New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-08-16

nShou-Iuterventio in ItaIy-TbiDgs
=, par,.-Progre-- Of the Distress among
the People.
special Correspondence of the Tribune.
PARIS, July y, lsis
v,,,, Gre,ley 4 McEbafh:
Whoever visits Paris should not fail to climb
the Nights Of Montmartre, just without the bar
rers on the north From the summit OF the steep
hill, the eye falls the city spread compactly
over the basin below and, if the day IS clear you
can see every part Of it with perfect distlnctness
The river, the streets, the gardens, the palaces
the churches the monuments, all retain their ind-
viduality. while in the immense panorama all
appear in new features and relations. The first
view is exhrating as from the bank OF the hill
you come suddenly upon 1t, you seem never TO
have seen Paris before. That vast and rich land
scape OF architecture surprises You like sudden
glimpse Of the ocean, or like the scene which re-
wards you for toiling to some mountain top IN
Maine or NewHampshire. The sensation Is
new one, and you gaze long at the magnliicence OF
the whole before you begin 10 distinguish and
examine the more prominent parts. Then, IN
every quarter, you see some place OF soma edlhce
whose name your earliest reading has impressed
and the Tueries there is the Louvre, where the
Swiss soldiers of Charles X. shot the people, and
little further on the Place de la Concorde, where
the guilotine stood in the Revolution there was
once the astile, yonder the Luxembourg, yonder
the last stronghold Of the late Instruction; IN
every direction there stands some memento OF
what France has been and suffered, and as one
after another you recognize them, you forget that
you are looking the gay capital Of modern civili-
cation, and remember only the gigantic crimes
and passions whose tragedies have been played
there, making Paris the place Of expiation for the
world. What career, what history is that Of
this great city
And if the history of Paris is gloomy how much
more so her present condition. From the hilltop
you can see the dark and filthy quarters of the poor
and the narrow streets whose walls still bear the
traces Of the battles OF June. In those uarters
are crowded the hundreds of thousands OF men,
women and children who, in prosperous times, live
on the verge of starvation, and now are literally
starving. What misery inconceivabe is now uni
versal there, misery on which the sun that smiles
over the wide valley sheds no ray of light But
this is on part of the gloom il which Paris is
involved Beside it there is the fierce hostility Of
classes waiting for its opportunity to burst out in
new flames there is the general breaking-up of
old convictions and relations, and discord Of
interests and opinions, which each day only
renders more harsh and universal The whole
social body seems set afoat like mass Of
struggling atoms, tossed, no one OF them can
tell whittier or wherefore, with no apparent
tendency except to fall violently upon each other
The grace, the gayety, the spirit OF Society have
disappeared, to make way for sadness and gloom,
or for this loud collision of all imaginable ideas, in
which every PERSONS forw ard to take part. With
political, inahcial and social questions thus agl-
tating an entire people, tie leaders, the Assembly,
the Government go in the old beaten routine, or
vary from it only by timid and spasmodic meas
ures and the end of all is to come nobody knows
when, or how, or by what occasion. And what is
true of Paris and France, is true of Germany, of
Italy, of all Europe that is not petrlfed or chain
ed into a repose worse than this excitement go
where you will, you find chaos among the people
and mediocrty at the head of the so called Cow
ernments. Such an epoch was never seen before,
and, If you have any love OF tranquility, as you
contemplate its uncertainties and confusion 1t
will need no effort to make you desire to be away
not only from the nights of Montmartre, but from
Europe. across the ocean, in America, where even
in the loudest noise of the Presidential canvass
there is no excitement compared to that which
prevails here.
This sad picture, not at all like what we paint
ed when the first shout of the revolution reached
our shores. Then we believed everything aud
hoped everything, and were sanguine enough to
expect that all would be accomplished in smiles
and sunshine, or at least without the presence of
such clouds as have already broken still lower
above the horizon. But so it was not to be-
The structures OF centuries could not De removed
and new ediiices put in their places by means So
peaceful or easy the process requires longer
time and causes more suffering than we supposed
il could But that is no reason for despalring-all
these battles and others perhaps more severe are
to be iought-greater disorder is to have its day,
greater evils are TO be endured by nations and by
individuals but these are not deathly agonies they
are but the throes of humanity The epoch is great,
significant, Providentia in proportion to the keen
ness of its suferings. Out of it will grow, though
not Immediately, new political and then new
social world. Old things are passing away and
all things are being made anew. There is no oc-
casion for fear or for hopelessness. At such times
as this the world certainly does not go by chance,
but wise Providence presides overts movements
In France politically, all is tranquil, and the
Administration of Gen. Cayaignac still stands
firmly both within the Chamber and without, as
far at least as one may judge from public indica-
tons. These, however, are deceptive; the Clubs
are not opened, the opposition journals are still
suppressed and it will not be till the removal Of
the restraints of martial law from Paris that the
r al strength of the Administration can be tested
This will still be delayed for some time, notwith
standing the positive assertions OF many OF the
papers. The law respecting the Clubs which is
now before the Assembly, OF whose debates upon
it shall speak below, must first be settled, as
well as that relating the securities to be requir
ed of the newspapers. AS soon as those points are
definitely arranged, Gen. Cavaignac will issue a
proclamation raising the state of seige, and then
shall see the beginning of another act in the
drama. The severest trial will, however, not
come till Winter, and ii that passes without dis
order, anarchy and boodshed, we may safely ex
- u