OUR PARIS LETTER. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2130, 4 March 1886, Page 4

OUR PARIS LETTER. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

fAitid, January 2. EvfcKiTHINC ai rives in France, even to that unpaialMtd event, a Mmihteiul cum-., a }»evv Veai « gilt, 'l^'eie has been once a cuup d etat eioae upon the holiday t-e ison, but ucvei ua-» witnessed, by the oldi-t inhabitant even, a collapsed Cabnit t .it thin ep >llj. Still, diti tiling m.i> u~ o.pcctod aitei th.it tjpieai symbol (it bUbibty and tybustiio-ct h.i-* .sank down— the l'oiit Neuf. T.io uio-.t pLTinuuunt niatitution ol the Lumti j 1-* yot the \>u>\ iMon<il, to winch uuy be .uided M. lJrt,'vy. There wui m* \.uul reason why M. lirii*on ih.mld lesiyn ti.e l-'runiierihip, no in<>ie than there vv.w lor his holding on. lie came like a shadow, and so departed. He will have liw line in the ciowded list of obituary Republican fuuciiionanes, foi statesmen do not etist. M. Briton's re tirenieut hm provoked neither tears, gioans, nor rejoicing. O all the public men pitch foiked into proumicuco by the Republic, lirim in wad the sttange»t. Huisan honeht man, clooo buttoned to the chin, but it v\a« boniethuitf like cuiUty to animals to make him Dead ot a Cabinet. By so doin^ he wa-. thiown out of hid running for the *uctiossion to AI. Gre\y. He intiigued foi that post, but was ousted by the bupeuoi staying play of De Fieycmet. 15ut M. liuason has .seived an ephemeral end, and at bot no more was expected troin him. He presided at the general elections. The moment ho attempted playing at piograinmcs he was doomed. He could produce nothing but the policy ot Jules J-'eny lechautte. By a Huke he becured four of a majority on the Tonkin ciedits m a Chamber wanting well nigh twenty of its members, and all of whom would have plumped against him. Bn»son forgot that Fiance had made up her mind to finish with Tonkin, tie was cajoled into continuing the fatal policy of the Oppoi tuuibts— perish the lives and money of Jj'iance rather than relinquish cunqueats, based on quick sands, and that would yield neither material profit, nor fire- work glory to the countiy.

T<> form a new Cabinet is like one of the twelve vv oiks of Heicules. The .Republic commands two thirds ot the votes in the Chamber of Deputies. How unite these into .1 Gieci«tu phalanx or a, Tenth Le^iuu ; Tint s the question. So long as e.ich cuteue lemams inHe\ible on the points ot Us chatter, no working inajoiity can bo fonued, .aid the house will be at the meicy ot the by no means nifcignihoaut opposition, v. lm.li is leavint.' no stone unturned to bung ji till imentaiy government to disuedit and a. dead-lock. To tesort to a dissolution wouklbeaieinedyworaeth.il) the disease. No Miuiatur can exist who relics on one .shade of Republicanism. He must lvpieseut all the hue 1 -, and the Cathedral is huge enougti to »ccomni()date all worshipper-* who theie come m spint and in tiuth. I'wo facts must be reckoned with. No majoi ity can be formed which excludes the Radicals ; no policy can be professed which ignoies the veidict of the general elections, economy all lound, and so ease, and indeed save the financial situation and definitely renounce making colonies to be peopled, if buitable, by foreigners, and to be commercially monopolised oy the moie e\peiienced and go-a-head rivals of France. The re-election ot M. Gievy for another seven years was a pure ftJi'mality. That constitutional opeiation is no small tribute to the stability of .Republican institutions and the happy change m the political m.uineis ot the nation. Those interested in piovukuig disturbance in the Congiess :.ei/sed the raie occasion to kick up a dust. ]t was not the Republic they injmed, and voters will remembei that npioar has, ,\-> usual, to bo supported by i'lance. In any case it did not create si great sensation. Boys will be boys, and J'tencli men when excited, must "go off" like other people. But the vote was all light, and exhibited, for that occasion, the republicans shoulder to shnuldci; being at piescut in the neot, they ought all to agiec. The choice of M. Gtcvy for tho second term ot Presidentship of the Republic, wa-* an act at once of honour, justice and political sagacity. No constitutional monarch has ever boon more con eel in his lelations with executive and Pailiainent. As chief nngistiate, his conduct hat. been exemplary in its uprightness, integrity, and severe simplicity, and he has added thereto the unblemished leputation of his whole pi i; ate life. "Me-.sicurs," said Gambetta in October 1877, speaking of Mr Grevy, " that man, qualified by his chaiactcr, so justly i expected on account of his past so pure, that man whom we can present to some as ti model of moderation and sagacity, and to others as a model of fidelity and honour, that man is Mr Jules Grevy.'' That was tho famous Chateau D'euoration, which startled the Marshal McMahon into his resignation, and obscurity. People crack jukes at Mr Gievy's presumed tin lfty habits. This is a great enor. He duly expends all the sums voted by parliament for the wants of his high position. He lias no civil list, out of which to draw to lelieve the lame, the halt, and the blind. Ho lives up to his salary of 120,000 francs a year. But nothing obliges him to exhaust hi- jnivate foi tune foi the sAc of making splashes. That folly was played out, by McMphon, who now deeply laments his imbecility. Mr Gicvyisiio niggaid in a^iuiging chant}', quietly, and I am pei•'iii illy a\vai\i ot seveial instu>ce>, whcie he has done good by stealth, but on condition not In hud it blazoned as fame, Tlipic wasonlyam.ijoiity of four in favo ir of tlw lequhed subsidies for Tonkin; the niai'iiity it>t assured will b-j the other way, when the next giant is pmposed. Then* has hern dou might falsification in the ease i>f two ot tht'^o votes, so much fro, that a in itiun wa> made to hand the scandal ovei to t!iu tender meicies of the eiiininal ptosecut-ir. Tt was mled to appoint a comn itten ->f inquiry, which means relegating ittoJcncho. A deputy has been made to vote, who was at the time en route from the West Indies ; another voted " blue," butievoUcd tli it colour when he was shown In-, namu tin a " vvhit** '" bulletin. Deputies delegate colleagues to vote for them, and hence .tffoid the occasion for leger-demain tiick-. No pming-off is lecogniscd in the Fiench Paihament, ho constituents should ini-ist th.it their tepicsentativcs ought peisonally to vote; in a wind, be in attendance, tor which they receive a stipend of 1.0 f l ancs a daj', plus a fiee lide over all the lailwav lines. How many of Victor Hugo's dramas will go down to pootouty? Judging fiom the levivul of Mnion Delorme, just given at tho I'oito Saint Mai tin theatre, the conclusion is forced, that peilvips only Ruy Jila-- and Hoinani will survive. Four jeata ago, when the Roi .S' Amuse was represented, it proved positively vveaiisome to sit out. It is the ceitainty that such an effect would ie->ult, which has prevented Hugo's Cromwell and the Buigiaves fiom being btought out. Zola declines that Hernani was so full of ennui as to be uninteiesting. Mai ion JJclornie is a diaina in five acts and vei.se. It w,n prohibited fiom bi'ing lopiesunted in IS2 ( J, as it was consideied tlie cliaiiictens of Louis XIII, and Cardinal Richelieu would be used to ndiculo Chailes X. and his government. Hugo a;»pfaled to his Majesty, fcivently, to rescind the prohibition, but without etioct. This was the mi re trying, ,ia Hugo v...s at the time a staunch royalist, in the receipt of a pension from the king, and laden with the b»y, won by hi-, stanzas to that " child of a miiacle, ' the ]>uc do Bordeaux and, later, Comto de Ch imboid. The accession of Tjouis Philippe, who made Hugo a count, witnessed tho first lepiesontation of Mai ion Delorme. It is at tho saim' hoiiic, after an interval of r»l years, that it has been revived, in what in ay be exiled full splendour. It was acted in 1873, but did not pioduce any special success, wiien Mile Fa vat t was Marion. By a strange coincidence Paris i» giving at this moment three plays of which the plot is the (■line: Georgette, by Sardou; Sappho, by Daudet, and Marion Delorme; and that plot is making courtesans or lorettes sympathetic. A group of Three Impure Graces is certainly enough for one season. Perhaps it is not too much to remark, Hugo is responsible for he is tho patriarch and the emancipator of that held of irregular beauties which, since fifty years, have, byvaded the stage with everaugmenting audacity, and by holding them up as examples in gloiifying and leliabihtating them, so many diamati ts have nude reputations and fm tune. Tine, Dumas fils, a notoiions sinner in this respect, lays down it is not the play which is in.moial at the theatre, it is the place which is immoial. In any case, prudence suggests keeping innocence at home, or only going to a theatre on the anniversary of A. Catherine. Hugo's subject is taken from Alfred de Vignv, who of course borrowed the idea from some other author. It is the case of Jeannat's knife— the handle and blade were so often changed that the original had long disappeared. Briefly, the plot of Marion Delorme is founded on a- courtesan, after being everybody's lover, getting a tigress grip on «a last victim, who, discovering her antecedents, spurns her, and provokes in duel an ancient admirer The Cardinal tikes no notice nf

illicit love, but he is unswerving in bin resolve to s-i. -press diifllhig Miaing the nobility. He condemn-, the two adversaries — say Cinq Mai's and dcThore, under other names, to Iw executed. Mm ton implores the King to pardon her lover ; Louis XII I., on the advice oNn.s fool, does so ; but th • Cirdin.il revokes the king's clemency :» usual. She then tries to corrupt the judrf< , who in exchange foi her favouis obtains tl c paulon. She rushes to her lover, but he spurn-, hei for her lascivious ransoming, .md goes to the scaffold, but ]»aidoning her .it the last moment, for she loved much. The bci-m-iy it. \i-iy beautiful ; quaint, well put on the stage, and historically accurate. The costumes me in keeping ; goigoom .Mid voluptuo is; it was the age when knights and nobles were clad in silks and brocaded velvets, and when "boots" weie trimmed with the costliest lace. The headsman who executed dug Mars made quite a litlle fortune by the lace perquisites in the shape of the clothing of hit. patient. The interpicUtion of the piece wo* not in keeping, and fell far ftoni the mark. It was specially minuted to bring out Sarah Bernhaidt. Now this lady was a disappointment ; uhe was unequal : her voice— the famous tones, instead of leaking out in small doses, weie delivered in a monotonous stream and so fatigued. She only gave flashes of her former self. She is evidently breaking up ; is the picture of depression, of exhaustion, and listlesnoss. Her gorgeous toilettes seemed merely to hang on her; s.>ul was wanting in her whole acting. She is in bad health ; she may be said to live only between fainting fits. ; then she is steeped to the chin in debts, and has to work, to live for her creditors like a Grub-street hack. In addition to all this, her only child, a young man, is m the last stage of consumption, and has gone to Algeria, to try the climate. Sarah Bernhaidt will soon burn out the small stock of life she possesses. There are several beautiful scenes in the play, notably the castle of Blois, the donjon the duel— ltalian style, dagger in the left, and sword in the right hand ; the Sedan chair of the Cardinal— the "red man," carried by 24 porters, and lastly the execution, and the terrible dirge of the masked monks. The play displays tho faults of Hugo ; no correlation of incidents v\ ith the final catastrophe, but a perpetual How mid reflow of episodes. The piece will keep the bills, till the public is biirfeited with the scenery. Tho Courts have at last recognised "hypnotism, 1 as a possible explanation, with females especially, for that peculiar state of mind which seduces the peison so aniicted to a condition of such passivo obedience, that she will commit any act, anothei will may command her to do. It is not mosineiisin exactly, but a nervous psycho disease, involving it is urged, no moral responsibility. A young woman was condemed for stealing and pawning a blanket. In vain she assured the judges, the action waa above her control, and was suggested by the e\ il one. While in prison she was tested in several ways, and she was uiged to lodge an appeal. Consul so pleaded her case that the judges have oidered the three most eminent authorities in hynnotism, charcot, &c, to examine tho question and leport progress. If admitted, the ciiminal code will be revolutionised. Perhaps it is to be prepaied for the coming change that France is taking a leaf out of Italy's pemtentiaiy book, that of founding a college for the training of gaoler*. Perhaps, to«>, this may bring about true prison reform. A French judge not long ago asseited that to send a juvenile to prison was to manufacture him into an irreclaimable gaol bird. Commandant Bazaine, nephew of the Mftz Marshal, has been placed on the half-pay list for ording such cruel punishment to an artilleryman, one Aubin, that lie succumbed. Some journal.-, consider the disgrace too light for the offence, and would have no objection to take the uncle's dcsseits out of the nephew. Between two monaichists : " Well, so our fiiend X has accepted an oflice under the C4oveinment, and so is converted to the Republic." "My dear fellow, I told you he was like S. Thomas, from the moment he touched— a salary— he believed."

School teacher — " What in the faubetantive ?" Mickey (son of the leader in the 'steenth ward — "It's the man who goea to the convention when you can't go youiself." — Puck.

' The comfort of a coloured sailor \\ ho 1 was hanged recently at Liverpool, | Knglnnd, was thoughtfully studied by the Sheriff, who permitted the doomed ' mnn to wear his ovei coat during the ' ceicmony, " the weather being bitterly > cold.

A new scouree has made its appearance in the viueyards of France. It is called the black rot. It attacks the grapes as soou as they reach maturity ; they turn black, the pulp is decomposed, and the &kiu of the berry snivels. At present the ravages of the pest are li-rited to a siue;le locality; but the rapidity with which pr«\ ions maladies of the \ me have propagated themselves inspires serious misgivings with respect to possible extension, of the black rot. We regret to add that Mm phylloxera has manifested itself iv Algeria, which has been hitherto exempt from this terrible enemy of the vignerou.

BoLivAit, the largest elephant now in ciptivity, hail a terrific encounter the other day with the Nubian lion Prince, at the winter quarters of Forepaugh'a Menagerie, Philadelphia, and the lion, uhich was valued at 2000 dols., was killed. The trainer had entered the cage with a beast. Prince was in au ugly mood and attacked him, aud, in endeavouiing to escape, the trainer loosened the bars of the cage and fell out. The lion bounded out after him, clearing hii> body .-is it lay on the tan-covered ground. He did uot turn back, however but pursued his way and entered the open door of the elephant house. Bolhar stood nodding uhere he was chained to a stake near the door. The lion attacked him, and an encounter ensued, which ended in the liou being crushed to death.

A TiuvixLbK by the Lancashire and York&hhe railway has been charged with " interfeiing with the comfort of its passengers" in a very unusual manner. An engaged couple were journeying along together iv a thud-class carriage, and getting on very comfortably when all ot a sudden the young gentleman leapt up iuto the air with a most unlover-like ejaculation. '• What is the matter, dearest?" inquired his inamorata. •• Oh, well — nothing," he said, taking his seat again after a careful examination of the bench, "only I thought Oh, Jehothaphafc (or \v 01 ds to that effect), there it is again !" They then perceived the blade ot a sharp penknife sticking through the partition between them. There was only one man in the next compartment, so that his pietcnce of being asleep was hopeless. Never, I suppose, since the m orld was made, has the course of true love been so strangely interrupted. Even in fiction such conduct has never gone beyond the aspiration remembered, no doubt, by all my readers, " I wish I was behind you with a bradawl."

The Bad and Worthless are never imitated or eountctfeitcd. This is especial'y true of a family medicine, and it is positive proof that the remedy imitated is of the highest value. As soon as it had been tested and proved by the whole world that Hop Bitters was the purest, best and the most valuable family medicine on earth, many imitations sprung up and began to steal the notices in which the press and the people of the country had expressed the merits of H. 8., and in every way trying to induce suffering invalids to use their stuff instead, expecting to make money on the credit and good name of H. B. Many others started nostrums put up in similar style to H. 8., with variously devised names in which the word " Hop" or " Hops" were used in a way to induce people to believe they were the same as Hop Bitters. All such pretended remedies or cures, no matter what their style or name is and especially those with the word "Hop" or " Hops" in their name or in any way connected with them or their name, are imitations or counterfeits. Beware of them, louch none of them. Use nothing but genuine American Hop Bitters, with a cluster of green Hops on the white label, and Dr Soule's name blown in the glass. Trust nothing else. Druggists and Chemists are warned against dealing in imitations or counter' fcita.