The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-16 00:00:00

CORRESPO.

,OM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Friday Evening.

The Moniteur confines itself to a summary of the
telegraphic news respecting Austria and Prussia.
It contains, however, a letter from Frankfort, dated
June 12, which has some significant passages. The
letter says that " everything leads to the anticipation
of a decisive crisis between the Austrian and Prus-
sian Cabinets, and even for the Confederation. The
occupation of Altona by the Prussians, and the re-
treat of the Austrians to the other side of the Elbe,
precipitated the crisis. Some Cabinets spoke of the
Federal execution to force Prussia to convoke the
States, but this proceeding would have entailed
only delay without increasing the chances of con-
ciliation. The motion of Austria in the sitting of
yesterday would compel the Diet to take its course
immediately. Austria defends her policy by the
discord which results from the entrance of the Prus-
sians into Holstein. She declares that she con-
siders this movement as a menace against Federal
peace, and that in consequence itisnecessary to place
under arms the resources of all the corps, so
that the army may be ready to march in a fort-
night."
The course adopted by the Legislative Body shows
that the Opposition, however desirous to cavil on
minor points, is prepared to support the Govern-
ment through any eventuality in case of war, as it
has agreed to grant all the supplementary credits
asked for by the Minister of War. M. Rouher
confirmed the satisfactory statement in regard to
French finances, to which I have alluded, and
said that at present there was no reason to sup-
pose that the warlike aspect of affairs would ren-
der necessary any change in the Budget of 1866,
to which the Chambers had agreed. If, however,
events should take such a turn as to induce the
Government to make any change in its financial
proposals, it would be its duty to have recourse
to a fresh session of the Legislative Body to pro-
vide for auy emergency. This declaration was
received with great applause, expressive of the
satisfaction of the Chamber with its present
financial position.
A murder and suicide has just taken place at
the barracks at Valenciennes. Brigadier Riffeld
having sentenced a trumpeter of the 7th Hussars
to be confined for two days for an infraction of
military regulations, the offender was so irritated
that he fired a pistol at him. The murderer then
shot himself with a pistol, and fell down dead
close to his victim.

The cholera has disappeared from Nantes ; at
least it is to be hoped so. There have not been
any fresh cases for the last day or two, and the
patients in the hospital seem to be also recovering.
The official railway tables show that the total
receipts of all the railways for the first three
months of the year amount to 29,088,170 f., against
21,007,646 f. during the first three months of 1865,
being a total increase of more than 5 millions.
The Fontainebleau Races will conclude on Sun-
day, when the silver cup, presented by the Emperor,
and 5000 f. in money, given by the Administrator
des Ilavas will be run for. Seven horses are en-
tered for this race. _ _

THE WAR CRISIS.

FLORENCE, June 16.

The Ministry is nearly constituted—Baron Rica-
soli is appointed President and Minister of the
Interior; Signor Borgatti, Minister of Justice; and
Signor Brochetti, Minister of Marine. Signori
Pettinengo, Scialoja, Jacin, and Berti retain their
portfolios. General Lamarmora is named Minister
Adlatus to the King at the camp. The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs has been offered to Signor
Visconti-Venosta, and that of Agriculture to Signor
Mordini, with what result is not yet known.
The Austrians have interrupted all lines of com-
munication on the side of the Po and Mincio.

PESTII, June 15 (Evening).

The Lower House of the Hungarian Diet has
agreed to the resolution proposed by M. Deak,
declaring that no address shall be presented to
the Emperor relative to the present distress in
Hungary, but that the Diet is ready to support his
Majesty in all constitutional efforts which he may
think fit to make in order to promote the objects
set forth in the proposed address.

PRAGUE, June 16.
The entry of the Prussian troops into Saxony
is fully confirmed.

The Railway between Riesa and Dresden has
been destroyed.

Passenger traffic and postal communication be-
tween Prussia and Saxony is stopped.
The Crown Princess of Saxony proceeds to

Vienna.
The Saxon Treasury and valuables, and the pro-
visions for the army, have been transported for
security to Bohemia.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE, June 16.
Prince Charles of Bavaria will b 3 appointed
Commander in Chief of the Federal army.
BERLIN, June 16.
It is expected that Mecklenburg will afford active
support to Prussia for the defence of the Duchies of
Schleswig-Holstein.

VIENNA, June 16.

The French Cabinet has sent the letter lately
addressed by the Emperor Napoleon to M. Drouyn
de I'Huys to the French representatives abroad,
together with a circular explaining the bearing of
the letter.

The Neue Freie Presse of to-day asserts that
Prince Gortschakoff has sent a circular to the Re-
presentatives of Russia abroad, stating that, upon
the slightest violation of neutrality by France,
Russia will abandon her present neutral attitude.

PARIS, June 16.

It is asserted that the recent proceedings at the
Federal Diet have determined several Powers signi-
taries of the Vienna Treaty of 1815 to declare that,
in their opinion, articles 54 and 63 of that treaty,
which form part of European international law,
have been violated.

On the 16th of November last the wife of a
butcher residing in the Rue St. Victor disappeared,
and nothing was known about her until the day
before yesterday, when her body, in a state of de-
composition, was found in the Seine near the pont
de l'Archeveche and taken to the usual receptacle.
It was impossible to recognise the features, but a
gold brooch was still attached to the fragments of
her dress, and her husband has identified this article
as having belonged to his wife. The police imagine
that the woman was thrown into the Seine, because
the husband states that there had not been any
quarrel, and that no reason existed that she should
absent herself from home.
A:woman, to whom public attention was directed
some thirty years ago, has just died in an abject
state of poverty in the Rue des Postes. She was
the daughter of Morey, the accomplice of Fieschi,
in endeavouring to murder Louis Phillipe by means
of an infernal machine, as he was riding in his car-
riage along the Boulevard du Temple in 1835, to
review the National Guard. After the execution of
her father this woman retired into Burgundy to live
with her aunt, who kept a small inn. The aunt
died and left her the furniture and a few hundred
francs.- She returned to Paris, and in the name of
Rose Flamand she opened a little wine and spirit
shop in the Rue Dauphine. In 1818, however, the
shop was broken open and the thieves took away
all the property the woman possessed. Reduced to
very great poverty she latterly obtained a scanty
subsistence as a charwoman. When the body was
found at the woman's miserable lodging, there was
a portrait round her neck, and from the inscrip-
tion underneath it is known that Fieschi, the in-
tended regicide, was her father.
There is really no news this afternoon, but plenty
of reports have been current throughout the day of
an alarming tendency, the consequence of which
was to produce much depression at the Bourse.
The 3 per Cents. closed at a decline of half a franc,
and there was about the same fate in the 41 per
Cents. In many securities the decline was very
great. The Credit Agricole fell 12f., and the
Credit Mobilier, 10f.
The evening Moniteur is unusually destitute of
news, and the absence of it is so calculated to
throw discredit upon the made-up rumours of some
of the other evening papers that I do not think it
worth while to notice them.

The Moniteur of this morning reproduces the
article published in yesterday's Constitutionnel on
M. Emile de Girardin's interpretation of the letter
of the Emperor Napoleon.

MADRID, June 16.
Yesterday, in the Senate, the Minister of Marine
declared the Pacific expedition to be at an end.
In the Chamber of Deputies the debate upon the
Railway Subsidy Bill has commenced.

BERLIN, JUNE 16.

Prince Sigismund, third son of the Crown Prince
of Prussia, was taken seriously ill yesterday, but
is a little better this morning.

HANOVER, JUNE 16.

The King of Hanover and the Crown Prince set
out last night for the camp of the army which is
being ;concentrated near Gottingen., The Queen
and the Royal Princesses remain here.
It is rumoured that a Ministerial crisis exists.
LEIPSIC, June 15, 4.25 p.m.
The Prussian troops entered Saxony to-day.
FLORENCE, June 15.

The Finance Committee of the Senate are stated
to be opposed to the proposed tax upon Italian
Iterate.

Advices received here from Brescia announce
that communication had been interrupted between
that town and the Venetian provinces. Peschiera
had been closed.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE, June 15.
A report is current on the Bourse that the Aus•
trian troops have entered Saxony.
The Bourse is very heavy in consequence of a re.
port that the Prussian troops had entered Hanover,

THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.—In consequence of nume-
rous applications to the Austrian Embassy, we have been
authorised to state that the notice issued by the Austrian
War-office respecting the employment of medical men in
the Imperial army and navy does not apply to foreigners.
Only in case the number of medical men who studied in
Austrian or German Universities should prove insufficient
will the Austrian War-office bo authorised to accept the
services of foreign surgeons. It will then issue a notice
to that effect.

SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE FINE
Alas.—At a numerous meeting of this society, held on
Thursday, at their rooms in Conduit-street, Mr. N. Cave
Thomas delivered a very interesting lecture "On the
Quantitative Analysis of the Beautiful." Mr. Thomas
first showed that the fundamental form of phenomena
is quantitative on the conclusion both of the meta-
physical and positive philosophy. But, not to con-
sider the subject from a point of view so remote from
general thought and reading, ho drew attention to the
fact that the beautiful (which in tho first part of his
lecture was restricted to human beauty) divides itself into
three phases. Culour, light and shade, and form, which,
analysed, yield quantity as their fundamental form. The
beautiful, therefore, must be inseparable from some defi-
•nite quantitative relation, and being quantitative is amen-
able to the method of averages to determine it, yielding
the mean as its principle. Mr. Thomas then traced the
mean as the law of natural rectitude in the solar system in
support of the particular induction, and then brought for-
ward the favouring opinions first of the poets, then of the
painters, Sir Joshua and Hogarth, rejecting the objections
of critics who believe the question to be incapable of solu-
tion ; and, finally, as an argumentum clenchi, showed that
the moan or central human form as being that of perfection
is undeniably supported by Christianity. The second part
of the lecture was devoted to considerations of harmonic
proportion, founded on the calculus of ratios, in which
Mr. Thomas traced the same principle holding good in
colour, music, architectural proportion, &c. This lecture
concludes a series, tracing the same immutable law in
science, morals, education, &c., which will shortly be pub-
lished in a collected form, under the title of "The Central
Science." It was listened to with great interest and atten-
tion, and at its close an animated discussion took place.
HEALTH OF SCOTLAND.—The Registrar-General
reports that in the month of May there were regis-
tered in tt e eight principal towns of Scotland 3,542 births,
precisely the same number as in May, 1865 ; 462 mar-
riages, a smaller number than in May, 1865, but above the
average of the last 10 years ; and 2,518 deaths, a far larger
number than that recorded in any May of the last 10 years,
and 353 above the average, allowing for increase of popu-
lation. This great excess of deaths was not caused by
epidemics, but by an increase of The deaths from ordinary
diseases, more especially from those affecting the respira-
tory organs. 431 persons died from inflammatory affec-
tions of those organs, and 378 from consumption. The
zymotic class of diseases caused 19.6 per cent. of the mor-
tality, typhus 6 per cent. 28 persons died from diarrhoea,
6 from dysentery, 2 children from cholera. 40 per cent. of
all the deaths were of children under 5 years of ace. The
meteorological returns for the eight towns (moan position,
lat. 56.12, height 126 feet above sea level) show a mean
temperature in May of 48.5 deg., being 2 deg. below the
average of the preceding 10 years ; and a rainfall of only
1.11 in., being 0.92 in. below the average.
WllO s xova DOCIOR?—AWEISON'S

LATEST INTELLIGENCE. at midnight on the 13th, and left at noon on the
14th for Alexandria.
(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.) The Syria from Marseilles, 13th inst., arrived on
the 15th at 7 p.m., and leaves at midnight for
Alexandria.

The Difficulties of the Ryves' Case.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—I have read carefully the learned and able
udgment in the above-named cause, with which, as

a lawyer, I am much pleased. There are two strong
features in the case, however, which have, I think, en-

tirely escaped the observation of the learned Judges,

as well as the learned counsel for the defence. It is

as follows :—Why (when the Duke of Cuinberland,
brother of George 111., died as long ago as 1790,
without issue, and his acknowledged widow sur-
vived him 13 years, until 1803, she was never re-
ceived at Court during those above-named 13 years
of her widowhood, auy more than she had been
during the lifetime of her late husband) did not the
King, George 111., see his royal niece, the supposed

Princess Olive, restored to her just rights, as no
one could be punished for bigamy after the Duke
of Cumberland's death. It is very well known
George 111. was a most kind-hearted, amiable, and
benevolent individual, whatever errors he may have
committed as King. Now whose rights would (as-
suming Mrs. Ryves's story to have been correct),
placing the would-have-been Princess Olive into
her proper place as a member of the royal family of
England, have been interfered with? The King and
Queen, George 111. and Queen Charlotte, had, in
1790, 13 children of their own, viz., seven sous and
six daughters, besides which, the Duke of Glouces-
ter, the King's next brother (who had also married
the beautiful Dowager Lady Waldegrave, a person
not of royal blood, and had, like his younger brother,
the Duke of Cumberland, who married Mrs. Hor-
ton, highly offended the King by so doirig ; so
much so, that that vile and atrocious measure
(the Royal Marriage Act) was passed "had two chil-

dren of his own, viz., Prince William, afterwards
Duke of Gloucester, and commonly called " Silly
Billy," and his very handsome sister, the Princess
Sophia Matilda, Ranger for many years of Green-
wich-park, who must both have come to the Throne
before the Duke of Cumberland and his issue. The
last-named personages were always considered mem-

bers:of the Royal family, but no one ever looked
forward to their coming to the Throne until the time
the Princess Charlotte and her infant both died, and
then, as none of George numerous family had
any issue who could come to the Throne, the nation
not unnaturally turned their eyes towards the
Duke of Gloucester and his sister, who must have
respectively ascended the Throne in the event of all
George lll.'s line being put out. Doubtless it was
the fact of the Duke of Gloucester and his sister
being free from the fetters of the Royal Marriage
Act which put it into the head of that mad woman,
Mrs. Serres, to endeavour to prove herself a mem-
ber of the Royal family on the ground that there
was no Royal Marriage Act in existence when her

father and mother were married. Another diffi-
culty attending the supposed fact of Henry Frede-
rick Duke of Cumberland having married Olive

Vilmot is that it has been asserted that Dr

Wilmot, the relative of the bride, who is said to
have performed the marriav ceremony, Mrs. Serres'
brother had signed the dinner-book at Trinity Col-
lege, Oxford, the very day the wedding is said to
have taken place, viz., March 4, 1767. • Now, it is
well known the dinner hour at all the colleges, both
At Cambridge and Oxford, one hundred years ago,
in the middle of the last century, was 2 o'clock. how,
in the name of common sense, was Dr. Wilmot to
have ridden a distance of 56 miles between the hours
of 3 o'clock in the afternoon and 9 at night, which is
the distance from Oxford to London? True he is
said to have been a first-rate horseman, but no horse-
:flan, if he were the finest equestrian in the world,
could have ridden a distance of 56 miles in the bad un-
nacadamised state the roads were in 100 years
Igo in six hours. It is more than even Dick Turpin
(iiinself could have done. Dinner being in those
days at two o'clock, three o'clock must have been
the earliest hour he could have set off, and this he
nust have done before he could have had time even
to have swallowed a cup of tea or coffee, or to have
:ell-mined to wine or dessert. Poor man !! ! -I very

such wonder such a quick sharp ride did not a'

)ncg bring on a fit of apoplexy or indigestion so im-
mediately after his dinner. Why, such a feat would
have killed 99 people of 100. As regards the
4enuineness of the signatures, it is a well-known
:act that documents and other parchments will ap-

pear all the more genuine for having been kept for
a long series of years. There was, indeed, every
appearance of fraud and imposition stamped upon
she face of it, Again, as regards George lll.'s mar-
riage to Hannah Lightfoot, and the assertion that

be had three children by her, and, consequently,
that neither George W. nor the Duke of York were
legitimate, why, had there been the least truth in
this strange story, and coming before the public,
which it is said to have done in 1820, the year
George IV. came to the Throne, the very year of
the redoubtable Queen Catherine's trial, considering
the very great unpopularity of the King in those
lays anybody might have made a very large fortune
by proving George IV. illegitimate, supposing it to
have been possible to have done so. It is not to be
denied that the descendants of Frederick Prince of
Wales, the father of George 111., were a very miser-
able, wretched, unhappy set of beings, especially
amongst the females. George 111., his eldest son,
was out of his mind; his (George eldest sister,
the Duchess of Brunswick, the eldest daughter of
the said Prince of Wales (the mother of Queen
Caroline, the head of a very immoral and profligate
court), the unhappy Queen of Denmark, whose short
and sad life is so well known to all readers of his-
tory, was another deplorable example. And now for
the grandchildren, or supposed grandchildren, of
Frederick Prince of Wales, the unhappy Queen
Caroline, whose frailties were, I fear, rather more
genuine than Mrs. Ryves' documents, was a source
of misery and wretchedness, not only to her husband
and his family for a long series of years, but to all
England as well, and brought us to the very verge
of a civil war arid revolution ; however ill-used she
may have been, and bad as her husband most un-
doubtedly was, still, nevertheless, two blacks do not
make a white, and poti and kettles are both black.
The popular feeling evinced by the people of Eng-
land at the time of her trial on her side was more a
dislike to the King than any real love for her, or belief
in her innocence. And now last, not least, there is
Mrs. Ryves and her mother, neither of whom were, I
believe, any more descendants of Frederick Prince of
Wales than lam myself. The whole story of Mrs.
Ryves and her mother, falsely called Princess Olive,
of Cumberland, is the most wonderful forgery and
cunningly-devised fable ever invented within the
memory of man. \ It is not surprising that people
become sceptical of the most solemn and sacred
matters when things—i.e., documents and other
writings—can be forged in so wonderful a manner
as this has now been clearly proved to have been
done. It must be a great source of thankfulness
that the claims of this individual, who, as well as those
of her mother before her, and who has been dead
upwards of 30 years, are now set at rest and con-
signed to the tomb of all the Capulets. It has been
before the public in one shape or another for nearly
half a century. I can only say, in conclusion, I
hope it will be very, very long again before our
courts of justice are occupied with such causes as
these, wasting the time of the public as well as that
of our learned Judges, as well as being so little cal-
culated to increase the admiration of foreigners for
the truthfulness of the English name and character,
or the truthfulness of Englishmen in particular. As
regards Mrs. Serres I will merely add, De mortals
nil nisi bonum; albeit, some people might add, as I
once heard of an Eton boy, at the time of the death
of the immortal William Pitt, and the boys at Eton
had some verses to write, headed with these words,
De mortuis nil nisi bonum, the boy wrote such sen-
timents I would not own them.—l remain, sir,
your obedient servant,
A LAWYER AND A LOVER OF HISTORICAL
DATES AND FACTS.

CHOLERA ON BOARD THE PERUVIAN.—We are
requested to state that the vessel on board of which an
outbreak of cholera was reported in our New York intelli-
gence of yesterday, is nut the Peruvian belonging to the
Montreal o',lvan Steamship Company's line.

61114 't*
IGA U
Orrbr.

The Queen's Visit to Scotland.

The royal train arrived at the Perth General
Station at 8.28 on Thursday morning—being two
minutes before the time fixed. As usual the
public were not admitted to the station on the
arrival of the train ; but a number of ladies and
gentlemen were present by invitation of the General
Station Joint Committee. Her Majesty, on alight-
ing from the carriage, shook hands with Mrs. Smythe
and Mrs. Drummond—as also did the Princesses

Helena, Louise, and Beatrice. Captain Drummond
then conducted the royal party to rooms provided
for them, where breakfast was served. After a
stay of an hour the party proceeded on their journey
northwards amidst the cheers of those assembles at
the station. The train arrived at Bridge of Dun
Station at 10.45, three minutes before its time. The
platform was kept by the chief constable and a de-
tachment of the county police, and there was a largo
attendance Of visitors on the platform.