The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-21 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Thursday Evening.
The plan for the reorganisation of the French
army having encountered some opposition, the
following remarks from the Constitutionnel, which

seems dispose of the objections, are worthy of
attention :—" Although we never had in the Crimea

and in Italy more than 120,000 men at a time, if
grave circumstances had arisen, and they very
nearly presented themselves, it would have been
very difficult for us to have placed in battle array
new troops so numerous and so well exercised.
How, when we were upon the Mincio, could we
have arrayed an army upod the Rhine ? It was,
perhaps, necessary, but it was almost impossible.
These are truths which must be confessed, though
they may wound our pride, because it is not with
soft words that you can supply resources of which
you are deficient, or that you can satLfy the most
imperious wants of the nation. It was after hav-
ing acknowledged, with all practical men of war,
the necessity of augmenting our military forces,
that the Emperor decided to appoint the high Com-
mission, under his presidency, to consider this im-
portant question. If he had not been conscious of
his duty as Sovereign, it would certainly have been

I very easy for him to have done nothing, for it is not
the possibility of having an eventual reserve in
addition, a reserve of 200,000 men, that can
augment his influence and his power. He knows,
on the contrary, that every increase of burthen may
injure his popularity. But with the idea of ren-
dering to his country a durable service, he did not
hesitate, and does not hesitate, to sacrifice every-
thing for the benefit of his country. If we were not
exposed to the hatred of party, which unceasingly
endeavours to turn to the prejudice of the Govern-
ment its most praiseworthy intentions, everything
that is patriotic, all who feel in their heart the love
of France would support the Government in the
task upon which it has entered with so much reso-
lution and devotion, instead of harassing it with
unjust opposition."
The Moniteur contains' a long report from M.
Achille Fould, the Minister of Finance, i❑ reference
to the financial resources of France. The inference

[le Minister draws from the various details is, tha

the receipts and expenses for 1866 will be balanced.
The Minister expresses his confidence that under all
the circumstances he shall be able to prepare the
reltificatory Budget of 1868 under favourable cir-
cumstances. " The excess of receipts over expen-
diture will, I hope, be considerable enough in 1868
to permit your Majesty to realise the programme
in view for a long time, and which your Majesty
wishes to carry into execution without delay.
These are the points of that programme. Deduction
of the burthens which press upon tax-payers.
Augmentation of the resources devoted to public
instruction. A still more energetic impulse to the
works of general utility which are to be carried
on upon the territory of the Empire." In conclu-
sion, a belief is expressed by the Minister that
" the Exhibition of next year will improve all the
elements of the public fortune."
The steam corvette Le Catinat has arrived at
Marseilles, having on board Gen. Montebello and
his staff from Rome.

Accounts from Berlin state that the Budget for
- _

1867, proposed by the Government, has been de-
finitively agreed to, with a few modifications, to
which the Prussian Cabinet agreed.

A letter from Berlin gives afew additional par-
ticulars respecting the constitution of the new Con-
federation of the North. A definitive Parliament
is to be chosen by universal suffrage and by direct
election. The functionaries will not be eligible for
election, although the Deputies are not to receive
any pay. The Constitution agreed upon by the
Deputies will be embodied in the form of a treaty.
The Imperial Commission of the Great Exhibi-

tion has just published another general notice,
which, among other things, states that " products,
as well French as foreign, will be admitted into the
interior of the Exhibition from the 15th of January,
1867, until, and including, the 10th of March fol-
lowing."

The Moniteur contradicts a report, to which I
alluded, that M. Merimee, Senator, possesses a head
supposed to be that of Cardinal Richelieu. So
inexact is the statement that M. i\lerimee went to
the Minister of Public Instruction to see the head
which has just been joined to the remains, and it
was upon M. Merimee's suggestion that M. Duruy
caused a cast of the authentic head to be taken. •

One of the papers talc dates that the Message of
President Johnson contains more than 40,000 words,
and if it had been sent by the Atlantic telegraph it
would have cost more than a million of francs.

The weather to-day has been very foggy, cheer-
Less, and cold.

The Siccie, remarking upon the affairs of Hun-
gary and Germany generally, says—" Rarely has a
political situation presented more serious difficul-
ties." One of the letters from Berlin states that a
law will be submitted to the Confederate Parlia-
ment of the North of Germany, fixing the active
army of the Confederation upon the peace footing
of 1 per cent. of the population. Thus the perma-
nent army of the Confederate States will not amount
to 300,000. men. Prussia will have the advantage
of a considerable reduction of expense, as her pre-
sent active army exceeds the proportion proposed in
the budget. In Austria the political reorganisation
of the empire continues to encounter grave obstacles
in consequence of the claims of the various nationa-
lities.

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS AND NEW YEAR'S GIFTS.

—The best and most varied assortment is to be found at
Rimmel's, 96, Strand, 128, Regent-street, 24, Cornhill, aua
Crystal Palace. Scout Cases, Fans, Toilet Sets, Smelling
Bottles, Perfume Boxes and Baskets, &d. Ornaments for
Christmas Trees, from Gd.; Christmas Sachets, 6d., ls.,
and 2s. 6d.; Christmas Cards, 2s. per dozen. Rimmel's
Perfumed Almanack, Gd., by post for 7 stamps. The Now

Lithinated and Perfumed Diuuer Cards, 35., by post for

37 stamps.
ALMANAC LITERATURE.—The close of the year
brings before us a new issue of the interesting Annual of
the Royal Insurance Company in the usual form of a very
useful and elegantly appointed almanac. The information
so carefully compiled on the subject of Insurance generally
will prove of much value to all interested in this impor-
tant topic ; but what is most remarkable in the contents of
the little book in question is the record it contains of the
unexampled prosperity of the concern it represents. When
a company can pay in a single year, as the "Royal" has
done, fire claims to the amount of about £310,000, and yet
show a balance in its favour, it becomes a self-evident fact

that the transactions of the association aro on such a scale
of magnitude as to indicate the entire confidence of the
public in the manner in which its affairs aro conducted
The new Life buiiiiess for 1865 reached the onamous sum
of £886,000, and the net fire premiums for the year were
£414,700.