Morning journal and courier., 1892-04-27

PARIS, April 9. l To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER: l Paris is poor place for letter-writing.
 There is SO much go, stir and vibratory force in the place from morning till night,
 and from night till morning again, that any pause for writing seems a waste of | time. Even sleeping should be intermit- ted. To the United States political phi losopher who has visited Paris over and over again there comes time when Pari-
 sian novelties no longer seem novel, and
 he wonders if it be because he is getting old, or because he looks at things with
 larger power of vision and sees that the whirl is of small reach and of constant circumference. The kaleidoscopic changes are all within the same tube. When they have danced their rounds out score of times the eye tires and is driven back to a contemplation of the narrow limits of the tube which confines them. Can it be that French civilization has reached its limit, That it changes without growipgi If it bs true of France the same must be true of the other nations of Europe. Therefore it
 
 grand European human erpsnse till the boundaries of states, empires and king doms are broken down and races mingled in new combinations. Is it not just that constant mixing that gives the United | States its perpstuating development If | France remain intact it's future may easily | be predicated. If all Europe be torn to | pieces the best of all the races will come | to the surface and start new and glori- | ous civilization.
 The French are uneasy and dissatisfied. l Their active minds lack suitable employ | ment. It needs a political earthauake to | turn them from the belittling considera- tion of their own country and the petty | details of their own existence. This mar rowing absorption appears strongly in | their newspapers. Le Temps, for instance, is as solid and substantial as any ot them. | In the issue on my desk there is about half | a column of stale telegrsphic dispatches, most of them copied from the Paris morn. ing New York Herald; about the same | amount of outside news, all from three days to a week old; while the rest of the | paper is filled full with Parisinn trifies. | Two whole pages are given to verbatim re- | ports of tine speeches made at the recep- | | Though events are occurring in Africa and | in America which are of the first impor- tance to French colonial and rnanufactur- | ing interests, the newspaper reading | Frenchman would rather read about | "Loti" than about the doings of England | in Egypt and on the Red Sea, or about the | prospects of a reintroduction of his man. ufactures into the United States. It seems | childish. It is childish. Go to the cham 1,ar 1f l ,l 1taf. ., They are all for show. They are all rhe- torical exhibitions. No member speaks from his seat. All speeches are made from a special desk. To New Havener it sug- gests Commencement speaking. All the government of the country is done by the ministry and each ministry lasts just about the same length of time; SO in turn all | have share in government spells. You will hear most excellent elocution and ora tory, and the prize generally goes to the best speaker. An important measure may depend on the turn of a sentence, A ministry without good speaker to repre- sent 1t in the chamber des Deputies would not last forty-eight hours Just now there seems to be @ bit of seriousness in the chamber, but not at all in proportion to the seriousness demanded by the circum- stances. French colonies have always been flat failures. Not one of them bat has cost the government enormously in men and money without adequate return. Even Algiers could be given up tomorrow with benefit to the nation. The facts about French colonies are beginning to come out. Why they did not come out be- fore is the mystery and shows the sbsurdi- ty of calling the French government a re- publican government. Though there is some talk about Tonquin and Dahomy, still Loti's election Is, and for days will continue to be, the chief topic of conver- sation. The real name of the individual is Julian visud, and he is a lieutenant in the French navy. As writer he is way below dozens of his contemporaries. He owes his election to two facts. In the first place there Is 6 great deal of French gsb- ble just now about the navy. The navy has never been conquered. Germany nev- CT dared come out and measure naval The future of French is in the heads, hearts and hands of Its sailors, etc., etc. Very idle and childish boastipg to which Viaud has contributed. In the second place he has stoutly condemned the writings of Zola and his school, and the Academic is down on Zola. Zols has been several times a candidate and each time defeated. The official reception into the Academic Is one of the most thoroughly French of all French performances. There are only forty members, and as no one ever resigns there must be 8 death to create vscsncy. The new member must crate on the ability and accomplishments of the deceased member. When he is through, a member appointed for the pur- pose informs the Academic of the extraor- | dinary doings and character of its new &C., f quisition. The party who died was Oc- tave Feuillet, in comparison with whom Viaud is a nonentity. As well compare Howell with Thsckersy. viaud in his speech drew egoastica parallels between Feuillet and himself, assumed they were of the same stuff and declared that Feuil- let would live anew and within more fs-
 vorable surroundings. He pitched into
 Zola, who was present, and used such
 words as dung-heap, sewer, offal, etc., etc., and proclaimed that his works would l live fps cons attsT Hels sad his works