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Show OEnMAN 8TOIVJACH3. Hanncr In Which tha French rM the Indemnity In 1870. The easo with which France paid the great Indemnity exacted by Germany at the close ot tho war of 1870 astonished aston-ished tho world. Tho same ability to discharge a forced obligation was witnessed wit-nessed at tho close of the Napoleonlo wars, when tho allied armies occupied France. Savarln explains that tho ease was mado possibly through gluttony, whleh, he says, France alone can thoroughly thor-oughly satisfy. In 1815, after tho treaty of peace, It was estimated that that nation In various ways paid to its conquerors tho sum of 1,500,000,000 francs. It was feared that these forced payments would bankrupt the country. coun-try. Subsequent events proved that those fears were chimerical. Not only tho original amount assessed ngalnat the Frcnh came back to thorn, but very much more, through the gluttony of their vanquishers. The forotgn armies ar-mies that Invqded Franco brought with them fierce voracity and stomachs stom-achs of uncommon capacity. Once they had tasted ot tho dallghts of French food, their ordinary rations wero rejected, re-jected, and the great sums ot monoy that had como Into their possession offered of-fered a means for the complete satisfaction sat-isfaction of their appetites. Paris became, be-came, on a sudden, nn Immense refectory. refec-tory. Tho Invaders ate ovorywhere. In eating-houses, In cookshops, Inns, taverns, tav-erns, drinking dens, and In tho streets. They gorged themselves with flesh, fish, game, pastries, fruits, nnd truffles. truf-fles. When they drank It was with avidity and ot tho most expensive wines. The purveyors made fortunes. One Mme, Sullot, who had a little shop In tho Palais Hoyal only 12 feet square, sold 12,000 petit pates every day. To tho rank and file and most of tho officers of the Invading armies tho delights of French cookery were a revelation. When they returned to tbelr homes their talcs ot epicurean bliss excited their hearers. This led to a great pllgrlmago to France of civilian civ-ilian gluttons from all parts ot Europe, Eu-rope, and mado ot Paris a gastronomlo Mecca for a quarter of a century or moro. It was estimated that through this pandering to tha stomachs of strangers France not only rcgntned the original amount of tho Indemnity, but as much again. Thnt experience-, so far as eating Is concerned, can never bo ropcatcd, for from 1815 to 1840 the French culslno was at Its period ot cumulative achievement. Tho Indemnity Indem-nity exacted In 1870 has been returned to France mainly through the purchase pur-chase of decorative equipment by the women of all nations. Sun. |