The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-08-09
PARIS LETTER.
From our regular Correspondent
PARIS InlY Is Isl!

From our regular correspondent
PARIS, July Is 1879.
BY a small majority the French senate has
passed the bill for the return of the Legislature
TO Paris.
The debate on this question is one which
foreigners are especially unified to understand
We may read the history of France, yet not be
able to understand the feelings OF Frenchmen
1t is clear that Paris is, to a Frcnchman of sus
that London, Berlin, Vienna or Madrid can
never be to the Englishman, German, Austrian
or Spaniard. Paris has features of urban life
that no provincial city can approach and SO
cial characteristics to which none can attain
1t is the head and heart of French politics, and
in its salons or streets, in its palaces or bur
eaux, regulations or dynasties, revolutions OF
reactions, are made or unmadc. Beyond these
substantial considerations there is all the ro-
nance and fervor which republicans, poetlcal
or political, have hcaped up around an ideal
Paris Victor Hugo considers it kind of
holy city, and evidently believed that there
was sacrllege in the German bombardment OF
metropolis which is, perhaps more devoted
to what Shakespeare calls pleasant vices"
than any other city upon earth. Paris" said
the great French poet, "is not capital it is
an immense hospitality and in one sense he
was right; for 1t is full of hotels, some OF them
excellent, but if the welcome of the landlords
is immense so are sometimes their bills,
nor have they ever INDUCED in unrcmunera-
tive reception. Another myth surrounds Paris
its population is supposed to be especially
heroic" That the street fights against over
whclmlng odds have occasionally exhibited
striking traits of individual daring cannot be
disputed Parlsians, men, women ana boys,
can sometimes meet death or even rush upon
it with cool courage or flashing valor never
exceled by the mimic hcrosm of the stage.
The belief however, tl.at the mass of the Par
isians are heroes the siege signally dis.
proved. There were four hundred thousand
National Guards under arms; but they literal
ly did nothing notable except capture Bour-
get, and that was taken from them the next
day To anybody who knows the statistics of
CONSUMPTION in France this result is not at all
surprising. The physical examination of all
young Frcnchmen, in order to test their fit.
ness for military service enables the authori.
ties to ascertain precisely the influence of city
air and city habits on the constitutions of sue.
cessive generations of men. I'm the rural de.
partments of France there are four conscripts
rejected as unfit for every ten healthy recruits
enrolled; while IN Paris fourteen are rejected
as unfit for every ten accepted, This weak.
ness of Partisan physique comedies with in
tense mental susceptibility, and here are some
of the causes that give to the politics of the
capitol the characteristics of an Intermittent
fever attacking weakly frame. There is at
times intense excitement, spasmodic vigor
and high heat; then reaction and relapse.
Boys in body, women IN eXcltabihty, men in
mental power, the ParisIans could fight splen-
didly for ten minutes behind a barricadc or
die with an epigram on their lips, but break
down when subjected to the trying ordeal of Il
long siege. Much Of the mercy extended to
the commune is traceable to theory, not with.
out justification, that kind OF political de
lnium possessed the people, The privations
OF the siege, the enforced secluslon, the entry
Of the Germans, the misfortuncs of France
shook mems souls and they knew not what
they did. Still this very natural plea for lenity
Is not quite an argument for trusting them
again.
But" Frenchmen.will say, this beautiful
heroic city must not be Insulted" Their sus-
ceptibility TO insult is an abiding characters
tic of Partisan politics. IF we do not fight
Prussia after this" wrote NJ Emile Girardin
early IN July 1870, "no lady in Europe will
take Frenchman's arm; !" so 10 ensure Eu.
ropean acceptance Of French courtesy, war
was made to the cry of a Berlinl" PersoDi-
fication has great effect in poetry; but IN
poIitics it is rather perilous. Why should
Paris be one: Why should city have a soul
or sense of insult; A Legislature represent
ing all France may naturally resent dcia,ion
from the chance intruders of day, yet that
was found impossible in ls4S and in 1871. In
1871 Prince Bismarck suggested TO NJ. Jules
Fayre as one Of the conditions of the armistice
tue disarmament Of the Paris National Guards,
because 1t might be tempted to reject the final
Lace mo-" said NJ Favre, shat would be
to insult a population that during the siege