The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-10-24
QUE PARIS LETTER.

Il is not so much denied that the cry Of Ptrs
FEmpTsur saluied Marshal Mcmahon during his
recent tour in the North, as that be replied by . TTre
Ia Repubiique. OF this latter horror be IS not gailty,
though he has q capital sin to answer for 10 being its
President, to aggrayate then his position, would be
intolerabie. To completely absOlTe the Marshal from
the faint Of even . suspicion Of having uttered such
q ~repulsive exclamation, his party-for he IS getting
up q little one also-aecept with pleasure his retreat
for some days 20 shoot over his own preserves. The
French have been defined as = people who do not
know what they wish, and who viii not be content
while the wish remains ungrati6ed. One thing they
have never wished for-the possibility OF Don Carlos
reigning over them, and this Is again ruuored to be
o possibility, as the burning and shining lights Of the
Elder Branch Of the Bourbous have met, and decided
that the Don shall be the heir Of the Count de
Chaubord, and not the Comte de Paris, who it sp-
pears is not orthodox on the subject Of Divine Right,
( despite his matriculate examination last year on the
question at Frohsdorf This TOoley street proclAma-
ton on the part Of royal relatives, Affects Bourbons
1 only; for the French nation, 1t is one practical joke
more perpetrated BY the dHcisn regime on itself.
The pace, however, is killing.
Wonders will never cease; the lion and the lamb
are about lying down together, for the Bonspsrtists,
defeated in the first ballot in the Msine-etLoire,
have arrange their terms with the Orleanists, 10 sup
port the candidate smiled upon BY the government,
and who is friendly 10 the plan OF leaving France
without definite institutions, the better to allow the
Comte de Paris to slide to the throne according to the
chapter Of accidents. The combination is expected
to defeat the moderate Republican, on vera; in the
mean time the coalition is not edifying, and power
fully illustrates the desperate fortunes Of parties,
and what pretenders will stoop to in order to canonize
their saint. 1t is q spectacle like that now in ques-
ton, that causes well-Wishers TO despair of France
ever possessing the sagacity necessary for her grand
eur, perhaps for her safety. The coalition of such
opponents will have this salutary consequence, to
impart an impetus to the cry proceeding from the
heart Of the nation-dissolve the assembly, and pro-
coed to the general elections forthwith. The Repub-
licans are anything but in the oder Of sanetity with
the authorities; the matter would be serious, only ii
is well known the general elections will put an end
to the abnormal state of things that exists, by sur
rounding Mcmahon with advisers in harmony with
the grand majority Of the people, who wish the Con-
servative Republic as the only known and available
means for locking out all pretenders. The Repub-
leans have no desire to supersede Mcmahon; they
have no candidate to oppose to him, they have no
dynasty to install.
EXCEPT for the principle of liberty of the press, the
~hardships newspapers now have to contend against,
ought rot to exact excessive commiseration; there is
no difference in the spirit which animates every party
as it occupies Office in turn, in its dealing with
! journals opposed to its policy, hence, why the Code
has not less than some 159 distinct laws and DEGREES
affecting the press, all of which are deemed INSULT
cient since more are demanded by the government in
order to ensure the salvation of the country; the
state of siege approaches more the ideal, as a stroke
of the pen can extinguish a newspaper and prevents
its proprietor from demanding the reason why. But
states of siege, like dynasties voted to last for ever,
can only have their day. There is a time and a
season for everything under the sun.
The trials of the prisoners at MarseIles, in con-
nection with the events following the proclamation Of
the Republic in September, 1870, for Marseilles an
ticipated Paris in this work, do not attract much
interest; they are ranked as political, and as such,
make very little impression. However, there is in
the case of one of the accused, something that shocks
n foreigners notion of justice. A citizen named
Susin;, encountered after the fall of the Empire, q
detective, and said to him; nineteen years ago, at
the epoch of the Coys d'Etat, you arrested me. follow
me to the guard house, The detective obeyed, but
he was soon liberated safe and sound. Susini-four
years after this arrest-has been tried, and has been
Just sentenced to five years imprisonment, while the
members of the "mixed commissioners that sem
fenced all persons dissatisfied with the work Of the
second of December, to Lambressa and Cayenne, are
not placed in the dock. That which in the captain is
but a choleric word, is in the soldier rank blasphemy.
There are political outrages that it would be for the
interest of sl parties to see in the bosom of the deep
ocean buried.
1.-The dead belong to history said NJ. Guizot,
and the press is already dealing with the late pub
Iiciste as an historical fact. The reason is, that it is
his school, his political ideas, that more or less now
prevail, and which are in profound antagonism with
the nation. His literary reputation is becoming rap
idly lost in the misfortunes and the unpopularity of
his political career which is regretable. He desired
to establish q quasi-Legitimist party in the person
of Louis Philippe, forgetting that all grand political
powers spring from the sources only of election or
hereditary right. It is to his doctrfnGire principle
that Louis Philippe's reign, which might have been
glorious, was only one long history of maneuvres
and i~ntrigues. France is difficult to serve,'' re-
marked NJ. Guizot a few days before his death; this
is not accurate, for France has no stomach for what
she does not understand; she has a certain number
of ideas or sentiments that must be shared in or at
least respected, if one wishes to govern her, and it
was by ignoring these, that Guizot ever remained a
stranger to France, where at best he was never
ranked higher-owing to his unsympathetic nature
than as a naturalized foreigner. He had such a
ferocious hate of the revolution that his unpopularity
rose in proportion; he endeavored to make o virtue
of that unpopularity, unmindful, that in free govern
ments, and where public opinion is respected, I'M
popularity is synonymous with impotence. Louis
Philippe understood the lessons of the revolution
better, when he opposed the policy of NJ. Guizot
With his famous reply-"a all, rather than exile
But it was too late. Yet NJ. Guizot was enabled to
see in his compulsory private life, a form of govern
ment, q second Empire, that made short work of
revolutionary p~rejudices and principles. And even
this false democracy had to succumb in its turn.
Neither the French Academy, nor perhaps the Re-
formed Church of France, will put on sack-cioth and
ashes for being delivered from an influence that was
only another name for tyranny.
BY a sort Of tacit consent the Bazaine escape-trial
has been allowed to drop; it was not the fault of the
prosecution that the world is no wiser after than
before the trial, respecting the evasion the impression
has however been left on the mind, that nothing after
all was easier than for the prisoner to escape, even
supposing that every warder and sentry had done
their duty. The fight has made Madame Bazaine
famous, Just as Byron woke up one morning to find
himself so. The ex-Marshal, however, making every
allowance for captivity spolIlng the most angelic
natures, does not use his liberty well, in directing
paper-pellets against his native land. Even those
that believe he was only Gas bad as the Others do
not like to see him take up that position. Incapacity,
vanity, and vulgar political calculations are sins that
must ever rest on his head. He may be perfectly
certain he will never be asked to command another
French army, s%upposing even the Imperial dynasty
or N. Theirs should return to power. France has a
rooted dislike for failure. He could render the world
still some serviee-for after all the French and Prus-
slams belong to the human ~family-by giving q it a
plain, unvarnished account. without reticences of the
war of 1901. Beyond this, for him glory's thrill
is over. HI could also educate his sons to love and
serve France through evil report and good report,
and so enable them TO retrieve some Of their fathers
furnished reputation. The sentences on the accused,
varying from one month to six, mean a kind of
ethical vindication of the law.
An English traveller who visited Paris during the
reign of Louis XIV, observed of the Parisians,
'' there is not q more industrious people in the world,
and who gain less, because they expend all on their
stomach and clothes" The Partisan is not exactly
this to-day; he lives well, be dresses well-but he