Show OUR FRENCH LETTER J Correspondence of the HKBALDJ PARIS August 2 It is not so much a ministerial as s uatienal crisis that France suffer from no one sees clear here hesitation hesi-tation and compromise have beer played out by de Freycinet and the Chamber lacks courage to adopt a decided programme Capable statesmen states-men are not forthcoming so the Parliament wants leadership and direction The third Republic has produced no great men and the I cabinets that live but the life of the roses the space of a morning are not calculated to endear the present constitution to the country The secret of all the evil lies in republicans repub-licans occupying themselves about personalities instead of principles and measures and displaying that strange addition to a wronged independence in-dependence which rejects all discipline disci-pline and obedience There is nothing unexpected in the downfall of M de Freycinet Like the old man and his ass he tried to please everybody This led to a life of equivocation the malady under which he succumbed It was ever necessary to put him in a minority before any clear and precise answer could be wrung out of him He several times escaped overthrow but the pitcher has this time been broken going to the well Some assert the fragments are not even worth a piecing together but this is tofbe seen When we have not thrushes we must be con tent with blackbirds The chamber has done well in its cutting the cloth bat to stitch the parts is the difficalty There are two currents of opinion in France one the feeblest and led by Gambetta and the thinking classes which desires active intervention inter-vention a role worthy of the country coun-try and alliance with England the other represents peace at any price the trembleurs those withBismarck on the brain and who maintain that Trance ought to be surrounded with a Chinese wall and no alliance cul tivatedsave with Italy who in return re-turn disdains such It is this abstaining ab-staining party that has succeeded in effacing their country in the east not even the vaunted Suez canal will be guardeda decision sufficient to produce sudden death in DeLes seps and that will postpone till the kalends Prevost Par adols great expectations that of seeing eighty millions of Frenchmen occupying the African shores ofthe Mediterranean Mediter-ranean There are plenty of Frenchmen who admit though the fact be gall and wormwood to them that Eng land is quite right in going ahead resolutely in Egypt and that after incurring all the expense and trouble I trou-ble it is but fair she ought to ha e the lions share in the recompense Besides the French prefer since its it-s a Hobsons choice the English in Egypt to the Turks The diplomatic war between Bismarck and Earl Granville is followed with intense interest putting Turkey forward at the twelfth hour to play the policeman police-man in Egypt was a bold move on the part ofthe chancellor but placing plac-ing the Sultan in the fix to declare his tool Arabi a rebel as a primary condition is equally a skilful move tfo one seriously believes that England will ever allow the Turks to land to furnish sticks to break their own backs Besides Turkey cannot stir without money and the comical part of the affair is that she is even seeking to raise a little loan quietly in London No serious resistance is anticipated antici-pated on the part of Arabi and his followers even were each swathed in green flags The wish is to see the English troops landed concentrated concen-trated and at full work The beginning be-ginning of the end has already appeared ap-peared But England must follow up the occupation of Egypt without timidity or hesitation She must convince Europe she is ready to put on more war paint and feathers if necessary The taking the protection ection of the canal into her own hands in the name of Tewfik 13 excellent ex-cellent but it will likely kill old De Lessens who is rtmuiner a race with J Gordon Bennett to induce Arabi to bury the hatchet There is another way to settle the canal wrangling It is admitted that the canal is insufficient for the increasing traffic to execute ex-ecute the necessary enlargements etc would require a sum equal to half the expense of constructing a brand new one Engineers here would guarantee the making of a second canal in six year3 free from the drawbacks of the old one and since fourfifths of the ships passing through the canal are English Mr Bull could have an isthmus highway high-way of his own plus the Dizzy half share interest in the present route When the days were darkening over the second empire Napoleon Ill privately eonsulted Thiers in the name of France what was best to be done Bring back the remains re-mains Louis Philippe was the reply I do notknow if the republicans repub-licans would eonsent to a translation transla-tion of the ashes of old umbrella th first but there is a very suspicious activity abroad cnnected with the Orleanists Now that we are done with Egypt save that the ironclads have not yet entered Toulon the most attractive novelty is the unknown great sleeper This young woman was picked up by the police eighty days ago lying senseless on one of the public seats of the boulevards Considered Con-sidered to be drunk she was allowed to come to herself in a cell but continuing still to sleep and resisting all efforts to waken up she was conveyed to the hospital where she has ever since lain in a comatose condition It was found she was enctente and recently she has been confined of a still born infant aged five months an event that never affected he sleep Some cold baths told a little on her A glimmering of consciousness conscious-ness appeared and that was presumed pre-sumed led to her identity The latter lat-ter has not yet been reestablished I but from the peculiar manner ir i which her hair is cut and the religious re-ligious medals found round her neck it is concluded she has been a nun In the hospital she lies as if a corpse save for her feverish breathing breath-ing A favorite Sunday pastime has been organized by Godard of balloon bal-loon notoriety He makes an ascension ascen-sion and at same time organizes a lottery by means of which the visitor vis-itor not only pays for admissionbut has the chance of winning the chief prizea seat in the balloon and to decide how long the balloon shall rest in the air When folded up the balloonmade of Chinese silk covers only a square yard and is about two feet high To inflate the expense is 1000 francs It can carry five persons Godards nephew executes acrobatic feats from the carThe new arrangements at the morgue are excellent and practical the room wherein the bodies are ex posed is maintained by means of refrigerators at a temperature of 2 ° below freezing point thus remains can be kept a long time exposed for purposes of identification Instead of being exposed on fixed slabs the bodies are placed on marble flags movable on rollers The clothes of the deceased are placed on a dummy figure to assist identification while at the same time suggesting a mil inerSOr outfitters shop One of the leading medical practi ti ners of Paris dra 7s attention to the necessity of not allowing children chil-dren to wander too far on the sands at the seaside of northern and western west-ern France where the tide sets in with great and sudden rapidity the danger being increased by the Unequal equal surface or dip of the shore He also adds that children under 5 years of age ought not to be bathed and when such does take place it ought to be limited to three minutes min-utes Rasieres were first instituted by St Medard or Swithen whose memory is anything but blessed this year this crowning of virtue took place in the sixth century General de la Perelle bequeathed a few years ago to the village of Dourdan sum of 1000 franks to be paid to the model lass among the viI agers on condition that she would get married and her first little stranger be called Louis or Louisa In July ISiS Mile Fournaiseau aged lSand plain rasieres are rarely beautiful was selected mem con as the type of virtue she was to be married the following mouth but was not ultimately the marriage ook place followed immediately by a birth a little boy duly baptized Louis The bride claimed the reward re-ward for virtue which the trustees held back ana the case is before the ourts For the future it is proposed to elect the rasieres in the morning red them at noon and pray over heir prize in the evening At a police station in the sudurbs the resident inspector died sud enly the cause is attributed to ome rogues breaking into the bar ack yard carrying off his six plendid parent rabbits and leaving a I written notice we shall return for the other si z Vuen they are ully grown Smokers are likely to be derived de-rived of a novel amusement I that consisting of placing a white morsel j of paper in the cisar ube after smoking the cigar the paper will be found to contain a hoto The latter was rendered invisible in-visible primarily by salts of mer ury which the ammonia of the smoke colored But the mercury laving produced some constitu ional accidents the sale of the toy has been prohibited Tissot in his new volume on Russia Rus-sia describes his visit to Frolof the national executioner who is a reprieved re-prieved murderer and resides with his wife and family in a dungeon in the central prison Moscow his only outings are when he travels under escort to make an execution His only perquisites are the sales of portions of the ropes with which he hangs the condemned and that all gamblers eagerly purchase as bringing luck The fashion of gentlemen wearing wear-ing bracelets with mottoes is spreading spread-ing in revenge the ladies appear to borrow from gentlemen loud colors for stockings and the Spanish boot with a kind of lace work upper An American friend tells me he brought his baby to be rogis tered at the mayors office of his ward the registrar declined to accept ac-cept among other Christian names that of sed Este as it was infringing infring-ing the patents of the nobility Thats republican courtesy |