The Sun. — 1867-11-16 (London, England)

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.  (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)  PARIS, Friday Evening.  The Emperor will open the Legislative Session on Monday next in person, with the accustomed formalities.  A slight change in the Ministry by the accession of M. Pinard to the post of Minister of the Interior and of M. Magne, in the room of M. Rouher, as Minister of Finance, scarcely excites any observation in Paris as it was anticipated, and does not imply any change of policy, either foreign or domestic. Your readers will have been prepared for it from my correspondence some days ago. As to the Marquis de la Valette, there has not beei such a popular Minister of the Interior for many years. He retires from circumstances quite unconnected with politics, and with the full esteem and confidence of the Emperor, the proof of which is to be found in the nomination of the Marquis as a Privy Councillor.  General de Failly, accompanied by the officers of the French expeditionary corps, has been received by the Pope at a solemn audience. his Holiness expressed in warm terms the sentiments of gratitude inspired by the generous assistance of the Government of the Emperor and the devotion to his cause, of which the French officers had recently given proof. The Holy Father then bestowed his epostolical blessing upon France and her army. A private telegram from Bucharest announces that in consequence of interpretations directed against the Ministry by certain members of the Chamber of Deputies, Prince Charles had ordered the dissolution of the Parliament of Roumania.  It appears by the latest news from Rome that the city was perfectly tranquil, and had quite recovered from the recent alarms which had been created there. The Pontifical and French troops returned from their expedition, and were everywhere received with sympathetic acclamations by the people. The numerous Garibaldian prisoners were confined in various buildings. The Pope, with his accustomed benevolence, had given orders that they should be treated with the greatest kindness and indulgence. The Spanish Government has just issued a Royal ordonnance, which places the military administration of the Island of Porto Rico under the direct control of the Captain General of Cuba. This measure has been adopted with a view to facilitate the armament and defence of the Spanish Antilles, by increasing the intimate union between the two commands.  If the proposed new congress should not definitively take place, at all events we have recently had a mimic congress or assembly of diplomatists here. They, however, have left. M. Benedetti has returned to Berlin, and M. de Sartiges to Rome. M. Malaret is about to resume his diplomatic duties at Florence, and the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne, the Ambassador from France to England, will return to London in a few days. M. Philoxene Boyer has just died, and although only 38 he had distinguished himself notably in the world of letters. his first work was an elaborate defence, criticism, or apology of the " Rhine," by Victor Hugo; and his next production was one which required much labour, the " Universal Dictionary." At the club of the Soci6tes Savantes M. Boyer subsequently gave some very interesting literary conferences, in which he reviewed the works of Byron, Henri Heine, Chateaubriand, Schiller, Balzar, and last, not least, Shakspere. The Lainben prize was awarded to M. Boyer in 1862 by the academy for his literary labours. Among his dramatic pieces were " Sepho," "Le Feuilleton d'Aristophane," " Le Cousin du Roi," and " L'Engagement. He also wrote numerous miscellaneous wokrs both in prose and verse. The Academy of Fine Arts has chosen M. Cabat to fill the place vacant in the section of painting in consequence of the. death of N. Brascassat. There is yet another garotting attack. Two passing along the avenue Suffren, de Mars, about 10 o'clock at night, werere assailed by four individuals so when near rn workmentteieyChampw suddenly that they could not defend themselves, and the watch and chain of one of them was stolen. The workmen, however, recovered from their surprise, and pursued the malefactors. Assisted by the police they were fortunate to capture one of the men, who luckily had the watch and chain upon him.  A young Italian girl of 23 has made an attempt at murder and suicide at Aix. She is in service as femme de chambre in a respectable family in that town, but having been deceived by a young gentleman of Aix, she went to his residence and asked to see him. The moment he came to the door she fired a double barrelled revolver at his left side. She then fired into her mouth. The girl was taken to the hospital immediately. It is doubtful whether either will survive. _  -ii;r6ciOber last M. Klotz, the proprietor of Le Soleil, M. Fauve, the editor of that journal, and M. Schiller, the printer, were condemned to fine and imprisonment for the insertion of an article " calculated to disturb the public tranquillity, and excite hatred and contempt against the Government." The defendants appealed against the sentence, and the appeal was heard by the Sixth Chamber yesterday. That court confirmed purely and simply the sentence of the former tribunal. That sentence was—Klotz to a fine of 500 f., Fauve to two months' imprisonment and a fine of 500 f., and Schiller to pay a fine of 300 f. The defendants were condemned to pay the expenses. Again a day, probably unparalleled for brightness and warmth, was the 15th of November. It was a summer day in every respect. The phenomenon of the shooting stars is stated to have taken place in conformity with the programme, but the brilliant spectacle was not visible until three o'clock in the morning, and I confess that I did not see it. Hoy/ever, I shall be able to give some account of it. It appears from some interesting statistics relative to the railways in Prussia, that since 1838, when the first railway was opened for traffic in that country, the average annual length opened for traffic was 256 kilometres. A kilometre is 1,000 metres. The total network of railways at the commencement of 1866 presented a development of 6,891 kilometres, and at the commencement of this y ear, in consequence of the territorial aggrandisement effected by Prussia, their extent was increased to 9,219 kilometres, representing a capital of 2 milliards 250,000 francs. The average expense of construction was 251,821 f. per kilometre. In Belgium the cbrresponding expense of construction was per kit,metre 345,000 f. ; in France, 412,000 f. ; and in England, in consequence of the high price of land, 495,000 f. per kilometre. In 1865 the number of travellers by railway in Prussia was 34,750,000, and 298 millions of metrical quintals of merchandise were carried. The gross receipts during that year were 69,750,000 f. ; adding supplementary receipts the general total was 245,500,000 f. The working expenses amounted to 98,625,000 f.