Our Contributors.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 537, 6 September 1881, Page 2

Our Contributors.

OUU PARIS LETTER.

(From Ouk Own Correspondent.)

Paris, July 13.

This is tricolor and Marseillaise week. Indeed the f6te of the 14th may be said to have commenced on the 9th, so many monster open air concerts were given, so many penny gaffs, installed on the public promenades, had opened their doors in anticipation, and so many shope were decorated by bunting, the mere result of the display of flags for sale. The children of the united national schools of Paris assembled in the Champs Elyseos and sang the Marseillaise, with the addition of the Hugo stanza. Indeed one of the chancteristics of the day " we celebrate "is, the marked association of the schools with the event, ihus will be implanted in the mind of youth, what the Fall of the Bastille implied, while allowing adults to meditate once a year on the progress of the country, and the reflection will not be the worse for being made in an atmosphere of amiable sociability and gaiety. There is a tendency for the state to abstain more from the organisation of the national holiday and leave its celebration between the hands of the local mayors, and above all, to the spontaneity of the masses. In any case, the immense enthusiasm has no connection with officiilism.

Tho comet, to which adults bid adieu and young folks say au revoir, has been favonulc to tlio festival as to the harvest ami the vintage ; it his secured bonutifiil weather in advance ; tho republic lias its sun oi Austorlitz, and the tricolor looks gay and coquettish in the merry sunshiiio —bine fin virtue, white for candor, and red for strength. Such was the language of the tricolor cockade of the Flemings when they foug-.t the Spaniards. Such were the colors of the of Bourbon iiU>, a* the tiled pavement and part of the chapel of the p,\l*' c of Versailles \ rove. At present the tricolor is the country. An iinineiise tr ide uiMdt bo carried o>l in tricolor favors; it would well repiy a museum to collect specimens of ail the new jewellery and symbols recalling the destruction of the Bastille and the foundation of the Republic. Palloy, who was the contractor for tho demolition of the Bastille, sold stones of the edifice to be worked up into mementoes. The majority of the blocks helped to construct tho present bridge at tho Place de la Concorde, and Victor Hugo has a statue of Liberty, sculptured out o£ the seat of tho cell wherein was confined tho Man with the Iron Mask.

Tlie street amusements consist of open air vocal and instrumental concerts, balls and banquets, the latter as frugal as similar public feasts at Sparta. The houses do literally disappear under tings, and the streets are roofed with tricolors—quite refreshing during this terrible heat. The illuminations generally take the form of Venetian 1,-unos—the latter as infinite in

designs as the stars, and lit vvitli corduroy,

candles. Public buildings, etc., patronise gas, hence, why the consumption is restricted for the moment, as also water to ailow a good supply to be ready in case of conflagrations. The populace evidently count upon free admission to the theatres as their supreme joy. Indeed the theatres are the surest of barometers ; when revolutions were taking place in the streets—and there have been ten since 1789—there were theatres representing tragedies ; the evening of Thiers' funeral, the theatres made capital receipt?. When Louis XVlskeddadled for Varennes, the Theatre Francais represented two pieces, "The Glorious," and " The Impatient." The succeeding two nights, however, the establishment was closed on account of the "departure " of the King, and his " return. , ' Algeria continues to monopolize much attention ; the French know very little that is exact touching their vast African Colony, and to,tell.the truth, the Government does not go; out of site way to enlighten them. Matters are not at all satisfactory; there is much sickness among the troops, and superior officers, whether from natural incap icity, or as some say, to give a coup de Jarnac to the repub ie, are not up to the mark. The Colony must be held militarily, and this iiioswH an important contingent of troops. F'lwr regiments quartered in Paris have km for Algeria; the men seemed 'eager for Hie fr£;y, but I do not think the people \\v\i in the moo.! for throwing an old slip \)t) fiLter them. With Morocco and Tripolim/nia skirting the Colony, there will be I

no falling off of supplies of disaffected Arabs. The special correspondents returning from Tunisia have taken Algeria on their way home ; their descriptions of the condition and prospects of the Colony are very gloomy; they demand everywhere the erection of fort-, and their being stocked with cannon and mitrailleuses, the natives having a holy horror of such peashooters. Indeed some reformers insist on the extermination of the aboriginals—some 2£ millions, the French population not being 200,000. If " Sultan '' Bore-Amena obtain further victories, the situation of Algeria will become grave indeed. One indignant commissioner for a leading Paris paper writes dolefully, that there are not two useful fortresses in the whole of Algeria, and that an English fleet steaming from Gibraltar, could capture Algiers in four days. He adds, the Colony is more favored by the authorities for the natives, who are enemies, than for the European emigrants, who are friends of the mother country. The natives refuse to conform to western ideas, and serve them-

selves of the protection of France the better to uphold their customs. The natives'render no military services, as the goums or equadrons of Arab cavalry ennnot be relied upon. Some chiefs who have rebelled no less than thirteen times, have as frequently demanded—and obtained—the aman or pardon.

M. de Lesseps' remedy for this state of things, is to conduct the Mediterranean into the Sahara and form the inland sea of Algeria ; cost 90,000,000fr. France has too much African territory to guard, and it is very questionable if a grand continental can ever become a great colonial power. It is now clear that Tunisia must be keld as a conquered realm ; the insurrection at Sfax is the most natural of events. Only think of the simplicity of the French taking on board their ships of war Tunisian troops to fight the insur gents—theirconiradesdoubtless—and these troops cheering the firing of their fellow countrymen. Monsieur was not prepared either for that kind of liberty and fraternity. Sfax, " the city of cucumbers," on account of a famous variety of that vegetable raised, consists of 16,000 inhabitants. It is divided into two parts, for the Mussulmans and Europeans respectively. The suburbs aro groves of .orange trees and palms, of every description of fruit and flower; tho wells are as numerous as the houses. The casbash or citadel is strongly built, but poorly armed.