The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-11-02
CORRESPOND NCE.
Letter from France.
PARIS. Sept. 3Oth. 6

PARIS, Sept. 30th, 81.
MesSrS. EditorS,-Paris was astound-
ing enough under the rule of Napoleon
Bonaparte. In the short space of twelve
years that extraordinary man collected
more works of art and added more en-
bellishments than the three preceding
sovereigns combined. Bonaparte indem-
nifed the Parisians for the loss of liberty
by improving their city. No man ever
more perfectly guaged the French char
acter. To soothe the horror of Paris at
the murder of the Due D'Enghien, he
ordered that new opera should be
brought out. During his rule fine streets
were opened; quays were constructed; ;
the Seine bridges were successively
erected; and the canal of Ourcq was
opened to facilitate the conveyance of
goods. Twenty-four new fountains, and
eight covered markets were begun and
finished. The colonnade of the Louvre
was embellished and the works by which
the same palace was to be united to the
Tuileres were begun. A triumphal arch,
loaded with ornaments, In dimensions the
same as the one erected to Septimius
Severus at Rome, rose on the Carrousel to
commemorate the Austrian campaign of
1905. A similar monument of colossal
size crowns the entrance to the Champs
d'Elysee. The church of the Magdalen
was enlarged and the present peristyle
was built around the chamber of deputies.
A pillar after the model of the one raised
to Antonine at Rome, covered with basso-
relieves and surmounted by the statue of
its founder, adorned Vendome place
Lastly the Exchange, the most sumptuous
edifce in Paris, was founded on a site
formerly encumbered with old houses.
But the fall OF Napoleon the First, the
exhausted state of finances, invasions and
defeats have never arrested the embellish-
ments of Paris. The adornments have
gone on under king and Chamber of Dep
uties, under Bourbon and Bonapartists
regime, until Paris has been so entirely
rebuilt as to change utterly its whole as
pect. The traveller who expects his
torical and hoary city will find
A Jeune Metropolis, With an Air of
Modern Glitter,
which deprives it of much of its histori-
cal aspect and of almost everything in
the way of the picturesque for which it
was once remarkable. One would never
dream now that Caesar visited Paris (then
Lattetia) fifty-fve years before the Chris
tian era-that Clovis selected it for his
residence-that it was pillaged by the
Normans and fortified by the successors
of Charlemagne. Strolling along its bou-
levards, and gazing at the extended
squares of white buildings, much alike
onH rotba,. ,.,o,,1J
agine the city aOas built last aOeek. Rus
kin, signing for the ancient and worship
ping the picturesque, would scof at
Paris more than he has done at young
America. Under the magic wand Of Ma
poleon III and Baron Hausseman, it has
emerged like butterfly from a chrysalis,
so bright and gay, so new and fresh and
elegant, that it has almost forgotten its
antecedents. One would imagine that
Paris could never again be what it was
under the second Empire, when it never
ceased to present constant succession OF
recurring marvels That was a gala dis
play Of freworks-a shower of golden
rain-that could hardly be repeated
But the windup of September, 1870, was
terrible after its kind setting the Empire
and all France In blaze. Yet
The Paris of 1891,
IN all its aspects, manners, humors, is
more astounding than at any previous
date in its history. At no time has there
been richer display Of wealth and taste
IN the shops, or more gaiety and lveli-
ness among the inhabitants, and wider
repertoire Of all those inexhaustible re-
sources which cater to the amusements
and pleasures Of civilized society. True
some Of the French newspapers maintain
a different opinion The Figaro thinks
France is politically disorganized, and
the ship Of state is rapidly drifting on a