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Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 763, 29 February 1860, Page 3

The.' Gazette* of the 29tli November contained a proclamationbyher proroguing Parliament from the 15th of pecember to Tuesday, the 24th of January, on which day it will be holden for the dispatch of "divers urgent and important affairs;" The -piyate business- in Parliament for the ensuing .Session is an increase over that of last year: 320 notices for private bills, consisting of railway and canal and miscellaneous- bills; have been deposited, and 232 plans lodged, being an increase of thirty over the last Session of Parliament.. AH the difficulties, whatever may have been their nature, to the assembling of the Congress having been removed, the invitations have at length been issued, and it is stated that the first sitting will take:place on the; sth January, 1860. All'tne powers which take part .in the Congress are to be represented by two plenipotentiaries. -Prince Gortschakoff; is. to attend on the part of Russia Count Kechberg on taat of Austria, Count Walewski on the part of France, and Baron Schleihitz on the part of Prussia. The PiedmonteseTepresentative is, it is said, to be Count Cavour. It is stated that Cardinal Antonelli will represent the Holy See ; but this is doubtful. - ; merchants-—Messrs. Shaw,Mellor, Irving, and Gaskel I—wrote recently a letter to the .Emperor of the French asking his intentions respecting England. A letter, of which the following is a translation, was received in reply from M. Moquard, in the name of the: Emperor of the French.:— ' : •■".' '""} '" '■' '■v;"-" ''■'■ "Palace of the Tuileries, Nov.; 30. "Gentlemen,—-You have directly addressed tjie Emperor 'to know what were his intentions with respect to England.' Great.fear of great confidence can-only explain this step. - On the one hand, you are affected with an imaginary disease, which seems to have attacked, your country with, the rapidity of an epidemic. On the other, you count on the loyalty of.him from whom you ask an answer. Yet it was easy for yourselves to give that answer, if you ha.d coolly examined the real cause of your apprehensions. _ That cause'ypu,wouia have found only in all the din excited among your countrymen by the most chimerical of '■. alarms; for, up to the present, moment, in, no circumstance whatever •is there a word of the Emperor or an act which would permit,of a doubt-respecting his sentiments, and, consequently, his intentions, towards your country. His" conduct, invariably the same, has not for a moment ceased to be that of a faithful and irreproachable ally. That which he has been he wishes (and on his behalf I declare to you)'to continue; to be. In proof of the fact you have the approaching community of distant perils between your, soldiers and ours, Thus, henceforth, completely, reassured, combat an error .which is too .extended.';, Great nations are made to esteem, and not7tbVfe.ar,! each "other. .■'..'. • .'. .'. ■: ;■•' ; ."" "V* ■'. "''. ;■; ! '•'■: "Receive, Gentlemen, the assurance, &c>, '-. "MoCQjbXKD, "Secretary to the Emperor and Chief of t]ae Cabinet." The publication of the Emperor's reply has gained for the four merchants a notoiietjl- which probably they never dreamt of when they penned their epistle. It is rumoured, indeed, that their resolve .was formed while enjoying the pleasures of a' " fujl;^oard." Whether it .was thought that the O Jd vino veritas," would bear a meaning wide .enough to embrace the idea that a question, prompted^ by {he circulation of; the bottle at Liverpool, would elicit the truth from across tlie, water is ;.not known j but it is said that under the influence of-this! or some other stimulant, paper was called for; arid the worthy quartette expressed on it their' earnest wish "to know from the,^^Emperor Napoleon- what were Ms intentions as regards England." Not haying Queen's messengers or other diplomatic applianfces , at comipand,..the.party^ head" and the Post-office. .' '.Through' the latter 'familial*:agency in due .tin;e their despatch reached. its destination, and .coming in a guise so : unlike ordinary diplomatic inquiries, with an engaging simplicity whioh seldom penetrates inta Imperial cabinets, seema to have precluded all possibility- of evasion. It is said that Messrs. Shaw and; Co. could scarcely believe their eyes when the result of their bold flight was placed before them. . " Great nations should appreciate, not •.fear, one another;" so says the Emperor of ;the ; Fi-enoh in . answer to the ridiculous letter which; the merchants sent him. The phrase is a goodohe,lika most Napoleonic phrases. And, as we do not desire that France should fear us, but only .only that: she should thoroughly appreipiatey;m, ; we prpppse to go ori arniing■. our ; ;ypuVigef t citizens, by thousands' and ( tens of ..'jtHou* 'jß^^^andt^raiijing.the^m in .t^i use.-oT^eapo)a^ in j-orderjtha^ puivloyaland '/aithful ( aliy{niay'|}e -a^e to vcomprehend fully,that,, in case it:; should be.necessaryforus to assist him, in anyiofh.is projectsV for the improvement of Europe, wecould release nearly the whole of our gallant army for that purpose,'our own shores being protected by ships and volunteers. Nothing oan be more satisfactory than this view of things, . 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