The New York Herald Newspaper, February 22, 1876, Page 4

hs FRANCE AT VERSAILLES | Ex-President Castelar at the Seat | of the Ancient Kings. REVOLUTIONARY APOLOGISTS REFUTED. A Brilliant Pen Picture of the Interior of the Legislature. The Deputies as They Appear | in the Assembly. M. BUFFET’S TRICKERY. | Grevy and Dufaure Opposing the Wily Presi- dent of the Council. Panis, Jan. 5, 1876. Ro-rmm Eprron or tur Hrraty:— Aa we are in France let us take a look at the Assem- Diy, the representative meeting piace of the French people. Now, it seems exceedingly strange that the | apital of the Republic and the seat of the republican government should be located in monarchical, ostenta- tous Versailles, Wherever you turn you observe monumental and historical evidences of the ancient anarchy and its arrogant exclusiveness. Here are the most flattering records of desperate French royalists: who, having aided in achieving most of the political triumphs, or forcing them, if you will, deliberately pro- clafmed a form of government contrary to their own eonvictions, making history repeat itself by their in. temperate acts and restlessness, always following an aneertain path, but looking more or loss remotely to a restoration, A sagacious observer has said that the vaclents acquired great experience, but seldom at- tempted to use ft. And, Indeed, the historical parties anderstand a great deal of history, but mover prot by i.» The time to have profited by it was during the | supreme hours of the Revolution, when ideas could | turd the passfons, when the people, breaking al! bounds, overcoming all resistance, armed themecives | mith pikes, timted im boisterous, disorderly mobs, | mafchod from Paris to Versailles, entered pell-mell, without either respect or ceremony, into the sanctuary of anciert authority, seized the inmates and overawed | the guard, escorting them to the Tuileries, surrounded by infuriated groups of partisans, and taking them cap” jive to an Assembly, which finally delivered them over to the executioner, ‘THE THEORY OF REVOLUTIONS. Let us look at it clearly. The Assembly was located | 4t Versailles for fear of revolutions im Paris, But com- mon senso must admit that if the time comes for a rev- wution—that time for abusive morality, when ideas | vurst forth with such force in the conscience and have tuch a firm hold on the mind—Paris will go to Versailles «gain as she has always donc during the past, Every seactionist endeavors to explain the misfortunes of his Vols by secondary and fortuitous causes, not wishing 4o go further than this so as not to encounter the same Providence as the first of his enemies. According to these the second Republic would not have come with its long cortége of revolutions if Caussidiére had not shut the doors of the congress against the invaders \n 1848; that the third Republic would not have been proclaimed either if Ferry and other doputies had not bmitated their example, calling forth the revolution of (870, which broke up and dissolved tho last imperial thamber. But this explanation of the revolutions yeoms to me about as primitive and stupid as the ex- planation given of the deluge to children—viz, that it was occasioned by the tears of angols. REVOLUTIONS, Apart from the errors committed by the opposing | and reactionary leaders revolutions have nover arisen tuddenly, like an unexpected storm darkening a clear | sky. Whenever a revolution has eome many tears and much blood have been previously evaporated, pro- fucing tempestuous, angry clouds; ideas have scintil- hated like lightning flashes; poesy and eloquence havo been appealed to, agitating the understanding and moving the heart, engendering a new ideal; and sub- \errapean currents and magnotic eMuvia and Invisible tases and mysterious electricity have condensed these secessary elements that, on one of those critical and | supreme days, destroying and creating at the same \ime, changed in twenty-four hours the whole secular | formation im order to creatre a new order of society | anda new spirit. The power that thinks it ean sustain revolutions, | separating itself from the population where bigh cul- | \ure and great wealth prevail, as though that provoked end condensed the bitterness, practises base deception. | tn the sanctuary raised by Louis XIV. the voice of | Mirabeau was heard, With the retirement of Aran: | guez the Spanish revolutions began which resulted in the dethronement of Godoy, with the abdication of | darlos IV. And it matters not if legitimate monarchy | voshrines itself at St, Cloud; for trom hence, in the | rear 1830, from the towers of Our Lady, the tricolor | anndunced the triumph of liberty and of democracy: | Reactionary Powers that believe in preserving revolu- ‘ons would be like the criminal who should think of | Anding some secret and obscure place whither he could tee from the wrath of God and the remorse of a guilty vonselence. POLITITS IN RAILROAD CARS, The establishing of the government at Versailles | may, perbaps, have been a very politic affair, but no me will doubt that it is also very inconvenient, The Assembly is freed from tumultuous manifestation in | ‘42 surroundings, but it has not been able to get rid of | she railway station, of the line running to Versailles, vor of the so-called “parliamentary” carriages inwhich | the Deputies ride. Whenever there !s to be a celebrated tedate, or when some important resolution stirs the j public mind, the immense edifice, which extends along the right of the Seine, the terminus of the Normandy | Railway, ts Olled with spectators, who are accustomed ‘to express their ideas with the traditional French vi- vacity, No one can have forgotten the noisy crowd | that surrounded the Havre station on the unhappy | might that M. Thiers fell from power, nor the insults ana threats expressed there the day that = M, Gambetta called = the Bovapartists wretches and villains (misérables et infames) in public session. Indeed every coach, departing and re- NEW YOKK HEKALD, efforts to procure for him im the French Republic a position analogous to that held by the Princes of Orange in Holland I was not aware, but he certainly did not salute him, for he quietly took the arm of oid Admiral Jourichon, congratulated him on his nomina- tion and conducted him to bis carriage, the little door of which was slammed to violently, at the same tite he was apparently looking in the direction of De Broglie’s vehicle, From this incident what extensive com- mentarics may arise; what suppositious, newspaper articles, stories and anecdotes on the Orleanist divi- sions! What histories of political cabals on the in- flamed war of party; what muiuai explanations between both dukes! Indeed, looking at remote revolutionary Probabilities, they are both’ struggling with munifest political difficulties. HOPES VOR FRANCE. In her position to-day France should be free from Apprehension ou the score of revolutions. far more difficult of solution are presented—viz., the spread and exercise of liberty and the necessary regu- lation of the advent of democracy. For nations ar- riving at the position in which France now is the worst period of revolutions is at anend. The same things are discernible in the history of society as in the history of the planet. With certain monstrous org isms, that might be termed cyclops, coincide the frightful catastrophes of which the geologists tell us. But few will have been required in order to produce 4ad cool those primitive internal worlds which lacked even the rudiments of life—truly the skeleton of the carth—and, above all, to raise the zones of transition | where vast carboniferous bowls are encountered, the remains of colossal forests, which have been com- pletely reduced by fearful tragedics. Many tnternal wars have been waged since the first eruptions, that were like currents of electricity, filling all with their immense fulguration, breathing of the thunders of the infinite, tm order to pass thence to the ‘soft, humfd and fertile vege- table world of our time—to this great laboratory of life, In truth, while certain monstrous organisms exist, planetary revolutions and internal disasters will frequently occur; but wherever man, the superior organism, appears, and with man comes thought, his divine domain, disasters are less frequent, for the reason that progress is more certain. He subjugates all by labor, directs the blind forces of fatality which governed in other times with absolute sway over the universe, and makes the world, thanks to the vivid foree of the mind and the artistic chisel in the human hand, like of humanity, like unto the pure image of God. Soc!- eties follow the same rule. Castes, aristoeracles, mon- strous class privileges, flagrant injustice, feudalism, despotism, all lead to ana explain revolutions. But Whorever governments give to minorities the right of protest und to the majorities the exercise of power, they will enjoy peace and begin the slow but sure task of securing a continaous and peaceful progress, where no idea ts narrowed by clamor and all submit to the indispensable caanges in order to pass trom the solitary | idea of the melancholy to the complicated and complex | spheres of the State. But leaving these reflections, which are diversions, let us proceed to the French Congress (Assembly). Arriving at Versailles, we observe numerous omni- buses taking the road in the direction of the palace, at- tracting attention by a large board sign bearing the in- scription Tie eeEMBLY g ene Passing through a spacious thoroughfare and two wide streets beyond we come to the angle at the extreme north, where the theatre is situated in which Parlia- ment is held. Traversing various dark, damp corri- dors and ascending several oaken staircases, somewhat narrow and inconvenient, we arrive at the hall in whieb the affairs of this great Republic are discussed, It is an exceedingly splendid theatre, representative of | the taste of the period in which it was built—the taste of the Pompadour who bogan it and also the taste of Du Barry who completed it. The stage is shut off by a curtain worthy of any great representative theatro. ‘The Presidential chair 1s elevated in the proscenium, much too narrow and confined, and 1m front of this is & mean looking buffet constructed afer the de- sign and according to the custom in vogue during tho first Empire, Itamediatety to his right the Prosident has a fixed bell, after the manner of the sacristy, which he strikes whenever the tumult becomes too great, and beside his hammer, ou the left, lies a rod such as Schooltnasters use asarule in flogging their pupils. The four deputy secretaries are seated at a table below, and slightly removed from the chair, stand four ushers in black dress coats and white ties, who assist the President in the work of imposing silence on the Deputtes when the silver bell aud hammer have Proved ineffectual. occupy a table in front of and beneath the secretaries, and the shorthand reporters occupy other and parallel tables in front and below the editors again and on both sides of the tribune from which the speeches are made. The Ministry have places in the orchestra, and the De- putfes take up all the other seats and the galleries im- mediately below, what we simply call the pit boxes. Each political fraction is seated according to number— the Extreme Right, the Right, the Right Centre, the Left Centre, the Lett, the Extreme Left—all in due order. THERE ARE NOT MANY YOUNG DEPUTIES such as may be seen in our Congress. Gray beards and bald heads abound, some of them wearing black velvet caps Of material such as the guardians of the first univer- sal church hung at the entrance to the tomb of St. Peter and before the holy sanctuary, The lateral box seats of the proscenium opening into the space between tne two grand pillars that sustain the gorgeous entrance to the stage, which in other times was ased for the royal family when they did not come in state, are now re- served for the friends of the President of the Chamber and the President of the Republic. In the boxes below are the invited friends of the government and the vari- ous dignitaries of the nation, while the diplomatic corps occupy the reserved seats, in the centro of which 1 the tribune, Inthe splendid, glittering balcony in the centre of the principal gallery, formerly occupied by the royal family in the days of great ceremony, aro | the newspaper reporters, most regally installed, and in such a favored position that every modulation of the voice of the speakers may be heard during the turmoil attending pustlianimous and boisterous efforts. All the galleries formerty reserved to courtesans are now given over to the tribunes of order, and some shut off by having colored curtains hung before them, reaching to the roof in the form of a garret, which were set apart and fitted up for the domestics of the royal house- hold, whence they coula witness the play without being Been, are now given over to spectators having minor positions or some minor favor which accords them the privilege of being present during Parliamentary sessions. LIGHTING THE ASSEMBLY. The theatre is lighted by the dim rays that penetrate the eternal shades of a smoke-stainea glass roof, but it is representative of the true light of the Arctic re- tarning, is converted into a movable parliamentary Bection, devoted to discussing, either before or after | the deliberations, the most serious public affairs, An | epigtam prepared to insert ina speech, the secret of fome mancwuvre, the tactics of a group, the vote ona | dificult problem, unexpected resolves and surprises all are treated in these French conversations en route. We returned by one of the Parhamontary trains a few | evenings since, at eight o'clock. The carriage was | completely Miied, and we could scarcely see across the compartment, owing to ti feeble light which glim. | mered and oscillated and the dense clouds of smoky | from the cigars of the deputy passengers, One of the | teaders of the republican party, believing himself to be | in the midst of his best friends, commenced to tell me | ‘tis hopes concerning the coming Senatorial elee- tons, when he was interrupted by a writer for a news- | paper, whe announced aloud that he had just met, near a8, One of the leaders of the Right Centre. And it is waid that the defeat of the government om the Senato- cial question was due in great part to the magical elo- quence of Jules Simon, who quietly studies matters in the cars occupied by the bargaining legitimists, One ‘sight, when the session had been prolonged so late as ‘o prevent his return, he invited one of them to ‘is Jodgings and his well furnished table with hat’ perfect courtesy of which he is a mas- ‘er. ‘His quarters were in close proximity to the ‘tate, in the Place do la Madeleine, where most of the sectoral combinations originate, Certain It is that the arrival and departure of Deputies in the trains possess exceptional political importance, even to influencing fairs on the Bourse, oy & MNRTING OF RIVAL DUKES On the day that it was expected a complete victory qould be achieved on the question of voting for the ‘Wt Senators the Dao d’Aumale was soen to arrive. Shortly after came the Due de Broglie, Whether the @rince saw his eld partisan who made such tromeudous ons when this light is illuminated by artificial means, Besides the fourteen flaming torrents of resplendent light pouring from the banging gaseliers, the swinging erystals depending from which glitter like brilitants, immense lookingglasses cover the walls of the royal gallory, forming, as it were, silver, retlecting and concentrating the light, increasing it in such @ manner that it is rapidly refracted. The gallory cotling is all blue m the groundwork, on which are painted theatrical subjects, al fresco—the Muses, doves, wreaths of lowers. Above the obscure back- fround, which represents a shady jasper, appear the trophies, the arches, the capitals, the boxes, all gilded; fnd when the orator speaks amid this ocean of hight Doth speaker and audience are ammated as though they understood and appreciated the mysterious har- monies that naturé has established between the sonor- Ous and the luminous, giving color to her shades and tone to her voice, by which they are communicated through the ear and the eye even to the utmost depths Of the soul. HISTORIC REMINISCENCES. In this theatre the most interesting scenes in history have been enacted. Here was celebrated the marriage of Louis XVL, & King who possessed one of the first human qualities—goodness—and none of the qualities of royalty@with Marie Antoinette, the unhappy daughter of tho cotifageous Marie Theresa, who, notwithstand. ing the disappointments of her mother, took the crown as a trinket for hor handkerchief, to adorn her beauty, and wished to reign as & continuous divert) at in an oternal spectacular display. Here, one night in tho month of October, 1789, when foudalism had routed the gallows and the axe, when already the fundamental Mghts of humanity had formalated their admirable Principles, the body guards had met at a banquet in order to use their machinations against all this prog- Tess, and finally in the midst of deep libations, in the Presence of the Court. who looked on from the boxes, | Matters» . | baman mind has discovered its most ardent tongues of harmonious, beautiful statue, a reflection. Near these | The editors of parliamentary vills | semicircle of burnished | | sang reactionary songs, unsheathed their swords, | private our Deputies are accustomed to treat each coursed tho nation and its representatives, trod under | foot the national cockades from their hats; and when the King and Queen appeared, radiant amid that pol!t- teal orgie, the tumult and enthusiasm were so great that the officers climbed up to the royal presence, swore fidelity to the old absolute monarchy and most | | imprudently protested that they should be subject to none other. In three days from that time they had to combat a nation fn arms, which tore monarchy from its temple and dragged it down to the flashing clouds of universal revolution, ‘THE IDEA, before becoming a ray of light, had been charged with | electricity. It sounded In the ears of the powerful like a cracking whip, like a hope in the heart of the humble. In its tortuous paths the flashing current | destroyed much human grandeur, but consumed at the | same time many pestilential miasmas, and when you | enter Versailles, and go into one of the theatre boxos, | the eyes instinctively turn toward one great, created | object, created by this very ordeal—to the French | tribune. Here is our altar, sacred to emancipation, a | holy fountain of ideas, a pedestal of gontus, a feasting | place for humanity, an admirable seat whoro the | fire, consecrated by the eloquence of Mirabeau and | Vergniaud; a beacon whose light shall shine even to the furthest confines of time and the most distant | horizons of the planet. It shall be seen even to the | heights of history, from the Agora of Athens to the Forum of Rome and the Capito! at Washington. He | who beholds It shall be neither disturbed nor agitated. It has never felt the pain of generations debased by | servitude, nor has it underestimated that valor it pos- sessesin the sons of those who fight for liberty and right, PARLIAMENTARY COMPARISON. We enter the tribune and are able to compare the va- rious parliaments at which we have been present during our life—at Rome, at Madrid, at. Berne, at London and at the gid Parliament of Paris during the Emptre—with this new one at Versailles. Every observing man sees ata glanco the difference between a Saxon and a Latin Congress bere in Europe. The Saxon Congress is en- throned in a Gothic edifice, which are recorded since the Middle Ages with its liberties and its traditions, Latin Congresses are held in Graco-Roman buildings, which must also be named in connection: with their historic liberties, These had their origin during the centuries of the Middle Ages, but were noglected greatly | for a long period and owe their revival to the warmth of classic studies and researehes into the records of popular Chambor of the Commons, has the appearance | Of a department where culture is joined with resolu- tion and jabor; Latin parliaments possess the form j of amphitheatres, of salons for exhibition, | | where culture is lent to formula = and | debate. The president of a Saxon Parliament occu- pies a seat ona level with others on the floor, simply indicating that he is the Orst among equals; the Presi. ; dent of a Latin Chamber is elevated high over all, as though we should not recognize authority if we did not seo itata height or beneath a throne; with the for- mer rules are the custom, with the latter more is done in accord with written constitutions; there the do- bates show deliberation, calculation, here they are filled with passion, DISCOURTRSIES OF THE ASSEMBLY, ‘ But it should be said that in the matter of heated discussion none to-day can compare with the Freach Chamber. Our own Congress is an assembly of monks in comparison, What nervous irritability | What ex- quisito sensibility! What impatience to respond at once to the speech of an opponent! What continuous, stormy interruptions! Every idea, every phaso is fol- lowed with a multitude of protests, murmurs of dis- approbation, contradictory statements, mingled with applause, Jubilant laughter and exclamations of er- thusiasm, The two camps into which the Assembly divides itself drown the words of the speaker with their remarks, puzzlo him, make him furious often by breaking into his discourse in the centre as they would break a ring. Each phrase draws forth noisy applause and violent imprecations, Amid | these gusts of parliamentary tempest some stand up, | gesticulate, contort their features, shout, oppose the | speech in course of delivery by another* of opposite tenor, heediug neither the protests of the other groups nor the reprimands of the President. The orator crosses his arms and endeavors to appear calm amid the tu- mult provoked by his speech, while he is being tor- tured between the condemnations of his enemies and the remarks of the President, At his feet a second or | | partial debate ts going on between the contending fac- | tions, accompanied with a chorus of applause and | censure, the incessant rappings of the wooden hammer | | Scarcely being heard above the sonorous tones of the | silver bell and the wordy tempest. Thus there exists in France a species of disputation which is entirely un- kvown in Spainm—true masters in the art of inter- rupting an adversary and in the breaking up of a whole discourse with a few remarks, No orator, how- ever great, however eloquent, however much he may be regarded a8 an authority, escapes these parhamentary footpads, Garibaldi was made to feel this. Accus- tomed to universal salutation and applause (and after j | having fought neroleally for France to the nogleet o¢ | Rome and Mentana) he went forth from one of these sessions sick at heart. They drowned his voice by noisy clamor, Thus it was with the sublime Victor Hugo, who descended from the tribune and declined to speak when he saw that they neither respected his genius, the gigantic ideas contained in his cyclopean phrases, the splendor of inspiration at the sight of his | handsome countenance, the eloquence of one of those discourses suggestive of Demosthenes and Isaiah, the prestige of a martyr banishment, where he had fought hand to hand with despotism and opened the right of conscience to the hope and heart of his country, ADVANTAGES OF THE TRIBUNE, The other day I involuntarily compared the tribune | of Versailles occupied by an orator like Jules Favre, who was met witha violent tempest of voices, with | that Spanish calmness, that perfect serenity, which gives the orator full control of himself and imposes on the Chamber a religious and august silence, a merited homage to parliamontary freedom. However, apart from this, they have the greatest advantages, which it would be idle to overlook or deny. The custom of | speaking from the tribune appears to me preferable to our habit of speaking from the benches, In this way the orator is more {ree, less embarrassed and more sure, from the very position he occupies, to attract general attention. The height of the tribune and the solemnity required prevent many from oceupying it who would simply encumber the pages of the | minute book with diffuse and interminable harangues. | ‘The sessions are much better attended than ours, owing, | no doubt, to that democratic practice, which we have not yet been able to introduce in Spain, of paying the Deputies, It is true that with us an orator is less interrupted, but they are also Jess attended or listened to, In the Spanish Congress it requires great cloquence and authority in | in order to be bewr¢, | altitude, impew a, 4 rigid of character; has full, high the old nations, The Saxon Parliament, especially the | | to liberty and the Republic, order to secure undivided attention for any length of time, The oratory in use In France to-day is a medium between the clear language of the English and the | solemn language of the Spanish parliaments, Prac- | tical points of view dominate over the ideas and themes inculcated by academies and universities, They do not understand here our interminable debates, which some- times occupy twenty days, over a simple message; | nicious latitude allowed in §pain. A Spanish Deputy has been known to employ five whole sessions in arguing in favor of his administration and in explain- ing his procedure as ambassador, in France a book might be written during the recesses of the Chamber, bringing up political history in the debates in which all tho Deputies take part, calling for a long series of cor- rections and personal allusions hitherto unknown in parliamentary speeches in France. SPANIARDS: complexion of the orator in opposition, the phases of his public life, even to the minor defects of his talent— matters that may be good for physiological and literary studies, but bad in political speeches. In France they | do not understand this. Their discussions possess | none of the fire and brilliancy peculiar to ours when | great orators contend wich lofty aim and disinterest- | contradictions peuwesn @ | edness, as in the first revolution, rising to unknow® | Givisions it was | heights on tho waves of that Spanish language which | potent. The shifting ts always diffuse, and by the greatness of our incom- | Parable eloquence, Apart from these exceptional | mes, the French treat the majority of political affairs bettor, The committees work a good deal, and each section is an assembly in a small way, whereas in Spain it isa Titanic task to get a committee together And devote itself to business. On the other hand, the Teiations between the Deputies do not exhibit the ehar- acter of cordiality shown between our Deputies, Im heither are personal questions treated with the per- | and havo the wahappy mania of studying the character and | tow to the peanimiat haranguo of MB other as friends; im publle they appear as implacable enemies Our French friends are much more courteous, while less united and less confused than oura ib would be an alinost interminable task if 1 were to ox- press the result of observations inspired by two or three visits tothe Chamber upon the differonces be- tween the Spanish and French legislative bodies, and | also would draw me into details concerning the ses- siong, the debates under discussion and my opinions of the orators I heard. M. BUPYRT AND HIS TACTICS. During a visit to Versailles I heard the last speech of the Executive of the government, and saw bim in the tribune struggling with difficulty after difficulty He is tall of stature, sober of forehead, thin fy, flushed cheeks and regular, bronzed features.) By the severity of his manner, the limpidity of his phrases, the strength o1 his logic, the gradations of his arguments, the sober style of his speeches, M. Buffet greatly resembles Sefior Calderon Collantes, our Minster for Foreign Affairs, who ap- pears in Congress like a magistrate, in the councils like 8 professor, in controversy a scholastic, in opposition 8 fiscal, in government a sacerdote and everywhere as type of those who encounter opposition at every step. He is like an invocation of the ancient Puri- tans—bony, wanting in nerve, cold as mathematical formulas, rigorous as the conclusions of a dialectician, iraplacable ag. physical fatallty—always lofty, grave, solemn, Ah! this M. Buffet, logical in idea and clear of perception though he be, finds himself in a labyrinth dificult to escape from, owing to the inconsistency of his policy. Itseems impossible that such a repubil- can should thrust the light of his sophisms so far as to ‘Wxhibit the narrowness of his policy as clear as the sun atnoonday, He is President of the Chamber, under whose ruling the constitutional laws were voted; and as President of the Council he ought to show that these laws were voted with his approval, that he will affirm and strengthen them with his power. So far he has aone nothing beyond forming @ conservative party, a governing party, capable of drawing a large majority to the next Parhament, uniting themselves in turn with ali those who wish to affirm the constitution and a | fundamental institutions. GLARING INCONSISTENCIES. The most remarkable fact is that this party raised him to power, and that the only benefit France has derived from it is that, with few appreciable excep- tions and in the most simple, most easy mauner, this party bas been led to sustain and sincerely put the | constitution iu practice, M. Buffet has pledged himself to ean ‘evident contradiction, as the constitutional party is now disunited, and the party opposing it. is quite compact Sad deception this, aud may lead to serious conse- quciy. The coustitutional party is devoted absolutely It may have tn its midst various factions who leap to a greator or less distance from the main body on policy, but it has not and cannot have sucb dividing lines, such impagsable gulis as exist betwoen theocracy and Bonapartists, between the Bourbons who adore legitimist kings and the Or- leanists who adore their executioners. Says M. Buffet, in order to give an appearance to dangerous illusion, “‘all these parties give intelligent support and authority to the government.”’ Certainly. But is it to be con- cluded that because of this intelligence there ex- ists but.one party any more than the creed of divinity shows the existence of but one religion? This idea of authority 18 very complex and diverse of acceptation, and even opposite in nature. Authority succeeds there tho samo as in simpler organizations, M. Buffet might have im one hand an ounce of coal against an ounce of diamonds or graphite in the other. But in richness and value one ounce will mot be regarded the same as the other, To take tue authority of Cwsarism or the author- ity of the monarchy from these points of support be- cause everybody calls it authority, would be like drinking with equal induference citric and prussic acids, be- cause everybody calls them acids. So the Ministry valiantly and robustly maintain their majority while pretending to treat them as common enemies, and, while pretending to treat with them, strengthen their own government, dissolve this majority, which at once disperses, and attempt to deceive the country by nam- ing the seventy-five life Senators. And M. Buffet, finding himself in this false position, of necessity COMMITS GRAVE ERRORS, ‘as, for instance, in his last speech, placing himself un- der the lash of ever ready and acerb critics. In refer- ence to these Senatorial nominations, he said that by virtue of their office they would constitute one of the high political bodies, instruments of this principle of the much taiked of authority ; that the President would never lend himself to be used as an instrument of radicalism, for if this principle should triumph in the coming elections the President ought not to submit to the Chamber as representing the national will, and com- bated the idea thatthe executive subordinates itself to the legislative power in every free and parlia- mentary country. See, then, what a series of in- terminable errors a false policy leads a party into, which, like this, pretends to place under one principle and one system the identity of Bonaparusts, legit- mists and Orleanists, M. GREVY IW PARLIAMENT, At the following session, the 20th of December, I went to hear M. Grevy in the debate on the Press law. He only spoke In opposition to the declaration of “urgency”? put forward by the government in favor of ‘this bill, and therefore could not judge of him as 1 might in hearing him discuss matters of greater mo- ment. I do not Know that he is a good s; er, but he certainly has that manner—that something peculiar to reat characiers. His proposition of 1845 was that the resident should be named by the Assembly, and that it would save the Republic, moreover, if the progres- sive institutions would also heip to work out their sal- ‘vation by withdrawing from the. miseravle party cliques into whose hands they had {alien aud who wero totally unaccustomed to the bare realities of govern- ment M. Grevy said he was in every way opposed to ‘the idea that the President should consider himself su- rier to the Chamber and that he should subordinate it as a dependency of the legislative power, less on ac- count of the coups d'état, dangerous alike to order and authority, but because there was beneath italia shame- ful, deep plot inst the laws, and the bad example may lead to rebellion and violence, For upward of fifty years he has taken an acti pe jot pablie affairs. ‘His appearance in the Congress of 1867s a mediator was like a ray of light, of hope and liberty. of September he opposed the proclamation Republic, the same as he had opposed the pro¢lamation of the Empire on the 2a of December. He was in favor of equality, took a leading part in the triumph of his party—the republican party—and whon the elections were ealied he was exalted, by a piece of rare fortune and by the unanimous yote of his Presidency of the Assembly, When himself in the Presidential chair of the government and M. Grevy was exercising the Presidency of the Chamber it might weil be said that the very best talent was at the head of the exeeutive and the very first great ot France at the head of the legislative wer. From the time of the party divisions a Regan, ishing the votes that supported the Presi dency and resulting in the resignation of this high office, They also committed the very grave error of aiding and encouraging the reactionists, w! m ce ‘with their traditions, made the most of it by deposing M. Thiers and in causing that crisis which tended to the restoration of the old legitimacy, which would bably have been achieved through the terror and \wlesspess of civil war, ’ 1 am convinced that the present Assembly has no the constitational nstituent has opposed inv, this Onpesttiot having reached even tothe Ex- treme Left, But in all political crises, if they are not always ciara iA be pe! aunt ene: a toe of tree estate, a husbandman of obedicnee, its nature has been as Vigorous as its reason, ideas firm as its will, ion lofty as ita character and intelli- gonce, its integrity as its life. M. DUPAURR, MINISTER OF suri also spoke at this session. The sumber his years the thfulness of his eloquence Ronee + some ints of resomblance to the late Senator in gait, irregular and marked features, voice and nasal, having no striking o1 's rough in manner and always bad tempered—these aro of the man. Yet, if you contrast all ‘these natural defects with the flexibility of his discarsive talent, with the It is also true that they have the wretched custom of | fitting observations of his acate Leg He vigor }- tJ dialectical thrasts, the keenness ot is never raised by the impulses of even to the confines of sarcasm—it will be conceded that he is gifted with the seine orators, to whose category abso! iy of great session, when of the Press law ne eee wen divided panty y adress, maki by y wha ‘neither republican He pt to conceal bis: eonsure of his colleague, the did he assume reti wi frankly, openly, quietly, candi vaney ‘discassing ‘of the President YOsumelt UKSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1876.—FKirLK SHEET. MM. HUGO: AND THIERS. CAN EITHER BE THE NEW MASTER OF FRANCE?—WHAT VICTOR HUGO WOULD AT- TEMPT TO ACCOMPLISH IF IN POWER—PHIL- OSOPHY LIKELY TO LEAD TO A SUBLIME FAILUBR—THLERS’ CONDITION OF HEALTH. Panis, Feb, 6, 1876. The most important man in France just now ts un- questionably Victor Hugo, All the newspapers in the country are filled with praise or blame of him. The Figaro, which abomiuates the republican doctrines of this great writer, nevertheless devotes at loast half a page, or more than one-eighth of its whole space, daily to ridicule and abuse of him. The Figaro has taken infinite pains to find out, first, that’ Victor Hugo is really ‘Count of Cogolludo,”” an absurd title, which is alleged to have been conferred on his father by the Bonaparte King of Spain; second, that he descends from a family which has no pretence atallto nobility; and, third, that he said and wrote some very silly things when he was a young man. It does not much matter whe he is or what he is, or whether he talked or wrote wisely half a centary ago. At present it is an open question whether he does or does not hold the destinies of France in his keeping. Furthermore, im the present temper of the national mind, {t is doubtful whether he would not be chosen PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC instead of Thiers or Gambetta, should anything occur suddenly to dispossess MacMahon. He is an astonish- ingly vigorous old man, and he would shrink from no responsibility which his tellow citizens might desire to im, apon him. Ind he would probably consider the chi litical ery in the" Reng ag the crowning y of his life, for he has always been ready to exchange the pursuit ef diternay: fame for par- Lamentary distinction, So be it, If the near future among the surprises {t assuredly has in store for us should bring this one oat of its budget of wonders France might be in @ worse case than with Victor 0 fora master, She would have much wholesome and still more speculative legislation applied to her Be real and alieged. She would be governed by a Dorn King of mem, Many le besides radicals and dreamers would welcome the advent ot Victor Hugo to wer. But unfortunatety for France and for himsetf, e would not be content with the possession of high authority in his own person He is dently ae termined to drag up to eminence with him tho: extremely queer persons who belong to his party fol- lowing. le has many of the ne oy ee w } many wild and dangerous pr ineelende: and pli ‘which rir realize without hesitation. One of the first acts of his government would be to make M. Louis Blanc Prime Minister, and his next would unquestionably be to deprive the clergy of ate support from the State, His third measure would be A GENERAL AMNESTY, which the French republicans now describe as “a two sided contract,” which signifies not only that the gov- eroment is willing to pardon alleged criminals, but that tho alleged criminals are willing on their part to forgive unmerited sufferings, These wholesale measures would be tollowed by the ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT and the setting up of an absolutely free prees, while all restrictions on public meetings and public speeches would be likewise abandoned. A government framed, however, upon these Utopian principles could hardly last three weeks; and therefore M. Victor Hugo’s friends should rather desire to see him tn opposition than imoffice. Asa Senator whose every word com- mands the attention of the Freuch people he cay. raise his voice effectually against many forms of evi! He may often startle corruption ito honesty and abate the cruel arrogance of a power which must render ac- count to him. But as chief of the State himself ho could be nothing better than A SUBLIME FATLURY, ‘the world being mostly unworthy o! sach rulers as he, M, THIRES seems rather to have declined in popularity during the last few weeks. He has been several times more or Jess indisposed, and has not been able to take an active Part in the recent elections. At first his physician attributed the symptoms from which M. Thiers suffered to aslight cold, but they could not be shaken off so only as he anticipated, and ‘the eminent man,’ as be is called, sometimes in sometimes in derision, has been a good deal confined to his house of late. He may be seen any morning by his intimates, toward nine o’clock, with his black coat buttoned up to his chin and booted ready, for a journey (because he re- pudiates the effeminacy of a dressing gown and slippers), but he has lost much of that petulant manner, that peremptory accent, which be made 80 vivacious and amusing. He cag to be in gdod health, however, for he has just got rid of pne of the great plagues o} life—a poor relation at 0} rapacious and impudent, His terrible sister, Mme. Gravier, died very recently at Marseilles, and it might haye been more « M. Thiers had she departed this life long ago, for, not being able to levy. sficient black mail upon her famous bi seth led, fh 1849, to be a ti by Was indignant with bim on patriotic gro vented this indignation by setting up an eati with a board over the door bearing these words:—‘‘A table d’hote kept by the sister of M. Thiers,” The ob- noxious notice was ey sare ig nay by tho police, but M. Thiers has not genet been fortunate in his relations. He had a brother also who was such a very astonishing person that it was impossible to give him anything better than @ subordinate consular post in Ttaly out of the way of observation. CREMATION THE QUESTION OF BURNING THE BODIES OF THE DEAD AS IT PRESENTS ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE—ARGUMENTS IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND—THE RECENT CASE IN MILAN— DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS—A LADY WILLS HER BODY TO THE FIRE. Rows, Feb, 4, 1876. The cremation question has now fairly taken its place upon the order of the day in Italy. It will be in the memory of many of your readers that, in the autumn of the year 1874, the opportunity afforded by the presence of so many of the first living authorities in sctence during the sittings of the Congress of Natar- alists in Bréslau, was turned to account by the votaries of cremation as a substitute for burial, and an experiment was made upon the ‘body of a woman who had just died in the local hospital. ‘The apparatus employed on this occasion was constructed upon the model proposed by a’professor im Munich and since brought into requisition in various other instances, the latest upon record being that of Lady Dilke, the wife of the famous republican baronet, Sir Charles Dilke, What steps have been taken by the Bavarian govern- ment1donotknow. As far, however, as Prussia is concerned the cremationists have hag cold water thrown upon them by an order issued by Count Eulen- burg to the effect that, as the question was now satis- factorily settled from a scientific point of view, further experiments could not be allowed. This was not ex- actly the conclusion at which ihe cremationists wished to arrive, but there was no help for them, and they are awaiting better times. CREMATION IN SWITZERLAND. In Switzerland—or, at any rate, in most ofthe can- tons of that republic—no restrictions seem to have Deen laid upon the practice, either as simple experi- ment or in pursuance of the expressed wish of the de- ceased, and the authorities of Zurich have even gone so far as to take the initiative in the matter by erect- ing in the city cemetery an apparatus set apart for the use Of those who may prefer this mod of returning to their native elements, IN ITALY the partisans of cremation have had uphill work in struggling against the mantfold diMculties which beset their path, The question has, however at last been decided NM tae. “a little more than ye rears eller, died in Milan! “ae A expreseed th - out bis lifetime and solemnly confirmed in his will, his body should reduced to i a ES . 5 5 i ‘ls : ite i ii Pett 4 3 iz i 3 g g i ii i ; : 7 Fil g i & § i : H } E Allthese points were the end of last July, peste! work ae sts rag Nouns somewhat complicated i iat a Hl rete & Fa i this moment a mivute account of all ite parts and of their mutual re- lations, but in the absence of an explanatory diagram 1 despair of being able to render the description more intelligible to your readers than it is to myself The process of combustion takes place in the following man- ner:—The coffin comping the body is upon a Eerie sheet o! F rve! which, {ts accompany! shallow pan for reception of ashes as they from above, is allowed to aescead a simple mechanical contrivance into its bed of consisting of no less than 217 powerful gas jets. atmospheric air necessary to maintain the combustion is pumped into the chamber in a high state of A circular bole, glazed with a sheet of mica, formsa window, through which the atteadant upon duty may waich the whole progress of the operation The pearance, as we learn from an eye-witness, 18 that of @ single flame coiling and uncoiling itself in monstrous wreaths like a huge serpent. SEEE Ff +. offered an unwonted 8 January, the day appointed for this. unusual ceremony. All Milsa—ofmelal scientific and literary, military. commercial and sacerdotal—was represented on occasion. The rain poured down in torrents, and the road leading to the cemetery was literally a swi A but no severity of the ther availed to deter thousands, mncluding a ir proportion of ladies, who soon atter midday were to be seen trudging through the slush from every point of the compass toward spot where the novel experiment was about to be per- formed The only previous instance of cremation in Italy took place s01 ht or nine years ago in ‘Florence, ndian rajah Was sui denly reduced to ashes at the dead of according to the orthodox Hindoe rité, as fortune would have it, the present wruer the spot and chronicled his impressions of ceremony. But there is cremation and cren the rude, primitive appliances which our friends have inherited unaltered from their t for hundreds of generations have little with the cupat devised contrivances, Polli and Clericetti, whose ingenuity has b the highest degree with the view of obviat! jections which might by any possibility against the revival of this ancient prastice, on either of expense or of offensiveness to the or to the moral sense, : ate ‘THE CEREMONY was announced to take place at two o'clock, hour the coffin, of unusual dimensions, was pi: the hearse, which was waiting. for its reception entrance to the burial ground. A few miautes after- ward it was lowered into the furnace and the fire began its work. LEARNED ADVOCATES. After a brief discourse by the Protestant minister Professor Clericetti dwelt at some length upon the his- tory and the special character of the process S aioe in Carrying out the last wishes of the di je was followed by Professor Coletti, of the University of Pa- dua who advocated the practice of cremation on va- rious grounds, chiefly sanitary. A discourse of similar character from Dr. Pini, closed the proceedings, and the crowd then, in great part, dispersed, without wait- ing to verify by ocular demonstration THE RESULTS OF THE OPERATION. They were briefly as follows:—Afier having burned forabout an hour and a half the fire was put out by simply turning off the and the body was foundto be thoroughly caicine yr, although it still retained the appearance of a human form, a single touch reduced it at once to a heap of dust, ‘his little heap of dust, on being weighed, gave an immediate answer to the question put by the Roman satirist :—“ Hannibalem: libras in duce summo Invenies ?” Keller, during his lifetime, or at the moment of his deat had weighed seventy kilograms, or 154 inds. All of him that had re- sisted the action of the destroying element was rather Jess than five pounds of the finest white ash, TO BS REPRATED, In afew daysthe ceremony wilt be Bina) in the case lady named Pozzi, who, in her will, had given the order that her remains should be disposed of this fashion, The deeeased accompanied this wisb by an open profession of faith in the Roman Catholic religion, and the Milanese priesthood ap to be divided in opinion upon the subject, alt it cannot the clerical organs in general are op- Posed to the innovation, Ps THE BOSTON FORGER. MORE MONEY LIKELY TO BE SPENT TO KEEP HIM AWAY THAN BRING HIM HOME—PER- HAPS NOT SO MUCH OF A FORGER, AFTER ALL. Bostow, Feb. 21, 1876. Ivis becoming a seriously considered question here in Boston now whether the saintly Winslow is, after all, the terrible sinner that public opinion held him te be before his arrest in London. Ho has, at least, been a cheeky deceiver, and by his rare faculties doubtless succeeded in raising handsome sums of money from the unsophisticated; but the suspicion is gradually dawning upon the community that he bas not been sueh a wholesale forger as was originally represented. That he has committed crimes of this de- scription and is likely to go to prison for them fs unquestionably true; but it ts quite likely to turn out that he had accomplices who may be obliged to share ignominy and punishment with him. CHANGE OF FRONT AMONG FINANCIERS. While it was believed that Winslow would reach Rot terdam, and thus be secured from apprehension by American authorities, there was apparently great re- gret among financiers and his alleged victims. Now that he has been captured and is likely to be brought her trial these same men appear more disturbed than ever, and from their movements it would’ seem that Winslow's absence was necessary to cover up some queer transactions in other quarters. SUPPOSED FORGED NOTES TURN OUT GENUINE. The rumors that many of the notes, at first pro. nounced forgeries, have been admitted to be genuine since Winslow's arrest, are not contradicted. Four of them bave already been paid up, the amount of thom being not less tban $00,000. - How much more of his paper, all to bear fraudulent indorsements, will be found od by genuine signatures remains to be seen ; but there is a general impression that there will be sufficient discovered to materially reduce ‘the number and magnitade of the Methodist parson’s crimes. Ky win oagan astonishment of Winslow when imiormed that had been indicted by the Grand Jury for forgery, when taken in connection with his ap- iy ‘anxiety to be brought to Boston at once, are ts suggestive of an impression that he can makea pretty good defence against the multitude of crimes which have been charged against him. ibis not impossible that nis arrival and trial here will be roductive of even a sensation than was the rst announcement of his crooked transactions. RESIGNATION OF A BANK PRESIDENT. Mr. AL Le td President of the Exchange Bank, has resigned ly by invitation of the directors; and the fact that the institution over which be pre- sided was a heavy loser by Winslow (or said to be} would seem to indicate a | rm diMcuity on that ac count, The ex-President, however, may be abie to de fend himself against these current rumors and suspt- cions of the street. : WINSLOW'S ATTORNEYS. The cable has reported t! when arrested, Winslow Stated that he had left his affairs here in the hands of @n attorney, but that he refused to indicate who the attorney was. Various parties have deon and some of them interviewed on the sabject. tem C. Green said that ho had done bosiness tor bat that ne had employed other lawyers best: would not give their names. One of the oth: reterred to is J. B. Goodrich, and another Porter; but both of shoes goa \, like Mr. are not inclined to divulge information which public is so anxious to learn. HOW 800N CAN BE BROVONT Hane + ir. Winslow im her a most feeling and Auburndal loquent tribsters bral’ those whe have been wronged Mh say misdeeds,” he says, “there is on v4 has one heaviest sufferer of them Dot appeared | SUDDEN DEATHS, The deaths of the following persons wore yesterday Teported at the Coroners’ office:—Mary McCormick, hoy thirty-two, of No, 41 Jay street; Konrad Hein- of No. 160 Ridge street; George Minech, aged twenty-five, of No, 164 Elizabeth streot; Philw Hart- man, of No, 236 East Forty-filth street.