THE STATE OF PARIS.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2494, 28 April 1871, Page 3

THE STATE OF PARIS.

The stato of Paris, after the first excitement of the capitulation had worn off, may be gathered from the following particulars written on February 11), by the Daily News' correspondent : — " The polioo agents in the city are searching for arms and hand-grenades in the turbulent districts. The authorities do not anticipate any organised attempt on the part of the people to prevent the entry ot* the Prussian troops into Paris, should the design presently entertained at the German, head quarters be carried out. Much fear, tiowevor, is entertained by the Government that some of tho turbulent inhabitants of La Villetto or Bvlleville may make some unpleasant demonstration against the Emperor or Count Bismarck—two personages with regard to whom the popular exasperation is intense. A large number of hand-grenades Ims been already seized by the police agents. A great quantity of these instruments of destruction is known to have been recently manufactured ; but as yet the civic authorities have uot been able to discover the places iv which the weapons have been secreted. " Some people iv the city still believe that the entry of the German troopa into Paris will not take place ; butjthe decided opinion of all who have access to the best and most direct sources of information is, that tho invaders will actually set the seal to their triumph by marching through the capital of France. And even men high in position on the French side are found to admit that the claim of the Prussians to march through the city is quite justified by the long and coatly mouths of waiting—not without forbearance—which thoy have spent outside between September and February. Many old families in the Quartier St. Germain constantly wear mourning, and declare that the windows of tho houses should be closed, that none of the inhabitants of Paria should bo in the streets while the Prussians are passing through tho town, that the atones of the pavement on which they have trodden should be taken up and carried out of the city, and that nothing should be allowed to remain which had been polluted by an enemy's tread. "Last night I visited a * cafe concert ' in the Quartier Latin, called the ' Folies Dauphines,' but better known among the students of the neighbourhood as the • Cafe Beuglant.' The chief attraction there at present ia an actor who bears a striking resemblance to the fallen Emperor Napoleon lir. Dressed in a general's uniform, he singe a song, amid roare of laughter and rounde of applause, ia which the late Emperor's manner, gesture, twirling of the moustache, and so forth, are imitated with, most marvellous fidelity. Between every two verses of the song, which embodies witticisms and allusions in theirnature anytingbut complimentary to the prisoner of Wilhelmshohe, the singer gallops round the stage with a long sword dangling between hie legs, to the intense delight of the audience, which unanimously shouts in uproarious chorus, ' Badinguet! Badinguet !* ■'VivePEmpereur!' 'Encore! Encore!' And the Emperor who so lately ruled the destinies of France is anew held up for ridicule by his caricaturist. The actor of whom I speak has excited the sentiment of the Quartier Latin to such an extent, that the Prefect of Police has ordered the peformance to be discontinued. " The natives of Alsace and Lorraine who reside in Paris have held a meeting, in which they affirmed themselves to be the faithful interpreters of the sentiments of their compatriots, who have found themselves debarred from a free expression of their desires. They solemnly, before France and the whole civilised world, declare themselves French, and they affirm that they desire to remain Frenchmen. They cannot recognise the right of being handed over to a foreign power without their own consent ; and they would, if taken away by violence from France, claim without ceasing the right of belonging, polititically, to themselves alone. It was determined that, without loss of time, a protest in the sense I have indicated should "be sent on for the consideration of the National Assembly afe Bordeaux. " Day by day Paris is regaining its old aspect. Soon the streets will be lighted again with gas. The river steamers have already commenced to ply ; but in the meantime the city traffic is confined to the passage of omnibuses and of a few carts, fop scarcely any cabs are to be seen."