The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-10-30
THE PACIFIC
Observation-Disclosures
SATURDA Y. OCTOBER so
OUR PARIS LETTER.
PAgIs. September 2lst. Is7

Elych. OtDEf HtcIs5 4uiG ~ dutADElASAs eli Acf
that this Iull is the commencement of a long
period Of hnlcyon days that France is destined to
enjoy under the somewhat aatocratic Republic Of
Marshal MeAiabOn. Before reaching this haven
Of repose the country must, however, traverse the
troubled waters Of general elections. 1t is under
stood that these elections will take place in
December or January. This belief, though gen
eral, is based upon very scanty grounds. France
is a country where improbable events alone are
probable, and where things predicted seldom
come to pass at the date fixed beforehand. The
Assembly has lost in the eyes of the nation all
lnoyal authority, but it must be remembered that
it contains a vast number Of nobodies belonging
to all parties. They know, or fear, that after
the next elections, Versailles will see them no
longer, and they will retard the inevitable disso-
luton by all available means. Up to the present
time N. Buffet has lent them his powerful aid.
Still the Government must recognize that the
fatal day cannot be deferred till the Greek
calends. Government, in common with every
body else, cannot yet even guess the probable
result of the campaign. A good deal depends
upon the electoral law yet to be voted. If the
system of ScrutiH de fste, that is to say, voting
by department, be adopted, the Republicans and
Bonapartists will certainly carry the day. But
if the scruiin d arrOndiSsement, that is the cut
ting up of the departments into voting districts,
be adopted, the result may be very different. NJ.
Bullets programme is said to consist in an appeal
to moderate men of all parties. If executed, it
will bring together for the defence of the Repub-
lie, a body of men who are anything but Repub-
lican. However the sole aim of NJ. Buffet would
seem to be, to make the nation forget the legal
name of it's Government. This system is carried
ont avan in tho smallest fhInna Tins tho oaa1
of the Republic is to be replaced on the stamps
by q design representing peace and commerce.
Naturally this system has produced much bitter
feeling in the country, and it is the real cause of
the formation of a Radical Republican party
under Messrs. Naquet and Louis Blanc. In this
state Of things one may we'll receive with suspi-
cOn the reported conversion to Republicanism of
the Orleanist Princes. Their organ indeed owns
with a charming frankness that the Princes can
but be thinking of using the Republic as a cats
paw, and it recalls to mind the example Of Jason,
who, once in the possession of the Golden Fleece,
repudiated his enchantress wife, Medea, by whose
spells the prize had really been won. This paper
however has no need to go back to the Greeks
for an example of this sort. Precedents are not
wanting even in the history of the Orleans family.
Did not its founder, Henry ", put away his
first wife, the belle Margot, after using her as II
stepping stone to the throne of France.
But for the moment the gay city of Paris gives
but little head to the morrow. Winter is COM
iDK Ou anu ODc nus uueItu 10 tnIDf the uDc
summer days which succeed each other only too
swiftly since the commencement of the month.
Politics are very well during the sunless days of
winter, and the Partisan dearly loves a wrangling
discussion with an intimate enemy about one Of
the many Centres of the Assembly. But the
cafe, with its many lights and chatting groups of
domino players, can now only find customers
among the foreign and provincial sight-seers who
throng the town. Paris is empty, at least of
Parisans. Those who possess a chateau remain
- a. -zA.-.E A.. - Al r
campaign. 4 few bathers still tarry at Trouville
and other places on the Normandy coast. Some
of the leaders of fashion have settled at Biarritz,
whose splendors waxed and waned with the
fortunes of the second Empire. At the world
renowned baths and springs of Vichy, the season
has bsen brought to an abrupt close by an mum
dation of the river Allier.
Even at Paris however some persons must
remain at work. But the sun shines, to use a
French proverb, for every one at least once a
week. On Sunday the shop-keepers and the
workman can take their trip to the country.
Every fine Sunday nearly 100000 Parisians, or
about one-eighth of the population, spend the
day in one of the hundred little villages scattered
around Paris. Each locality has its annual fete
lasting generally one day. At some places, how
ever, it is prolonged from Sunday to Sunday.
One Of the most important of these fetes is that
of st. Cloud, which commenced last week and
will not finish until the end of the month. The
booths and shows are crowded every Sunday
evening Dy q tnroDS oil pleasure seekers from
Paris, who return about midnight to their homes
carrying triumphantly in one hand a Chinese
lantern and in the other a nutrition. The mirliton
is n sort of primitive flute in painted wood,
inscribed with numerous notices, from which a
clever player can draw a series of dscordant
sounds capable of waking the seven sleepers.
The longer the instrument, the greater the torture
for the neighbors of the musician, and mirhtOnS
run up to six feet. The fete finishes by a ball in
the open air. Among the spectators one can
often remark shame-faced American and English
visitors, trying to find an excuse for their pres
ence in the rule Sat Rome do as the Romans
do" All these festivities take place at a little
distance from the ruins of the palace of ST. Cloud,
whose crumbling walls, Int up by the soft moon
light, cast no gloom on the mirth of the dancers.
This happy forgetfulness is at once the bad and
the good point of French character. Avid of
amusement, he readily finds an excuse for his
failings. A French paper the other day seriously
gave as q proof of national prosperity the fact
that the Parisians were spending %, 900 900
francs q year on play-going, or a fifth more than
they spend even IN the paimiest days of the
Empire.
The Parisians can however throw off this child
ishness at will. All the young men of % years
of age have just been called out for a months
service in accordance with the new Army Law.
Very few have tried to evade this call, and in the
ranks their conduct has given great satisfaction.
From one end of France to the other-a series of
sham campaigns are in course Of execution. This
80 little war however resembles very little the
real article. There is a deal more of sham than
of fighting in the operations. Rival generals in
the heat of warfare must respect a peasants
The following story shows that the
is sometimes carried "a little too far.
4 band of skirmishers discovers asleep under a
hedge a private of the rival army. Naturally
they wake him up, and inform him that he is
prisoner of war. Nothing disconnected, their
captive draws from his pocket an order proving
that in his simple person be represents a whole
regiment of cavalry, and that the skirmishers
have fallen into an ambush. Such a lesson as
this would hardly prepare a young recruit for n
real campaign. Young France could find in La
Chase. that is hunting and shooting, a better
occasion to prepare himself for the fatigues of
war. Government makes no small sum by the