PARIS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4012, 25 December 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

PARIS.

(from oue owh correspondent.)

October 31st.

The official, or officious, Press, has for some time been accused of abusing, if not defaming, M. Thiers, and if the object in so doing be,to exalt Marshal Macmahon, the end will fail to be attained. It is said two of a trade never agree, and knowing the thin skin character of the French, there is nothing surprising. in concluding that neither the Marshal nor the ex-President love each other like Saul and Jonathan. -BuLthe papers may oufc-herpd Herod, and, by so doing, create much mischief. The reaction lias already set in, and the welcome extended by French residents in Italy to the eminent statesman who took charge of his country when it v^as next to a drifting wreck, has been repeated more markedly by the French at Nice on M. .Thiers's route homewards. The unparalleled benefits that gentleman secured for his fellow-countrymen in their hours. of ad^ versity suffice to absolve; hia political faults, and it must be ho small consolation for him to find how highly he ia appreciated by Frenchmen far from the seething of home politics. Thiers is still the foremost man in France,, and he holds the key of the embarrassed situation. It ia the consciousness of his. power—»q£ the high estimate entertained of his character—that can alone explain the increasing intensity of the abuse heaped upon him by former allies, who repudiate their historical liberalism and create a gulf between them and an indulgent public opinion. They are not the true friends of Macmahon who aQfc thus, and their trop dezele may end. in a grave blunder, and compromise the situation. French politics are gradually entering upon their wicked stage, and angry legislators are not the best manufacturers of Solon, laws.

Foreign affairs are <(ajl serene" in France. Aa one man may bring a horse to the water, though twenty cannot make him drink, sq the French cannot be led to fight against their will. They iuiitate the non possumns policy of the Vatican in this respect. "Without making ai^y noise, putting aside all bounce a.nd brag, France is licking her army into shape, stocking her arsenal* and commencing her new fortifications. Ten years hence, France will bo a very hard nut to crack, and if she has secured allies, in the matrimonial sense—for better, for worse—she can afford to ta.lk. plain to Prussia. There is nothing new in what is viewed as an alarming project—the conversion of the Assembly into a Septennate Vis-.a-Vis with Marshal Macmahon, nor indeed would ifc be very extraordinary to find those Deputies, certain never to be reelected, voting for suoh an enormity. The subject waa vnaoted last June. The majority of the Assembly will cling at any straw that can prevent the definite constitution of the republic, the dissolution", and the organisation of Maomahon's office. If tho Assembly wishes to remain a fixture till 1880, it can do bo, till at leasi the partial elections in the course of time would turn the scale ; for none other but a Republican oandidate would have a chance henceforth to be listened to. The "cardinal defect of the Assembly is this— that there is no sincerity among the members of tho coalition; they axe perfectly aware they will not be re-elected, and hence are alow to go away. That eccentric Journalist, Emile de Girardin, could not remain happy inside his Dutch cheese; he announces he will re-appear on the 15th November nest, to take charge of the political part of the Francais, and feels quite sure, in the space of a week or so, he will convert all France to his views of the Septennate. The old man's vanity must bo excused. One becomes more tolerant of the national weakness when seeing it every day at work and accepted by everybody as a matter of course. A pardons it in B, provided B forgives it in A, The Septennate has the advantage of being viewed from every sido the imagination pleases to regard it. M. de Girardin is not so much thought of in point of judgment and prophetio powers as he once ha,d the reputation. He told us the Empire never was more solid than after the plebisaite of May, 1870 ; ho advocated the war against Germany ; he claims to have been the originator of all modern economical reforms, some of which were in operation before he was born, . The ravens are said to come and perch on the house of a moribund. No,w M. de Girardin has the reputation of becoming a State adviser to. Governments mi extremis. Louis Phillippe consulted him at his last official moment j so did Thiers. His coming to the rescue of the Septennate bodes no good. In any case, the role is amusing, and at best a diversion, Aa auoh, his " logic" will be read, To be followed is another m,attev, however.

The Reel Republicans, if there be any s\^oh, now in France, must pronounce the Prince Jerome Napoleon to be the man for Galway ; a chip of the old block. His manifesto goes right to the heart of all the abuses Radicals of the most advanced school oould desire. Patting aside its doctrines, the document is ably written, and skilfully planned—against his own family opposition. He has now burned his ships, and declares war to the knife against Ohiselhurst. The attitude of the Prince will ensure him a seat in the next Assembly; the Republicans will bring him forward as a damaging "witness against Second Empires and the men who had nearly ruined France. One could take greater interest in the quarrel, only that ex-adviser of light-heart memory, M. Ollivier, has lately told us that when the critical moment arrives, all Bonapartißts will be found standing shoulder by shoulder; so true is it that, once a Bonapartfat, always a. Bonapa.rtiat;, H,Qwever ?

!--tlieVPrince;! in::ihis'::-'^ '-the:-; Second Empire, neglects' to;ol6ll|;Sltil§li^H \n what he thought of the coup d'etat, "„" - *^^H arid how his purest miod reconciled »'"^^B itself to live so long under its sue- '»,^| cess, and share in its favours. There '<~ J never was a groater Radical than the late , 'H Napoleon. 111. till ho became Prince-Pre- V^^l sident, obtained the command of power, . \^M the keys of the citadel. Cayenne and *^| Lauibossa can attest how he dealt with those ho duped. Modern Republicans \^M will laugh at, but will never follow my [H ltader with Radical Princes for the future, v * H nor will they be deceived by tho most \fll beautiful claptrap dished up for their '^M special use. v The Prince of Wales has fully enjoyed H the delicate hospitality of all degrcos of ' ''H the French nobility—ancient and recent. t H As was to be expected, tho very un- H necessary reminder of some of the London ' H journals that the Prince was only travel- H ling as a private gentleman has been re- H sented. The French'papers never alluded ,H to the Prince, or viewed him in any other H light but as the guest of Iheir Upper Ten. H ' A robber has beemarrested, and in hia I pocket book was a list of all tho widows H living quite alone in his neighbourhood H that he intended to professionally visit. I The information was very exact. How I camelie by it? ' ■ The conflict between the Government ■ and what is daily becoming the majority fl of the Protestants of France is deepening, ■ and there seems to be no modus vivendi I short of a general Synod undoing what the ■ Synod effected in 1873—passing a Test A ct. I The narrow majorityby whichthesubscrip- ■ tion article was carried was pointed out at I the time, as food for serious reflection, and I a reason not to proceed to extremes. It is I not over-stating the tinth to assert, that , ■ were; the Protestant congregations invited I to pronounce by a plebiscite as to adopting I the Test Act, they would reject it by a I crushing majority. It is also a grief I that the delegates forming the Synod o£ 1873 were not elected to decide that issue. The Government has no further interest in the quarrel than to see tho law carried out. No w tli c Recalcitrants having held elections according to the laws passed in 1802 and 1852 for this year's local Presbyteries, decline to annul them six months afterwards in obedience to a simple ministerial decree, I which they say is not " law," and can only I becorhP so when ratified by a vote of the I National Assembly. Now a French As- . ■ sombly will never vote either a State roli- 1 gion or a sectarian Confession of Faith. I The imbroglio, liko tho Septennate, may bo , I considered as the last specimens of Gui- ' *~-wJ zot's handiwork, who was a John Knox in the year of Grace 1874, less the Scotch i> vdivine's foes and obstacles. I A very shocking tragedy haa occurred, f*\ and that has made not a little impression —* I —theinoro so as it will be dramatised. ;' j A ; mddel artiaan, aged 25, and his young » J wife, only 20, earned good salaries at A constant work. Their home was most •„ M comfortable, and they had one child. ' afl Every Sunday the husband's uncle dined jl with them. Suspecting all was not right "^J in.the relationship betwen his undo and wife, b o called one morning at the factory where his wife was employed, and learned she had not arrived, though "both had set —H out together. He returned home. She ] was absent. He called on the uncle. Ha discovered in him his wife's paramour. " After some parleying, the wife compelled the uncle to go outside and try to oaha matters. Onoe he was outside, she locked the door, threw up the -window, and jumped out. It was the husband who picked her up almost the instant she struck the ground. He took her in hia arms, kissed her, end said that fop the sake of their infant he would pardon her. J The unfortunate woman thanked him with her eyes, and expired. . Every year Paris has a real " Figaro at home." In the country towns there * * are fairs held, where farm lads and lasses can be hired ; the Capital has its green for engaging "capillary artists"—the grand title for barbers and hair-dressers, aa corn-cutters call themselves Pedicurists / \ —names which have the advantage of not splitting the ears of ; the groundlings. Imagine a large musio hall, on one side is the orchestra, and a stage for vocalists, acrobats, arid funny professions generally. On the opposite side is an estmde, with two ranges of seats; where forty or fifty hair-dressera are asjbusy as nailers, brushing and combing the locks of as many young women ; weaving and unweaving curls like-Penelope's web, and then piling them at last as high as combs, pins, ribbons, flowers, and cosmetics will allow. Each operator announces his style of hair- ' dressing; calls it after some historical period, or notorious courtesan, just aa robes, slippers, and bonnets are similarly named. One of these capillary diadems was honoured' as the "goddess of liberty," though there was not a spark of "freedom" in the construction; anotherreceivod the appellation of the " firmament," not because it was vast, or looked blue, but had a high look, something between Jacob's ladder and the Shah of Persia's hat. When the barber had finished, ho. oonduoted the young girl on his arm, aa proud arid as happy as the bridegroom setting forth from his chamber, around the hall, and was cursed «r congratulated according to the feelings of the sovereign people. The ■master hairdressers were there, who at once engaged the winners of the prizes. Note : the competitors are mostly young men from the country, coming to Paris to seek their fortune, with nothing in their pocket but a scissors that will not cut, a razor that would recall Purgatory when passing over your'chin, and a comb requiring, aa the dentists would say, many single teeth. Louis Venillot, the Pope's best editor in Paris, alluding to a brother, publicist of his own kidney, but remarkable for his absence of polite manners, says he is certain to enter Paradise with his hat on. Albums of notorious scoundrels are tho latest addition to the table literature of drawing-rcoms. They are more examined, than those elegantly - bound favourita authors, got tip regardless of expense.