The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-12 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

of the civil governors by the military commanders.
According to General SHERIDAN'S interpretation of
the Act the civil officers are but puppets in the
hands of the officer in command of the district, and
peaceable citizens have no security in the nominal
superintendence of a civil ruler. It was not likely
that the military commanders whom the Radicals
have put at the head of affairs in the Southern
States would make a merciful or conciliatory
use of their power. So far from doing
so, they appear for the most part anxious
to stir up the smouldering discontent and
irritation felt among the people to open manifesta-
tions of disaffection. Thus General SCHOLEFIELD
has issued an order requiring a list of all officers in
his district who are disposed to be obstacles in the
way of reconstruction. The chief interest of the
moment is centred on the State of Tennessee, where
the election excitement is on the increase, and riots
of a serious nature are apprehended. The Govern-
ment has been making active preparations for the
suppression of any disturbance, and Governor
BROWNLOW has made it his business for weeks
past to divide and subdivide his militia at diffe-
rent posts. Notwithstanding these precautions a
fight occurred at Purdy, Tennessee, on the 3d of
July, between a party of guerillas and a company
of the State militia. Such a condition of things
may be tolerable during a temporary political crisis,
or immediately on the conclusion of civil war, but
it is most inconsistent with a settled government
and a time of comparative tranquillity. The great
difficulty in American politics is one of Radical
manufacture, since the Southern population ha‘
shown every disposition to accept their faie
with outward silence, if not satisfaction. If
a consistent and liberal course had been pur-
sued towards them from the first there is no
doubt that the real work of reconstruction would
by this time have been done, and the national
finances would be in a very much better position.
But the Radicals have made it their object to dis-
organise and irritate the white populations, since
by so doing they maintained their own political
supremacy by loud talking, by an unscrupulous
exercise of bribery and influence, and by a skilful
use of the P RESIDENT'S imprudent language they con-
trived to carry the elections last year, and by so
doing to strengthen the position immensely. The
common sense of the country Las, it is true, begun
to discover that the effect of all th:l high-totted

(FROU OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Sunday Evening.
There was a Cabinet Council yesterday at the
Tuileries. The Empress presided.
The Commission appointed by the decree of the
17th July last for the settlement of the Mexican
indemnities assembled yesterday at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and commenced their labours. The
letters and documents which have been sent to the
Ministry were placed before the Commission.
The Queen Mother, of Naples, died on Thursday
last at St. Albano. She was the daughter of the
Atchduke Charles, of Austria, and married King
Ferdinand 11., on the oth of January, 1837.
The Gazette, of Vienna, received in Paris, pub-
lishes the text of the treaty of Commerce and
Navigation concluded between Austria and Italy.
The Russian frigate General Amiral, from the
Pirzus, anchored at Cadiz on the 31st of July,
bound to Cherbourg.
- -

The Minister of the Interior has issued a cir.
cular to all the Prefects respecting the celebration
of the Emperor's fete on Thursday next. The cir-
cular states that although the National fete is
always celebrated very joyously it will always re-
ceive additional eclat this year from the fresh glory
shed upon France and her Sovereign by the grand
results of the Universal Exhibition. It then re-
quests the prefects to assist:with the religious and
military authorities to take steps to render the re-
joicings worthy of the occasion, and to devote the
greater portion of the funds voted upon the oc-
casion to the relief of the poor generally.
The annual public meeting of the five academies
will take place on Wednesday next, under the pre-
sidency of M. Lebrun, Director of the French
Academy, when the grand Council prize offered by
the Emperor will be awarded. Various interesting
speeches will be made by the most eminent mem-
bers of the academy. A paper will be read by M.
Renan, the author of the elaborate work, " The
Life of Jesus."
The death is announced of Madame Sardon, the
wife of the young author who has written so many
popular comedies. Madame Sardou had suffered
from a long and painful illness. The funeral ser-
vice took place yesterday, at the parish church of
St. Mary-le-Roi, and was attentlea by user numbers
of actors and literary men.
Public attention is very much excited by a sen-
sational trial for murder before the Court of Assizes
for the Seine and Marne, some particulars re-
specting which I gave at the time of the
terrible occurrence. The accused is a mar-
ried woman, named Matilda Louise Frigard, who
is charged with murdering, on the Bth of May,
1867, at Fontainebleau, a widow named Marguerite
Dussart Mertens. In another indictment the pri-
soner is charged with fraudulently obtaining several
sums of money from the deceased by means of
forged documents, and also with abstracting from
her pockets two keys and gold and notes. It ap-
pears from the evidence that the two women slept
together on the night of the 7th of May at the
Hotel de France et Angleterre at Fontainebleau,
ewxatredusd feodu
en
ed inth ae figerl
ad
ens aare tdh
ianti
tntotonitiwhegenu.e
rightand the dead body of the widow Mertens was after-
rra agonyand
deberafi handpcks
death. wa wa
ua dss
somerrem gtrahses
aeNpipdeeanrtallyi
epe leufcktehde
other indications the surgeons gave their opinion
that death was caused by suffocation, probably by
the knee of the murderess being pressed upon
the neck of the deceased. In the course of the
afternoon of the Bth the prisoner went to the
hotel and asked if Madame Mertens had come
back there and pretended that she lost her in the
forest. It is pretty evident that after the pri-
soner had committed the murder she extracted
two keys from the pocket of the deceased, as well
as some money, and then went to the house where
she had lived in Paris (in the Rue de Laval) and
took away documents and money. The deceased
led an irregular life, and so did the prisoner, and
one of the imputations is that the prisoner received
a share of the money given by gentlemen who
visited the deceased. The widow Martens had a
sum of money to the amount of 31,000 fr. placed at
interest at the Comptoir d'Escompte, a great dis-
count establishment. By means of forged docu-
ments the prisoner contrived to obtain this money
from the bank, andit was proved that she had paid
part of it to purchase an hotel. She also sent 800 fr.
to her husband, and expended other sums in
jewellery. The evidence proved also that the
prisoner was in the habit of carrying a six-barrel
revolver and ball cartridges in her pocket. The ex-
planation of the reason for this which she gave to
the President was that she was afraid of an
Englishman 'named. Williams, who, with other
men, had once attacked her in the street and en-
deavoured to murder and rob her. She said
this man was a very desperate character, and
was much wanted by the English police. On
further interrogation the prisoner suggested that
the murder was committed by this man Williams,
who had been seen, she sai, near the spot where the
body was found. Besidesd, she added, he was very
strong and she very weak, too weak to commit a
murder in the way imagibed by the surgeons. On
the very next day after the murder it was proved
that the prisoner went to the Discount Bank, and
by means of a forged receipt in the name of the
widow, drew oat the remaining 3,500 f. left there to
the credit of the deceased. The prisoner admitted
this fact to the President, adding that she did not
know of the widow's death at the time, but that she
drew out the money for her benefit, as they were
partners together in a provision shop, and some rent
was due. The President remarked that the forged
document went to support the charge of murder.
The prisoner, in a loud and excited tone, replied,
" But, Monsieur le President, you know very well
that I did not kill this woman." The prisoner then
added that she did not positively accuse 'Williams of
killing the widow, but she wished energetically to
protest her own innocence of the murder.
The sitting of the Court yesterday was adjourned
after au examination by the jury of the document
alleged to be forged.
The Government has not yet received any posi-
tive information respecting M. Dano, the French
Ambassador in Mexico. It is supposed, however,
that he is retained as a prisoner by the Mexican
Government. The latest news respecting him from