The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-09 00:00:00

FRANCE.

A Paris letter in the Inclependance gives the
following details of the recent reception of the
bureau of the French Academy by the Emperor :
" His Majesty, first approaching M. Guizot, said :
I always see with pleasure persons of such great
talent as yours, even when they are among my
adversaries !' M. Guizot bowed respectfully, but
did not answer. Next, turning to Father Lacor-
daire, the Emperor said, ' I know all your works,
and I have in particular read with great pleasure
your fine funeral oration on General Drouot 1'
The reverend gentleman answered, lam happy to
have been able to celebrate one of the purest glories
of the Empire !' Afterwards, addressing M. Ville-
main, his Majesty said that he had been glad on a
recent occasion to be agreeable to him by giving
promotion to the husband of one of his daughters.
M. Villemain expressed his thanks."

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE FRENCH
NAVY.

The marine has continued to fulfil its mission of
protection in all points of the globe where French
interests are engaged. Independently of its ordi-
nary obligations, it has had to satisfy all the exi-
gencies of the China expedition. In less than two
months this expedition has been decided and
organised. Transport vessels have been repaired
and armed, and the embarkation effected of a corps
of 8,000 men, together with the enormous material
necessary for troops about to act at a distance of
6,000 leagues from the basis of their operations.
Notwithstanding the haste of preparation, this un-
exampled expedition touched the coasts of the
Celestial Empire six months after, without
having sustained any serious loss during a pas-
sage so long and so laborious (1). Whilst our
sailors and marines took a brilliant part in the
successes which forced the Court of Pekin to
accept the propositions of the Emperor, and re-
established the Cross in the capital, a handful of
men, maintaining themselves in Saigon against the
attacks of the -whole Annamite army, preserved for
us an advantageous position in the midst of the
richest and most fertile provinces of Cochin China.

Finally, the maintenance of a fleet of 68 ships in
the China Seas, the victualling required for itself
and for the expeditionary army, did not prevent
the marine from being ready, at the first command
of the Emperor, to transport to Syria 6,000 men
and 1,100 horses. A naval division remains per-
manently on this coast, where the presence of our
flag revives the confidence of the Christian populav-
tions, and secures the tranquillity of all the cities
on that coast.

The activity displayed at sea has not caused
the labours of our arsenals to be slackened. For
the special requirements of the China expedition
twenty small steam gunboats have been constructed,
easy to take to pieces, and which have been trans.
ported there in fragments. Many of them, after
having been rapidly put together on the coast of
China itself, joined in the attack of the Peiho forts,
and then reascending the river beyond points acces-
sible to shipping, powerfblly contributed to secure
a communication between the corps of disem-
barkation and the fleet.

The work of transformation of the fleet is carried
in conformity with the credits regularly allotted in
the budget of each year. Our steam fleet has been

augmented in 1860, without counting transport
vessels, so indispensable to the services imposed on
us, by two ships of war and four screw frigates ;
finally, by a cuirassed frigate, the first of its kind,
the trials of which, still going on, give presage,
in the art of naval constructions, of a progress due
to the personal initiative of the Emperor.
In presence of results already obtained, the
Government could not hesitate to adopt the cuirass
system for ships of the line not yet put on the
stocks. At the end of 1860, indeed, our building
yards were more dismantled than they had been
for many years. In fact, with the exception of a
few transports, some coastguard batteries, gunboats,
and light craft, we had nothing on the stocks at
that time but two ships of the line and eight ordi-
nary frigates, with five frigates destined to be
plated. We are therefore far from having given to our
new constructions, up to this day, the importance
which has been on many occasions pronounced to
be necessary for the maritime forces of France. In
fact, in the year 1446, after a unanimous vote of the
Chambers, the composition of our fleet was to be
40 ships of the line, 50 frigates, 40 corvettes, and
50 bricks or avisos, without including vessels on
local stations and transports. At a later period the
Government of the Emperor thought it necessary
to reduce to 20 the number of frigates, and to 30
that of the corvettes and avisos ; and, in fact, in
1855, we possessed 146 war vessels for steam or
sailing (2). But at this day, when the only war
ships worthy of the name are steamers, our real
force is reduced to 88 vessels, even including those
of a mixed order, which are but of secondary value.
These 88 vessels are thus classed :
New Ship. Mixed.
12 23

Total.

Liners
Plated frigates .. 1
Ordinary frigates 11
Corvettes .. .. 7
Avisos .. .. 28

6 17

This reduction in the number of our war-vessels
is the inevitable consequence of the transforma-
tion and of the greater cost of our new marine.
To reach the rank which we must gain, on pain of
declining, we must then continue to devote to new
constructions at least the credits foreseen in 1857,

(1) Tho mortality during the voyage was only 0.8 per
cent.

( ) 39 liners, 38 frigates, 30 corvettes, 39 first-class AViOB

the annual interest of which is attributed to the
Budget of 1861, as to those preceding.
Like all foreign marines, the French marine
has had to occupy itself with putting its artillery
in harmony with the new discoveries of science.
But whilst persevering in its efforts to discover
guns of still greater perfection, it has laboured
at ameliorating, et trifling cost, the arms
already in its possession. Provision has been
made for the expenses of the fleet (apart from
the Chinese and Syrian expeditions), by means
of the ordinary budget, without diminishing
the estimates for the normal supplies of our
ports. The timber service in particular has been
worked with entire success, owing in part to the
resumption of marking trees in the State forests.
All the maritime arsenals of the Empire call for
notable ameliorations. The new steam marine
requires considerable ateliers, and engines of
great power ; the old docks for refitting want
extension, and new ones must be created.
Hydraulic works have, by force of circumstances,
acquired great importance; they are zealously
pursued. It is also important to put our arsenals
in direct communication with the great lines of
railroad. The arsenal of Toulon has, therefore,
been connected by a railway with the line from
Paris to the Mediterranean. An analogous line
is being executed to connect the arsenal of Cher-
bourg with the Western line. Finally, the exe-
cution has been commenced of a chain of tele-
graphic and semaphoric posts, destined to connect
reciprocally, and with the interior, all the coasts
of the Empire, whether in the Ocean or in the
Mediterranean. The number of the highest officers
was insufficient for the wants of the marine. The
rank of contre-amiral was closed against officers of
high merit, by reason of the disproportion between
the number of captains of ships and that of general
officers ; the lists of the general etat-major of the
marine have therefore been slightly enlarged by a
legislative measure rendered indispensable. The
daily increasing importance of the steam fleet has
determined the modification of the dispositions
which regulate the personnel of the engineers. To
give satisfaction to legitimate aspirations, and to
improve the condition of valuable persons
entrusted with the management of costly
machinery, posts of engineer-in-chief and of
upper engineers have been created, offering to
the engineers of the fleet the advantages of rank,
pay, and retiring pension, and of a nature to
attract and preserve for the State servants of a
superior class.
Two special institutions, that of the gun-boat
brigade of sailors, and that of the rifle brigade,
have produced the best results. Another category,
not less important, has been constituted by the
decree of the 4th August last, that of the steerage
brigade. The obligation imposed on those re-
gistered to serve in the fleet or in the arsenals,
whenever required, has attracted the attention of
the Emperor. His Majesty has wished to give a
new proof of his solicitude for the populations of
the coast, so devoted, so laborious, and so useful,
by deciding that henceforth the registered sailors
who have passed six years in the service of the
State shall no longer be summoned but in virtue
of a decree.

Shipwrecks and other accidents at sea have too
often occasioned considerable losses to capitalists
engaged in maritime commerce; measures have
been taken to discover the cause of these events,
and to admit of the disciplinary punishment of
such captains as should not have fulfilled all
their duties.
The service of the fisheries and of maritime
domains has been assigned to a special bureau.
This bureau, rendered necessary by the growing
importance of numerous interests engaged in ope-
rations connected with fishery, is destined to give
to one of the most precious of French industries an
impulse, indispensable both in regard to our naval
force and to the alimentation of the country, whilst
it protects our maritime domain from dangerous
encroachments.

That the results obtained from experiments made
for some years past in different points of the coast,
with the object of creating oyster-beds, permit a
hope that with the concurrence of science the
administration will be able to open a new source of
well-being to the population.
The reorganisation of the depot of maps and
plans, the regulations made for the use of instru-
ments, maps, and tide-indicators, have had the
effect of giving a more active impulse to the labours
of this establishment, where all the scientific ser-
vice of the marine is now centralised.

Finally, the Administration of the Invalides has
continued to render to the great maritime family
all the services contemplated by this noble institu-
tion, whose protection, really paternal, is extended
to all our sailors, in whatever part of the globe
they may be.
BOURSE, Feb. B.—The firmness visible in the
market yesterday has continued to-day, and prices
have obtained a slight further improvement. Threes,
for the Account, which opened at 68f 45c, are now
at 68f 55c. Railway shares are also firm. The
following were the last quotations :

41 per per Cents ... 97 95 I Credit Fonder 930
Do end month.... 97 90 I Belgian 41 —
3 per Cents
Do. end month 6B 55' Roman
Bank Shares 2895 ! Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 698 75 Spanish Threes 4B
Do. Account 7Ol 25 ; Home Debt

RAILWAYS.
Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 935 .. 931 25
Geneva 395 387 50
Southern 528 75 .. 533 75
Western
Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, FEB. 4.

The address of the city of Pesth to the Emperor,
which was drawn up by M. Deak, who is one of
the most moderate of the Hungarian Liberals, is
calculated to dispel any illusions in which the Im-
perial Government may hitherto have indulged.
In substance the address is as follows :

" Your Imperial Royal Majesty,—As your Im-
perial Royal Majesty referred to the Pragmatic
Sanction when you announced your resolve to
restore the Hungarian Constitutiop, we cannot
doubt that every law which was legally given is to
be valid until it has been repealed by the common
consent of the Sovereign and the nation. In the
Pragmatic Sanction and in the Coronation Diploma
it is stipulated that all laws which have been made
with the concurrence of the Diet shall be strictly
observed.

" We consider the diploma of the 20th of October
with the Ttoyal resolutions which accompany the
same, an incontrovertible proof that your Majesty
has completely re-established ( in's leben gertffen)
,the Pragmatic Sanction, which secures the rights
of the monarch and the rights of the nation ; and
we feel convinced that it must be your Majesty's
will to pacify the nation by restoring the Hungarian
Constitution, which during 12 long years has been
set aside, but can never be annulled (nie zu annul-
liren). We should be faithless to the principle of
constitutionalism and to the fundamental principles
of the Pragmatic Sanction if we did not firmly hold
to our laws. We will make use of the weapons
of right and truth in their defence. A Sovereign
can have no confidence in his people if they
easily forget their lost liberties and readily agree
to changes in their political institutions. A
nation which readily relinquishes its rights and
privileges will as readily relinquish (wechseln) its
ruler.'

" The laws of 1848, which were made in a con-
stitutional way, have never been repealed in the
same way. We will not overstep the limits of the
law while maintaining our rights, but we should
grossly violate it if we acted contrary to resolutions
oaken by the Diet and sanctioned by the Crown.
We know not whether any Hungarians have
entered into an alliance with the enemies of the
empire, but we do know that none of the members
of our body (the municipality of l'Esth) are plotting
mischief against the State. If *e had elected any
of our fellow-citizens who are in exile, we should
have done so in the hope that they would be allowed
to return to their native country, from which they

were driven by sentences passed in an unconstitu-
tional way by foreign judges, who used foreign
laws.' In respect to the taxes we must declare
that none can be imposed in a constitutional coun-
try without the consent of the nation. We can,
therefore, only consider those taxes lawful which
have been approved by the Diet. The *eapons
which we shall oppose to force and violence
are truth and law. The latter may be violated
and set aside, but they cannot with justice be anni-
hilated. In regard to the administration of justice,
we are of opinion that any provisional arrangements
which may be made by the Judex Curice and the
Septemviral .Tafel (Supreme Court of Justice)
should be accepted by the nation, but we hope and
expect that justice will soon be administered in a
way which shall be in accordance with our consti-
tutional rights, and with the private rights ac-
quired by others.'*
" We are of opinion that the laws of 1848 can
only be revised or altered by the Diet. It is not
absolutely necessary to submit them to the Diet,
but it may be well to subject them to a revision, as
some of them are less precise than could be wished,
and others are provisional in their character. Until
the laws of 1848 have been altered by the Diet, we
are bound in duty to uphold and obey them.
" Given by the General Assembly held at Pesth
on the Ist of February."

The foregoing address has produced an exceed-
ingly disagreeable impression, as it clearly proves
that the Hungarians do not intend to relinquish
any of their rights. When first the diploma was
published it was here believed that the Hungarians
would not insist on having independent and re-
sponsible Ministers of War and Finance, but during
the last six or eight weeks it has become obvious that
Hungary is not inclined to entrust the management
of her military and financial affairs to Imperial
functionaries. "We are willing," say the Hunga-
rians, " annually to grant any reasonable number
of recruits and any reasonable sum of money, but
we will never voluntarily permit the Austrian Go-
vernment tai raise soldiers and impose taxes without
our concurrence." Baron Vay and Count Szechen
will leave for Pesth this evening, but there is no
good reason for believing that anything of impor-
tance is about to occur in that city. It is thought
probable that the two Hungarian Ministers go to
Hungry in order to make preparations for the meet-
ing of the Diet, and to persuade Count Apponyi to
remain at his post, which he is much inclined to
quit. It is here said that the rescript of the 16th
January was issued by the Emperor at the instiga-
tion of the Minister of State, and contrary to the
advice of Count Rechberg, Count Szechen, and
Baron Vay, and it is not unlikely that the report
is well founded, as M. Von Schmerling is not
favourable to the claim made by the Hungarians to
an exceptional position in the empire. By means
of placards the Government has made known to the
Hungarian soldiers on furlough and to the so-called
"reserves" that they will be considered deserters,
and treated as such, if they do not present them-
selves to the military authorities by the 10th of this
month. The Protestant community at Verocz
(Verovitz), in tha Slavonian county of the same
name, has made the " well-deserving Louis Kos-
suth " honorary curator of the parish. This
demonstration against the Austrian Government
is the more worthy of notice, as it tends to confirm
the current report that the Croats and Slavonians
intend to make common cause with Hungarians:
On Jan. 28 the county of Warasdin, in Croatia,
humbly petitioned the Emperor to convoke the
Provincial Diet without delay, in order that it
might pronounce in favour of a union with Hun-
gary. On the following day the General Congre-
gation of Warasdin protested against the " instruc-
tions"which had been received from Vienna, and re-
solved to form a Croatian " Sedria" instead of the
Imperial Royal Court of Justice. The inhabitants of
the kingdom of Croatia have expressed a wish that
their brethren on the military frontier may be
allowed to send delegates to the Diet, but the Go-
vernment has declared that the borderers, being
soldiers, cannot elect representatives. M. Bartho-
lomew Szemere, who was Minister of the Interior
in Hungary in 1848, has addressed a third letter to
his fellow-countrymen ; but he gives himself un-
necessary trouble, for no one reads his lucubrations.
In fact, the Pesth papers tell the public that the
ex-Minister is ignorant of the actual state of affairs
in his native country.
The law for the regulation of the affairs of the
Protestants has long been drawn up, but it is
still in the Cabinet of the Emperor, and there
it is likely to remain for some time to come,
as the Ultramontane party at Court is strongly
opposed to its publication. Much is said
here of the " liberal principles and intentions" of
the Emperor, but I shall have no faith in his con-
version to constitutionalism until it has been an-
nounced in the Wiener Zeitung that the Concordat
is to undergo a revision. Feldzeugmeister Count
Coronini, an Ultramontanist of the deepest dye,
who was formerly one of the tutors of the Emperor
and his brothers, now has the command of the first
army (its head• quarters are in this city), and he
will not fail to have recourse to very violent mea-
sures should any attempt be made to disturb the
public peace. When he commanded the Aus-
trian corps of occupation in the Danubian Princi-
palities he ruled the unfortunate Roumans with a
rod of iron, and when Governor in the Banat and
Vojvodina he ruled with the stick. He was re-
called from Croatia and Slavonia, where he was
sent after his return from tne Banat, because he
was so exceedingly unpopular, and now that
Austria is to be governed constitutionally he has
been summoned to the metropolis.

* The meaning of this passage is, that all the contracts
entered into during the last ten or eleven years shall be
binding. A great deal of real property has changed hands
since the revolution, and some of the largest estates in the
kingdom have been mortgaged.

THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BOMBAY

MALLS.

SOUTHAMPTON, FEB. 3.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's screw
steamer Ellora, Capt. Joy, with the heavy portion
of the above mails, has arrived.

She brings 38 passengers, pearls (value 40,500
rupees), diamonds (8,500 rupees), precious stones
(3,400 rupees), and jewellery (2,700 rupees) ; also
37 cases silk, 303 packages sundries, and 1,363
bales raw silk, value £130,000 sterling.

The Ellora experienced on the 24th and 25th of
January a strong N.E. gale, and on the 29th and
30th, between Alexandria and Malta, encountered a
gale, with heavy sea ; hove to under close reefed
main trysails. The strength of the gale continued
for 12 hours, during which the port lifeboats were
carried away.

The Ellora sailed from Gibraltar on the 4th ; on
the sth exchanged signals with the British barque
Borelia, running S.W., and with the Norwegian
brig Mogador.

The Himalaya left Gibraltar for England on
the 4th.

Her Majesty's ship Orion arrived at Gibraltar
on the 2d from the lonian Islands.

Exchanges at Gibraltar were quoted on London,
90 days' date, 50t ; Paris, 5f 33c ; Marseilles,
Of 34c; Genoa, 5f 30c ; Madrid, eight days'
sight, par ; Cadiz, par ; Malaga, eight days' sight,
dis ; Seville, 4- dis ; Valencia, par ; Barcelona, }
prero ; Spanish pillared dollars, Ferdinand, 3 per
cent premium, no demand ; Spanish pillared dollars,
Carolus, 22 per cent. premium, in demand. Freights
unaltered.

ARRIVAL OF THE HIMALAYA.

PORTSMOUTH, SATURDAY MORNING.

Her Majesty's steamer Himalaya has arrived at
Spithead, from the Mediterranean, with invalids
and passengers, and the steam transport Impera-
triz, from China, with invalids, to land here, and
valuable cargo of tea and silk for London.

The Marquis of Huntly will in all probability
succeed to the Lord-Lieutenancy of Aberdeenshire, vacant
by the death of the Earl of Aberdeen.

THE CHARTERHoUSE SCHOOLS.—The new wing
in connection with these schools, in the Elizabethan style
of architecture, has just been completed, and will be opened
next week. The additional structure has been built by Mr.
Hesheth, architect, and will accommodate 200 children.