OUR PARIS LETTER. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] PARIS, February 24.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2145, 8 April 1886, Page 3

OUR PARIS LETTER. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] PARIS, February 24.

Thk. war between the stomach and the member* pursues its course here with the name violence of lnncruage a8 at London. Only Paris being the capital of light, tho police are never conspicuous by their absence when roughs and rowdies work the ".Criiwd madness "theory to smash windows and loot shops. Tho Socialists here are grouped under the generic term of anarchists. Tney talk and write wildly, but the moment they regain the street—for all their '• big blasts " must be held within a covered space—they become as calm as persons of property and position. Tho leaders of these political Red Indians are aft known ; so are their dupes, that i», their follower*. They make a great noise, but no bites follow the barking. They have no adherents among the true working classes, but they are not the less a dangerous leaven iv society, when number* of men are unemployed and ean neither obtain work nor a meal. Misery is the bout of recruiting sergeants. The Socialists of today are men of action, no theorists. They repudiate no violence to ensure the triumph of their appetizing programme, eight hours to be the working day, the State to fix the minimum rate of wage; the abolition of capitalists and the extirpation of all monopolies and companies for fanning the b4ood 1 and sweat of the brow of the proletariat. Land, factories, mines, dividends—all must be shared in common with the producers of riches. There must be no dftpnosin'thoindustrial hives, and persons possessing such capital as intelligence, technical knowledge arid money, are but drones.- It it needless to add these ideas have their representative organs, advocating more or les» "the whole hog or none." Nay, more; they have their interpreters in the Chamber of Deputies, Messrs Basly, Camelinat, Boycr, &c, who accept the Carmagnole as the National Anthem; denounce JClemenceau and, Rochefdrt as usedup Tories, and toast the Commune, as the no plus tdtr* of " populace Government. Till now jfceExhjbition question has teen treated- 1 in 'a' timid £e1»tino««;' manner. Minister Locking has, been courageous enough to force a decision on the matter. The exhibition will come* off ; if there be states that consider the principles of 1789 aniropeditnent in the way of manufacturer, the'exchange of products, the conduct of trade, and the comparison of industrial nations, in a word, with making money why they can remain away. Such barren fig 'trees wduld|be ah encumbrance. Only wide awake men of the period exhibitors are needed. The Champs de Mars is destined to the site. Paris tradesmen so wjlHt,j The temple of Ephesus would be in danger were the Summer Palace erected outside'the fortifications. As the work Sroceeds, if applications for space flow in, le Champs d« Mars can readily be made to connect with the Palace of Industry. The latter, the Champs de Mars and the Trocadero, would be the three notches in a serpentine tail, nearly two miles long. Hence a funicular railway, Bab stands or palanquin depots would become a necessity along the via sacra or the Appian Ways of the interior of the structure.' This will be a novelty, and opinion demands something original. Simultaneously with the erection, of the Exhibition building will proceed the' construction of the Metropolitan railway. ThWproject has been studied for ten years, and by as many Prime Ministers. A solution ought to be as ripe as a panacea for Hibernia's Pandora-box. In this matter also the Minister has screwed his courage to a decision. He will obtain the money, as there is plenty of cash in old stockings and bed-ticks that' the owners would part with for a speculation daily befov* their eyes. They would prefer it to promoting India-rubber plantations on Cango, or exporting - silks, clocks, champagne, and articles de Paris to the Ruddy growers of Tonkin. An orator at oneof the weekly lunatic meetings held by the anarchists insisted that Paris should be made a seaport by 1689, and the plain of St. Denis converted into a Liverpool or Marseilles. Instead of M. de Lessens' digging canals at Panama and creating inland seas in Tunisia, he ought to work nearer home. It is to be honed now tha.t the Brothers Re'nard are supplied with Government aid to achieve their plan of steering baloons, the latter will be an apple-pie order to "drop" visitors into the forthcoming Exhibition. i (Berpignan ir the capital of the ancient §rovince of Roussillon, taken from the paniards in 1641, and seven years before the cession of Alsace to France. It is to day the chief town of the department of |hjp««Btern Pyrenees,* is distant 528 miles from Paris, and has a population of 30,000. (Thf Spanish Irredentists have Roussillon ■noted in their book of Fate, as the Italians have Nice. M. Floquet has gone to Perpignan, to inaugurate the centenary of Francois Arago, and also to uncover a 'statue to that eminent republican, as well as distinguished astronomer, as president of the' Chamber of Deputies. M. Floquet takes precedence after M. Grevy, and this •explains why no ministers will be represented, iave by substitutes. < Francois Arago was born 26th February, 1^786, at Estagel, in the eastern Pyrenees, j *hd died in Paris, 2nd October, 1863. His" sop Emmanuel, is French Minister to ; Switzerland, is a tried republican, a powerful orator, and a distinguished lawyer. Francois Arago wns the son of a' local lawyer, with a large family, not very rich, fetidrc proprietor of a vineyard and olive groves. Franois went to the village school, and,>y*s taught music at home. It is a legend as to Arstro being unable to read, tilLfourteen years of age. He displayed, nothing precocious in the way of abilities, he r was onjy.sp-so at the hamlet school. He' 4iadi ft'tame for soldlerin&jnccoraingyto .his own confession, and due to the circumstances, ol troops passing constantly through Estagel, some being quartered in the family. Somstimes the Spanish soldiers would cross to the frontier town, and on one occasion. a picket of four men and a, corporal rodd in. Young Arago, then seven years old, obtained a forgotten pike, lay in waiting, and made ft thrust ati.the, passing corporal. The latter raised his, sword, to finish the boy, when some peasants,, armed with scythes'and pitchforks, came to the rescue and captured the soldiers. His father having been appointed cashier ofrthe mint at Perpignau,, removed^ to this town, j Arago devoted his time to the'study *of the French classics. Accident* led him to discover a treatise on mathematics, which he devoured, and, encountering D'Alombert 1 * counsel,to a young man to persevere. "Go on, Sir, go on, conviction will come," he peraerered. At 17 years of age he was admitted to the Polytechnic school; ho may be said to have pi epared himself. He was told that to qualify for, t\\i artillery,service, for which'he hid a taste, he must be proficient not only in mathematics, but in dancing and fencing. He acquired at once these accomplishments. (The'celebrated Monge,i was his examiner for the matriculate examination, and was as rough with him as a bear. But young Arago continued not the less his brilliant demonstrations, "You will rank first on my list," exclaimed Monge, foldinjfjiim in bis arms, and kissing him. ■ Monge recommended Arago as one of the four savants to measure the terrestrial arch of the meridian, as the base for the metric system. That operation became an Odyssy, in consequence of war breaking jpgfcjbetween France and Spain. Arago was captured, recaptured, ana imprisoned, by the Spaniards as a spy; his family bad long since concluded he was dead, and mortuary masses had been offered up for the repose of his soul. One day he arrived in rags at Perpignan, and the joy bells pealed for his return. Arago was a tall, dark, bony man, with bushy eyebrows and thick hair. He bad a stentorian voice, which his son inherit*.' His speaking was » jerky delivery. But he was resolution itself. It was observed, he "would ride ""rough-shod through the palaces of kings." Waterloo, Napoleon intended to 'escape to the United States and end his days in the peaceful study of the sciences, with Arago for companion in exile. Arago, as a scientist, is best known by bis astronomical researches. He had the special, gift for popularising the sciences, and bis.expounding, unaided by geometry, astronomy to audiences, who came to the qbtenyatory from all parts of the world, remains not the least wonderful exhibition of- his genius. Indeed he could play battledore and shuttlecock with the sun, moon, stars and the whole planetary • system. Optical observations were his favourite studies. He may be said to have undermined his sight by \\\q lamp he invented to measure the scin* tijla,tioua of the stars. He was a member of all the scientific societies of Europe, and the intimate friend of Humboldt, Farady, Brewster, etc. He was decojated with every order, but ne\er wore •any, Is much from simplicity as from democratic disdain. \ It is as a republican his centenary is now , honoured. When at the Polytechnic school, he was the {jnjt itudeqt wh,Q

plumped against tho nomination of Bonaparte as Consul fur life. He divined the Napoleon under the Bonaparte. " Monge," •aid the Emperor one day: "how dues it anne, your pupils bo much oppose me?" "Sire," replied the witty director, "remember all the difficulty we had 'to make them Republican* ; gi\e them time to bocomo Imperialists." It was Arago, who prevailed upon young Brissat, his college clmm. to renounce the idea of assassinating the Emperor. Arago was a no-surrender Republican of the radical shade. He owed his great popularity to his extreme views ; the ladies adored him for his paradoxes, for ho was not a p ilite man, and was as plain as Wilkes. He looked at questions m an original manner, different from other men. Then he was honesty itself, and as simple as a child. He was an authority in the Chamber on railways, canals, and public education. Thus, on the downfall of Louis Philippe, that Napoleon of peace, he was appointed on& of the members of the Provisional Government. In the sanguinary days of the June, 1848, Revolution he marked at the head of the troops to attack the barricades, because he waa Minister of War, and also of the Marine. He declined to swear fealty to Napoleon 111., who, fearing to banish so great a man, dispensed with his oath. The French do hot appear to bo quite Hatiafied with tho Madagascar treaty. The more the deputies examine it with the microscope, the less they perceive what advantages France obtains. What the French expected was, if not the actual pos session of the island, at least the right of exclusive trading. Fortunately, America, Germany, and England bar out France from repeating her Tonkin prohibitive tariffs. Apparently all the French secure for their land grabbing speculation is the performing of police duty. I renlly perceive no serious evidence of manufacturers preparing to open trade relations with the, Congo,, Tonkin, &c. There are endless speeches, writings, good-intentioned societies, puniiihed, &c., for cracking up emigration to these regions. The stimulators never lead the way. They urge, however, their^neißhbours to set oat The worst pniise of this 1 matter is the patriots rely on the, Government to sustain them. That dependence 'on Jupiter, which emasculates all private enterprise, is the base of French colonisation. Only a few days' ago a deputation waited upon the Minister of Commerce, urging him to seek " outlets in* China for French goods and French civilisation." The prophet is never disassociated from the figs. It is in contemplation to even send a special envoy in this end to Pekin. But do the French know that there are some ten treaty ports open to them as well as to other nations? While England has 220 commercial firms in China and 1953 agents, France has only nine comptoirs and 224 representatives, or one-fourth less than the United States. "VoUpUk" is the name given to, foe latest attempt to form » universal language. O! Tower of Babel, that's the tangible source of all our woe. M. Kerckhoffs is the Peter the Hermit of the new philological crusade. He is a Russian, and like all his countrymen, is a Mezzofanti in his way. *" I do not know if he speaks 58 idiomi, but he speaks six of the chief tongue*, of Europe as easily as a pig squeaks or a blackbird whistles. Volapuk is a commercial lan- , gunge; it is quite common in Holland; in six towns of France it is professed ; China h examining it, and it in to be hoped Parisians will take to it ; this is likely after their success in. " Javanese." In the Volapuk dictionary there are 13,000 words, enough even for a Mandarin to stuff into the pigeon-boles of his brain. The words are composed of linked idioms, most familiar in English, German, French and Italian. But there is no royal road to learning it. The vocabulary has not a little resemblance to a telegraphic dictionary of addresses. Thus, "President of the Republic" is "Bisiedal." That's a name sufficient to conjure np the Orleanist Princes or Plon Plon himself. Servant is •"Dunel"; woman, '"Vom"; good day, Sir, " Glidi col." How do you do ? " Lico Stadols." Let a grocer, or a barber; place-in (heir window, the time-honoured notice— Ici on parle— Volapuk, the single word " Volapukon," and. crowds will come to purchase it by the pound or pint. Like all knowledge, the secret lies in getting it into your head and keeping it there. > At the jovial dinner at the grand hotel on Saturday evening last, of the associated foreign journalists, one of the couvires replied to the toast of " Our Own?," in the Volapuk tongue! Waa that not an actuality ? In the reeling off, it strongly reminded you of " Figaro here ! Figaro there ! Figaro everywhere!" It was considered flat burglary as was ever committed, and he was condemned, as a peace offering, to sing two songs. One he did exquisitelybeing the late Mario's bosom friend— for tenor singing like theology, is contagions ; the second, he promised, "to be continued in our next"— merry meeting. I would suggest that all diplomatic difficulties be sent to this Areopagus of cosmopolitan . journalists, instead of to kings, popes', or Kaisers for arbitration. I am sure they would arrange even the Eastern question itself, over the walnuts and wine. > The assassinations and horrible crimes, recorded recently are too numerous to mention. It is to be hoped, the "Bisiedal," if he expects to see the end of. his second term, will allow the- guillotine ' not to grow rusty. An eminent professor leagued his body to' Senator and Surgeon Cornill, to dissect it for the benefit of his pupils. Suqh t has been duly done, and the' i decJasrfTs daughter was the foremost in mststing'bn , her father's wishes being respected. May she live till the age of the Countess of, Desmond, and bo then honoured by a firstclass' cremation. ' , A hint for dowu-hearied farmers: 'the Comte de Fallonx, an eminent agriculturist and writer, < lately died. In his d*yV> be won 400 medals; his prize bullocks have just been awarded the gold medal, and the judges are to suspend it over his tomb. "Kind Monsieur, (rive me a lous t tw\i,of my children are in Pasteur's hoipita], .buffering from mad dog bites." This is the latest' begging formula. ,