The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-07-03
CURRENT TOPICS.

Champagnes made in France. The town has a
foundation Of limestone, in which immense
vaults are excavated for the storage OF Wines
Some of these are so large that regiment OF
cavalry have ridden through. Five hundred
years ago these wines were cheap, but to such
perfection had culture brought them that for
more than two hundred years they have been
most valuable, and every thing which it takes
art to produce, must always be dear. And
when one takes into account that many Of the
choicest wines are raised on one single small
vineyard, and the choicest products drank in
France, the immense sale Of what goes under
valuable names in our country, reminds one Of
the sale Of relics by the Romish priests, pro-
yoking q computation as to the number Of
original fingers and toes q saint naturally pos
sessed. The immense amount Of labor and
care bestowed in the process Of champagne
making is hardly conceivable; every pos
sible circumstance, even to the shape
and size, and quality of glass of the
bottles in the last process, affecting its quality.
It is sometimes passed nearly two hundred
times through the laborer's hands before it is
ready for market. Taking not only this fact
into account, but that ofsloss by breakage Of
| the bottles during the process of the last fer
mentation, and their value is more accounta-
BILE. Ordinarily the makers lose from six to
eight per cent, but it is possible sometimes
| that they may lose even more than thirty per
| cent. And so cspricious Is the change that is
constantly taking place in these wines from
beginning to end that no skill can avert them.
Sometimes it must be forced to efervesce while
it is possible that it may defy all efforts to that
purpose. II is possible of two stacks Of bottles
| in the same cellar, side by side, nearly oil Of
one may burst while the other remains undis-
| turbed. At such times the workmen who at
| tend must enter with wire masks over their
faces to prevent injury from the bursting bot
ties. Some of these champagne cellars contain
constantly from 500, 900 to 6OO, 900 bottles; and
those Of one wine-grower at Chalons-sur-
Msrne contains usually 1000, 600 bottles. The
excavations in the chalk rock through which
wagons pass are said to be six miles in length.
The London Daily Neps thinks all the ma
| tions of the world are in love with France, and
says: France is q great enchantress. Her
charms and her seductions make her the Cleo
patra of nations. Her language, her wit, her
taste, her intellect, her sentiment, her cyni-
cism, her self-assertion-all that is 80 eIqui-
sitely symmetrical, luminous, and penetrating
in her finely tempered genius, make all civil
lied society her lover and her slave. But
like the favorite type Of her literature, she is
loved as the mistress, not as the wife. There
have been moments in her history when all
the world rushed with an irresistible ardor Of
admiration to her fest-when to be French
citizen was to be lawgiver to humanity.
But these were moments when she was not the
Cleopatra, but the Sybil. At the COS. Of what
long and dresry periods Of laesituds, and self
abandonment, and loss-of dignity and self-re-
spect, has she -risen to the rapture Of these
moments os~freedom and during these inter-
vsls, renowned it is true for gigantic feats Of
arms, and prodigious splendor Of luxury,
and monumental constructions, who among
the admirers of France would willingly have
exchanged the immunities Of guest for the
honors of citizen or Q subject. Imperialism
may be q delightful regime for foreign resi-
dents in France to live under but when they
are asked to become naturalized subjects Of the
Second Empire, they may remember the reply
Of the gallant old batchelor, who was asked
why he did not marry charming person at
whose house he passed the leisure hours of
every day" But where am to pass my
eseningsr"
THERE WE'RE four hundred and fifty Catholic
Archbishops and Bishops, and about thirty
thousand priests in Rome on Thursday. The
Pope held public oonsistory, at which he de-
livered an allocution on the situation Of the
Church and warned its "enemies" Of its i'm
mense earthly power. The American prelstes
were treated with marked attention by the Holy
Father, who granted them an audience, at
which he referred publicly to the great progress,
religious and civil, of the United States. The
American Bishops presented the Pope with two
hundred thousand dollars in gold, and an ele-
CANT model Of the yacht Hsnristta, made of
silver, which contained fifty thousand dollars in
geld coin slowed away below. The Pope lifted
the model from the case saying, "Non e'uapore,"
(stit is not steamer!"), which was translated
by some as "it is not all vapor" which comes
from America. His Holiness had only "pleas- |
ant words" he said, for ell Americans Arch
bishop PURCELL, Of Cincinnati, has been as
signed place on the Pope's right hand at the |
st. Peters Day celebration. The Pope e1-
pressed his wish to call Council Of the
Bishops.
TIE NEW YORK Herald confesses that there |
is much anxiety among the money-dealers Of
the gold-reom touching the action of Congress |
on impeachment, reconstruction, and the fnan-
ces. That paper essays to dismiss the fears Of
these persons, but awtwardly mixes up with |
it's arguments to show that there will be no dis |
turbance by the action Of Congress, the re- |
mark that 'the property of this country is sub
jscted to forced levy Of five. hundred millions
of dollars exclusive of State and municipal |
taxes. Twenty years of such taxation would /
be equal to the whole of the property Of the |
country ct the present time" This is not cal |
culated very much to allay the excitement of
the bulls and bears. It is with reference to |
this enormous taxation that the Democratic |
party in Maine demands that's q third of the |
property of the country-the national bonds
now exempt from taxation, shall bear part of
the burthen on account of the public debt. |
Whether the Congress about to assemble meets
this issue or not, sooner or later it must be |
met and settled. 49,
Tn. Npv yopu He,oyd ia ori1tv of q oross