The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-22 00:00:00

LATEST INTELL MENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ITALY.

FLORENCE, Jan. 21.

A meeting was held this evening of the party of
the Right. General Menabrea and the Ministers of
Finance and Marine were present. The Ministers of
the Interior and of Finance spoke at some length, and
the meeting resolved energetically to urge forward
the discussion of the Ministerial Budget for 1868,
iu order that the Parliament might be at liberty to
discuss bills relative to finance and the interior re-
organization of the country.
The Committee of the Chamber have approved
the Budget of the Interior for 1868. The ordinary
expenses are estimated at 43,120,238 lire, and the
extraordinary at 2,408,785 lire, thereby effecting a
reduction of 4,050,289 lire on the Budget of 1867.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, TUESDAY, J4ll. 21.
People persist in saying that the Emperor is about to
issue a pacific manifesto. Some colour is given to this
report by the pacific tone which the official press has
assumed. The alleged purpose of the Emperor's address
is to assuage the alarms created by the new army project,
combined with the loan which M. Magne is expected to
propose for 400,000,000 f. There is no doubt that the
loan has been determined on. The delay in its issue
is owing to disagreement between M. Magne and M.
Rouher as to the indemnities to be allowed on account of
the Mexican Loan. The official press in the provinces
have been deducing the moral of these preparations_ in a
bellicose style, and have produced an impression which it
is necessary to correct. Meanwhile a confidential circular
has, it is said, been sent round to the prefects, inviting
them to bring round the language of the journals to an
accordance "with the maintenance of the pacific disposi-
tions which the Emperor and his Ministers have re-
peatedly affirmed." Of course the said journals will have
no difficulty in contradicting what they have said before.
In the absence of warlike rumours here, the war of words
between the St. Petersburg and Viennese journals attracti
attention. All our papers have reproduced the Times'
telegram from Vienna, denying that Russia was making
warlike preparations on the Pruth. Apropos of this tele-
gram, Le_Temps observes that it may be all very well to
say that Russia has neither money nor needle-guns, but

"no men and no horses" is un peu de trop.
It is well known that the Imperial forces sent to protect
Rome have recently been increased. The idea that they
will be withdrawn at an early date is now abandoned.
The latest telegrams from Rome are a sufficient denial of
the rumour that the Government of the Pope would con-
sent to treat with that of Victor Emmanuel for the
discovery of some peaceful modus vivendi. Any such
prospect is as distant as ever.
rhe Italian Government is not to be felicitated on its
tax on the millers. I fear it will prove in every sense a
grinding tax. The yield to the revenue is estimated at 76
million lire, hut the cost to the people will be 80 millions.
The impost is so unpopular that the correspondent of the
Siecle anticipates that the peasants will be again seen
crushing their wheat between the stones more antiquo.
The news from Naples is by no means satisfactory.
Reactionary manifestoes have appeared, and at the same
time coins of the " Italian Confederation," having on the
reverse the portrait of " Francis 11., King of Naples."

The accident to the Princess Bacciocchi, which resulted
in a broken leg, has caused the Emperor and Empress a
good deal of anxiety. Her Majesty visited the Princess,
who is at Rennes, and frequent telegrams are received
from Dr. Neaton.

It would be much more convenient for English residents
in Paris if the powers that be would content themselves
with confiscating French papers. This week the Spectator
and the Examiner are suppressed—why, we are, of course,
not permitted to know.

The example of the Austrian railway directors is com-
mended for imitation in France, and may be useful in
England. In view of the dearness of provisions this
winter, they have given their employds, without excep-
tion, a gratuity equivalent to a month's salary.
What will they do at Baden and Homburg and Ems
when the Prussians have suppressed every vestige of
gaming ? The tables are overturned at Aix-la-Chapelle,
and the fate of the "hells" in the Duchy of Nassait is de-
creed. Inreply to M. Virchow, the Prussian Minister of
the Interior has declared that all games of chance are, on
principle, interdicted on Prussian territory. Those that
remain have no lease of life beyond Prussian respect for
treaties ; and what a tenure that is !

The political education of the people by means of
lectures is being tried at Brussels. The lectures are given
at the university ; the subjects include Belgian and French
history, the Belgian Constitution, and other topics.
Admission is free, and working men attend in consider-
able numbers.

The Libert4 contains a letter from Vienna describing the
funeral of Maximilian. The ceremony was an imposing
one, and the crowd who witnessed it immense. Never
within living memory, says this correspondent, was such a
crowd seen in the comparatively narrow space of the
centre of Vienna. As a prince of the House of Hapsburg,
Maximilian enjoyed an immense popularity, and his fate as
Emperor of Mexico excited public sympathy and pity.
Foremost among the high personages following the hearse
was Admiral Tegethoff. Francis Joseph, wearing the
uniform of a marshal, and the Grand Cordon of Guada-
lupe, together with the archdukes and archduchesses,
ministers, members of the Court, dignitaries of the Church,
and the representatives of foreign Powers, awaited the
arrival of the cortege at the Church of the Capuchins.
Neither the Empress Charlotte nor the Archduchess
Sophia, Maximilian's mother, was present. Everyone of
the other members of the Imperial Family was deeply
affected. Mass was celebrated with great solemnity by
Cardinal Rauscher, the Archbishop of Vienna. Maxi-
milian is the 102nd member of the House of Hapsburg
committed to rest in the vaults of the convent of this
church. England was represented on this occasion by
Lord Raglan and Lord Seymour on behalf of her Majesty,
and by Viscount Hamilton on behalf of the Prince of
Wales.

A report is current in France that M. Louis Blanc will
be brought forward at the next election by the Liberals of
Marseilles.

In view of the great distress existing in Eastern Prussia,
the Government have instructed the revenue agents to act
with great discretion. Where desirable they are em-
powered to remit or reduce arrears of taxes. A private
letter states that every effort is being made to meet the
distress. Several of the manufacturers have increased the
wages of their workpeople, and given work to as many of
the poor as they can employ. Workshops have been spe-
cially opened for women and children, where they are fed
and sheltered gratis. But these means are inadequate.
According to the Cologne Gazette the misery of the poor is
:ndescribable ; men, women, and children are huddled
together in the forest, on litters of straw, completely desti-
tute. Many are attacked with typhus fever, and the
greater part are dying of hunger.
- -

The Univers is responsible for the statement that the
Powers of Europe maintain under arms 7,500,000 soldiers.
Each soldier costs on an average £4O a year. The total
cost of armed peace in Europe is, therefore, £300,000,000
sterling per annum. What wonder at scarcity and high
prices !
Throughout the dominions of the Sultan the month of
Ramadan is being observed. During this month the
faithful abstain from all their old feuds, and, from daylight
to sunset every day, from eating, drinking, or smoking.
It is proverbially a mouth of bad humour and political
irritation. In the firat week of the present Ramadan
Fuad Pasha was taken suddenly ill. The cause of his
illness was a quarrel with the Sultan, and the
cause of the quarrel the news from Ressim Pasha of
his having caught a Russian war, steamer infringing
the blockade and landing stores at Amyro. Thu
,ommander, with characteristic cunning, professed that he
was merely assisting Candian refugees to escape the
horrors of war, and pretended not to know that there
had been no war for the last three months, and that the
ports of Candia, Retimo, and Canea were open to all
Cretans who desired to leave the country. To make the
matter still more ridiculous, the Russian commander
saluted the Turkish admiral, and insisted on accompanying
him to Suda Bey, where the compliment was returned.
On this news the Sultan proposed to address a cate-
gorical note to the Russian Government, aairl to punish
Ressim Pasha. Fuad Pasha saw that this would. bring
about a collision, and finally succeeded in diSsuading
the Sultan from pushing matters to an extreme. Thus,
through fear of precipitating the Eastern crisis, Russia is
allowed to do as she pleases.

The activity of Vesuvius continues. The Times Naples
correspondent, writing on the 16th, states that the towns
of Torre del Greco and Resina had been considered in
danger, the lava having flowed towards them at the rate
of 500 yards a day. For the last three or four days, how-
ever, the burning stream had advanced with much less
rapidity, and the cities appeared safe for a month at least.
Two currents of lava flowed down the mountain, forming
the sides of an ellipse. At times the whole intervening
space was covered, and the mountain presented the most
brilliant spectacle. Frequent shocks of earthquake have
been felt at Naples.

The new Indian furlough regulations are published.
They are described as " the greatest boon that has ever
been conferred on the Indian military service." Hence-
forth eight years' service will entitle an officer to two
years' furlough, and subsequently a three years' furlough
will be granted for every six years of service. Officers
may take their furloughs in instalments, or may allow them
to accumulate. When absent from duty officers will be
allowed to draw 50 per cent. of their substantive salaries.
In the Civil Service the allowance of furlough is one year
after the first eight, and subsequently one after every four
up to a total of six years.

A small item of news comes from India which is of very
great importance. It is stated that the Great Southern
Railway have effected a junction at Errode with
the Madras Railway, by means of which the rich
and populous districts of Tanjore and Trichinopoly
are brought into unbroken communication by railway
with Malabar, Mysore, and Madras. In the same pro-
vince railways are just about finished which will enable the
cotton crop of this season to be brought down from the
ixtP9xtmt district 'beyond the Chittravuddy River.