The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-15 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Wednesday Evening.
It is seldom that the Paris papers are so destitute
of news or miscellaneous articles of interest to the
English reader as they are to-day. Much of their
space continues to be occupied with matters con-
nected with the elections to the General Councils.

The official candidates have obtained a great success.
A letter from Florence, dated Aug. 9, says—S" The
discussion upon the law relative to ecclesiastical

property proceeds in the Senate with appropriate
calmness and gravity. The principle of the suppres-
sion of mainntortes is accepted even by the Senators
connected with the Catholic party. The latter con-
tent themselves with demanding that liberty shall
be rendered to the Church.

" In Lombardy the clergy profit by the advantages
of the treaty of Zurich to sell their property. Seve-

ral communities are mentioned who are said to have
signed important contraes. No doubt the congre-
gations hope by these sales to escape from the tax
of 30 per cent. imposed upon the totality of the
clergy. It is the opinion of many lawyers that as
these sales were consented to before the promulga-

tion of the law, they cannot be rendered void.
Should the law be agreed to by the Senate, the Pre-
sident if the Council has decided to put up for salo
all the property of the clergy which is within the
jurisdiction of the State. As this property repre-

- -
seats a total value of 400 millions, it is hoped that
the purchasers will present themselves en masse, as
this would facilitate the issue of the bonds for the
loan of 400 millions. These securities will be issued
according to the wants of the Treasury—an excel-
lent precaution, which will prevent the depreciation
of their value. The panic upon the subject has
ceased."

Each day of the trial of the woman Frigard for
the murder of the woman Mertens, near Fontaine-
bleau, brings to light some fresh atrocity or immo-
rality. The prisoner exhibits great indifference at
the facts alleged against her, and she is insolent in
tone and manner towards the President. When
anything tells against her, like Midshipman Easy,
she is disposed to " argue the point." She admitted
with perfect coolness that within three years she
has purchased three revolver pistols. When asked
if she had tried them, she replied, " Certainly ;
you must try pistols to see if you can make good
use of them." Among other qualities of which she
pretends to be in possession, she said she employed
somnambulism to discover hidden treasures. One

witness stated that when the prisoner's husband
became a bankrupt she threatened to stab the
official assignee if he did not try to make things
pleasant with the creditors. When au inventor),
of the property was taken she contrived to con-
ceal articles to the value of 7or 8,000 francs. One
witness, a very old man, appeared to be fatigued,
on which the prisoner appealed to the President,
and said she should consider it a personal favour if
he would allow the witness to be seated. This deli-
cate attention on the part of the prisoner towards a
man who came to increase the criminatory evidence
against her made the judge, and even the counsel
for the defendant, laugh. The agent who nego-
tiated the sale of the hotel to the prisoner was asked
what brought the deceased to his office. Ile re-
plied that she wanted to see if he could procure a
husband for her. President—You arrange marriages
then also? Witness--No, not marriages, but we
receive applications of all sorts. President—Admir-
able. Kelly, anlEnglishman,was examined through
an interpreter. It appears that he is the individual
spoken of tis " Williams.' He was described as a
sort of advocate who did not plead, and a proprietor
without any fixed residence. At present he lived at
Boulogne. When asked by the interpreter_
whether he did not marry the widow Mertens
on the 2d of February, 1862, the witness replied
that he was not sure about the date, but
he thought yes. He left his wife on the very day
of his marriage, because he received several anony-
mous n
d he things
hiclt informed him of some dis-
agreeable h
went
vabout her. She left for England,
a
to Italy. A witness said that the
letters,
Nten

prisoner received a good many witnesses where she
lodged. Prisoner —" There is no mystery about
that. I gave sittings of mesmerism and spirit-rap-
ping. These are not things to make a noise about
over the house-tops." When the President asked
the prisoner what she did with a bank-note for
2000 fr., she replied," I have told you twenty times."
President—" Tell us, then, for the twenty-first
time." In answer to some questions about the
deceased, the prisoner said that at the time in ques-.
tion the latter bad gone to stop at an e.itablishinent
in Paris where girls went in order to procure abor-
tion. One witness st.ted that the deceased at one
time had great confidence in the prisluer, but that
latterly he seemed to mistrust her, and was careful
in concealing her money from, her. The evidence
given is very voluminous.
The official itinerary of the route which will be
pursued by the Emperor and Emperor in their en-
suing journey to the north of France is as follows :
—Departure from Paris on the 26th inst., at six
o'clock in the morning. Stoppage of an hour and
a half at Arras and Douai. Arrival at Lille for the
grand fetes, which I have described, at four o'clock
in the afternoon. 27th, stay at Lille ; 28th, visit
to Dunberque ; 29th, visits to Roubaix and Tour-
coing ; return to Paris at nine in the evening.
The pDlice continue to make active researches
respecting the jewel robbery at the Swedish portion
of the E4libition. Five persons—one of them a
woman—have been arreste.4, and there is a clue to

Let anybody read the Blue-book just issued on
the subject, and they will see that for the last 12
months it has been strongly urged upon her Ma-
jesty's Government by every one of the captives
that " nothing but force" could obtain their release,
and that they were all willing to submit to the risk
of losing their lives by the cruel monster's knife
rather than that no effort should be used to release
them.

But, sir, the letter will speak more eloquent than
any words of mine, and your kind insertion of it
will show with what resignation they are prepared
to meet their now probable fate, should it please
God that they should be sacrificed, which I do not
believe.—l am, sir, yours obediently.

CHARLES 11. PM-MAY.
24, Great Marlborough-street, Aug. 14.

" Magdala Prison, June 19, 1867.
"My dear Charlotte,—The strange and unparal-
eled events with which my own and my fellow-
_

captives' mournful history is bound up, like the
thrilling scenes of a drama, now become more com-
plicated and terrific as we approach the close of
the last act. Cheering hopes and depressing
fears, glowing anticipations and withering dis-
appointments, have hitherto alternated during
the monotony of our prison existence, and en-
shrined the elasticity of our now and then drooping
spirits. Within the last few days the shadows which
forewarned us of the coming crisis have assumed a
more tangible and palpable form, and the long-
expected crash, which will probably bury the
abominable tyrant beneath the ruins of his totter-
ing empire and exhausted power, cannot be far
distant. For some time the elements of disaffection
and rebellion had infected the peasantry of Bege-
_

meder and the troops belonging to the revolted
provinces; the dread and terror inspired by the
tyrant's unsparing severity, however, prevented the
smouldering elements of discontent from bursting
into a flame. Occasional defeats inflicted by the
enraged villagers on the pillage-loving soldiers gave
them confidence in their own strength, and prompted
them to offer a bold and undaunted opposition in
the only province, which, until now, had apparently
been loyal. One might have imagined this would
have induced the tyrant to adopt a wiser and more
conciliatory policy than that of the fire, the spear,
and the mutilating knife ; but no, impelled by au
insatiable thirst for blood, he withdrew from the
burning homesteads of the vengeance-breathing pea-
santry, and in Lfitof deathfrenzya
ao commencer)among
hsov Own pusillani-
mous thework
of destruction
adherents. On the 7th inst. it is said that
upwards of 670 of these cowardly crime-stained
ragamuffins were butchered in cold blood. A panic
immediately spread through the rabble ranks, and
on the evening of the same day on which this revolt-
ing tragedy was enacted Ras Addalon, the Chief of
Gcdshon, with all his followers, and a considerable
number from all the other districts bordering ou
the Wollo Galla country (which is in close proxi-
mity to the mountain on which the Magdala stands)
deserted their Royal master's service. The well-
known defections in his camp, the constant deser-
tions from the impotent bands, and the woful fate
accorded to every one who strays beyond his hut
or tent, and falls into the hands of the rebels,
has at last dismayed the vaunting tyrant. He
is at present in Debra Tabor, where, it is re-
ported, he is erecting a strong fence around his
insignificant camp. Provisions he has in abund-
ance, as a mountain of corn is heaped upon the
top of the hill ; but even such attempts have
keepi his lawless companions together.
All
themen have been either killed or have
refuge in flight. His own son, Ras Meshis-
hah,geda, one of his most obsequious
ceased t
go r
ea t
soug sought
thnas
En
creatures, are in chains. Atrocious deeds are con-
stantly perpetrated, and blood is shed in profusion.
The savage tyrant is quite furious; and to allay the
storm that is raging in his breast he flogs and tor-
tures, and burns in wax-dipped dresses, the women
and children of absconded soldiers and chiefs. About

the European artisans, with Flad, Mrs. Flad, and
Mrs. Rosenthal, and children, who are in his camp,
we have no reliable information. That they are in
prison is certain, but whether in chains or not we
are still in doubt. Their position must he dreadful

indeed. If the mere report of the Debra Tabor
horrors creates in us a loathing sensation, what must
be the reality of living in the midst of the yells,
shrieks, and moans of that indescribable Pande-
monium? Our safety, humanly speaking, lies in
the possibility that the tyrant will not be able to
reach this Amba. Some weeks ago he sent orders
here to the effect that in case this place was attacked
all the prisoners in irons were to be indiscriminately
executed. A few weeks later it is rumoured that
another royal messenger was despatched from Debra
Tabor to Magdala with a mandate that the garrison
were to kill the prisoners, bury the treasures, fire
the houses, and then quit the Amba, and seek to
join their ruler at Debra Tabor. This monstrous
decree fell into the hands of the rebels, who, we are
told, burnt the paper, and beheaded the bearer. I
might, did I feel disposed, fill page after page with
these sickening horrors and tales of cruelty did a
loathing not warn me to pause. To be arrested in
the midst of health, dulness, and inactivity, to be
banished from the soothing circle of friends and
relations, from the homes of our loved ones, and
from all the objects around which the affections of
our hearts are entwined ; and to be incarcerated in
an African prison, under the continual dread of a
remorseless savage, guarded by a set of base and
abject s'aves, is a trial that metaphor cannot paint
or words depict. We are at present watching
with intense anxiety the tyrant's movements.
Should he come here, and I believe his enemies
dare not dispute his progress through their ter-
ritory, we shall have a hot and dangerous position.
If, on the euntiary, he wftit3 until he is too weak
to start from Debra Tabor to our prison, our friends
in his camp will have to encounter many a serious
and severe conflict, even if they escape alive out of
the hedge in which they are enclosed. Do not ima-
gine that my courage is sinking or my energy fail-
ing. Removed from all human help, excluded from
all human dependencies, and exposed daily to almost
every imaginable peril, we have a
shield in Rim
who is a shelter to the needy,a, help to the troubled,
and a succour to the oppressed. I am quite re-
signed to my painful situation, and if you and
others do not weary in your prayers, I am sure our
covenant-keeping God will yet deliver us, and unite
us again. Farewell. With kindest love to-yoursi.lf
and the dear children, believe me to be ever yours,
most affectionately, 11. A. STi.ux."