The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-24 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Monday Evening.
The illoniteur says :—" It is very difficult to un-
derstand the positions occupied by the Bth Federal
Corps, commanded by Prince Alexander of Hesse,
for the Prussians have entered Darmstadt and the
north of the Grand Duchy of Baden without en-
countering any resistance. It is possible that from
Waldurn, which it occupied at the last accounts,
the Bth Corps may have marched to join the Ba-
varian army encamped at Wurtzburg. The head-
quarters of the King of Prussia are still at Nikols-
burg, where the negotiations are proceeding for
the suspension of hostilities."
The following is from the Siecle :—" Should the
proposal for an armistice end in nothing, we wish
to remark, that our correspondent with the Prus-
sian army, whose information, has hitherto proved
so correct, expresses a doubt upon a most important
fact. The Austrian army of the North had the
time to retreat to Vienna or Presbourg, that is to
say, upon the line of the Danube, before the Prus-
sians succeeded in establishing themselves upon the
railway line of Olmutz, Hraditch, Lundenbourg,
and Vienna. The Bth Corps only occupied Olmutz,
with the usual garrison of that place. The military
situation of Austria is sensibly improved by this
fact. There is no longer any doubt that she-has
now at disposal at least 200,000 men, either at the
camp of Florisdorf or behind the river."
The Presse of Vienna says :—" With all the
energy of a deep conviction, and with patriotic
candour, that if the struggle, which comprises the
existence of the Austrian Empire, should continue,
it ought'to be, not for German unity, but uniquely
and solely for the integrity of the Austrian
monarchy." Reports of all sorts are abundant. One
which seems to require confirmation is, that Austria
is in a very pacific mood, and is ready not only to
accept the proposals of France, but to consent to
the creation of a Confederation of which Prussia
would be the head, and from which she herself would
be excluded. Nevertheless, some of the German
papers seem to be resigned to the humiliating idea
that Austria should henceforward be excluded from
the German Confederation.
The Opinions Nationale argues that there ought
to be a radical solution of the German difficulty,
and that Prussia and Austria should never again be
allowed to draw the sword in order to endeavour to
obtain, either one or the other, preponderance in
Germany. Some of the other Paris papers call for
a dissolution of the old Germanic Confederation and
the construction of a new Confederation from which
Austria should be excluded. It is La Liberte,
always wild, furious, and Quixotic, which chiefly
argues in this strain. On the other hand, several
Paris papers emphatically call upon Austria not to
accept any conditions incompatible with its claims
as a Christian Empire, a free State, and a Power
indispensable to the balance of European limits, and
to engage in more combats rather than humiliate
herself in her own esteem and that of the world

generally.
An odd freak is mentioned of a young man who,
in a fit of somnambulism, jumped out of the first
floor window of the house where he lived in the Rue
Coquilliere at two o'clock in the morning. He was
dressed, or rather undressed, only in his shirt and

flannel waistcoat. His first visit was to the Bank,
which is near his own street, but the sentinel, not
expecting such a visitor, particularly at that hour,
rather roughly repulsed him. He then walked near

the Halle, which is crowded with carts at almost all
hours, but he crossed as carefully as if he hal been
awake. A passer-by gave him a shake, which
brought him to his recollection,and a severe pain in
his leg reminded him. also that he must have hurt
himself in jumping out of the window. For some

time he has been in the habit of walking about in
his sleep.
A Municipal Museum is to be established in Paris,
which, besides other valuable collections, will com-
prise Anglo-American rare books, pictures, and
other works of art. Among the things of note it
will contain the missal of Juvenal des Ursins, pur-
chased five years ago at the sale of Prince Saltikoff
by Fermin Didot, the bookseller, on account of the
City of Paris, for 35,000 fr. Reading-rooms will
established at the museum.

The Constitutionnel complains bitterly of the
Journal del Debats, because it is not satisfied with
remarks made in the English Legislature upon the
new Extradition Bill, with which it says the French

Government is perfectly contented. The new Eng-
lish Ministry, it adds, like the last, acknowledges
the justice of the motives which induced the French
Government to denounce the last treaty. " The
new bill has no other object than to remove the
difficulties which heretofore existed."

The Union, a religious journal, under the head o
Affecting preparation for baptism" has the fol•

lowing :—" A New Zealand chief, the husband of
12 wives, went to a missionary and begged him to
receive him into the body of the Church through
baptism. The missionary told the chief that Chris-

tianity forbade polygamy, and that he could only
baptise him if he were the husband of one woman.

The chief withdrew, filled with melancholy. Two
months afterwards he returned to the missionary.
"My father," said the chief of a savage tribe, now
supposing himself to be blessed with the grace of
Heaven, " I can be baptised now." "And your
wives," said the missionary, " what have_ you done
with them ?" The savage replied with a smile, " I
have eaten them all, father." Upon this the savage
was baptised in the new faith.