FRENCH AND GERMANS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 127, 8 October 1875, Page 8

FRENCH AND GERMANS.

A Fbbkch perio-lical gives the following extract from a. Una*;™ *. v ew, the < Oletchest vennie Zapiski.' Itis a cCaS^efcwoTthe' frenchman and the German, and, coming from a Russian source it £ not without significance at the present moment • "The French and the Germans have hated each other for a W tame, but there is no resemblance m the manifestation of their mutual hatred. It is not a characteristic of the Frenchman to hat^wth enduring, unbroken energy. He hates by fto and starts, occasionally When wounded to the quick, he loses all self-possession o-oes aS strikes, ravages, and kills ; but when the first outbcuS is over he 80 Ju' recovers his equanimity, and cares no more for the Gorman than 3 he latter were not of this world. Not that he forgets him or h s hatred ; no, but he does not notice him. He will not forget Sat the German is a barbarian a sort of wild beast, but he does not notSe cTos ?? SayS: g ° *° d6Vil! Lefc him E«2t

Quite different is the hatred of the German. He hates without respite-systematically. He is for ever anxious to play on the Erbfemd some underhand, wily trick, to oust him from his rjlaee *nrl mi* himself into it. The Fre'nchman's hatred is a flamoshat o f ?he German an inextinguishable passion. With a Frenchman it is a gushing stream— with the German relentless malice " Whence ernes his malice, and at what does it aim ? He never confesses it. Ask him why he hates the French, and he will recapilu. late the wars of the iirst empire, the tyranny of the first empire! the sufferings and humiliations endured by Germany. < Very welt ' vm, say ' but you have revenged yourself ; you are even. Why do yen still hate he Frenchman ? ' • Because he wants to steal our BhenbS provinces, the German used to say before the war of 1870 ' If if were not so, what do those tremendous forfcr- sses of Mete, Strasbourg and Belfort mean?' «8.,t you also have fortresses-Mayence Rastadt, U.m, and many others ! ' Ah ! with us it is quite a different thing he answered drily; 'we only mean to defend ourselves if

1 o-day the German has taken Alsace, Mete, and Strasbourg • he has secured an open route to Paris, and he continues to cry • ■We only want to defend ourselves in case we are assailed ' In the mean time he thinks : 'If only they would assault us! We would not be as generous as we have been in the first instance. Ohampai«m would theu be ours, and we should then get a foothold in Burgundy 3 ' "It clear that all the complaints of the Germans about French ambition are so many fables and' falsehoods. It is not the warlike ambition of the French which now prevents the German from sleenine in peace any more than it fas formerly the tremendous fortresses of ' Metz,_ Strasbourg, and Belfort. This is not the source of hie hatred .No ; it is envy. The German envies the French, and this is what, makes him so thoroughly miserable and his hatred so bitter "The Germans have never forgiven France for being crowned with gloiy in the sight of Europe. They enquire. ( Hoyv did the JJrench come to, win an unfounded admiration ? Are we not more learned than they ? Have we not a higher moral sense ? We are neither a frivolous nor a bragging people-whence does it come that it v not we who have the supremacy ? All this is manifestly a misunderstanding. Europe does not know the French; tefc us unmask them. And on that plea they go on impeaching France and bringing her to trial. The procedure dates from the empire, and they carry it through the whole century. They logically prove that the French are ignorant, frivolous, and braggarts— that there is nothing substantial m them. In morality, that they are the most corrupt people in Europe ; as to their capital, that it is the soil on which all vices are grafted. It is Babylon ! ''Europe listens, and while seeming to agree with Germany continues to subsist as before on the heart and mind of France Europe reads the brilliant and light French literature leaving German literature to specialists and scholars. It is French wit which has the lead in every European stage. The modern French Babylon remains as ever, the queen of taste and of fashion, the fountain-head of new ideas, the great centre of motion, the place where the whole world, without excepting the mortal enemies of' France, looks for life and pleasure. In this respect the depraved .Babylon has always worked miracles. It is said that in 1815 the Duke of Wellington went to Paris with the firm purpose of eivinj these Parisians some good lessons in morals; but that hard and unbending promoter of morality spent three millions durino- six weeks stay in Paris. Blucher spent four in one month, and some of the Allies even more.

But some people will ask, how is it that this frivolous ignorant, and unmoral Frenchman exerts such bewitcherv oil foreigners ? The cause of it is obvious. The Frenchman is a man with a soul. He has a loving heart; he is loyal, amiable, benevolent, cheerful. Foreigners are involuntarily charmed by qualities which they do not find elsewhere, and, flying from the weariness which weighs them down in other countries of Europe, they so to l^t^L^> SlQem ' jj ° lly ' mOCk ' mS people France/among

A destructive fire at Port Chalmers is acting as a spur to the consideration of the Port Chalmerites, whether a Fire Brigade be formed there. «s«w