Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-02-14

umphed over all these disadvantages
of situation and denials of Mature,
and has fairly ecipsed all her rivals
and
CARRIED OFF THE PRIZE.
Paris owes its particular location
to little island formed by the Riv.
er Seine, which inclosed within its
embrace about 80 acres of land, on
which a wandering tribe, some q
500 or more years ago, built their
huts, and lived by fishing and hunt
ing. The insular position of this
patch of ground swept on all sides
by strong, deep current, rendered
it a natural fortress, difficult of in
vasion by any other tribe. And
hereon was founded the City of Par
is; and when it was covered with
houses, villages grew up on the op-
posite shores, and, in time great
city was constructed around this lit
tie kernel. This island, for a thou
sand years or more, has been called
'tLA CITE"
the city.
Upon the conquest of Gaul by Ju-
lius Caesar, he found a branch of the
tribes calling themselves PARISH oc-
cupying this river-stronghOld, which
they named Lutetia. But it was not
until the time of the Emperor Julian,
in A. D. $50, that Lutetia changed
its name to Paris, and obtained po-
litical franchises and the dignity of
a Roman colonial city. On the is
land is the famous (
NoTRE DAME CATHEDRAL, /
which is the Westminster of Paris.
1t was first built about A. D. 1882,
was burned down and rebuilt sever
al times. The present walls have
been standing about $50 years.
One way of describing Paris is by
comparing 1t with London or New
York. 1t contains little more than
half the population of the former,
and a little less than double that of
the latter. A city almost twice as
populous as the commercial capital
of America must strike the reader as
a very large city: Paris is fairly en-
tied to be considered the /
SECOND CRY ON THE GLOBE
in nearly all points of comparison.
There may be one city in China con-
tanning greater population,-Pekin; /;
but the claim rests on supposition,
and is not supported by official or
AUTHENTIC census-enumeration.
Paris covers an area of 1927
acres, or a trifie under 80 square
miles, of compactly-built territory.
Its exterior form is an oblong circle,
egg-shaped, I miles in longest and 6
miles in shortest diameter, and 21
miles in circumference. 1t has no
suburbs, properly speaking, but is
wholly contained
WITHIN THE WALL
erected during the reign of Louis
Philippe, between 1s41 and ls4s. In
military parlance, the 'eneeinte''
Tor walD consists of ninety-four
fronts of $40 yards each, with a
ditch of the average depth of 20 feet
and breadth of so to 100 feet. There
are sixty-fve public entrances, viz {;
ffty-one highways, ten passages for
railways, and four posterns.: The
walls average 40 feet in height from
the bottom of the ditch to the top of
the parapet. They are strengthened
by sixteen powerful detached case
mated forts, presenting ninety-three
fronts, which defend the approaches,
and are connected Herewith by a
series of underground startegical
roads. During the siege of Paris
the Germans were unable to silence
or capture single one of these forts.
and never got near the walls until
after the city surrendered by force
of famine.
The main value of these walls of
decentralization in time of peace is
to prevent the smuggling of food or
drink into the city without first pay
ing
A HEAVY OCTROI DUTY
thereon, from which tax is derived
the chief revenue of the City Gov
ernment. Nothing can enter the
city except at one of the gates, which
are guarded by police and soldiers.
The first system of Notifications of
Paris were erected in the days of the
Crusades. They were called the
Boulevards Tor bulwarks); they en-
braced a circuit of about seven miles,
and extended just about mile in
each direction from Notre Dame Ca
thedral, on the island. In the course
of time this space of four square
miles became completely filled up
with population.
ABOUT THE YEAR 1870,
the Government pulled down the
walls and towers and filled up the
bitches, and laid off a grand high
way, about 200 feet wide, in the
space formerly occupied by the wall
and ditch. Two rows of trees were
planted around this circle, or the
greater part of it, leaving a wide
roadway between them, and side
walks 80 or 40 feet wide, which now
swarm with pedestrians. Many of
these trees are still standing, espec-
tally those planted at the South
Boulevards about 100 years ago.
This wide, sweeping driveway re-
tanned the general name of
THE BoULEvARDs,
though it has q score of sub-names.