The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-12-05
A French Lesson,
from the New Orleans Times,l


The, French are peculiar people.
They have the reputation among the
more staid of their continental and is
land neighbOrs, of being giddy, frivo-
lOus and vain. It is certainly true that
they do not weigh themselves down with
any unnecessary load of care. To them
sufficient unto the day is the evil there
OF" They neither discount the joys of
the present nor borrow troubles from
the future. II their grievances become
lntOlerable they make revolutions" but
they never mistake sentimental for real
issues. Their flesh does not culver till
the plncers tear. Underneath the high
er phases of French thought exist the
elements of patient industry and watch
ful prudence. Approaching alike the
useful and the beautiful, they become
the most cunning Of artiticers, and the
most successful in all kinds of orna-
mental handicraft.
The expenditures made by the French
people III the Franco Prussian war were
immense; their losses in men and ma
terlaI were immense; and the millions
demanded of them as the penalty Of
failure, were looked upon by the out
side world as not only excessive, but
wholly beyond their ability to pay.
Yet all these milliards have been paid,
and mostly, too, from the previously
accumulated earnings of the French
people.
This fact stands out in bolder relief,
vixen it is sremembered that Frenchmen,
as a mass, did not greatly sympathize
in the war, which Louis Napoleon, as
Emperor, had needlessly provoked, or
| seriously grieve at his Sedan mishap,
when he proved himself no military
successor of his great uncle. Their pat
| riOtism has always been undOubted,
and whether loans were needed to sus-
tain the Empire or the Republic, they
always made them with the faith of
men who had confidence in their pub
lie institutions.
When Louis Napoleon uttered the
euphonistic truism "DEmpire c'eSt Ia
pGiG" he was far more of a statesman
than when he set out for the Rhine on a
military mission. In peace the empire
had been eminently prosperous. The
people generally made no extraordinary
pretense Of wealth, but they all had
their little garnered treasures which
they were ready to use either for their
own or for the nations needs. Thus
they have used them, and the world
maryels at their amount.
Now it is evident that there must be
some peculiar reason for the sxtraordi-
nary volume of material treasure in the
hands of the French people. Something
in their nature, their teachings, or their
political economy must have favored
them, or they would not have had the
means of meeting so extraordinary q
demand as their war debt amounted to
within so limited period. What sur
prises the world is, first, that they had
the money and second, that their ma
tional instinct and patriotic confidence
were SO strong as to induce them to ex-
change it for the securities Of an un-
settled and merely provisional govern
ment.
It appears that owing to the remarka-
BILE subdivision of real estate in France,
the agricultural outnumbers the manu-
featuring population by about five to
enc. Thus the produce of manufactures
should amOuntin value to only one-fifth,
or thereabout, of the productive industry
of the country. The great wealth of
England is attributed to the fact that
the vast majority of her people are en-
gagged, as manufacturers, in the pro-
ductiOn of articles for foreign use. This
condition of affairs leads directly to
commercial and maritime enterprise.
But it leads also to vast inequalities in
the distribution of wealth-to extreme
riches for the favored few and compara-
tive Indulgence for the many.
Like conclusions cannot be drawn con-
cerning France. To judge her by other
countries it might be inferred that she
was poor, for communities principally
agricultural are almost invariably poor.
But Frenchmen are specially economical.
| They never feel at home except in
| France. They make it a patriotic duty
| to spend their money at home, or so
much of it at least as they do spend, and
to save the rest at home. This may ap-
| pear to the American people as hOmely
narrow -mindedness; but it is the secret
of those accumulated savings which
saved the financial credit of France in
her late supreme emergency.
| During the eight years, beginning with
1846 and ending with 1858, the exports
of France exceeded the imports in value
to the amount of $348, 10000 In 1851,
the imports of gold to France amounted
to $23, 3,204 800, and of silver to $95, $780,
688, while the exports Of the precious
metals for that year were: gold $6,286,
$50, and silver $4,000, ,703; thus leaving
q large balance in the country. In 1851,
the gold coinage of France amounted to
| $45,239, 1859, and In 1868 it had sWelled up
to $131 ,460,14S.
In view of existing facts, the present
would be good time for the American
people to adopt some Of the better habits
of their French relations, and to drop
some of the extrayagant peeuliarities
which are everywhere set down as essen
TALLY American.