503
2
PARIS.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT).
January 13th, 1889,
The funeral of Gambetta, a village grocer's son, cast into the shade those of Louis XVIII, the last reigning monarch buried in France. The Second Empire buried ex-King Jerome with all the pomp and circumstance of soldiery, and interred in 1865, the duc de Morny with all administrative honors. In both ceremonies, soul was wanting: the people, the country, took no part. Gambetta's obsequies were an explosion of patriotism: the resurrection of 1870-71, with all its sufferings, its lessons, and its hopes.
THE CATHOLIC REGISTER.
It is proposed that the bottom of the vault be strewn with similar soil, coffin laid on a layer of soil several feet deep, as practiced in some states of America. Lafayette's remains were treated similarly.
A kind of retrospective controversy is taking place respecting the cause of Gambetta's death. It belongs to legend, so let it rest there. Opinion considers the deceased, like poor Garfield, was over-doctored. Had the wound been dressed as ordinarily, the health maintained by salines, and the patient fairly dosed with proper salts, and kept on his feet, instead of being compelled to lie in bed, a favorite cure in France, he would be alive to-day. Perhaps his work was done: during his 4 years, he must have lived several lives. In his coffin, with the tricolor, for a martial cloak around him, he truly "look'd like a warrior taking his rest."
The picture of the country mutilated, followed the hearse, in the symbols of Metz and Strasbourg: the hope of the country's future, was cheered in the deputations of the colleges and the schools. There was a striking unanimity in thus glorifying two epochs. It was a patriotic consolation, and exhibited France to be one and indivisible, that manifestation around the representative of its greatest symbol, and which so scrutinized and solemnized, the resistance of 1870-71.
Let there be no mistake about the meaning and the moral of the funeral. The three millions of people, who came from every part of France, from every corner of Paris, to line the route of the cortège, did not arrive to honor the doctrines of Gambetta: to mark a new triumph for the republic, or the official recognition of free thought as one of the "religions"—a paradox, of the state: no, it was the apotheosis of patriotism superior to politics and religion, incarnated in the man of Prague, and not the chief of a party or the leader of a creed.
Respecting the procession, it was a military fairy spectacle. In the words of Bossuet, the honors wanted in nothing, save him, to whom they were rendered. From the Palais Bourbon to the cemetery of Père Lachaise, is between three and four miles, and the procession starting at ten o'clock, arrived at half-past one; the rear of the cortège was at the Palais Bourbon when its head was at the cemetery. It was well organized. Along the route, the windows were filled, not with mourners, but curious onlookers; the crowd in the street was flat, reserved rather: it displayed neither sorrow, joy, revenge, nor hope. But it may not have experienced all these. Heads uncovered, when the bier arrived, as is the courtesy ever rendered to death. The working population, say half a million, were bare-headed, that being their every day toilette. There was no smoking in the crowds: no jesting. An intense feeling of curiosity dominated, mingled with the satisfaction at the grandeur of the splendid pageant. The flags in mourning, attested very extensive sympathy.
The deputations and delegations, with their 5,000 crowns represented France; not its industrial institutions. Louis Blanc had workmen for numbers; Ledru Rollin, electors; Thiers, republicans, but Gambetta had all these, for he meant France. He thought his countrymen to be French, not cosmopolitans, and the people retained for Gambetta a secret complaisance and a profound respect. The thousands, including political adversaries—Paul de Cassagnac and the duc de Broglie, who visited his remains at the Palais Bourbon, attest this. The decoration of the façade of the Chamber of Deputies—a black crape scarf drawn across, with the sashes strewn on the majestic steps, the ushers ranged in front of the pillars, and the illuminated lamps veiled, was most effective. The catafalque was neither new, nor rich: it was uncommon. That which had served to inter the Bonapartist de Morny, was considered out of place for the Grand Patriot, though it had conveyed the remains of Thiers.
Efforts are being made to retain the remains permanently in Paris and not at Nice, that might become Italian again, alongside his mother and his favorite aunt. He has bequeathed his brain to the Anthropological museum, to science, as Voltaire did his heart to the Parisians. Upwards of 6,000 applications have already been received, to be present at the technical lecture on the deceased's brain.
A few popular errors to be corrected. Gambetta is not of Jewish extraction; he descends from an old, humble, and pious Catholic family, of Celle, near Savona. Also: he was first elected a deputy in 1869, and returned for Marseilles, his official opponent being Suez de Lesseps, a distant relative of the Empress Eugénie, but a republican since the sinking of the Empire. There also opposed him at the same time, as an Orleanist. At the funeral of the Liberator, the crowd cried, Vive la République! At the obsequies of the Patriot, the nation exclaimed, Vive la France! Gambetta's followers will be absorbed into the other groups; his doctrines will be presented in another form. Time alone can develop the leadership of the republicans and there will be no lack of Richmonds in the field. But that leader will not be able to stir men, to rouse up and lead the people. And should a national crisis ever come, millions will sigh for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still.
Gambetta's death settles no pending questions; nor is it to be feared, the disputes and the dissensions of republicans. The royalists consider they can make hay while the sun shines. They have no king: true, one has been coming since half a century, and is likely to remain so. The Figaro, a very monarchal journal, cheers its followers, and offers a fat prize to whoever will forward for publication, a plan possessing a grain of common sense, for the restoration of any monarchy.
The death of General Chanzy is a very great loss to the army: he and Faidherbe were the only two generals whom the Germans counted with; originally he was intended for the navy, and during the invasion, when admirals and post captains, civilians, superseded professional generals, Chanzy had under his orders, a vice-admiral whom he once served in the capacity of midshipman. Chanzy was a "possible" president of the Republic; he would never have had, however, the republican vote, as he is an Orleanist, and the Orleanists intend to run the duc d'Aumale as successor to M. Grévy.
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The Catholic Register.
HONGKONG, 24TH FEBRUARY, 1863.
PRIZE-DAY AT ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE.
The distribution of prizes to the boys of St. Joseph's College took place on Saturday, the 17th instant, at the College in the presence of a very large assemblage. His Excellency the Administrator, who had kindly consented to distribute the prizes, arrived exactly at 3 o'clock, accompanied by Mrs. Marsh and his private Secretary, Mr. Travers. Amongst those present were His Lordship Bishop Raimondi, Very Rev. Fathers Burghignoli and Lémonier, Mr. Loureiro (Portuguese Consul), Mr. Dejardin (French Consul), Mr. Romano (Brazilian Consul), Mr. Musso (Italian Consul), Mr. Coxon (Belgian Consul), Messrs. Francis, Remedios, Guedes, Silva, and others.
His Lordship the Bishop, in opening the proceedings, said:
May it please Your Excellency, Ladies and gentlemen—it was not so long ago, a few weeks when we met in this same building on the occasion of its inauguration; and now I have again to thank you for your kindness in honoring us with your presence.
We are here to-day to witness a ceremony which, though not so novel as the opening of a College, is yet one which is always greeted with pleasure, when it comes on, the distribution of prizes to the fortunate youngsters, who have gained literary victories.
The giving of school prizes has always a pleasant effect upon a youngster's mind. All human doings are liable to be; in fact, though it might be carried to excess, we are glad to say that the giving of prizes has become a very popular thing in the Colony; and while in former times it was the custom to give the prizes on the same day as the examinations were held, now a day is fixed for it.
We all know that experience has taught us that it is very difficult for little boys to learn two languages at once. I was therefore very glad to find that a private school has been opened by a Portuguese gentleman, in which not less than 80 boys are learning Portuguese. That school might be a preparatory school to St. Joseph's College, to the greatest advantage of education, it being no doubt easier to teach foreign languages to boys, who know their own.
The boys of St. Joseph's College are separated into two divisions—the Anglo-Portuguese school and the Anglo-Chinese school—both of which are subdivided into six classes according to the six standards, St. Joseph, being under the grant-in-aid scheme. Examinations have been held, as prescribed by the Code; and here I will tell you frankly that when the time for the examination was drawing near, I was very much afraid that they would have been quite a failure. My reason for this fear was that when they were building the College, the boys' classes were held in matsheds, to the inconvenience of both pupils and teachers. I am, however, very happy to state that the examination passed off exceedingly well this year. Out of the total number of the two divisions in St. Joseph's College, we sent 158 to be examined and of these 145 passed, having gained the required marks in every subject, as it is required by the regulations (applause). That was 92 per cent, and if 30 per cent in England is considered a good result, 92 per cent in Hongkong, you will agree with me, may be considered as a great success (renewed applause).
I have always held that education must always be suited to the wants of the masses and not of the few, and I believe one of the greatest wants in Hongkong is for us to fit our boys to various situations both Government offices and in mercantile employment. Even in this direction St. Joseph's College has done its work well, for out of forty boys who have left the school during the year, not less than twenty have obtained good situations in such offices—two in Government offices, three with Solicitors, four with chemists, and eleven in mercantile firms.
Touching that point as to the future, I must frankly state, that when we consider the number of boys increasing as it is every day, I am very much afraid that in future situations would be very difficult to get for all. Some of those present might possibly recollect that a few years ago I suggested that a way should be opened for our boys to learn engineering, and I am now very glad to tell you that the other day I was assured that three of our boys are now third engineers on board steamers, and several others are preparing.
Another evil in Hongkong is that boys are too eager to get to situations and they leave the school too soon. I dare say that six years' time is too short to enable the boys to get a complete education, and we had boys, who at the age of thirteen had passed the sixth standard, and were unable to settle down to work.
It is said, that the parliament will in a few days, when it settles down to work, compel the cabinet to clearly state its views on several touching questions. Egypt will be one of these, but as the Chamber voted for the non-intervention of France, to aid England in the defence of the Khedive, and his administration, it can present no claim to uphold rights it considered not worth the expenditure of a single sou or a single franc to defend. Indeed, I think more attention will be given to home, than to foreign questions. Gambetta threw himself into the latter, to draw off attention from the former. And Clemenceau, the ablest of the Elishas, insists on internal reforms being no longer postponed. The Judicial Bench will be the first dealt with, and then the reorganization of the army, a matter in which the Army itself insists on the completion of the solutions.
The Opera masked balls have commenced; they are characterized by the absence of the nobility, at least it is not the same, as when Marie Thérèse, the duchesse d'Artois, later the princess Charles X, or when the Regent put in an appearance, receiving kicks behind from Dubois, the better to stamp the Regent's disguise, till the latter protested, "Dubois, you disguise me too much." There was a crowd of strangers as ever, to witness the faded fun and the grand stair case, which were not then in office. Costumiers, in masquerade-lords, or form of undertaker's men on horseback, were a novelty. The Freemasons wore tricolor sashes, and attended with their fast brother-in-laws; bouquets of immortelles: these they too from their button holes, and threw on the coffin, as they bid their Sgrone adieu to their brother of the Mystic tie. The students wore an ivy leaf; and the representatives of Alsace and Lorraine, carried branches, cut in their native villages that they had just left. The statue of Strasbourg on the Place de la Concorde, which has ever remained draped in mourning since the cession of Alsace, had the crape unexpectedly raised on the head of the symbolical figure as the coffin passed by, and a sudden gleam of sunshine lit up the stony features, as if with a smile. Son of the Sunny south, the Sun followed him on a day of Spring, Gambetta to his tomb. A silk scarf, with an embroidered patriotic motto, and lined with earth from Alsace, was placed on the coffin.
Respecting the missing link, Arnoux, Paris had that seven years ago in the Hameau-Uhlen, who was face included, covered with hair like a savage. Darwin's progeny, was as smooth as Lanch.
The Figaro states, a soup common with the poor of Ireland, consists of skate, lobster, potatoes, the yolks of eggs, and toast. The lamp-lighters are of two classes: one lights, the other extinguishes, the gas; but each demands a separate New Year's tip.
I can assure you that the pupils of Joseph's College are worthy of your warmest sympathy. Their attendance has been pretty good, and that the number of those who are educated has much increased, the building itself amply testifies. We have been compelled to build this new large school, rightly said in one of your last public speeches, to meet the wants of education, as we were suffering from want of space.
Perhaps you are not aware, that this is the fourth time we have had to get a good situation on account of their youth. Moreover, I have heard it said that the system of standards is not entirely satisfactory for the development of young minds. I am of opinion that at a certain age, children are in need of a strict system, like that of the standards, but with regard to boys who have reached the age of thirteen or fourteen years, I think something different is required.
The Christian Brothers have wisely done so; they have opened a seventh class for boys who have passed the sixth standard, where they learn the elements of different branches of high education—algebra, geometry, botany, mechanics, English literature, foreign languages, and literature. This will perfect the boys in English composition. Some of you perhaps recollect that some three years ago, remarks were passed as to the Portuguese boys of St. Joseph's College being weak in composition. This did not result from want of disposition on the part of the boys, and the Christian Brothers took up the matter with the result that there has been a wonderful improvement.
I hope that a few years more of study will improve them more and more, and qualify them to take better situations than that of mere copying clerks (Applause).
Fourteen who have passed the sixth Standard have been enrolled in the Seventh class, but the success of this good work on the part of the Christian Brothers, towards the starting of this important class is entirely due to the magical effect of a special prize which has been given by our liberal and generous friend Mr. Botelho, whose name will always be recollected with gratitude in this College. (Applause).
Balance Sheet setting forth the complete expenses incurred with regard to the erection of the College.
$
J. Lot purchased from G. Livingstone
18X1
$1,515.03
300.90
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