The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-23 00:00:00

resided in the East. Some articles in the
Revue des Deux Mondes were the first of his
literary labours, The following year he wrote
a volume, " Hongrie et Valachie Souvenir de
Voyages et Notices Historiques." The day after
the appearance of the volume he had an appoint-
ment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A little
later he went to Brussels as an attache of the Em-
bassy. This was in 1844. In 1860 M. Thouvenel
was Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the 16
years which have succeeded M. Thouvenel occupied
every diplomatic position. He so distinguished
himself during ten years that no one was surprised
when the Emperor appointed him as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, in the room of M. Walewski.
While in that position three remarkable events took
place under his auspices—the cession by Italy of
Nice and Savoy, the French expedition destined to
protect the Christians of Syria, and the treaty of
commerce with Belgium. In 1862 M. rhouvenel
resigned his office as Minister of Foreign Affairs,
but he still oontinued to take part in many public
matters of interest. He was the chairman of the
Commission appointed to examine into the ques-
tions pending between the Egyptian Government
and the Isthmus of Suez Canal Company. lie
attended the Senate, and often spoke on points of
foreign and general policy. He became a member
and afterwards President of the Council of Ad-
ministration of the Eastern Railway Company.
M. Thouvenel belonged to a good family at Lor-
raine. His father was a lieutenant-colonel. When
he succeeded M. Walewski people said he looked
very young for a Minister of Foreign Affairs, but
the cares and anxieties of that position very soon
made his hair prematurely grey, and latterly he
was infirm, decrepit, and almost bent double like
a man of 80, although he has died at 43.
I have already spoken of the anxiety of the
authorities to prevent all adulterations atm frauds
upon the people. The brothers Vansteenhiste, who
keep' a shop in the Rue de Vauves, at Montaigne,
have been summoned before the Correctional Police
for selling a composition for coffee. Their defence
was that they did not call it coffee, but ".mixed
coffee." It was, however, sold in packets, bearing
an exciting vignette, representing an amateur who
•is tasting the coffee and exclaims, " Oh, delicious !"
There were other vignettes with poetry and various
devices, all tending to extol the coffee. On analysis
this coffee was found to consist of a little pure cof-
fee, grounds of coffee, ground corn, chicoree, and
spice. The defendants announced that they pur-
chased coffee grounds from the first hotels, and from
the house of the Petites Scours, an establishment
for the poor. The Petites Scours, however, state
that they themselves had to buy coffee grounds to
make the coffee for the inmates. A professor of
chemistry said that there was no virtue in the
grounds of coffee used, and that they would have no
more effect than sawdust. The counsel for the de-
fendant said there was a mistake about the Petites
Scours. All they meant to represent to their cus-
tomers was that they (the defendants) procured the
coffee grounds from the same source as the Petites
Seeurs. Their customers could not expect to have
pure coffee at the price at which they sold it
(if. for 21bs.), as the lowest price of good
coffee was 3f. for that quantity. The Tri-
bunal decided that the customers of the de-
fendants were deceived by the " ambiguous"
announcement of " mixed coffee." It, therefore,
condemned each of the defendants to pay a fine of
25f. The President said that the Court had been
as indulgent as possible, and recommended the de-
fendants to change the announcements on the
packets.

As a lady was looking at a shop in the Rue
Neuve des Petits Champs, on Saturday afternoon,
a very fashionably-dressed young girl, who was
passing by, came and stood by her side. She was
observed to put her hand into the lady's pocket,
and she then walked rapidly away. A person who
had watched her went after her and stopped her.
She was immediately searched at the police-office,
but nothing was found. The lady had lost her
purse, and no doubt the girl had taken it and had
passed it to one of her companions. She said she
was English, and that her name was Catherine
Mayne York. She is believed to be from one of a
numerous band of female English pickpockets by
whom Paris has been infested for some months past.
Several members of the band have been arrested,
and are now in prison for picking pockets.
A correspondent of one of the Paris papers, at
Dinan, writes to say that an Englishman, residing
in that town, has shot, in the environs, a magpie
which is perfectly white, from head to tail, and is
without the slightest spot.
M. Colbrun, a comic actor of some note, died on
Saturday. He was only 38. He had suffered from
a painful illness for several months.
The existence of fine weather has been short. It
began to rain about 12 o'clock, and it has rained
more or less all day. The weather, however, is
still warm, at least for October.