Parisian Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 30, 16 November 1888, Page 3

Pa risian Notes.

The author of La Fra nee Juivc will doubtless find confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ of all he has advanced in the fact that the maneion in the rue Laffittc of the founders of the Rothschild family in France is about to be opened to the public in the shape of a mußeum as a perpetual monument of the family. The matter is made somewhat moie remarkable because the house, apart from its connection with the Rothschilds, hae a history that sjme people might consider to entitle it to become monumental in another point of view. It was built in the reign of King Louis XV.. for a financier of renown at that time, and subsequently passed into the hands of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, and it was there that the late Emperor Napoleoa 111. was born, in 1808. We always hold out for the third Napoleon and the third empire, because we count it mean, now that they have fallen, to round upon them and stigmatise them as second only, a thing that was never done while they were in existence. And, beside^ if there was another empire to-morrow it would certainly be the fourth. And nobody knows what may yet occur in France. Nobody, perhaps, c<ireF. if a (Jomte deJPaiis, or a Plon-Plon, pire or fils be the alternative proposed. But revenons a nos moutons ; not, however, tbat we would compare any millionaire of the house of Rothschild to a sheep. That house belongs to those who shear and not to those who are shorn, though let it be left to M. Drumont to hint at the sheep's most fabled enemy. Some appearance of arrogance, therefore, may be borne by this establishment of a Rothschild museum in the hou<u> of the rue Laffitte. Still what could be done ? The mansion.^notwithstanding its traditions, was no longer suitable to tbe family whose purse is fan) to be the true arbiter of European affairs, and the members of tb^ family had taken up their quarters in more splendid abodes. The Rothschild museum, therefore, is about to be opened in order to dispose of the old house in an honourable way. Possibly it will be the first time tbat a monument has besn openly erected to wealth alone and with hardly any pretence of being anything else.

Dr. Desproa continues to deal candidly with the laicisation of the hospitals. The doctor's politics, which are republican, do not obscure his sentiments as a doctor, which are humanitarian. He proclaims that nothing but mischief has followed on the expulsion of the nuns, and their being replaced by lay nurses— picked up anywhere, girls from the lowest public houses and the drudges of private

kitchens, for example. These wretched substitutes, moreover, are employed at an immense increase of cost. But, as to the effects on the patients, they are proved by the fact that mortality has increased among adults from one to five per c^nt., but has become five times aa great among children. The doctor's protest, nevertheless, is disregarded, and the expulsion of the remaining nuns is now announced to take place as soon as possible. The nuns are the Augustinian Bisters, who are in charge of the Hotel Dieu and the hospital of Saint-Louis. In their case, besides, the measure must prove especially harsh, as they possess no refuge into which they can withdraw, but will be completely destitute. A body, like the municpality of Paris, however, that outrages tho rights of the people whom it professes to love and reverence, is not likely to bestow much thought on the rights of a religious Order whom it openly upbraids and detests, If there is no thought given to the patients the nuns can hardly expect their case to be taken into consideration.

Royal progresses with the royalty left out would seem to be rather heavy affairs. This is the conclusion derived from watching a tour just made by President Carnot in the provinces. The whole thing has been dull and dreary in the extreme — out of character altogether with the reputation of France as a land of Pleasantness par excellence. A little more of this kind of thing and the people of the provincial towns at least will be vociferously calling out Vivn It rot.

M. Floquet may claim the honour of giving a word to the French, as Captain Boycott has given one to the English language. In either case the surname of the individual is taken to form a verb. The words have a different signification, however, as " Floqueter '' means to make a great and fussy show of important action but to perform nothing of the kind. All the world knows what the meaning is of the verb "to Boycott. We may doubt if the new French word will ever obtain an equivalent circulation.

Ladies' dress must always be an interesting subject to those who are interested in the sex, and they, of course, include everyone of civilisation or refinement, in proportion as he is civilised or refined. It should be of thrilling interest, therefore, that an agitation is on foot for the introduction of a dreß3 that will give wom^n the free use of their limbs, and not encumber them as hitherto with petticoats — or, in other words, to array them in some sort of trousers wita a suitable tunic. A committee of the Houss of Representatives has actually pronounced upon the matter, in response to the petition of a certain Madame Arlie de Valsayre, wbo has taken the matter up ardently. The committee declares that the law permits women to dress themselves in men's clothes if they please. Madame de Valsayre is, therefore, calling on the modistes to come to her aid and devise something likely to suit the occasion, Crazes like this, howev«r, are of constaut occurrence, and always end in failure.

Now that the details of the railway accident which took place on September 5 near Dijon are fully known, it is evident that nothing more appaling has occurred for many years. A train which had been thrown off the line was run into by an express going at full speed, with the result that in both trains several carriages were shattered to pieces, and their occupants either killed or feverely injured, — those hair breath's escapes, nevertheless, in some instances happening, which seem to be a feature of every event of the kind. Twelve people were killed outright, and some forty or fifty were hurt, several of them very seiiously. Among the killed was a young English lady named Marriott, and among thoFe hurt, though f. rtunately slightly, was Lady Bnwen, wife of Sir George Bowen, a late colonial Governor and formerly of New Zaaland. An ugly incident of the case was the length of time that elapsed before any assistance was given, the sufferers being left to linger out nearly the whole night in darkness, which added to the terror and confusion. A circumstance that is hardly reassuring, besides, is the admission that the loosening of sleepers at the foot ct an incline, which, in the first place, caufed the accident to the train thrown off the line, is inevitable It arises from the increase of epee i in trains coming down a hill.

The disclosures made in the case of a swindler named Altmeyer have recently formed the astonishment of the world in general. Hicarried on his proceedings on an enormous scale, and with an almost regal magnificence in his particular line. His accomplices extended all the way to Tunis, whence they forwarded him formidable-looking documents written in Arabic, and by which he imposed unon his dupeß in Paris to the amount of several thousand pounds. As a dexterouß thief he seems to be quite unequalled, having even on one occasion stolen the peal of the magistrate before whom he was being tried, of which he afterwards made use to secure h\* release from prison. People generally seem impressed by the conviction that no prison is strong enough to hold him, and hia immediate escape is a matter on which bets are freely offered.

Cardinal Lavigerie is still busily pursuing his crusade against the African slave-trade. He seeks for aid in all civilised countries, but his chief reliance is on France. A society for the purpose of furthering his object is being formed in Paris, and he has received a promise of two hundred men to pet as volunteers, and with one hundred others to be furnished by Belgium, to form the nucleus of an army. The Cardinal bears tes'imony to the noble generosity of tbc French people to his African missions, and expresses his reliance on their not failing him in his new undertaking.

The announcement that (he Emperor William 11. has commanded the cessation of the annual Sedan celebration in Germany has given some satisfaction, although it will be long before the memory of his Majesty's Frankfort speech is erased from the minds of the French people. By the way. it is reported that the Emperor is highly incensed at tbp Prince of Wales, who, in the course of a private conversation the other day, is said to have again alluded to

the possibility of an agreement between France and Germany as to Alsace-Lorraine. Hia Royal Highness also spoke of the restitution to Denmark of North Schleswig, and of an amicable settlement of the dispute with the Duke of Cumberland. All this, they Bay, being repeated by some busy-body to his Majesty, has roused his wrath to boiling pitch. The Emperor, however, shows some good feeling, aa well as common sense, in this matter of Sedan.

An American company has been playing with great success to Parisian audiences. This ia an advance made by the New World that is significant indeed. Hitherto we had been accustomed to look upon the tide of civilisation and culture as setting from the Bast Westward. But, 10, it bids fair to return upon it* course, bearing with it fresh and invigorating elements. What would the men of Moliere's time, for example, have said had they been told that French playgoers were one day to witness such a strange phenomenon. We have heard of the Orontes flowing into the Tiber, but that the Hudson or the Mississippi was one day to flow, and with acceptable eddies, into the Seine no one could have believed. But so it is. Daly's American Company has bean the rage. And, what is more, its manager is evidently an Irish- American.