New-York tribune., 1871-01-16
the parisians, but to the shady and discreet

of the ParlBlanS, DuJ w b1e Snduy anu uin0iOO'
alleys of the Luxemburg, where bourgeois
lovers walked in the apple-orchard, and white
capped nursery maids neglected their romping
charges under the spreading elms. SO dear
was this garden to the true children of Paris
that when Haussmann wanted to cut it up into
building lots, the patience of the Latin Quar-
ter gave way, and the OmlnOus agitation IN
fected the ObsequiOus Senate, and the Alsacian
autocrat was for once forced 20 yield his point.
The student-woIld for a moment forgot ITS
can-cans to rally for the defense of its endan-
gered promenade, and grave citizens, with con
servatve principles and liberal Wristbands,
whose philandering days were long past, in
formed NJ. le Pr6fet severely that something
was due to the memories OF youth. But even
these halOwed grounds, before which even the
Kdiles' pck-ax waslparalyzed. where the air
always seemed of a finer quality and the sun
shine and shadow less at variance than any
where else, are invaded day and night by the
screaming flight of prOjectiles sowing terror
and death.
1t must be- grim pleasure toea dour Luthe-
ran artileryman, with fixed ideas and correct
top0graphichical maps, to know he is throwing
his destructive missiles against the jesuit IA
cade of st. Sulpce, or dropping hot shot
through the flimsy roof of the ClOScrie de' 81
las. There will be little praying or singing OF
Psalms in st. Stephen of the Mount, or even
under the incomparable dome of Ste. Gene
We've. until the city's fate is decided. And as
for those gay balls where the little people
danced, it would be hard to imagine scene OF
more utter desolaton-now that useless mouths
c nf nj II nI
tbe dancing men are shiverng in the trenches
or still in their shallow graves The bombs of
free-thinking Prussia are kissing and cXplod-
ing hourly along those quiet and dccorons
streets of Varennes, st. Dominique, and The
University, where the old aristOcracy OF the
Faubourg st. German lived such innocent
lives of unavailing protest against the Empire.
But it is probable that not many remain in
fhcir stately hotels girded by tho tranquil
gardens where they strOve to hold the air OF
the past century free from contact with
ours. They are at Nice or BayOnnc, or
further still, in Italy, paying visionary nom
ace in the court of specters that surrounds that
ghost of Bourbon royalty, Henry V. The
palaces cannot get away under MIR. Wash
burnc's flag; so they must stay and face the
iron storm. The Senate House. that lOrdly
Luxembourg built by Marie dc Medicis, made
glorious by the memories of the superb Rubens
and the presence of the works of cotcmpOra-
ry genius, is favOrite mark of the
German gunners So is the Palais
Bourbon, where Louis lBonaparte swore
to protect the constitution, and Agenor
de Gramont gayly announced the war
that closed the Empire-itly begun in perjury
q -, b. ma
rade ground of the Champ de Mars, that felt
in 1867 the tread of every fOot-gea known to
modern days is plowed by the steel messen-
gers of krupp. Some correspondent nj Yer
sailles, with an eye for the picturesque, informs
us that a shell has been sent through the
freshly gilded dome of the Invalides, doubt
less inscribed with the compliments of the de-
feated of Jena to their august conqueror VINO
sleeps in porphyry below that soaring bubble
of gold.
We recognize the necessity and even the
mercifulncss, of a vigorous bOnibardmcnt that
shall end the suffering and break the dead
lock of q war that has Outliycd its use and
meaning. We can bear with equanmity the
battering of some palaces, if thereby the
novels can be spared. But 1--WE cannot forbear
mlngllnH our vows NliHdtuoHt VI thO
of Paris everywhere that the shells may fall
lightly on some time-honored spots sacred to
learning and art-the quaint Museum
of Cluny, with its visible history of
the Middle Ages the stubborn arches Of
the imperial house of Julian the Apostate;
the library of st. Geneyieve, with its precious
wealth of books and manuscripts, which has
been for so many years the nursery OF high
thought and aspiration to the liberal youth of
France All these lie fairly an the devastating
track of the Prussian guns. And towering
above them ALL looking over the beleaguered
capital TO the west, facing with immortal eyes
of unfnching marble the caressing sunset and
the hostile cannon the grand group of the
republican sculptor, David of Anglers, fills with
beauty and nobility the pediment of the Pan
theon. We shall have better opinion of
fixed ammunition all our lives if these marbles
survive the bOmbardment.
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