OUR PARIS LETTER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 431, 7 September 1880, Page 3

OUR PARIS LETTER.

(latOM OUU OWN COHUESPONDENT.)

Paris, July 15.

"Here wo ore'again 1" the Communists may Bay ; with the triumphal entry of Rochefnrt into the capital, the plenary amnesty is accomplished ; he in fact was the t -ntiliestone of the whole question. The measure of forgctfulness—not of pardon, the Republic is now free to devote all its energies to the developemeut of home progress ; its partisans will be henceforth ranged in two camps, the moderates and the advanced, differing only in points of time and patience. France will gain from the conflicts the tortoise and the hare will not bt the less friendly in the contest, less faithful for the end. The monarchists opposed the amnesty, well knowing it was a dead weight on 1 the Republic ; but 'had the chapter of accidents led one of the three" pretenders to the throne, the first, act of majesty would have been to accord the amnesty, ll+o curry popular favor. The apprehensions then of the royalists,arid of their near, v all vjf Jules Simon, are simply hypocritical "r which " New France" well knows, and the theatrical accessories wore so many simple concessions to pious old maids and dowagers with prohibitical ideas as old as iheir'lustres, and displaying like their features, a look of another world. The hero of the hour, of the 'day, is Rochefort. Parisians ' gavtf him a velcome that Henri V might envy, and readily give the 15,000 francs, three sous that admirers have clubbed to present the last of the Bourbons with as a souvenir. The crowd was great to welcome and see the fir st batch of the amnestied that arrived ; but the llochefort crowd exceeded all ; it was originally 5,000, then swelled to 30,000, and finished at 60,000. It was a goodhumored and enthusiastic crush, perfectly well conducted, save that they nearly suffocated the object of their veneration, who had to conceal himself for some hours in a draper's, shop, where he passed the time enjoying an excellent improvised dinner, while Victor' Hugo's was waiting for him, It must not be concluded that this nearly hundred thousand welcome, meant sympathy for Rochefort's politics, or a ' manifestation in favor of tho Commune ; no, it wns simply a tribute of admiration; to his eventful career, romantic, daring, , and plucky ; it implied first of all an expression of gratitude to the man, the writer, who had the audacity, all alone, to attack that incarnation of audacity, the Second Empire, aivl give the iii>t blow of the pick axe and the hammer, to that organised hypocrisy. Rochefort Las no political creed, no system, no hobby: be is n free-lance, attacking whatever will., afford, the'subject of a sneer or the pretext for a langh. Re is a political gauiin. It will be curious to spe whnt will be the lines of his new journal VTiitruvstgeant, t'iroo-fuurths of j it will uiiduubti-dly be. personal, a pint ! hi.tr:ly popular in this, cuuntry and further a paying oi,o. iSochefort undoubtedly <: cured," m Ansu'lisu-sifi debits would t-ay. '" France ] ' ('f the msmia for individuals ;" time will j fshriw if the physician can cure himself. j Vv'lh'H the no.u'lty w< a.:, iff, when Roehefurt eear-es to lie npci/n'e.e, when bis paper arrives at its ono-I v ulrcdth representation, some other idol will hivo come to the front. There arc no abuses on * which to exercise his wit, been use those j oj.i-itiag are all on the h'gh-road io reformation, and while France enjoys Vaudevilles, she never omits to leave ' serious affairs to serious people. Rochefort has not grown mrc'i older during his exile ; his face is more bo T \y ; the " hair round his temples commences to turn grey, but his three puffs are still as black as jet;he looks yellower, more cadaverous and calculated reticence, has replaced a free and easy vivacity. Paris may be said to have commenced fete week on Sunday list, ihree days in advance ; the tricolors look extremely pretty, and as they are all new, very imposing : I have observed t icm placed in uvea railways and in stacks of chimneys, tou'.d joy bo more extreme, patriotism more expressive ; the busses have their flags bound to the knife board railing beside the driver, and horses,' like their drivers' heads, display tricolor, farms. Each street has one or more triumphal arches, crowned with a symbolical figure of an episode of the Revolution and all surrounded with garlands of variegated glass lamps, and decorated with tricolor bunting. The various public bqnares and gardens have gigantic poles with gilt spaces : at the summit floats the tricolor steamer, and at the lower part, a group of flags.forming a festoon around an escutcheon having thereon the letters R. F. Across the streetsarc wire lines, from wliich y .fl-gs are draped : the donees in gas 'are very numerous and pretty, full of ,(jrgiii»lity, and suggcstivciiess. The will lose nothing in cotnpar ison with St. Peter's of Rome. As for the perianal emblems, they are as numerous as the sand of the sea shore : watch chains end collars are now extensively worn in tricolor bead jewellery ; there arc tricolor shirt collars, and lints, and those who prefer the ml Phrygian cap, can sport it also. Each ward ol the city has its fjiir and " dancing asphiilthiiu)," which does duty lor ,a " green ;" the chief secular monuments will have either electric lights,,.;or fireworks. The concert?, nro not only of tnc " monster " type, but free,' ;i!idco!>ciucto<. by Pasdclonp and Colonno. Boys hav< been liberally supplied with fireworks and squib!} nrc the otv'cu , of the night Tho gcncvi'ality of workmen hud bcci paid in adva^ , -". 'out foino monarcha employers refused this petty farui, aiu

even declined to recognise the holiday* which was foolish. Why should not the Republic have its cakes, as all other dynasties had theirs in days gone by. The enemies of the Republic take their defeat badly; they follow the old tactics, proclaiming the certainty of emeutea, and qtiittingVtlie city. But no one minds these displays of spite and disappointment. The 14th July, 1880, is the reconciliation of the nation, regenerated and eminently republican, and on a revenue wonderfully prolific. A senator has been arrested for being blind drunk in the streets, and shouting " Down with the Republic !"'—Five clemi-rnoncl!ans have offered to purchase the Due do Monchy's palatial town house but the duchess will not even entertain the idea, —she does not object foTsell it to the ex-Khedive; for his floating harem. Mdlle Auclerc vows she will not j pay a single centime of taxes, , nor 'her';; sister friends till they be accorded the right to vote.