The sun., 1893-07-16
AN AMERICAN IN EUROPE.
Observations Upon the Life and Politics
Of Twenty-Five Years Ago.
BY THE LATE
JAMES SHEP ERD PIKE.
a stop at Auiens.

inc privacy OF q frencn Inland town
charming oven when that town 10 q city @
00.00O inhabitants and within two and hal
hours OF Paris. like this city OF Amions.
Here can find neither a.pars nor IN Eng
lish newspaper. and the news from America
which came four days ago. is utterly inacc Isl
BILE Since l left Brussels and struck int
these depths OF French lfe five days ago. no
ono word Of tho doingh OF the surrounding
world has reached my ears. Tho people have
no public life; they know no moro OF affairs In
their own or in foreign countries, than the
pre-Adamites. whose stone chisels lie In the
gravel beds around Amens. know Of their con-
temporaries. il they had any.
1t seems to be accident that determines tho
Industry OF a people. In ono town 1t Is lace,
In another 1t Is silks. In another 1t is cut
lory. In another steam engines, In another
ribbons and here 1t is cotton velvet
Thero are two kinds made at Amens. the cot
ton and tho poll ds chcrre Hero. too. Ia made q
peculiar cloth for bags to hold the macerated
beet while IL is undergoing the enormous
pressure which expresses the juice out Of this
root for sugar making
Within year an invention Is said to have
improved the process Of extracting this Juice
90 that the root IL mado to yield 20 per cent,
more than In the old method. The bags under
the new process have to be made Of strong.
peculiarly made brown linen fabric instead OF
woollen. as in the old process: but. II a tenth
more juice Is obtained. It will be vast nddi-
tion to the annual sugar crop OF France. which
will be this year between 100000 and $50. 900
tons. The making of beetroot sugar Is an In
dustry which must soon be introduced
extensively into the United States Wo have
the soil and the climate and tho consum-
ers. III the French and the Dutch can fabricate
the raw sugar out OF the beet for six or seven
cents pound. we ought to be nblc to make
tho business yield q handsome profit at the
price sugar must long bear In tho United
States at the rate of duty our necessities will
compel us to impose on It.
The French are in some places rs stupid as
they are polite. To any inquiry you may
propose they are ready with their reply. Butt
chances arc even that tho information they so
politely volunteer is worthless.
My tavern keeper at Amiens did not know
there was great mandatory OF cotton vel
vet within a stones throw Of his hotel.
The same authority informed me thore wero
sugar beet manufactures in the town. which
representation proved to be wholly groundless
Think OF such ignorance being found in the
proprietor Of q leading hotel in an American
city Of 10000 Inhabitants.
In the South OF France.
/ found Lyons buried in fog. and left It In |
the same condition. which understand is
Its normal state in winter. 1t was dirty and |
uninterestirg.
visited the silk manufactures. The silks |
are all mado by hand looms in small rooms. in |
. quarter OF tho city which stands on steep |
hill up which I was taken In rail cars by |
the means OF an endless iron rope and sta
ttonary engine. l came back on foot over
the steepest street In Europe. 1t falls ono
foot in six.
Leaving Lyons on Dec. % for the south, 1
entered the old Roman country.
The lower part OF France was Just as much
honan two thousand years ago AS Italy. Tho
roman remains ut Nismes and Aries arc in
the best state OF preservation. Those two OBJ
scure towns were. two thousand years ago,
largo and flourishing cities-chief towns OF
dHul. Going thither l pass through. before
reaching AviGnon. the little town OF Orange.
formerly the capital Of tho principality OF that
name.
This principally was acquired by the Prince
of Nassau by marriage. and was held by that
house from 1880 until 17O0 the period of tho
death OF william Ill OF England. and from
this possession Is derived tho title okthe heir
apparent OF the Netherlands.
AtOranGe are extensive remains OF the walls
Of Roman theatre. incorporated subsequent
" into the palaces OF tho Princes of Orange
AtOrange the triumphal arch which bestrides
one OF the roads leading out Of town is sup
posed to be two thousand years old. Yet 1t Is
10 a'good state OF preservation. But the old
homan theatre Is the great object Of interest |
N this ancient town. The front wall stands
intact over 300 feet long and moro than 100
eet high-a prodigious piece OF masonry.
There are no remains Of the palace OF the
ormer Princes of Orange who used to reside
here. There is q monument in the public
Quare to Count Gasparin. who was born in |
his place and who died In 1862
AT oil these towns-Lyons. Orange. and
Ivignon-the bloody axo OF revolutionary
france has left its hideous traces.
We fail to appreciate the enormtties OF the
'ronch revolution till we tread step by step
lpon the scenes OF Its detailed history.
This alone brings us face to face with its
lameless atrocities. '
At Avgnon. the palace of tho Popss occu-
led by them for nearly century, Is a huge '
ortress In appearance. and now SO In reality.
g walls are 100 feet high. and its towers l5O q
It's foundations arc excavated in the solid | X
ock. q sort OF hard chalk.
lts hall OF the Cardinals has lmme ense groInsd '
rches like the crypt of great cathedral. The 8
sils OF the palace arc. in places thirteen feet Il
/ thickness Q
The building Is now barrack and the an J.
lent consistory. or hall Of the Cardinals is cut u
into several stories for the ac |
III.
AVignon is In large plain. and is only inter-
sting from Its his toric associations with the r.
apacy. OF whose vices and schism 1t is alike a r.
'uvenir and as the burial place OF Petrarch "
nd Laura. Leaving Avignon. one enters & n
eii-marRed chalk country. whose barren hills
pproach the roadside. Between them is n n
ash OF gravel extending little way up their n
des' tho remains OF some ancient flow OF Ia
ater. This constant feature OF barren gravel 81
rs never left us since we came through the NJ
orges OF the Jura Mountains ci
la
Nisnies and Aries. A,
stopped over night at Aries. al
There are fragments OF old statuary in the &C
useum, OF orname ntal architecture. rescued
ON tho wrecks Of tho old public buidinps ar
ected here. The chief of these buildings is CT
solossai structure the Amphitheatre. still
lnding In its original proportions he
'-athinS is wanting but the parapet Of stone ar
,ioh surmounted Its upper arches. and which 70
TO have been lesa fhan N ian tnn. | th