Show I OUR FRENCH LETTER Special correspondence the HERALD I P AllIS October 10 1883 I Pendin that France regulates her diplomatic apology with Spain for the manner in which Ring Alfonso was receved the question is France degenerating in good breeding merits en esanrnalion Lat it not be forgotten for-gotten that the king arrived at an unicrtunate moment when the ministry min-istry being at sixes and sevens re families where apmbled one cf tbcee disputes rein from mrn till evening even-ing and on the arriving he receives a pae on the head aa a proof of the exciting domestic harmony Farther no crowi either in Paris or any other capita has ever hesitated to express Its whims or its judgments It is sovereign it gov eris directly twIll t-will is law and its capric legality The French are what they hqVi < ever been since t je days of Loui XQI in cheracer qialiUea HDJ hortCJn icgs Lie rae has the stiaia pclish on the surfaceS the same contradictions contra-dictions underneath And it is not in thirteen year or within a genera lion that you can change habitd and preferences Taine described the first revolution as a return to the State of nature It demonstrates what humanity is capable of when drY D tJ despair and when want sees no prospect of relief Are we to expect ex-pect from the French the politeness I of rontenoy Ftrez les premiers messieurs ics Anglai or of that nobleman to whom Louis XIV sent a icter by hie vilet and who caused the latter to sit at the mot honored part of the table while the answer was being written and then personally person-ally conducted the valet to the vestibule vesti-bule accepting him as the represent represen-t of the monarch or if the Duo de Goialin who being ill was visited by the Spanish ambassador the latter on leaving the duo insisted on conducting con-ducting him to his carriage which the ambassador under the circumstances circum-stances point blank refused and to make pure locked tte vestibule door from the outside But the duo bad mounted to the first story jumped j I into the court yard and saw the ambassador am-bassador into his carriage The due migtt have broken his neck but then be saved his reputation for politeness po-liteness It was to their language science and art that the Greeks owed their reputation for elegance kindliness and good manners and which in due ir i f rccurss softened the rustic tern prirnent of the Roman Now v vjd traces of these ancient people ii < la the French today The proMca of raising the hat when meeting friends or entering a place where people are assembled was the Roman custom salution by removing remov-ing a part of the skirt of the toga which did duty for hats the familiar bo > jour was ace the salce I have the honor to salute you and vale adieu In all the events of your Hie whether of joy or sorrow you received re-ceived visits of congratulation or condolence presents or sympathy Events since 1870 have ouly more prominently exposed the emotional snd demonstrative traits of the French character Politics seem to have turned the heads of the people by making them intolerant They cannot conceive a Prussian loving his country venerating his Kaiber and adoring Bismarck a Richelieu The same spirit is displayed in their newspapers whose language would make Eitansvill editors hide their diminished heads An article by Rocheport or asquib by Firago secures se-cures more attention than the blunders blun-ders of colonial extension and the decadence of foreign trade In this sense the French have fallen away But in that politeness which is the sun cf social life the French are what they were save a little dash of sourness caused by wounded pride and disregarded vanity Civility in the practice of all regards either inactions in-actions or speech has not changed Politeness is not put on aa a mask or a disguise nor ie j it viewed ad a comedy com-edy It is an heir loom mechanically mechanic-ally exercised but not the less softening soften-ing the natural rudeness of man In I mixing in French circles there is still the desire to make you at ease and feel contented There ia benevolence benev-olence in all things as Maoaulay says a desire to please attention to small courtesies mxsd with this discretion complainance and circumspection The French are born with brilliant powers to please and which cover much incapacity They are net a harsb nor hard people they have varnish veneer and shams like other nations But they have one feat < re and which like charity covers cov-ers a multitude of sins they have no snobism They have much respect for parents muoa expansion towards old friends much e mpathy with joy and sorrow They are expert and dexterous in compliments and language lan-guage and though these may aa Lady Morgan observed be only air cushions I cush-ions they save ua from many jolts Both monarchists and radicals are allied to upset the cabinet and force M Grevy to retire His soninlaw M Wilsoois denounced as a Marplo These ends are not so easily to accomplish ac-complish Jules Ferry is a man of pluck and ability he follows public pub-lic opinion but insists on holding toe reins He is the only minister corning corn-ing up to the standard ala statesman for the curie of France is to have I politicians instead of statesmen General Taitaadin has been shelved I he compromised his portfolio by I I dragging it through extreme politics Since his resignation he ba been I elected president oi the freetninksrt society while in harness be followed I I the stereotyped programme undoing all the work of biB preieceaaots Tae I French army then appears to represent repre-sent organ zail disorganization Toe gen ral is now free to nuree his government gov-ernment M Ferrv ought to be as decided in elaanatiai Chillmel Lo cour that foreign minister ought t be rendered hiM liberty to get his liver into order We di not know where is tbe Chinese qleslhp the trench ambassador hau remuv < d with the legation l le-gation to London only thai is the epoch for fluting that departure might signify much Guubota tiud meD are ijeut by Dribblet to Tonkin ao as rot to aarm tux payers or rouse up the GelsstUlfpre turely Paris is ml dead since some days she commenced to speak hut It A corner of thefire The ran Iris mun ca ed ua and the macadim is in a state of solution It is agreeable to sit before a crxculing w od firea1d they file coming again into fvror when its shavnlows fiTfully dance liPt phantoms on tLe parlor wall to talk sans cerimonie coocice without beicg dr Sms at nil pi23ii g game oDd t1 liJifg upon things withuut flirt and witboti noise Pimiaus do noi like to Da long l away Jrom ttieir city they are perhaps afiaid not to nod on their return the gove araant ihjy had left They like toe Bois drl Bou logne the octroi whe o the gaard ians allow cjutrebraod men and wo rn n t pass but not comestible Even dopuy who nukes the code or tefps it in i repair is not ahoe eusDia o J His vehicles are examined lest they might contain brandy game or a plain joint Im BPail ippes carriage was once searched and doubly so because he whispered to the guirdiau I all the king1 Game is very plentiful this season to judge by tables and the markets and Germany is sending us lots ot red hares and red deer I remember about ths tirna eightaen years ago being a resident at St Cloud when Germany sent nothing leas than the 34th regiment of Herr Von Bis marcke Line band to serenade the I Empress at the palace after delighting I delight-ing the ears ol tbe Parisians at the circus Five years later between the doings of the Prussians and the Franco neither St Cloud nor its palace existed Lunatics at large are very rie and perhaps would be less noticed only one has just confessed it was he who shot Dr Bochard the ether night iii the Oaamps E yEecc in oDadienca to a celestial voice The pretty actress Mdlle Van Zandt arriving at her villa the other night was on the point of qutting her carriage when a gentleman stepped forward and demanded de-manded herlove or her life A night cabman conducted a fare to the rreciaota of the Oaarenton asylum asy-lum and on demanding payment received for discharge in fall two balls in his hat and mufilar The late inspector of lunacy reported j there were not sufficient asylums in France and that one in ten of the I population of Paris was insane M Juster a rich merchant and a of Rothschilds tenant and neighbor I invited several of his friends to a Pantagruelian dejeuner After the guests had taken their seat he retired re-tired to his bedroom and blew his brains out The Greek ambassadors I SOD has lost his life while playing I with a revolver France is the classic land of monopolies mo-nopolies Salt tobacco omnibuses burials and even noses are subject to the State The latter for example A chemist invented a powder that produced the came titilating effect as simfl Not to be accused of smuggling smuggl-ing he informed the excise of his preparation and as a recompense his products were seized However the court ruled since no tobacco entered en-tered into toe composition of the powder the excise could not interfere inter-fere Our noses are not a state monopoly mo-nopoly Funerals are not to free these are divided into six classes and the tariff is based according aa such a pall candelabra hearse or draping may be selected all being marked in plain figures A firstclass funeral I coste 4282 francs and that of the sixth 16 francs The clergy mans feed in both oases being 27 and 6 franca reapectivey Meet funerals are in the third next in the fifth and then tbe fourth class The poor are buried gratutiously out of the payments for the firstclass inter monta I 1 The Vaudeville theatre has produced pro-duced irs Affoles a four act comedy by Messrs Verion and Goudinet The plot is founded on the Krach of two years agoL < 5rna is a lieutenant a widower with one daughter He marries au American lady from Charlcstown very rich because he avenged her from a calumny Later she left him as she finds that to be tb3 custom in Frrnce for an old bver but in time returns penitent and is forgiven That is not the plot a schemer Robillon pretends to have the concession of some Dinubian railways he induces Lt laB to become president of a society to work the concession The shares go up the bubble bursts and L6rina has to meet the consequences Robillon disappears disap-pears The Minister of War is Lerrins friend the true concession ia obtained as Lerins is honest and the shares mount in proportion The role of the American girl is well played and also that of her stepdaughter step-daughter Indeed the ladies ived the piece Pending the legaliza ion of cremation crema-tion A cuemiit boasts to have discovered dis-covered a liquid tba will presetva bodies something like to the Day of Judgment Sugar enters into the composition The body of Alexander the Graat J we know was embalmed ia hooey per contra lht of Mithri ate wa preerYed in brine AE such as Byron said only prolongs decay Sarah Bernhardt or Madame Sarah n as she calls herself ia i working work-ing like a nigger at English to represent rep-resent a few of Shakespeares characters charac-ters She threatens tn take an action I against her husband forsiauder this will raise the question at the same time of the legality of her marriage Oassel ought to send his I Popular EJucator over here I see the signboard sign-board over his agency in this city spells this Compagny which ia neither English or French I Victor Hugo writes down his thoughts on slips of paper that he carries in biB pocket The old bard is i now classifying all these and binding bind-ing them himself he is also a oarpen ter by trade as well aa H poet Like the chaplain Of the Expiatory Chapel woo ha just died Hugo received a ppmion and decoration on the game day from Louis XVIII The Fienoh accuse the En lsb of welling the r wives in Smithfield At Tilleul t e wHo of one Loriot left him o live with a gentleman namtd Bd et The husband consented to leave him in full possession of the spouae ii he would pay his Loroits debt = which Bllet at once did Tiiai business l |