THE DESTRUCTION OF PARIS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 166, 15 July 1871, Page 2

THE DESTRUCTION OF PARIS.

(From the. Melbourne { Telegraph.) By the mail comes news of Tearful and wanton destruction, by an infuriated- mob, of buildings in i Paris { .which possess a '■ -j. t i ; \ ■- ** world-wide renown? - The outrages committed in 1848 were insignificant ns compared with those perpetrated *by f the Reds ! of the present. :day_; who, in their' -blind fury have „ destroyed .the; national edifices which even a. foreign foe endeavoured to protect. The Luxembourg, the Palais, Royal,-and ".^e,Hotel , de .Ville, have b^come a prey to petroleum bombs hurled by a savage mob,' and" the Louvre, "w f ith its i collection ofwt trga?ure|,,hajp %_at partially escaped".! : 'X Subjoined;;; is; jgiyeu. ,'a,,?Jior& r descriptiqji of tjbe,.b^uil'4ings \i question :— - ■■'-r-xC .'XX^z'.qCfji^f^^A^Ayl ' A Ttie'''Tuirer'i^ perial residence faj?fflM> -ground on | which it stands- was once a tile yard, and , was ■ bought 'byTrancis ( I Ho* please his* f mother, Louise' de'-Savoie. The present i. edifice was/begun ;by^}9rmeiintl]§6|, !at |j&e v &iitt^ Mediois.v./A.ccording> to his ideeign there, was to have'

been a. centre, with- colonnades on each side leading to the wings. Henry IV rfullt the large wing towards the Quai, and liotiris XIV tte corresponding one on the sfjile^ofl^heNpne desßivbli| and raised the centres and porticos.V^ Louis Philippe rebuilt and altered that part which is on the right of the centre. Until late years the Tuileries had been little used as a Royal residence. Catherine de Medicis and her For remainder of news see fourth page.

sons never inhabited it ; Henry IV only wlien passing through Paris. Louis XHI inhabited the. Louvre, Louis XIV only "went there occasionally for fetes, Louis XV lived there during bis minority, and Lous XVI only as a prisoner, when brought from Versailles on the terrible 6th October, 1789. On 20th June, 1792, a' mob from the faubourgs, incited by Santerre, and with the connivance of Petion, invaded the Tuileries, and forced the King to put on the red cap of liberty. It was again attacked on the 10th August, 1792.; and on- 29th July, 1830, it was sacked, and the furniture plundered or destroyed. After 1848, it was used as a hospiial, and then for an exhibition of paintings until 1851, when the Emperor Napoleon made it his residence. The facade towards the garden is nearly 1,000 feet lony. The centre is called tbe Pavilion de l'Horloge ; the wing close to the Seine, Pavilion de Flore ; and the north wing, Pavilion JNlarsao. The entrance is under the Pavilion de l'Horloge. from the Place dv. Carousel. Amongst the principal rooms, are the Salle de la Paix and the Salle des Marechaux.: The latter is decorated with busts and portraits of French generals and marshals. The ceiling is splendidly carved and painted, tbe four caryatides being copied from those of Jean Goujon at the' Louvre. The late Emperor's apartments were on the ground floor. There is also the Salle of the First Consul, which was used as a card room, the Salle ' d'Apollon, and the Salic dv Trone, where a new throne was erected in the place of the one burnt by the mob in 1848. THE PALAIS KOTAL. This palace was situated opposite the Louvre, and between' it and La Rue Neuve de Petits Champs, on the site of Cardinal Richelieu's palace. On his death it reverted to the Crown, and was presented by Louis XIV. to his brother the Duke of Orleans. When in the possession of Philip Egalife it was burned, and. was re-built in 1781. After the execution of Egalite it was sold by -auction to different persons, but ,wns -mostly re-purchased by the Orleans family . after the Restoration. The Orleans family inhabited the palace until the revolution of 1§39. During the revolution of 1848 it was plundered, and ths interior was destroyed by the mob, the magnificent library of Louis Philippe being burned. The Emperor Napoleon ILL made it over to his uncle Jerome, who inhabited it till his death. The chief features of the fpalace are the staircase with its magnificent balustrade, and the Galerie des Fetes. Beyond the gallery was the garden, round which iv the old days were the arcades, with their shops, neat cafes, and jewellers. At the north end were the well-known restaurants of - Les Trois Freres, Vefour, and Vecy. One of the best- was the cafe Foy, about the only, cafe in Paris unprofaned by tobacco-smoke and beer. THE LOUVRE, This enormous pile of buildings, which is said to be only partially destroyed, 1 ' has played an important part in the history of. France. Here was celebrated the marriage of La Reine Margofc with Henry of Navarre, five.. years before the. massacre of the Huguenots. The body; of Henry IV., after : his assassination by Ravaillac, was exposed to view in one |of. the apartments of the old Louvre. In" 1796 the palace was by Napoleon I. converted into a national museum, and the, picture gallery, connecting tbe Louvre ' with the Tuileries, was completed. The collections in the museum consists of the paintings, original drawings and sketches by old masters,museum of Napoleon lll,ancient sculpture of the Greek and Roman school, ancient bronzes, Assyrian collection, Egyptian collection, Etruscan collection, sculpture of the. middle age and of the Renaissance period, modern sculpture, Algerian collection, naval museums, historical collection, museum of the middle age, ethnological collection, and American antiquities. The late Emperor's private library, in the Louvre, amongst the contents of ' which was a collection of works bequeathed to bim by Mr. Mottley, is said to be destroyed. THB LUXEMBOURG PALACE. This palace, with its extensive gardens, was begun in 1615 by. Marie de, Medicis, ;> from the designs of Desbrosses. Heis said, to have intended to imitate the Palazzo - "Pitti, at Florence j'but produced a build-; ing peculiar to itself. . Marie. de Medicis' left it to her second son, Gaston, from v/whnjn; it ? earner into possession' of Mademoiselle Orleans, i AMr the expulsion of the .Royal family, it ;was use^ as^prison, in which the /Girondins were c_onfined. It *. /^became in, 1795,.the palaceiof tfcefejrettory, 'Yarifli in 1800, after jNapble^jTOpved to •.the Tuileries, it was"deserYecrrbui; lßubs6---quentiyfjbe'eame the- palacfe of the Imperial Senate. Und^thefegtbration and Louis Philippe j^-wa&j ußed.^bei'p.ace of * meeting of the Chamber of Peers. f ln 1848 the ( '%osjsl^99¥^h^^SH % of " WO SP? e K

under Louis Blanc were held , there ,In 1852 it reverted to its former' destination as bouse of assembly of the Upper .House of Legislature, and was so used, and [termed tbe Palace of the Senate, up to the commencement of the war._ The^state apartments were magnificently decorated. The. : gallery :of living French .'artists contained; what were considered to be* the best works of living -French painters. Among the chefd'ceuvres of the palace in art productions were tbe " Murder of Admiral de Coligny, " ''The.! Death of. Marat," a "Massacre of the Jews at Vienna," by Robert Fleury, and "The Arrest of Charlotte Corday, " by Scbeffer. : The great gallery, 500 ft. loog, contained atl the larger and mo3t important works of the museum. Amongst them were paintings by Horace Vernet, Heim, Couture, Delacroix, Count Fleury, and Rosa Bouheur, the walls being decorated with the choicest productions of the artists that France delighted to honor. The gardens of the Luxembourg are very extensive, covering eighty-five acres, and were formerly the favorite promenade of the inhabitants of the Fauborg St. Germain and the student population of the-. Pays... Latin. During Louis Philippe's reign numerous statues of the celebrated female characters of France were placed there. •Though the hews brought by the 'mail makes mention of ther destruction of this palace, it is in the interests of art hoped that some of the valuable paintings have been rescued from tlie flames. THE HOTEL DE VILLE. The Hotel de Ville is situated between the Rue de Rivoli. and the Seine. The building, which is one of the graud sights of the city, was begun in 1533 and completed in 1628. It remained not much altered until 1837, when, it being; found not large enough, some houses surrounding it were pulled, down, and the hotel was enlarged in 1842, the original style being, with some modifictions, adhered to, the total cost amounting to £640,000. Most of the events in the,history of Paris are connected with this building. It was there Louis X.IV. : was married to Maria Theresa in 1660. There the daughter of Louis XV. was married to the Duke of Parma iv 1759, and the Dauphin in 1765. After the capture of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) the victorious mob .established themselves in it, and three days after, Louis XVI. was forced to showhimself at tbe central window of the great hall .with a tri-colored cockade. The . Commune (common council) of Paris held ;its bioody meetings in the building." "It was there that Robespierre and his partisans took refuge on the; 9th-Thermidor (July 27, 1794) and there, when the gendarmes and soldiers entered the building, he was found ' bleedibgaod with, his jaw dislocated, from an unsuccessful .attempt, to blow out his brains. There,' after the revolutiou of 1830,'Lafayette, Casimir Perer, and others, established themselves to maintain order; and from the central wiuvdow. .Lafayette presented Louis Philippe, " the Citizen King," to the crowd: below. There the Duke of Orleans "was married, .in 1837. It was in this -botei~tbat a" committee of twenty-four established themselves in February, 1848; /and proclaimed the Republic at the .-instigation... of „Ledru Rollin. 'From the stairs La-" martine made his celebrated speech declaring that the red flag] should "not be- that of France, and for ajoug time appeased the mob by daily orations.; The state-rooms were used as barracks in 1848 and 1849. Thej last public events of importance was the civil marriage bf the Emperor Louis -Napoleon in 1853.,. and Queen Victoria being' entertained th'erejn 1855. The Hotel ..was the residence of the chief magistrate !of the city. This magnificent building was about 300 ft. long and 250 -feet deep, and had three courts, all in the georgeous style of the Renaissance. Round the outside were ninetyfour niches, forty »f /which contained statutes of French ; Miebrities ! from the earliest times down^f Lafayette.* There were two suites '(p^siaieapartralnts. , The" first were not shown? but were magnifi-, ce'utly decorated. The rooms \wbichwere^Bhown to the public, were 'decoratedunder Louis Philippe, so as> to make tfiejm * perhaps the most gorgeous apartments in gorgeous Parish in whidhl paint, gilding, , carving, glass, and velvet have done their < utmost. The whol^ suite i-o'f: rooms r cpu ld be thrown into brig, and ; raeasuVfed IjjOOO yards ( in length', „ and' jcVdJd /ac'cbmmodatei. 7s^ cent library of 10,000 vols, in the build- ! /ing,;rieh in .histories of French towns and; documents [.relating to Paris. The great: square in front of the building was^ the! u&ual place of- executions "down to .I'BsQ.» ; The Marchioness of Brinvilliers,* .tip] poisoner^wYs 6urnt> there ; Cartouche, the renowned robber, Vas brokeif lalive there, and-pamiega, «o j.ate, as> 1f57,) was 'torn ' asunder, thereby four horses, r for attempt;-ing-'to 5 asiaWte^Jli^ Apri( the first time, but was afterwards removed.

, A. fellow in, ,Indjana put the end bf a gun-barrel in tbe!_fire auijpofced down the muzzle to. see whetlier it was loaded. The coroner's jury decided that his suspicions were correct. New Hebmdes. — Wj>iie v the .schooner Stormbird was. scekjmg labor at New HebrW es,", the^l actives 'attacked the boat's crew with poisoned arrows, and wounded Mr. Grruodie, •lb©*.m'Ue, Wallace, and a^ Kauaka seamun. All three; died of their' wounds. ; ' .At inns request of a German resident, the. Prussian ,, war department have forwarded to Adiufftl-lo' a needle-gun and chassepot certiflod to have been picked up ou the field of battle., They are now being exhibitod in aid .of the Relief Fuod. „ A- Dreadful "'.S»rx. ,, frln,' a village about four miles from Nottingham an eccentric old gentleman,- unmarried, and reputed to be very rich, recently made his. will..'- He bequeathed £10,000 to the General Hospital, and. a like sum to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. To one relative he left £1000, and: legacies' to ; the amount of £500 trere. numerous. The total bequeathed mounted to £45,000. The secret leaked out of the beneficent acts of the. testator, and the expectant legatees were very demonstrative in their expressions of thauks. Presents, of ; wine, game, and other good things were sent in profusion to the uu pretending but comfortable cot-. tage in which the recluse resided, attended only by an aged woman. Although extremely reluctant to leave the shelter of his own roof, he was frequently compelled to yield to the solicitations of his friends,, aud pay them long visits. A Nottingham cab and coach proprietor placed his vehicles aud horses at his. service, in gratitude for having been put down in the will for the haudsome sura of £500. Tbe old geutleman was courted by more than one lady whose early youth bad passed, but had no objection to a widow's portion of a considerable fortune. It is difficult to imagine a more comfortable; existence than the generous testator led iv his declining years, each of his friends rivalling and feasting him and smoothing his descent to the grave. He died at the'extreme age of eighty-four, and the friend , in whose house he breathed his last, honored his remains with an expensive funeral. This friend had also the melancholy satisfaction of paying the expenses, fori the testator died considerably ihdebt. The large sums he had bequeathed existed only in imagina*tion. — Pall Mali Gazette.