The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-30 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LoNroN, TIJESOA V EV ENING, OCTOBER 80, 1866.

LONDON, TUESDAY, CCT. 30, 1866.

A feeling of general indignation will be excited
at the intelligence that has been received that an
attempt has been made upon the life of the Em-
peror of AxsT
RIA. It appears that as the Emperor
was steppina into
Bohemiahis carriage, upon leaving the
Theatre on the evening of Saturday, that
a man was seen
to point a pistol at him. Fortu-
tunately his intention was not fulfilled, for an
English gentleman (captain PALMER), who hap-
pened to be there, instantly
seized his raised hand,
and thus, no doubt, preserved hiseptain IAJESTY from
and
it P
great danger, if not from death.
handed the man to the poIice,PALLIER
was discovered
that the pistol was loaded with ball. ne was a
journeyman tailor. It does not yet appear what
induced him to perpetuate so atrocious au act. we
are glad for political reasons, as well as for the sake
of humanity, and the sympathy which one naturally
feels for a Sovereign who has been in so much mis-
fortune, that this attempt has failed. At the pre-
sent time the Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH could ill be
spared from the councils of Vienna, and as the im-
mediate effect of his loss would certainly be to
augment greatly the power and influence of Prussia,
it is doubly important that he should be spared
to keep together his scattered dominions, and to re-
construct, to the best of his ability his shattered
There is much to admire in the character

empire.

of the EMPEROR, and although he has been badly
advised, and is naturally very obstinate, he has dis-
played so much spirit iu his struggles with the ene-
mies who surrounded him, and so much self-com-
mand and fortitude when he seemed overtaken by
crushing misfortune, that, whether as a man or as a
Sovereign, he commands respect and admira-
tion. Something more than the mere form
of congratulation which custom dictates at
such a time is here due, and amid the
felicitations that he will receive from Courts and
Cabinets will be mingled some real and true rejoic-
ins that he has not fallen prematurely by the hands
of an assassin.

The description which bad already been given
of the EMPEROR'S reception in Prague may
perhaps have prepared more people for a
heartier demonstration being made, but hardly
for such extremities as those we have chronicled.
Perhaps this episode in the EMPEROR'S career is
more powerful than any that has preceded it, how-
ever startling or terrible it may have been. There
is something very mean and contemptible in turn-
ing round upon one who has failed in his efforts or
fallen from his position, whether he be a private
individual or the occupant of a throne, and the
Bohemians will do themselves no credit in the eyes
of Europe by such unworthy demonstrations. The
appointment of Baron von BEUST is no doubt a very
great source of annoyance to the subjects of the
EMPEROR, and has perhaps mainly contributed at
the last to the very unfavourable reception he has
met with in Prague, leading on by gradual means
to the dark design we have become acquainted with.
At any rate those who are the most favourably dis-
posed towards the Imperial cause, and most inclined
to take a sanguine view of his fortunes, must con-
fess that the prospects of the EMPEROR are very
bad, and that his path is environed by difficulties
which seem to be almost insuperable. At the pre-
sent time a more unwise thing could not have been
done than to select him for so responsible a post:as
that of Foreign Minister. It is sure to make con-
fusion worse confounded, and to exasperate those
who were already doubtful, while it influences and
irritates the disaffected beyond the bounds of pru-
dence or propriety.
The worst of it all is that there seems no satis-
factory solution of the enigma, no way of escape
to the much beset EMPEROR, and no safe or suc-
cessful path for his advisers to take. The full effect
i of the evils of mixed races is being now experienced
by the hapless ruler of the Austrian Empire, and be
seems likely to realise most completely the truth of
the saying that " misfortunes never come single."
It may turn out in the long run that, injurious as the
Prussian policy has been, there has been a more dange-
rous enemy to the rule of the House of HAPSBURG to
be found nearer home in the great disunion that
prevails everywhere, a disunion which has risen to
such a height that it will not admit of any compro-
mise so far as foreigners can judge, but seems to
call upon the EMPEROR to take some decided steps
one way or the other.

The chief object of interest just now is the ap-
proaching marriage of the Princess DAGMAR.
Additional attention is bestowed upon it in conse-
quence of the misfortune which attended her previ-
ous betrothal. Among the guests who will throng
to the festivities at St. Petersburg there will be the
Crown Prince of Prussia. We should have
thought, under the circumstances of the
case, that his absence would have been a
greater compliment than his presence. The events
of two years ago were sufficient in themselves to
render the Prussians for ever unpopular with the
Royal Family of Denmark ; but, besidos that, a
direct personal insult has been put upon the Prin-
cess DAGMAR herself in the prohibition that has
recently been received from the Berlin Government
to the Danish Scbleswigers, to offer a present to the
daughter of their former Sovereign on the occasion
of her marriage. The Saxon Diet will assemble in
the middle of next month, and affairs are rapidly
progressing relative to the terms of the treaty
being carried out. The King of SAXONY has issued
a proclamation to the Saxon people, in which he
declares that he has witnessed the devotion of his
subjects with great satisfaction, and that such a
spectacle has sustained him in his heaviest misfor-
tunes. It had been said that it was the intention
of King JOIIN to abdicate, but the explanation
given is that such was his first idea on hearing the
unfavourable terms of peace, but that at the solidi-
tat:_ons of the PRINCE ROYAL and the request of
the Prince of PRUSSIA, he resolved to remain
and conform himself to his altered circumstances to
the utmost of his power.

It is reported from New York that Mr. STANTON
has asked to be relieved of his office, and to be ap-
pointed United States Minister at Madrid. It is
further rumoured that General SHERMAN will as-
sume the vacant post. Whether this intelligence
is authentic is not as yet certain, but it has been
known for some time that changes were likely to
occur in the Cabinet, and it has even been said that
the PRESIDENT would ask Mr. STANTON to retire,
as they could not agree upon the policy to be pur-
sued towards the South. In Mr. JOHNSON'S critical
position, however, he may well have felt reluctant
to offend an influential man like Mr. STANTON,
although his removal from the Cabinet might have
been desirable. If, as this rumour states, Mr.
STANTON has himself expressed a wish to be trans-
ferred to Madrid, Mr. JOHNSON may think himself
fortunate. General SHERMAN is not likely to join
the anti-Southern faction. He was long a resident
in the South, and even during the war he never ex-
pressed the animosity and vindictiveness that many
Union leaders manifested so strongly. He is not
personally popular in the ex-Confederacy, for it is
impossible for the Southerners to forget that ter-
rible march which was the commencement of their
downfall ; but, nevertheless, he will not be likely to
refuse their just claims. Neither is it probable
that, having seen so much of the negro, he will be
anxious to raise him without preparation to the poli-
tical level of the white man. Should General
SHERMAN therefore replace Mr. STANTON, his pre-
sence in the Cabinet will bring a considerable acces-
sion of strength to the PRESIDENT, while his repu-
tation will also have weight with the masses.

There are still signs of disturbance in the poli-
tical horizon. The Radicals will evidently not be
able to carry their point with respect to the Con-
stitutional Amendment without difficulty, since
another State has refused to accept it. The Texan
House of Representatives has followed the example
of Mississippi, and rejected the amendment, while
in Maryland there has been great political excite-
ment. The Governor has summoned the Police Com-
missioners to answer certain charges. The Northern
Radicals are said to be organising in order to prevent
the Governor from removing the Commissioners. So
highwiththe
does
i
apprehended. This is the difficulty in dealing
Radicals. They are so bent upon main-
taining their political ascendancy that they entirely
put aside the ordinary considerations of right and
law, of reason and constitutionalism, and uphold
those whom they consider represent their party,
regardless alike of their antecedents or the con-
sequences.

WENDELL PHILLIPS has been. urging the impeach-
ment of the PRESIDENT, and his removal from office

pending his trial.- This is to be the chief part of
the Radical programme for the coming session, and
is likely to increase the present disturbed and tur-
bulent condition of affairs in the States. Another
element likely to be troublesome is Fenianism, and
England and America will have to exercise great
caution to prevent these mischievous conspirators
from involving them in difficulties. It is said
that influential persons are pressing the Go-
vernment to make a formal demand upon the
British Government for a settlement of the Alabama
claims. We should hope that the Administration
of the United States will have too much good
sense to attempt anything so preposterous. At
a Fenian meeting lately held at Roches-
ter it was resolved to adopt retaliatory
measures if the Fenians in Canada were
punished. It is surprising how busy their illustrious
brethren continue to make themselves ; and while
they receive such actual encouragement and sup-
port from the American people, if not from the
American Government, our transatlantic cousins
can scarcely, in common fairness, talk about Eng-
lish sympathy with the South.

There is one very satisfactory item in tll in-
telligence, and it is a fact which bears an especial
significance to wise men on this side of the Atlan-
tic. The annual report of Secretary 3.l‘CuLLocn
will, it is said, show a surplus of revenue over
expenditure of $38,000,000. So much for the dire-
ful prophecies which many in this country uttered
respecting American paper currency.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Monday Evening.

The Government has received news officially of
the proclamation with solemnity of the result of the
plebiscitum for the union of Venice to the kingdom
of Italy on Saturday. There were at Venice 651,758
votes for the union, and only 69 against it.

The Mortiteur announces that, according to the
last news from the Caucasus, tranquillity had been
completely established, and that the last baud of
insurgents had been disarmed.

Addresses have been received by the Emperor
from various Municipal Councils, and a great num-
ber of communes which had been visited, by order
of his Majesty, by Generals de Failly, de Waubert
de Genies and Faye, conveying the thanks of the
victims of the inundations who had participated in
the assistance distributed in the Emperor's name
by those Generals, and expressing sentiments of
the deep gratitude with which the whole population
had received the mission confided to them by the
Emperor.
It is remarked in reference to the plebiscitum in
Venetia, that considering that the population of the
whole of that province does not exceed two mil-
lion six hundred thousand persons, the proportion
of voters in France, even on the most solemn oc-
casions, was never so considerable. It has seldom
reached a quarter of the total population, whilst the
Venetian plebiscitum exceeds that number.
The Siecle, after stating that notwithstanding the
contradiction of the report it learns that the acces-
sion of M. Beust to the Ministry is an accomplished
fact, proceeds to say—
" The former Minister of the King of Saxony,
the inveterate enemy of Prussia, will direct the
foreign policy of the Austrian empire. The im-
pression produced by this appointment is generally
unfavourable. It is considered as an indication of
an afterthought on the part of Austria. In that
case the Government of the Emperor Francis
Joseph cannot resolve to submit to the new charac-
ter which events have dictated to it. It is feared
that it has the idea that peaee is but a truce, a time
of respite to enable it to recommence the war under
more favourable conditions. Its exclusion from that
Germany which it so long governed weighs heavily
upon it. however, it may be well to wait to see
what measures the new Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Austria shall propose before a definitive opinion
be formed of his appointment."
A strike among the miners of Denain, in the
north, has led to some disorders, but troops have
been sent to the spot to repress them.
A man of 22, named Anastasio Baquero Sanz,
has been executed at Madrid, by strangulation.
The circumstances of the case are peculiar, and the
execution attracted an immense mass of people.
Sanz was arrested after the insurrection in June last
on the charge of being concerned in it. The gen-
darme who arrested him behaved with great bru-
tality, and the prisoner vowed vengeance against
him. While in prison he meditated revenge. The
Council of War, after examining into his case, de-
cided that there was no proof against him, and last
week he was set at liberty. Ho left the prison with
a friend, who was also acquitted, and as they went
along the latter advised him to go home to his
family. " I mean to do so," said Sanz," but I must
first kill a gendarme." As ill luck would have it, the
very first gendarme whom they met was the gen-
darme who had arrested him. With an air of
indifference, Sanz placed himself before the door
of a house, and as the gendarme passed he drew
from under his cloak a sharp knife, with which he
had prepared himself after leaving the prison, and
stabbed him near the heart. The gendarme was
seriously but not mortally wounded, and he is still
alive. Sanz was arrested and at once tried by a
Council of War. Within an hour he was condemned
to death and immediately executed. 'There was a
curious incident afterwards,which I believe is always
usual in cases of execution by order of the military
tribunals. As soon as the executioner had fulfilled
his melancholy task, he was surrounded by gen-
darmes, who handcuffed him and took him to prison.
A few hours afterwards an officer, or escribano
(official writer), and an alguazil, went to his cell,
when the following dialogue took place :—" You
are accused of having killed a man," said the escri-
bano. " Yes, it is the truth," replied the execu-
tioner. "Why did you commit this murder ?" "In
obedience to the law and to fulfil the order confided
to me by justice," replied the executioner. A docu-
ment embodying this conversation was immediately
drawn up and signed by the executioner, and the
next day it was examined by a judge. The judge
immediately pronounced a sentence of acquittal in
favour of the executioner, who was set at liberty
after having been treated as a criminal during 24
hours.

An extensive system of fraud committed by the
jewellers of Marseilles has been discovered, and has
excited great sensation in that city, because it is be-
lieved that it has been carried on for 20 years. They
have contrived to procure or fabricate the machine
by which a control of gold similar to the Hall mark
in England is given by the authorities, and thus very
inferior gold is made to pass for standard gold.
Numerous arrests have been made, and among them
the heads of houses in the jewellery trade, who were
considered among the most wealthy and respectable
of the city. Alarm has spread among families, be-
cause they find their trinkets, which they consi-
dered very valuable, are plated, spurious, or almost
worthless.

A very useful association has been founded under
the auspices of some of the most wealthy and in-
fluential ladies of Paris, "La Corporation des Abeil-
les"—the Society of Bees. The object is to procure
employment for respectable women in making fancy
articles, embroidery, and other similar frivolities of
dress or of the toilet. The association will not only
procure employment for women who desire it, but
there will be a central establishment where the
articles will find a ready and advantageous sale, and
thus the workwomen will be enabled to dispense
with the objectionable process of having to seek
purchasers for the fruit of their labours. By a
curious chance the lady who has been chiefly instru-
mental in organising this Society of Bees is a
Madame Bourdon. The humming of a bee is in
French described by the word bourdon. The Prin-
cess Ararat is one of the ladies of the committee.

The grand vestibule of honour of the Palace of
the Exposition, facing the Pont de Jena, is in pro-
cess of completion. The height will be considerable.
The width will be 25 metres. All the other circular
and transversal avenues are only five metres wide.

The first establishments which will meet the eye on
entering the Champ de Mars by the Pont de Jena,
will be those devoted to photography, both on the
right and left. The reserved garden in the centre
of the Palace will be 166 metres long, and 56 metres
wide. All round it, against the wall of the Gallery
of Fine Arts, will be a covered promenade, sup-
ported by handsome columns. A great many
packages containing various beautiful products have
arrived in France from Russia.

Two important improvements *re to be introduced
into the telegraphic system in Paris. The first is
a reduction in the price for the transmission of mes-
sages in the interior of France. The second will be
to carry the wires underground instead of their being
supported by posts as at present. The isolation is
often lost now, in wet weather for instance, but the
subterranean wires will insure regularity. The
latter change will entail great expense and cannot
be carried into effect at present.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE
EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, Oct. 29.

On the evening of the day before yesterday a man,
since discovered to be a journeyman tailor, was
arrested in Prague upon strong suspicion of intent
to assassinate the Emperor Francis Joseph.
At the moment when the Emperor, who had just
left the Bohemian Theatre, was stepping into his
carriage on the evening in question, this man was
seen to point a pistol at his Majesty. The act was
observed by Captain Palmer, an English gentleman,
who instantly seized the man's uplifted hand and
prevented the accomplishment of his probable de-
sign. Immediately afterwards Captain Palmer
handed the man over to the police. The pistol was
found to be loaded with ball.

THE BOMBAY MAIL.
SUEZ, Oct. 29.
The Carnatic arrived at 6 a.m. to-day.
OUTWARD MAIL OF OCT. 12-18.

The Malta, for Bombay, and the Norma, extra
steamer, for Calcutta, left Suez on the evening of
the 27th inst.

FRANCE.
PARIS, October 30.

A report, addressed to the Emperor by Marshal
Randon, Minister of War, has been published to-
day, nominating the Commission, which, agreeably
to his Majesty's order, is to inquire into the advisa-
bility of modifying the military organisation of the
Empire. The Commission, the chief presidency of
which the Emperor reserves to himself, is to seek
the means of placing the national forces in a condi-
tion to insure the defence of the territory, and main-
tain the political influence of France. The Com-
mission is composed of six Ministers, the Marshals,
and several Generals.

The Moniteur publishes a report of Minister Behic
to the Emperor on the late inundations.
BOURSE, Oct. 29, Two o'clock.—An effort is being
made to send prices up for the reponse des primes of
the approaching settlement. All quotations may be
said to have advanced more or less. French Threes
have gained 10c., at 69f. 10c. Italian Fives are
more favoured, with an advance of 55c., at 56f.
85c. Credit Mobilier Shares have risen 2f. 50c., at
631 f. 25c. ; Comptoir d'Escompte, 5f., at 920 f.
Credit Fancier are less demanded, with hardly any
variation. Railway Shares are likewise better ;
Lyons have risen 5f., at 932 f. 50c., and Lombardy,
2f. 50c., at 423 f. 75c. No change from London.
Three o'clock.—The closing quotations are as fol-
lows :-
41 per Cents 96 85 Bank Shares 3600
Do. end month — Italian Loan N 90
3 per Cents, 69 10 Do end month 56 90
Do. end month 69 10 Mexican Lo..n —
Credit Mobilier ... 630 Do. Bonds —
Do. end month 632 50 Spanish Threes
Credit Fonder — Home Debt
Do. end mouth 1377 00 Deferred