The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-04 00:00:00

COBJII4BPONDENOE FROM PARIS.

FILM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, FRIDAY, April 3.

Paris will persist in being uneasy at the present attitude
of France. Afarshal Niel is known to believe in the
necessity of war, and as he is being allowed to make every
preparation for it, those who take a gloomy view of affairs
believe that war is merely adjourned ; and even those who
are most sanguine of the maintenance of peace confess that
there are " black spots." It is now said that Prince Napo-
leon came back from Berlin full of peaceful intentions,
but found them by no means reciprocated in Paris. He is
reported to have said: "I brought back peace, but I
have not found it here." The Prince will, it is affirmed,
continue his journey after the marriage of Prince Hum-
bert, and visit Vienna, Pesth, and Constantinople. For
my own part, I do not believe that Napoleon will make
war without allies. A pretext be will never want while
Prussia persists in her insolent conduct to Denmark,
or Russia in her conspiracies on the Danube. But he will
not fight either Prussia or Russia by himself. The great
difficulty of obtaining allies is the best chance for the con-
tinuance of peace. The papers tell us that Lord Stanley
has positively refused to intervene in behalf of Poland.
But they say also that he is seriously occupied by the
Schleswig question. As for the East that is always a
source of anxiety to the British Government, and it is
there that the occasion is most likely to arise for renewing
au offensive and defensive Anglo-French alliance.

The idea that foreign affairs are entering upon a more
serious stage gives rise to the renewal of the report that
the Marquis de Moustier is going to resign, and that he
will be succeeded at the Foreign Office by M. Drouyn de
Lhuys. The Liberte says that this statesman has altered
his opinions with regard to the Eastern question, and that
in consequence of the derangement of the balance
of power at the battle of Sadowa it is no
longer wise to hinder the advance of Russia upon the
Bosphorus, but, on the contrary, France should ally
herself as closely as possible to Russia, so as to
profit by the alliance when the right moment comes.
The Libcrte gives this as a rumour, and says that if it be
true it is pot the policy which the Emperor is' at all likely
to adopt.

The Budget Commission is hard at work upon its report,
and it is generally believed that M. Magne will be com-
pelled to ask for 120 million francs in ore than he first stated.
This would raise the total loan to over 23 millions sterling.
The floating debt is nearly 40 millions. It is reported that
the Suez Canal Company have obtained permission- to
raise four millions by a lottery. This, however, is doubtful,
and it would require the sanction of the Corps L6gislatif.
A M. de Briois has proposed a scheme, which he has
submitted to the Emperor, for establishing a gigantic
association in the army and the navy,by which every officer
and private would pay a certain amount annually into a
common chest, which would be for the benefit of all who
should afterwards become necessitous ; in fact, a military
friendly society. At the present time the officers are not
too well paid ; a captain in the army gets 241 francs a
month, or about £135 a year ; a sub-lieutenant gets about
£77, and his necessary expenses, excluding wine and
cigars, are over £6O, so that only a narrow line separates
him from want. The question is if he could afford to give
up a certain portion of his scanty earnings merely with the
possibility of getting more back at some future time.
Moreover, would the captain be disposed to assist his
junior? 'Would he not rather say that if the sub-lieu-
tenant is underpaid it is the duty of the Government to
pay him better?

The Appeal Court has just confirmed the convictions
against the seven journalists who were condemned for pub-
lishing abstracts of the debates on the Army Bill. The
trial of M. de Kerv6gucn for slandering the three journals
Liberte, Dames, Arcnir National, and the Revue des Deux
Atomics, began to-day. The papers are not allowed to pub-
lish any report of the proceedings.

The Tycoon of Japan, who had abdicated in favour of
the Mikado on the condition that the treaties with the
foreigners should be carried out, now that the treaties have
been set aside by the Daimios considers his abdication no
longer binding. Ho has replied to the inquiry addressed
to him by the representatives of the foreign Powers, that
while repelling the idea of a civil war against his adver-
saries, he will, until the allaying of the present troubles,
remain the sole depository of the executive power of the
empire.

The Eco d'lta!ia, a New York Italian paper, mentions
that Madame Bistori has had a controversy with the
Bishop of the Havana. The celebrated actress bad per
formed with immense success the part of a nun in the p'ay
" Sister Teresa," whereupon the ry;*.liop, greatly seas da-
lised, first fulminated spiritual thunders against ti e
" impious and profane heretic," then, finding that these
were brutum fulmcn, he invoked the secular arm. But
the governor of the island, General Lersundi, refused to
interfere, and, wonderful to relate, the Spanish Govern-
ment has approved the conduct of its Viceroy.

" John, Earl Russell " has written a second letter to
the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue, " on the state of
Ireland." It will be published by Messrs. Longman shortly
after Easter.

It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of the
decision which a crowded House of Commons came to in
the early hours of Saturday morning. After two years of
defeat, discouragement, and disorganisation, the Liberal
party once more fines its ranks closed up and united by a
great historic cause, and by the firm assertion of principles
which it advocated a generation ago. It is difficult to
describe the enthusiasm which the result of the week's
debate has kindled in the Liberal ranks, and this, too, on
the eve of a general election. It is rejoiced in not only by
the regular party papers, but by those organs of public
opinion, such, for instance, as the Times and the Post,
which have repeatedly criticised the public conduct of
Mr. Gladstone in outspoken, not to say unfriendly, terms.
To the Daily News it is clear that the Parliament of 1832,
which, notwithstanding periods of languor and faithless-
ness, has achieved so many great things, has made the last
session of its existence memorable by the commencement
of a work as great as the best of its good deeds. It will
have an euthanasia. Its end will be worthy of its
beginning.

After such a majority, described by the Times as over-
whelming, decisive, and unequivocal, the Irish Church is
looked upon as doomed, even by the best friends of that
long-threatened establishment. They are bidden to re-
member that the majority of thirty-three which decided
to go into committee in 1835 represented the power of an
ebbing tide ; the force of the Reform Bill was already
more than half spent, and popular feeling was swayed by
the influence of reaction ; to-day we are but just perceiving
the rising of the flood. In fact, the Post maintains that
no fairer trophy has been gained by Liberalism since the •
passing of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act in
1829.

Already the Ministerial party is making energetic pre-
parations for a general election. Registers are being
examined and put in order, and it would almost seem that
the Conservatives were expecting an appeal to the present
constituencies. For instance, the Imperial Review says
that the state of the register in the city of Westminster is
so favourable that the return of Mr. Smith is certain, and
there is a possibility of asecond candidate being brought
forward at the general election in the person of Mr. J. C. S.
Freemantle, should Parliament be immediately dissolved.
Immediate dissolution is not merely improbable, but
absurd, for what "moral competence" would a second
£lO Parliament possess which the present does not hold?
Mr. Cecil Raikes, too, is announced to oppose Mr. Glad-
stone the younger at the Chester election, also provided
there be an immediate dissolution. Meanwhile, two Con-
servative seats—South Lincolnshire and Launceston— are
immediately to be vacated : South Lincolnshire by Sir J.
Trollope, who is to grace the Upper House. Mr. Welby
is intended to be his substitute on the Conservative side,
opp aced by a Mr. Neville on the part of the Liberals.

In a very interesting sketch of Mr. Brand, the late
Liberal "whip," the London Review mentions two or three
facts worth noticing. At the formation of the Palmerston-
Russell Administration in 1859, Lord Russell insisted upon
having a large share of public patronage, and of having
his interests represented at the Treasury in the
person of one of the Secretaries. Thus it came to pass,
that while Mr. Brand was Lord Parlmerston's " whip,"
Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen was Lord Russell's. One of
Mr. Brand's first successes was a very notable one. The
Conservatives had insisted that the Commercial Treaty
should be discussed before the Budget, and so it was quietly
hinted that if defeated the Government would dissolve.
The idea of a dissolution in 16G0, when the election bills
of 1859 were unpaid, was so formidable that Conservative
members grew restive and declared that they could not see
what difference there was between taking the Budget before
the Treaty or the Treaty before the Budget, and so when it
came to a division Mr. Bi and had the satisfaction to announce
339 for Government, against 223 for the Opposition. He
always got on well with Lord Palmerston. That Minister
having no very earnest belief in any particular political
creed, always gave way when Mr. Brand warned him that
he would be likely to get beaten ; but when the Minister
was assur d of victory, no one was more confident in chal-
lenging the House. Mr. Gladstone he did not find so
pliable ; and the anxiety.caused by the formation of the
" Cave " and the unhappy result of the Liberal Reform
Bill in 1866 so told upon Mr. Brand's health, that after
the defeat upon Lord Dunkellin's motion he virtually,
and soon afterwards wholly, ceased to act as whip. His
successor's, Mr. Glyn's first important.diyision is almost as
ictqa,,t a WIWI& %I C wad •