The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-06-19
FROM TUz PARIS ARGUS.
FRANCE IN 1903 AND IN 1909.
(ExTRAcr OF A WORK NOT YET PUB
LfsHED.)
INTERNAL nd MI.NYS7R.dT W.
FROM 4us Paris lRcys

Councils, ministers and intendants. such
were, in 1909 the intermediate authorities
between Lewis XIV. and his subjects. Be.
sides the Council OF state, in which the most
important affairs were treated of there
were a council of parties or privy council,
occupied with business of less moment; a
council of dispatches, on the internal admin
istration; couIcil of finance; council of
conscience. and council of commerce. IL
would be difficult to tell how many ministries
there were; but there were only four minis
tiers; Pont Chartrain, Chamillard, Lavril-
here, and Torcy; or five, comprising Des-
marets, controller general Of the finance
Font Chartrain was at once keeper of the
seals, minister of the marine. minister of the
clergy. and superintendent of the generali
ties of Paris, scissors, Orleans and Poitiers.
Chamillard, minister of war, correspondent
with Lyonnais, Franche. Comte, Alsace and
Flanders. The other provinces were shared
between Lavrilliere, who was specially
charged with the affairs of the protestants,
and Iorcy, minister tor foreign affairs. The
intendances differed among themselves, not
only from the inequality of the territories.
but even from the diversity of the functions
for the privileges of certain countries, and
their provincial states. modified the authori
ties of the intendants; & the disorder which
reigned in all the local administrations, had
at least no uniformity in it. Here the may
srs were appointed by the King; there b,
the inhabitants; and to explain the play, or
rather the conflict of so MANY springs, to
show how the government, Of 1909 reached
or could not reach all the points of the ter.
ritory, all the elements of the population
you would Fill with confused details an end.
less volume, whereas you would give in few
pages very clear idea of our present adj
ADMINISTRATION.
In 1909, education, which was almost e.
very where conided to ecclesiastics, was, as
It were, only 2 branch Of the religious est.
blishment and although there were sill
IN Paris some estimable teachers, Rollin for
instance, education, which was here and
there modified by local habits and by the
different statutes of the teaching CORPORATE
ons, presented no determinate system, and
exercised for the greater part only an unhap
py influence. The clergy, who thought
themselves menaced by the progress of
knowledge, applied themselves to retardine
1t; and during IS years, they obtained eve
ry day more success in that deplorabfe
struggle. Most of the great writer's who
had Illustrated the reign of Lewis the XIV.
no longer existed in 170g, and were not re.
placed; Boileau was extinguishing and the
master piece of Fenelon, then in disgrace.
was freely printed only beyond the frontiers
of France. The trade of French books was
more and more transferred to foreign coun
tries, and England assumed for some
time the first place in the Republic of e,
tiers.
Being nov fertiHzed by the genius of Ma.
poleon, all the talents are going to embellish
the long years of his reign. In the letters as
well az IN the sciences, the branches already
rich VIII show themselves to be nexhausti-
pie, and the branches which give hopes will
fhnfr L
ly pointed out viii open in order to aggran..
die themselves; truths CT which only a faint
glimpse has been perceived, will cast vi
digit; and great works, which are still
only in the rough, will be accomplished: as
We already see finishing these edifces for a
long time imperfect, which seemed to be on.
ly the wrecks of great century, and to
wait tor another to become immortal monu
fhents.
Sunptuous edifices undertaken by Louis
XIV. were interrupted at the end of his
reign, and especially IN 1909, period of the
deepest distress. Alter the lapse of a cen
fury, the Emperor of the French comes to
raise up those sumpuous ruins, to finish
chose half monuments and secure their i'm
mortality and II the glory of that Louis
AlF. perhaps there will one day remain on
.Iy what can be unravelled in that o. Napo~
leon. But what characteristics the monu
Ments created by the emperor is their pub
lie utility. He builds, not palaces for his
Court. bu- bridges, quays and fountains for
his people. He embeilishes his capital only
by rendering 1t more regular, more commo
uious and more wholesome. He clears agay
tue distractions which darken some quar-
tiers he builds new and spacious streets
through which pure air freely circulates
1t IS true that some homage is due TO the ar.
lists employed by Louis XIV. and we can
not too earnestly propose them as models to
those OF the present day. The magnificent
buildings of the 18th century do much more
honor to the architects than to the prince ::
may the useful monuments of the I9th NOT
not only attest the eminent wisdom of
Ihe sovereign, but also announce that talents
worthy ct his reign executed his august de =
signs
One advantage attending the public works
ordered by Napoleon, is to keep multitude
OF workInen from idIeness and indulgence, to
secure the subsistence of the Iaborlcus clas
ses, and the tranquility of the others. 1t
would be too easy to draw frightful picture
OF the distress of 1909. It was the period of
q calamitous winter and horrible famine (:
scourge which may doubtless be attributed
TO nature, but for which governments are also
responsible, because they NAV always fore
see It, and at least soften it. The famine Of
17c9 was no way constrained in its ravages ::
no obstacle was opposed to the evil which it
mensced mediocrity every where became
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