The Sun. — 1840-12-30 (London, England)

FRANCE.  (From the Paris Papers of Monday.) The King held a Council of Ministers yesterday nf• :ernoon at the Tuileries.  There will be grand receptions at the Tuileries of ladies and gentlemen on the evenings of the 3d and sth of January, on occasion of the new year. " A despatch from M. de Nesselrode to M. de Pahlen," says the Courricr Francais, " has been communicated as a matter of private favour (oilicicuscmcnt) to M. Guizot. It is said to be very friendly to France ; but what is more significative than the tone of the despatch is the communication which has been made of this document to the French Cabinet. It is now more than twelve years since the two Governments havo exchanged such evident. preliminaries of conciliation. M. Guizot considers this as a success, and is very proud of it. These advances make a diversion from the unpicasant feelings which are caused him by the increasing pretensions of Lord Palmerston. We recommend him, however, not to trust too much to the deceitful exterior of Moscovite diplomacy. It has taken in Ministers more adroit titan himself." rho Council. General of the Bank of Franca has declared a dividend of 69f. a share for the second halfyear of 1840, which will come into payment on the 2d of January. The Gratuitous Medical Lying-in Society, under the patronage of the Queen, held its annual meeting at the Hotel de Ville a few days since. A Report for the year was read, from which it appeared that the number of accouchements effected by the medical men of the society during the year ending December 15 had been 371, and that not a single death of a mother had occurred in any of these cases. The number of still-born children was only 2 per cent., and the pecuniary assistance, independent of medicines, clothing, &c., to the value of 10f. to each woman, was only 23f. on the general average. The amount of the general list of subscription for the sufferers by the inundations, published up to this time, is 60.2,1981.  The number of persons who ',jolted the Church of the Invalides yesterday was 115,000. During the nino preceding days the number of visitors amounted to more than 870,000 ; so that, during the time the church has remained open, nearly a million of people have been to sec the catafalque over Napoleon's remains. We find the following in a Marseilles paper : " Some days ago an inhabitant of Aix left his house, taking care that a notice should be subsequently delivered to his wife that she would never see him again. His family, supposing that he intended to commit suicide, had minute searches made in every probable place, and, as they had relations at Puyrieard, extended their inquiries so far. A farming man, working in the fields near that place, informed them that he had seen a person go down into the well be pointed out. There they immediately hastened, and, calling down, were answered by a voice perfectly unknown to them, declaring a determined resolution on the part of the person to drown himself, and, in fact, when ropes and ladders were procured, they drew out the lifeless body of a stranger. In his pockets were found two bills of exchange for considerable sums, with his name upon them, without any address, and '2oof. in silver. Accounts were next day received from Nismes, that'the Aix fugitive was there safe and well, and bad no idea of making away with himself."  The Governor of Guadeloupe, by decrees dated the 3d August and 7th September of this year, has liberated 118 slaves; and the Governor of. French Guiana, by decrees of the 25th May and 20th July, has liberated 25 slaves ; men, women, and children being included in each case.  The Debals says—" The Bill respecting literary property, which was passed last year by the Chamber of I'cers, after a discussion in which M. Villemain defended the cause of literature with so much talent, will he immediately presented to the Chamber of Deputies. The Members of the Dramatic Committee have just had an interview with the Minister of Public Instruction, who listened to their observations with the interest which they had a right to expect from his enlightened zeal in behalf of literature."  Extract of a letter from Naples, 17th inst. :—" The King came from Caserta last week to review the troops, and, at the same time, gave directions for the summer palace of Chiatamone to be prepared for his sister, the Queen Dowager of Spain. Don Sebastian, on hearing of her Majesty's intended visit, told the King that, under such circumstances, he should retire to Rome. His Majesty replied, with his usual kindness, There can be no necessity for that, 1 should think, as it appears to ire that Queen Christina is much in the same category as yourself on account of the recent changes in Spain.' The anger of the Carlists has been raised here at the very idea of a son of the King of the French becoming. a rival of Don Carlos' son for the hand of Isabella 11. We are crowded with visitors, and there seems every appearance of a brilliant carnival." The Frankfort Post Gazette publishes a decree of the Germanic Diet, against workmen who form parts of unlawful coalitions and pri•ate associations in any of the States of the Germanic Confederation. According to the provisions of this decree, any workman convicted of such an offence is, after having undergone the  punishment to which he may be sentenced, to be expelled from the State in which the offence has been committed, if not a subject of it, and shall be forbidden to rc•enter that State without special permission. He is also to be subjected to strict surveillance of the police in his own State ; and lists of the workmen condemned in any State are to be communicated to all the others, in order that due precautions against them may be adopted. The Frankfort papers mention that in the sitting of the States of Hesse Cassel, on the 18th inst., a bill for granting 782,478 florins of extra-credits for the warbudget was rejected. and that all the financial measures proposed by the Minister of the Interior were also thrown out. Several other measures, brought forward by the Government, had been so much modified that the Commissioners withdrew them. On the 22il the Commissioner from the Germanic Diet read to the States a rescript from the Prince Co-Regent, from which it resulted that his Royal Highness, in conscqueace of the refusal of the States to vote the bills above-mentioned, had determined on making good the difference out of the revenues of the domain, and the excess of the receipts in the finance department, in order that he might meet the extra expenses imposed on him as a member of the Germanic Diet.