The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-02 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, JAN. 1.
Prince Metternich IVinneburg, Ambassador Ex-
traordinary of the Emperor of Austria, was received
yesterday by the Emperor Napoleon at the Tuileries
in private audience, in order to deliver to his
Majesty the insignia of the order of Saint Stephen,
conferred by the Emperor of Austria upon the
Prince Imperial.
In placing the insignia of the order in his
Majesty's hand, the Ambassador said :
" Sire,--Wishing to afford your Majesty a fresh
proof of friendship, my august Sovereign has
charged me to deliver to the Prince Imperial in his
name the insignia of his order of Saint Stephen.
His Majesty desires that the heir to the throne of
France should early learn to appreciate the sincere
interest which he entertains towards him, and which
will never cease."

The Emperor, in his reply, said he should him-
self thank the Emperor of Austria by letter for the
proof of interest thus displayed towards his son, and
for which he was deeply sensible. His Majesty
added that the Prince Imperial would always re-
member this high mark of solicitude on the part of
a Sovereign for whom his father professed a sincere
friendship.
A Council of Ministers was held at the Tuileries
on Saturday, the Emperor presiding.
The King and Queen of Portugal with the Prince
Royal arrived at Lisbon on Saturday evening. Their
Majesties were in excellent health, notwithstanding
the fatigues of their long and rapid journey.
The Moniteur announces the following promotions
in the Emperor's household :—Gen. Fleury, Senator
and First Equerry, to the dignity of Grand Equerry ;
General Prince de la Moskowa, First Huntsman, to
the dignity of Grand Huntsman ; M. Davillier
Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, Commanding
Equerry, to be First Equerry to the Emperor ; and
General the Marquis de Toulongeon to be Chief of
the Emperor's shooting equipage.

In the Paris corn market last week business was
very quiet, with but trifling fluctuations in prices.
The four marks of flour were quoted with an ad-
vance of 25c., at 52f. 50c. the sack of 157 kilos.
Wheat remains at 28f. the 120 kilos. ; rye has de-
clined 25c., to 18f. 25c. the 115 kilos. ; barley is
unchanged at 17f. 25c. to 17f. 50c., the 100 kilos. ;
oats have improved 50c., the price being 21f. 50c.
the 100 kilos. At the cattle market at Sceaux,
oxen sold at If. 4c. to If. 42c. the kilo. ; cows at
86c. to if. 26c. ; calves at if. 54c. to If. 92c. ; and
sheep at lf. 34c. to if. 64c. At Poissy the prices
were If. 4c. to If. 4Gc. ; 88c. to lf. 30c. ; lf. 58c.
to If. 96c. ; and If. 30e. to lf. 62e. respectively.
At the last sitting of the Academy of Sciences,
M. Mathieu presented the academy with the
" Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes for 1866,"
and M. Serret the first volume of his " Algebre
Sup6rieure," third edition. M. Leon Foucault pro-
duced a new apparatus for regulating electric light.
It keeps the two charcoal pencils at the distance
required by an automatic motion which pushes
them forward or draws them back as occa-
sion may require. The two sets of clockwork
which produce this effect communicate with an
electro-magnet, which, as it bends either to the
right or left, puts the corresponding set in mo-
tion, and when in an intermediate position stops
the motion of both. But in order to establish a con-
nection between the two sets, so that the one may
not be independent of the other, M. Foucault has
introduced a sun-and-planet wheel which acts on the
catch of the electro-magnet.-A paper was received
from M. Plateau on the muscular force of insects. The
principal results at which he arrives are these : -1.
Except in flying, insects have much greater power
of traction than vetebratve. Thus, while the
draught-horse can only exercise a force of traction
equal to two-thirds of ifs weight, the cockchafer
can draw fourteen times its own weight. 2. In the
same groups of insects the smallest and lightest
have the greatest power of traction. And these re-
sults M. Plateau considers as not proceeding from
muscles of a comparatively larger size, but from
greater muscular activity. A letter was received
from M. Manuel Diaz, of Caracas, concerning several
inventions of his ; one especially, which consists in
applying air-balloons to various purposes by towing
them along just as boats are towed along on rivers;
another for turning to account the impact of the
waves on the sea shore, and a third to be applied to
railway engines that arc to go up steep slopes.
Araollgst the noreltits in toys on hale in one of

the wooden booths on the Boulevards is a figure re-
presenting a mason, who by a little mechanical con-
trivance is made to give strokes of his hammer in
several directions. It bears the name of " The
Municipal Demolisher."
The weather yesterday in Paris remained favour-
able, although at times threatening rain. A violent
gale of wind blew during all the early part of the
day. The temperature was unusually mild for the
last day of the year. At three in the afternoon the
thermometer marked six above zero Centigrade
(42 4-10 Fahrenheit).
Count de Saint-Marsault, senator, has been ap-
pointed Chevalier d'Honneur, to the Princess
Mathilde.
By Imperial decrees of the 30th Dec. the Abbe
Grimardias, Archpriest of Notre Dame of Cler-
mint, is named Bishop of Cahors, in the place of
Mgr. Peschoud, deceased ; and the Abbe Becel,
Archpriest of St.. Peter's, at Vanneo, to be bishop
of that diocese, in the place of Mgr. Gazailhan,
whose resignation has been accepted.
" The notice," says the Moniteur, " given to Eng-
land by France of the intention to terminate the
treaty of extradition, at first produced in London a
certain emotion. The public was not sufficiently
acquainted with the motives by which the Emperor's
Government had been inspired ; but having since
learned that the non-execution of the treaty by
England was the sole cause of that determination,
the press of London express a desire that a fresh
arrangement may be established between the two
Powers, in order henceforth to prevent an impunity
for crimes, the repression of which is inscribed in
the penal code of all civilised nations."

A man and woman named Brandon have just
been charged before the Tribunal of Correctional
Police in Paris with annoying a neighbour named
Fauconnet by having trained a parrot to repeat the
words, " Fauconnet is a thief, a miser, a pig," &c.
They were fined 16fr. each, and ordered to pay be-
tween them 50fr. damages.
Count de Moynier has brought an action against
M. Thiers for having attributed to General Count
de Sdgur a feat of arms which occurred before
Rheims in the campaign of 1814, consisting in the
defeat of a division of the allied army and capture
of eleven guns, the honour of which exploit the
Count claims for his father. The case was to have
been pleaded on Saturday in the First Chamber of
the Civil Tribunal, but M. Baze, counsel for M.
Thiers, obtained a postponement.
One of the men arrested on the charge of mur-
dering Mme. Chabesiere, in the Rue de Clichy, has
since confessed the crime. They had both gone to
the shop under the pretext of purchasing a pair of
gaiters, and while the woman was stooping down
to try them on she was struck on the head with a
heavy instrument. The murderers are aged respec-
tively 20 and 23, and are both ironmongers' shop-
men ; they belong to respectable families, but were
of idle and dissolute character, and never remained
long in any situation. When arrested they were stay-
ing in a low lodging house under assumed names. The
younger was the nephew of a woman who frequently
visited the deceased, and it was through questions
put to the aunt that the first clue to the' discovery
of the guilty parties was obtained.

A deplorable accident occurred the evening before
last in the workshops of a manufacturing jeweller
in the Rue de la Jussienne. While one of the men
was pouring spirits of wine from a carboy, another
approached too near with a light. The consequence
was that a fearful explosion took place, and several
of the persons present were severely injured. The
burning fluid set fire to the clothes of seven work-

people, two of whom, sisters named Raff, aged 23
and 21, were so dreadfully burnt that it was found
necessary to convey them at once to the Hopital
Dubois. The others, after having their burns
dressed, were removed to the Hotel Dieu, or to their
own homes. The damage done was trifling.

Quarantine in the Papal States.

---e-

JANUARY 1, 1865.
The following information has this day been re-
ceived at the Foreign Office from the British Vice-
Consul at Civita Vecchia, dated December 24, 1865 :
" I have received official information from the
local authorities here that from the date of yes-
terday, the 23rd instant, it has been decided that
vessels, passengers, and crews of vessels arriving
from Marseilles and other southern French ports,
and from the coast of Spain, are to be admitted
to free pratique ; the effects of passengers and
crews, however, to be subjected to a process of dis-
infection by chloride of lime. I have also further to
report, without, however, having received official
notice thereof, that the Papal authorities at the
frontier no longer demand or require a certificate of
residence for a given period in an uninfected locality,
and that the disinfecting process by fumigation of
the person at Montalto and of luggage here has
likewise been discontinued ; so that approaches to
Rome by both land and sea may again be considered
as being free and unimpeded."