The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-11-10

WELLINGTON, the Capital of New Zealand, has
just suffered from o terrible confagraton, in which
$4,000 worth of property was consumed, and a
woman and FIVE children were burned to death.
That portion Of the Princess Hotel where Sir George
Gray resides, was also destroyed. Mrs. JOhnson's
body and that of her youngest child were found
clasped together. The other four ehildren's bodies
were found in a heap beside their mothers. The
lady is supposed. to have left q kerosene lamp burn
ing in her bedroom. This should be q warning to
people here 10 be cautions with lights at night.
maori IMM1GRANTs.-Our brother editor Of the
Northern -AdUocate, published at Whangarei, Bay
of Islands. New Zealand, in that journals issue Of
October 18th, thus alludes to our plan for the i'm
~portation of some Maori laborers, with their fam
lilies, from New Zealand
"AN. Echo FROM HoNoLUtU.-Mr. Edward Mac
Donnell, associate editor of the PACIFIC COMMERCIAL
ADVERTISER of Honolulu, Hawaiian (Sandwich)
Isles, writes that he highly appreciates the remarks
of Ma Taurau Kukupa,' in the 'Araweketi'
about the establishment of a school wherein 10 teach
the Maori children the language and customs Of the
English and that he would like to see the Maoris
as far advanced in civilization under British rule,
as the Hawaiians undoubtedly are under their own
native king Maori labourers with their wives
and children would be welcome at the Hawaiian Isles
and get IL or Is dollars a month with their keep
on the sugar cane plantations"
The FOURTEENTH day Of last October was fraught
with the highest political Importance for the chival-
rous land of La Belle France. The day in ques-
ton, 1t is scarcely necessary to recall. was that APP
pointed for the holding of general elections of Depu-
ties to sit in the French Legislative Assembly, n
consequence of President MacMahOn's late dictate
rial policy. A London telegram of October 10 con-
veys the intelligence that a communication in the
proee 0ivao tho roculk af fha Rranob alaotiouo ao FOL
lows: "Out of 533 Deputies. there are 895 Repub-
licans and 1913 government nominees The latter
consist of-Bonapartists. 40; Legitimists. 6S; Con-
servatives, 80. Many of the official candidates are
expected to be onseated by the Election Committee,
probably raising the Republican majority to 40.
The Projects have been summoned to Paris to receive
instructions respecting the second balloting There
is no indication that Ministers intend to resign"
+ AS this decision of the French electors appears TO
be of the most momentous consequence for France,
we may be allowed TO make q few pertinent remarks
on the present phase of politics in that country.
The French have been now arrayed for seven years
under q Republican banner; but previous to the re-
cent elections, 1t was very questionable whether the
majority Of the people of France really desired o Re-
publican form of government. The French popula-
ton is divided into three great groups, which repre-
sent severally: the French who desire the restoration
OF the Empire under Napoleon the Fourth; the
French who advocate the restoration of the royal
government, either under the chief Of the house of
Bourbon, Orleans or under Henri Cinq. being thus
split into two hostile factions; and the French who
support Republican institutions, being also divided
into two hostile factions, consisting of moderate Re-
publicans and Socialists. From q religious point Of
view, we may lay down that in France the church
party is divided between Imperialsts and Royalists,
while a small section is in favor Of moderate Repub-
licanism. the extreme Republicans being for the
most part deists, rationalists, atheists, materialists
and non-religionists.
MacMahon's late summary procedure Of calling
for q new general election on the ground that the
Assembly did not represent the voice of the majority
of the French people. may be regarded as a step
which was taken towards the calculation Of the
grand question at issue. II is now curious to read
what Paul de Cassagnac wrote just before the cleo
tions; be said, SIN the approaching struggle there
will be no more Imperialists and no more Royalists;
there will be nothing but Frenchmen marching with
common accord and against the universal enemy
revolution" Now, by " the universal enemy, rev.
olution," Monsieur de Cassagnac really meant Re-
publicanism, and his idea was for both Imperialists
and Royalists to forget their differences and unite
against the :" common enemy that Is, the Repub-
lioans. in his own manifesto almost i'm
peratively commanded all F~renchmen to elect his
own supporters, and Mons. de Cassagnac told the
Frenchmen to follow to the ballot-box the old war;
rior Sc as our fathers followed him on the feld Of
Magenta and to the assault of Malakof." Now,
many people think that the veteran warrior Of the old
Gaulish race nourshes in the hidden recesses Of his
loyal French heart the noble ambition to avenge
the wrongs of his down-trodden country, and not
only recover the lost provinces Of Alsace and Lor-
raine, but also repay p~lundered France for her
terrible Prussian ransom money, by the conquest
and annexation of Rhenish Prussia, with the old capi-
tai Of Charlemagne. Aix-la-chapele, and the Holy
City of the Rhine-Cologne the Catholic-to a new
Empire of the Gauls. 1t is even limited that the old
Marshal's lovely daughter might make a charming
bride for the youthful Prince, whose playmate
she was in happier days, when his august father
swayed the destinies of Imperial France, and her
brave sire led on the victorious armies of triumphant
France on the bloody fields Of fight of Algeria, the
Crimea and the Lombard Plains. The presence of
the Prince Imperial on the Franco-Belgian From
tier, at Namur, is thought by some to have had q
political Significance. Paul de Cassagnsc's idea
evidently was to throw France blindly and without
reserve into the hands Of the heroic soldier, who
smote down the Austrian at Magenta and the Russo
at Mallakof '-for the sole object of enabling the We
teran scion Of the old Gaulish race to arm the
right hand Of France with the sword Of vengeance,
which is destined in his aspirations to overthrow
the Prussian on some future bloody battlefield Of
Rhineland. and perhaps drive him definitely behind
that frontier barrier OF old GauL If, indeed,
MacMahon has nourished the aspiration that he
is destined to be the Avenger of Frances wrongs
at the hands of Prussia-as some French writers.
like Monsieur de Cassagnac seem to hope and de-
sire,-the recent elections show that the majority
of the French people prefer to uphold their Repub-
lican institutions rather than to allow MacMahon
to convert France into an Empire or n Kingdom
for the dubious chance of obtaining q bloody re-
veDge on Prussia. at the risk Of total humiliation
as o nation, in the event Of o failure.