New-York tribune., 1868-04-29
ofdeputics 1t is convenient. too, as q measure of
liberties that are easy to give
WAR RUMORs-ARMED PEACE-A REMARKABLY
BOOK BY ALEXANDER DUMAS, JE-TIIE
FRENCH TTIEATER.

PARIS. April 20. 1853. .
This week there has been whiting again rather
toward war. Not that any really believes in i'm
minent war but that no one really believes in perma
nent peace! The packing of Prince Napoleon's va
lse the presence of Danish war minister IN Paris,
telegram diStOrting the editorial article Of Prs-
sian newspaper, C0ndrd at the BOurse, or similar
tIifing accident, especially if it befall when there
has been ten days lull in the department of foreign
politics. is occasion always to revive the talk and
arouse the anxiety about war. The cause is perIna-
nent lying quite out of the domain of talk the fact
of the formidable preparations for war. Government
ordered the Constitutional ten days ago to publish
pacifcaory editorial. 1t is the evident present in
terest of Government TO discourage talk; but IT
Is the, if possible, evident present interest OF
Government to justify the burdensome provisions
of the new law, now Ill process OF unpopular oloCe
ment, for doubling the armed force OF france. AS
the Constitutional note endeavOrs to serve DOth these
interests its effect on the public Is not ehcieht sc
dative Wltbal the articles of the Consft"3hHet are
by no means articles of the Constitution. IheY are
not law still less gospel; they are nor even Ocia,
and on occasion of this last some people are asking
again, similar occasions they haVe oIen aSkou
i'm vain for an authoritative declaration from Gov
erpmentn But the most that never so lOr-
NAL declaration OF Government cOlu amount
to would be q verbal assurance OF lts peace
fnl intention in doubling the armed torce
of country that no threatens to attack, There
have been number of such declarations uttered by
ministers and the Emperor himself SINCE lSrj. In
1863, an eminent author, addressing hmselt TO the
European nations, asked: Are we to always Keep
up mutual distrust by exaggerated armaments Are
the most precious resources to be indefinitely eX.
Lalisted by rain OstentGtiOn OF military strength
Shall we preserve torerer state OF things that does
not offer the security of peace nor the h0ppg chgnoS
of warR Two ways are open to us-one leads 10
progress by cOncatOn and peace; the otheI, sooner
or later fatally leads to war" 1T IL later by some
years than when the Emperor put forth those wSfs
snceH He has talked differently at divers times
since but what one of his principal acts shows thai
he has changed his opinion as to the fatally coming
war as to the happy chances il will offer him as to
the vanity of mere ostentatlOn OF strength as -
the eXaggeTatiOn of arnaments, which he. Tor ms
part has increased nearly Jwofod since that datef
With an armed peaC armed 10 the teeth-with a
personal government responsible only to the nation
in revolution, whose counsels are nscrutabe and un-
cOntrolable any tritng occasion, or even the pro
longed lack of one will from time to time provoke
an acute fit in the permanent, dull weary anxiety of
the public as to the coming war; Prince Napoleon's
impending Journey to Italy and his hrothcr-in- law,
Prince Humbert's wedding, continued then. perhaps,
to Constantnople and so back through Austria and
One of the remarkable books Of the season Is the
first volume, published yesterday, OF Alexander
Dumas, jr., hIs complete dramatic works IL as re-
Inarkable for the Introductory essay that fills it's
first fifty pages where after giving an entertaining
account of his difficulties i'll getting his first play the
Dame aux Camelias" before the footlights, and a
keen contemptuously gOOd-natured cTtique OF tho
censorship, he treats with singular vgOr and plain
ness of language his favorite theme, the condition OK
1rdrdte. 1t is a brilliant bold and If not always
sound very earnest essay on prostitution IN France,
prostitution not of "nfortunates" only, but of wO
men of fortunes and not OF women only but Of
men, on whom it is severest and not OF the body
only, nor mainly, but of the spirit and sentiment,
of taste and manners, that once were formerly decent
and graceful succedaneum of morals. Its invectlye
is sharp, strong and bright, like polished steel There
are pages that remind you of Juvenal where It
speaks Oi the State phOsphOTesceut rottenness which
brilliant Paris society has arrived at Marguerite
Gauthier of twenty years ago already belongs TO tie
past, TO of purity and innocence CONF
pared with this osentatOusy brazen present.
She at least capable of love aud of sacrifice Her
kind has died ont She is become legend, all .Ost
myth 10 her purely trading successors. And this
transition has taken place III less than twenty years,
according 10 Mr. Dumas the younger, who perhaps
does not sufficiently take into account that he has
grown older the while But what he says of IL, how
and why il has come about and how the downward
movement may be arrested, is worth reading by per-
sons curious IN the study OF the social aspects OF
Paris. As for New-York that Western metropolis is
still in the golden age may patriotism suffer the
question, In the age OF progress too was saying
that passages In this essay reminded the reader of
Juvenal. Like the poems of the immortal satilst of
Romes fostering corruption under tho C@SaIs, 1T IS
not reading for the Sunday schools, for It's not
good that children should know. any wickedness;
but old folks who have discretion and know the
world" though they only know the American world
might profit by It's thoughtful peruSal For tue rest
il has not in the whole fifty pages wantonly pro
vocative word Foul matter could not be more
ceanly handled; only Dumas is realist. as Juyona
here for STYLE as claSsieal-and handles 1t
without gloves.
Atthe Odeon they are performing version Of
King Lear, pruned and otherwise adapted 10 the
French stage, with singular respect for Shakespeare
bv Jules LacTOix. Mr.. IacrOx is practiccd dram
atist a reader of English, TevereDtal reader of
Shakespeare, conscientious. hard literary worker,
and nearly sixty years old mention ms age frosty
but kindly, because the maturity of mind that
with it should enter perhaps, for part cause OF the
fact that, with the exception of Macbeth brought
out by the same author i've OF SIX years ago tins IS
among the numerous transfers of bhakespeare's
plays to the French stage the most faithful in spirit to
the original SO much of the English text as he un-
dertakes TO translate is more faithfully translated
than is the text of Tartue in the English Hypocrte
of any of Victor Hugos dramas In our prose stage
peryeTsiOns. For the spirit OF the tragedy which
Shelley judged 10 be the most perfect specimen OF
the dramatic art existing in the world" MI. LacrOix
is, In important respect, more faithful TO the
master than the English Prompters copy was till
quite recent period. He lets the end be Shakes
peaTe did fate and nature rather often do without
any immediate distribution of prizes to virtue.
Obliged. to adopt long, profoundly thoughtful
the mind by silent perusa to the eXgencies of the
mere seeing and listening public OF theater who
are ignorant of the original and OF the traditions
that go with it, and have more or less imposing dra
matte tastes and traditions OF their Own the French
author began by simplifying the play something IN
The manner that Mrs. Kemble observes in her read
ng of it. He discaTds the attendant plot OF which
Edmund Is the protagOnist, so that hls intrigue
against his father and brother and with the aduter-
'us Goneril is omitted Kents part Is reducedTthe me
Fool that of Lear is kept entire and what ot the
)theTs immediately concerns the main action.
The piece is put OH the stage with fine display of
French middle age 6cd baC in the way of properties,
which seeing that King Lear and the three daughters
1Ourished III England in time OF Isaiah and iiosea
are not strictly accurate for local color but more
grateful than the laced coat and powdered periwig
u which Garrick and Quin used to win English ap-
olause The acting Is well. of the King by
Beauvallet, in the more declamatory passages ad-
nirable for acting. He, too, should be tried by his
peers II is difficult for Of us TO fairly appreciate
he measured defamation of French Thymed ira
zedy 1t withdraws attention from the sense by its
artfciality. Rouviere, however in
Hamlet made me accept H. OF rather forget IT, abb
,orbpg all attention in the intensity of his person
alton. His Lear however. brought out at the old
Cir0ne twely years ago. q failure One Cannot but
link that Tal1na was better Shakespearian