New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-01-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

inc himself and his subject together before the cur
tam Il have seen many cities, in process of birth
Of growth, Of maturity; those that are dying ana
those that are dead; but Phave seen none which pro-
duce an impression as enormous as that OF Paris
None that give strong and vivid an ldea OIL
people indefatigable, nervous living with an equal
activity under the light of the snn or the flicker OF
gas painting with like eagemess for pleasure OF Tor
money getting and endowed with perpetual move
ment" OF this Paris our author tells us he pretends
10 make neither monograph nor history; looking
ppon Il as n great body he essays simply TO dssect
it, to unfold the anatomy of laws and adminlstra-
tive systems which insure TO the Partisan safety and
comfort bnt which act so quietly as to be almost
overlooked. With a most un-Parisan devotion 10
dry facts he confines his researches TO the municipal
functions and those private enterprises over which
the police hold recognized Supervision
The first volume contains the history ard tnH
statistics of the Postal System, Telegraphing,
Public Conveyances Railways, and, lastly. the
Seine for so many centuries the sole mouth of
Paris, whose closing was followed by an inevitable
famine, and whose record now, in the hands OF NJ
din Camp with the glimpses of its six centuries of
history, its tonnage. its present stately show OF
bridges and monuments its police force, its yearly
half thousand yield of dead bodies laid in CHASTITY
order in the MoTgue, becomes a curious melange OF
dry statistics and tragedy.
or for the purpose of coatng the interior machinery
of Paris with that of other cities bat VI. du
Camp has so animated his uHpromising subject,
managing 10 put life into the dry bones Of his
figures that the volume has interest to the most
casual reader
One % the most curious points to which he calls
attention is the rapid increase of population in Paris,
which i'm the last ten years supasses that of the whole
State Of California during the decade of her swftest
growth. the time of the gold fever. As the increase
arises not from immigration but absorption from the
provinces, the fact becomes more noteworthy. NJ.
du Camp gives it point by story Of Prince Schwar-
Eeuburg and Russian general, who stood overlook
ing the city from the column MontmartIe, one night
during the stormy days Of March, 1914.
At last-Paris~ exclaimed the Russian, bitter
with the fresh remembrance of Moscow. That
could bnt see it in ashes"
Schwarzenburg looked down at the Sleeping city.
If YOU want vengeance, save Paris he said 1T
Is the cancer that will eat the life from Francew
grave prediction says NJ. du Camp but which has
to-day a show of reasonable fulfmeut; for with
This invaluable capital that eXacts ALL abSor5S all,
grows without ccasng, and gives little back,
France las very much the appearance Of wasted
victim of hydroccphalus
Under tie head of the Postal System NJ. Gu Camp
gives history of Ie Cabinet nObC. the secret tri-
bunal. which had to the post for the purpose
al opening private letters, lOuilucu by LOUIS Al
Louis Quatorze and bis successor used it TO keep
themselves az cosraRi of the scandalcus intlgue of
the Court, but afterward It became an engine Of
political power in the hands Of the Government
Napoleons arguments for and against its to guard
against treason will be of interest to those who Ie-
member precisely the same discussion during our
own Rebellion. That the Cabinet Hoir still exists in
France, VI. du Camp more than hints, adding sig
nifcantly however that there is less for il now
g - v-yf
Police the letters Of any individual are liable 10
be opened and returned to their writer's with the
stamp, opeaod " authority a brutal franl,ness.'
says our Partisan with shrug, d" which must ap-
prove rs advance on the old system
He Jokes dryly also upon the mule-like forbearance
of the Government: that beast of burden having
offered to carry samples of goods by mail for mere
nominal price is now, it appears, loaded with bales
Of merchandise, false teeth, hair game, even live
turtles their address cut their backs until the
portage of echGHhHonS or samples has become the
most costly branch Of the service.
In the history of telegraphy (which he bcciiIs, by
the way, at the Tower of Babel NJ. du Camp gives
mn abstract Of the aerial system which preceded The
electric telegraph. and which was last used 70 an
nounce the victory at Sebastopol 1t the inyen-
tion of Claude Chappe, or rather lrcby fancy
which came to him when hoy, when trying to find
means of communication with his brothers IN q dis
presented upon white plate. Perfecting lis dis
coveTy when a man. he urged il before
the Chambers under Louis and the National Con-
yentOn. During all tho horrors of the three days
massacre, Chappe had but one idea-hiS oblong
plate with its black bars-aud it was while The
streets Of Paris were yet wet with blood that lac tr
nmphed and wrote 10 his sponsor IN the Convention
frenzied hymn of thanksgiving to him and TO God
His method. which received a miraculous
gift in aid Of the Republic appears 70 nowadays
beyond measure cumbrous and bulky. To transmit
a message OF forty words from Paristo Bayonne re-
quired LOO stations and 5000 movements. The
chiefs of the Geographic departments were furnished
with three volumes-One containing numbered
words another phrases the third geographical names
The messages consisted only OF the numbers of the
pages and words, the secret meaning thus being hid
den from the operators, point in which The old sgs-
ten had certainly the advantage of ours.
The method survived the Republic and had passed
into general use at the birth Of the Empire, but
Chappe himself was logged by that persistent dis
sster which ordinarily follows inventors, until tired
81 work and disease and disappointment, be rid'hm
self Of them al in the usual French fashion by
quick blow.
Apropos to the transmission Of messages. NJ. du
Camp describe, accurately the Pneumatic Tube
connecting the Boursc and the post Of the Grand
Hotel where 20 sealed dispatches can be sent in ono
minute. The compression of airLere is prodnced ly
the waters OF the Canal de lOurcy.
The account Of the vast drilled army of Omnbuscs,
coaches and facrcs is full and exact. Their man
agement IS nnder Government surveillance, and
offers a contrast 10 that Of slipshod system
by no means hatterino TO our Yankee pride. Forex-