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HOME NEWS FROM A FRENCH POINT OF VIEW.

(from OCR OWN correspondent). Paris, December 26. The debate on the Bonapartist conspiracy proves that the deputies, though morally and tacitly bound over to keep the peace for a fixed number of days, a tiny truce of Bordeaux, were not the less determined to have their “Merry Christmas.” For many of them there is no prospect of a happy new year, as confusion is only becoming more confounded, and the dissolution more and more inevitable. All plans to galvanise combinations to vote constitutional laws have resulted in failure. The Septennate per se appears to be not only dead, hut buried. The Marshal has only the choice t® continue as he is, or to be incorporated in a Republican frame, for the advent of any pretender is out of the question. Neither will the Republic be voted as public opinion claims, and since it is contemplated to declare members of the existing Assembly ineligible for the projected Senate till after the lapse of three years from the dissolution, those deputies who were looking forward to that Hotel des_ Invalides are more than ever opposed to putting an end to their public life. The moral of the situation is this; No one is aware what may be the solution of the present deadlock, only that the period for that solution has arrived, and by “ Twelfth Night ” France will say to _ her deputies, “ What you will; but decide.” A lasi soil il.

The Bonapartists are now only reaping the consequences of their audacity, and of their presumption towards the memory of France. They have commenced to cry before being out of the wood. The division in political parties, the wants of the mouarchial interest, imparted an artificial importance to Imperialism which many mistook for a reaction. The few election successes they obtained would he more the result of electoral ruse than of sympathy with their views. This is clear from the Nievye election, where the Comte de Bourgoigne won by a small majority, asserting he was opposed by Marshal MaoMahon, which was untrue, and after- the declaration- of the poll started by express to render homage to the exiles at Chiselhurst. The tortoise has here, however, been quicker than the hare. The Committee of the Assembly declined to ratify the election till the discoveries connected with the “Committee of Appeal to the People” were made known. M. Rouher pledged his honor he knew nothing of the existence of that committee ; the Government, after a half year’s inquiry, decides there is no conspiracy, but declines to supply the examining election committee with the documents, and the Assembly has just resolved, by three-fourths of its members, to nominate a commission to publicly examine the whole matter, thus brushing the unfortunate Cabinet aside, and placing the Bonapartist leaders on the stool of repentance. All this is very unfavorable for Napoleon IV., especially at the moment when Comte d’Amim declares the Bonapartists are the only party in France that openly solicited the aid of Prussia to resume power. This is piling an Ossa of shame on a Peliou of indignation. . : ' r

Bismarck appears to liave no luck of late in playing his cards against France, In their resolve not to be provoked, the French adopt the non possumus. That Arnim trial, so terribly cruel in its. preliminaries, so nugatory Jn . its results, is a grave check for the Prince Chancellor, who, like Napoleon 1.,, must, in order to remain a wonder, daily work miracles so as to astonish the natives.' Yet ail the; dirt throwing at the leading men of France that the correspondence revealed, like whips and cranks and paper pellets-of the brain, bas-not succeeded in turning France aside from the career of her humor; In the eyes of the world the Gauls have scored the innings by the washing of the German family linen at Berlin.- The mountain in labor has not even brought forth d mouse, but makes true liberalism hope that the day is not distant “when the Prussian aristocracy can ; possess the freedom evenof the English laborer.” The excellent measures connected with the extension of University education, with reorganisation of the army, with the equilibrium of the budget, of all those pressing, practical, and necessary reforms, may be considered as postponed to the Greek Calends, as the Assembly is about entering that unknown land of constitution-making, and no one can predict how it will come out. Even the schism in the Reformed Church cannot be heard till a more convenient - season; In this case the delay cannot be disadvantageous for the' disputants, as the coming ,Cabinet will he freer, to act. .The great mistake was in ever inviting .the 1 State to ihterfere in a quarrel that had so much, to fdvor a settlement enfamille. , , . ’ : “ White .Christmas,*grden Easter,’’ says the French proverb. Our Christmas is excep- ' tionally white, and not a little Russian also, to judge by the number of sledges lou.be eni countered with Tartar drivers. —lf we had but. a few, reindeers, or halLa-dozen .Esquimaux .dogs. Every householder appears now to b’e his own scavenger, as he must keep his portion of the flagway and kennel clear of ice and snow under-pain of ;; severe penalty ; .neither must the scullery maid throw her slops down the . sink, as such run into the street. It is against the coming thaw that all hands are thus called to the pump. Woe to the municipal inspector that neglects his duty ; yet strange, M. Boffett, the President of the Assembly, lives in the poorest and most overlooked part of the city. There is a story related of Pope Benedict XIV, who was very dissatisfied at the manner in which the Cardinal ; charged to see the streets of Rome kept clear of snow performed the duties of his office. The Pope drove to one of the narrowest and dirtiest streets of the city, that he knew the Cardinal intended to pass through ; it is the custom for those who encounter the Pope to kneel and solicit the Pontifical blessing ; when the, Cardinal approached, he descended from his carnage on seeing his Holiness ; the latter made a sign for him to kneel, which he had to do in a sea of mud and snow, and the blessing was the longest the Pope was ever known to •have given. The Cardinal acted on the lesson. The skating club is organising its midnight and torchlight ball on behalf of the Alsatians ; they are A 1 in all charities ; the precedent ‘keeps alive faith in the future, when Alsace is expected to return to the fold. The famous “ quadrilateral” was taken, not in Italy, hut at Vienna ; perhaps events and alliances may yet take Metz at Berlin. A roller has been inventtti calculated to clear the streets of show, by dissolving it by means of a fire inside the machine. Several city arabs have forwarded a humorous petition to the inventor, begging that he will pass the roller over them in place of the snow.

It has been frequently remarked that the good old customs of the good bid times are dying out in the middle classes in France, and that it is necessary to seek their observance among the aristocracy of the country.' Others attribute this decadence to materialism, or the “isms” and “ologies” in general. The custom; of the revciUon is undoubtedly on the decline. This was a kind of a family supper, held after the midnight mass of Christmas Eve; no preparations were made ; it was, a feast where every guest was to feel, himself like Tam O’Shanter, “ o’er a’ the ills of life victorious the meats were, limited to'goose .and black pudding, to be washed down with claret. But the custom is npw more honored in the breach than in the observance ; the bourgeoise have voted it to he decidedly vulgar, yet the

shops remain specially gorged with all the preparations just the same—the plumpest geese, turkeys that could draw a gig, pheasants with violet flesh and phoenix-arranged wings, pyramids of grapes in whose clear hemes you can count the seeds, mountains of oranges, miles of black-pudding, blocks of odorous pies, baskets of truffles sparkling through their frames in gas-light, and fat larks and small birds generally in their winding-sheet of pork fat, ranged in layers like Bretagne beds, or ' Gambetta’s new couches sociales. But the [won’t-go-home-till-morhihg folks' are dying out. The Christmas Eve midnight masses were very well attended ; the hour and the popular Noels chanted, attract; the difficulty to enter the chapel is on a par with the impossibility of departing ; and those can be only Free-thinkers or Shakers, who remain in the street exposed to all weathers, to see the faithful finding safety “ outside ” the church. Yet, the congregations on these occasions are not wholly composed of dillettanti ; many come to worship, and the length of the service indicates the number of communicants. Perhaps the total of the ceremonies might recall the old bgast of the French, “ That Providence had created them to execute his wishes here below.” The Christmas Tree is not extensively cultivated, and strangers have the monopoly of its observance. The Goliaths of the official world patronise the toy, and generally invite the heads of departments, their wives, and their little ones, to share in the fruit. There is one institution that is destined to last till the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds, that of making presents in money or in kind, to those who have no claim upon you, as well as those who have. The only way to act is to bow to fate, and patiently wait till the, tyranny be past. The newspaper offices generally present their employes and staff, with an extra mouth’s salary, and public officers receive a gratuity pro rata to their appointments. On one occasion the Abbe Montesquion was' entrusted to distribute, by Louis XVIII., these royal gifts. The abbd completely reversed the scale, giving most to the supernumeraries, and least to the chefs, alleging that one class worked, and the other neither toiled nor spun. The king did not protest. Bonbons are a safe present to make, if they could be made up in a small parcel ; but you must buy the box—which is all, with the lolly-pops—which are nothing. Why not true friendship remain contented with the delivery of your card, printed with all the honors of a caligraphy that would require an Assyrian scholar to decipher, or necessitate an accompanying key ? In bonbon' gifts it is essential that the manufacturer's name be on the box. -It is the “ hall mark,” and attests everything to be Simon Pure. If the snow continue, the occupiers of the booths on the Boulevards will have to make a Moscow retreat into their , haunts,, from which they seem never to come forth only between the 20th of December and the 6th of January following. They form an immense caravan, which stops for a fortnight in the; heart of the chief caravansary of Europe. The wooden huts are more numerous this year than heretofore; want has stimulated" free trade ; but the contents of the stalls are about the same. One exhibitor', with a surgical turn of mind, was refused permission to publicly sell prepared skulls and crossbones for the use of medical students. He protests that this is not a country of liberty, equality, and fraternity, while in matters mortuary, a brisk business is being carried on in the transport of corpses, and which consists of bringing to the family sepulchres the remains of 'those who died far away from them during the invasion. The new opera • has passed all; its - examinations and tests; it ■ appears to resemble Solomon arrayed in all‘ his‘glory, and since Madame Nilsson has' been secured,jj real opera music can be counted upon for the opening ceremony. What a pity Patti cannot sing French music, she would have an excellent opportunity for demanding a ransom-price for her services. ' ■

: The French have given Bismarck a Boland for his Oliver ; he imagined by something like insulting such individuals as Thiers, de Broglie, &c., that he would set them at one.ariother's throats; but above all would compel them to abstain from the receptions of the German Embassy, and thus expose their wounds. Well, 1 Thiers, &rc., were among the very earliest arrivals at the German Ambassador’s first “ at. home ” since the - Berlin scandal.- Nothing like heaping coals of fire on the head of your enemy. In addition, the Prince Hohenlohe, the ambassador, is Bavarian not Prussian, a liberal Catholic, related to, the best families in 'Prance, is consequently a gentleman of refinement arid polished manners. He holds diplomatic twaddle in horror. No French lady will' decline sitting beside him at a dinner party. A police inspector ihas been arrested by pick-pockets for thieving ; the unfaithful guardian was told off to watch: the chevaliers d' Industrie near the important ’bus station of the Madeleine, He compounded with the .rogues,-accepting a per-oentage on their prigs. He informed the authorities when a gang contemplated a campaign, and warned the pickpockets that they were apeciaUy .watched. Such misconduct is very rare in the French force.

A wealthy and respectable young man some months ago committed suicide by hanging himself in his bedroom. He left all his fortune to a famous demi-mondian, whose, infidelity to' him drove him to despair. and death, but the fortune was leagued conditionally on her keeping the fatal rope and the photo, of the deceased under a glass case on the chimney of her bedroom.-—A friend was delegated to visit once a week'to see the condition executed.' The, unfortunate woman endeavored first to laugh at the matter, but became, haunted with the death she caused, and concluded she too would die in the same way. A few days ago she handed over all the, money to the poor, and has not since been heard of.

“Family Bibles” are unknown in France, even for registering; births, deaths, and marriages ; however, a portfolio has been patented, with parchment leaves, each legalised, at the .stamp office. When an entry is made it can have an impressed and. dated Government stamp placed on it, and thus independent evidence will be available in case future Communes or Revolutions do their worst with the national archives.

General Banaiad, a wealthy Turk, has removed his seraglio from.'the suburbs to the city for the winter season. He had his twelve “lights of the harem” conveyed in -’busses, guarded by real eunuchs, he himself being chief guardsman. The arrangement “might shake the saintphip of an anchorite.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18750302.2.23

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4352, 2 March 1875, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,433

HOME NEWS FROM A FRENCH POINT OF VIEW. New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4352, 2 March 1875, Page 3

HOME NEWS FROM A FRENCH POINT OF VIEW. New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4352, 2 March 1875, Page 3

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