Year: 1871




There was . good deal Of premature mourning
over the destruction Of Paris. and her oblitera-
ton as the shrine 0f the worlds luxury.
81 Poor PaI5m was The conventional ejacula
ton among people IN the world, who had met
each other abroad. Those who had seen the
good town in the days when Baiinguet kept
the Hotel Of the Tuilerie3. and his lovely wife
speculated in stocks and set the fashions, felt
a sort of con5Oing sense Of superiority to those
who intended 70 go. II would never be again
as it was-they predicted. It's gayety was gone
f0reyer-hld fitted over the channel TO die at
Cbi5elhur5t with that moody family party
there. Paris was to sit in saCkcloth for years
TO come. The Bois de BOulogne was to grow
up into a jungle unchecred by the equpayGs
of the World and the tapageOus tOiettes of
the Half-Woril. Mlbille was to become
desoldtion and the Cafe Anglais the
home Of dUllne,5 and deccncy. Very
good people, who never omit their weekly
prayer meetings, could not prevent moment
of regret at the thought that Paris would
probably cease TO be az gayly wicked az be-
fore. They heartily disapproved of vice in all
forms, but anticipated with subdued delight
the shock Of horror they expected to enjoy,
the moral reflections they intended to utter,
over the abOminatOns Of Babylon. When
the great double aiilicton of the Siege and
the Commune came, trying the beautiful city
in the wine-pre3s of soriOw, it seemed as if
no elasticity OF spirits could suffice for re-
covcry from so depressing a visitation. And
when the conquered Commune like a balied
scorpion turned is poison upon its own
usurped lair, and the smoke of the torment
Of Paris rose and foated over the world there
were few who dreamed that we should see,
before many years, the same bright an1 cheer
full capital which Napoleon left in his silly
march to the Rhine.


But great city nowadays has life of its
own Independent of the nation of which it
forms a part. 1t partake5 Of the general pros
perity and suffers by public disaster, but its
final success or ruin is due to causes peculiar
to itself. The destruction OF our Union would
grievOu5ly damage New-YOrk, but would prob
ably not prevent its sure advance nor hinder
It from becoming the great metropolis of the
continent. The lost battle which the English
amphleteertOresees upon the slopes of DOrking
would not, If it came, reduce the colossal city
on the Thames from its imperial relations to
the island and the world. 1t is not in the
power OF any campaign TO dethrOne Paris, as
the most brilliant seat Of our modern ciyiliza-
ton. It has passed through an experience in
the last year sufficient, one would say, to sad
den the youngest and most joyous tempera-
ment. II has seen its children slaughtered, its
industries crippled, crushing burden of debt
laid upon it and worse than this its pride
and itS vanity have been cruelty crushed and
wounded The war it welcomed with such ar
roglut delight, ended 10y the trlumphal entry
of the Uhlans of the North into the Place de
pEtOile The revolt of It's own turbulent
masses was put down and punished by the
hob-nailed feet Of the despised provincials
The tragedy which began with those frivolous
boasts OF the capture of Berlin, closed amid
the horrors of civil war, with one dense pail
of smoke and fire wrapping the city from the
Pavilion de FlOre TO the Hotel de Vile. His
tory nowhere records a disappointment so
terrible,


But already tllt wonderful city begins to
recover from It's swOon. The outward life of
the town, which strangers see and admire, has
commenced ia ordinary course again The
ClOoerie dcs Lills was to have opened n mouth
ago, but most Oi its young ladies were in
jail on account of flavor of petroleum about
t.eir foir hands, and the authorities have
thought II best " place the stulent-world Oh