The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 17, 1868.

OORRESPONDEME FROM PARIS.

tFROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, THURSDAY, April 16.

The Monitetir, in its weekly budget, has declared for
peace ;so that peace is now official—at all events, for the
present. By way of confirming the assurances of M.
Baroche, the Memorial Diplomative declares that the
French Government has refused in the most peremptory
manner to deal with the Schleswig question. This must,
I suppose, be taken in connection with, and as a reply to,
the statement of the Copenhagen Dagbladet, which says
that the negotiations with Prussia are dragging on without
any result ; the guarantees demanded by Prussia are
unacceptable, and the frontier which the Prussian Govern-
ment is willing to give includes only one-third of Danish
Schleswig. The Dagbladet goes on to criticise a leader in
the London Times, and says that Denmark is greatly
indebted to France for the sth Article of the Treaty of
Prague, and has firm confidence in the future. If the
gratitude of the Copenhagen Cabinet is a lively sense of
favours to come, it will prove unfounded in the present
instance.

As Frenchmen, no less than other persons, are liable to
rush from one extreme to the other, so we, who last week
were prophesying war in a month, are now ready to believe
any number of stories to prove that there is to be peace.
For instance, it was said that the Emperor was going to
Greece and Egypt to work up materials for his " Life of
Cesar "—a very pacific employment. But the semi-official
Constitutionnel has knocked that pretty statement on the
head. Now we are told that negotiations have been going on
at Berlin between our Minister, M. Benedetti, and Count
Bismarck. The difficulty of believing the statement is, that
in Prussia the army is either mobilised (that is, on a war
footing) or on a peace footing, and that it is already in the
second condition. Nevertheless, it is rumoured that Bis-
marck has offered to give leave to a certain number of the
Landwehr. This statement, so far as I understand it,
is absurd, inasmuch as the Landwehr consists of men
who, having served their seven years in the army and the
reserve, have to be in the Landwehr for nine years. As
this body is not mobilised, there is no possibility of giving
any members of it leave without altering the whole con-
stitution of the kingdom.' It may therefore be safely be-
lieved that the above-mentioned rumour, with the addition
that M. Benedetti was not satisfied, and demanded

the disarming of the Rhine fortresses, is a fiction the re-
sult of the present reaction, perhaps designedly set on foot
by the Bourse people. Another rumour of the same kind
may be received with equal incredulity : it is that the
King of Prussia will make a strongly pacific speech at the
opening of the German Customs Parliament on the 27th.
Ilis Majesty is not at all likely to do this, for he always
confines his speeches to the matter actually before him.
Prince Napoleon's visit to Berlin is rather a stale matter
now, but I may be pardoned for reverting to it in conse-
quence of a very remarkable article which has just
appeared, describing the conduct of the Russian Govern-
ment with respect to that visit. It caused a pro-
found sensation at St. Petersburg, and no sooner
was Prince Gortschakoff informed of it than he
sent a telegram to Berlin, charging the Rus-
sian Minister there to hold no communication with
the Prince, but at the same time not to lose sight of him,
and to seize an early opportunity of demanding from Bis-
marck what the visit meant. M. Oubril, the Russian
Minister, fulfilled his instructions, and sent word
that the Prince had expressed a lively desire to
bring about an intimate alliance between France and
Prussia, and to detach the latter Power from Russia,
but that Bismarck had remained steadfast to the Northern
alliance. Convinced that there was nothing to be feared

roin that quarter, the Russian Government, as if to chew

its contempt for French diplomacy, published the recent
ukase incorporating Poland, Prince Gortschakoff knowing
very well that Prince Napoleon was a strong philo-Pole.
The Schleswig question was discussed at Berlin, and while
Prince Napoleon said that, once for all, France would not
interpose in the matter, Bismarck assured the Prince
that the susceptibilitieS of France bhould be considered.
The Prince then expressed his regret at seeing Prussia
support the Russian policy in the East. Bismarck asked

the Prince if he had a mission on the subject, and on hearing
that he had none, replied that Prussia must maintain the
greatest reserve. In a word, the Prince's visit was a com-
plete failure. I should add that the article containing this
statement appears in the North-East Correspondence, and
professes to he based upon a diplomatic circular of Bis-
marck's explaining the Prince's visit.
It seems that Baron Budberg was compelled to fight his
duel with M de Meyendorff in consequence of the very
cold reception which the Czarowitch gave him the other
day, thereby intending him to understand that his conduct
was considered derogatory to the dignity of Russia. Both
duellists were slightly wounded, Meyendorff in the hand.
lie was formerly wounded at the back of the head, in the
Crimea, and it was this fact which gave rise to the suppo-
sition that he was insane.

The Times appears to have established a permanent
correspondent at Athens, who within the last week or two
has sent home some very interesting letters. His last,
dated April 9, describes the mode in which the recent
general election was conducted. The correspondent says:
" Universal suffrage was adopted to gratify democracy,
and vote by ballot to prevent men in office from em-
ploying Government influence to intimidate voters.
Its success has made it extremely popular. No
system has been devised more suitable to convey
a sense of responsibility to the mind, while it secures
secrecy, than that established in Greece. It is simple, yet
it gives some solemnity to the formality of voting ; and as
the Greeks think it well suited to the present condition of
their country, it is deserving of attention." Another
article of the English Radical creed has been accepted in
Greece—equal electoral districts. One deputy is returned
for every 10,000 people. The actual voting seems to have
been admirably managed. At Athens it took place in the
churches. There were thirty ballot-boxes ranged in order,
each marked with the name of a candidate. Behind the
boxes, but separated from them, were thirty friends of the
candidates. Each voter ascertained his number on the register
before going up to vote. On presenting himself his identity
was established. He then passed to the first ballot-box, and
the nam e of thd candidate inscribed above it was called out.
The voter, being provided with a ball, put his hand into
the box and dropped the ball into one of the two compart-
ments into which the box was divided, and which were
marked " Yes" and " No" respectively. It was impossible
for any one to see in which compartment he placed the
ball. He then went to the next box, where the
same process was repeated, and so on with the re-
mainder of the thirty. The result of this system is that,
as the correspondent says, although the poll was kept
open four days, the voting has been conducted in an
orderly manner, and in Attica proceeded as quietly as $
ballot in a London club. This is the more remarkable, as
the elections excited intense interest, and there had been
some faction-fighting in the streets. One of the candidates
brought a well-known brigand chief to support him, but
the result was, that the people were so disgusted at this
attempt to resort to physical force that they blackballed
the bullying candidate. Another result is the defeat of
the late Prime Minister.

One of the most active members of the House of Lords
is the Earl of Lichfield. Now lie is sitting as a trades'.
union commissioner at Westminster ; then he is presiding
at the Stafford quarter sessions ; again, he is advocating
the claims of a charitable institution ; at another place he is
arguing the question of compulsory education. At a ragged-
school meeting at Burslem the noble earl said he thought
those who had come to the conclusion that the only
remedy for the present unsatisfactory state of things was
compulsory education, had done so somewhat hastily.
The machinery at present at work had not been sufficiently
developed. For instance, power should be given to guardians
of the poor to require the children of out-door paupers to
be educated, making such requirement the condition of
relief. Where the guardians refused to exercise their
power, the State might step in, by industrial schools and
the like. They had already a system of indirect compul
sion in the Factory Act, and that was as far as he Was
disposed to go in that direction. The principle which he
advocated was, that a child should be employed on the
condition that he had received a certain amount of educa-
tion. As that could not be very well carried out, the best
plan was to extend the existing sy:,tem, care being taken
not to take the responsibility off the shoulders of the
parents.

The bishop of the diocese from which the Earl of Lich-
field derives his title is also a man of great activity. He
is as yet the junior prelate, but on the lapse of the next
see, Dr. Selwyn will take his place amongst his peers with
a reputation which will far outshine that of many an older
occupant of the episcopal bench. He has just been point-
ing out at Wolverhampton how middle-class schools may
be made more successful than they have hitherto
been. He recognised the beneficial results which had been
accomplished by the competitive system. It had brought
to light talent in the sons of humlf.e parents, and they
had by education at our great public institutions risen in
consequence to the highest positions in Church or State.
He considered it the great glory of England
that the higher classes were constantly receiving
strength from the stratuin below. By scholar-
ships and the like, young men comparatively poor,
received such education as enabled them to take positions
in the world. It may be mentioned that the female
students in what is called the " Wolverhampton centre"
had been found proficient in political economy—a power-
ful fact this for Mr. Mill, were it not that they were defi-
cient both in geography and arithmetic.

MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN SEYMOUR AND
THE LION, MARY HOOD.

On Thursday the marriage of Captain Hugh Seymour, of
the Grenadier Guards (son of Major-General F. 11. Seymour),
and the Hon. Mary Hood, second daughter of Major-
General Lord and Lady Bridport, was solemnised in the
Chapel Royal, near Cumberland Lodge, in Windsor Great
Park. The Rev. J. St. John Blunt (her Majesty's chap-
lain) officiated. Previous to the ceremony the Queen
and Princess 'Beatrice drove up to Cumberland
Lodge to congratulate and take leave of the
bride. The bride was elegantly attired in white satin and
Brussels lace, Brussels lace veil, and wreath of orange
flowers. The bridesmaids were the Hon. Adelaide Hood,
Hon. Rosa Hood, Hon. Florence Seymour, and the
Misses Georgina, Constance, and Mary Seymour, who
were all dressed in white -tarlatan, trimmed with Metter-
nich green and oak leaves ; the best man was Albert
Seymour, Esq. On returning to Cumberland Lodge after
the ceremony, the invited guests, numbering upwards
of 200, sat down to a sumptuous breakfast in
the spacious rooms known as George lll.'s State apart-
ments. Among the company present were their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess Christian, and Prin-
cess Louise (who were also present at the chapel), Lord
and Lady Bridport, Major-General and Lady Emily Sey-
mour, Colonel and the lion. Mrs. Ferguson of Pitfour, Mr.
and Mrs. Erskine of Cardross, Admiral Sir George Sey-
mour, Count and Countess Gleichen, the Ladies Murray,
Viscount and Visconntess Hood, the Hon. Mrs. Wellesley,
Sir Thomas and Lady BiAdulph, Lady Caroline Barring-
ton, Sir J. and Lady Cowell, Viscount Kirkaldie, the Hon.
Leslie Ruthven, Colonel the Hon. Dudley and Lady
Elizabeth de Ros. The previous evening Lord and Lady
Bridport entertained a large party of the nobility and
gentry in the neighbourhood, to whom were exhibited the
many costly presents received by the bride and bridegroom;
amongst them were one from her Majesty the Queen (a
magnificent Indian shawl and china breakfast service), one
from their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales, Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Louise,
Prince Arthur, Lord and Lady Bridport, INlajor-General
and Lady Emily Seymour. Marchioness of Downshire,
&c. Shortly after three o'clock the bride and bridegroom
left Cumberland Lodge, amidst showers of slippers, for
the Isle of Wight. The band of the Ist Life Guards,
under the direction of Mr. Watson, performed on the
lawn in front of the State apartments during the day.
Her Majesty's school children of the Great Park attended,
and strewed flowers before the happy couple as they left
church.