New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-16
eptsODFS orr FRENCH FETE.

1bie1s's statue has been unveiled not only
ON soil which he liberated, but III city Whlch
owed its deliverance to his patriotism ana
eIoouence. Nancy was the first city Whlch
was occupied by the army Of invasion, ana
one of the last which MOltke relinqulshed.
Theirs pleaded for her with such fervor ana
natbos that the heart of the man of iron aud
blood was touched. Jules Simon has de-
scribed the scene in his work on the Govern
ment of the first President, and it was lifting
that he should be on the ground to tell the
story anew when the city's benelactor re-
ceived this GROWING honor.
Nine years have passed since France was
dragged into a war for which she was so Ill
prepared Her industrial and military recOv-
cry is one of the marvels of the century. The
indemnity has been paid, the army has been
reorganiZed, prosperity has been restored, ana,
in the words of the LiberatOrs colleague I'M
der the Pact of Bordeaux, the Revolution OF
1889 has taken its defnitive form i'll the Lab
eral and Conservative Republic winch he him
self fashioned. Meanwhile, what has become
of the enormous ransom, the 5,25OOOO,OOO
francs which Germany received More than
half of it went to waste among the lmprov-
ident State Governments. OF the remainder,
$40 600. 900 was set aside for a pension
fund. SS5. 600, 900 was expended on fortifi-
cations in Alsace-LoTaine and on the
Eastern frontiers, and few millions
more were FILTERED away on artil-
lery experiments, commemorative medals,
awards for damages and special grants for
eminent services. This great bounty has been
" like water poured upon the plain, Not to
be gathered UP again" The disconnected
classes complain that the Fatherland is now
ms impoverished as 1t was at the close of the
Thirty Years War. This is, of course,
exaggeration, but it is undoubtedly TRUE that
the French millards have been a curse rather
than a blessing to Germany.
These are the general reflections which are
prompted by the i6te at Nancy, of which
al account is given in our news-coumns.
There were two Incidents however, upon which
special stress NAV be laid. The first Is the
arrest of an aged priest, who was so indis-
Greet as to express his disapprobaton of the
Republican airs played by the band. The gen
darmes pounced upon him and hustled
him off to a lookup, while the mob
Knocked him and cried, "Vive la LOi Ferry"
The other incident was the GOODNESS with which
the orator of the day was welcomed. When
the Government of Theirs was organized,
Jules Simon was the leading Republican who
was given a place In the Ministry. He was
denounced by the Monarchical factions as
social agitatOr, and as the plot thlckened
about the 10th of May, he was preached
down by the bishops as an atheist. The
scene has changed. This same Jules Simon
has come forward as the leader of new
party, which aims to take the place of the
Left Centre, and to control the Adminstra-
ton through the moral support of Mod
crate Republicans and Catholic Conservatives.
He has already brought his influence to bear
against the Anti-Jesuit Education Acts and
is opanly charged with intriguing to overturn
Ministry which cannot resist the will OF
Gambetta. The orator on the platform had
once been a Radical of the Radicals, so far as
the exclusion of clerical influence from the
schools was concerned, but when the mob at
the heels of the aged priest cried out give
ala Loi Ferry" his Republicanism had
changed its tinge. The institutions which he
had come to advocate were Conservative
rather than Liberal.