The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-10 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Thursday Evening.
The position of affairs in regard to Germany
is thus explained by the Moniteur :
" The preliminaries of Nikolsburg have been
arranged upon every point upon which the con-

tinuation of the war between Austria and Prussia
depended. To arrange the clauses of definitive
peace there only remained the task of drawing de-
ductions from the principles admitted by both par-
ties. 'We are assured that this negotiation is now
far advanced. The treaty will be signed at Prague.
The Southern States will negotiate separately with
Prussia, and their plenipotentiaries are at this mo-
ment at Berlin.

" Italy had consented to the armistice stipulated
by Austria and Prussia, although no official act

had been signed between the Cabinets of Vienna
and Florence. In order to facilitate an agreement

upon this subject the suspension of arms first agreed
to was prolonged till the 10th of August. The
difficulties in the way of this arrangement relate to
the question owing whether the armistice is to be
concluded on the basis of the military utipossidetis,
or if the line of demarcation resulting from the
territorial cession consented to by Austria is to be
adopted."
Accounts from Denmark state that the knowledge
of the preliminaries of peace has created very great

inteiest. It was learnt with much emotion that a
special clause of the treaty stipulates the restora-

: - t
on to Denmark of the districts to the north o:

Schleswig, according to the desire freely expressed
by the population. The Cabinet of Copenhagen
knew that the French Government had never lost

sight of this question. It perceived in the stipula-
tions of the Convention of July 26 upon this sub-
ject a fresh mark of the beneficent interest taken
by France for the welfare of Denmark.
A letter from St. Petersburg, dated Aug. 3, says
—" Events which are passing in Europe have
not diverted attention from those of which
Central Asia has been the theatre. Since several
months Russia has made rapid progress in those
regions, and has taken important positions in Tur-
kestan. That vast country comprises States which
have about nine millions of inhabitants. The letter
proceeds to give an account of a great battle which
took place on the Bth (20th) May between the Emir
of Bokhara and the Russian troops. The Emir, at
the head of 40,000 men, was completely beaten at
Irdjar. The Russians are said to have lost only 12
men killed or wounded, whilst the Emir bad 1,000
men killed. The Russian General Romanovski,
after this great victory, did not think it expedient
to invade the territory of Bokhara, but marched
towards Khodjent, in the Kokhand.

A clerk in a commercial house in Paris has just
become possessed of a large fortune in a very curious
and unexpected manner. One morning he met an
old woman who was selling pencils. She begged
him to buy one for a sou, and that it would bring
him good luck. Every day, on going to his office,
he saw the same old woman, who repeated the re-
quest, always with the same addition. This con-
tinued every day for nearly a year and a half. One
fine morning he missed the old woman from her
accustomed spot. He thought no more a`)out the
matter, but a day or two ago he received an invi-
tation from a notary requesting the young man to
call at Lis office, as a large fortune had been left to
him. lle came into possession of securities to the
value of about £3,000, and also of a country house
and vineyards at Suresnes and Argenteuil. The will,
written by the old lady herself, and properly attested,
is in these words, "I am almost arrived at the end of
my existence, and I have no relatives or friends.
I therefore appoint, as my universal legatee, Mons.
L., a clerk, living Rue-, Paris, who bestowed alms
upon me every day during nearly a year and a half,
and to whom I always said it would bring him luck.
During six months I took all the necessary steps to
know his name and procure information about him,
in order that I might enrich him without his know-
ledge."

The packet boat, Le Pereine, Captain Duchesne,
belonging to the General Transatlantic Company,
has just traversed the distance of 3,000 miles,which
separates New York from Brest, in eight days and
22 hours, being an average rate of 14 knots an hour.
The English Cunard Company has only one boat
at all comparable with the two boats of the Trans-
atlantic Company, the Pereine and the Ville de
Paris. This boat is the Scotia, of 1,400 horse-
power, which has been on the line since 1862, and
which, during this interval of four years only, we
crossed the Atlantic from New York to Liverpool
in eight days and 23 hours. As the distance from

New York to Liverpool is 3,030 miles, and that be-
tween Brest and New York is 3,000 miles, the dis-
tance has just been performed almost identically in
the same time by the Pereine as in the exceptional
instance of the English boat.
At the third day's races at Deauville the Prix de
la Place, 3,000 f., given by a member of the Jockey
Club, was won by Castagnette, Chantilly second.
The Deauville Cup, 20,000 f. in money, and a
work of Art worth 10,000 f., the produce of a sub-
scription, was won by Affidavit ; Fidelite 2d ;
Mandarin 3d. Amount of prize, 27,200 f. 200 f.
to the second. The third receives his entrance

money.
The Free Haudicap,of 3,000 f., was won by Prince
Regent ; Buc de Bourgogne second.
The Prix de Consolation, 2,000 f., was won by
Belisaire ; Juliette second. Belisaire was claimed
for 3,757 f. by the Marquis de Galliffet.
The ,siecle states that, when the truce signed by

General Marmora with the Commandant of Verona,
on the 2d of August expired, the reply of Austria
to the proposal for an armistice of four weeks had
not arrived ; but the delay was extended by mutual
consent. This truce has nearly expired, and the
armistice is not yet concluded. It is officially known
that difficulties arose which prevented the armistice
from being signed. We do not thiuk that they are
sufficiently serious to arrest the work of pacification
which is in progress. It is 110 t impossible to give