The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-30 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, Sunday Evening.

The Siecle remarks upon an article in like Con-
stitutionnel to the effect " that as peace is certain
between the two German Powers, Italy will remain
tranquil. Thus Austria, having no motive for at-
tack, ought to hasten to put an end to her arma-
ments in Venetia. Is it true (asks the Siecle)
that on the other side of the Alps armaments have
been made which justify the concentration of Aus-
trian troops in Venetia ? According to our infor-
mation, it does not appear that Italy has made any
change in her military organisation. Not under-
standing, therefore, the necessity of placing on a
war footing the formidable armyof Austria in Venetia,
Prussia seems less disposed to modify her attitude.
While some journals endeavour to reassure Europe,
the Austrian and German papers are anything but
tranquillising." _ _ _

We have had to-day in Paiis a temperature of
upwards of 80 deg. of Fahrenheit. Never before,
at this time of the year, was there such beautiful
vegetation and such a profusion of flowers.. To the
south of Paris on every field you may walk upon
myriads of violets, buttercups, daisies, cowslips, and
other flowers too numerous to mention. Cherries
grown in the open air have appeared at some of the
markets in the provinces. At Passy, close to Paris,
there is a magnificent and probably unparalleled
collection of tulips in full bloom. This collection
includes 760 varieties and 2,500 plants. A cele-
brated tulip fancier of Versailles, M. Boutoux,
who died last year, has employed a large portion of
his life in collecting these tulips. Some 40 years
ago there were amateurs in England who would give
£lOO for a rare tulip. Such a price has been paid
by a florist named Davey, who then had a
magnificent tulip bed in the King's-road, Chelsea,
now the site of Belgravia, but then fields or gardens.
The tulips at Passy may have no great intrinsic
value singly, but the collection as a whole cannot
be surpassed in the world for beauty. They were
left by will to the City of Paris by M. Bontoux.
The Academy of Moral and Political Science yes-
terday awarded the prize for the competition of the
Senatus Consulte Velleien. The prize was given to
M. Paule Gide, which bore the inscription from
Aristotle, " Man and woman have different attri-
butes. The business of the man is to acquire. That
of the woman to preserve." Honourable mention
was made of the memoir inscribed, " Est modus in
rebus, sunt certi denique fines."
At the sitting of the Academy of Fine Arts, yes-
terday, candidates were invited to offer themselves
for the seat vacant by the death of M. Clajusson,
the musical composer.
Letters from Italy state that General Prim has
arrived at Florence, and has asked permission for
himself and his companions to fight in the Italian
army if there should be war. The request, it is
said, was favourably received by General Cialdini,
who transmitted it to the Minister of War imme-
diately. Prince Napoleon has left Naples for San
Germano, a small ancient town situated at the base
of the mountain upon which the Benedictine con-
vent of Monk Cassia has been built. The Prince
wishes to inspect the valuable library of the convent.
The artistic visits of the Prince are nearly finished.
He has successively been to the royal residences of
Caserto, Capodimonte, Portici, and La Favorite,
Pompeii, Herculaneum, the amphitheatres of Santa-
Maria and Capua, and the islands of Procida,
Ischia and Capri. Brigandage is very much on the
increase in the provinces of Italy. Gen. Pallevichini,
in concert with Gen. Villarez, who commands at
Gaeta, has adopted precautions to prevent the bri-
gands from taking refuge in the Papal territory.
There have been reports that the Government
does not mean to press forward the bill for the abo-
lition of imprisonment for debt this session. The
Patrie, however, confirms my original statement
that every possible endeavour will be made to pass
it into a law. I may, however, add that some un-
expected opposition to the bill has been manifested,
and it is probable that an amendment will ba pro-
posed, placing some restrictions upon the total abo-
lition of imprisonment.

Figaro mentions, but probably as a joke, that
the Marquis de Boissy, the " terrible child "in
the Chamber, as the Emperor called him, has been
engaged as editor of the Eveneinent, and that Count
de Niewesterbe, the Minister of the Fine Arts, is to
manage the artistic department.
The other evening a dealer in cheques offered to
a passer-by his cheque to a gallery stall at the Opera
for 4 francs, with the inducement that two acts
remained to be played. A rag-gatherer on the spot,
thinking that the offer was made to him, said, " I
would buy it in a minute, only, you see, I am not
dressed ; perhaps they would not let me into the
stall in this deshabille."

The unceasing success of Gladiateur seems to
have turned the heads of French sportsmen. They
begin to talk of English horses as if their reputa-
tion were entirely gone. The Charivari maliciously
suggests that when he has to carry extra weight, the
only thing to make the race at all fair will be to make
him run with the elephant of the Garden of Plants
upon his back.

The winter was so mild that ice is now very
scarce in Paris, and speculators are importing it in
large quantities, via Havre, and from Switzerland,
and other places. Immense blocks arrive from
northern countries, and one rich dealer is said to sell
from 90,000 to 100,0001bs. weight of ice daily. If
I might venture a pun upon this statement, I should
say that he is doing a nice (an ice) trade, for the
profit is very large.
The Brussels races were to commence to-day, and
will be continued on Thursday and Sunday next.
The sporting papers say that the first-rate horses
which will run will make these races the most splen-
did ever witnessed in Belgium.

The works now in course of execution in the Rue
Dauphine have brought to light an inscription to
the effect that the Porte Dauphine had been demo-
lished by order of the authorities two or three cen-
turies ago. The Porte Dauphine was one of the
gates erected in the centre of Paris in the 13th cen-
tury, in the reign of Philippe-Augustus, on the Rue
St. Andre des Arts, in the Faubourg St. Germain.
On the night of the 29th of May, 1418, Perinet
Leclerc, son of the keeper of the gate of de Buci, at
the other extremity of the street, where the Porte
Dauphine stood, took from under his father's
pillow the key of the gate and gave it to the troops
of the Duke de Bourgoyne, who set Paris in flames
and caused much bloodshed.

French writers do justice to the generosity of the
English, but they are very fond of accusing them
of curious freaks and eccentricity. The latest ex-
ample given is this :—Two rich Englishmen made
a bet at the last races, and the loser was to invite
to his house to dinner 80 pOor men to be selected
from the hospitals of Paris. Lord R—, the loser,
who is the very personification of English haughti-
ness, not wishing to have any one at his table who
was not well dressed, conducted his ragged brigade
from the hospital to a fashionable tailor's, where
clothes of the most fashionable and expensive style
were ordered. The newly-made dandies all ap-
peared in this guise at the dinner just given by the
English Lord at his hotel in the Faubourg St.
llonor6.

ARRIVAL OF MR. AND MRS. CHARLES KEAN.—
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sean and party arrived by the Cuba
at Liverpool on Sunday night, after an absence of three
years, all well.

Fox CLUB.—The third meeting of the Fox Club
will take place at Brookes's, on Saturday next, the sth of
May.

A SUBURBAN CONCERT.—A few evenings since a
concert was given by Mr. George B. Allen, at
Westbourne Hall, Bayswater, and it could hardly have
gone off more satisfactorily. The performers were the
members of Mr. Allon's Bayswater choir, an institution
which has been only six months in existence. Prepared
though we were, in consequence of knowing this, to make
large allowances for the performers, we soon found that
our anticipatory indulgence was unneeded. The choir
sang Haydn's Mass in B flat, and to say that the perform-
ance was simply creditable would be far from doing justice
to the singers or their teachers. The Mass formed the
first part of the entertainment ; the second consisted for
the most part of vocal music, solos, duets, Sze. The
singers were, with two exceptions we believe, amateurs ;
and their performance altogether reflects the highest hon-
our on Mr. Allen's capabilities as a teacher, to say nothing
of the performer's Own artietic qualifications.