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Leader (1850-1860), 25th February 1860, Edition 1 of 2, Page 189, Untitled Article

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    • FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.
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      Untitled Article

      twenty years has been most wonderfully displayed in her magnificent colonies ; the gigantic strides which in particular ha ve ;^ J ^ JJf Canada are forcibly brought before us by the Report of ' Mr . Blackwall , Vicepresident and Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway , relative to the position and prospects of that line . The document is one of the most full and elaborate ever issued by a railway company . It- is accompanied by a large number of maps , plans , and tabular . statetnents which W 111 supply the proprietors with > n amount of information not to be surpassed except by careful personal inspection . In the year 1849 , Canada possessed one railway , of sixteen miles in length—there are now in complete operation upwards of 1 , 750 miles , of which the main centre « the Grand Trunk line ; nor is this the only means of communication by which and commerce have been aSsisted-the canal system for

      progress perfecting the navigation of the St . Lawrence has been completed . Within the last ten years the whole municipal system has been thoroughly organized , and is now the most perfect probably in the world . Education is universal , and conducted upon the most approved principles The feudal tenure in Lower Canada has been abolished ; the civil and criminal laws have been revised and amended , and the statutes consolidated into a simple code ; while to crown all , an example has been set to the mother country by a reform and extension of Parliamentary representation—the Upper House also being now based upon the elective principle . With such great facts accomplished , the Canadians may well count upon a glorious future ; and a very few years at this rate will render " England in the New World" a reality , as well as an aspiration .

      Untitled Article

      . . ( SPECIAL . ) Paeis , Febi-uary 22 nd , 1860 . rriHE Carnival has conie to an end , and Lent fairly begun . It -t- must by no means be supposed that the next forty days _ are a season of austerity and seclusion from the pomps and vanities of this , wicked world : there is not a ball the less , not a whit more fasting , no modification of amorous intrigues , no more churchgoing , no closing- of theatres— -all goes on just in the ordinary way , so that really the extravagances of the Carnival have not the same excuse as they had in bygone days , when they were regarded as the nntlfifc of all the animal exuberance , which was to be closely confined

      for the next six weeks . There can belittle doubt , however , that _ at the present time , religion , . even in the observance of its ceremonial part , and in -its-formalism , is at a lower ebb than it has ever been in France since the great Revolution . In 1790 the Church was abhorred and the priests an object of loathing ; in 1800 the One is despised and the other regarded with pity and contempt . The last state i . s worse than the first , and Catholicism had more to hope from the violence of the eighteenth century , than , it has from the quiet neglect of the nineteenth . " Hypocrisy , ' says Fuller * in one of } iis wise saws , "is the homage that vice pays to virtue . "

      Well , in France infidelity has ceased to pay even an apparent homage to religion , and , i ' ew Frenchmen are religious hypocrites , because such hypocrisy would not be worth the trouble . An alarming majority of the well-to-do classes , so far as niy own observation ' ex ! ends , frankly and openly profess to believe in nothing' beyond what they can see ; md enjoy , and follow to the letter Txrisnce's injunction , Curjpc diem . If , however , the observances of tlio church can be made at any time or in any way a pretext , for more than , ordinary enjoyment , they arc carefully maintained and scrupulously respected . Here is the Carnival for

      instance , " As we are going to . mortify the . flesh for six weelca to come , give up balls , never go to a . theatre , fast oil Wednesdays and Fridays , and ' do so many other good works , why it is only fair that we should give ourselves a little extra amusement beforehand , " A very good ' urgument in itself , but unfortunately based on a fact which is not a fact . Contrary to a great natural law ; true beyond the narrow ljmi , ts of confectionery , the French both eat their cake and have it ; for after they have concentrated the enjoyment of six weeks into as many days , they have still their six weeks' enjoyment intact , and they lose no time in so'izing it .

      Tine character of a nation can never be moro clearly discerned than in their observance of the national holidays . Take an Englishman . Hit ) great festival is Christinas ; and ho keeps it by a family gathering round 1 ho family fireside . Is not the chief eharucteriHtic . ; of " the English the strength of the domestic element P So , in Franco , the grand holiday is the- Carnival , and the people celebrate it in crowded midnight balls , in overflowing theatres , in dazzling- ciiltfs , with extravagant costumes , childish pageants , and every other accessory of universal tomfoolery . The true ¦ character of the people is fully " brought out : gaiety ond pleasure Jive t lie-ends which uvory Parisian puts before hfniHolfj how to secure the most entiro immunity from thinking , and at the same time the greatest possiblu amount of light excitement . The pleasures of the Parisians , aftor nil , are of a sort which you in England would consider

      undignified and trifling , As I stroll along the Uoulovards , cannot liolp smiling as I think with what profound contempt the gravo London Cit would regard the light-hearted Pari s ian as ho hits in a cafe " , drinking wator and sugar , aiul playing dominoes with hit * wife , or muvbu ; v . / t his wife . You may walk from the IJiiatillo to the Madeleine , that it ? , from ono ond ol the Uoulovards to the other , and in o ' very one of the three hundred and sixty oafe * n which are said to oxj / t in that line qI' streets , you will find a score of people thus employed j and this mild amiiHCimint i . s oven more common as you got lowor down in , the wooiul scale . Tht > workman of the Fauboury St . Antonio may bo found doing' in the dingy oubarut precisely what hjLs inastur doon in tho brilliant cafd at tho " West End . " Tho conversation is in general as liyht-hourtod an everything- else . Politics cu o woyoi * wumtioued . aud if you appvoueh a

      Nn-Dttnv R'/^≫R≫-C^^T-'Xtrn Mjkj^Ktjn Cokkjiferuinuj^O-(Special.)

      little knot of smokers in a cafe , it is ten to one that you will find them talking about the last new piece at the Souffles ; or of the weight of the prize ox , Soiferino , who has been paraded about Paris for the last three days with a great deal of silly trurnpetings and military processions- or of -Lord Seymour ' s cigars and pictures ; or l'etailing'u e / ' ^ doubtful anecdotes about some favourite actress . An Englishman would be discussing with judicial gravity the prospects of trade , criticising 1 the details of the Budget , or inveighing against Lord PjUDMERStgn . I do not believe that the French will be a self-governing people for a very long time to come : they have not time for government , and the majority of them seem to feel very much obliged to the Emperor for saving them the trouble . Let them have their amusements and they are conteiit ;

      they would not greatly concern themselves if every newspaper in Paris ( excepting " the Entr ' acte ) were suppressed to-morrow ; but if the Louvre or the Hotel de Cluny were closed on a Sunday , or if the Emperor were to prevent the admission of the public to the garden of the Tuileries , almost under his own dining-room window , why there would be a revolution in twenty-four hours . At . the same time as the stranger walks along the crowded streets he soon sees that Napoleon JII . is no exception to the general rule" Uneasy lies the head that ; wears a crown . " First you stumble against an unshaven , grim-looking ouvrier , in his blouse , and who , you fancy , would be a capital hand at a barricade ; then you meet a wild Zouave , or Chasseur de Vincennes , or Garde Impei-iale , who must have employment somewhei-e ; next , in contrast with the red

      trousers and bright facings of the son of . Mars , you light upon the sable petticoats and shovel hats of the men of peace . These are the three classes whom the Emperor is obliged to restrain , the workmen , the soldiers , nnd the priests ; the first urged on by physical hunger , the second by thirst for glory , and the last by the desire to recover their lost influence and avenge the wrongs of Pio Nono— -all three together constitute a formidable triumvirate , which will require all the Imperial ingenuity to resist ,. and which probably , in spite of all , will one daj' again overthrow the Napoleonic dynasty . At present , to all outward appearance , things are smooth enough . The superb streets and ^ magnificent buildings , which now are rising oh every side , and the corresponding demolition of old and narrow alleys , of dilapidated , dingy houses , attest the vigour with which the Emperor is gratifying the pride of the Parisians in the beauty of their city , and at the same time giving employment to thousands of labourers ,

      who would otherwisebe giving him a veryUnpleasant . employment . Of course if these wide streets are more com . moidious-for the passage of cannon and the operations of the soldiers than their predecessors were- ^ -well , perhaps there is not much harm in that , thinks his Imperial Majesty : in fait , " evil-minded persons think that this is his Imperial Majesty ' s- chief object . As for the soldiers , they are tolerably satisfied with the Italian campaign-, . a satisfaction which , it is to be hoped rather than expected , will continue for some years to come . ¦ 'With the third class , the priests , Nai'OUKON " has pursued the policy which will probably be . less successful than just ; .. and as one looks upon "' the sullen , crafty aspect of the ecclesiastics as -they glide along the streets , it is not difficult to discern the malevolent purposes concealed beneath the priestly ¦ garment , and one is reminded- - that llAVAit . i-. vn , the assassin of Hexby IV ., was a priest . As Madame . Jou'kdaix . said , " The sight of them makes mo feel as if I had had my dinner . ' .

      I think that , on the whole , tho feeling of the country is in favour of tho Commercial Treaty . All intelligent Frenchmen soe moro clearly every day that it is for the interest of either nation that France and England should bo on . frienifly terms with one another , and they believe that this treaty will strengthen ( he ententeoortfialc , to use a cant expression vory popular about threo years ago , and which is now interpreted by tho equally popular " Jtiflu Corps Movement . " With reference ) to competition , the French are of opinion that for a time the JOngljsh . will be gainers but to a slight ) extent , and that as soon as mutters havo taken a position of < . > quili * briiim , even " la nation bouliqiucro , " tho shopkeeper nation itself will be beaten on its own ground . They have superior ingenuity and skill ; they think that they have hitherto had insufficient , material , which will henceforth bo furnished in abundance . Tho old joke , that tho Fronch cooks would be thy bust in the world if

      theyhad any meat , may contain a deeper signifioimffe ,. and tho French will perhaps show that they are tho best ' machinists , and tho best lnanufaeturorfj of fabrics in tho world when thoy can . procure iron and wool . Well , at all ovents they think Ha The < looti"ino of Free Trade , in common with most of tho scientific truths of political economy , is not at all comprehended'by tho majority of pooplo in Franco , and though M . CiiEVAixiiiH has dono much to promote this most important branch of science , it will bo many years before his touching will have permeated tine national un < krn land ing , or brought forth much fruit . Perhaps an rxloiiHion ' commercial relations may contribute more to eorreot vi ' owh on this subject . than volumes of theory , and suuh ru ' i extension would ho s ' ucurud by tho working 1 of tho treaty , and by opening Lo J-Yonoh trade an unlimited field . They do not ; Boom to huvo any notion tlmt tho English parliament may throw the treaty overboard ; in fact , thc ^ have the most confused notions possible as to what the working of

      our Ifixooutivo i « , and thoy , with thuir extremely shnnio I't ' giuu ' , dud it dillioult to appreciate tin ) oomplhfaiionH' which mirround an English minister . Thin boiii ^ the qwe , it in qijito inipohniblo to px udiot what would bo the oflbab of the rojootion of tho troiity , r J his much i « quite oertnin , that ovory Frenchman you moot , liowovcr voaHonablo and paoilio in hiw views , will not nttonipt to onnocal that the most popular thing with tho , army would bo a wm witn Eugluud j tvnU itiu tv * iu « ution . how l \\ v the dwtuibunoo oMuh uitouMon

      Untitled Article

      Feb . 25 , 186 O . _; TheLead ^ tmdSaimda ^ Aiial yst . ]¦ 189

      Foreign Correspondence.

      FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 189, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2335/page/17/