The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-09 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARI2

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, WEDNESn.tf, Jan. 8.

The frost has recalled a historical fact. On the sth of
January, in 1791, Napoleon went out to skate on the ditch,
at that time deep, which borders the fortress-wall outside
Auxonne. Dinner hour having sounded, the future Em-
peror took off his skates and prepared to depart. " Another
turn," said two-' of his fellow-students. He hesitated a
moment, and then said, " No, it is time to go." The
others would not hear of leaving off, and dashed on again;
but the moment after the ice gave way, and, in spite of
all the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte to save them,
they were both drowned.
In the course of a day or two there will be sold by auc-
tion a medal so curious that I have no doubt a large price
will be offered for its possession. It is composed of
lead which was used to rivet the chains of the prisoners of
the Bastille, and bears the following ioscription :—" This
lead sealed the fetters which chained the victims of
despotisi and recalls the period of liberty conquered in
the year ler." This is on one side ; the obverse is
embellished with a somewhat confused representation
of the taking of the Bastille, and bears date 14th July,
1789.
Your readers have heard much of the Princess de
Metternich. Let me give her portrait as sketched in the
Paris Magazine :—" She is said not to be pretty. Listen
to the enumeration'of her beauties : Eyes which have the
sweetness of a German reverie ; teeth of brightest
enamel ; a forehead smooth and clear as an infant's, high
and wide as that of a thinker ; and abundant silky brown
hair. People seem not to notice two particular beauties of
her Austrian Highness : the form of her head, as Greek
as that of the Venus of Milo ; her ear like a pink shell—
whereas, everyone does justice to the beautiful fall of her
shoulders, the exquisite form of her arm, the long aristo-
cratic hands, and the narrow, dainty foot. Be she dressed
in blue, red, or yellow; be she coiffed with her toque over
her eyes, or with a sergent-de-ville's cap, as she appeared
one day at the Tuileries—she is and remains a princess ;
and there are not many now. Witty, with a heart of gold,
and extremely charitable, she is the adoration of the work-
men's families she visits in the Faubourg St. Antoine ;
jumping the children on her knees, washing them, kissing
them, sitting on a stool if there are not chairs enough—
such is the woman. Devotedly and fondly attached to a
good man—Prince de Metternich—such is the wife."
The significance of a double defeat of the Government
in election districts where it had every reason to look
for success is fully appreciated here, and is regarded as
evidently conveying a censure on the general policy of
the Government. I find also that it is looked upon as
a special protest against the Army Bill.

The manufactory of the new guns at Meudon has re-
zeived another visit of inspection from the Emperor. Of
course great curiosity prevails to know what is going on
inside the building, and several too prying visitors to the
neighbourhood have been quietly arrested. Being on this
subject, I may mention as a matter of rumour that our
fortifications are to be adorned with cannon. Though
this statement mint only be taken for what it is worth, it
is a fact that the War Office has issued large orders to
private builders for gun carriages.
It is seldom that journalists are so candid in the expo-
sition of their designs as M. Henri Rochefort, who, in
announcing the appearance of his new venture, La Sau-
terne, says he means " to make himself generally disagree-
able." I believe that M. Rochefort couldn't brook the in.
terference he met with from M. Pinard during the time
he contributed to the Figaro.
I hear it confirmed that M. Messon, the editor or. tne
Union Bretonne, published at Nantes, will succeed M.
Paulin Limayrac as semi-official writer in chief on the
Conetitutionnel.

The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Morning
Herald intimates that the distress amongst the poore”
classes in Russia, owing to the bad harvest, is in many
parts of the country very severe. At the opening of tbr
Provincial Assembly of Novgorod, the Governor told the
members that the province had to look forward to a yea
of great difficulty both to the proprietor and the labourer.
The bad harvest and the cattle plague had reduced the
working classes to a state of misery, and he recommended
a liberal vote of money to supply the peasants with the
means of subsistence, and to furnish them with seed for the
next year. The Governer of Olonetz opened the Pro-
vincial Assembly of that government with a similar
address.

A committee has assembled at Berlin to draw up a uni-
form code of civil procedure for the Northern Confederi;,-
tion. All the members, at the head of whom is placed the
Minister of Justice, belong to North Germany.
The large number of forged notes in circulation in Russia
has rendered necessary the issue of paper money of a novel
design.
A belief prevails in some quarters of Berlin that the
sate M. Dreyse, the inventor of the needle gun, has left
papers which prove that towards the end of the last war
he was in constant communication with the Court of the
Tuileries, and that he had revealed to the Emperor the
mysteries of the needle-gun. It is also said that the other
inventions made by M. Dreyse were not confided to the
Prussian, but to the French Government, without the
knowledge of the former.

The number of artisans employed in the arms manu-
factories at St. Etienne has been increased to 5,000, not
including those employed at Anailly, where extensive
machinery for the production of muskets has recently been
erected. The latter establishment can deliver 40,000
barrels monthly.

A correspondent of the Star spews how the King of the
Netherlands has discovered a new method for preventing
Ministerial crivs. It is that of instituting a Ministry in
perpetuity. When the Second Chamber rejects important
Government bills, his Majesty dissolves the former, and
issues a proclamation to his subjects calling upon them to
return only such candidates as engage to support the
Ministry he has chosen. Should the new Chamber prove
hostile, it would be again dissolved. Indeed, the process
would be continued until the Parliament thoroughly ac-
commodated itself to the Ministry.

A correspondent of the Morning Post, writing from
Mexico under date December 9, describes the opening of
the Congress on the previous day, which was Sunday.
President Juarez was in attendance, and when a formal
organisation had been effected, he read what in the United
States would be called the " President's Message," and in
England the " Speech from the Throne." His voice was
almost inaudible. The text of the speech has already
appeared, and, with the reply of Senor Monte; was little
more than a choice specimen of the rhetorical self-glorifi-
cation in which Mexicans are so fond of indulging.
The same correspondent mentions that though the finan-
cial situation of the Mexican Government is admitted on
all hands to be bad, the supporters of the present Adminis-
tration declare that the nominal amount of the various
foreign and domestic claims against the Government can
be greatly reduced by the strict scrutiny to which they
are all to be subjected, and that shortly a financial state-
ment will be put forth by the Administration, which will
shew that it is not impossible for Mexico to pay all the
debts which she honestly owes.

Colonel Hogg, the Conservative member for Bath, who
seconded the Address to the Crown at the opening of the
session, has been selected for the honour of proposing
"The health of her Majesty's Ministers" at the forth.
coming banquet at Bristol. It will be responded to by
Lord Stanley. The chairman is to be the Duke of Beau-
fort, the Lord High Steward of the city. The banquet,
which is to take place on the 22nd instant, is expected to
be one of the most influential gatherings which has' ever
taken place in the West of England.
In expressing a hope for the speedy recovery of Sir
John Rolt, the Bath Chronicle fears that the paralytic
attack from which the learned judge now suffers will
materially impair his strength, and may possibly necessi-
tate his retirement from the judicial bench. In such an
event, the successor to the dignified position of Lord Jus-
tice of Appeal in Chancery would be the present Solicitor-
General, Sir Charles Selwyn, brother of the new Bisho
of Lichfield.

In speculating upon the possibility of Sir Charles
Selwyn's elevation, one remarkable fact cannot fail to be
impressed upon the mind, and that is, the richness of the
Conservatives and the poverty of the Liberals in equity
men. Lord Romilly, the present Master of the Rollsyand
Sir w. P. Wood, now Vice-Chancellor, were the two last
Chancery supporters possessed by the Whig party in, Par-
liament. On the promotion of the latter, Lord Aberdeen
appointed a Peelite, Sir Richard Bethell, to the Solicitor-
Generalship. When Lord Campbell died and Sir Richard
took his place as Lord Chancellor, Lord Palmerston had
not a single equity man in the House of Commons, and
was constrained to bring in Sir Roundell Palmer and make
him Solicitor-General. In the next Liberal Administra-
tion there is little doubt that Sir Roundell Palmer's place
will be on the woolsack, and unless in the meantime one
or two leading Chancery barristers take their seats on the
Liberal benches, the new Ministry must again go out of
the ranks of their party for a law officer of the Crown.
Mr. Ellice, M.P. for the St. Andrew's district of burghs.
in addressing his constituents, said that while he lookei
upon the Conservatives as deserters from their party,
yet he accepted a Reform Bill from them, as he
believed in the truth of the principle, " Measures, not
men." He thought that Conservatives of the future
would be compelled to follow in the paths of the Liberal
party. The basis of the franchise on household suffrage
he considered satisfactory, because permanent ; but man-
hood suffrage was not, in his opinion, ripe for discussion.
Though admitting that Ireland had been harshly treated,
he thought the attention of Parliament had been unduly
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