n of it. Such journals sold by thousands in Paris before
Napoleon III. throttled the newspapers. These very men were fond of
pleasure and pursued it, and I have been told by residents, that often
persons of a foppish exterior and fashionable conduct, are also
celebrated for the extent of their learning. At home we rarely look for
talent or learning among the devotees of fashion, or at least, among
those who exalt fashion above all moral attributes.

It seems to me that the French are more gifted by nature than the
English. The English mind is more sluggish, but in all that is
practical, it gains the goal of success, while the French mind often
fails of it. In theory, the French have always had the most delightful
of republics--in fact, a wretched despotism. So, too, they have had an
idea of liberty, such as is seldom understood even in America, but real
liberty has existed rarely in France.

The laboring men of Paris perhaps never saw the inside of a school-room,
but they are educated. They know how to read, and through the
newspapers, the library, the popular lecture and exhibition, they have
gained what many who spend most of their earlier years in school never
gain. From an experience which justifies it, I believe the soberest part
of Paris is its class of artisans. They may possess many wrong and
foolish opinions, but they are a noble class of men. They are a majority
of them republicans, and though they consent to the inevitable
necessity--obedience to the monarch and endurance of a monarchy--yet
they indulge in hopes of a brilliant future for France. They know very
well how their rights are trampled upon, and feel keenly what a
disgraceful condition Paris and all France occupies at the present time,
but are by no means satisfied with it. They well know that there is no
real liberty in Paris to-day; that no journal dares to speak the whole
truth for fear of losing its existence; and that the noblest men of the
republic are in exile. The trouble is, that the lower classes of the
provinces are grossly ignorant, and do not desire a republic, nor care
for liberty. Thus, those who are intelligent and have aspirations after
freedom, are borne down by the ignorant.

One of the characteristics of the people of Paris, for which they are
known the world over, is their politeness. I noticed this in all circles
and in all places. In England John Bull stares at your dress if it
differs from his own, and hunts you to the wall.