Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-09-22
THE FRENCH PEAsANTRY.


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1.-THE Paris correspondent Of the Bos
ton Advertiser writes as follows;
The last few weeks Of invasion have
made very curious revelations Of the
character and feelings of the French
peasantry. In the scale of education
France ranks very low. 0ne-quarter Of
the young men can neither read MOI
write. If the women and the old were
taken into account, the proportion
would be immensely increased. But in
certain districts the darkness is awful;
thus, in the department of Cher one-half,
in Ariege two-thirds Of the conscripts
cannot read or write at the time of en-.
tering the army. Nor do these figures
at all express the real ignorance of the
population. Thus the departments OF
the Rhine rank among the very highest
in the scale, nearly all the young men
being able to read; yet in these districts
the Alsatian peasantry is proverbially
stupid, and know little else. The infu-
ence possessed by the priests is amaz-
ing; and in many places there reigns a
fanaticism worthy of the middle ages.
This ignorant peasantry has been the
stay of the Empire. and the Government
has found it convenient not to introduce
the light too rapidly. The population
has been taught to receive its ideas and
its candidates from the Mayors and the
priests. The small proprietors have been
taught to regard the Republicans of Paris
as their natural enemies, as robbers
whose object is to seize their arms.
Thus an enmity has been fostered be-
tween the city and the country; and of
this education France is now suffering
the consequences. After the plebiscite
the blind rage of the peasantry was man
ifested in several places against the ad-
versaries of the Government, and these
ebullitions were scarcely discouraged by
the prefectsc The attention of Paris
was called month since to the adven-
lures of a young Partisan who walked
through Normandy, in search of health
and recreation. In this district, so ira
versed by railroads, and so near the cap
ital, his life was repeatedly in danger.
There had recently been many fires in
the department; and the people believed
that they were lighted by the Republi-
cans of Paris, who paid six hundred
francs for each house burned "He
came from Paris, said they; down
with the Republican" And only cour-
age and the restraint of a few more in
telligent persons saved a Frenchman
from death at the hands of his own coun-
trymen Elsewhere this hatred was ex-
pressed in fires, where the figures of
those who had voted No were burned
in efiigy.
n this time of war the same spirit
finds far more vigorous manifestation. |
This affords historical instruction also,
for it was like disposition which pro
duced the Reign of Terror. During the
great revolution the population was con-
stantly in blind panic. 1t was not the
mere love of blood which fed the guillo-
tine, but the ready credulity which any
one so disposed could excite and direct |
at his pleasure. What the population of
Paris was then, the peasantry is still. |
AT this very moment certain departments
are threatened with another terror. 1t
Is the most unhappy part Of the situation
Of France that there is hopeless gulf of
Intelligence, consequently of moral and |
political aspiration, between city and
The Imperial Government,
without principle or honor, has been
willing to use and foster this opposition,
of which this unfortunate country has
now to reap the fruits.