The New York herald., 1871-01-02
s-aris Under Bomo parchment.

begun. The carefully pointed batteries OF the
German army of investment have undoubt-
edly ere this opened upon the devoted city,
and the homes and lives Of two millions of
human beings, of whom three-fourths are non
combatants and a large majority women, chill
dren and helpless graybeards, are menaced
with speedy destruction. To the grand edi-
fees Of public utility and of religion;
to the superb monuments; the price
less treasures of literature, art and
taste; the historical archives and relics;
the superb resorts of trade; the
unrivalled municipal works; the stores of
every species of costly merchandise, and the
luxurious homes Of opulence and refinement
thus exposed to devastation, it is almost need
less to refer. The fame and splendor of the
late residence city of the French empire are
familiar to the world, and all enlightened
nations regret her impending ruin.
Paris has often been besieged, captured
and subjected to the will of the conqueror.
The nomadic tribe of hunters and herdsmen
who, far back in antique times, were com
PEELED at last to make halt and build their
group Of rude huts upon the small island in
the middle of the Seine that was the nucleus
of the latter city, were continually assailed by
hesi or dwelling amid the waters,'
as the old Celtic compound word may be inter-
preted, survived its varying fortunes for ages,
until the invading and victorious Roman,
julius Caesar, in the year B. G. So amicably
invited his second convocation Of the Gallo
tribes to meet at that accessible centre. 1t
was then the capital of the PARISH, proud
and warlike race. whose origin is somewhat
hidden in the mists of tradition. The terms
imposed by the Latin stranger were harsh, and
in the ensuing year the PARISH rose in furious
rebellion to repel the violence of C@sar's lieu
tenant Labienus, and burned not only the
bridges connecting their island with the two
banks Of the Seine, but laid the city itself in
ashes. But, in spite of the most desperate re-
sistance, Lutetia, as the Romans called the
among the oecGgales or tributary cities of the
Roman realm. In 45l Of the Christian era
Paris was invested by the Huns and was
rescued by st. Genevieve, who became its
patron. Clovis however, triumphing, at the
head Of his warlike Franks, occupied it in
A. D. 4s6, and formally made it his capital in
sos. Three centuries later the Normans
ravaged the city and its environs four times
within twenty ysars-viz. in 84l, 845, $50
and S6l 1t was subsequently fortified by the
Counts of Paris, who had become its local
rulers, and it sustained a siege of thirteen
months commencing in SS5. The attacks of the
barbarian hordes pouring down from the North
and the East were necessarily repeated until
they produced protracted famine, which, in
975, became horrible beyond description, and,
for fourteen years within the brief lapse of
twenty three, the wretched people Of that
district suffered neafly all the pangs of star
walton. Under the Capets Paris enjoyed a
long period of comparative tranquility and
progress, until, in 1906, the first great popular
insurrection broke out. 1t was occasionad by
the exorbitant taxation of Philip w., sur
named lie Bel, or the Handsome who had.
in 1902, convoked the first States General,
and so made one step toward a parliamentary
form Of government In the days Of Philip VI
new enemy appeared in the English invading
armies, who advanced to the very gates Of the
capital Under King John, after the disas-
trous route of the French at Poictiers,
Paris, by its frmness and herosm,
again saved the realm, and, under
the lead of the famous merchant
provost, Etienne Marcel, became literally ga
city of the people" Marcel presided over the
the populace from the famous House of the
Pillars, which subsequently became the Hotel
de Vile. This was the epoch when Paris
rose indeed to be the controlling centre of
| France and the democratic bugbear Of the old
| time as she now is of the later day military
monarchs. The English, however, persisted
in their attacks, and finally, in 14lS, after a
fierce resistance, mastered the city and held it
| for more than eighteen years. Their advent,
| however was not without its good effects, for
they quelled the terrible internal disorders
| which, commencing with the bread riots of the
Maillotins, and followed up by the still more
| formidable disturbances occasioned by the
Cabochiens, kept the place in endless alarm.
The English were at last expelled in 1886, and
Immediately afterwards, in l437 and 1888,
Charles VII, then reigning, pestilencs and
famine reduced the population so fearfully that
wolves from the neighboring forests howled
along the streets of Paris at MONDAY. But,
! rising above all her troubles, this wonderfully
vigorous and elastic capital regained all her
strength and, under Francis l., began career
| of prosperity and splendor which only the
frightlul religious dissensions that followed the
reformation at length temporarily arrested.
The terrible reign of Charles TX, the
poisoning of Jeanne D'Albret and the