FRENCH ITEMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1604, 8 July 1887, Page 3

FRENCH ITEMS.

(from oxjb. pabis correspondent) ■ the se in(ebeil affair. Paris, May 16. The period of agitation, excitement, and alarm, which will long be remembered, has come to a close with the release of M. Schncebell, the special French Commissioner at Metz Great gratification wag expressed m the leading French newspapers, without distinction of their political sbade ; and it is hardly necessary to add that private opinion way also de lighted at tho denommmt of a situation which at one time nvght have been thought like'y t> lead to grave international complications. THE NEW HEBRIDES QUESTION. The Timps stated last week 'n reference to the question of the N3W Hebiidos, that tho French (Government liaa under consideration tbrca solu lions : — Either tho complete independence of the New Hebiides; the recognition of a prot3c torate by either England or France ; or a recognition of tbe independence of the islands under a sort of common surveillance by England and France, The latter solution, the journal considers, is the most probable of the three. Tnis may be so, but there seems no valid reason why tbe inhabitants of the New Hebrides should not be left to manage lUeir own affaira, without any intervention at »11. The only apparent reason why Frrnce is mixed up with the affair at rll eeems to be her desire to make the islands a penal settlement, end such a solution would never be p smutted by Australia. The first of the three solutions, therefore, appears to be the most inevitable, THE AKMY MOBILISATION SCHEME. General Bouianger's Bill to grant the War Depaitment a sura of about fom nv'Hons for tho expeilmont of mobolising a corps d armcz, enters into some det-ils of his ssheme. The corps to be chosen will be one of those in' the west or south of France, m order that no fe'.ee interpretation may be given to the measure. The date wHI be kept secret, but it will bo some time ab nt the month of October, and the choice of the l >mmencemont of the winder will indicate the purely 'experimental character of the manoeu\ i"es. The order will r e given by telegraph by a single convention!? l , word, on receipt of which the commander of the corps will Bend immediate instructions (o tho mayors und officers of tie i.evdarmes, who will at once post m all the communes bills, of wHich they have a peimanent supply, o-de.ing the men to join the corps within a determined time Ihe gendarmes will besides be charged to see that the orders are obeyed. THE FRENCH GROWN JEWELS. These precious gems, which are an object of great intercit just now, underwent, during the troubled period of (he Feench revolution., some great mis adventures which are woith bemer recalled". 8 In 1781, when Ihe Revolution was raginp, dining ex days m September, a band of thieves— thirty or foiky it is supposed— us3d to penetrate every Light inta tho room the "Garde Meubie," where the Crown jewels had been placed for safety. The robbers entered by means of rope ladders, aided also by the lamppost standing at the coiner of the Roe Sainto Plor«n m. After breaking the seals on the doors and forupg the locks, they carried away nearly the whole of the treasury. During the njghfc of the 16th a man was caught on the above-mentioned lemppOßt by a National Guard, who culled out that it! be did not come down he (the Guard) wou'd fire. T U pertuaded the thief , who descended with alccrify and a few jewels that, upon being searched, were found m his pockets Only then was the loss known, as no Bentry had been placed tj guard the precious collection. The day of the arrest Boiand, and the Minister of tbe Interior, had the disag.xaable task of apprising the National -ABeenobly of the fact of 500,000 francs worth of jewels alone remaining, where 25,000,000 Bhould have been. A certain numberof the malefactors were found, arrested, and condemned to death, but others, got off: scot free. A good many diamonds were immediately sought for and recovered, but the " Pepjent" and the '• Sancy " were not found for some tJtne. The Sancy, wob stolen by a man n^med Cottol, who passed it on to a companion. The latter judicioiialy bolted . The Regent was only discovered a year alter <he robbery m a d'lly, little wine ahop off the Fanbourg St. Germain. At the coronation of Napoleon I. the jewels again appea.ed m public, the Regent being set m the hilt of his ceremonial Bword. In 1814 the Crown jewels weie all carried off by Marie Louise to Blois, but her father, the Emperor of Austria, gave them back to Louis XIII., who, during the tenlble night of March, 1815, took them to Gaud, where they remained until Ihe Restoration Daring this reign the jewels underwent little change, THE EXHIBITION AT THB PALAIS DE L'INDUSTRIE I promised yo u m my last to give you some particulars of the foreign exhibitions m the " Pala ; s de 1' Industrie ." The more one becomes acquainted with the Salon, the more one is impressed by the merit of the work done by English and American pitiets. Speaking of the former, Mme. Annie Ayrton ■ exhibits a we 1 ! printed study of Bt ;i l life, and ¥v Herbert Carlyon Baxter " A Study," Mrs Albert Ba'leroche i a portrait, and i£r Reginald Dottomley " Betrothed lo Death" and " Chez le Fripier." Me. Robert Barrett Erowning exhibits "After the Bath." Then we have Mr Burggraff's " Heights of Vi'lemUle," M^s Burrell's " Portrait of Baron R ," Mr H. S. Cairne's two po traits, md Mr Derini Curtois's "Summer Morning," Mr John Shirley Fere has contributed a portrait of Capt. C ," and Mr John Hammond "Sunset at St. John's Few Brunßrfick," Australia has a representitiye m the person of a lady, Mrs J5. Ritchie Harrison, who hp-* sent a portrait, and " Une Fatelotte d'Etaples." Mr Jameson's '" Fiehe/mao's Daughter" represents faotch art. Mr Alexander Lean, of Glasgow, has chosen a national subject, his pictu"e representing a tootch landscape. Mr James A. "Walker has exhibited "The Lost Irr3k," a very admirable picture of a pai iy of soldiers seeking the traoes of their loßt road m the snow. We should like to menfon many more names of artiste, but owing to the small apace we really cannot, for the moment at least .Among the American pictures of the year are to be noticed Miss Brawßter's picture " A Village Accident," Mr Davis's landscape "Ihe Last Rays," Mr Butler's " Moonrise," Mr Knight's " In October," Miss Gardner's "Farmer's Daughter," and landscapes by Meßsrs Edward Stuart, Stoke, fetone, and Miss Elumphe. Mr Dana is represented by a very excellent picture of <c lho Namouna," the eteam ypcht of Mr Jamc: Gordon Bennett. Mr Doneforth has contributed a picture called " A War Story," and Mr Dannat gives ua a solitary portrait. Of I course it is impossible to givo more than a mere mention on mot>t of the contributions as the American works exhibited this year 1 are 1 very numerous. We ore even very sorry indied not to ba able to give all the names of the excellent productions of this country-. ' ' Let U8 finish by stating tha.t the Salon of 1887, with its &531 pictures exhibited \n tho Calais de V ludußtre, is not inferior to any of its predecessors.