Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1871-05-24
France, Past and Present.

The apparent daily disintergration Of
nation is the saddest Of spectacles; and as
yet there is no sign Of any men nor of
any power TO control the anarchy. To
many thoughtful Germans, of course, the
events Of to day seem only a sure revenge;
and seldom has the whrligig of time
twirled 20 swiftly. Our fellow-citlzen, DR..
Lieber, for instance, who, as little child
was dismissed from school in Berlin in the
year 1906, after the great defeat of Jena,
"because the French we're coming" has
read with the rest of us, in these latter
days, the amazing story Of the surrender
Of the nephew of the conquerer of Jena to
the Prussian king upon French soil, of the
coronation of the King of Prussia as En-
peror ofGermany in Louis the Fourteenth's
palace Of Versailles, and of the victorious
entry of the Germans into Paris. In this,
then, the grande nation, whose troops at
Fonrenoy CALAMITY begged the enemy to
fire first? Is this the people Ofwhom
Thackeray said that well-educated French
men do not believe that the English have
ever beaten them, and that getleman in
Paris was once ready to call him to the
field Of honor because he said that the En-
glsh had whipped the French in Spain 2
And if you have friend who was cducat-
ed in France among the French, not among
the English French and French English in
Paris, ask him what the native histories
say about the French fighting. Thackeray
said again, that he had read French
history which calls the battle of Salamanca
a French victory.
So glorious was France in its own fan,
t cy! Who does not recall it? Who has
not seen upon his travels that smiling air
ofsuperiority in the gay city? Who has
, not been asked Of his own country by his
French master as if it were a land of ice
and barbarians? There was a certain
Frenchman, whom the Easy Chair remem.
bers, who could not believe that the Chair
: would ever return to its own, its savage
land. "But you are in France But you
have seen Paris! And you will 90 back
over the sea to America Just Heavens,
how inscrutable is man !" The travels
and explorations Of the worthy Partisan
had extended to Rouen; and Rouen was
we'll enough, because it was in Francu; but
the traveller was evidently uncomfortable
until he was again in Paris. "In Paris,
indeed" he said, with exquisitely French
: simplicity-"ln Paris man of the world
is at home And is anything more touch.
lug than a Partisan in London How per.
Il feet are the familiar international gibe and
counter-gibc The French play represent,
London. 1t is scene of gloom and frg
idty and despair. The ''man of the world
: accosts his neighbors, but their Language
is foreign and their aspect is forbdding
J and at length the lankiest-visaged carica
ture of Bfiton holds up his lean fngei
and shakes a solemn warning. "C'est
Soonday "-Tis Sunday and the Frcncl
spectator is left to imagine that suicid,
e Immediately follows. But Punch gave the
c the counter-glbe during the Great Exibi
: tion, when it represented party of French
: men, with shaved round heads and Ions
e mustaches and hands buried in peg.tol
r trowsers, standing before a wash-stand
e one speculatively saying to the other
9 "What is that machine ?"
And this is the nation which year age
> believed itself to be the strongest in the
world "Why, cen so: and now my Ia
+, dy Worms; chapless, and knocked about
the mazzard with a sexton's spade Here's
e fine revolution, an we had the trick to sec
t it, Yes, and year ago We all thought
n it to be the greatest military nation. Are
g our estimates Of other nations as foolshly
wrong9 The story is as fruitful for thu
r moralist as for tho military critic; and th,
d dullest student may begin to wonder wheth
e cr the strength Of the strong battalion
n which compel victory is in the numbers o
in the spirit. Where lies the differenc
n between Thermopyle and Sedan ?--Har
per's Magazine for June.