Omaha daily bee., 1874-05-19
OUR PARIS LETTER.
Politics, Society and Art.

perspiring deputies to cool them
selves by a few stirring debates
which will act like blood-letting
Not a single person can foreteIl the
important events that the next ses
sion is destined to grapple with; the
unexpected proves eve too much O
a certainty, for any prophet to risk
a reputation. The cardinal fact is,
that the people are not afflicted with
the fever which consumes deputies
and publicists, they know the wait
ing game is theirs, and that the
President will allow no party to give
an unfair blow to France Fully
aware that they can never again
unite the majority they now possess
in the Assembly, is the most power
full of reasons that the Monarchists
will hesitate before plunging into
measures that must infallibly lead
to a dissolution of the Chamber.
The attractions of Office, the luxury
of power, are the breaks that come
into play when the road to ruin is
too rapidly pursued. 1t is not i'm
possible, therefore, that the new
menaces against ministers, against
the constituting of the Septennate,
will end in a compromise. No par
ty i'm the present Assembly is nu-
merous enough to enforce its pro-
! gramme. 1t remains to be seen,
can moderate men, having no axes
to grind, form a temporary working
majority to carry the necessary
measures preparatory to decreeing
the general elections. 1t is the coun-
try alone, that can silence by its
collective vote the ambition of aspi-
rants, andput the house in order.
The B0napartists are in a terrible
state of alarm because the Counte
de Chambord is rumored to have
re-entered France. The nation
does not agree with their view, that
the end of the world is nigh because
the country counts one citizen
more. This very Indifference ought
not to escape the careful attention
of the Counts advisers and parti-
Fans; before he can arrive at the
throne, Henri V. would have to
convert nearly 80, ZOO 900 of people
to see i'm him their guide, philoso-
pher, and friend. He Possesses no
majority in the Chamber no more
than i'm the country, so that he is
not an apparition to brighten the
timid into making their wills, and
commanding the last rites of the
church in advance. 1t is not clear
that any difficulty would-be placed
in the way of the Prince Imperial's
return to this country, unless he
adopted the BalOgne and Strasburg
routes a la mode his papa. Theirs
committed a blunder i'm ordering
Prince Napoleon out of France, and
however few may have been the
successes ofthe present government,
they merit every praise for allowing
the Prince to live i'm France and to
demonstrate his inutility. Let all
pretenders take their walks abroad,
and read in the soothing eyes of the
inhabitants a ''don't you wish you
may get u.s."
The POstmaster-G General is realiz-
ing the hopes expected from his pro-
motion. He is becoming a rree-
trader in letters he has succeeded
in negotiating a postal treaty with
Russia, and is i'm a fair way O feffect-
ing the same with the United States.
Much allowance must be made for
France in her efforts to find corn i'm
Egypt. 1t was Thiers himself, exz
cellent statesman i'm other respects,
that believed the foreigner could
not be too highly taxed. But the
foreigner slipped through his hands,
covetousness burst the bag. No
where is this more palpably shown
tharil.n the case of the post Office,
an institution that all French gov
ernments never view as anything
but a monopoly for making money.
The postal cards have proved a fail
ure-the experiment never had a
fair trial-and the scheme is down
for interment at an early day. In
land postage IL too high, and the
tariff is condemned by naturally
reduced receipts. But in the ease of
foreign postage the dimunition on
the year has been three quarters of
a million of francs, or nearly half q
million on the first quarter of the
present year. These figures apply
to foreign postage alone. The fact
is, persons with a large correspond
ence devote their attention how to
transmit their letters under cover to
London, Brussels or Geneva, to be
re-expedited. One gentleman as
serts that he can by this means econ
omize as much as 20 per cent. 1t
would pay some firms to salary an
employee outside of France to repOst
their foreign letters. The govern
ment is well aware of this.
Respecting the revenue generally,
the quarterly returns just published
indicate a slight falling off i'm re-
ceipts, and that 1t Is hopeless to ex-
pect anything more from an in
crease of the indirect taxes. New
sources of revenue must be discov-
cred or direct imports increased.
The latter is almost a Virgin source
of revenue, and the alacrity, almost
the pleasure, with which personal
taxes are paid in this country, must
ever act as a sursunl cordua for a
perplexed finance minister,
French prOtestants are ANYTHING
but a happy family at the present
moment at n time were they-Of
late especially - an united one.
Since the Notwithstanding SO per
cent of the total, have been legally
recognized as the orthodox Reformed
Church, all outside their religious
charter-belief in the divinity of
Jesus Christ and acceptance of the
Bible as the rule OF Eaith-sre ex-
cluded from State recognition. 1t
is not Unitarians who alone object,
but from a different point of view
disinclination to accept any test-act
several Evangelical protestants
thus find themselves driven into the
ranks of the minority: The cleo
tons are now being held throughout
France, for the appointment of lay
counsellors or elders, the "true
blue" ticket being of course tri-
umphant. To be qualified to take
part even i'm these elections, voters
must sign, that they believe in the
Scriptures. The intensity of the
strife may be estimated from the
closely balanced forces of the OrthO-
S. A. 49,