The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-19 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FRO3I OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tuesday Evening.
The official part of the Moniteur contains the
Convention signed at Paris on the 7th December
inst., between France and Italy, for the arrange-
ment of the Pontifical debt, the particulars of which
are well known.
His Majesty, the Empress, and the Imperial
Prince returned to Paris yesterday afternoon,
happily in the best health, and the Imperial flag is
again unfurled over the Tuileries.
The bulletin of the Moniteur mentions the arrival
of the King of Saxony and his son, the heir to the
throne, at Berlin. Count de Bismarck and the
authorities of the city were at the Berlin station
to rifer thc!r respects and homage. A guard of
honour, placed at the disposal of King John,
accompanied the King of Prussia, who went to
meet the King of Saxony, to the Palace.
It is stated from Vienna that a convention for the

regulation of the navigation of the Pruth has just
been signed at Bucharest by the Plenipotentiaries
of Austria, Russia, and Roumania.
" The cattle plague increases in severity in Bel-
gium."

The Prefect of the Seine, yesterday, gave a grand
dinner at the Hotel de Ville to the members of the
Departmental Commission of the Council-General
of the Department. The Baroness Haussmann,
the wife of the Prefect, did the honours. After

dinner Baron Haussmann proposed the toast

of the Emperor, Empress, and the Prince
Imperial. In doing so the Baron said, " The Em-
pire is peace. " Such were the words, deeply en-
graven upon my heart, in which the Emperor upon
a solemn occasion characterised beforehand his
glorious reign, which seems already to have lasted
more than fourteen years, if we were to measure it
by the great things which have been accomplished,
and to whom God, who protects France, no doubt
intends a long future." Baron Hausmann pro-
ceeded to remark upon the great impetus given to
industry since the reign of the Emperor, and the
establishment of security and confidence under the
protection of a firm and resolute Government.
He then referred to the increase of the wishes
of the country and the establishment of its
credit. When his Majesty was compell xl to resort
to arms, what grandeur and moderation was there
after victory ! "On the next day, as it were, after
a war which might have set all Europe in flames,
but to which the powerful mediation of the Emperor
put an end, it will be at once a great spectacle and
a great lesson for the world to see the pacific strug-
gles of the Universal Exhibition, to which France
invites all nations, where only the works of mind
and intelligence will be witnessed. The progress of
things in Paris proved that the constant thought
of the Emperor was to increase the happiness of
his people. The only war which occupied
his mind was a war against ignorance,
misery, and disease, to promote also intellectual and
moral development, and to improve the condition
of all classes." The next important passage in
Baron Hausmann's speech I translate literally.
" The foreigner who comes to visit us next year
will see the proof at every step that the French
nation, so jealous of its honour that it would sacri-
fice to defend it its last man and its last franc, that
the real signification of the reorganisation of its
military power is to be found in an old adage which
I request your permission to translate freely in
these words—' If victory arms immense battalions,
peace is sheltered behind them.' " The Baron
then proposed the toast amidst great enthusiasm.
His eloquent and patriotic words were often inter-
rupted,by enthusiastic bursts of enthusiasm.

Count de Sartiges, Ambassador from France to
the Pontifical Government, who has been absent
for some time on leave, has returned to his post
at Rome., and M. de Nigra, Minister Plenipoten-
tiary from Italy to France, who recently left Paris
in consequence of the death of his mother, is expected
back to this capital to-morrow.

The weather has been dull and foggy to-day, but
the rain has ceased for the present. The torrents
of wet began to cause great anxiety. The Seine
is still slightly on the rise.
To-day is rather a blank day as far as news and
incidents are concerned, and there is nothing worth
particular remark in the leading articles of the
papers.

Journal des Debuts, in reference to the plan
for the reorganisation of the army, says :•
".The military spirit is not very flourishing
among the English, but this does not prevent them
from making a very good appearance on the field
of battle. Nor did this fact prevent them, seven or
eight years ago, from reconquering India with an
insignificant army, numerically speaking. One has
only to visit the workshops of London, Manchester,
and Birmingham, to be convinced of the extent to
which this people carry their human activity."

The Golden Fleece Transport.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

The Secretary of the Admiralty presents his com-
pliments to the Editor, and would be obliged if he
would insert the following information in to-mor-
row's paper :
With reference to a report which has reached the
Transport-office at Somerset House, and which has
also been circulated at Lloyd's, in regard to the
Golden Fleece transport, it appears that a piece of
paper in a bottle was picked up by a Coast-guard
man at Rock End, Isle of Wight, on the 10th Dec.,
containing these words—
" Please send something, for the Golden Fleece
has gone down with 100 soldiers and 52 men at a
little past Portreath*."

This must be a wicked hoax. The bottle could
only have been thrown overboard during the voy-
age made by the Golden Fleece from Portsmouth to
Cork on the 17th day of November. This voyage
was accomplished in safety, and the men landed at
Cork on the 21st November.

The Golden Fleece has since then embarked a
regiment with more than 700 men, women, and
children, and sailed from Cork on the 24th Novem-
ber direct to China. She could not have been near
Portreath, which is on the north-west coast of
Cornwall, on her voyage to China, except inten-
tionally, and must in such case have been seen and
spoken by many vessels.
Admiralty, December 18.

* This word not plainly written.

PRESENTS FOP. ABYSSINIA.—The Alexandria cor-
respondent of the Levant Herald, writing on the 26th ult.,
says : —" A party of mechanics arrived by the last South-
ampton mail, en route fur Abyssinia, with presents for King
Theodore. These last are said to consist of gunboring
machinery, Enfield rifles, and other trifles of a like nature
The men have a three years' contract, and proceed to Mae-
sowah in the despatch boat Victoria, and are in the charge
of Colonel Merryweather, commandant and political agent
at Aden."

LETTON HALL, AND OTHER TALES. By Mark
Lemon. 3 vols.— " Welcome as the ideal Christmas, to
which he is so loyal, Mr. Mark Lemon comes forth again
with three volumes of the pleasantest reading—with a
book, in fact, which should go a long way to produce the
cheerfulness and good feeling which we assign to the fes-
tival season. The story of 'Leyton Hall' is an extremely
good one, extremely well told, and the shorter tales are all
exceedingly good and of a very effective charactei. There
is not one of them that is not cheery and pleasant, though
there is quite enough of a graver interest about them to
make them welcome to the regular novel reader. We com-
mend 'Luton Hall' most beartily."—lllustrated New.
The practice of making presents at Christmas
having now become so universal, Messis. Parkins and
Gotto have been induced this season to collect in their
spacious show-rooms by far the largest assortment of
articles in England, especially adapted for Christmas pre-
sents, at extremely moderato prices, comprising portrait
albums, travelling writing cases, dressing cases, dressing
bags, despatch boxes, envelope cases, and blotting books,
card trays, work bones, glove and trinket boxes, inkstands,
desks, stationery cabinets, purses, pocket books, pencil
cases, cigar cases, reticules, opera glasses, scent cases,
smelling bottles, ormolu and elegantly muunted orna-
mental articles for the drawing-room, library, &c. ; bibles,
prayer-books, and Church services in every variety of type
and binding ; in fact, an endless variety of articles to suit
every taste, purpose, and pocket. A new department for
billiard tables, bagatelle-tables, in-door croquet, and an
immense variety of other winter games ; musical boxes,
&c.' Parkins sud (lotto, 21 and 25, Oaford-street, W.