FRENCH PILGRIMAGES AND FRENCH POLITICS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIX, Issue 5070, 20 November 1873, Page 3

FRENCH PILGRIMAGES AND FRENCH POLITICS.

Krvnct is .it picsent inclining to be lehgious for tin- fir-t time sime she enthioned the Godde&s of in th<> days of tin- first reign of Ton or, and, we suppose, by way of »>■ leactiou on the iloci lino of negation otficially pronounced daring the recent Ooiniiiuiu' respecting ;i " pel son called God " Slie is pciionningain.izingpilgriin.igeSj 'ml (.lie assist. mcc of modern li'xmii's and the eonviMiicneos of steam and laihvavs ri»l> the pilgi images of the mo its of the old tame tiavel and labour y\hid\ sutl'eiing was su])posed to consecrate, vJien the pilgrim, as Ophelia sings, w itli << hi 1 -! oocklo hat and stair And lua smrial ehoon," went f (nith upon his wotiry way. The cockle sLuck in the hat, was the wau.lerer'h dunking cuj* dipped in tho w.nsido spring, his scrip, hko tho hei nut's, with herbs and fruits supplied, his stall", his pro]) by the way, and his s.uic! d -hoim in which, undei >-p<-<*ial penance, tl>e pilgrim might put the punitive peas boiled or unboiled, as I Collins's curious tale relates. But now lirafc-class carnages and pleasantly

liiinishodstoanioisconvevthc Lulhful to • li. s.iuid shunt's. Instead ofgoingfoith in sonow andMiilcwng,the pilgunmgcol the d.iv, which is at present popular in Fiame* is a delightful holiday trip where cointbi table conveyances plentiful meals, and tho choice wines of the countiy may easily be «mued. By the out lav of a few pounds, and tho expenditine of ten days' time, any French pilgnin, or even Knglish pilgum, can onjov a popular holiday, and pulorni his pious orisons at the shrine of oui hady of Falette, at the loot ot the • uountaius uoai Gionohle, and soeuio tin ieb\ the commendation of the Pope, who h,is bk'SM-] the pilgrimages as a sign of a religious ievival. The " eldest son of tho Church," as the »So\eioign Pontift termed the Into Xapoleon 111., is no more ; hut France awakes to piety again ; aud the Chief of the Vatican and the Bourbon Princes have been dreaming of once again re-establishing Papal supremacy under the white flag ot the legitimate aud hereditary Monarchy. But Imperialism, though still weak, dislikes the di.ipeau blanc, and, tlnougli a lecent speech of the Pi nice Imperial, condemns Ihe ' flag which consecrates" tllC assumed lieu (lit u v i ight of king* in o\ ci -< li.iiifiiiiir I'l nice I'lety and the l'(i|» .in .it pio->ent fashionable in France, but \\h\ ' r Het awso when tin* Oileani&t faction submitted to tho claims of the Bourbons, and withdrew their own in favour of the fount do Ch.imboid. whose claims the Pope favoured, and from whom it was hoped some concession would bo obtained, it was believed that the anti-German feeling -would be sti jngthened. The Vatican hates Germany for hei late treatment of the piiests. Franco abhors Geimany because of the teriible i defeat she suffered .it her hands. One common hatied links the foiees twain. Hence much of the piety, hence the populauty of pilgiimages — which aie but .1 f.nce .is compared with those of the earlier ages. Pilgrimages attended by special correspondents ! and whose progress is heralded all ovei the world by the electric wire ' This semi-pious semi-political movement has received a rude shock from the announced determination ot the Count de Chambord, who has declared for the white flag and for that alono. Fiauce, whose immobility is restlessness, worships an idea or a symbol, and am U fight or ievolutionise for eithei. Gieat efloits were made to induce the Count de Chamboid to moderate his demands — to accept the tricolor as emblematic of the popular will (with atnssel of flour tie hjs added), but he would not ; and he employed a simile resembling that which Mr. Stafford a few years .igo, borrowing from a compahiofc orator, contiivul at secondhand to make ridiculous in New Zealand. " The white flag," said the fount, " surrounded my cradle, I desire that it should overshadow my tomb." Jt is likely to prove a windingsheet to his hopes of the throne. It is the " white flag," and nothing else ; the idea and the em of despotism that flag represented aliundiedycars ago. By List accounts he adheres to his original determination. He will " not inaugurate a rcparative reign ;" which means he will accoid nothing to the people that the Bourbons withheld from them, lie is clearly adverse to constitutionalism ; and, like many other ancient institutions, shuts hi-, eyes to modern progiess, adheres to the narrow tyiannies of the p.ist, and persuades himself to the belief that things are now, or can be made, what they were a, centuiv since, ere yet the Hide shock oi ie\oluti >u had shattered the fabric of ,i belief which found correct expiession in the plnase, " The right divine of Kings to govern wrong " At the piesent time there would, in i the condition of parties in France, have bevn but little, difficulty experienced in placing the Count di Chambord on the tin one. IL^ coronation would have ' united the one strong toiling for vengeance on Gcnnany which the mass of Fienchmeu cherish, with the ecclesiastical antagouism to that country which animates the Vatican ; and for numv V-irs the hope, of that vengeance would have been a leading and prominent idea in Fiance, foiming a bond of union binding together elements ordinauly opposing eich other. But the Count asked too much, and ho receives nothing. And so the course of ultimate Impei iTilism is strengthened, and the present power ot the Kepublic is to be nominally increased and consolidated; for so it is demanded, to prepare pos Slblv foi that threatened anarchy winch has' always succeded the short -liv« d 11,' publics that Fiance has sulVered and destioyed. A ten-yeais' tenuie of the Piesident^hip was asked for MacM.diou, the inciease of whose power is declared by all paities to be a necessity ; each hoping, by prolonging the life of existing conditions, to gam something for then own paity through the chapter of accidents, which is always full of smpiises in France. It was a^ tenyears' Piesidcntship that Louis Vapoleou obtained m 1»31, and in 1852 the Wepublic he had sworn to uphold melted away, and he declared the Umpire. The French Assembly Ims rejected the ten \e..is' proposal ; although Mac Mahon's Ministiy decl.ued its necessity a "matter oi u'mit urgency," which with the fact tli.it it was deemed necessaiy for the rresid.'iit publicly to express "confidence in tho army," is indicative of Uoublous times, and tli.it the un.uchy we have s]>«>ken of may be nearer at hand in Fiance than most people, are disposed to believ e. 1 1 is evident that its ad\ent is only stayed by each party feariixr to take action, but meanwhile the paity of aniichists— that huge party in Fiance, which is alw.us ready to pull down, uncaring what may follow— is probably gathering greater stieivth. Another serious storm is hcruMHitr over France; Us mutterings have leached this side of the woild. Pious pilgrimages may divert attention for a time ; but revolution laughs at both tin pilgiims and their piety, and may make use ot both -\ny daj niiy In pig the intelligence that the thunder cloud of revolution is once mm., pourni" its coutents over the land. I °

{Summary news continued on pagei 0 and 7 and Supplement)