The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-07 00:00:00

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, Wednesday Evening. •
Politicians have not yet recovered from the sur-
prise and stupor produced by the articles in the
Moniteur and Constitutionnel as to the "reserva-
tions" of Austria. Every one seems to have been
deceived. I have warned your readers in regard to
the false news so freely circulated of late even in
official papers. The Memorial Diplomatique, which
claims such authority that great faith was placed in

it, has been assuring its readers that Austria was
disposed to do almost anything to bring about a
pacific solution of the difficulty. Many other similar
delusions might be cited.
The Siecle says :

" We will ask all impartial minds whether it be
not always with the same blindness that Austria is
hurried forward. In 1859, when she invaded the
territory of the Peninsula, and now when she
haughtily repulses the proposals made to her in the
most courteous form by France, England, and
Russia ? Austria, in acting thus, places herself be-
yond the pale of enlightened Governments."
The following is from the Moniteur :
" Letters from Aleppo state that the Governor-
General, Djedet Pasha, feeling the necessity of
making provision for the population until the en-
suing harvest, has requested and obtained from the
central Government permission for the admission,
during three months, free of customs' duty, the im-
portation of corn and flour by the Alexandrette
station. This measure came into operation on the
11th April, and will continue so till July 12. The
(10500 piastres the
0 quarts). If
pariaesnethnatip, roirces3oiff.cothrne ahtecAtoleipitpare
this price be compaied . with that of the
cereals of France, it is evident that our
corn and flour will find a very profitable
sale, whatever may be the expense of transport from
Marseilles to Alexandrette. The daily comsump-
tion of the town of Aleppo is estimated at about 600
hectolitres of flour, and our commerce may calcu-
late that in three months 60,000 hectolitres of corn
and flour will be consumed in that town alone. It
appears certain that the resources of the country are
exhausted, and that the. populations there are in the
same state of scarcity as the inhabitants of the
town. If, as there is unfortunately reason to fear,
the next harvest should partially fail, the country
must require from foreigners at least a million hec-
tolitres of corn, or their equivalent in flour. In
this respect, however, an accurate judgment cannot
be formed until the last half of July, when the re-
sult of the harvest at Diarbekir, Mossoul, Hauran,
and Anatolia will be known exactly at Aleppo."

La Liberte gives the following sketch of the ag-
grandisements of Prussia. At the end of the 17th
century Prussia was only a Duchy called Branden-
bourg, but the victory of Fehrbelin, at which Frede-
rick William triumphed over the famous Swedish
infantry of Gustavus Adolphus, obtained such re-
nown throughout Germany that the Emperor gave
to the Duke de Brandenbourg the permission to call
himself King (1701) and recognised his kingdom.
This made Prince Eugene say, " The Emperor ought
to hang the Ministers who gave him such perfidious
advice." If Prqssia should intend to profit in the
nineteenth century by its aggrandisement as it did
in the eighteenth, by turning to advantage her neu-
tralities as well as her victories, Austria and
Europe have not done with her. If her present
ambition be equal to her ambition during the past,
there is permanent danger to the peace of Europe.
Frederick the Second (1740 to 1786) wrested
Silesia from Austria in violation of trea-
ties, appropriated a portion of Poland, and
forced Austria, by the peace of Teschen, to give
up to her an important province of Bavaria. Fre-
derick William 11., successor and nephew of
Frederick (1786 to 1797), enlarged his kingdom by
the second and third partition of Poland, and by
the annexation of the Principalities of Auspach and
Bareith. Frederick William 11. recovered by the
treaties of 1815 his ancient possessions, and ob-
tained more than half of Saxony, the Grand Duchy
of Posen, the city of Dantzic, a portion of West-
phalia, the Grand Duchy of Berg, the Duchy of
Juliers, the greater portion of the Electorates of
Cologne and Troves and Swedish Pomerania. In
1834 Prussia acquired the Principality of Litchen-
berg. Iu 1849 the Princes of Hohenzollern ceded
their Principalities to her. In 1835 Prussiabought
the Grand Duchy of Oldenbourg for 2,000,000 of
francs, a 'portion of territory on the Gulf of La
Jaide, in order to construct a war port. She also
was admitted among the States of the Baltic. In
1864 she purchased the Duchy of Lanenbourg with
Austriat fgrioviiun
glltee
rnrmi
taork ri
al cnoomwp
:hues
altviioshn etso taon
ya nsnteaxte,
in Europe, the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
This has been the progress of Prussia during little
more than a century. From 3,000,000 of inhabi-
tswainl
lt r
ehaecrhl27uoolaot, iooono.h asT
This,
ohtio ew
etvB,ero,odoi
d,OOO, not
parried-
vent William I. from replying to the Municipality

of Breslau, " May the royal word convince you that
it is not with an ambitious view, but the duty of
Prussia which may lead the King to call his people
to arms."

Among the projects of law just presented to the

Senate is one for allowing a supplementary credit
of 1,900,000 f. for the Ministry of Marine, and
another for the supplementary credit of 52,157 f. for
public education.

The following is the result of the first day's
races at Angers : Prix Departmental, 2,000 f. :
Pauline, 1; Novateur, 2. Prix Imperial, 4,000 f. :
Gontran, 1 ; Berthe, 2. First Biennial Prize, 1866-
67, 2,000 f.: Penleven, 1 ; Westward Ho, 2. Prize
given by the town of Angers (handicap), 2,500 f.:,
Rochefort, 1 ; Mevedes, 2. Cruise de Ilaies, Hedge
Race (handicap) : Pronostu, 1; Lansquenet, 2 ;
Fontain, 3.
Batty, the lion tamer, has had another narrow
escape with his life, and this time the injuries he
received are rather serious. On Monday evening,
when he entered the den, the animals seemed rather
more excited than usual—it is supposed from the
effects of the stormy atmosphere. , Batty, to please
the spectators, excited the animals still more by
striking them with a whip. The lioness sprung
upon him, tore his face with her claws, and also
tore off a piece of his dress from the shoulder.
Batty was thrown down, and,the lioness seized his
arm and dragged him to the other end of the den.
This terrible sight produced alarm, and many of
the ladies rushed to the door. Batty, however, ex-
tricated himself, and although the blood was per-
ceptible and his tunic torn, he preserved his coolness

and compelled the animals to recede from him.
This courage is worthy of a better cause. As it is
the spectacle is certainly a dangerous one. When
he came out of the den he was congratulated cor-
dially. His injuries are not alarming.
_ _

The circular railway round Paris is finished, and
locomotives can now traverse the whole distance,

40 kilometres (a kilometre is 1,000 metres). The
last portion was between Grenelle and the beautiful
new viaduct at the Point du Jour of Auteuil, and
this is completed. This railway
Fill add materially
to the interesting features of Paris, and it will also
prove of great convenience, particularly during the
Exhibition. The term for the formal opening is
not yet fixed.

Rather a clever trick has been practised upon the
proprietor of a hotel in the Rue Jacob. A gentle-
manly young man stopped there five days, and ran
up a tolerable bill,
for he lived well, and washed
down his repasts with abundance of expensive wine.
At the end of the fifth day he took the proprietor
aside, and said he must return to Paris, but having
been disappointed in the receipt of money he would
leave his watch, and in order to show that it was
good security they both
went to a jeweller, who
said that the watch was worth 250 f. 'The guest
gave the watch to the landlord, but said he would
keep the chain, as then no one would perceive the
temporary absence of the watch. The landlord was
satisfied, and the Young man departed. Some days
afterwards he received a telegram, signed " The
young man with the watch," telling him that he
might sell it, pay his bill, and give the rest to the
waiter. On taking the watch to the same• watch-
maker, it was discovered that the young man had
in a second contrived to substitute for the gold
watch, which the jeweller had valued at 250 f., A