PARIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1310, 20 September 1870, Page 3

PARIS.

(FBOM OTJB OWN COBBESPOJTDEirr.) July 16, 1870. The excitement of the French for i Foreign war is quite a different thing fron that of a revolution. In the latter, po litical . passions are divided ; there v. fractictdal hate and pitiless revenge. Ii the former, as is the case now, the whol( nation rises as one man to shake the greal affliction, real or imagined, off. All voices are for war, and though "Wisdom may crj out as loud as she pleases in the streets yet no one regards her. No doubt in theii dreams the French see only visions of th< shocks of armies ; dogs dream of bones and fishermen of fish, and the military character of the Gauls is as intensified Fighting is their natural element, peace but apparently a rest before re-engage-ment. In Europe, France must be first, and this position she will never abdicate while a drum and a bugle can call hei sons to glory. The parting with life has no terrors for them, head-first they plunge into danger, the more difficult the more honorable, and truly seek the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth. Incapable to restrain a jealousy most sensitive, the French since 1866 have chafed at the sight of Prussian aggrandisement. They have with unconcealed rage seen Bismarck eating up the petty rulers of Germany to carry out the greatest idea of modern times — the unification of 60,000,000 people, kept apart by the selfishness or ambition of Lillipntian potentates. He desired to gather the scattered Teutons into one fold under one shepherds He had arranged everything ; it only required the old horse, as he openly described the King, to take the fence and clear it. The old horse, full of mettle still, without spurring, was equal to the occasion. Since that successful leap in the dark, the French Parliament, the club orators, and the press, have never lost an occasion to chant the downfall of Paris, and upbraid the Emperor with having failed to uphold the legitimate dignity of France. With th is lesson brought home to men's business and bosoms, a state of chronic unrest was duly produced, and reflected in a general instability of trade and commerce. It wa» the shadow of Prussia that caused all. Hence, only a spark was sufficient to fire the train — a word to slip the nation from its leash. The French Foreign Secretary applied the match, expressed the word, and two of the most advanced nations in civilisation — frightfully energetic, extremely rich, with enormous resour.es — .*e tie" for the spring at each other's throats. France, the home of wit, the centre of intelligence, with her history of sacrifices for human liberty, goes to decimate Germany, the land of silence and philosophy, the birthplace of thought, of reform, the country of Goethe and Schiller — and to be decimiated in return. Draw a 'veil over civilisation. Let's talk of graves, of worms, of epitaphs. Let's ope "The purple testament of bleeding war." In so secretly conveying the offer of the Crown of Spain to Leopold Hohenzollern, both Prim and Bismarck intended to cast a slight oil .France: it was so viewed and resented. The Prince, to save the continent a bloody struggle, resigned the bauble. Here again Prussia did not go out of her way to be complimentary to France. It was Leopold's papa who informed Prim and the French Prime Minister of his son's disinterestedness; and the Minister overjoyed, broke through all diplomatic etiquette by hawking the telegram about, and boasting that the honor of France was saved and peace secured. But he reckoned without his host. The latent burning desire of the nation and the army to cross bayonets with the Germans was awakened, war must be arranged — a peg secured to fasten a quarrel on Prussia. Perish the Ministry that cannot secure this — and a few hours will show the number of their days. King William must eat humble pie that would imperil his throne, or fight ; be must sign a humiliating bond, undertaking never to consent to Leopold's being king hereafter ; he broke faith about the Treaty of Prague, conjure that before his eyes like a Banquo's ghost. But don't let him slip this time through our fingers, when the army is so perfectly prepared, the cause just, and the weather fine ! The Legislature and the Emperor must be the interpreters of the national feeling ; a plague on your parliamentary system that give* ministers unequal to the occasion. Beeall ambassadors, proclaim war against Northern Germany, placard it over the walls of Paris, the towns of the Empire ; take Luxembourg to-day, Coblentz tomorrow, occupy Berlin the day after ; finish within our chartered time — three days. Break up the confederation. .The villainy Bismarck taught let us execute by annexing Rhenish Prussia; restore Schleswig to the gallant Danes, whom we left to-struggle alone in 1864; restore George V. to his loving Hanoverians, John to his Saxons ; set Southern Germany free; and give a hand to the resuscitation of Austria. Such is to be the programme. In demanding King William to do more than what was originally demanded, France has evoked the resistance of the Confederation. The Germans are not despicable troops, and France will fight under conditions different from the divided days of 1808. She has recalled ner children who are employed in France largely as commercial clerks, and ex- " tensively as hewers of wood and drawers of water. It must be a relief for them to depart for the Confederate Landwehr. The demonstrations against them by the ! populace were at boiling-point. The war-journals had fallen back on the literature of animosity. Anything is good enough, to throw at a dog. The Berangers of the cafe concerts have given ballads of their best, all attuned to the Marseillaise,, and the burthen of which is that the Prussians will never reign in France. England had the honor of this prediction formerly, then during the 35 GASES AND BALES OF

Crimean times it passed to the Russians. The old properties have some virtue still. Tn a few days the theatres will keep the sacred flame burning by screaming farces and genteel comedies at the expense 1 of Fatherland. 1 Paris seems to live in its streets. "No " thoroughfare" might be noticed up ia 8 the principal rues. It is a contagious 1 blockade of excited masses, demanding * war, crying aloud for satisfaction, and the k more profound because the want cannot 3 be specially diagnosed. Young men of T all classes parade the streets,, with ' tricolors, vociferating for war. " Down r with the Prussians," " with Bismarck." 3 But long live France — the cabinet of » " honest, men," as the members styled r themselves — only excepted. Its attitude ' has been epileptical — discretion and in- * discretion ; its conduct at once rash, " feeble, and inconsistent. Instead of ' j mounting the capitol to thank the gods, ' I it ought to pass to the Tarpeian rockr— ' j " Fittest goal of treason's race." . ' I The Emperor bows to the nation. He will lead them to glory, and secure a dozen years of peace at home, and the advent of his son to the throne, despite the gates of France being struck by the Orleanist princes for admission. He cannot resist the current of the national feeling, so, like Brennua the Gaul, he throws his sword into the acale. The preparations are most formidable. -All the railways are occupied in transporting stores to the frontier, as well as men to use them. The Moveable National Guard, where every man of a fighting age must serve without distinction, is being rapidly mobilised, and will occupy the military positions of the Empire, while the regular army is cutting its way to Berlin. Spain counts as nothing in this affair. France regards her as but the cat's paw. However, she will be watched on the frontier. The struggle opens with a duel between France and Prussia. The wind is being sown, but how many of" the neutrals will escape reaping the whirlwind? Italy is sure of Rome. "What will the Czar do— it is time to be looking after his " sick man." If inter arma silent leges be true, it will also hold good in the case of general news. "Where is the country indifferent to a commotion in Europe ? How small appears the passing of the dogma of infallibility ! It is one Grand Larnraaraore ; it ia not so much the official ratification of an accepted position after the lapse of 18 centuries, as the declaration of war between the church and society, and which will in time bear fruit in separating churches from states. Today we want the clergy of Lutheranism and Catholicism to pray to the God of Battle; to-morrow to chant a Re Prqfoundis, and in a week the Te Deum. The sittings of the High Court of Justice of Blois — the transport of the sixty accused from Paris like a chain gang to stand their trial — pshaw ! The Lyons exhibition, and the # reputed Chinese massacre, pass as unheeded as the moon's total eclipse. Give us the statistics of iron-clads, of Chassepots, of those mitrailleuse* on both sides, that promise to end the war by leaving no combatants to continue it. "What about the economy effected in the budget — the suppression of the " inspector of emigration ?" who had no emigrants to inspect. All very excellent ; it gives more grist to the war-mill. But vote supplies at pleasure for the army of reserve, for rifled cannon and repeating carbines. The "strike" at Muhlhouse among 20,000 artisans, including the Guild of Sweops — it is but a flash in the pan. Pass to the latest telegram — the hundredth edition of The Situation — the plan of the German fortresses, the calculation when the tricolor will float at Berlin, the con ditions of peace, and the day when Paris will illuminate for victory. The "drought" is forgotten like everything else. But if France is able to pay for her glory, she can also pay for a famine. In the river skirting Fontainebleau, there is a huge boulder in the bed, now dry, and which has not been seen since two centuries, when the last dreadful drought afflicted France. At that period was engraved on the stone, " Those who have seen me, cried, and those who may again view, ■hall weep." Tears are in the ascendant. Every allowance must be made for the crisis we are passing through. A few days ago a gentleman threw up his drawingroom window, and fired off the contents of a six-chambered revolver. The police, believing the Prussians had arrived, rushed upstairs, and the gentleman informed them that his wife had just presented him with a son and heir, and, following the etiquette of royalty, he desired to give all eclat to the event, and, wanting cannon, had to patronise a pistol. No one can accuse the demi-monde of Paris with having the slightest modicum of humanity, and Dumas fils seems warranted in his assertion that this class of women are useful in preying upon their dupes — a social plague— by destroying them. Do I exceed the bounds of propriety in revealing that, so great is the luxury of the modern Paphians, it requires the united purses of two or three slavish fools to meet it ! "When one has no ready money, a promissory-note holds good ; these are discounted enough to take the paper for one half it represents. Thus many a " promising boy " is ruined. Schumacher La Bruyere was a noted "soiled dove." She entrapped the old Marquis D'Orvaulfc to marry her. He died some eighteen months ago, in consequence' of his exposure during the trial of a brother of the " Marchionness " — daughter of a cabman — for an attempt to murder her for her money. The " marchioness" has appeared in court to recover the sum of 100,000f. the amount of a bill given to her by one of her adorers — M. de Haynin — since dead. The executors declined to recognise the claim ; the tribunal declared they were justified, as the bill represented only pretivm stupri, or in other words, immorality and shame. FIRST-CLASS DRAPERY,

There is an advertising sheet daily brought out in this city. Following othei advanced nations, it has opened a matrimonial column, and there are no less than four widows who describe themselves as rich, young, and good-looking, wanting husbands. Applicants must be army officers, and on active service. The pleasures of a second widowhood ! In scientific progress there ia to be recorded the discovery of chemist Bechamp, who has at last found this ' philosopher's stone, in the preparation oi " excellent alcohol from air and water." Thanks to kind -nature, there is ato abundant supply of the raw material, and 1 if the " pocket apparatus" does its work, there will be few benefitted by his genius \ that will not wish him the " the top o' the mornin'." No person now has any excuse for " being out of spirits," — pety ' missive liquor laws are doomed. We ha^a at last the secret why good air and fresfi water are so healthful". " One bumper si parting"— M.j Bechamp— "May you/j shadow never be less " ••'