Our Paris Letter.

Manawatu Herald, 4 January 1896, Page 3

Our Paris Letter.

(from our own correspondent.)

Paris, 18th November, 1895

France has a new pretender to the throne, in a gentleman who hails from St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Having failed to gain the Bupport of the late M. Carnot in response to his demand for the crown, he now writes to the Journal des Debats, setting forth his claims. His photograph is enclosed. The letter is signed "Joseph de Capet, Dauphin of France." The claimant's civil name, however, is plain Budinger, and he is for the moment a cabinet maker. All the same, Bndinger is greafc grandson of Louis XVI.

He has three sons and two daughters, so there is no reasonable fear that the House of France will want for an heir in the immediate future. 11 Joseph de Capet " is prepared to fully substantiate his claims by i means of numerous family documents. He is ready to go even further in the direction of convincing the incredulous. " Voices and apparitions " have frequently assured him of his Royal birth. Among these the Bpirits of Count Cavour, Napoleon 111., President Carnot, Marshal Bazaine, and Pope Pius IX. have been most emphatic witnesses in his favour. Such unanimous testimony from Buch diverse quarters ought certainly to be conclusive. Like the Paris paper, the Pall Mall Gazette says it is constrained to accord " Joseph de Capet " an honourable place among ,he ranks of pretenders to the French or any other throne. An ingenious smuggling story comes to us from Belgium and has just been brought to light by the French customs authorities. It be came known to them that a quantity of fancy tobacco was being brought into France trom Belgium by contraband 'means, and accordingly a strict watch was kept. This .surveillance has resulted in th 6 arrest the other dfy at the Gare dv Nord of a Mme. Maugat, who lived at Mons. The modus operandi of the woman would seem to have been as follows : — Once a week she performed the journey from Antwerp to Paris. Her lug gage at Antwerp contained 120 kilos of tobacco, and during the journey to the frontier it is alleged that with the complicity of the officials of the company the. hair»stuffing of the cushions of the carriages was removed and replaced by the tobacco. In this way the frontier was safely passed, and between Creil and Compregna the tobacco was thrown from the carriage windows of the train to receivers, who carefully gathered up the parcels. A raid has been made upon a house at Creil, and it would appear that for over two years 125 kilos of tobacco have each week been surreptitiously brought into thu country. Several other arrests are imminent, and the fact is worthy of note that each journey made has meant a loss to the treasury of ..£ls in duty alone.