The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-12 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Friday Evening.
The telegrams and private letters in the Paris
papers to-day are so contradictory that it is diffi-
cult to form an accurate judgment respecting them.
Some say that war is certain. Others assert that
there are reasonable prospects of peace. What is
certain is, that the royal decree signed by Victor
Emmanuel placing, for the moment, a corps of Ita-
lian volunteers under the command of Garibaldi,
has given great offence to Austria. The corps
is to consist of twenty battalions. They have
engaged for one year only, so that, if war
should be averted, these men will soon re-
turn to their homes. It is stated on the Bourse
to-day that when the Austrian Government became
aware that an authorised command of troops had
been given to Garibaldi it immediately issued a
declaration of war against Italy. Perhaps this may
only be a Bourse report, but to-day we have been
inundated with warlike and improbable rumours.
Among the other reports of the day, it is said that
should Austria really declare war against Italy
the treaty for the withdrawal of the French troops
from Rome will not be carried into effect. The
Temps says it has doubt upon the point, but the
Siecle expresses its conviction that there will be no
infraction of the treaty.

The JOU? nal, des Debats, commenting upon the
proposition made to the Diet at Frankfort by
Saxony, says:—" By the adoption of the proposal
made by Saxony, the Diet pronounced itself openly
against Prussia, and really unanimously, Prussia
having only two votes in her favour, those of Elec-
toral Hesse and Oldenburg, two of the smallest
States of the Confederatibn. It is very doubtful,
however, whether Prussia will care much about the
attitude assumed by the Diet. The speech of her
representative at the Diet at the same sitting may
be considered as one of open defiance."
The " bulletin" of the Moniteur, or what we call
the first leading article, does not throw any light
upon the existing crisis in Germany.
The races at Lyons on Sunday were attended with
very lamentable results. Six officers took part in
them. One of the horses fell, and the other horses
were precipitated to the ground. The officer who
rode the first horse, M. Moussy, sub-lieutenant of
the 6th Lancers, was killed upon the spot; and M.
Riquet, lieutenant in the 7th Lancers, died from
the injuries he received in the course of the even-
ing. If anything could add bitterness to the cala-
mity, it is the fact that the races took place in sup-
port of one of the charitable institutions of Lyons.
The Constitutionnel, in its review of the opinions
of the English newspapers, says that most of them
are in favour of neutrality. It adds, however—
" The Sun deplores the manner—the unworthy
manner—in which this neutrality has been carried
out. The part played by England appears to The
Sun to be pitiful and failing in the influence which
England has heretofore exercised."

The Austrian Gazette, the official organ of that
empire, says :—" While we admit that the danger
of war is imminent, yet if the assurances given by
Prussia and Italy, that they have not the intention
to make the first attack, are as serious and sincere
as those given by Austria, there is still some hope of
the preservation of peace in spite of the increase of
the armaments.

A writer in the Siecle, who says he knows Blind,
the alleged father of the attempted assassin of M.
Bismark, very well, denies the statements made both
by the Paris and London papers, and promises some
authentic particulars respecting him.
The fine weather is gone again for the moment.
It has rained heavily almost all day, and the baro-
meter indicates stormy and unsettled results for
the present.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.