Our Contributors.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 527, 2 August 1881, Page 2

Our Contributors.

OUlt PABIS LETTER.

(From our Own Correspondent)

Pakis,'June 16.

So far as the country is concerned, the quarrel between the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies may be said to attract no attention. It seems to be a storm in a tea-cup. Similarly, the question of dissolving the Chamber within the ensuing month, rather than October, lias found no echo in public opinion. The rejection of the scrutin de liste by the Senate was the result of an organised personal hostility against Gambetta, and while it haerather served than injured the latter, it has also let a little light in on the personal politics of M. Grevy, who does not view with the indifference of a IJuddhist deity the march of events. It is ho, not Gambettn, that is accused of being th« occult Government However, the nation, and to its credit be it said, desires nHuhT the domination of M. Grcvy hot M. Gambetta ; it wants the Constitution to be freed from the .shackles that empires and kingdoms luive. snccedeii in placing , raund Republicanism since 17t>9. There can by no question if one were forced to decide which o the two rival Presidents' fortunes it would be best to follow, there could not be. a moment's hesitation in plumping for Gambettii. But the Senate will not got off scot free ; it does not merit to be abolished, but reformed. It has three defects— that of being nominated by a select electoral body, numbering in all 47,000 votirs, who hnve themselves been chosen iby universal suffrage ; second, threefourths of the Senators are fixtures for nine years ; and third, the h'enate hns the power, with the approbation of tlie President of the Republic, to dissolve the Chamber. The worst feature in tho mongrel constitution of the Senate is th t one-fourth of its members are elected for life, and this knot of patricians, including the reactionist Republicans, are the undisguised foes of democratic progress. Against 800 Senators, there a-e 530 Deputies electe I by ten millions of suffrages, and but for four yeais. These inequalities shock the logical and equal rights mind of the French. It is not extraordinary, then, that whether Gam beta or his henchmen take up the cry, the revision of the Senate will form a "plank" in the "' platform " of the Republicans at the ensuing general elections.

The commercial treaty with England is not expected to be negotiated. The French are rath»r desirous of such a result, though not able 10 explain the reason why. They have got the idea into their heads, that it is England who is anxious for the treaty, seeing the perseverance with which she solicits the renewal, so it is concluded, what is for the advantage of England, cannot be in the interests of France. The few persons who advocate not free, so much as freedom of trade, avow, the negotiations have been badly commenced, the pre-., liminaries have been entrusted to Clerks, rather than to statesmen ; instead, of dealing with the general lines- of the bw. tariff, the representatives of boih'nations have begun with details, separate the latte* by all means from the general bases. France hajj engaged herself to at least ameliorate the treaty of 1860, or the statu quo ; it ought not to be either a long or a difficult task to demand what reduction—a third or a fourth, she intends to offer, in the taxes now levied on iron, coal, machinery and tissues, etc., England being requested to name her concession on the wine duties. If France be not in a position to say, she consents in principle, to a reduction of duty on

every article imported from England, yhe cannot be free to ameliorate the statu quo. The adoption of specific in place of ad valorem duties, though a hardship could be surmounted by an international commission. England w.ould certainly make a blunder, if favorabl* conditions be proposed at the twelfth hour, she rejects then , , in the expectation that the new legislature would be more inclined to freedom of trade. The French, as a nation, give no attention whatsoever to the comparative merits of free or restricted trade, and the representatives faithfully reflect constituents. Were the subject capable of being dramatised, or served up in the form of a feuilleton or a novel, there would be a chance for its securing a passing notice. The race for the Grand Prix at tho Bois has eclipsed both politicians and free traders ; ncvor since this institution was established by the Due de Horny, was a race so numerously attendedor so well contested. America has decidedly found out the road to export horses to win the blue ribbons of England and France, and the Municipal Council can no loner pretend, that in subsidising tho annual international race with 100,000 francs, the city traders or taxpayers in general, gain nothing from the expenditure A gushing writer says, the running for the Grand Prix is as sensational as a bull fight, and as interesting an a battlefield ; be this as it may, the air becomes undoubtedly charged with hippie fever. For those not of a horsey turn of mind, the crowd is the most interesting part of the whole spectacle. Every kind of vehicle is trotted out to do duty for the day ; the city is full of strangers ; toilettes are mostly new, and as varied as the infinite. As a general observation, costumes were in lilacs, grey-pearls, seabliies and rose ; the huts, Directors, Restoration or capote. As for the prevailing shapes, ladies appeared as umbrellas in their sheaths. There can be no doubt French crowds are degenerating into roughs, and that one of the greatest reigning abuses in France, is cabby; daily he ia becoming more insolent, more monarch of all he surveys. For political tyrannies, there is a solution, but for those of cabmen, such does not appear to exist The nihilists to the rescue.

The note of preparation for the race was visible a week in advance ; the shops were filled witli fancy goods dedicated to sportsmen and women, and where a horse-shoe, bit, and snaffle were worked up into a hundred curious designs and combinations ; even chimney-piece clocks and watches appeared with hippie ornamentations. A portion of the grand stand had been exclusively net apart for the ladies, and their different colored toilettes could not bo surpassed by any horticultural exhibition. The tie between the first and second jockeys was considered as " Titanic." The French naturally felt sore their favorite was third, but they had the consoLitioi. that England was but second. An Englishman created some mirth by retorting Foxall's success was a revenge for thu French prohibiting the importation of American pork end hams, on the pre tence of being tricliine<l. However, every person who won by betting on the American horso cheered the stars and stripes. A wrinkle for future turf prophets, who were unanimous this year in not predicting the favorite at all, nnd explaining after the race their reasons why. For the last three Grand Prix the winning horse ranked number 13 on the krect cards. Now, 13 up to the present has been regarded as an unlucky number, as big with consequences as getting married or going to sea on a Friday, or having 13 guests to dinner.