HOW THEY MANAGE THINGS IN FRANCE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4401, 28 April 1875, Page 3

HOW THEY MANAGE THINGS IN FRANCE.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.) Pakis, January 23. “ There is only one thing uncertain,” wrote the Duke of Alva to Philippe 11., “ Victory. Such is the position of the constitutional laws debate which has just commenced, and, oddly enough, on the anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI. It must he confessed the public has more curiosity than faith about the result, and a greater desire to see one barrier attacked, the better to reveal what is behind. No decided solution is anticipated, and further patchings up are undesirable. The country is resolved not to brook tbe “Provisional till November, 1880, and to leave tbe country then as much in the dark as to its future as now. Nor could it be deemed statesmanship to keep the passions of partisans in a stafifcof ebullition till the moment arrived for the grand fray. It is useless to reiterate that the dissolution of the Assembly is generally viewed, even with all its drawbacks, as tbe least of all evils, and a hint from the Marshal that the deputies being unable to organise the country, it would be a patriotic act for them to retire, would be efficacious. The Assembly cno-ht to show that it has not only the courage but the dignity to die. Very little credence is attached either to the rumor of the Marshal’s resolution to resign, in the case of being overdisgusted, or to resist any constitution that by a miracle may be made, but not in accordance with his tastes. This is only jeopardising unnecessarily his popularity ; he knows his countrymen have very little affection, and still less of gratitude, for their rulers ; the idol set up to-day is overturned the morrow; he must also be aware that the Assembly legislates for the Commonwealth, and not for individualities; that no man is necessary; that Napoleon 1., Louis Philippe, Napoleon 111., Thiers—all have passed away, and the end of the world did not arrive as was predicted. It was only Atlas who bore the world on his shoulders. If the Marshal resigns, and which would he regretable, he would be simply provided with a successor; and if he died, it would not be necessary to bury Prance. Now, it is just to guard against these two eventualities, that the vast majority of the nation insists upon having the form of government decided from the present be it Monarchy or Republic; but let it be either, so that it be definite. There is anotherpoint not generally broached —what will be the attitude of the nation in case no solution be arrived at 1 There would be no revolution; that modus vivendi has become unfashionable. But those not less effective weapons, ridicule and contempt, remain in the people’s quiver, and the Prench have alone the secret of launching both. No regimecould long bold out against a systematic opposition, waging incessant war with two such terrible engines. Beyond doubt the nation would rally eventually to the Second Empire, in case the Royalists obstruct the establishment of the Republic. The elections since May, 1873, mathematically prove that Monarchy has no following in Prance. The result of the debates on the Constitution, may after all only the more clearly demonstrate the distance that separates the nation from the Empire. And it would be a sad lesson and a melancholy spectacle, to see Prance after all her struggles for liberty, donning once more the strait jacket and hand- ■ cuffs. °But thousands of Republicans would prefer this sacrifice to a continuance of the political doldrums. Such is where we are now; where there is no fixed course, all drifting is towards the Empire. The Post-office has just published its “Drab book, and from which it appears, that the net profits of that department of the State for 1873, were over 37 millions of francs. There were 335 millions of letters transported, of which 96 per cent, were prepaid ; there were gi millions of letters registered, representing fees valued at 6 millions; there were 332 millions of newspapers and postal cards exposited; 4 millions money orders, representing 107 millions francs ; postage stamps were sold to the extent of 9o| millions; and 2£ millions of letters were sent to the “ Dead Letter office, of which three-quarter of a million were returned to the writers. There were 1201 infractions of the law as to the ' re-employment of obliterated postage stamps, involving imprisonment from threedaystoonemonth; there were 15J thousand infringements of the code as to secretly carrying letters, for which penalties to the amount Of 944 thousand francs were recovered. The net benefit to the Prench Treasury on account of the transport of foreign correspondence was 17 millions of francs. The post-office clerks, models of urbanity and intelligence, cannot complain of being overpaid ; they are divided into two sections, principal and ordinary^; and each a«ain into four classes ; salaries in the first section range from 2400 to 3000 francs per annum; in the second, from 1200 to 2100 ; and these civil servants commence work at 9 in the morning and finish at 8 in the evening, with no holidays, save a few hours less labor during fetes and on Sundays. Dickens never selected the Postal Department, for his type of the circumlocution office. _ . The annual mass in memory of Louis XVl’s execution took place this year with a kind of mortuary brilliancy. It was the eighty-second anniversary ; masses commenced at seven in the morning, and continued every hour, up to noon, and yet these were insufficient to accommodate the sympathisers who flocked to the expiatory chapel. It would seem that all parties select parallel occasions to make & kind of political demonstration over the remains of their dead celebrities. The visitors signed a register on leaving the chapel, popularly known as'the “fusion-roll.” M. Dutemple, who possenses the official documents connected with the fatal day (January 21, 1793), asserts that a guard of 8000 men conducted the King to the scaffold, and that the barbarous order to beat the drums, when the unfortunate monarch desired to speak, was not given by Santerro, but by General Berruyer. Some state that the King struggled as violently as Hons. Dußarry, others, that he died courageously. Though his character was naturally hesitating and timorous, there is no evidence that he was deficient in personal courage ; he showed he had such when the mob invaded the Tuillenes. Indeed, the remark is nearest the truth which alleges Louis XVI. was most afraid of himself. January saints are not popular in the Paris calendar at all events, but they are more so than thoir confreres of December; in January, in tbe northern latitudes, and whether according to the Julian or Gregorian calendar, the month has more sunshine, and the days are longer, though such only bo as the proverb says, by the length of a “ flea jump.” Each trade corporation has its patron saint, whose image decorates the workshop, and even the private homes of the artizan. Salute Genevibre is common property for the Parisians, and is specially so for the shepherds ; the carpet-makers

venerate St. Hippolyte, the stock-brokers St. Martin, but the latter are either less pious today, or are more engrossed in bears and bulls, ! so that they rarely attend to annual official i mass. In the last century particularly, and in a few' parishes still, it may be news to many to learn, that prayers are offered up on each twelfth of January for the; “ conversion of the English.” The latter ought to return the compliment. Why not international prayers, as well as international banquets and trade ? Love-feasts are out of the question, since France was left to get out of the clutches of Germany as she best could, and England became the Roman guardian of the Black Sea treaty. Revenons d nos moutons, The tinkers swear by St. Maur, and oh ! ingratitude, not' a pork-butcher renders homage to St. Anthony ; the basket-makers alone hold him in reverence. It is not surprising that St. Sebastian, who died pierced with arrows, r’.ould have engaged the sympathies of the needle-makers. - The modest St. Agues, virgin and martyr, has no one to love her. The rope-makers hail a special devotion for the conversion of St. Pan], though there is no proof he ever addressed an epistle to them. The fete in memory of the decease of Charlemagne has fallen into desuetude ; loyalty to departed crowns goes no farther back than Louis XVI.

The new opera continues to be the lion of lions ; the more people visit it, the oftener they like to return to admire its splendors. Seats are on an average engaged twelve days in advance, although the programme as to music remains very monotonous. It is said the public would just pay the same to meet in the beautiful theatre, chat, and to walk about, if no music at all were executed. There is no draw-ing-room in the world can show off a lady’s toilette equal to the foyer of the new opera ; she can examine herself from head to foot with the smallest comer of her eye, the mirrors are so numerous and artistically placed ; and the admirers of the sublime and heautiful have no occasion to employ their ogling glasses as the sylphs approach. Certainly it is worth a journey to Paris to mix, for positively one night only, in this crush of fashion, titles, and wealth ; and the several languages spoken would puzzle Max Miiller himself. It is an elegant Babel, not at all heathenish, as a leading clergyman thunders occasionally from Notre Dame, except in the congregation of so many goddesses. The opera is dedicated to Apollo, who, in addition to being the god of song and music, was also the god who delights in the “ establishment of civil constitutions,” and such France now sadly wants. Paris is going to have a St. Peter's chair of her own. In the new chapel now being built at the Petit Montrouge, 51. Vaudremer is about erecting therein a fac simile of the celebrated statue at Rome, where the Prince of the Apostles is seated, holding the keys of Heaven in one hand, and the other outstretched blessing the universe— urbi et orbi. Pilgrims know this celebrated statue in Rome, and thousands have kissed its big toe ; it is a work of art that infidels might adore. When our copy shall have been placed in position, may not the faithful enjoy it, and thus save expenses to the Eternal City ! Talking about statuary, the police have made a clean sweep of the indecent, rather than obscene, porcelain figures that are displayed in too many shop windows where fancy articles are offered for sale. These productions, like the disgusting lithographs also to be met with, come from Germany ; perhaps from some of the “ Odours de Berlin.’’

Misfortune makes strange bedfellows. The auctioneer has scattered to the four cornel's of the world the carriages of Napoleon 111. and his house linen ; the jupons of the Empress, and the toys of the Prince Imperial ; it dispersed similarly the bibelats of Rochefort; this week has been sold the portrait of Madame slarrast, wife of the President of the Constituent Assembly. One day a group of children were playing in the park of St. Cloud, when a carriage containing Louis XVIII. drove past rapidly—French monarohs have a weakness for furious driving—and injured a little girl; the King descended, placed her beside him, took her to the castle, dried her tears, stuffed her with lollypops, and in the evening placed in her bib 60,000 f. Only think, the wicked creature when she grew up to woman’s estate actually married the famous republican, Armand Marrast, bringing him for fortune the royal donation. Love is no respecter of politics. In every case it is not right for the schoolmaster to be abroad. An ex-pedagogue has petitioned the Home Minister for the office of public executioner for France, understanding the office to be vacant—and to think a man with such instincts had been entrusted to teach at one time the young idea how to shoot. Respecting the latter, M. Thallois, a national teacher, has a superior method. He has a wooden box, divided into a certain number of compartments, corresponding with, and containing each a sign, a letter, or a figure ; each child receives one of these boxes, he himself having a larger one ; he drops say the letter A, and thereupon the pupils search in the compartments for the like letter, and place it between wires, which are ranged on the inside of the box and forming a little desk ; a second letter is then dropped by the master, and so on, the children following the example. It has proved a highly attractive method, and in addition, a rapid means for communicating knowledge. The French army is in a fair way of practical organisation. This is the one thing needful that the country never looses sight of ; many believe there are too many officers and not enough men; but the number of soldiers to be trained is immense ; in four years time France, counting reserves, ought to have threequarter of amillion of armed men. In Venezuela there are more generals than privates, and they are reputed to be the most disorderly among the population. But everything there changes so often ; the Presidents alternate so quickly in that republic that as in Rome with the statues to Caesar, the trunks are so arranged that when one authority disappears his bronze head is screwed off the trunk, and his successor’s screwed on. In France, busts of the nation’s darlings only are fabricated; hence the attics of museums, and the lumber rooms of ministeries are full of Napoleons, Louis Philippes, Charleses, and Louises in general.