The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1868.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FRom OUR OWN connEsPonErn.)

PARIS, WEDNESDAY, September 2.

The journey of Prince Napoleon to Hamburg is attri-
buted to various motives, some of them not altogether
free from a little scandal. But it is generally agreed that
politics have nothing to do with this expedition. The most
ingenious fabricant can discover no hidden signification
in a visit to Hamburg.
The Count and Countess de Girgenti have met witn a
splendid reception at Fontainebleau. The Parisians are
indeed as much astonished at the warmth of the welcome
as at the visit itself. The guests were installed in the
suite of rooms which have become historical by the resi-
dence of Pius VII. during the first Empire. There
was a grand banquet on the evening of the arrival of the
Count and Countess. Covers were laid for sixty-eight.
MM. Rouher and Pinard were honoured with a seat at the
Imperial table. After the banquet the guests assembled
in the theatre, where " On ne Badine pas avec l'amour"
was represented ; and after the play came supper, the fes-
tivities of the evening terminating at about two o'clock.
The gossips here can make nothing of it. Their alliance
rumours have become fiat, stale, and unprofitable, and
there is no other explanation to be given. The proposi-
tion to supply 40,000 men to hold Italy in check in
case of a European war was made last year
by the Queen of Spain, but the Emperor neither
accepted nor declined it. There must still be many
objections to the acceptance of such a proposal. The
task of keeping down insurrection in Spain may possibly
entail the most onerous obligations upon the Emperor, if
he fall in with the terms of the alliance as hitherto pro-
posed. On the other hand, is it likely that Spain, with so
much disaffection at home, will be able to render much
assistance abroad ?

A letter from Brussels says that the condition of the
Empress Charlotte is still far from shewing signs of im-
provement. The malady has entered upon a new stage.
The violent attacks of delirium are less frequent, and have
given place to periods of lethargic slumber, which are
only interrupted at long intervals. The unhappy
princess is under the influence of the delusion
that she is pursued in a forest by knights and
savages who wish to murder her. A souvenir of Mexico,
beyond doubt. The state of the heir to the Belgian throne,
the Duke of Brabant, also gives rise to the greatest
anxiety. The doctors are very gloomy, there is no im-
provement manifqt, and altogether the prospect of the
Prince's recovery is considered doubtful.
The judicial inquiry at Nimes is causing great excite-
ment there. The public ovations, of which M. Jules
Favre is the centre, have been marked by extraordinary
enthusiasm. The excitement is considered great even for
that exciteable district. The first two sittings were en-
tirely occupied by the hearing of some sixty witnesses,who
were pretty unanimous in their testimony. They
clearly proved that the meeting was private, the doors
being strictly closed ; that the police got in by force;
that remontrances and representations of the nature of
the meeting were of no avail ; that the soldiers, who had been
concealed in some neighbouring house, suddenly followed the
police, and that the electors were turned out by force,
struck with the butt ends of muskets, and one of them
wounded. Against these witnesses, which included a
member of the Council General of the Gard, there was
but the testimony of the Commissioner of Police and
his subordinates. These maintained that the meeting was
quite open, and that they entered without using force. As
to M. Sagnier, who was wounded, the officials state
that the injury was caused simply through his indiscre-
tion. He ran himself against one of the soldier's bayonets.
A fine speech from M. Jules Favre has scattered these
assertions to the winds. Even an arrest, Le maintained, could
not justify these extremities ; the bayonets ought not to
have been displayed ; and the blows from the butt ends
of the muskets admitted of nosophistical explanation. The
decision, however, has been in favour of the police. The
judgment of the tribunal was to the effect that the
meeting was public, that the police were obliged to w e
force to get in, and that the electors were subject to all
the consequences of a breach of the law which prohibits
public meetings within five days of an election. What is to
be done in the case of a Government which draws
a distinction between a public and a private meeting, and
interprets it according to its own wishes?
The noble army of martyrs increases. Two more jour-
nals have been condemned.
Count yon Golts is worse.

THE WEATHER TABLE.-THIS DAY.

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METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS.