AFFAIRS IN FRANCE.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 33, 8 July 1874, Page 3

AFFAIRS IN FRANCE.

(From a wrrsqpo-ndcnt of the Press.) Parts, May 5. The session on the. eve of opining ought to prove a decisive .me for France ; in.it it is problematical if the majority b» in -the humour to organise a constitutier that would secure the country a. few years of repose. Extreme depuiieo desire that Marshal MacmhoiTs office should cease to exist with hi» resignation cr bis death. Moderate politicians demand that the office should be independent of the holder, ought to run its fall course of seven years, and provision made against the contingencies of a vacancy. The Septennnto assert the latter, and the country is oil the same advice, i? an institution : it is only Efia sir alien, say the former. The ’ecnsclidf.tion cf what exists would ccor.re the nation a lined period of repose, and would be the Republic undergoing its trainin';. This is the -solution evidently desired'by the people and what sober judges and the situation command, and this solution, r:c simple and natural, is only possible by the union of the moderate deputies, who will have the courage, if necessary who will make a sacrifice, to vote the Imperative laws that will regularise institutions and define the Government. The President must act be left without the eaidutuFcsml organisation his office demand.!.!, and tha' hr hi.- isol.'; on acceptation of its duties, solicited. This is not a question of -ambition foe him. it is ore

! dignity. He belongs to no party, no faction. He appertains to the nation. The v a ircbista being iu the majority in the A vc--ably—an Assembly iu “ a day of ini' flirt une,” in February, 1871, e-umot elect a Tviig notwithstanding, as thole are'several Richmond’s in the field, but they can prevent ♦ he foundation of all that i’s not monarchical. This policy of something like spiteful helplessness cannot last. A grand country, indeed no country, can remain under a regime of the provisional, whore nothing is defined, not knowing what it is to-day, what it will be to-morrow, like a ship in distress, ignorant as to where it may be drifting. A nation is not provisional. It has its foreign relations, its obligations, its permanent interests in work, industry, and commerce; and to develop seriously aud securely its activity it has need, not of any of those regimes which believe themselves to be permanent, so much as a few institutions, that in defining the situation would beget confidence. There are people who assert the French are difficult to govern. Where is the country, torn by so many rival pretenders, that surpasses Franco in the spectacle she now presents ? In the- political subtilties which,are feverishly and vehemently agitated arohna them, the people take very little interest ; leading to-day, as yesterday, a life at once tranquil and laborious, strangers to cabals, to the intrigues and passions of parties, demanding only from those who represent them, and who serve themselves always with caeir name, to not toy with their interests and security, to not dispute with tljem the simple conditions of regular existence, aud, holding to the reality of things, to permit them to breathe, to rest, and to be thankful for at least- 1 sffeven years. The people have now no higher ideas of saviours of sbeiety than as an ambition to possess power and advance dynastic ends. Then they have succeeded so well without any during the last three years, as to have the presumption to dispense with them for seven more. They pay taxes without a murmur ; it is a happiness ; they feel their so doing benefits France. Then the yield of the taxes is on the whole satisfactory, and is righting itself down on certain prolific soqjrces. The imports and exports arc superior to 1869—that is. to the material prosperity of the second empire. What would all this be —what wiii it be —when the political situation clears up and its horizon becomes bright? France has before her a future that her ungenerous and immoderate conqueror may well envy. She requires no bloated armaments to preserve her autonomy. She is far distant, with all her faction fighis, notwithstanding, from descending into a military autocracy. This last experiment finished, for ever it may be presumed, at Sedan, where an army disastrously, but not dishonorably, had to capitulate, aud so expiated the thoughtlessness, the contradictions, and the deceptions of the second empire. In France, said Voltaire, the fruitfulness of the soil repairs the follies committed by the people. Just now much anxiety is felt about “ the state of the crops.” The sudden outburst of heat has so precociously advanced vegetation that any “ nipping frost” may prove to be a disastrously killing one. What a blessing if all the bad weather could Be concentrated on politics, aud the eloquence of politicians*frozen up like the sounds of Munchausen’s trumpet. It is quite in the spirit of the times that spring should arrive by express, as a surprise. Meteorologists are as active as bees exhuming the histories of parallel springs, when peaches appeared with the flowers of May, and grapes in the leafy month of June. True as the needle to the pole, swallows have have not been deceived by appearances,’ so the insects are in the full enjoyment of liberty. One of the favorite amusements for children in the Champs Elysees is to purchase tiny balloons, suspend an enormous hanneton therefrom, and let noth mount as high as they please. Those aerial races seem to afford much pleasure aud are efficacious in making the boldest child good. During hot weather Parisians live as much as possible in the open air ; when the season is cold, they seek refuge iu the cafes, but very seldom in any case remain at home. Some theatres close, to reopen as soon as possible, for they have during summer an exclusive public-pro-vincials and tourists, as well as an exclusive repertoire. The open-air entertainments display much improvement this season. Managers have shown themselves to be more enterprising, and directors have bowed to the changes of time, for there is a dash of sobrietyentered into French manners since 1870. Persons are not so easily “ pleas’d with a rattle tickled with a straw.” The police surveillance being more minute has compelled the disappearance of many licenses winked at under the Empire. It is felt that citizens may be entrusted with the duty of censors, and permitted to walk without the go-cart. Take, for example, the Mabille, the rendezvous of fashionable vice. By a figure of speech, this jardin was supposed to be devoted to music and dancing, aud was the first lion that visitors went to see on the sly on arriving in Paris. Strangers might calculate on encountering each other there, though the meeting was not desirable. Since the death of Chicard, the Mabille has no artiste for the Xomicm business. Zinc palm trees, garlands in gas, and ennui —such are the great attractions.

The quest s *'!’ of pilgsinr-jes bos beer, resolver! ; no Monarchical emblems arp to be carped this year, co the raintc wi'l come in for ’mote. Indeed after-the hard labor last year at' new and else forgot ten to find the fiomt.a do Chare herd a voluntary csilr, nr n casual visitor still in respect to France, and his nephew Don'Carles returning from Kpain in seven league boots ; those resuits are trying for industrial piety. More time will be left perhaps to pray for France. The royalist fonrnale have held a congress to concert measures to ensure the restoration of their king. Before business commenced a solemn musical mass was celebrated, after which succeeded a dejeuner- —both excellent preliminaries for transacting affairs. Time will show hovr far this new attempt will be rewarded. The Comte de Chambcrd has little faith in it. Could any of his partisans? succeed at a single general election that would be a proof of grace, akin almost to a miracle. The republicans continue to reap all such worldly successes, do not • crag prayer into politics, and never injure tneir voices by u by hollaring and singing of anthems,” for the success of universal suffrage, self-govern-ment, and liberal institutions, and their “superfluity of naughtiness” does not seem to be ' renter than that of their rivals. Many doubt also if Providence bo Interested in the ? ace for thn throne of France. France u on tba c/e'(if pgthing an end to the production ant of adults, but of infant ticdiglej, who are In mnueoticn with the prohasions of acrobats, sweeps, ballad singers,

organ grinders,and beggars, a fraternity counting in Frances37B members, exclusive of those unknown to the police. The infants of this troupe know neither childhood, home, instruction, nor religion. Their condition is as shameful as it is miserable. Some come from Italy, but the majority are French, farmed by joint-stock companies or commission agents. A young sweep earns for his employer about 300 fr during the ‘season, receiving 60fr as his own share ; little girls are also employed, when made up as boys, and both are clothed in rags when work is slack, turned out to beg, or furnished with a hurdy-gurdy, a monkey, or an Alpine rat, aud so to gain their living. On an average twelve young children _ are stolen every year, and their limbs are cruelly tortured to become qualified as tumblers ; seventy per cent of such pupils die during the training process. The bill proposed to remedy this state of things will prohibit every child under .sixteen years of age from astonishing the naives ; and the hirers of young talent will be fined and imprisoned for every infraction of the law. Besides, beggars must be provided with permits, detailing their origin aud establishing their identity. Not • nly did France receive Nice and 3<ivoy as part reward for emancipating Itaiv —anything but an excessive indemnity—but also acquired the honor of receiving shoals of youthful beggars from every part of Italy. M, Piccon, the unpatriotic deputy for Nice, could atone yet to France for fair, hallucination, by heading this section of young j Italy back to the sunny land and remaining permanently with them. M. Guizot’s gray hairs are likely to go down in sorrow to the tomb. He has taken an action against the cx-Empresa to compel her to receive some 50,000 fr with interest, as repayment of a sum her husband presented to his son to pay his debts —a feature in the character of Napoleon 111. that many of his opponents have benefitted by, and that left his late Majesty a poor man, as friends also used him as their good papa, M. Guisot’* son farther accepted a lucrative office. His father at the time did not display any of the virtuous indignation that troubles him of late. It was a crime with the Spartans to be detected in a wrong. The husbing-up process was ability. M. Guizot also was among the many who nibbled at the liberalism of the tottering Empire ; some say he even condescended to give Napoleon the benefit of hi* 85 years’ experience. Thus it appearad strange to the Bonapartists that Gaiisot should attack the Empire on the occasion of Ollirier’s reception lately at the Academy'; and, in revenge, they have let the cat out of the bag. To raise the wind, to enable the gifts of the Greeks to be replaced, Ouisot sold a Murillo by public auction, which had been presented to him by the exqueen of Spain as a testimony for that Spanish marriage which has had its ending in a separation. The point now is to compel the ez-Eapress to receive the restitution money, which ehe declines to do. The number of savings’ banks in France in 1871 was 514 ; in 1872 bat 501. In the same years there were 58, and 57 depositors respectively, for every 1000 inhabitants. The total deposits amount to about half a milliard. vso far as these banka are an evidence, saving of late has been on the decline in France, which may be very naturally traced to the misfortunes of the country. But the sums withdrawn have been invested in the ransom-loans. It is in the northern parts of the country that the inhabitants display the greatest desire for saving, which, as compared with other districts, might be rather called parsimony. It is not in the French character to be extravagant } the people are too thrifty to be ever prodigal, Paris is full of exhibitions of paintings at this moment. Good pictures are ever attractive ; but the practice of collecting the works of half-celebrated contemporaries, and inviting the public to go into ecstacies of admiration over them, must, if repeated, detract something from real art. Years ago France had a mania for statues, and local celebrities had themselves done in marble, presenting the work to their native town, which, in due course, carted the pious gift to the cemetery, when corporations changed and kings arose that that knew not Joseph. Of course these remarks do not apply to the exquisite exhibition of treasures on view in the Corps Legislstif, nor yet to the annual exhibition of paintings just opened in the Palace of Industry, and that necessitates a morning pilgrimage from all persons of taste and culture. The criticism of the various journals form the true guide books for the public, and it is here where French talent is at home and at its ease. The catalogues are not the less useful; they inform the spectator when a landscape is a landscape, a sea view a sea piece, and a cow a cow. After doing the gems of the exhibition we dally with the trifles. There are painters sculptors, and sculptors painters, and a medical celebrity, whose productions are much admired—the wags asserting he paints only in cod liver oil. There are too many battle pieces in this season’s exhibition, which are unnecessary, as France is very far from proving forgetful of the invasion. Indeed she is taking steps to protect her open frontier from similar raids. Ten years hence she will be another France. It is only since 1803 that the system of public baths has taken root. The city is ■well-provided with these establishments, "" suited to all purses, and are valuable properties. There are upwards of thirteen floating baths on the river for males, and six for females, which do a business during the season represented by 345,000 fr, of which 10,000lr go to the municipality {'the price of a plunge, varying from four to twelve sous. One of these floating machines remains moored in position throughout the winter for the accommodation of the English and Bussians. In the batmng establishments are to be found barbers, corncutters, pastrycooks, and cafes. If necessary, the news boys will deliver you the latest editions ; in three of these floating palaces, are ‘‘readers,” who will read your favorite author for you while in the bath, or out of it, at so much an hoar. It may not be known to visitors, that the full-rigged frigate anchored near the Tnileries is the same that conveyed the remains of Napoleon from St. Helena. A Frenchman has patented something more than a swimming jacket ; it may prove a buoy, now more than ever necessary when ateampackets of the most improved build are anything but safe. By means of a chemise, buttoning in front from the neck to the knees, and enclosing fifteen communicating tubes, the wearer can defy a cork in sinking ; can walk the waters like a thing of life, and enjoy a life on the ocean wave. By a brass stop the wearer can inflate the apparatus at will, Patters pcew to enjoy the invention.