The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-08
AMERICA THROUGH FRENCH sPEcTA
Giles.

M. JOHN LEMoNE, the distinguished editor Of the
Journal des Debats, contributes an article on the
English in Paris for "Paris- Guide" While he ap-
pears to have fair knowledge OF his subject, and
holds up to ridcule some of the olden prejudices
OF his nation as regards England and the English,
his very lively and interesting picture must be re-
garded as q caricature rather than q portrait
Still we have no doubt he endeavored to be true to
| the original-giving way to his sprightly fancy
I only when tempted to make a mot. The French
have fatal foible for epgram and pointed
antithesis, and they not unfrequently make the
truth of history bend to these petty conceits and
ornamental draperies.
But the performances of NJ. LEMoRJE are entire
ly thrown into the shade by the brilliant fancy, the
entire originality ofa brother editor, NJ. EDMOND
I TEx1RR, who paints most Arcadisn picture Of
America in his paper, LIE Steele. The following
paragraphs, which we extract, read more like
MoNTEsoUIEu's Lettres Persanes, or the Arabian
Nights, than bona .tide picture OF our eminently
practical and unpoetic republic. He says:
In North America, vast, sterile, and unculti-
vated territory, where royalty has never been able
to take root they have not the brilliant spectacles
| we behold in Europe. There is DANGER even, that
ere long the race of ofice-holders Ia rare animal
in the United states) will pass away altogether.
| have just read in a New York paper that Presi-
dent JOHNSON, having to nominate Governor for
Virginia, could not find man who was willing to
/ take the Office. Every man the President ap-
| preached on the subject, invariably replied:
eMonsieur le President, am fattered at the offer
which you have just made me, but have my own
| little matters which require my presence at homo
You had better try, NJ. le President, to find some
one unoscupied, man who has nothing better to
do than to give his time to the service Of the
State. As for myself, am in hurry, and have
| the honor to bid you good morning" And the
President is still on the lookout. He is searching
Governor and can find none. Barbarous coun-
tryI
How different with us Here the Government
need not light lantern. like D1oaENEs and Pre-
sident JOHNSON, to find man, beg pardon,
candidate for Office. There are always q crowd
of them at hand, soliciting places. In fact there
are more than are wanted hundred applicants
for single vacancy.
NJ TEuER ls evidently well informed on Amer-
can matters. To think OF all the trouble poor
JOHNSON has had to find candidates for his Offices
The Courier des Eats Uas sets seriously to work
to prove that the French editor did not know what
he was writing about, says that NJ. TExMR ought
to have known that the President has not the right
to nominate Governor Of Virginia, that If he had
known anything at all Of American affairs he could
not have been ignorant of the fact that offices pay
better here than in any cher country; that there
are many men in Office with $1,000 year salary,
who, nevertheless, manage to make $18 900 q year
out Of them.
Similar blunders can be found daily almost in
every one of the Paris journals. This, however,
should not be surprising when it is considered
that in England, where the means Of information
on American sffairs are far superior, mistakes no
less serious are constantly made; not from igno-
rance Of those who give them utterance, but
rather through design, and presuming upon the
ignorance Of those to whom America is held up as
the model Republic. Thus Mr.. BRIGHT, in o re-
cent argument in the House Of Commons, in favor
of universal suffrage, pointed to America as the
country where the experiment had been tried with
the most signal success; and the proof that the
people could be trusted with power, he stated,
could be seen in the fact that they always selected
the best men for the most honored and RESPONSE
Bile positions. Mr.. BRIaHT, Of course, knows bot
ter, and so does Mr.. MIL, but nevertheless, these
false assertions answer purpose, and they are
used unscrupuleusly.