The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-13 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, TUESDAY, May 12.

The great debate on Free Trade has not been lively thus
isr. There were but two speeches delivered yesterday,
or rather read, for both M. Kolb Bernard and M. de
Tillancourt resorted to pen and ink. Both addresses
were on the same side, i.e., antagonistic to free trade in
general and the Anglo-French Treaty in particular. M.
Bernard drew a most gloomy picture of the state of trade
and industry in France. He declared that owing to the low-
ness of prices, the suspension of labour, and the depreciation
of capital, there had been a diminution in the resources of
the manufacturer to the extent of 25 per cent. In the
district of which Roubaix is the centre the loss is esti-
mated at 8 millions sterling. M. Bernard then pointed
to the 48 millions sterling lying idle in the Bank as another
proof of the paralysis of trade. At the same time that
this calamity has fallen upon us we find, said M. Bernard,
that the cost of government and the cost of the necessaries
of life have largely increased. There is a scarcity of food, and
though it may be argued that free trade in corn has rendered
this scarcity less felt, it must be remembered that, being
bound up with other countries as we now are, we are made
to share in their distress. The consequence of the dan-
gerous theory of free trade is the annihilation of every
branch of industry in a country which cannot support
foreign competition. M. Bernard then went on to answer
the argument that free trade converted all the nations into
one common republic, by arguing that the first duty of a
nation was to maintain its independence. Free trade had
reduced the profits of the manufacturers by importing
foreign manufactures, and had increased the price of
food by exporting wheat, &c. Free trade had, he
declared, in spite of its claim to destroy monopoly,
rendered it impossible for any but large manufactories to
exist. He then described the condition of the iron trade
and the cotton trade. lie said that at Roubaix alone
sixty-seven establishments bad been closed since 1861, but
as he went on to say that thirty-four of them had been
closed since last year, it is clear that something else than
free trade has been the cause of this misfortune. He then
referred to the stagnation which prevailed at Havre, Nantes,
and other centres of the shippinginterest. Hecontrasted the
position of France with that of England,ancl decl a red that the
latter country had benefited by the commercial treatyat the
expense of the former, a result which was only in direct
accordance with Mr. Gladstone's prophecy eight yearsago.
Such a result was inevitable, for in England manufactures
were everything, agriculture nothing; and how therefore
could France,which was so largely an agricultural country,
contend against the manufacturing energy of England ?
He concluded by declaring that his programme was peace
abroad and conservative progress at home. He u' g d
that as France was prosperous under the old regime, that
rlginze ought to Le restored, and that this was the only
means of calming the country.

M. de Tillancourt's written speech was shorter, though
much to the same purpose. His chief point was, that at
the commencement of 1866 nearly five million quintals of
wheat were exported, which some months later had to be
repurchased from abroad at a higher price by almost four
millions sterling than they had been sold for. He declared
that French agriculture was in a most precarious state.
It was expected that M. Thiers would have spoken to-day,
but I hear this afternoon that he will not speak before
to-morrow.

M. Michel Chevalier has written a letter to the Journat
des Dibats in order to explain away his share in the unfor-
tunate Cr6dit Mobilier. He states that he was not one of
the managing committee, and that his good faith is shewn
by the fact that he and his friends still bold a large number
of shares in
the concern.
fidesTb ; at the same timeere is no doubt at all
about Ae
it cannot be denied that his official connection with
the concern inspired confidence in the minds of a large
number of persons who would not otherwise have felt it.
He was a director, and was paid for being so, and it is there-
fore rather an aggravation of the grievance that he should
not have acted. The very fact that he had a large hold-
ing only served to mislead people still further.
The Archbishopof Algeria has landed at Marseilles, and
is on his way to Paris. It is believed that he is coming
to see the Emperor respecting his quarrel with Marshal
Macmahon, the governor. The marshal, by the way,
seems to be unpopular in Algeria just now. There has
been a formidable disturbance in the capital, at which
there were cries raised for his removal.

The Epoque, a pap; which was started by M. Clement
Duvernois, who seceded from the liibertd because of its
anti-imperialism, states that great activity has prevailed
lately at the arsenal of Bourges. General Bazaine hag,
been sent there on a special mission from the Emperor.
A great number of general officers are constantly passing
between Paris and Bourges. As the latter town is in the
centre of France, and not on the frontier, I do not see
that much importance is to he attached to this activity.
There has been a grave quarrel between M. Pic and M.
Vitu, editors of the semi-official Etendard. The first
claims £3,600 as the price of his resignation. The matter
;s to come before the law courts.

The Figaro has a bit of English news for French
readers, which will be new also to you. Having been
asked by its subscribers what is the meaning of the
" Esq." after English names, the Figaro says that it is
the title assumed by Englishmen who think " Sir " too
plain and commonplace.

There is no doubt that the commercial treaty between
the Zollverein and Austria will be adopted, and that
Mecklenburg will then enter the Zollverein. The Customs
Parliament has not too much time for getting through its
work. It has to rise on the 27th in order to make way for
the Federal Parliament. These assemblages are really
becoming quite bewildering. First, there is the
Prussian Parliament, which decides the affairs of the
country alone ; then the Federal Parliament, which deals
with matters belonging to the whole North German
Confederation ; then the Customs or Zollverein Parlia-
ment, which considers those commercial matters that
concern the whole of Germany, excluding Austria, which
technically does not belong to Germany, having been
thrust out by the Treaty of Prague. At the present time
there are twenty States in the North German Confedera-
tion, with an area and population varying from the
137,066 English square miles and the 22,769,436
inhabitants of Prussia to the 106 square miles
and the 98,575 inhabitants of Bremen. The
total area of the Confederation is 160,624 square miles,
and the population 27,978,651. South Germany consists
of only six States—Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Baden; Hesse-
Darmstadt, llenss-Greiz, and Lichtenstein—the first with
29,347 square miles and 4,657,367 inhabitants, and the last
with 64 square miles and 7,153 inhabitants. In fact, the
reigning prince of Lichtenstein rules a territory no larger
than many an English parish, and no more subjects than
may be found in many an English agricultural town. The
area of South Germany is 45,931, and of all Germany,
North and South, 206,575 square miles, and the popula,
8,606,948 and 36,585,599 respectively. This is about a
million and a half fewer inhabitants than France
possesses.

The Austrian Chamber of Deputies has just made a
step in the right direction by voting a law to permit the
free exercise of the profession of advocate. Hitherto the
right to plead before the courts of justice has depended
solely upon the discretionary power of Ministers. Herr
Giskra, one of the most notable advocates in Austria, made
a speech on the subject, in which he said that he was six-
teen years endeavouring to obtain the necessary permission.
Henceforth every doctor of law, after four years' study and
an examination, will be permitted to plead. This is a
change which the rest of Germany will envy, and, no
doubt, will speedily effect. Nothing more remarkable has
been seen in our generation than tbe thoroughness with
which Austria is carrying out her Liberal programme, and
the rapidity with which she is advancing, to the front rank
of Liberal and constitutional States.

The Sultan of Turkey presided in person on Sunday at
the solemn opening of the Council of State which is
destined to form the nucleus of a representative Govern-
ment. Although Turkey has now representative institu-
tions, and Christians are allowed to take part in the
administration, that portion of the Sultan's subjects are
still very far from being properly represented. Thus,
according to a Moscow paper, while there is one delegate
for every 386 Mussulman inhabitants, there is only one for
every 30,575 Christians. It is satisfactory to find, how-
ever, that the Sultan said that the time was come for
Turkey to abandon its old traditions and draw closer to
Western Europe by adopting more liberal institutions.

As some of .our contemporaries have been misled by a
recent telegram into a strange geographical and political
blunder, it may be as well to state that the " Sultan "
whose death was reported at Gibraltar lately, and which
event it was said would probably give rise to an insurrec-
tion, is not, as our contemporaries supposed, the Sultan of
Turkey, but the Sultan of Morocco, the " Prince of Be-
lievers " and " Vicegerent of God upon Earth," as
he is called by his subjects. His rule extends
over the four territories of Fez, Morocco, Suse, and
Tafilleet. Tunis is in quite another case. It has been sub-
ject to both Turkey and Algeria, but has thrown off the
yoke of both, and the Bey, who now rules the country, is
virtually independent, although he still sends a yearly
tribute to Constantinople.
The Liberals of Belfast are advocating the claims of that
great and growing constituency to a third member. It
contains 160,000 inhabitants, and the Liberal party con-
tend that nothing could be more unjust than to give a
Conservative colleague to Mr. Bright at Birmingham and
a Conservative member to the City of London, on the
representation of minorities' principle, end to refuse 4
Liberal 99ileap8 to the Tory Inenbcr§ fQF Pc4§ol _

711 E ENDOWMENT OP I?OMAN CATHO-
LICS IN THE COMMIES.

(From the Trinidad Star of the West.)

We are requested to publish the following despatches,
from the Grenada Chronicle of March 7th, 1868:
u To Sam. Mitchell, Esq., Colonial Secretary, &c.

" The Lieutenant-Governor has the honour to transmit
to your Honourable House copy of a despatch from the
Secretary of State, in answer to a memorial addressed to
his Grace, from the Roman Catholic clergy of the island,
relative to the omission of the Legislature to make any
provision for them.
" The Lieutenant-Governor begs to invite the consi-
deration of your Honourable House on this important.
subject. " ROBT. M. MUNDY.
" Government Office, 33. March, 1868."
"Downing-street, Bth October, 1867.
_

" Sir—l have received your despatch (431) of 19th
Anglst, with a copy of a despatch from the Adminis-
trator of Grenada, forwarding a memorial addressed to
me by the Roman Catholic clergy in Grenada, relative to
the omission of the Colonial Legislature to make any pro-
vision for them.

" I observe that the salaries and allowance of the Pro-
testant Establishment are equivalent to £2,220 por annum,
and it cannot be denied that the Roman Catholic popula-
tion is not equally dealt with by the appropriation of this
sum in a great measure out of the funds levied upon the
population at large, to the support of the Protestant
Churches, whilst no provision is made for the clergy of the
Roman Catholic Church, which comprises a considerable
majority of the population.

" It would give much satisfaction to her Majesty's
Government if you could lead the Legislature of Grenada
to take the subject under their consideration.—l have, &c.
(Signed) " BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS.
"Governor Walker, C. 8., &c."

AN ECCLESIASTICAL HOAX.—Many of the
churchwardens of the Archdeaconry of Exeter were
hoaxed at the recent visitation of the Archdeacon (Free-
man) by a paper of questions sent to them, and which
they were required to fill up in making their presentments.
They were accompanied by extracts from Dr. F. G. Lee's
" Directorium Anglicanum," in the compilation of which
Archdeacon Freeman assisted. The following were some
of the questions :—" Have you at the expenseof the parish
provided an amice, a chasuble, an alb, a stole, a tnasuple,
a zucchetto, and boretta ?" "Are these vestments white—
according to a recent recommendation of the archdeacon
or coloured ?" "Is the communion-table removed, and an
altar of stone substituted for it ?" "Is there an incense-
pot ?" "Does your priest know when to join his fingers,
when to stick his elbows into his sides, when to bow,
when to turn north, south, east, west ?" " Does ho burn
incense lt the proper time ?" "If so, how does it smell ?"
"Does he wash his fingers in the ablutions, as directed,,
and then swallow them ?" "Does he wash the corporal ?'

The case of Bryant v. Foot, which has been
pending in the courts for about five years, and which in-
volves the right of the clergy to marriage fees, was de-
cided in the Exchequer Chamber on Saturday. The de-
fendant was the rector of Horton, in Buckinghamshire,
and he claimed a fee of 10s. for the rector and 3s. for the
clerk of the parish upon any marriage solemnized in the
church. The plaintiff claimed a return of the fees he had
paid. The case was argued some time since in the Court
of Queen's Bench, when the majority 'of that court (Mr.
Justice Blackburn dissenting) gays judgment in favour of
the plaintiff. The defendant appealed against that judg-
ment, and the matter was argued some time since in this
court, when time was taken for consideration. The Chief
Baron now delivered the judgment of the court. It ap-
peared, he said, that from 1804 to 1854 these fees had been
paid, and the question was whether the court should hold
that the claim by prescription could be sustained ; the
majority of the Court of Queen's Bench had determined
that it could not, and the majority of this court was of
opinion that the judgment of that court should be
affirmed. In order to show that a claim to such a fee was
legal, it must be shown to have existed from the time of
legal memory (Richard I). The payment must have been
made from time immemorial, and it must have been the
same fee in amount. It was impossible to suppose such a
fee as 13s. could have been paid upon a marriage in a
small parish in the time of Richard I. It was proof to re-
but the conclusion that the payment had been made from
time immemorial. The judgment of the Queen's Bench
would, therefore, be affirmed. Mr. Justice Keating
dissented, and read a very long judgment explaining his
views.

The natives on the Western side of India will
soon be modifying their opinion of • the integrity of the
British character. The incidents connected with the fall
of the Bank of Bombay gave them a shock, and now a
strange story is brought by the mail of another breach of
trust. According to this statement a Hindoo placed a
sum of money intended for educational purposes in the
hands of the cathedral trustees. Instead of applying it
to education they diverted it "for repairing and orna-
menting the fabric of the cathedral." They have all, it
appears, virtually admit'ed the "grave error they have
committed." Are our countrymen in Bombay beginning
to think, with some ‘‘ competition-wallahs " and officers
in her Majesty's service, that any sort of treatment .is
good enough for people with dusky skins?—Pull Mall
Gazette.

Whether the Prince and Princess of Wales liked
Ireland so well as to desire to reside there occasionally
the public has no means of judging, says the Pall Mall
Gazette, but the Irish people have been encouraged by
their visit to hope that the Queen will allow a Royal palace
to ho built in some part of their beautiful country. Seven
years ago Archbishop Whately wrote—" A residence of
the Sovereign for two or three months annually would do
more to make Ireland peaceable and loyal than all the
bullying and all the coaxing that have been alternately
tried." Irishmen who best know their own countrymen
still hold that opinion, and there is this to be said for the
experiment which they recommend—that no one could
object to it as being either " subversive " or extravagant.
It would be the easiest and the cheapest method of pacify-
ing a people ever adopted, and the Empress of Austria
seems to have tried it with some success in Hungary.
That the House of Commons would cheerfully co-operate
with her Majesty in the desire to establish a Royal resi-
dence in Ireland can scarcely be doubted. On Friday
night Sir Colman O'Loghlen will bring forward a motion
in the House designed to express this disposition on the
part of members of all shades of opinion. To associate
the name of the Queen with such a purpose is to bring
the influence of her Majesty to bear upon the present
crisis in a manner which does no dishonour to her exalted
position or to her past life, and therefore is well worthy
the attentive consideration of the Prime Minister.
A correspondent of the Evenement Illustre, who
was admitted some days back to an audience of the Pope,
gives in a letter from Rome to that journal some interest-
ing details about the Holy Father. He says:—" The
Pope is pretty tall and stout, without being obese. The
furniture of his private room is a square table, with two
chairs, and an armchair for himself. The room is very
small, with a low ceiling, no curtains, and the walls
covered with paper of the cheapest sort. Those of the
grand official saloons are covered with silk. His bedroom
has yellow curtains, no carpet, and a brick floor, with a
little bedstead of iron without curtains. He is very neat
in his person ; his hands, which are half covered with
white mittens, are particularly attended to. He rises at
six o'clock, shaves himself, and says his Mass in a little
private chapel ; and then hears another. At eight
o'clock he takes a small cup of chocolate, and at half-past
eight receives his Ministers. Cardinal Antonelli comes
every day to the Vatican, and when prevented from doing
so the Under-Secretary of State, Monsignor Marini,
takes his place. The other days of the week the
other functionaries in their turn transanct business
with him. At half-past ten o'clock the Ministers with-
draw. The audiences then begin and are not over till
one. At two o'clock the Pope dines in his private apart-
ment. His repast is of the most modest kind, and it always
ends with a sweetmeat of which all Italians are fond.
From half-past two to three he takes his siesta, at
three he reads his Breviary, and at half-past five
goes out for a drive in a carriage with four
horses, accompanied only by two young priests. If the
weather permits he alights and walks in the most retired
parts of the city ; nevertheless, he is followed by upwards
of two thousand persons, who walk after him in silence.
When it rains his Holiness proceeds to the galleries of
the Vatican when the visitors have retired. He is a great
lover of antiquities, as proved by researches and resto-
rations he is continually making. On his return home,
at six o'clock, the audiences recommence and last till ten
at night, when he retires to sup. He goes to bed at eleven,
and the next day goes through the same routine. Though
advanced in years, he sings very well, and, what is quite
unknown even to many Romans, plays well on the violon-
cello. When I was received with my companion, the
chamberlain plucked me by the sleeve to make me kneel.
The Pope, perceiving the movement, spared us the genu-
flexion, and made us approach the table at which he was
sitting. 'So, then,' his Holiness said, you are two jour-
nalists, friends, going together to Naples ?' He spoke
about Naples, and asked us how we liked Rome, adding
that people found themselves very free during their stay.
He then took two photographic likenesses of himself, one
for each of us, and, with a sly smile, said, ' I am going to
write something for the journalists,' and, in a firm hand,
traced these words :

" ' Diligite veritatem, filiam Dei ;'

after which ho held out his hand to us. His affability is
extreme. He speaks French with as much accent as
Rossini, and the impression he produced on me was that
of a pleasant and tranquil 01l man who appoars to bts but
little occupied with external matters."

It is to be. presumed that the steeplechase course
in the Bois de Boulogne is not of a very severe character,
for on Thursday M. de Vesin made and won a bet that he
would ride over it fairly from end to end without touching
his horse's bridal. The well-trained animal accordingly
jumped the hedges, -ditches, rails, brook, and banquette
irlandaise without making a single mistake. It tried to bolt
at the last-turn, but its rider easily managed .to keep it
triight 'with his "stick."