PARIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1268, 21 June 1870, Page 3

PARIS.

(Tfiox aim own cobbespondejtt.) Apbil 23, 1870. On the Bth of next month France will, through its ten millions of electors — that is, one to four in the population — inform us how the new system of parliamentary government is appreciated, and what confidence the nation has in the dynasty. Irrespective of the form of the question to be submitted for popular consideration—whether it will comprise all the tables of the law, or the whole dnty of man, and which the Emperor's momen-tarily-expected proclamation will fix and define — the issue has. drifted into a trial of strength between the partisans of a misty republicanism, and the Empire, with increased liberty. The result is not doubtful for Napoleon. If the Provincials do not understand the new fundamental pact, they do that the dynasty wants them to decide between its new life, and the men who have kept the country in a state of chronic disturbance. v Tes, J * will signify we approve of the concessions made, and will wait for more. v No," that we first desire to clear out the Tuileries. Blank votes, or abstentions, will represent indifference, or dissatisfaction. In the general elections of May, 1869, three and a half millions of hostile votes were polled against the system of Personal Government, bnt as this has been all bnt abandoned by that "sublime warning," it is not to be expected the same electors will marshal under the opposition flag now. Napoleon expects a vote of confidence of between six and seven millions. With such, he may gracefully part even with the right, however abstract, of the plebiscite. The friends of order of all shades have grouped themselves to secure the government a success. They enclose cheques to meet the expenses of " stumping committees," and when men put their hands thus in their pockets, they are in earnest. The leading members of the house of Bothschild have " come down" handsomely, which is important, from the ' fact that they are not Mamelukes of the Second Empire. Their clients are castoff Sovereigns, hopeless of restoration. The Left, orlrreconcileables, are of course divided, one party being for complete abstention, as represented by Bochefort, the other for a straightforward " no," as led by the eloquent Gambetta. Frenchmen, with all their levity, are no fools. They are fuller aware there is no abuse existing sufficient to get up a revolution, and that if a republic was desirable, there are no men to direct it. Why an appeal to the people should meet with the resistance of the People's Friends, is inconceivable. The occasion has now arrived where all parties can count their supporters, and if after the solemn but toot very valuable verdict, the minority would be rational enough to abide by its defeat, the country would be at length happy. Some one has observed that if France slept for twenty-four hours, she would never waken — she must ever be in a state of fermentation, more or less active. The two ministerial resignations are already forgotten,if they were ever remembered. PrimeMinisterOllivierisdetermined not to faint by the way. Hehas eloquently spoken in the Senate, that his work of liberalizing the Empire has hardly yet commenced. The Senate has voted the new constitution with that devotion towards Napoleon as was to be expected. As a political body it is now dead, the 130 Senators voted their existence unanimously away. Even in death they were not divided. Beauiescdt in pace. M. Bismarck being attacked with the jaundice, may view the foreign politics of Taterland rather splenetically, as in this case there is a close connection between mind and matter. Napoleon the First j lost one of his battles when bilious, owing to the cook not having done his duty to a leg of mutton, which at another period would have passed unnoticed. As M. Ollivier is a Siamese - minister for the moment— holding the portfolio of Foreign Affairs along with his own — he will not embroil France with the Northern Confederation. Austria is endeavoring to bind the distinct nationalities of the Empire by withholding the -claims of autonomy from the Bohemians and Poles, while the German element agitates to reign supreme. Italy is engaged in righting her financial troubles by ignoring retrenchments, and in the interim assassinations, unchequed and unpunished, run riot. Spain pauses after the fiasco at Barcelona, and the Cortes can hardly make a house for the dispatch of business. The King question is where it always has been. The Duke de Montpensier is supporting his thirty days' banishment wonderfully well among his orange-groves at Seville, and the family of his victim decline to accept the 30,000fr. blood-money, to console their grief for the loss of an eccentric parent. The ex-Queen of Spain is in failing health. She is quietly disposing of her household gods ; and since her separa-r tion from her husband, no longer necessitates a large establishment, she purposes selling her palace. The Tuileries is be|tnning to return to -gay life, after the rigors of the Lenten season. The Prince Imperial and his merry companions are spending Easter vacation at Fontainebleau, taking lessons in hunting, the order of the day being to let the boys do as they like. The Empress is more and more withdrawing herself from the turmoil of politics — a politician she ' detests, and hardly ever receives. Her whole attention is divided between her son and charitable institutions. The Emperor has just entered on his 63rd year. He looks very fresh, and is likely to become an evergreen like that young fellow Auber, although we are daily reminded of his failing health. One of the ablest ministerial journals, in a semiinspired article on the pending vote, boasted, in reference to the ballot urns, which have proverbially been submitted to extraordinary feats of prestidigitation, v i&at the vxae of G#sar {Napoleon) was

above suspicion." By a malignity unparalleled, the "devils" for "ume" printed (i urine," -which has set all France laughing, particularly when it is remembered that the Emperor iuffers from diabetes. The joke will add ten years to his Majesty's life. Except among the old French aristocracy, who will have no King but their Charley— that is, the Count de Chambord, the fifth Harry of France, the death of his mother, the Duchess of Berry, passes unobserved. She died in Styria, aged 72 — a truly forgotten worthy — was a Bourbon of the purest blood, and like her sister, mother of the Queen of Spain, represented the men of her family. She was married in 1816, to the Duke, the second sou of Charles the Tenth, who was assassinated by Louvel as he was leaving the theatre to hand his wife into her carriage. When the Duke entered France by Granville, the Sub-Prefect of that town accommodated him with a bed for the night, and was rewarded by being appointed director of the theatre alluded to. He brought with him as a memento, and kept it in the green-room, the couch on which the Duke had slept ; and it was on that that his Highness expired. The late Duchess was prematurely confined of a daughter, which did not survive, in 1817, but seven months after her husband'? death, she gave birth to the Comte de Chambord ; the evening of the day even, she left Her bed, and carried the hopes of legitimacy to & balcony of the Tuileries, and displayed the " miracle" to a sea of upturned faces. When Charles the Tenth was dethroned, she shared his fortunes, and subsequently went to Italy, and invaded France, in La Vende"e, in the interests of her son, against Louis Philippe. She wandered through the country, dressed as a peasant girl. Her feet became sore from the thick woollen stockings and wooden shoes. She threw them away, and marched bare-footed, but the whiteness of her feet, not being very peasant-like, she besmeared them with clay, and arrived in Nantes, where she was betrayed by her" faithful Jew." The latter received his thirty pieces of silver from Thiers, but his co-religionists repudiated him, as they desired to have only one Iscariot to make them blush. This Jew, by shent. per shout, investments, died rich ; his only son refused to touch the wealth, and is now a priest. The Duchess was imprisoned, but surprised the world by being enciente. She confessed her secret marriage with an Italian nobleman. By this act she forfeited her rights of Eegent, the thanes fell from her, and she retired to live forty years next to forgotten. Her son never . forgave the secret marriage, and the natural tears he may shed will not demand addresses of condolence to dry them. The Legitimists have taken to a six weeks* mourning, and the organs of their views display black borders. Strikes are becoming an institution in France, and the Government intend to go into the whole question of the relations of capital with labor, the moment the Legislature meets after the plebiscite. To the colliers and foundry-men must now be added the tailors, and the omnibus officials only wait the signal to shut up shop. A duel is to come off to-morrow, the origin of which is very simple. A lady was riding a few mornings ago in the Bois, accompanied by her father and husband. Her horse bolted, and ran against that of a gentleman taking bis constitutional canter. The lady being thrown, he dismounted, assisted her, and was thanked warmly by her husband. But on going to his own horse, the animal was found dead. He notified to the lady's husband that he expected him to cover the loss— an indignant refusal — high words — and a choice of arms followed. As the Jesuits at Borne are the cause of all the trouble in reference to the infallibility dogma, and about which nobody seems now to take any interest, the Archbishop of Paris has prohibited the celebrated pere Felix from preaching for the future in Notre Dame— as he belongs to the fraternity. The late v Eeverend" Mr Hyacinthe is like the boy in Horace---sitting on the river bank till the Water ran by to cross* He is waiting for the " church of the future" — but is not putting his hand to the plough. The Concorde, which he allowed the world to believe was the intended organ of his utterances, he has never written a line for, and the paper will soon be numbered among the things that were. Ec lives with his sisters, and goes to an occasional concert, and promenades about Neuilly. He has failed to be the solitary monk No. 2 to shake the world. M. de Lesseps, having no moreisthmuses to conquer, has taken to lecturing on his work and labor done. It keeps up the interest in the speculation, and will facilitate future "calls" if necessary. The celebrated pereeur — as he is now called — speaks very well, and is full of Egyptian anecdotes. He told us that in the East : the world marches only upon one leg, j which explains the cause of its backwardness. A dinner was given by 500 students and their friends to Gambetta, the liepublican leader, a few days ago, as a compliment to bis parliamentary eloquence. When the "flow of soul" etage had arrived, and the smiling around general, the toast of "The Future Bepublic" was given. A guest hereupon exclaimed, " Vive rJSmpereur" for which treason he was at once turned out. He went home, and returned armed with aD immense knife, and commenced " cutting his way" through the guests to bis seat. The police took charge of him till morning. The radical organs having emptied the vials of their wrath on JPrince Pierre Napoleon, are inclined to give him a lift. As the constitution is being re-cast, they back up his claim for the reversionary interest in the Empire, against Prince Napoleon, who is down to inherit it in case the Prince Imperial dies, &c. They allege that Prince Pierre, being the son of Lucien, Napoleon the First's eldest brother, it is like flat burglary to pass over the herd of AuteuiL .The Prince has

paid all charges against him on account of the Tours trial — taxed costs, Ac, 171,430fr. He has given a few dinner parties to those friends who stood by him in his adversity. He is at present occupied selecting furniture for his country seat on the Belgian frontier. Since he has been forced into public life, he will stay there for the future. La Diva Patti — who is a spoiled pet with the Parisians— has taken her break down in the Huguenot* very much^.to heart. She was not hissed, but the pugtfe left the house. As misfortunes come in batalions, she was also a failure in Figlia del Reggimento— the first time she has played it in Paris. Although she beat the Earn plan plan to perfection, the audience did not respond with a Viva la gloria ! Some too zealous admirers desire to have her act ia Norma. It is a case to be saved from friends. • I would remind the Society for the Protection of Animals, as a set-off for their failure to suppress the ratting matches in the Champs Elysees, that in the central market of the city there is a band of women whose employment is to prepare fat and tender poultry for the public, by gouging out the eyes of some 400 cocks and hens daily, " sewing up the lids, 1 * and placing the birds in the dark cellars for a fortnight— just as the geese are treated in and around Strasbourg to force their aldermanic livers. The Medical Students have resolved to continue their tactics on the reopening of the University of Medicine, by hooting down Dr Tardieu, should he attempt to lecture. The doctor has a pamphlet in the press, explaining his evidence at Tours, and denying that he was partial to Prince Pierre. Its effects remain to be seen. Palm Sunday pasted off with the usual large purchases of " box," which was employed instead of palm, and about 100,000 francs worth were sold of it. Then Holy Week was as gloomy as could be desired. The chapel bells, according to custom, remained silent from Thursday to Saturday—went to Borne to confess, as the legend goes. On Thursday, the " wasnui* of feet" was observed, not only in the churches, but by several old ladies in the aristocratic world. At Montpellier,^in the south of France, the poor are assembled, provided with every good thing that penitence will allow, served at tables decorated with flowers, silver, and elegant ware. The guests are waited upon by dukes and duchesses, generals and prefects — the archbishop carves a salmon, a prince distributes omelettes, and his princess carries away soiled plates ! "Wonder if this was a case " where the devil did grin, for his darling sin, is pride that apes humility ?" The free-thinkers, to vex the Pope, dined to the number of 500 on every kind of joint. The traditional sausage was helped — it weighed and if not as long as the Atlantic Cable, might tie the whole college of cardinals together. The restaurants did a good business on this day in steaks, cutlets, and kidneys, for it is here that paterfamilias repairs for his " fish dinners'' on fasting days. Among the wealthier classes " frog soup" ia the favorite potage on Gtood Friday. The butchers had their holidayalso on this day — the only one shop is closed throughout the 365. Paris lays in its stock of hams, bacon, Ac, once a year at its special " ham fair." We had bacon from Australia, besides pork from Cincinnati, and choice morsels of horse from Brussels. The gingerbread fair is now being held — this kind of stock is similarly laid-in annually. It is the only neutral ground where politicians can meet. The Emperor and his son can be had four feet high for a few francs, and the most rabid Eepublican can devour the whole imperial family for a trifle. The most nervous people could have their revenge on Troppman, by eating him up, for four sous. s