OUR PARIS LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 4172, 11 July 1876, Page 4

OUR PARIS LETTER.

May 13. The petition scheme in favor of "the amnesty, the whole amn> sty, and nothing tnt the amnesty," Jias broken down ; the Ministry committed a blunder in taking measures to preven*-fche signing of hawked petitions in the wine shops, for if the organisers had secured rolls as long or as weighty as Feargus O'Connor's historical monster petitien, it would not in the least have affetted the verdict of public opinion, which has'never once changed, to extend pardon and inolemency only to the dupes of the Commune, and as a favor on the part of the Chief of the State. If Kochefort and Co. wait till the amnesty be accorded them as a, matter of right, they will have to tarry till; France,, like Brentford, has a plurality of; kifiiJoa the throne,jsmelling at one roso.j The Champers will do weft to attack, the; ft«odce/and ''allow it" to remain onj J&t*) tekfejof. thff Hou*6 ioto six months.: There are serious subjects awaiting Mou, and the country is in earnest and de-: ~termec%!prftcticaj. r ' . The'"most important social subject engaging the consideration of the Republicans %t that of national education* egery centime that oan be pared from the estimates will be applied to public instruction,, tobujldscho:.lheuses, and, what is not 4»lt as much as will enaTble-'them to keep 3>oay and, soul together. . There will..N ''jMDrmous reductions even "this year in the 1 iri'.the way of abolition of. sinecures •jaErt£ reductions of overpaid salaries. All this, thanks to the vigilant eye of Gambetta ; even had he two, it would be impossible for . him to see better into abuses. It has been " deemed prudent not too proceed too rapidly in the way of abolishing many religious endewments; the Republicans prefer to axpoße their inexpediency, but to prepare the public mind for their coming doom. One thing at once, and everything in its turn. The great objects for the moment are to 'replace the anti-Republican functionaries of high ftrid low degree, and to open,up all for the circulation of the liberal journals in the country' 'districts from which they have hitherto been-exclude*. r Timewill Aothe.rest. 'V i It is riow'kinowh that many of the fnl anorf mous paintings—portraits and landfteapes especially—in this year's exhibition . ; >«fe f by;'.l i lib the aristocracy. -Thtufaft 1 is true democracy.' The Baroness BothschiH:6I r course leads the way. One of fth°6 galleries in her, mansion contains only pictures br her own brush, r _ The-"Bcu4pW's art is ' becoming highly realistic. Thus; in'the •sculpture gallery of the Fine Arts Exhibition,, now being held, *k«re are busts 'with steel spectacles, the iettar to recall the original... ; Why not. ex■liibit»bust6f Thiers with his famous gold , Mjtoiaclesj; or Emile de Girardp with his . '^-||aM { ?,: Bculptor» already employ gold in their marble .handiwork. But <; »dtty"stop at glasses? Other people have *h»w peculiarities, Nestor Rogneplan neveir wit 3 to be encountered without a eigar keiween hi* lips. He even went to sleep v wHjh-onpi between his teeth, and the wags ' «wi9«f ft box; of Havannahs.was placed in hi'B '. ]'-m§fo f i;. Without his cigar Rogneplan resemfor identity's sake, the Man without glasses. Other people are disr ,|iajuwhed particularly by the cock of their ■ place oagars in a marble mouth, and a guinea - Sat;; at an angle of forty-five degrees, on a marble brow ? If the ne* optician school of ■takiary hesitates, it will, like a woman in a similar position, be lost. There is a atbry told of a Russian colonel and his valet, whioh recalls the anecdote qf "The boy stood on the burning deck" •f our reciting days, or the . High- ' lander that Wellington placed on the bridge ; of Jena, to dare Blucher to blow up that .mortifying monument. of Prussian defeat f ' ever the Seine., The Russian called to pay /a visit to a friend, and directed his servant, A who followed him on foot, to wait for him i : in. the street close by. The colonel on leaving'forgot Bis servant, who remaimd promenading at his post for over twenty-four hours till tjhe police arrested him on suspicion, particularly a3 he only knew Russian, ' and 'could not explain. Ultimately, his ; Embassy "was' communicated with, he was ' restored to his master, who only chicled him for even yielding to force major. The wind, o in any case, is favorable to the Bussians in Paris. We write dramas in their honor like Dankheff, and compose poems like Dimetri ; sledges are as common as hi Siberia, droskys promise to drive out thelites voitures, furs replace broadcloth, and two additional bears have been added to the Zoo Gardens. It is a hard struggle t etween Germany and France to secure the love of the Czar. You may lay a thousand against one that Gortschakoff leans more on Prince Bismarck than the Duo Decazes. Nothing, observed Canning, is more unreliable than facts save figures. This is perhaps worthy to be remembered, when it u asserted that 20,000 young men graduate Sarly in the French universities—being a tie more thaa the total number inscribed on the registers. However, a great number of studentß do take out their degrees of bachelor, simply because such is accorded either for proticency in letters or science. It i 3 difficult to undorstand the growls uttered by a few of the survivors of the olden times against young people receiving the "hall mark" on entering life; the universities, according to them, turn out men unfitted for the practical duties of life ; perhaps, but ignorauce does not better a man's prospect in this vale of tears. Tho protests are louder against ladies presenting themselves to pass their degrees, and what betweenthis decadency and the divorce court, womanhood 1b on the verge of disappearing. The moment France parts with her temperament of legerity, privality, and art, turns her salons into academies, and puts Latin dictionaries and all the ologies into the corbaille instead of laces and fans, then Ichabod may be written. A balloon ascent took place a few days ago at Coorheraie, outeido Paris. Three navigators went up, and, save one, came down safe and sound. Somo secrecy appears to surround this ascension which was to test philosopher's stone, steering the ballodh against a strong head wind. The aeronauts had an apparatus like a windmill, which turned very well, as all windmills do in some direction or other; but it does not appear that it revolved in the direction they wißhed. As every experimenter of forial machines, the present iB whispered as being nearly perfect. Tho before descending wished to run heavenwards a further mile, depending on bladders filled with oxygen to supply them with gas. One of the excursionists in trying to dispense with his pocket full of oxygon, nearly experienced the fate of Cruselli and Spinelli last year. A. writer has published tho playbills of the theatres in the chief cities of the world, as at present being " acted upon ; " excepting Shakespeare, all the pieces announced are French subjects, or taken from tho French. What an Egyptian darkness for the world, if the hands of Fr.nch playwriters ever lose their cunning. The sudden death of tho Home Minister, M. Rioard, is both a surprise and a regret; •rip to ten o'clock of the evening of Lis death hg held a reoeptipn; then ho drove in the Chatripe Elysees with his little daughter, returned at eleven, and was dead Ly midnight. He labored under a complicated disease of the heart, and though his friends

—and their name is legion—were prepared for such an untimely end, the general public was not. M. Ricard was only forty-four

years of age, and was rapidly becoming a statesman, rather than that he was one. He

had the stuff of a first-clas Minister in him —

forethought, courage, amiability, and decision, joined to a surety of judgment and an

unfailing tact. He is a los 3 for the young Republic, which can be almost wholly re-

paired if the Under Secretary for Stat*>, a

more juvenile copy of the deceased, be nominated to the vacancy. It is beeause "M. Macere is so suited for this post that he may likely not be appointed thereto. M. Ricard was but three months in office, and after feeling his way, in the delicate and intricate situation of home politics, had found it, and was on the high road to apply a manjy, frank, and liberal administration of j the great department of the State confined to his care.. Distinguished as a provincial lawyer, famous for his practical grasp of mind, readiness for' solving difficulties, and hying doubts ; he was four years a member of the late Assembly, and was so timid—he the eloquent barrister —as to shrink from entering the tribune, and when he summoned up the courage to do so, he awakened like Lord teyron, t;> find himself famous. He received a bad wound in a duel in his sala I days, and Beven yearß ago his eldest and pet daughter died. He never recovered from this blow, and always dressed in the deepest mourning as a testimony of his inextinguishable grief, : ■

Twenty plana are said to have been sent I in'for the competition for the 1878 Exhibtion building, any of which would suit admirably ; the judges will.have some difficulty in deciding; one plan by an architect, aged 22, is spoken of as extremely beautiful. Preparations are already being made for that show, which will be as artistic as French genius in all its strength can make it; in the way of a general rising of prices,; by degrees those mount, so that the maximum will be fully reached in May, 1578.. Visitors can meet this by putting a little more money in their purses, and commencing a little earlier to save up. Paris, which was"w6rfch a mass to Henri IV., is at any time worth a visit for the intelligent foreigner. The Chamber of Deputies has a groat scandal on -its hands. , The • member for Alaiseilles, M. Rouvier, is : anablc public man, and a toned down: Radical; he ig thirty-four years of married some five months ago to a rich and handsome young widow, whose pastime is to. act as a corresfiondent for several journals ; he is; a powerully built man, ;With attractive Italian features, jand his black hair is. the envy of all ooiffeurs and gentlemen who complain their 3 is-'getting.thin. In the early part of last April, after attending a; meeting of the Budget Committee, he took the buss to the Palais Royal, in order to write some letters in a cafi. Later; he was arrested by--an indignant father fer an indecent exposure of the person in a retired portion of the public galleries where a group of young girls was at play. The father collared him and made him come to his lodgings, and confronted him with his little; girl, who had previously | related tiie indecency to her mother; the latter would not listen 1 to any " explanation," so Rouvier left hia card and withdrew. Being a notorious Republican the Monarchial Press broadly hinted at the matter, and one, the 'Figaro,' named him; this led him to the tribune to demand that he be at once put on his trial, and gave rise to a fierce exchange of clenched tista and hard words between opposition deputies. The police or justice was occupied with investigating the charge, when the • V igaro' acted the unscrupulous part it did, which is not only unmanly and unfair, but illegal; for no journal in France can meddle with a prosecution once it has been commenced till the indictment has been read in Court. The 'Figaro,' however, feels charmed at having divulged a scandal that "will keep up its reputation"—for early and exact news—as for morality and all that, not a word. All political parties act similarly, so all are tarred with the same brush, and no indignation may be indulged in, pave against the custom. The Municipality has taken an excellent step ; it has withdrawn all support from the city taxes to some four score charitable institutions, ostensibly so many instruments for proselytism. All that was necessary was to organise some good Samaritan nonsense, display a crowd of names and nobodies as otiicials, aud demand and receive a grant from the Corporation. The city is thus relieved of a dead weight of 300,000f. annually, for the grants have been gradually reduced every year ; the saving will be applied to opening primary schools. It remains now for the benevolent to support these faacy private charities. They are at present calling on Jupiter—the Treasury—to como to their aid. The Republicans will cut away all these abuses, and so benefit France.