for mention of pub-
lic liberty, the political rights of citizens, and the
guarantees requisite to protect them from arbitrary
authority ? With the exception of Hanover,
and the formerly free town of Frank-
fort, the greater portion of the States
represented at the Reichstag is inebriated by the
words unity, the country of Germany, and Ger-
many great and strong. But what will these States
have gained by the events of 1866 if they have only
to sacrifice men, shed their blood, andcxhaust their
treasure for the good pleasure of Prussian ambition,
and if they do not obtain, with common accord,
liberal institutions by means of the powerful lever
of the Reichstag ?"
The Sleek then refers to the speech of the Grand
Duke of Baden, and says it results from the explana-
tions of the Cabinet of Berlin upon the subject,
that although it always puts forward the German
interest as its motive, it only consults its own. If no
attempt be now made byPrussia to make an annexa-
tion of Southern Germany, it is because she ima-
gines that she would lose by the incorporation.
Should she perceive any advantage in the annexation
the liberties of the Southern States would very
speedily be compromised. This is a proved fact
which Germany should appreciate.
A letter from Florence communicates various
matters of interest connected with Italy. Towards
the end of this mouth the opening of the sixth ses-
sion of the International Statistical Conaoreee will

DN, FRIDAY EVENIN, SEPITAIBER 13, 1867.

take place. The preceding sessions, the first of
which was held at Brussels, commenced in the year
1853. The following sessions took place succes-
sively at Paris, Vienna, London, and Berlin. The
head commission, charged with the organisation of
the Congress in Italy, has for president the Minister
of
.Agriculture. Among the members are several
men of eminence, including Messrs. Ferrara, Pepoli,
Arrivalene, Boucompagne, Scialoja, and Selea.
Among the most curious questions to be discussed
by the Congress will be the best mode of taking a
census of the population, the organisation of a
system of credit and sinking funds, monetary cir-
culation, the moral condition of the army and navy
of various nations in Europe, their equip-nent,
alimentation, exercises, duration of service, and the
sanitary condition of troops. Papers will also be
read relative to mendicity, vagabondage, failures
in trade, and the regulation of prisons. The
deliberations, as a whole, at once so interesting and
so practical, will furnish to learned men, economists,
and even to Governments, information of great
value.

The Pope has confided the preparatory proposals
to be made to the CE:iumenical Council to a con-
gregation of seven cardinals, under the presidency
of Cardinal Patrizzi. This congregation, which is
to be called the Directing Commission, has already
met several times, and has made a division of its
labours. It is divided into sub-commissions, under
the following heads :—Dogmas, Canon Right, Dis-
cipline, Oriental Rites, and Politics as Connected
with the Church. Each of the presidents of these
five sub-commissions will be assisted by a certain
number of consulters—that is to say, persons of
whom advice may be asked. The Holy Father has
expressed a desire that the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Monsigneur Valerga, should form part of the com-
mission on Oriental Rites, whose object will be to
ascertain the means of rendering as uniform as
possible the various Liturgies of the Churches of
the East.

The publication of a work is announced which
will be peculiarly interesting to lovers of the
drama, and, indeed, to the literary world in ge-
neral—a diary kept by the comedian, Lagrange,
one of the actors belonging to Moliere's dramatic
company. This diary will form a complete his-
tory of the Theatre Francais, and of French comedy
from 1658 to 1688. Lagrange kept his register
very carefully, and every day wrote down the name
of the play to be performed in the evening, the
character performed by each actor and actress, the
date, the changes made in the company, the repre-
sentations which took place at the palaces of
princes or the house of great men, the disputes
between rival actors and actresses, and indeed
every incident interesting to the company in general
or any of the actors in particular. Lagrange
also kept a record of the marriages between
comedians, births of children, deaths, burials,
and other particulars. Indeed all that apper-
tains to the state and progress of the drama
at his time is made with minute and scrupulous
exactness. This work will be published under the
auspices of the comedians of the Theatre Francais.
M. Edouard Thierry has written the introduction to
it. The spelling, the marginal notes made by
Lagrange, and other peculiarities,will be very closely
followed.

Information of the deaths of two distinguished
foreign personages has been received in Paris. The
Princess Olga Stourdza has just died. She was the
daughter of Prince Michel Ghika, and was married
to the Bezzade Gregoire Stourdza, son of Michel
Stourdza XV., Prince of Moldavia. She was
sister to the Princess Kortzoff Massalksy, known in
the literary world as Dora d'lstria.
The other death is that of the Bezzade Prince
Constantia Ghika, son of Gregory Ghika IV.,
Minister of Alexander, brother of Gregory.
The barometric indications point to storm, and
the weather is peculiar. This morning between
eleven and twelve there were several claps of
thunder, but
biutant othleigthimtnei,nbguwt
thereawere two or threes
percoptible. There
was
slight showers afterwards. The temperature was
warm but not oppressive.

Such is the advanced state of civilisation in France
that one would not believe in the existence of vam •
pires were it not for the authority of the serious
Monitcur, which states that a man named Bertrand,
know as " the vampire," has been arrested on the
taken o n going their rounds saw
h
charge of violating a grave in Jere la Chaise on
Suantd
aa y last. The
d beenpatrol
coffin
had
out of a grave in that
portion of the cemetery devoted to poor people
The body was that of a widow of 42, and the in-
that
l
in-
terment only took place on the previous evening.
The nails had been drawn out of the coffin, and the
baly had been partially taken out and exposed, the
sheet in which it had been wrapped having been
taken away. This vampire is described as having
a monomania for such acts "having for several years
been addicted to the strange
habit of disinterring
people." Robbery was not the motive of this vio-
lation of the grave.