New-York tribune., 1878-04-04
HARMONY IN FRANCE.
MINISTER wADDINGToNs soIREE.

| ENTERTAINED.
frRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT rRrBUSE.l
PARIS, March 15.-" Was it as bad as this in
1S30i Did people hate and abuse each other then
'as they do now, between Republicans and Monarch
lists p This question was put, in my presence the
other evening" by Projects wife, to the widow Of
one of Louis Philippe's leading dignitaries. The
answer follows: Decidedly not, and
| for q very good reason. There were no 'cleri-
GALS at that time, and actively there were
parties The Revolution of July was supposed to
represent the French Nation, such as the great rev.
olutioa Of 1889 had made 1t, and the Democratic
principle of the first Empire which made innkeep-
ers into kings. The memory of the great revolution
was fresh and living in the minds Of men of from
fifty to sixty. and inasmuch as the Marshas and
Generals of Napoleon l. represented the fiercest op-
position to the restoration, they were the nat
ural allies of the Liberals of July There
was no competition for power. The Royal
lists, glad to escape with whole skins and
full purses. knew themselves to be hated by the
country and retired from political life altogether;
and the clergy, humby thankful for liberation, at
tempted no mischief. No one would have ventured
to be CLERICAL In those days-the sense of utter
defeat and rdcule incurred, kept the society of the
past in silence and obscurity 1t left the field free
and sulked as one man Tor woman9"
There is perfect truth in this and thought over
the words / marked the composition of the crowd
that assembled last Monday at the first great soree
at the Foreign Office. Not member of the coa-
liton" of monarchists was to be seen; not one,
even, of those social scouts who ride their harmless
raids from the outposts of camp to the outposts
OF the other. But, the other hand, all the useful
aud all the powerful elements of French politics were
represented. The entire majority of the Chamber,
the Commission of the Budget-M. Grevy heading
the one, Gambetta heading the other-were gath
cred round NJ. Waddington-a united. compact
force-and were cordially greeted by the represen-
tatves of all nations.
Here lay the really curious feature Of the gather
ing. Gambetta was the hon of the evening in the
house of the Minister who represents the future Of
France abroad, and the surest element of the
peace of Europe. 1t was the first time the diplo-
matte corps had met officially the so-called Dictator;
and not one Ambassador or Minister Resident who
did not request to be specially presented to tho
"Chief of the Budget Commission" for such is his
technical and official title. 1t vastly interest
ing TO mark his various interviews The first was
with the Marquis de Molins, Spanish Ambas-
sadOr, whose copper complexion likens him
| to resusctated Inca of Peru attIred in modern
garb; the conversation was very animated one.
After this, the Portuguese Dutch, Swiss, Belgian
and other Ministers absorbed their share of the
| tribune's leisure. but the closing and by far the
/
the German Ambassador. For three quar-
ters of an hour might be seen the
sive figure of Gambetta, leaning against q
wall and bending his head down toward the
| shrivelled, notwithstanding weazen-faced Ba-
yaran who does duty for Prussan. and bears
ostensby the messages of the stalwart Chancellor
| at Berlin to the some time enemy the
banks of the Seine. No greater contrast can be
! imagined than between these two men;
one pOnderous in the extreme, and like
| Bismarck himself. believing IN no disguise;
the other slyness itself personied. and slippery
sly, and perfectly confirming the assertion of many
| Prussans, who say that Bismarck simply sent him
to Paris in order not TO be exposed to meet him
in his own near neghborhood in Berlin. Nothing
however, could be more pleasant, apparently, than
the talk, or must add more deferentia than Prince
! Hohcnlohe's attitude. 1t must be observed that
no other chiefs of the Great Embassies presents;
Lord Lyons being IN London; Count Wimpfen, Of
| Austria, in Fathers mourning" for the kaisers
Arch Ducai sire Cialdini, absent in Rome and also
mourning for his late King, and Prince Orlof kept
away by lndlspOslt1On.
But never was a fete more typical than this recep-
ton of Monday last. 1t was really the meeting of
external Europe with the strength and capacity of
regenerated modern, living political France. Be-
sides this, it bore testimony the perfect harmony
that exists among the Parliamentary leaders of the
! whole Cabinet with the most uncompromising
leaders of the Left, and tine men who sprang into
public life on the 1th September 1S7Oand organized
| tine national war movement until January, 1871.
Although mOdern-minded and largely liberal,
WaddingtOn till now. representeda shade of opinion
more strictly Parliamentary and somewhat less ad-
vaucedp than such men as Freycinet, Gambetta or
Jules Ferry. Before the advent to Office of the
existing Ministry, he was rather surrounded by men
of the Right Centre bordering on the Left Centre,
or by those of the Left Centre bordering
on the Right. His intimates and asso-
ciates were the Orleanistic Republicans such
as the S6gurs, P6riers, Lasteyrles, and Pasquers
and the advanced party, whilst bndly trusting.
scarcely knew him personally. and did not frequent
his salons. Now, this is all altered, and the new
rising men of France gather round Waddmgton, at
the Foreign Office to the full much as round
Frcycinet, at the Department of Public Works.
At the same time that this the characteristic Of
the Interior Department the signs of what is i'm
pcnding out of doors are TO the full satisfactory.
| am enabled to affirm that nothing can exagerate
the desire of Prince Bismarck to meet and converse
with M.Waddington, desire strongly shared by the
Crown Prince of Germany and his wife, the English
Princess There can be but little doubt now that
from the intercourse between the present Foreign
Minister of France and tho German Chancellor
during the Congress f it ever be held will spring
condition Of things such few months hence
may easily modify the relationships Of nearly all
the European Governments one 20 the other.
Here IN Paris there is a steady belief in peace, and
fancy it would not be saying too much in declar.
ing that the same belief is held at Berlin. That the
ncedful concessions will be made by Russia at the
last moment no one doubts and this hope is based
on the notion that such concessions will be as
firmly advised by Germany as by any other
Power in Europe. IL is said that there is 10 be an
Anglo-French Protectorate in Egypt, and many
wise heads predict tbat-what with England and
Greece on one hand, and Austro-Ialan combina-
tions on the other. and Waddngton's honest firm
ness brought TO bear upon Blsmarck-Russa will in
the end find that she has opened gates in the East
through which will rush in Christian forces she
never dreamt of, and by whose pressure she Will
herself be restricted to her proper sphere OF action
nnrth of the Black Sea,