OUR PARIS LETTER.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3895, 23 June 1881, Page 2

OUR PARIS LETTER.

(FBOM OUB OWN COBBEBPONDENT.) Pabis, March 31, 1881.

THINGS AND OTHEES.

The statue of Admiral Coligny, one of the most noted victims of the " Massacre of St. Bartholomew," is about to be erected in Paris, the Government having granted. 33,000 francs for the purpose. It is thought likely that the figure will be placed in the Place dv Louvre, in front of St. Germain i'Auxernois, whence, as will be remembered, rung out the signal for tb.6 " massacre."

The preparations for the Exhibition to be held this year in Moscow are being rapidly pushed on. The principal building, including the oentral hall, the large machine hall, the Imperial and jury pavilions, are almost ready. Annexes are built for agricultural machines, carriages, fire extinguishers, etc. With the exception of separate departments for the Caucasus, Finland, and Poland, the whole Exhibition will be divided into the following groups:—l. Works of Art. 2. Scientific and Educational Objects. 3. Agricultural Produce. 4. Mining Products. 5. Fibrous Manufactures. 6. Metallic Manufactures. 7. Miscellaneous Manufactures. 8. Hand wrought Productions. 9, Machines, Apparatuses, and Constructive Materials. 10. Flower and Vegetable Gardening. 11. Domestic Animals. The opening of the Exhibition is at present fixed for the 27th of May.

A horrible crime has been committed at Freutschin (Hungary). The wife of a landlord had a liasion with a farmer of the neighborhood, and on returning home a few nights ago, aud finding her husband fast asleep, placed a dynamite cartridge under the bed and lighted it with a slow match. A terrible explosion occurred, the bedstead and ceiling of the room being blown up, and the body of the man frightfully cut and mangled, the head and right hand baring been severed. The murderess and her lover were shortly afterwards taken into custody. Of the 62 rictims of the Nice disaster, 36 are Frenchmen (25 of them natives of the province), 20 Italians, four English, one German, and one of unknown nationality. Three were boys under twelve, nine youths between 12 and 21, four girls, and 27 male and 18 female adults. The Mayor has closed the subscription for the sufferers, 300,000fr., which is more than sufficient, having already been contributed. The surplus, to be swelled by 20,000fr., raised in Paris, will go to the

poor of the town. The Mayor has thus given a practical refutation to the sensation accounts which exaggerated the magnitude of the calamity. The people in the theatre the moment of the catastrophe did not exceed 150.

Italy has lost one of her most distinguished statesmen in the person of the Marquis Joachim Pepoli, the grandson of Joachim Murat, who has jast died at the age of 57. In 1848 he took part in the patriotic insurrection against the Austrian rule, and in 1856 published the famous pamphlet, entitled " Pontificial Finance," revealing the almost incredible abuses which had crept into the Papal administration. Under Ratazzi he became Minis* ter for. Agriculture and Commerce, and also acted as Ambassador to .Russia and Germany. He also came to Paris on an extraordinary mission, and at its conclasion was offered the title of Duke T by Napoleon the 111, but refused it. He was subsequently appointed Governor of Umbria, and as such displayed administrative talents of the highest order. Countess Pozzodi Borgo has imagined a masked fancy dress dinner, which pre» mises to become .the great novelty of the season in the fashionable world. Masks will, of course, be taken off when the soup is served; but' the interesting feature of the innovation is that the mistress of the house will not place her guests at table, leaving them to choose their neighbours at hazard, and -thus w ~4 procuring them amusing surprises. The ladies will wear costumes of Jhe Jtylejpf Catherine de Medicis ; the gentlemen wjll be dressed as nobles of the time of Henri 11.

In some remarkable statistics of the population of Paris just published by Dr Bentillow, attention is drawn to the very large proportion of Parisian: ■ widowers who marry again. In 1879, out of every 1000 widowers 62 and a fraction mar.rj.ed again, 21 of the bereaved ones seeking solace for their sorrows in union with widows. JNow, of every 1000 bachelors only 57 and a fraction marry, and of these only 3 and l-10th marry widows. It may be remembered, 100, that the baciieldrs include a certain number of invalids, lunatics, and others, who are not likely to have a chance of marrying. The fact is certainly curious, and that it corresponds to some general law of human nature seems to be shown by the statistics of other countries, though the proportion of re-married widowers is higher in France than it-is elsewhere.