Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-11-02
LETTER FROM PARIS.
OUR CORRESPONDENT LOOKS IN UPON
THE FRENCH CAPITAL.
An Astonishing Metropois-The Second
Empire-The French Republc-The
Boueyards - Plsasure'Seeking
Paris-A Sunday After
noon Display,
THE PECULlARlTlES OF THE FRENCH.
Special Correspondence OF the Register.

PARIS, October 10.
For a month past l have allowed nv
pen rest while making travels through
Holland, Belgium, France and the sew
| eral States OF the German Empire.
have Just looked in upon Paris, before
returning to England, and | must con-
! Tess that the aspect, manners and nu-
mors OF the metropolis OF France have
fairly astonished me. Paris was as
founding enough under Louis Philippe,
and a wonderful city was it during the
republic which sprouted up, geurd-
like, in February, 1913, and
collapsed. very much after the manner
of a soap bubble, in December, lS5l.
| Throughout the duration OF the second
Empire, Paris never ceased to present 4
| spectacle uf continuously recurring mar
| vels. 1t was as though you were be-
holding gala display OF fireworks, and
each new shower OF golden rain, each
| new ascent of coruscating rockets, ellcl-
ted from the cosmopolitan crowd below
more prolonged and more won
der-strcken cry OF ''O.o-oh." At last
came the .bauquet-a wind-up which
occurred on the fourth OF September,
1870; which was truly astonishing alter
its kind but scarcely came TO the cuI-
mination expected by the Imperial
pvrotechnists, who continued to set not
only their remaining stock OF squlbs and
crackers. Catherine wheels ami Roman
candles, but also the Empire anu
All France in Bla2s.
1t were unnecessary to dwell upon the
astonishing features presented by Lutte
tia throughout the successive vlclssi'
tudes OF the siege, the commune, the
\ G saillaes TerrC and the clericalist and
Leyitimist intrigues OF the dictatorship
OF NJ. Theirs, and the un,,
completed septeunate OF Marshal
Mae Mahou. 1t is an astonishing TACT
to what extent Paris, after undergoing
almost unprecedented suffering, cOnyul-
sion and devastation, has progressed IN
the path OF restoration and reGupera.
ton, IL was in the exhibition year ol
1878 that she triumphantly proclaimed
herself completely convaiescent, and
cast the night.cap OF the invalid and the
crutches OF the cripple par.drS$lT tes
mouiuS Still although there was found
in the daily unrolling panorama OF man
ners much TO excite wonder and adml-
ration, the Paris Ct 1873, am told,
| did not astonish the traveller so much as
that OF 1881 has done.
In the government OF three years ago
! a phantom of arstocratic, or at least OF
oligarchic rule yet fingered. The Mar
sinai was vet in power. The amnesty
was scarcely an accomplished tact. NJ.
| Gambetta, at present the practical ruler
OF France, was yet regarded as Radical
| of the reddest dive. Bonapartlsm still
went about. its head arrOgantIy lifted,
and mutterng in tones not by any
means inarticulate that its turn was
coming again. and that at no distant date !;
and, finally, it was not quite prudent
nor qnite a safe thing TO talk German
too loudly in c0is or in railway car
riage. Travellers OF TeutoniC nationality
visiting Paris to see the great show IN
the Champ de Mars were apt preteren.
tally to patroniZe hotels kept by and
ireQuented almost exclusively by Ger
mans; anG
Politic Children ofthe Fatherland
who were obliged BY their business en-
gagements to have permanent doml-
Gle in the French capital were more
inclined, on the whole, to be taken Tor
Austrians than for Prussians, Bavarans
or Saxons pure and simple. Whether
there are any Legitimists, BOnapartists
or Orleanists left in French society, it is
not my present purpose to inquire. |
believe that there are politicians ol
many different shades Of opinion who
hate the Democratic Republic which is at
present predominant, and who would
like to see it destroyed IN blood and tire
tomorrow; but these enemies OF Liber.
ty, Equality and Fraternity-as at pres
ent understood and practiced i make
few, il any, public protestations OF their
anti i-Republicanism The Ga"Ioi&, an
Imperial organ, has, with one OF the
most amusing tOtts faces ever witnessed,
become an ''independent and liberal
paper" and announces its intention OF
remodelling It's foreign intelligence after
the fashion of ''the great English news
papers, which frequently have a staff OF
six special correspondents in a single
metropolis, and even maintain tlotillas
which 20 to meet newsbearlng ships,
and, when necessary, penetrate to
the North Pole and the interior OF
Africa" This is, indeed, praise from
Sir Hubert Stanley" May the GGu'0i'
build a fiotilla which shall penetrate to the
moon, Such, at least, should be the
deyout wish OF wandering Englishmen,
who for all intellectual sustenance, have
TO peruse those French daily papers
which-as a brilliant English Chr0niquclu
deceased used to say, "bear the date oi
tomorrow and contain the Intelligence
OF last week" The conversion OF the
GaUiois is not the only curious sign OF
the times, Just now. The Bonapartlst
organs have, as rule, taken down the
well-known sign OF
The Grey Great Coat and the Little
Cooked Hat
from their shop fronts. Imperialism,
generally, rules low in the market
bnt il is not safe TO
predict how long this turbulent and
changeable race OF people Will be con-
tent with their Radical Government.
The European events OF which Paris
has been the stage, the developments o:
civilization to which it has conduced,
the wonders OF art and industry which
it contains, the agreeable lite which 1t
presents, all combine TO make 1t one "l
the cities TO which the attention OF the
whole world continually turns. Every
great capital has, and has had, centre
"a heart, focus OF life, OF character
aud movement. In Rome, the Fort IN
with its Gaulic memories; in London,
Regent street; in New York, Broadway
in Paris modern Paris-the Bouie'
wards. Other points have been more
central and more fashionable in the
Paris OF the past, for the
Boulevards Interior were once
exteriors, and their history and chro-
nology is known. But the Pailas Royal,
the Place Royale, the Louvre, and other
centres OF attraction have been eclipsed
by these boulevards, which represent
the type, the escence OF Paris life in al!
its originality and piquancy. Many OF
these arteries OF Paris life were formed
in the seventeenth century and were at
| ,b, h,,lu ,nJ nj the