OUR PARIS LETTER.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1944, 29 March 1875, Page 2

OUR PARIS LETTER.

[fiom drii own cobbespondent.] ;.. . \ . Paris, January 12. The Assembly cannot even constitute a< Ministry, and it is useless speculating . « about what may follow its inability, which ' """ will be definitely tested in a few days, to pass projects for "the organization* of the country. No one approaches the hereafter, though statesmanship is said to be wisest the more it can foresee. The regret is , very general that the Marshal J should have delivered his last Message,

which was uncalled for, and has not only placed him in antagonism with the united minorities in the Assembly, but force! him to take his stand on Orleanism, which is the weakest and leant popular of • all the existing isms. The Marshal demands that/his powers be defined, and to leave everything definite till his term of . office expires, when all parties could grapple each others' throats to settle the. question of supremacy. This the nation will never consent to, in order to-oblige . . ; any pretender. It insists on the House being put in. order now, and the present -» employed to make provision for the rainy clay. The very fact of forcing forward - Ithe project for a Senate, apart from and ' independent of defining first the form of : '- ---government it was destined to serve, was too openly Orleanist to receive the sup* \<\ port of the other parties. Orleanism thus has payed its last card, and lost. In the general elections it will disappear; ithas been on its trial since the-overthrow of Thiers, and has been' found wanting. "-

One remedy is cl^ar^-the dissolution, and Marshal MacMahon may rest assured, if l be adopts that programme he will have the " entire nation for lovers; '■' but he will have no longer a Royalist majority; the popular vote will fiat the Republic, and the Marshal has never ceased to recognise the sovereignty of the, chamber. The party that is afraid of-I&e'ballot boxes is a party condemned in advance. The Gordian knot is about beinj cut; it ;" will be as merciful as it will bo timely, as really the country is worn'out with the exceptional state of things, and with the c'ironic. sterility of the Assembly. : The , people desire only. tranquility, .to find. > work and to execute it, to do restored <" their necessary liberties, and to be.treated

rather, as men than as children, by,every, Government,that may succeed to power. The.crisisin the Keformed Church of France is becoming more grave; the difference of opinion between- the Orthodox, and Liberal Protestants, more' profound. Already the pry of . " persecution" if raised, but it is to ;be hoped' the Govern- * > ment will settle the/dispute by measure* , . of sagacity and moderation, rather than „ by any stretch of authority. A recent decision of the Minister of Public Wor-

ship rather' leans to give- time to the Ort^dox to concert their plans for ousting the Liberals from the churches they at present hold, and where the Orthodox are at the-same time in a minority. ; L is not a question of dogma, but ©f ecclesiastical discipline, which separates the antagonists, now rapidly becoming belligerents. The Literals or Nonconformists, reiterate their, determination not to accept the doctrinal decrees of any Synod, and the Government inclines to back the Synod, doub.less because it is an authority. Public opinion in France has not ■ yet been appealed to, and that would at present only envenom the quarrel, which ought to have been regulated after the 'family pattern originally; but it is impos- ; sible to believe that opinion would look . on with indifference at one half of French Protestantism being shown the door, because it will not subscribe to the rulings of the other. In self defence the Lord Mayor is justified in returning to London; there seemed to be ft conspiracy on the part of his French admirers to breakfast and dine

him to death ; every succeeding banquet being more Lucullian than its predecessor. His Lordship brought his {Sheriffs and Trumpeters with him, but it appears he forgot his medicine man. Parisians have vied in paying him all honoi-3, and his beautiful steeds must have made the mouths of hippophagists water. " God Save the Queen " was in a fair way of cutting'dut'the " Marseillaise," especially as the republican air has become unfashionable under the Republic. Had -' mi lord Stone" time arid' stomach to remain longer within our walls "Hule - Britannia" would have succeeded Madame An£ofx>ni the barrel-organs, and- . Giraudin would certainly have brought out Union Jack bonbons. rJ here are no less than five different.photqs of Jiis Jord-, ship offered for sale, inwhicli^ Baron Haussmann does duty for him, and doubt-; less he'will leave behind him more Honorary dentists than he has teeth, and these are said-to toe* avLcomplet. slt would not be surprising if Sardon wrote a tragedy or moving drama, introducing the civic authorities of london; the unused-up materials b^Ms^'^meinight be turned 5 to profitable account; just as the manikins representing his dead Gueife and Ghibelines now do the part of revellers in the triumphal Car of Orpheus. T.ue Parisians will gratefully Remember<thß services rendered.to,t|ie inauguration of-their new Opera by the'presence of the London authorities; the Lord Mayor came like dome magi to salute its accession, entering like a iairy Mag,{m the jmid?st of his pompous cortege, to take his place at the iHnarriage of Cinderella But though the r French woiildilaughia^ such a ceremioriial] if originated ymongst themselves, would view it as no higher than a masquerade, the most thoughtless feel^tbat the quaint forms and ceremonies connected with'theDoge of London unite the present with the past, novelty with tradition, recent laws with antique, customs, con temporaries with aricestqrs ashes of ages with'-the 'c^jpsi^uctioß? of jjirogress," and embaliii'/somefragmentbf liistory and perpetuate the triumph of some popular right. The moral'fidi not been overlooked by the modern Athenians, who after all are not Iconoclasts at, hjeart. \ f

. Though officially inaugurated, the new Opera is not yet finished; the left wing, the section intended for the Im- \ perial family, is unachieved, fault of funds. Loans had to be- negociated to enable the itructure to be,6pened as it is.r"^ sum of 200,000fr. is necessary to provide the proper fittings up for illumination alone, which,for the facade, . w.:lFVconsist of bronze figures of mammoth dimensions, sustaining reflectors. The library has yet to be installed, and has accommodation for a series of shelves over two miles in length; " the music-hall" will include manuscript music copied, or to be copied, as well as compositions never yet represented or executed, £lot the less curious

will be the " jewel room," where all the barbaric pearl and gold are preserved, which though but imitation possess not the less a great value. The .decoration* alone employed in the fourth act of VAfrkaine, - a-^estimated at 25,0C0fr. Among other, iirompleted works are the smoking room, - the restaurant, and the lift. Ihe restaulant will be open to the general public, as well as to the frequenters of the Opera. The smoking room will be so constructed as to ventilation, 'that not ?a puff will be { able to stray into the building ; and the lift is intended only for the aged. The rxecution of these works, but above all their decoration; would require ;some millions of francs to accomplish. The representations noware very sober in comparison with the gala opening; it is like the banquet hall deserted. Jiany are of opinion that the prices are fixed at too high a rate, and if the new lyrical theatre succeeds, the opposition will tell on the Grand National Opera. Three francs for a seat in the attics, and ten for one in the < pit, arc only for the crowd with Peabody i purses. Everything continues to be very dear m Paris, and now that the frost is threatening again, prudent people are laying in a supply of chaussons, a kind.of coarse knitted wollen slipper generally worn inside under shoes, Of course Parisians will never forget ]N Tew Year's night and the terrible thaw, when, to walk home without breaking one s brittle bones, stockings had to be drawn over boots, a ease where it paid to put the cart before tho horse. Well, to avoid such a desecration, of hosiery, chmissons are being purchased, and these humble articles .of peasant costume are running up in price. Passing a little higher up in the scale of the necessaries of life, since fifty years vegetab'es and fruit have increased 45 per cent, and meat and beverages 87 per cent.; coffee, sugar, salt, and tea—the latter not of much importance in France —hare iocreased by 200 per; cent. In other terms,in 1820,thothecostof hying : per head was but 95fr., while in 1870, it

mounted to 195fr. Tne Legitmists ought to claim the au cieu regime, based on these "statistics ina:.!e beautiful." Would it be worth while getting up a revolution for U. P. prices? There is no lack of comestibles of all kind in France. )in season as wejl as out of season, and which have been very extensively patronised during the holidays. France is a nation of gastronomists and gourmets —not gourmands, for this means gluttory, quite another affair, and her food preparations are in high request throughout the world f each of her provincial cities being celebrated for some Special conies.tible or dish. , Her people are hence connoisseurs of good things, just as ancient Borne led the fashion, gave the ton to delicate dishes. France has inherited the sceptre in the culinary arfc, and has a very wise articlo in her kitchen code, " that a woman shall ne'er rule the roast" —a most excellent Gallic law, for French cooking is a laboriouY profession. At Home persons were j appointed expressly on account of the I exquisite delicacy of their palates to test if certain fish had been caught at the mouth of the Tiber, or farther on, and if the livers of geese had been fattened on green or dry figs. It is only in Paris that a man-cook can be found coming near to the Eoman standard,* and French cooks are universal as Paris fashions. The Grand Hotel has gone into the dairy business ; it has long since turned poulterer, fishmonger, and iruiterer. It has now its cow-house; and supplies at the depot, " milk fresh from the cow," at the rate of twelve sous per quart, or, if bottled, sealed, arid duly marked with care, and delivered at the house,, eight sous more. : •ir _