OUR PARIS LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 4213, 28 August 1876, Page 3

OUR PARIS LETTER.

Pakis, July 8. The Bonapartist forlorn •• hope in the Chamber of Deputies, appears to be reduced to the unenviable rdle of getting up sons. The youngest blood of the party, such as Mitchell —an ardent Republican three years' ago, and Paul de Cassagnac, sit on front benches, and indulge in a continued fire of interruptions. Their object is to bring Parliamentry Government into contempt. These tactics will not make the nation enamored "with the rowdy side) at all events, the Bonapartists, nor .will strangers be attracted by such legislative manners. It is the country that must ultimately support all. If the interrupters succeed'in making one hit during the sitting, they can say with Titus, " we have not lost, our day." It is to be regretted that Gambetta replied to a pintrust, with his sledge-hammer description of the Second Empire; a system of Imperial rottenness; and so allured Cassagnac to describe the Republic as a "dunghill." In this exchange of pot-and-kettle compliments, we turn .our head aside,.and stop our ears. If this Ti>e the representation of France, a stranger must be excused for expressing his disgust at it. Lorkenson remarks with regret that President Grevy has not the Spartan severity of other days; he seems unable to keep his school in order. This is explained, that as he is. "posing" for the Marshal's succession he wishes to be "all things to all men," and which, in an apostolic view, is correct. As: a reproof of thesa.:ehronic interruptions on the part of the Bonapartists a motion was carried to linvestigate the crime of the 2nd of December—the coup d'etat, and place the authors and abettors of it on their trial. The Bonapartists resisted, and on a division their united force was for the first time revealed, and amounted to but seventy-three, all told, including their maim, halt, and blind. This is less than one-eighth of the total deputies. What a falling off ! The Royalists declined on this occasion to march through Coventry, with their allies, the Bonapartists. Of course no one dreams of bringing the agents of the coup d'etat to trial, no more than one imagines of trying the authors of the 18th Bmmaire or the Councillors who drove Louis XV. to destroy the French monarchy. The cause has been heard and condemned before the bar of history. The committee will keep the violence of Imperialism before the eyes of the nation, and if read aright the lesson will be useful. The Assembly is blamed for doing but little legislative work; its committees, as numerous as the seed of Abraham, devote much of their time to spelling the names of the coming battle fields in Servia, &c. \ France would'like to see the Servian question in the deep bosom of the ocean buried. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the duo Decazes, a passable second-rate man, announces in his accredited journal that France will remain "neutral." This is an advance, as hitherto the: French were for a Russian alliance, and, as usual, without investigating its consequences. It wa3 felt such would be a revenge on England for not joining Napolepn in his unjustifiable wai against Germany. The old, old story. But this policy of cutting off the nose to vex the face has been radically modified since Eng- : land tore up the Berlin ultimatum; and proved her determination to fight singlehanded. The Erenoh are recovering from their amazement at English independence ; nay more, they fear that events can see them as well as Germany neutrals, and that Moltke will anticipate French revenge. In that crisis France would have to depend solely on her own right arm. But little confi<sence is placed inHihe telegrams from the seat of war, but which save the reader much anxiety by refuting themselves. No one doubts that if allowed a fair field and no favor, the Turks will' soon extract all the beauty and enthusiasm out of the Slavonic idea. The Turks do not menace Europe as in ! ages gone by^; the dream of Ottoman i 8 vanished, Nor is it yet conclusively shown, because never decisively tried, that for common safety and common interests, the Turks and the Christians may not yet. live in harmony, like Catholics and Protestants, Dissenters and Jews. Then the experiment cannot be repeated of leading an entire nation into captivity as Nebuchadnezzar did the Jew; nor can Sultans think of expelling Christians as Louis XIV. did the Huguenots. Nor can Servia be allowed—whatever greater nations may, such as Russia—to tear up treaties and rush into rebellion at her pleasure,

or by the will of others. If civilisation is to hold together, politics must be included among the moralities. The only telegrams accepted are those nnauthoritatively published by the Turkish Ambassador j never

is an " Allah be praised I" added when a victory is announced. How the faithful are behind the virtuous nations of the North; with what fulness of heart the pious Emperor William, after detailing the thousands killed and wounded, returned thanks to Providence for the successful slaughter;; duriug the late invasion.