Reminiscences of Paris [pp. 404-412]

REM1NISCEF-CES OF PARIS.
mitted to enjoy peace and quiet. For years and years past we
have declared without the staples of the South the industrial
interests of the North would be prostrated, would perish, and
it is true. Yet we continue to supply them; permitted 1850,
the accepted time of our political salvation, to pass unimproved,
for then we could have had a separation in peace; nothing was
then to be dreaded from the North or foreign Powers. And
now the struggle is upon us at an unprecedented if not unfortunate juncture of affairs; when the world before never presented
such a spectacle of gigantic prepl)arations for war. It is true,
the prosperity of tile Southl- was tlhe indispensable condition of
the prosperity of the North. Yet the North seeks our destruction by wtaging( upon us a war of' extermination.* (Can it
ever be more to the interest of other foreign T'owers than it
was to the North to obtain our staples? Shlall we not then lay,
the embargo, and impose as the i,i.(is,pensal)le condition of its
removal ternis of peace? I have forborne to discuss the question in its financial aspect, because that has beenii so ab)ly done
through the public press; especially in the Charleston Mercury,
showing how we could withhold our staple productions, and at
the same time furnish to our people a circulating medium. * *
ART. IX.-REMINISCENCES OF PARIS.
Thle French people have acquired a world-wide fame for their
elegance of manners, and for politeness in their social intercourse. Among the hi,lier and educated classes this distinctive
feature may be considered a national peculiarity, if the same
may not be predicated of the educated classes of every civilized country. As app)lied to the French populace, this imputed
refinemient of manuagers consists in nothing mnore tlihan a coInstitutional vivacity and an innate lighlt-lheartedness, which sets
care and trouble at defiance. The politeness of the French
people, as contradistirnguislied from that of any other people, is
the stereotyped repetition of elegant phrases and idiomatic
peculiarities of language. The "sil vou.v pl(-tit" is the ornaimental appendage to every request, anld the "'bien hIureux" and
"bie., cirtme" the introductory lprelude to every proposition.
Their beautiful custom of kissing their frieids and acquaint
- At the North the revolution has been consummated. Their Government has
become a mnilitary despotism. We thought their p ople would resist the usurpation
of their rulers, and thus would result pea, e. N )t so, however. They submit to
any usurpation to subjugate the South. The only hope of peace to the South is
,tfearflyj in the North, and the only thing we can dlo to produce that result, is to
refuse to furnish them material for clothing; without clothing there will be no
subordination in the ranks of their soldiers, no law and order with their people.
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