, 1874-12-13

ptop1e kuHAIA 1eTiHAuy heeIu 10 W. Aa5t ~
ing out. After tho close Of the war, and
during the German occupation, the one idea
among all classes of the French YVES the
"grand revenge" In the Assembly, the
cafes, the clubs, wherever two or three French
men were gathered together, significant and
mysterious threats were made Of what France
was going to do with regard to Germany, and
the popular heart was constantly fred with
illusions to the next war, when France would
revenge herself, redeem her honor, recover
her lost provinces, and exact indemnity.
No Frenchnan would allow for IN in
slant that he was not the equal Of
Il German in skill, bravery, and martial PROV
ess. As time went on, however, these feel
ings changed. The Frenchmnn became more
serious and thoughtful, and, es be con-
templated the rea1 strength and military
power OF the German, reluctantly acknowl-
edged it was useless for the Gallo cock to
struggle alone with the two-leaded eagle of
the Prussians. He still preserves his feeling
of revenge, however, and wistfu1ly turns his
eyes to Russia and England, arguing that an
alliance with these two countries would make
him more than match for Germany, Austria,
and Italy combined There are many reasons
why the Fronchman has cometo theconclusion
that he can no longer cope single-handcd with
the German, and one Of the principal Of these
is his own census, which shows that the
country is not making good its losses in the
war. The French population is decreasing
with very serious regularity, and the
German is increasing quite fast. The French
man has not the virility Of the German. BE
is weakening and enervating himself with
luxury and by the avoidance OF robust mus
cular exercise, and losing the power and in
duence OF home life, whi1o the sturdy Ger
man grows stronger and stronger. Not
withstanding his confession of weakness,
however, the Frenchman does not al
low any opportunity of displaying his feel
ings townrd the German, however impotent
and 1udic1ous the exhibition may be, and one
of these exhibitions occurred quite recently.
The occasion wes one OF the popular concerts
given in the Cirque d'Hiver under the direc-
ton of the famous conductor, a. PAspE1orP.
It may be promised that these concerts are
by thousands of people, and Pas
DRLouP, wishing to make one of the con-
certs specially attractive by means Of q
novelty, had the temerity to announce
= WAGNER night. The French were
up in nrms. Unlike other
nations, art with them has na~
donnlity. With them any music but
German music is good my composer but a
German composer can be tolerated, d,--WAoSER
east Of al. There are two reasons for this. |
Several years ago WAcSEr's g Tannhauser
was produced at the 1taiens, and the French !
lid not like it. They not only expressed their |
lislike OF the music, but they made it u cause
II personal abuse Of WAGNER. The composer,
being passionate man, took his revenge by |
writing pamphlet, in which he mndc the |
3oint that they were "half monkeys and |
1aH TIGERS" and consequently incapable Of |
'ppreciating any music, let alone that Of the
uture. This was bad enough, but worse was
o come. It was WAGNER who composed the
= Kaiser Victory March" after the late war.
Worse than that, he composed the "Tn-
1mpha1 Hymn" for the new Emperor Of |
Germany. This was too much for the over |
ge Frenchman, and consequently the re-
'enge which he could not and dared not take
'pon German, he took upon German music.
The exhibition of this petty malice is charac-
eristic Of the Frenchman, but the German
Eill probably not be very seriously disturbed
y it, particularly as WAGNER has worse enc
MES in his own country than in France, and
nemies who are by no means harmless or i'm
oteut.
We print elsewhere card from Dir. Porter
'ALaER with reference to the recent Qutrn=