The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-22 00:00:00

UST.

;MBER.

IRichmond
Hendon
Monmouth
Manchester Autumn 2l
Newmarket Ist October 25
Walsall ... 28
IBER.

Newmarket Houghton 22
Worcester

:BER.

Shrewsbury
Leamington Hunt l9

The Opening of the French Legislature.

SPEECH OF THE EMPEROR.

PARIS, Monday, Jan. 22.

The Session of the French Legislature was
opened at one o'clock to-day by the Emperor, who
delivered the following speech :

Messieurs les Senateurs,
Messieurs les Deputes,

The opening of the Legislative Session enables
me periodically to lay before you the condition of
the empire, and to express to you my ideas. As
in preceding years, I shall examine with you the
principal questions which interest our country. At
home peace appears to be everywhere assured, since
in every direction the means are sought of amicably
settling difficulties, instead of deciding them by
arms. The meeting of the English and French
fleets in the same ports has shown that relations
formed upon fields of battle are not weakened.
Time has only cemented the agreement of the two
coun tries.

With regard to Germany, my intention is to
observe a policy of neutrality, without preventing
us at times from sorrowing or rejoicing, leaves us
nevertheless strangers to questions in which our in-
terests are not directly engaged.
Italy, recognised by nearly all the Powers of
Europe, has affirmed her unity by inaugurating her
capital in the centre of the Peninsula. We have
reason to rely upon the scrupulous execution of the
treaty of the 15th September, and the indispensable
maintenance of the power of the Holy Father. The
bonds which attach us to Spain and Portugal are
still further strengthened by my recent interviews
with the sovereigns of both those kingdoms.
You have shared with me the indignation pro-
duced by the assassination of President Lincoln, and
recently the death of the King of the Belgians has
caused unanimous regret. In Mexico the Govern-
ment, founded by the will of the people, is consoli-
dating itself. The dissidents, vanquished and dis-
persed, no longer have a chief. The national
troops have shown valour, and the country has
found the guarantees of order and security which
have developed its resources and raised its trade
with France alone from 21 to 77 millions francs.
As, therefore, I expressed the hope last year, our
expedition is approaching its close. lam making
arrangements with the Emperor Maximilian to fix
the period of the recall of our troops, •in order that
their return may take place without compromising
the French interests which we went to defend in
that distant country.

North America, issuing victorious from a for-
midable contest, has re-established the American
Union, and solemnly proclaimed the abolition of
slavery. France, who forgets no noble page of her
history, sincerely desires the prosperity of the great
American Republic, and for the maintenance of
amicable relations now nearly a century old. The
emotion produced in the United States by the pre-
sence of our army upon Mexican soil will be ap-
peased by the frankness of our declarations. The
American people will understand that our expedi-
tion, in which we invited it to take part, was not
opposed to its interests. Two nations equally
jealous of their independence must avoid every step
which would affect their dignity and their honour.
At home the tranquillity which has not ceased to
prevail has enabled me to visit Algeria, where my
presence will not, I hope, have been without effect
in securing interests and establishing a more
friendly intercourse between races. My absence
from France has besides proved that I could be re-
placed by an upright heart and an elevated mind.
It is in the midst of satisfied and confiding popu-
lations that our institutions work. ThT Mayor
The municipal
elections have been accomplished with the greatest
order and the most entire liberty'
being in the commune the representative of the cen-
tral power, the constitution conferred upon me the
right of choosing him from among all the he
citizens,
but the election of intelligent and devoted men has
almost everywhere allowed me
to select the
Mayor from among the members of the Municipal
Councils. The law upon coalitions, which gave rise
to some apprehensions, has been carried out with
great impartiality by the Government, and with
moderation on the part of those interested. The
working class, always intelligent, have understood
that the greater the facilities accorded to them for
the discussion of their interests the more they are
bound to respect the liberty of individuals and the
security of all. The inquiry into co-operative socie-
ties has shown how just were the basis of the bill
which has been laid before you upon this important
matter.

This bill will permit the establishment of nu-
merous associations for the profit of labour and
of benefit societies. To favour its development I
have decided that the authorisation of meeting
shall be granted to all who wish, apart from po-
litics, to deliberate as men of business upon their
industrial interests. This faculty will only be
limited by the guarantees required by public order.
The state of our finances will show you on one
hand that the revenue continues in its progressive
increase, while on the other the expenditure tends
to decrease, In the new budgets the incidental or

A SILVER IDOL OF TIIE LATE PRINCE CONSORT,
clad in armour like Christian in the Pilgrim's Pro-
to Prince says the Spectator, has been presented by the Queen
ince William, the eldest son of the Princess Royal,
as r
to Prince Albert Victor, the eldest son of the
Prince of Wales. Both images are adorned by the same
verses, said to bo from the hand of Mrs. Prothero. The
statues and statuettes to the good Prince Consort are
dress,
Hall a s
multiplying a little more rapidly, we think, than would
have suited his own taste. If he can soe us now, does he
not think, as St. Paul of the Athenians, that we are "in
these thinge too superstitious ?" Would he not say that
we were giving ourselves to idolatry, and his "spirit bo
stirred within him ?"

MADLLE. RACHEL AND MADLLE. MARS.—
Statues in white marble of the two great tragic actresses,
Madlle. Mars and Madlle. Rachel, both represented as
seated, have been placed in thefuyer of the Theatre
Frangais.

THE AGED FATHER OF THE LATE MADLLE. M
FELIX announces that he is ready to undertake the instruc-
tion of pupils for the stage. Ile adds that he was the sole
instructor of Rachel and his other daughter Lia, the star
of the Gaite.

The Bank of Egypt have issued their report in
anticipation of the forthcoming meeting of share-
holders. It states that the net profits for the half-
year ending 30th December last, after providing for
bad and doubtful debts, amount to £22,383 14s 3d,
which, added to £4,466 18s. 3d., the balance
broughtforward from the previous half-year, makes
a total of £26,850 12s. Gd., availablefor appropria-
tion. The directors recommend £4,400 to be car-
ried to the reserve fund, which will then amount to
£25,000 ; that a dividend be declared at the rate of
10 per cent. per annum for the half-year (£12,500),
and a bonus of 10s. per share (£5,000), both free of
income tax, and together equal to 14 per cent. per
annum, leaving a balance of £4,950 12s. 6d. to be
carried forward.

LEIGH HUNT'S BOOK OF THE SONNETS.—The
Boston correspondent of the New York Round Table says,
in reference to Leigh Hunt's " Book of the Sonnets," men
tioned in The Reader some weeks ago—" I have seen at
Roberts Brothers a manuscript of the late Leigh Hunt's,
which came into their possession through the hands of
Mr. S. Adams Lee, of Philadelphia, who edited with th
poet's sanction the blue and gold' edition of Hunt's
complete poems, published here in 1857, two years before
their author's death. The present MS. is written on note
paper, in a legible hand, and is entitled ' The Book of the
Sonnets, with an Essay on Italian and English Sonnets
and Sonnetteers," and is now to be given to the press for
the first time."
The half-yearly meeting of the London Financial
forward to the next
Association was held to-day, when a dividend at
the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, with a bonus at
the same rate, being 15s. per share, free of income
e £103,082, leaving
tax, was declared. This payment absorbs £30,000
oi,
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carriedyear,
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