The daily gazette., 1878-09-03
OUR PARIS LETTER.
A PROSPEROUS ALTON.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE DISTRIBUTION
OF PBIzEs-FRANCE THE ALPHA AND
OMEGA AT THE ExHIBITIoN-THE
CAPTIVE BALLOON AND THE
~ FLOATING RESTAURANT
THE TRoCADERo PAL
ACE, &c. &c.

Another Champ de Mars is repaired to
afford space for the ceremony of the dis
tribution Of prizes; 25,0OO winners alone
have theIight to be Accommodated add an
equal number of sight seers, officials &C.,
to witness as many monarchs-not retir-
ed from business, as Candide encountered
at his famous. Venetian supper party, or
that Napoleon had packed in the pit of
a Saxon theatre. 1t is too late to build a
gigantic shanty so that the Palace of In
dustry, on the to be canvass-covered
race COURSE at Longchamps, may be select
ed. The coming fete promises to out
herod Her rod in brilliancy; no discordant
notes will likely be heard, as almost all
the exhibitors, have secured a shred of
blue ribbon. The lottery scheme appears
to be enjoying the sleep of the just; likely
the comm issioners on reflection, object
to games Of chance for raising the wind,
especially when France is able to pay for
her glory, and more so when cosmopoli-
tan visitors arrive again at the rate of1O,-
900 day.
The industrial and agricultural portions
of the Frehce fill the mind with sense
of the ineAhaustible fertility of her soil,
the unsurpassed fancy and skill of her
workmen, and the power of the lively
and indomitable race by which she is
peopled to evince all the energy and en-
terprise which we are accustomed to con-
slider peculiarly the qualities of English
men. No wise man feels jealousy at these
manifestations of the ability of our sister
Republic.
The most important event in the com
mercial history of the world, the discov-
cry of Am erica, which brought ruin upon
othertpeoples prosperous in ancient times
passed over France alone without injur-
ing her. With one coast upon the Az
lantic and another upon the Mediterra-
mean, France is almost unassailable by
such revolutions. Marseilles had been a
great port before the Romans had navy.
When Havre, Nantes, and st. Nazare.
grew into Importance, the advantage was
equally to France. Venice decayed and
Amsterdam increased but Eranceholding
both ends of the thread, prospered before
and after the discovery of the Genoese.
When wire and corn were the typical
constituents of wealth, no country could
be so rich as that which possessed the
smiling plains of Champagne; IN ormandy,
and Bordeaux. When coal and iron were
discoYeredt to be equally im portant for a
country's greatness, the political insight
of the third Napolean secured for France
free access to the coal-fields of England
and Belgium. The high prices OF coal in
1873 made It profitable to work the coal
measures which Northern France herself
contained.
The immense variety of products shown
in the Exhibition are the products of a
land which which is 5000 miles in girth,
and has an area, since the loss of Asace-
Lorraine, Of 204 ,096 square miles. 1t is a
country watered by rivers which are n
proverb fpr their wealth of waters. and
shaded by the historic forests of Ardemes
Fontainetleau, the Vosges, and Cam
piegne, in all of which the oak the beech
the pine, the elm, and edible chestnut
flourish, while the cork-tree grows i'll the
South. The manufactures which fill the
galleries OF the Champ de Mars have
grown upon the course of centuries of
civilization, in constant vicissitudes and
struggles fbr existence which taxed to the
Llt DOWtfS Vi dn IdCcs
Nc leading industry can be mentioned
which does not owe much to France.
The captive balloon is a great sue
&C IS, except on windy days, when no as
centions afelallowed. Another innovation
is, the floating restaurant; salon steam-
boat, that leaves Paris in the morning,
for st. Germain, and returns in the af
ternoon; the single journey lasts 81 hours.
The speculation Is in the hands of the
French reBtaurateurS at the Exhibition.
The tourist can breakfast on board and re-
turn to Paris by rail, or rail to st. Ger
main and dine on board, during the re-
turn Journey, with electric lights at mast
head. Several sights are pointed out
along the Seine, the most vagabond of
rivers In its course; there is the out fall
of the city sewer, and the heights of st.
Cloud; thespot where Bilboir placed the
remains OF his cut-up mistress, the Gren-
onillere, a democratic bathing pool for
both sexes, and the new prison of Nau-
teare, in the land of rOsieres to suggest
to the fair sex, that ii virtue be ever re-
warded, vice shall never be left unpun-
ished if the police can help 1t.
The Trocadero building referred to In
one of my former letters is considered a
marvel of economical construction under
most di cult circumstances, being based
on the hollow site of an old quarry, with
materials most carefully selected for our.
ability au4 good effect The acorstlcal
arrangements are curious. Behind the
grand organ is a large conqae, or reffec-
tor and the occurrence of an echo is pre-
vented, or supposed to be prevented for
many declare that it exists-in the fol
lowing manner Sound travels at the
rate of 340metres per second; and, as the
quickest ear cannot discern two distinct
sounds unless there be an interval of the
tenth of second between them, felt is
would be any danger Of echo. The cell
ing, which is suspended from the roof
timbers, ia formed of peculiar felt only
one fifth Of an inch thick, SO that the
whole does not weigh more than 40
pounds per square metre. The ventila-
tion of tho immense Sale de Fetes is de-
clared perfect; a well more than IL feet
in diameter, was sunk into the ancient
quarry beneath, which has an extent OF
about acres, and with its pillars present
large oopling surface. The air is drawn drawn
into that space by means OF steam
screw fan, aud driven by the same means
up into tie Sale, where it is distributed
above at the rate of feet per second,
xvb;o oh 10 r, nj OH lv reducAd to or lncn6S.