The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-09 00:00:00

ance.

The influence of time and reflection is beginning
to show itself in the United States. The temporary
excitement which the Radical party succeeded in
stirring up a few weeks ago has died out, and men
are asking themselves what end, private or public,
they can gain by the reckless policy which would
sacrifice the very objects for which the war, rightly
or wrongly, was waged. The enforced subjection
of the Southern States, the maintenance of military
rule, the general sense of insecurity, and the depres-
sion which the measures so strenuously advocated
by mr. STEVENS and his friends would infallibly
create, must seriously interfere with that revival of
commercial activity and enterprise which it is espe-
cially
the interest of the North to foster. The PPE-
ENT has known how to wait until the effer-
vescence of the crisis had subsided. As he himself
recently said,
have exe'rlciiesekdnaew
he could not get through
without
a struggle," but his quiet firmness and de-
cisionpowerful
besides,
to point to the altered
state public mind. iie is able
of feeling in the South,
and to show the reviving perosperity (:) the country
of
as evidence in his favour. The
examination
Vice-President STEPHENS and of
greatly aaisted ill General LEE
enlightening the
people of i

the Northern States as to the true state of
things in the old Confederacy. They are
both men of high reputation, who from the
conspicuous and responsible position which they
had occupied during the years of the Southern
struggle were well able to give an opinion of the
feeling and condition of the people, while they were
above the suspicion of personal or party interest.
The interest of the extreme Radical party is rapidly
dying out, and in fact it is chiefly exercised in
Congress, where the next elections will probably pro-
duce a considerable change. The PRESIDENT can
afford to " bide his time " and defer many useful
and patriotic measures until he is better supported
by the representatives of the people. He is not
likely to have to deal with so refractory a body if
the present temper of the public mind is adequately
represented. Public meetings, we learn from the
news brought by the City of Boston from New
York on the 28th ult., are being held throughout
the country in great numbers for the purpose of
endorsing the PRESIDENT'S policy. A further in-
dication of the improved temper of the times is the
failure of the attempt to identify JEFFERSON DAVIS
with the assassination plot. We may hope that
the prolonged captivity of this illustrious man will
be shortly brought to a close, since it can answer
no good end to retain him in durance while the
whole aspect of affairs is changed, and the Southern
States have accepted their destiny. We are glad
to find that President JOHNSON has granted
Mrs. DAVIS the long-desired permission to visit her
husband. The persecution of one man, however
prominent his former position, is unworthy of a
powerful Government like that of the United States.
The Foreign relations of the States are assuming
a quieter aspect. Spain is evidently beginning to
feel that she has made a mistake in her aggression
on Chili, and it is semi-officially reported that she has
now requested the mediation of America. The
Fenians are subsiding into insignificance, and now
that the grand scheme of invasion has collapsed, the
old rivalry between OrMAIIONY and ROBERTS is
again coming up. The parties most to be pitied
are the unfortunate dupes who have parted with
money for Fenian Bonds.

IVe see with great satisfaction that the House of
Commons has refused to give its sanction to the
virtual destruction of the beautiful and popular
Victoria-park. Lord JOHN MANNERS, Mr. HoPE,
and Mr. Alderman LAURENCE, especially deserve
the thanks of the working classes for their resolute
opposition to the unwise and unpopular measure.
It was proposed to refer the bill to a committee,
but Sir J. TROLLOPE wisely reminded the House
that the committee had no power to examine wit-
nesses on oath, which made a serious difference
with a contested bill. So strong and unanimous
was the feeling that Mr. STANILAND, who had
charge of the bill, withdrew it, and the crowded
parishes of the East End may enjoy the sight of
trees and grass unsuffocated by smoke and sm ell.
Another subject that will very well bear inquiry is '
the management of our water companies, and we
regret that Sir G. GREY should have induced Mr.
HANKEY to withdraw his bill. It is a poor argu-
ment to say ou behalf of a defective system that it
was established many years ago. Surely modern
improvements can effect something.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FRO3I OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tuesday Evening.

The Moniteur says :—" According to the private I
correspondence from Germany, the Austrian Go-
vernment on the 4th of May addressed a despatch
to its Minister at Berlin, in reply to the Prussian
communication of the 30th of April, relative to the
question of disarming. In this despatch Austria
maintains the necessity of the measures of defence
which she has thought it right to adopt, as well as
in regard to its own territory as to the Federal ter-
ritory, and justifies the preparations made by
Saxony for her own defence."
The same paper states after the Emperor and
Empress had attended mass at Auxerre, his Majesty
had a long conversation with the Archbishop of
Sens, and promised to allow 30,000 f. during ten
years for the restoration of the Cathedral, one of
the most beautiful Gothic edifices of France. The
Emperor also gave 10,000 f. in aid of the charitable
establishments of Auxerre.
A Paris paper, which is generally well-informed,_.
states that if war should take place the King of
Prussia will take the command in chief of his army,
' with Field-Marshal Wrangel as head of his staff.
Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia will have the
command of the First Corps d'Arrnde.
According to a letter from Dusseldorf, Prince
Charles of Hohenzollern has accepted the sovereignty
of the United Principalities, and thus the wishes of
the Roumanians to have a foreign Prince to rule
over them will be fulfilled. On the other hand,
some of the Paris papers express doubts whether
this vexed question of the Danubian provinces be
finally settled. There is no allusion to the subject
in the Moniteur or other morning papers of to-day.
A clever thief has just victimised the proprietor
of one of our leading hotels here. While a gentle-
man was still in bed, there was a knock at the door,
and a man dressed like one of the servants entered,
and, after apologising for coming so early, removed
a handsome clock from the mantlepiece, and said
his master had desired him to take it to be repaired
as it did not go, and it was inconvenient to a tra-
veller to be without a clock in his room. When
the gentleman went out the real servant of the
hotel immediately discovered the robbery, and the
master was charitable enough to imagine that his
guest had taken away the clock, and ordered that
notice should be taken whenever he went. When
the gentleman was going away and had paid his
bill, the hotel-keeper politely observed that there
had been a clock in the room. Au explanation en-
sued, and the master was perfectly satisfied of the
respectability of his lodger, who indeed is a rich
merchant. The thief, however, has not yet been
traced.

Some commercial travellers in the north of
France have introduced a new and curious branch
of trade. At the town of Villers-Sire-Nicole and
other neighbouring localities, they purchase the
hair of married women and young girls, for which
they give a liberal price. They do not, however,
pay in money, but find it more delicate and enticing
to give in exchange articles for the toilet and the
house, trinkets, and other " unconsidered trifles."
The person who furnishes this news states that
many husbands who on going out left their wives
or daughters with a beautiful head of hair (or a
nobby head of hair, as it is called in the London
concert halls), on coming home at night find them
like shorn lambs, and their hairless heads concealed
under a fancy new cap, perhaps the produce of the
hair. The hair trade is literally going ahead.

speSciunlcaetotrhs the
aevxec
nt excitement ebnete
been
satisfiedbou tthe
withw r
doing
(, Bourse
busi-
ness during the legal hours, but many
have °assem-
bled in the evening in the Passage de I, Opera, as if
they intended to go to the theatre. With a view to
deceive the police, they adopted for the nonce a lan-
guage of their own. For instance, when Patti was
mentioned, that was to signify << I offer to sell
Rente ;" it is fine weather, meant " I sell." The
police, however, who havq discovered everything,
have found out the deception, and steps have been
taken to prevent speculation in stocks after the legi-
timate business hours of the Bourse.
A significant fact has transpired in regard to the
probability of war. Some hundreds of young
Prussians who have been employed as clerks to
bankers and merchants, or as workmen, have re-
ceived orders to join their regiments. These young
men form part of the reserve of the Landwehr in
the regiments of the six corps d'armee already mo-
bilised.
A letter from Auxerre give some farther parti.