The causes of the conflict are not difficult to state. The French sailor is invariably a Naval Reservist. The Government has a call upon his services in case of mobilisation; in return he is given certain privileges, such as exclusive employment on board merchant ships and pension after so many years' service. Ho is called inscrit maritime because he is inscribed in the books of the Navy; his outgoings and his homecomings are faithfully registered, so that " paternal authority never loses sight of him, He is subject to this aystem all the days of his working life and in his best years ho serves on board a man-of-war. This is really the plan upon which the French navy is recruited. Obviously the sailor is subject to a rigorous discipline. When ho takes service under a ship's captain he is bound by strict rules and is liable to imprisonment should he break his shore-leave or fail to present himself before the sailing of the ship. It is this state of subjection that is so distasteful to the Marseilles sailor man. The agitation which is really engineered by " long-shore-men," claims fully civil rights for the inscrit, that is to say, that-he shall be on exactly the same footing as other per sons in civil employ. The shipmast. so in this demand the end of all discipline; hence their absolute opposition. Furthermore, the men have made it a sine qu& non that they shall choose the captains under whom they shall serve. Whilst no doubt the system has been open to some abuse in the past and has, it is said, enabled owners to ship men at low wages, their present arbitrary methods of conducting the dispute have alienated much Minister of Marine, M. he hierarchical inscrits maritimes. As a Socialist he has believed it to be his duty to support the men against the masters. His first step in that direction was to give them the right to form a trades union, New Plays.
The theatrical season is already launched, though September has hardly begun. Some now plays by such masters of the art as Henri Bataille, Romain Coolus, Brieux and Maurive Donnay are announced for approaching prosentation at the Vaudeville. This is Réjane's old theatre and though there ins to be some falling-off in the acting ince her departure, it still counts as the most Parisian of Paris playhouses. It is likely that there will be a George Sand play during the season, the adaptation being by the veteran wu rice, known to all monas the devoted admirer of the literary genius of the "Bonne Dame de Nohaut" (the local name of George Sand), and of Victor Hugo, of whom he is the literary execu-for. M. Bricux's play will be drawn from' "L'Armature," a powerful novel by the most powerful novelist of the day, Paul Hervieu. Réjane has now no theatre of her own, but she will doubt-Jess find engagement at one of the leading houses along the Boulevards, to which her genius is certain to dr: w 2 great crowd of admirers, Towards the Music Hall.
The same tendencies are to be observed Paris as in London: the multi-of the music hall. A famous little house on the left bank of the Seine, the Thédtre Cluny, which has Produced masterpieces in its time, is going to be transformed into a music hall j and in another part of the town, in the Avenue de Clichy, the old Theatre Moncey has been' supplanted by new cafe concert in crimson and gold and known as "Titania." The Thédtre Moncey was the home of an interesting experiment. A. M. Boaulion conceived the idea of presenting classical plays to the people at popular prices. He got first-rate companies together which played the masterpieces of Molidre and Corneille to franc stalls and a twenty-
Public, which has placed many millions of francs in Russis, there is reason to believe that no very serious alarm will be felt. The people whose hoard from the traditional has do laine has gone into Russian funds are firmly convinced that, come what may, their interest is assured. Did not Russia pay hor English bondholders during the Crimea A Statesman's Statue.
Waldeck-Rousseau, one of the most far-sighted statesmen that the French Republic (which by the way celebrates its proclamation this month) has had since such giants as, Thiers, Gambetta, five-centime balcony. But the poo ple 20d Jules Ferry, is to have his statue in for whom this excellent entertainment was provided, turned up their noses the cheapness of the fare. One day butcher came in for five stalls. When Tearned that the price was five francs he put his money back in his pocket with an "ugh!" of disgust. "Do you think I am going to associate with unwashed and out-at-elbow people?" he said. And the Pharisee went away. The several attempts to found popular theatres have boon equally unsuccessful. It would seem that the working class world, when it. goos to the theatre gets as much pleasure out of contemplating the elegance of " stalls and boxes" as out of the performance itself. A dun-coloured theatre where the working man and his "misses" meet only the people of tiver own immediate surrounding, has little attraction either for him or for her. It is as if the sight of silk and satins on the backs of the woll-todo theatre-guars gives humbler observers the sensation of being present at some brilliant social function and consequently something entirely removed from their every-day life. The People's Theatre, therefore, in the Avenue de Clichy, lacking inbrightnoss and gaiety came to the ground and its place is taken by a cafe con which though neither classical nor Shal peorian (in spite of Titania), will doubtless provide its patrons with plenty of illusions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.