The Press. — 1854-01-07 (London, England)

FRANCE. The new year has been inaugurated in Paris by a variety of Court receptions and fetes signalised by even more than the customary imperial magnificence. On Sunday a grand levee was held at the Tuileries, attended by all the Ministers, the grand functionaries of State, the judges of the courts of law, the cardinals and bishops, canons, marshals, generals, and superior officers of the National Guard, and the members of the diplomatic corps, all in costume of ceremony. The reception was held in the throne. room, where the Emperor and Empress stood under the rich canopy. When the diplomatic presentations were made, the Emperor addressed the representatives of foreign powers in substance as follows I sincerely hope to be able to maintain the relations of amity which now subsist between my Government and the Sovereigns whose representatives you are ; " and, turning to the Ottoinan Ambassador, he added, " My good wishes, my sympathies, and my efforts are in favour of your Sovereign, and you will be good enough to communicate what I say to him." He then bowed to the ambassadors, and the ceremony  proceeded. On the following evening, Monday, there was a " reception " for ladies, which is stated to have been the most brilliant ever remembered since the Restoration. The Court " mantle " made its appearance for the first tune on this occasion, and added greatly to the effect. There were at least 2,000 persons present, belonging to various nations, and exhibiting a great variety of the richest uniform; and costumes. After the presentations were finished, which occupied necessarily a considerable time, the assembly retired to the Hall of the Marshals, where the Emperor joined them subsequently, and walked through the crowd, addressing familiarly all persons known to him. The Emperor and the Empress, it is said, occasionally walk out in Paris in a sort of incognito. They last week visited, altogether en bourgeois, a well-known jeweller's shop in the Rue de la raiz. They were quite unattended; but a certain number of police-agents were seen to hover about in the immediate neighbourhood. The grooms of the Emperor on Tuesday tried under the windows of the Tuileries two splendid sledges, each drawn by a pair of horses. • The Moniteur on the jour d'an announced the nomination of eight general officers and fourteen colonels on the list of the Etat Major-General, and the distribution of a great number of crosses and military medals. The hitherto stanch advocate of Russia, the Assemblie, whose columns are said to be inspired by the Princess Lieven, has given symptoms of a complete change of tone. On Tuesday it said:— " This struggle may shake the world, and we see it commence with the deepest grief. We cannot, however, dissimulate the regret we feel at seeing a great power, which has for so long a time given proofs of moderation, which has always avoided separating its interests from those of Europe, and which appeared to be a barrier and resisting force against the revolution, now allow itself to he hurried into a course of policy producing such deplorable consequences." The Nord of the 28th returns thanks, in the name of the cotton-manufacturers, to the Emperor for liming determined to maintain the present system of duties on cotton thread. At Rouen and at Lisle the decree in the Moniteur removing certain restrictions from raw cotton only was received with great joy, and several houses were illuminated. A decision of the Minister of the Interior, published in the Moniteur, orders that certain telegraphic offices, including those of Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, and Marseilles, are to remain open during the night for the reception and transmission of despatches between France and Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, and Trieste. The night charge is to be double that of the day. No arrangement has hitherto been made with regard to the night despatches for or from England. The confidential clerk of an eminent Paris stock broker committed suicide on Monday by throwing himself from the window of a fifth floor in the Faubourg Poissonniere. It is said that the rash act was effected under the excitement caused by heavy losses at the Bourse during the last mouth.