The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 17, 1866,

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FRO3I OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Wednesday Evening.
Not only is the news from Germany warlike to-
day, but some of the reports at the Bourse and
elsewhere tending to a pacific solution of the diffi-
culties are officially contradicted. Thus it is denied
that there has been a suspension of armaments, as
was confidently reported. A contradiction is also
given to the statement that the Archduke Renier
had been sent from Austria to Berlin with amicable
proposals. The Moniteur repeats its previous asser-
tion that the armaments are pushed forward with
great activity. Some of the States which hitherto
had delayed the mobilisation of their troops, among
others the Grand Duchy of Hesse, are now hasten-
ing their warlike preparations, and are eagerly pur-
chasing horses. Letters from Florence entirely con-
firm the news that Garibaldi had accepted the com-
mand of the Volunteers. In doing so he expressed
a hope that he should soon assist, with the glorious
army of Italy, in the accomplishment of the des-
tinies of the nation. The King of Italy was about
to leave the capital for the head-quarters of the
army. A portion of the Italian fleet was to sail from
Tarento for Ancona.
The Ost Deutsche Post assumes a very animated
tone of defiance. It says, " Since Austria proceeds
from menaces to action, we make the most sincere
prayers that she may receive a second lesson, and
that she may for ever be driven from that Venetia
upon whom sbe has imposed for half a century the
most poignant tortures and the most odious rule."
The Gazette de Vienne publishes a proclamation
from the Marshal of the Diet of Lower Austria,
Colloredo Mansfeld, and the Mayor, Andre
Zelinki, to the inhabitants, calling upon them to
form a body of volunteers, and to place subscrip-
tions upon the altar of the country. In this pro-
clamation it is said, " The country calls and the
moment is grave and solemn. They dare to lay a
criminal hand upon the destinies of Austria. We
wish to show that the strength of Austria, although
exposed to trials, is not destroyed. We wish to
oppose with force and union the enemy who insults
and tramples upon every right, and Vienna, the first
city of the empire, will be the first to support the
honour and grandeur of Austria." They who cling
to the idea of a pacific solution must feel that the
situation is precarious when the administrative
authorities of Austria adopt a tone like this.
According to another Austrian paper war is

reckoned upon with so much certainty that the
aristocratic ladies of Vienna have formed a com-
mittee "to attend upon and assist the wounded
soldiers." Apartments with gardens are about to be
hired in the environs of Vienna, and there is to be a
lottery to provide for the expenses of assisting the
sick and wounded. Many rich proprietors of Vienna
have declared to the authorities that they are ready
to receive two or three wounded men. I might
multiply such statements indicative of the belief in
and enthusiasism for the war, but these may be suffi-
cient to show that at Vienna, at least, the advent
of war is now treated almost as an " accomplished
fact."

The feeling in Italy is equally or more enthusi-
astic. The enrolments augment rapidly as ever for
the Volunteer Regiments to be commanded by
Garibaldi as for the regular army. The soldiers of
the reserve reply to the appeal enthusiastically, and
the municipal authorities zealously assist the action
of the Government. At Milan there has been pur-
chased by subscription au annual Rente of 365 f.,
which is to be bestowed upon the first soldier who
shall enter Venice.

An influential Italian journal argues that prepa-
rations shall be made for war by every effort and
every mode possible. " Everything is subordinate
to the character which the State will know how to
play in this grand drama, the result of which may
be destruction of the treaties of 1815, which the
Emperor Napoleon 111., in concert with all the
friends of national right, has always detested !"
A private letter from Turin, dated May 12,
speaks of the great excitement and note of military
preparation exhibited there. The King of Italy
had sent to Garibaldi, by one of his aides-de-camp,
Count Tecchi, at Cabrara, the ordonnauce by which
he confers upon him the command of the volunteers,
and also his commission as a general of the army,
a rank corresponding with that of field-marshal
in France.

The value of house property in France may be
judged by the amount just awarded to proprietors
of 151 houses in the Quartier St. Victor, which are
to be pulled down for the purpose of embellishment
and improvement. The amount offered by the city
of Paris was 9,359,920 f., the amount of the claims
made was 25,451,639 f. The jury awarded
17,905,700 f. In these houses there lived no less than
15,000 persons.
There has been, or there is about to be, a meet-
ing of the foreign ambassadors iu Paris, at the in-
stance of M. Drouyn de I'Huys, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, to confer upon the present crisis.
Having cited the facts, I add an opinion, for what
it may be worth. The Gazette de France says,
"It is useless to form illusions. War is inevitable."

Prince Jerome Napoleon has returned to Paris
from his tour in Italy, but it is said that he intends
to leave again in a few days.

A lady, who had much political influence under
the Restoration and at the time of the Revolution
of July, the Countess de Borgne, has just died at
Paris at the age of 86. Her family name was
Osmond.

The death is announced of M. Remandeau d'Arc,
an advocate of the Imperial Court of Rouen, who
is a lineal descendant of one of the brothers of the
heroine of Orleans, Joan of Arc.
The weather has been fine and dry to-day, but
very cold. The fields in the country were covered
with white frost early this morning.

The last week's railway receipts, ascertained up
to this date, are in round figures as under:—
_

1866. 1865.
Great Western £72,419 £69,333
North Western ... 114,014 114,825
South Western ... 24,743 24,466
Brighton ... 20,110 18,975
Midland 41,659 44,660
South Eastern ... 22,633 21,214
Great Northern ••• 37,750 32,859
Lancashire and Yorkshire ... ••• 45,453 39,336
Bristol and Exeter ... ••• 6,991 6,868
North Eastern ... 72,618 68,083
Great Eastern ... 34,311 32,985
London, Chatham, and Dover ... 9,701 8,727
North Stafford ... 8,686 8,142

These returns, when compared with those of the
corresponding period of last year, show in most in-
stances some very favourable features. On the Great
Western there is an increase of £3,086 ; on the
North Western of £1,189 ; on the South Western

of £277; on the Brighton of £1,135; on the
Midland of £3,999; on the South Eastern of £1,919;
on the Great Northern of £4,891; on the Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire of £6,117 ; on the Bristol and
Exeter of £123 ; on the North Eastern of £4,535;
on the Great Eastern of £1,326 ; on the London,
Chatham, and Dover of £947 ; and on the North
Stafford of £544.

The following very satisfactory circular has been
issued by Messrs. Hallett, Ommanney, and Co.:—

‘:l4, Great George-street, Westminster, May 16.

" We are most happy to inform you that arrangements
are in progress with the London Joint-Stock Bank by
which it is intended that the business heretofore carried on
by us will forthwith be conducted as a branch of that
establishment at our present offices. With a view to the
convenience of the creditors and to obviate the consequences
of delay in realizing the assets, a sum equal to 10s. in the
pound will, with the assent of the creditors, be advanced by
the bank and placed to their credit in account, the bank
receiving the dividends payable on: the respective claims so
far as may be requisite for the liquidation of such advance,
and the surplus arising from our estate to be paid to the
creditors when realised.

"Upon this arrangement being carried out, our Mr.
James A. Hallett will be charged with the management of
the new branch, and we trust that you will favour the Lon-
don Joint-Stock Bank with your confidence and support.
—We are, &c., " HALLETT, OMMANEY, AND CO."
" P.S. It is hoped the new business will bo opened on
Monday, the 21st inst., when the creditors are requested to
call at our o ffices, and make the requisite arrangements."

At the bullion department of the Bank of Eng-
land yesterday, the operations comprised a receipt
of 20,000 sovereigns from Alexandria, and a with-
drawal of £86,000 in gold for transmission to the
Continent.

The bidding for bills on India took place yester-
day afternoon at the Bank of England. The pro-
portions allotted were to Madras £5,020, and to
Bombay £103,000. The minimum price was as
before, ls. 111 d. on Calcutta and Madras, and
ls. 110. on Bombay, and all tenders at and above
the minimum will receive in full.

The dollars which lately arrived from Mexico
have been sold at ss. Old. per oz. for refining, and
are to be sent to Hamburg. Bar silver has been
sold for the same place at 62d. per oz., which is a
rise of id., and demand is good.

It is announced that the estate of Messrs. Fernie
Brothers and Co., in the shipping trade, whose
affairs have been the subject of rumour for some
days past, is to be liquidated under inspection. It
is said that the estate shows a large surplus. The
liquidation has been determined upon in order to
prevent the sacrifices which would be involved
through an immediate realisation of the property,
which consists to a large extent of ships in the actual
possession of the firm.

There has been a private meeting of some of the
shareholders and depositors in the firm of Messrs.
0 verend, Gurney, and Co. (Limited). A rough
statement was presented of the returns and profits
of this concern, the results proving that the profits
amounted to nearly £230,000 per annum, and that
the present disastrous position was the result of old
difficulties, and not arising from recent transactions.
A general wish was expressed that Messrs. Shep-
pards, Pelly, and Allcard, the brokers, should con-
vene a meeting of those interested to make arrange-
ments to secure the goodwill of so valuable a busi-
ness. In accordance with this object, a public
meeting will be held at the London Tavern on Wed-
nesday, the 23d inst., at 12 o'clock, to adopt the
course best suited to the present emergency.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY is divided into two corps
d'armee, of which the staff is always kept up. Six of them
have just been mobilised, that is to say, put upon a war
footing. They have their headquarters; the Guard and
the third corps at Berlin ; the fourth corps at Magdeburg,
in the province of Saxony ; the fifth at Posen, in Prussian
Poland ; the sixth at Breslau, in Silesia ; and the eighth at
Coblentz, in Rhenish Prussia. Each corps d'armee now on
the war footing has about 30,000 men, which gives a total
of 180,000. The cavalry, comprising sixty regiments, is
entirely mobilised, and forms a total of 38,000 horses;
finally, the artillery, also mobilised, gives an effective of
28,000 men and 760 guns. As the partial mobilisation
which has just taken place only carries the Prussian force
to 246,000 men, the Council of Ministers decided on the
sth to proceed with the three other corps, the first, second,
and seventh.

LA TEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

THE EUROPEAN CONGRESS.
BRUSSELS, MAY 17.

The Independance Belge of to-day publishes a tele-
gram from London, dated 16th inst., announcing
that the French Ambassador at the Court of St.
James's proposed to the English Government, on
the 9th May, that the programme of the projected
congress should be limited to three points, namely :
Venetia, Schleswig-Holstein, and also German
Federal Reform, in as far as the latter question
affects the European equilibrium.

PARIS, MAY 17.

The Constitutionnel of to-day publishes an article
pointing out the serious nature of the differences
between Austria, Prussia, and Italy, and says :
" The neutral powers could not induce either
of the different parties to concede the demands of
the other, nor usefully recommend to them the
maintenance of the status quo. They might, how-
ever, find some middle course which would admit of
a settlement of conflicting pretensions.
"It is by compromises that conflicts between
state and state are best settled, without leaving that
hostile feeling which would soon lead to fresh
conflicts."

ALTONA, MAY 17.
The Austrian heavy war trains in Holstein have
been ordered to move in a Southern direction.

BERLIN, MAY 17.

It is believed in diplomatic quarters that France
has not yet made any official proposal for the
assembly of a Congress. Overtures to that effect
are, however, considered probable.

Prussia is not adverse to the assembly of a Con-
gress, with the reservation that preliminary nego-
ciations should take place upon the programme to
be adopted.
Hanover has, it is stated, undertaken to main-
tain an absolute neutrality for the present.

COBURG, MAT 12.

The official Coburger Zeitung, in referring to the
conference of the delegates of the Middle States,
which took place at Bamberg on Monday last, says :
—" The most peaceful sentiments were expressed
at this conference, and a positive understanding
was arrived at to mediate between the two great
German Powers."

VIENNA, MAY 17.

The committee for the control of the pUblic debt
has published to-day a statement of the present
public debt of Austria, according to which its
whole amount is now about 2,598 million florins,
the interest paid on which amounts to 118,736,788
florins per annum. At the end of 1864, the public
debt was 2,535,197,335 florins, and at the end of
1865 2,532,083,148 florins.

FLORENCE, MAY 12.

A circular of the Minister of War relative to the
organisation of the Volunteers has been published

to-day.
The 20 battalions specified by the royal decree
will form 10 regiments.
The depots of enrolment fixed by the Govern-
ment are Come, Vareze, Bari, and Barletta. Each
regiment will consist of 42 officers and 1,446 men.
Other battalions will be formed if necessary. The
Volunteers will wear the Garibaldian red shirt and
cap.