PARIS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1347, 12 June 1872, Page 2

PARIS.

f FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT ] April 20, 1872. The country is very tranquil, and promises to continue so, as the inability of parties to create discord has been demonstrated. The-nation truly hunger* and thirsts after repose,, and apparently has resolved to in. no way embarrass MThiers, but give him a caite blanche topay the Germans their indemnity as quickly as he can, and tore-found or repair the defective inslitutions of the country. Money must be raised by hook or by crook, and if the purchasing of passports and the adoption of protection will not yield the required sums, ne have the consolation and. the liberty to fall back on an income tax. TheAssembly will resume its sittings in a* few days, and if the deputies will only exhibit in the Chamber the practical, sense and moderation they have displayed at the late -Grand Jury or Council meetings in the Departments, France will have nothing to fear in the future. There are three distinguished individuals who at present, and for some weeks past, have been making a circular tour in Prance—Gambetta, the Comte de Pari*, and the public executioner. The first has become the apostle of a new crusade in favor of moderate republicanism and M. Thier*: he has parted with all the wild and arbitrary ideas which tilled his head during his dictator-hip—ideas which neither conquered the Prussians nor united divided Frenchmen, 111 natured people hint that the leopard cannot change his. spots, and complain of Gambetta's preaching up the republic. ]f opponents do not follow his example, the population will begin to think there is luit one statesman -alas! too true — M. Thiers, and that Gambetta is his prophet. As for that child of the mist, the Comte de Paris, he pnssetb all understanding. His mouth is like a sealed sepulchre in reference to political opinions, while ho cements and controls a political party by the agency of his ambiguous uncle, the duo d'Aumale. trance laughs at the Legitimists, curses the Bonapavtists, bur. despises the Orleanists, and thus turning her back on the pretenders alike, gives her smiles to the republic, and best wishes that M. Thiers may sagaciously establish it, and so show his fellow countrymen that a republic is the form of government that divides them least, and th-at the State means everybody, and not the moi of Louis the Fourteenth. In foieing the inhabitants of the ceded provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to quit their hearths and homes in the case that they decide to reu-ain French, Prussia exhibits that ungenerous and rigorous treatment that has- marked her policv since her foe submit ted to the

fortunes of watv This high-handed conduct will not tend to diminish the hate entertained by the Gauls toi the Tuetons. Bismarck evidently forgets that more flies are caught with honey than vinegar. France has no intention of attacking Germany—for she cannot he prepared for many years to come; bub her foreign policy will he shaped to bring the revenge which is inevitable caute qui cdute —a revenge not against Germany for repelling the unjustifiable war that a tottering empire in its last stage of folly declared, but fcr the merciless peace imposed. " An eye for an eye" and " a tooth for a tooth '' will be exacted. Even Fatherland avows surprise and uneasiness at the vitality the French display in " picking themselves up." Apart from their views, the Ultramontane organs in Paris are mo-t ably conducted. Like heretics, however, the party exhibits much "envy, hatred, malice, and all uneharitableness" towards those Catholics who decline to be more Papal than the Pope himself. So violent had the war become that His Holiness interfered and recommended to the principal lion of the fold of Judah—the Univers —more humility and a little charity. The editor con fesses he is a child of obedience, submits to be the scape goat for the sins of Israel—strikes his bosom, and cries, "Med culpdf" and though shorn of his locks, Sampson resumes the war to the knife against the Philistines. At Home, the Univers is suspected to be Bouaparti>t! in Paris it may some fine day be considered to be Prussian, The old Catholic movement in France does not exactly hang tire, but has halted to see the end of the Abbe Limgua affair. This priest, belonging to the diocese of Bordeaux, declined to subscribe to the doctrine of Infallibility; his bishop unfrocked him, and the government has sentenced, the abbe to six months' imprisonment for non-compliance. The abbe is now in Paris to prosecute his appeal, but the bishop has the law on lus side, as all curates in France are at the mercy of the bishops, the State holding only to the parish priests. This disparity in civil protection has led to an organization to abolish the Concordat, and to separate Church from State. As for the clergy in France, excepting the soutane, no two priests have precisely the same form of diess ; the Ultramontanes alone are unexceptional in this respect. The army continues to drill a< assiduously as that of Geimauy; it is as efficient now as it was deficient in July, 1870; M. Thiers devotes all his attention to reorganization, and the results are very visible The soldiers are tak ing better to their camp life, and the present fine season will accustom them to it. Nothing definite has yet transpired touching the inquiry into Bazaine's capitulation ; it cannot be justified, and no whitewashing is permissible. The French are in the vein to exact " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth " respecting their misfortunes and the vices of their institutions | they are rapidly losing the taste for phrases and oratorical fireworks which so deceived and led to so much ruin, and the attempts to flatter even their vanity are being rightly viewed as humbug. The Commission of Inquiry has censured Gen. Ullrich for his defence of Strasbourg—that we all considered to be so glorious—and irregulari tie> connected with the surrender. An avenue and a Boulevard have been named after him as a tribute to his glory. The old soldier is broken down, and has retired to die. As a political reply to Napoleon 111. and his friends, who view their chief as a Chevalier Bayard, the same Commission attributes the disaster of Sedan to Palikao, who, for dynastic reasons, ordered the march tan Chalons to that impasse, Sedan- to the generals who disputed for the command in-ohief after Macniahon was wounded—-and, above all, to the Emperor, who, having relinquished all interference with the army, took upon himself to order that the white flag be run up, without consulting his generals in a council of war. No one can dispute this verdict : it is not the less honorable as the high officers composing the commission owe their rank to the Man of Sedan. We ha\o been once more reminded that the couits-martial are sitting-by

their having just condemned a Communist colonel and a petroleuse to death ; the ordinary calling of the latter was selling newspapers, and she has three children. There are now 28 Communists lying under sentence of deathsome since July last; 4,780 prisoners remain to be tried, and the military tribunals judge on an average 470 per week. Seven large * easels are being fitted up to convey prisoners to New Caledonia; each prisoner costs the State 1000 francs for the voyage. Kochefort must go like the rest—the powerful interest made to keep him in France has failed. Gaston-Cremieux, the Jew, who was executed a few months ago at Mar<eilles for his Communist doings, left a widow and two children ; she has been taken into partnership by her family, large drapers m the above city, and the firm issue their prospectuses with a black border, and announce that they can sell cheaper now than in the past. A' the Versailles prison the condemned <o death eat in common —enjoy a well-furnished table, and one of them acts as cook, being selected not only on account of his abdity, but as a recognition of "his lively spirit." (To be concluded in our next.)