After the Convention had finished its sittings yesterday, I accompanied Mrs. M. C——­ and sisters to Versailles, where they are residing during the summer.  It was really pleasing to see among the hundreds of strange faces in the Convention, those distinguished friends of the slave from Boston.

Mrs. C——­’s residence is directly in front of the great palace where so many kings have made their homes, the prince of whom was Louis XIV.  The palace is now unoccupied.  No ruler has dared to take up his residence here since Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were driven from it by the mob from Paris on the 8th of October, 1789.  The town looks like the wreck of what it once was.  At the commencement of the first revolution, it contained one hundred thousand inhabitants; now it has only about thirty thousand.  It seems to be going back to what it was in the time of Louis XIII., when in 1624 he built a small brick chateau, and from it arose the magnificent palace which now stands here, and which attracts strangers to it from all parts of the world.

I arose this morning before the sun, and took a walk through the grounds of the Palace, and remained three hours among the fountains and statuary of this more than splendid place.  But as I intend spending some days here, and shall have better opportunities of seeing and judging, I will defer my remarks upon Versailles for the present.

Yesterday was a great day in the Congress.  The session was opened by a speech from M. Coquerel, the Protestant clergyman in Paris.  His speech was received with much applause, and seemed to create great sensation in the Congress, especially at the close of his remarks, when he was seized by the hand by the Abbe Duguerry, amid the most deafening and enthusiastic applause of the entire multitude.  The meeting was then addressed in English by a short gentleman, of florid complexion.  His words seemed to come without the least difficulty, and his jestures, though somewhat violent, were evidently studied; and the applause with which he was greeted by the English delegation, showed that he was a man of no little distinction among them.  His speech was one continuous flow of rapid, fervid eloquence, that seemed to fire every heart; and although I disliked his style, I was prepossessed in his favour.  This was Henry Vincent, and his speech was in favour of disarmament.

Mr. Vincent was followed by M. Emile de Girardin, the editor of La Presse, in one of the most eloquent speeches that I ever heard; and his exclamation of “Soldiers of Peace,” drew thunders of applause from his own countrymen.  M. Girardin is not only the leader of the French press, but is a writer on politics of great distinction, and a leader of no inconsiderable party in the National Assembly; although still a young man, apparently not more than thirty-eight or forty years of age.

After a speech from Mr. Ewart, M.P., in French, and another from Mr. Cobden in the same language, the Convention was brought to a close for the day.  I spent the morning yesterday, in visiting some of the lions of the French capital, among which was the Louvre.  The French Government having kindly ordered, that the members of the Peace Congress should be admitted free, and without ticket, to all the public works, I had nothing to do but present my card of membership, and was immediately admitted.