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DOMESTIC MANNEKS OF TUE PEÜSSIANS.
the vandyked edging round the rim, with the pierced piecesat the sides, give one the notions of so much open embroidery-work fashioned in biscuit-ware.
But the principal feature of all is the tower that riseson one side of the front—for the fellow-turret has never
aristocrat (!) It violates the laws of equality—in exceeding the height of thecitizen's houses. Should such an odious privilege be preserved in the monumentof that superstition which has so long imposed upon the people ? No, Citizens ;it is sufficient that such an abuse should be pointed out to you in order to beimmediately put an end to. / demand then that the ' ci-devant cathedrale' ofStrasburg be decapitated, (!) and that its excised spire may prove that therepublican axe, ever inflexible in its work, knows how to deal justly with thingsas well as men."
This speech was receivedwith enthusiasm, and the poor spire's condemnationwas about to be pronounced, when a member of the committee (who was anhotel-keeper, and, therefore, loth that the city should lose any of its attractions),demanded that the matter should be discussed; whereupon "mine host" spokeas follows :—
" Assuredly, Citizens, there are none but the friends of equality here, and I,above all, am a man of the axe. I admit that the steeple of the Cathedral is muchhigher than the houses of the city ; but is it the fault of the buüding that it wasconstructed so ? Because the fancy of the architect chose to push it to so higha point, will you construe that into crime on the part of the Cathedral ? Goodrepublicans should not have two weights and two measures wherewith to deal outjustice. Monuments merit the same consideration as men. If, for instance, aCitizen who has had the misery of being born of an aristocratic family — anunfortunate whom nature has ill-treated, even to the point of making him of nobleand titled extraction—if such a one comes and casts at your feet all the vanities ofthe times which are no more, and approaches you with his heart füll of patrioticsentiments, as well as the bonnet rouge on his head, you admit him among yourranks, and treat him as a brother. Your sense of justice then ignores all thewrongs of birth and the errors of the past. Well, we ask the same justice forthe ' ci-devant cathedrale.' Already it has been stripped of the altars of anabolished religion, and now, instead of having its tower cut off, let us dress its head(coiffons-la) with the bonnet rouge, and then the elevation of the monument willcease to be an insult, but serve rather to exalt the glorious sign of liberty morethan ever, and to cause it to be seen from afar."
A thunder of applause followed the proposal, and, thanks to the "coiffure,"the spire was allowed to continue on the Shoulders of the tower, while the deco-rations of the facade were preserved by covering them with a hoarding, whichwas used to placard the decrees and " ordonnances" of the republican govern-ment upon.