The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-21 00:00:00

COIIItESPO

(PROU OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, Friday Evening.
I gather from correspondence and the German
papers the following interesting facts relative to
the great dispute between Prussia and Aiustria.
The day is not yet fixed for the Diet to discuss the
Prussian proposition of the 9th. Saxony and
Hesse Darmstadt are taking great pains to obtain a
majority of votes for a proposition which would be
equivalent to the rejection of the Federal Reform
proposed by Prussia. Saxony intends to make
the proposition to refer the Prussia Note to the
Commission of Holstein. According to M. Beust
the Prussian proposal can only be carried out
effectively by a vote unanimously. By asking that
the matter shall be referred to the Holstein Com-
mission it is evidently the intention of M. Beust
to force Prussia, either to abandon her proposition
of the 9th, or to submit the regulation of the
question of the Duchies to the Diet of Frankfort.
The project is very well imagined, but, unfortu-
nately for Saxony, a majority cannot be obtained
to carry it into effect. It is argued by well-in-
formed writers at Berlin that the application of
universal suffrage to the re-organisation of the
Confederation is not a sudden inspiration of the
Prussian Cabinet. In 1862, when M. Bismarck
was Ambassador at Paris, he sent a memorandum
to M. Auerweld, the Minister of State, in
which he contended for the necessity • of
convoking a German Parliament based upon
universal suffrage. On a later occasion also he
made the same proposition, that is to say in 1863,
after the Congress of Sovereigns at Frankfort.
The Italie of Florence states that the Minister of
War has submitted two decrees to the King--one
for the fortification of the town of Cremona as
requisite for the safety of the state, the other declar-
ing of public utility the fortification of various points
around the town.
The Italian Minister of Finance has resolved to
appoint an agent at the Paris Bourse, like the
Austrian, Prussian, and Russian Governments,
whose mission will be a contradiction to all the
false news put into circulation by speculators with
respect to the Italian government. His office will

will be no sinecure.
The question respecting the Government of the
Danubian Provinces is not likely to be settled at
present, for it appears that the young Prince of
Hohenzollern is not disposed to accept the Hospo-
darship of those provinces.
It appears that the Protestant Conference have
agreed to a resolution to the effect " that the sovereign
authority of the Holy Scriptures in matters of faith,
and-the Symbol of the Apostles as a summary of the
miraculous facts contained in them, shall form the
basis of the National Pastoral Conference." This
resolution was agreed to by 112 out of 148 members,
and the 36 Ministers who opposed it intend to form
a special conference of their own. As to the dis-
missal of M. Paschoud, the Conference are reported
to have placed a little gentle pressure on the Mi-
nister of Public Worship, by hinting to him that
the whole body would resign if he did not confirm
that dismissal. M. Guizot is reported to have men-
tioned this determination to the Emperor at a private
interview, but there seems some doubt of the truth
of the statement.
The Legislative Session is to be extended to the
21st of June. I hear that the Government is de-
termined, if possible, to pass the bill for the aboli-
tion of imprisonment for debt.
On hearing the news of the flagitious attempt
upon the life of the Emperor of Russia, the Emperor
Napoleon sent a telegram to his Majesty offering
his congratulations, and expressing his friendship
and sympathy for him.
It is believed among the best-informed persons
that France will preserve complete neutrality in
regard to the differences between Austria and
Prussia ; but it is right to say that there is an uneasy
sensation upon the subject on the Bourse, and in-
deed elsewhere. The Constitutionnel has affirmed
the fact, but in an indirect way ; and as that paper
is an officious, and not an official organ, the
public was not quite satisfied. The Siecle has an
article upon this subject. It says this is the great
question with the journals of London and Vienna,
and says that very contradictory reports upon this
great point are in circulation. The Presse of Vienna,
it says, asks every morning what is the reason for
the strange silence of the French Government in
regard to its intentions. The Siecle wants an
official declaration in the Moniteur. This is to
expect too much, but the Bourse is at times so much
excited, and such alarming reports are circulated,
that there is a probability of some public intimation
very shortly. So at least I hear in official quarters.
Midsummer continues. The heat has again been
excessive, but this extraordinary fact is accom-
panied by an equally curious incident—the fields
in the vicinity of Paris were yesterday morning
covered with white frost. At one time to-day there
were very storm-threatening clouds in the south.
A ship of war is in course of construction at
Havre for the Egyptian Government. Nearly 300
Egyptian sailors have arrived at Havre who are to
form part of the crew, and more are expected.
Almost every day some fresh information arrives
showing the increasing interest taken in the ensuing
Great Exhibition. Egypt will send products to the
amount of a million of francs. Turkey will have a
mosque and a minaret, a mausoleum, and a house
with its divan and Turkish baths. Persia also will
have characteristic constructions, curious edifices,
mosques, opium manufactories, and it is said a
model of the Persian throne, with its accessories
and mineral paintings. The King of Siam, the
Japan Government, and the Emperor of Morocco,
have also announced their intention to compete
with brilliancy and effect at the Exhibition.
M. Darboy, the Archbishop of Paris, is about to
leave for Rome, on a journey ad limina Apostolorum,
in pursuance of the oath taken by every bishop at
his consecration. M. Darboy has hitherto not been
able to fulfil this task, and could not even do so
after his nomination as Bishop of Nancy.
,h

Liverpool Cotton Market. —Tbis Day.

Cotton in good demand. Sales probably 8,
or 10,000 bales.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. —This Day

14oxpoN, April 21.—Wind this day at noon—South-
Westerly; moderate breeze, and fine weather, but a little
cloudy.

LEY ELECTRIC TELEORAPI/1
GRAVESEND, Saturday Morning.
Arrived, April 21.—Hornet, from the Cape of Good
Hope; Heroes of Alma, from Antwerp; Latona, from
Singapore ; Hendrik Christolpb, from Bostock ; Cambleau,
from Foo-chow.

DEAL, Saturday Morning.
Passed.—Cambula (ship), from China ; Mary Henzell,
from Alexandria— both for London ; Fortuna, (screw
steamer), from London, for China; William, from Shields,
from Alexandria ; Bellona (screw steamer), from New
York ; Constantia, from Demerara—both for London.
Anchored.—Blyham, for London, from Ferrol.

PAINFUL OCCURRENCE ON THE SOLWAY FIRTH
For some timepast a gang of five workmen from Car
lisle have been engaged with an engine in driving piles
along the marsh at Drumburgh, on the English side of the
Solway Firth, with the view of frotecting the land, which
belongs to the Earl of Lonsdale, from the encroachments of
the tide. On Monday last they were so engaged, and at 12
o'clock had retired to a little hut which they had erected
for the purpose of eating their dinners. The tide for the
day was a high one (above 21 feet), and the weathor,which
was unusually boisterous, brought up a still heavier flood.
These circumstances, however, had not been taken into
account by the workmen,who, having finished their repast,
discovered to their dismay that their hut was surrounded
for a wide area by a considerable depth of water. They
could not open the door of their hut from the pressice of
the water; but, escaping through an aperture, succeeded
in making their way to a raft of logs moored on the marsh.
The wind continuing to blow with great violence, the chain
holding the log on which they had taken shelter snappec
and the frail raft, with its living freight, immediatel
drifted out to sea. The log fortunately, however, washe
up against the pile-driving machine, when the men snatched
at the guys or stays, when four of them succeeded in
: laying hold of, and were afterwards rescued. The fifth
man failed, and, still straddling on the log,was washed out
to sea. Dismal forebodings are entertained as to his fate.