OUR PARIS LETTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume VIII, Issue 486, 29 March 1873, Page 7

OUR PARIS LETTER.

From our oivn Correspondent.

Paris, January 25. We are m presence of four capital events : France has paid the first of the fat instalments on account of the fourth milliard to Germany and has balances m hand for nearly the whole of the fifth and last milliard ; the Orleanists for the first time have formally joined with the Legitimists m the memorial mass for Louis XVI ; the first of the masses for the repose of the soul of Napoleon 111 has officially been celebrated, and on the same day, three Communists were executed and which it is believed will be the last. The nation displays a common indifference to all these occurrences ; it seems to be girding up its loins, husbanding its strength for that happy, supreme, and yet uncertain moment, which will arrive about the close of summer — the final departure of the German, the raising of the state of seige, and the entry of France with possession of herself.

The countryhas seen so many dynasties and parties m power, and m their working found so much of a common family likeness, that it may be pardoned for being sceptical of all, and remaining content with the Government it now possesses because it secures order, has repaired tremendous faults, and labors for the interest of all instead of one.

If the multitude of new taxes m France has not been as productive as the protectionist aspirations of M. Thiers desired, it has shown him the errors of his fiscal policy, and the quarter — direct taxation— where lives the bird that lays the golden eggs ; his fellow countrymen are not celebrated for their displays of ignorant impatience of taxation ; so long as the tax-gatherer does not take all, they are resigned. Not a complaint has been heard against the pecuniary burdens they have borne; they have met them, shoulder to shoulder, like a united family. The French have repaired so much and so well, that there is reasonable hope they will the corrective to their decreasing population, and succeed m holding fast that which is good— a constitutional republic. . . Opinion at the present day m France views the execution of Louis XVI as a blunder ; m guillotining him the Republicans found they only killed a man, not a dynasty, not a principle ; but his unfortunate majesty by inviting foreign armies to come to his aid, was as reprehensible as the Duke of Brunswick m his response to royalty m agony. The Orleanist princes are tinkering at fusion ; they are too wary not to know what the rendering of homage to their cousin Henri V. will cost under their father's reign. Louis Phillipe ; the princes never went to the masses celebrated m the chapel dedicated to the memory of Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette, and where what remained of their bones from the action of the quicklime was temporarily deposited ; it was the princes grandfather, ths worthless and turbulent Philip Egalite, that amid a murmur of universal horror, voted for his cousin's death ; Louis Phillipe when Duke of Orleans, did join m his early days m these mournful anniversaries ; but that did not the less prevent him from accepting the birth-right of the Comte de Chauibord, a rdle that the Comte de Paris would continue tomorrow—hence the fusion is impossible. The high pressure praise and abuse heaped on Napoleon the Third's memory having become exhausted, the cold, incisive opinion of France cau now be ascertained ; that opinion is, that he was simply a deception, which Frenchmen themselves assisted to make, and to sustain his private character is not m cause ; while an adventurer, it had its draw-backs, when an Emperor, its blemishes. Publicly his failures will outweigh his successes ; and the world has perhaps benefited niore from what he was unable to carry out, than from what he achieved. He was a sphynx— but without an enigma, and his proverbial mutism was not the sign of wisdom, but the screen for the absence of real ability. His feebleness ought therefore to pleadforindulgence with posterity; he had- more bad counsellors than perhaps bad views individually ; this does not absolve him from responsibility ; he believed m the potency of his name ; which carried him to the Presidentship of the Republic, but he would have been driven from thence had he not made the Coup d'Etat. He boasted of the English alliance, but would filch Belgium all the same ; m his policy all was tortuous, nothing frank, hence the failure of his schemes. By free trade he did much for the material prosperity of France. Those tied to him by office, friendship, or interest regret him — but none others m France ; the second Empire having no roots it has withered away; it was propped up by bayonets, the support withdrawn it fell. There is not the slightest prospect of his dynasty being restored, and should it ever be, it is to be hoped its last title will be founded on Cresarism. To euoble the ex-imperial family ts become harmless, M. Thiers, instead of exulting m the proscription of any of its members, ought- to encourage them to reside here as citizens. Bonapartism is a force not to be despised ; it can never be, however, a danger, so long as the army remains faithful to the Assembly, and there is no

sign— the sympathies of some officers excepted— that it meditates oa a different line of conduct. Paris when not occupied with politics is engaged upon dress, or what is more familiarly called — Chiffons. So many relatives of reigning families have recently died, to say nothing of the ex-emperor, that nearly all the world displays mourning favors ; by following assiduously the Alraanach de Gotha, economic persons can 'fist main for ever m genteel black. Then the floods are returning again ; many houses have hardly bailed out the lower stories, which the gudgeon had converted into aquariums, than the water commences re-entering. Another important point discussed is, shall we have a winter this season ? The meteorologists say no, and that until the end of May, it will be rain and wind, with a change from wind to rain. Instead of umbrellas, it is Noah's arks that ought to be announced for sale. The members of the Skating Club are m a state of desolation, and blame the republic for turning the seasons, like so many other things, upside down. Two branches of trade are to be pitied, the furriers and the ice merchants. Never was such a display of furs m the shops as now, next year marten, otter, bruin, &c, will he as cheap as rabbit skin. Icea, that commence to attract notice, will soon be as a Tom-cat during the seige. The "copper inspectors " reports sad state of things ; these excellent men are appointed to investigate the purity of the pots, kettles, &c, m hotels and restaurants ; it appears m several instances they found death m the pot ; no wonder a lady on not seeing her husband arrive from a dinner party given at a famous hotel, went first to the Morgue to make inquiries. Even at the Morgue politics have entered ; the director has been removed on account of his Bonapartist sympathies, the first of the many imperialists, it is observed, that a confiding people leave m office to guard the republic. Some of the new Postal Cards have been strangely abused ; made into a sort of political tract ; on the back, the virtues of every kind of government are lnconically printed, so that if it be deemed desirable to throw a paper pellet on the head of an adversary, it is only requisite to write his address ; this bombardment is daily maintained m some cases at an expense of two sous; some people have " caved m "to be spared annoyance. The Post-office authorities have informed the public, it cannot manufacture it 3 own Post Cards, nor can the cards, affixed to things, like merchandize, frank the latter through the post. The recent execution of three Communists has produced a very bad effect m Paris, m those quarters where it was. desirable to heal wounds still fresh. The Commune is forgotten ; and neither additional shootings, nor transportations, can effect any salutary end. It is the strength of clemency, not of security, that ia required. The executed died bravely, and hence their sympathizers consider them martyrs. Before the bodies are interred, they are sbripped, the holes made by the balls, counted by the surgeon ; then the corpses are reclothed, replaced m the coffin, along "with deceased's pipe, or remains of his cigar ; for they smoke till they fall. :