The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-07-19
Letter from Paris.
The French Repablie-The Grand Fete of
June 30ih-The Fourth of July In Pari.
PARIS, July 9TH, 1873.

PARIS, July 9th, 1873.
To the Editor of the Press:
The only occasion on which his Royal High
ness, the Prince OF Wales, has had the good
fortune to agree with me, so far as know, was
when he recently said on a public oc.
casion, "My whole heart is with France"
| (1oM mon coeor est d Ia France may say
that, trust, without any disloyalty to the old.
or and more stable republic which has taught
the whole world the secret of self-government.
The American who could witness the fete of
June 30th without sympathy and emotion could
only be one of that unhsppily too numerous
class who rashly conclude on every occasion of
public inquietude or danger that "self govern.
ment is failure, and that 1--WE need strong
hand at the helm" 1t was the first grand tete
OF the French Republic, and so over whelmiug
was the desire of the Parsians to make the
occasion an unmistakable indication of their
political opinions, that the demonstration
assumed an amplitude and splendor such as
even Paris, fresh from the great outburst of
patriotic feeling on the 1st Of May, never before
4 saw even under the Emperors. shall not
attempt any description of the decora-
tions, and illuminations, the fireworks
and the ceremonial. I could only string
together a stiresome array of superatiyes
which would mean simply this, that every
| quarter and every street of Paris-nay, almost
every building, except where the sullen Impe-
rialst, the hungry-eyed Lsgitimist or the fat
| and sensual priest looked forth from darkened
windows-was drsped with flags and illumin-
| ated in style of profusion which caused the
observer to mark almost every step of his pers-
| grinations with admiring O's and enthusiastic
Abs. l am almost tempted to say q word Of
the garden OF the Tuieres with its streets liter
ally walled by many-colored flames, Of the
Champs Eyssss and the Bois de Bouloene
where the very lakes were covered with light,
and the very fiower-beds and thickets had their
borders OF fire; but let me tell you:rather of the
people who with light song and choral hymns
were celebrating their emancipation.
Thesday before the celebration took walk
through the Faubourg st. Antoine. The
reader OF French history will not need to be
told that this quarter of Paris is the home of
the Red Spectre. This is the spot where the
barricade springs up In troublous times 8
naturally as the fringed orchs or the red cardi.
nal flower by the side of our meadow brooks in
Maine 1t was here that in June, 1S4S, the
monster barricade was so valiantly defended
and it was here that in the gloom of o Decem.
Der morning In 1851, the divine Victor Hugo.
driving in hackney coach through files of the
drunken soldiers of the coup d'etat saw the
body OF the dead Baudin borne along the boule.
ward by his assassins. Here dwelIs the only
numerous body of real democrats that know
or have heard of on this earth in the 10Th cen-
| tba nIu
Inc cosmopolitan spirit, to whom the words
Liberty, Equality, fraternity, have soms-
thing more than their conventional meaning.
And 1T is here as I believe, that the social
philosopher OF the future will put off his shoes
as on holy ground, though falsehood, Islander and
perjury piled mountain high now consign these
apostles OF liberty BY hundred, and thousands TO
the horrors of Cayenne, and all of them to thu
execration of their fellow men,
What a contrast between this scene and that
presented by the gorgeous boulevards, stretch
ing from the Madeleine through miles of pal-
aces toward the Bastle! Here there are no coats
nothing to be seen but blouses, blue or white.
Here my good new shoes are objects of suspi-
cion and my high hat is unique. On the bou.
ieVard des Capacines and des Italiens, through
P"ooo0 r6iQuoQ
adecorous silence, though already the rich
fa2ades were gay with flags and all ths we'll.
dressed world was In the street-prof.s.;onoI
ioungers' titled idlers' painted women, foreign
ers' feverish. WIN curiosity and excitement.
:TfJg%ng sL,,. 'Ie iez' orientals I'M turban and
,ishmen s,ruegiiaaEs ,ruegEiiaEsisns in tall fur caps, Eng.
all this un-English glitter 'thslia- the midst Of
spirit and their traditional reserve. The sri--
preaching fete of the Rspublic very obviously
impaired an unwonted animation even to this
crowd of dilletaate. bat 1t was quiet and elegant
So on Jared till passed the column Of July
on the site of the Bastile, and marked with
pleasure an American flag floating among the
French banners at the summit, marked too,
with amusement, that by curious effect OF
distarce and the cleaning light the statue Of
the Genius of Liberty which crowns the monu-
ment, standing gracefully on one foot like Msr-
curry seemed to have thrown its left leg forward
instead of back as if indulging some very
intense but .undignified emotion, say anti
cipation of raid through the gilded halls of
the proud and reactionary Faubourg st. Ger
main.
At length-forgive my inconsequential reyer.
les on the way-the dingy portals OF tine st.
Antoine! Here presented himself to me-to me
respectable and devout remembering Petit
Gavroche-an important parsonage, perhaps
the most important in Paris; the gdnlin, the
street A.ab, the gutter snipe. He Is at home
| here but does not, in quiet times, very much
affect the fashionable quarters of the town.
| was in some doubt as to my reception by this
| magnate of the faubourgs who as all the world
| knows, revels in the storm OF revolution and
| does not willingly permit any compromise In
respect to the most advanced doctrines Of social
| philosophy. Besides, he sometimes generalizss
too hastily from outward appearances and
draws unfavorable inferences from the mere
| adveatitious circumstance of q persons wear
ing coat.
But happily little Gavroche was In good
humor on the day of my visit Besides being .
cosmopolitan from conviction and having well
settled 'views" In regard to the solidarity" OF
nations and so predisposed to treat foreign
powers with consideration, he was preparing
to fete the Republic and was accordingly some-
what preoccupied In fact he was at that mo-
ment shouting Yiue Ia RepubhQue he and all
bis compeers, some of them three aad four
years. apparently clad in single garment, after
the antique Roman style before the progress Of
luxury had brought in the effaminate tunic.
was surprised at his enthusiasm, for he
doesn't make much account Of this republic.
He fiouts at 'the Marshal President" he clam.
ors for liberty of the press. Of speech and Of
public meeting. He desires to overturn the
ministry of Dufaure because it forbade the
proper celebration of the centennial of Vol
taire, because it would not permit Cheslnger to
put Phrygian cap on the new statue of France
just set up with 80 much 'pomp and circum
stance" in the Field of Mars, because it does
not prosecute the conspirators of the 10th Of
May, and, above all, because it does not am
| nesty the Communists. He hates even wha
he is won't to call the "opportunism" of Gam
BETA and of the late Theirs, which in French
; politics means merely taking what you @i
+; get and waiting quietly for the rest withou
. making disturbance. But the Republic
: which little Gavroche and all the rest wer
| calahratin1 WAS the Rannhlic of tha fukura