The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-22 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Monday Evening.
The 3loniteur was the only paper published this
morning, yesterday having been a great religious
fête, and on such occasions the printers have a
holiday. The Moniteur has not a line of news from
Germany in addition to the telegraphic despatches.
It states that General Almonte, whose arrival at
Paris from Mexico on a special mission I have men-
tioned, had an audience yesterday with the Emperor
at the Tuileries, to deliver his credentials. The
General also had the honour of being received by
the Empress. His Excellency Sassvet Pacha was
also received by the Emperor and introduced to his
Majesty by his Excellency Kernel Effendi, Minister
of Public Instruction of the Sublime Porte.
The Emperor was present at the Paris Summer
Meeting yesterday, in the Bois de Boulogne ; but
the general attendance was less numerous than
usual, although the weather was splendid. The
following is the result of the races :

The Prix des Champs Elysees of 3,000 f., for horses
three years old and upwards.
Due de Bourgoyne
Herring
Coresia
The Prix de Cedre of 10,000 f., for three-year-olds.

Czar 1
Coune Lagrange's Baionette
Le Sioulet 3
The Prix de Escoville of 4,000 f.
Gaulois
Druse
Anisette the Second 3
The Prix d'lbos, a handicap of 6,000 f
Souverain
Meli-Melo
Prince Regent 3
The Prix de Satory of 6,000 f.
Maravedis
La Fortune 2
Novateur 3

The Rev. Francis Mahony, whose papers with
the signature of " Father Prout" in Blackwood's
Magazine excited some interest years ago, has just
died in Paris from a disease of the throat, in his
62d year. Latterly he was the correspondent of the
Globe, to which office he was appointed on the death
of M. Merle, formerly editor of the Courier, Lon-
don evening newspaper. _ _

The general meeting of the Credit Mobilier took
place on Saturday, at which M. Isaac Perine pre-
sided. Last year a dividend of 23f. per share was
declared, but on the present occasion, although the
directors stated that the position of the company
was prosperous, yet in consequence of the present
condition of the money market the directors did not
consider it expedient to make any dividend. The
report, however, stated that if the value of securi-
ties generally should improve in the course of the
year an extraordinary meeting of the company
should be held, and a portion of the profits should
be set apart for the purpose of a dividend. The
report was agreed to.
The result of the election at the Academy of
Fine Arts on Saturday was that M. Gounod was
chosen as a member of the Section of Music in the
room of the late M. Clapisson. There were 19
votes for M. Gounod ; I\l. Felicien Daud had 16
votes ; M. Masse one vote only.
TLe accounts from Nantes respecting the cholera
are satisfactory. The disease was on the decline.
On Saturday there were only two deaths from that
disease.

The Opinion Nationale contains a letter from a
gentleman who for a long time resided at Valparaiso,
in which he supplies some interesting additional in-
formation respecting the bombardment of that city.
The writer says that the part of the city which
suffered most from the attack was not a distant
portion of it, as the official account would have
people to suppose, but is situated in the heart of the
city. The Spanish Admiral had destroyed three-
fourths of the most important and the richest
quarter of the city, and the safety of the other
fourth was owing to the exertions of the firemen.
The enormous loss to French subjects from the de-
struction of their warehouses and goods in the
quartier de la Plantrada is independent of
18,000,000 f. of goods, which is the amount of mer-
chandise destroyed according to the Custom-house
registers. The writer then contradicts the state-
ment that Valparaiso has a citadel. The city, he
says, has no fortification, no wall, no parapet, not
even a stone quay, and yet the Spaniards, without
even a pistol having been fired against them, and
without any pretext, had destroyed a vast locality
full of most valuable property.

London Cabs.

The six thousand cabs in the Metropolis are
owned, some by men of considerable means, some
by petty jobbers, and others by the men who drive
them. A well-built cab, whether " four-wheeler"
or " Hansom," costs about fifty pounds, and the
harness five pounds ; but there are makers, or rather
cab-cobblers, who patch up a wretched affair for a
very small sum, and let it out on easy terms to
cabby, who thus becomes a sort of petty master.
The man buys a cheap horse, an equally cheap set
of harness, and hires the cobbled cab at ten shil-
lings a week ; he may either drive it himself, or let
it out at a profit to a driver who has no capital
at all. A good horse for a good four-wheeler
costs from sixteen to twenty-five pounds ; while a
Hansom sometimes coasts of a horse worth
twenty to thirty pounds ; but we need only
to glance at some of these wretched animals
to see how far their average value is below this.
A careful owner will give his horse 301 b. of proven-
der per day, oats, beans, and chaff ; whereas many
of the poor beasts have every motive to imitate
Oliver Twist, and " ask for more." Some owner s
allow two horses per cab per day, making provision
for illness, accidents, &c. ; while others have five
horses for two cabs. Altogether, there are supposed
to be about 13,u00 horses. The trade is -certainly
a precarious one. Weather, luck, holidays, acci-
dents, dishonesty--all combine to give a speculative
character to it. The smaller owners are said to be
generally in an atmosphere of debt and bill dis-
counting. The larger owners, who take some pride
in their stables as well as in their vehicles and
horses, employ one horsekeeper to every six horses,
but sometimes one poor drudge is required to look
after ten horses.

The drivers themselves are subject to as many
uncertainties as their employers. Sometimes cabby
keeps about one-third of the gross earnings, giving
two-thirds to the owner. At other times, a sort of
tariff is laid down, to the effect that he must bring
home a certain definite sum to his master every day ;
this definite sum is named so low as Bs. for a four-
wheeler, and 10s. for a Hansom, and so high as 16s.
for the former, and 18s. for the latter. It is
evident that these discrepancies paint to wide
differences in the masters, the men, the horses, and
the cabs. It is popularly said that cabby gets about
3s. a day ; if this be all, then we must say he
works very hard for his money—early and late,
rain and snow, wind and sleet ; but it is scarcely
possible that this can be the average. Some of the
men are brutal to the horses, dishonest to the
owners ; and it is rather hard to the respectable
cabby that his good name should be tarnished by
being mixed up with these roughs. The loiterers
who tout for customers instead of going to a stand,
are not to be trusted ; their cabs are generally
wretched things, hired at a small rental. Most
police cases against cabmen are said to relate to
these loiterers. Licences to cabmen are granted too
readily. A badge is given for ss. to a man
with a recommendation from some shopkeeper or
other, without in any way testing whether it is
worthily bestowed. There is something clumsy
andineffective about all this. Why should cabs
and cab-drivers be subject to so many anomalies ?
—Chambers's Journal.

We (Liverpool Albion) have much pleasure in an-
nouncing that Sir George Grey has sanctioned the appoint-
ment of Mr. C. J. Preston, of the northern circuit, as
stipeadiary wagistrate for Diaculle4d.