The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-12-11
Foreign Correspondence OF the Republic.

Important Votes in the AsssmbIy -NsiO Postal ar
rGngemsRt betDeen The United States and France
Visibility Of MoLeelIes--Aa Insmsnss building
Other ImProDements-A Long and Hard Winter
EIpeefed-Ihe MINT Of PaTis-1he Lottery Of
Lingots-A Suicide "a Consequence Other En-
perisness-A Thai of Skill bstioesn BaTbns--A
French SuPerstitioH in regard 10 The Number
Thirteen
PANS. Nov. "a, 1851.
AS you will have learned by the intervening
steamers the proposition of the questors ofthc AS
sembly to place at their disposal such army as
they might judge necessary, was lost by major
ity against il of los This was fortunate for the
tranquility of the country, for the President would
not have submitted to such an 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
vion; and the warlike questors have revenged
themselves by posting extra force at the doors,
charged TO examine the tickets of those who apply
for admission with redolbled strictness and ten
fold scrutiny. The result has been that several
editors and correspondents, accustomed for years
to enter without any of these formalides have been
obliged to beat retreat, having left their tickets
at horne in some forgotten waistcoat pocket Who
would have thought that this bombastc bill would
have ended in such utter ridicue and confusion of
face?
The Mountain, having unanimously sided with
the Bonnpartists in voting for the restoration Of
universal suffrage, and having split upon the pro-
ject of giving the Assembly army to itself, have
since returned to their former position, Of uncom-
promising hostility TO the President. In the dis
cussion TO take place to-day upon the bill eab
GRATED by the Council of State entitled, "Proposi-
ton upon the responsibility Of the President and
his Minister'S, they will coalesce with the two trac
tons of the monarchsts. This coalition Ia fully as
extraordinary the one formed of late years be-
tween two political parties in Massachusetts,. You
will learn the result by the sub-channei wire. II
passed, the Presidents hands are tied behind his
back. All possibility Of reyision OF the consti-
tuition is at end, and the Presidents legal re-
election is out of the question. 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 passesro 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 prerogatives of the President. There
is ground of hope, however, and that is,
that the bill, if carried will have owed its tri-
umph 10 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 were required to do as
soon after May, lS49, possible They now
bring it forward 30 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
fear of the crisis of 1852 that it is nothing bet
ter than "law of circumstance" and ia no more
worthy of serious comment than &c post facto
law, or any law which, while pretending to be
founded on general principles is aimed at an indi
vidua case, atany person. 1t threatens to lead
to direct conflict between the President and the
Assembly, an 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 Moniter Of yesterday appeared decree
from the President, countersigned 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 A single letieS from Peris TO New York by
the Franklin and Humboldt costs ~ cents to Havre
and 81 cents sea. carriage-in all, 33 cents.
I'd. A 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 10 cents to Liverpool and 81
cents sea -duty-in all, 81 cents.
Nothing is altered in this arrangement by the
new regulation, except the tax by the Cunard line,
on and after the LIST 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 one centsthe cheapest of the three
modes of transport. The American Government
can easily equalize these various charges by re-
ducng the sea. tax by the Havre line to nineteen
cents-making, with the French inland postage,
thirty one cents; and by reducing the 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 are 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 a
very remarkable paper was read. 1t was present
ed by well known engineer, nj. Andraud, who
has made many public experiments on compressed
air a substitute for steam railways. give
you resume of the contents of this paper. 1t il
entitled dSroscopie, the Visibility of the Mole
cules of the Air. Some of the deductions made, in
medicinal point of view, are in the highest degree
curious. M. Andraud proves that, by very simple
contrivance the air ia rendered Visible. By taking
piece Of card, colored black and piercing it with
fine needle, this interesting fact is established:
look through this hole at the sky, on fine day
or at strong lamp, having ground glass, see
a multitude Of little transparent globos moving il
the mdst OF confused nobulosites These littl,
| globes, some of which are more transparent thar
others, are molecules of air. Some of them are sur
rounded with kind of halo. These latter, says III
! Andraud, are the elements of OXYGEN whilst other
| are elements of aEote. After continuing the oh
servation for some time, we shall see small
! points detaeh themselves and disappear in falling
these, says M. Andraud, are atoms of carbon
This phenomenon of vision it is essential to 70
mark, passes within the eye itself; the molo
cules Of air which observed those which
float in the liquid, which occupies the anterio
part of that organ According to the author of thi
paper, the discovery is not interesting merely
phenomenon, but may be applied to important Pur