, 1877-03-21

w 0OAd ANSAS
things in the City, " till unseasonably
discovered while leaning against Aldgate
pump at noon for want of employment.
Presently a polite usher rattles his keys
with an air OF authority, but there is the
same unreality about him as c~aptious OBJ
servers have pretended to note in the
officers OF our. own revered House of Lords.
He resembles a d%ecorous ghost moro than
q living creature, and his keys have an
uncanny sound as they jingle, though the
noise OF them Is apparently a relief to the
senator who has been detected by his
family, while it also serves to break the
mouldy, evil smelling silence, sickly with
t~uytiness o hundred years old. The wait
ing-room is worse than that ct a tenth.
rate inn. There are two stools 10 it. o
mean table, some benches, and no attempt
at decoration. The flooring is of brick,
interpreted. Still, though the senators
give such a cherries welcome to visitors,
and appear themselves half ashamed to be-
seen by their personal friends, they are al
legged to resent bitterly the absolute want of
interest in their proceedings which charac-
terises the populace at large. 1t is very
openly said, too, that some of the more
Differentiated among them take revenge
on their dlsreSpecttul fellow-citiz3ns by
voting vexatious ami troublesome laws,
and by grumbling fero3iousIy over their
disconteatS in the railway trains. Indeed,
their y~exation at having constantly to
speak and no hearers is so feverish and
shows itself in such queer ways, that their
chief porter is suspected Of waylaying
strangers Ia the street, aud Of ~endeavouring
by persuasive artiice to induce them to
enter that now silent abode which resound-
ed with the perpetual clash of hostile
factions two short years ago, and towards
which the anxious attention of all Europa
was directed; for the present Senate
House was usel by the Chamber of Depu-
ties as late us 1875. There is grotesque
sort Of pomposity about the senatorial at
PENDANTS which makes the shabby coats Of
several irremovabIe legislators look still
more sordid aud commonplace than they
otherwise would do. Thus the ushers of
the Senate wear chains OF gold about
their necks, whereas those Of the Chamber
OF Deputies content themselves with sill
yer. For the rest, Senators no longer
enjoy the lucrative sinecures which were
made so cosy under the E npire, and age
has often such keen eyes for the main
chance that perhaps it is no wonder some
calculate whether the scanty ply now
dolei out to them really covers the ma
tcrial expenses of IegisIating for their coun.
try's good +; not to speak of Iegislating in
clothes made by " hish,pficed tailor.
1t seems that there is much dis.
tress just now among the navy popula-
ton of the provinces Of France. NJ. Maglione
the mayor of MarseiIIes, has announced to
the municipal council that several dockyards
will shortly be opened in order to give
employment to labourers out Of work.
The munici pality has also applied to the
project for the authority to insert in the
supplementary bulge u sum of 1.4ll,OOOf:
for extraordinary works. A portion OF
this sum is in the treasury of the municipal
lity. The Lyons Chamber of Commerce
has addressed a letter to NJ. Teisserenc
de Bort, the Minister Of Commerce, relative
to the present distress in that town. The
letter attributes the crisis solely to the
excess of production coincident with the
restriction of production by one-half, and
states that at the present time all trades IN
the town are at o standstill.
NEpMANV