New-York tribune., 1878-05-14
PRICE FOUR CENTS.

aU tne last moment they received tine gilt caIuS
which entitled them to the privileges of the process
sion. But have not heard that they presented
to the Marshal, or enjoyed any other honor dis
tinciOn than such as the auctoneer or stockbroker
| enjoyed.
This also is subject not pleasing TO recur TO, so
add that the whole number of tickets granted to
Americans was about 300-out of $4,000. How the
odd 20 700 were distributed will not undertake to
explain. The English, / hear, had two, or some say
three thousand, and they deserved all they got for
| the heartiness and strength with which they have
! taken ND the Exhibition. Their claims were far
| beyond ours in whatever way You measure them,
and 1T would be most ungraclous to gTudge them
any part of the luck which fell TO their
share. But that does not prove that only
800 could be spared to meet 1000 applications.
The resident Americans took care OF themselves
to some extent but the transient Yankee. who had
como here expressly to see the opening, was natur-
ally more pressing. We were expected to think
ourselves lucky in getting about thirty Of the yell
low striped white tickets the advantages OF which
are enumerated above For this state of things
reprOach nobody and | accuse nobody. l state
what have good reason to believe to be the facts,
and it Is open to anybody who likes to offer suitable
remarks Oh them. 1t will at least be clear that
if our share in the Exhibition is modest
one. our share in the festivities which
marked its opening is not less modest L
suppose Governor Noyes was there and did his
duty in looking from the SPECIAL tribune OF the
foreign dipomatists, wherever it may have been.
He could not be expected to join in the professionals
Mr. Taylor did-wlth results which will By and by
describe.
WHAT WAS PLANNED AND WHAT ACCOMPLISHED
Lest the reader quite lose his way among my
rambling remarks will fit into sentence or two
the outline or framework of the days celebration as
il was officially announced in advance, which Will
help him also to judge of what occurred by cOmpan-
son with what should have occurred. lhe President
of the Republic (who makes point OF call
ing himself Marshal-President was to open
| the Exhibition, beginning at o'clock precisely.
! The Minister of Agriculture was to make nm
short speech beforehand, and be would then walk,
| with a long procession behind him, through the
! grounds of the TrocadGro and the Champ dc Mars
along thecentral and foreign avenues, back through
part of the French section, out through the Porte
! Rapp, and so home Not much of programme, you
/ would say: ana surely not an embarrassing one to
! execute Yet this is ALL or the substance OF
! all Whatever SOu add to it is accessory and
mere ornament-troops, princes, people, the roar Oh
cannon and the playing of fountains But the sue
cess of your day depends on how you do the ancll-
larry and decorative part 1t is quite impossible to
! conceive Paris en- tee and the world on uptoe 10
! hear what NJ. Tesserenc de Bort, mild Minister.
| has to say officially, to follow the Marshall
flowing plumes aud dreary face as he fares from
! palace TO palace,
They told us few days ago that 10000 troops,
carrisons of Paris of Vincennes of Versailles, and
know not what else, would be under arms on this
day The streets of Paris, the avenues eonverglng
upon the Place du TrOcadero were to be lined with
infantry and kept clear by cavalry; not TO speak OF
|
open spaces i drove this morning from
NV hotel. near the Place du NoUvel Opera,
nv the Boulevards and the Champs Elysees to
tie entrance of the grounds without seeing SOL
der save a stray orderly or two tTotting elnmsiIy
! past. can't say how many troops there were IN
side They kept the avenue from the Trocadero
! fountains to the bridge in one direction. and back
to the velvet tribune in anOthcr-three or four
| brigades, perhaps, of the men whom Mr. Forbes IN
| his picturesque way calls red-trOusered devils.
There were more OF them in the Champ de Mars, out
of sight from perch, and half regiment or so OF
Guards of honor have seen 10 explanation of the
| change of programme. 1t must have been bitter
disappointment to Paris, which sets great store by
dispIays of troops and used TO have its
| I'll of them under the Empire. All the
same The city kept its promise in the matter of dec
orations 1t has been gay with flags all day more
flags along the streets, says friend who knows tho
! town WE'LL than have been seen since the army
came back in triumph from Italy, in 1888. found
| them in trouble with their flags at my hotel-in
consternaton eyen-for they discovered. at the last
moment. that all their trcolor banners bore m-
perial insignia. They managed to keep loyal to tho
| Republic by wrapping those embiems tight about
| tine ilagstaifs.
Stripped thus of the main strength OF Its s0dierly
splendOr the f6te could hardly be very grand one
| G., sla4
The seven Princes came punctualy, L believe.
Senators and deputies ministers, state counsellors,
and endless civic functOnanes-respec but
not gorgeous l don't think quite all the $1,000
pcople. with their fourteen kInds of tickets. did
| come OF the proceedings in the vestibule d'hon-
| neur and the tribunes and the Champ de Mars YOU
will hear from other hands; what have still 10 say
will touch on other points.
FIRST CEREMONIES.
| 1t had been doubtful all the morning whether the
| weather would permit any OF the open ar work TO
! be got through with. Rain poured down steadily
fill 10 and when the clouds broke, the blue sky had
a wet look about it, and the carriages mostly kept
their hoods up. quarter of an hour before the en-
frances were closed another storm of rain and wind
| and hail came down. 1t blew with great violence
directly into the open gallery where sat at the mo-
ment and scattered and frightened away all tho
! people VINO ihomehU peiolo Ia" tiious"' ''
selves lucky in getting front seats. The Exhibition
was opened with a crash of thunder an hour before
! the official cannon shot which was TO proclaim tho
| thing finished which is not finished. Through
the lofty arcades of the Hall you the whole ex-
,eut of the grounds suddenly covered with mnsh-
! room growth of umbrellas. Even the soldiers ap-
peared TO have sheltered themselves, but it was
only the people fraterni2lng with the troops, and
| holding umbrellas over the warriors heads This
mast the scene came out once more in such beauty
| Il. ho,u,,. Of 4ha orpot citv that