The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-12-11
Foreign correspondenee OF enc Republie.

Important Votes in the AssfAabIy NstU Postal DR.
yangsnent betlosen the United States and France
Visibility Of NOscules-AH Immense Building
Other InpToUsments--A Long and Hard Wtnte'
EIpecfed-Ihe MINT Of PaTis-1he Lottery OF
Lingots-A Suicide va Consequence Other Err,
perienees-A Thai Of Skill betiOesn BaTbers--A
french SuPeTsfition IN regard TO me Number
Thirteen.
PANS, Nov "a, 1851.
AS you will have learned by the intervening
steamers, the proposition of the questors fthc As
sembly to place at their disposal such an army as
they might judge necessary, was lost by a major
ity against il of los This was fortunate for the
tranquility of the country, for the President would
not have submitted to such encroachment upon
his prerogative, and the officers of the army OF
Paris were unanimous in determination not to per-
init him to be shorn of any Of his constitutional
rights. The project has been consigned to oh
livion; and the warike qucstors have revenged
themselves by posting extra force at the doors,
charged to examine the tickets of those who apply
for admission with redoabled strictness and ten.
fold scrutiny. The result has been that several
editors and correspondents, accustomed for years
to enter without any of these formaties, have been
obliged to beat retreat, having left their tickets
at home in some forgotten waistcoat pocket. Who
would have thought that this bombastic bill would
have ended in such utter ridicule and confusion OF
face?
The Mountain, having unanimously sided with
the Bonapartists in voting for the restoration of
universal suffrage, and having split upon the pro-
ject of giving the Assembly an army to ITSELF have
since returned to their former position, Of uncom-
promising hostility TO the President. In the dis
cusson TO take place to-day upon the bill elab
Grated by the Council OF State entitled "Proposi-
ton upon the responsibility of the President and
his Minister'S, they will coaiesce with the two rac
tons Of the monarchisls. This coalition La fully as
extraordinary as the one formed of late years be-
tween two political parties in Massachusetts. You
will learn the result by the sub-channei wire, If
passed, the Presidents hands are tied behind his
back All possibility Of revision Of the consti-
tuition is at AN end and the Presidents legal re-
election is out of the question. A simple majority
in the Chamber may pronounce the President TO
be suspect which by this bill is made to be of
the same effect if he were already impeached.
The power passcsTo the Assembly, which thus be-
comes the Executive and at the same time invested
with the right 10 dispose of the army. This is the
most direct attack yet made by the Chamber
upon the prerogatves of the President. There
10 one ground of hope, however, and that is,
that the bill, if carried will have owed its tri-
umph TO coalition, and that the fractions
composing it will quarrel among themselves
upon the first attempt, by either, to reap the
benefit of it. The Council of State have allowed
twenty nine months to pass without drawing up
bill upon the responsibility of the Executive, which,
by the constitution, they required to do as
soon after May, 1919, as possible They
bring it forward so filled with clauses adapted
to present exigencies, with articles calculated to
suit events, which seem to be casting their shadows
before, with dispositions made especially for Louis
Napoleon's case, with requirements based directly
.Ck A. e -
ter than "law of circumstance" and is more
worthy of serious comment than an eI post facto
law, or any law which, while pretending to be
founded on general principles, is aimed at an indi
vdual case or atany person. Itthreatens to lead
to a direct conflict between the President and the
Assembly, open rupture between the Executive
and Legislative bodies, and is therefore, Of the
most dangerous propositions yet offered to the
Chamber for their acceptance or rejection.
In the Monitelr OF yesterday appeared decree
from the President countersgned by the Minister
of Finance, fixing the rate of postage on letters
from France destined for the United States and
passing through England The hand of Lord Nor
manly, working in the interest of the Cunard
steamers, is curiously evident AT present there
three different modes of conveying letters from
France TO the United States, and three different
rates:
1st 4 single leltes from Peris to New York by
the Franklin and Humboldt costs IL cents TO Havre
and 81 cents carriage-in all, 80 cents
I'd. single letter from Paris to New York by
the Cunard line costs 80 cents to New York and
five cents at the city post office therein all, IS
cents.
Sd. A single letter from Paris to New York by
the Collins line costs 6 cents to Liverpool and 81
cents sea -duty-in all, 81 cents
ia oil in hut Tho
new regulation, except the tax by the Cunard line,
on and after the lat of December next, is reduced
from thirty to twenty-six cents, which, with the
five cents levied at New York. makes the whole
postage thirty cents-the cheapest of the three
modes of transport. The American Government
can easily equalize these various charges by re-
ducing the tax by the Havre line to nineteen
cents making, with the French inland postage
thirty-one cents; and by reducing the sea- tax by
the Collins line to fifteen cents-making, with the
transit duty to Liverpool, also thirty one cents
This would put the three lines par, as far as
the mails concerned. Unless this is done, the
whole mail from Paris for America will hereafter
go by the cheapest route.
At the last sitting Of the Academy of Sciences
very remarkable paper was read 1t was present
ed by well known engineer, M. Andraud, who
has made many public experiments on compr essed
air as substitute for steam railways / give
you resume of the contents of this paper Ii is
entitled d1roscopie, or the Visibility of the Mole
cules of the Air. Some of the deductions made in
a medicinal point of view, in the highest degree
curious. M. Andraud proves that, by a very simple
contrivance the air is rendered visible. BY taking a
piece of card, colored black and piercing il with
fine needle, this interesting fact is established If
we look through this hole at the sky, on fine day,
or at a strong lamp, havinga ground glass, we see
a multitude Of little transparent globes moving in
the midst Of confused nebulostes. These little
globes, some of which more transparent than
others, molecules of air. Some of them are sur
rounded with kind of halo These latter, says ri
Andraud the elements of OXYGEN, whilst others
are elements of azoto. After continuing the oh
servation for some time, shall see small
points detach themselves and disappear in falling,
these, Gays M. Andraud, atoms of carbon
This phenomenon Of vision, it is essential to re-
mark, passes within the eye itself; the moo-
cules of air which observed those which
float in the liquid, which occupies the anterior
part of that organ According to the author of this
paper, the discovery is not interesting merely
phenomenon. but may be applied to important pur-