The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-03-10
Present oosditisu Of st.ass.rr.

A correspondent writing from Luxem.
oourg, gives the following interesting de-
scription Of the condition of Strasbura
which he has just visited:
building is going on at a great rate-of
tnIs more anon-and those who do not like
.le GERMAN sway are emigrating, while
tnelr places are promptly filled up from the
otner side of the Rhine. A week after the
surrender in the Rue des Pierres, there
was hardly a house left standing. In less
than seventeen months half the houses in
tue inner part of the street have been re-
built in better style than before, and no
doubt in another eighteen months the Rue
des Pierres will be as though it never suf-
fered from Krupp guns. In the Place Kle-
Der, the central square of the city, all dam
ages have been repaired except the Muse
um, which still stands roofless, and still
bears the French inscription marking the
locality of the headquarters. In the Place
de Broglie, where the best cafes are situa-
ted, and where hardly q house had a roof
last October twelve months, the best res
taurants are already in full swing, and
more than half the square is rebuilt. In
one case, where there has not yet been
time to build the upper part Of the houses
temporary roof has been put over the fret
floor, and the place is now used for bank.
But as yet the ordinary places of business
are not reconstructed here, and it is proba-
able they will not be for some time, for
there has been large emigration from the
city that Ulrich defended at least more
valiantly than Bazaine defended Metz.
The German authorities do not seem to be
anxious to put a stop to this emigration.
1t is only the more violently French people
who have gone, Oh mean to 60, and the
powers that be appear to think they will
be rather a good radiance than otherwise.
The BibliotheQue aud the Temple Neuf-
two buildings the loss of which, as we'll
as contents Of the former, caused more re-
greet to Europe than nything else during
the siege-are nearly level with the ground.
Part of the walls of the latter NAV be
found fit for retention, but alas! Of the
former not stone will stand on another,
and not five pounds worth of MSS. have
been rescued from the ruins of the library.
The Porte des Pierres has been rebuilt,
and called the Stein Thor. BY the way,
the conquerors would appear to have a
mania for remaining places. Poor Thion-
vile, close by this frontier and just includ-
ed within Deutsch Lothringen, is for the
future to be known as Diedenhofen, and the
tickets are issued on the railway in that
mar. Almost the last thing whereto at
tention has been directed is the glorious
Cathedral, which suffered more damage
than its present possessors were willing to
admit when I was last in Strasburg. The
priceless stained-glass that was smashed,
in the north aisle, has not been replaced
by anything more valuable than thin slips
of wood, and, though the roof has been nut
in sufficient order to keep the wet out, all
that has been done to repair the damage to
the mastery carving of the external stone
work is to cart the pieces away, as I saw
half a dozen men doing on Saturday.
There were wheelbarrows full of morsels
of inches and pieces of groining that would
have made happy the heart of relic-hun-
ter, and been useful to many q school Of
art. The first thing the Germans did was
to repair the Notifications, and until that
task is completed the military authorities
have little care for anything else. They
have not only restored the French works,
they have even erected and are now erect.
ing new ones. was refused permission
to 60 and see what is being done, but with
out permission l saw that some Of their
own old parallels are now turned into re-
doubts for the defence, and that the outer
batteries are now carried far beyond where
they were in the French time. The Ger
mans are doing the same to their own for
tifications-considerab numbers of men
being employed, for example. on the lines
of Mayence, lest, when the French have a
try at revenge, the tide of war should take