CHAPTER VIII

IN THE AISNE--(_continued_)

Laon, Chauny, and St.-Gobain--The French Revolution and Spanish soda--The most extensive chemical works in France--A miniature Rotterdam--A Cité Ouvrière--The religious war in Chauny--Local and immigrant labour--M. Allain-Targé on Boulanger, the High Court of Justice, common sense and common honesty---French elections, matters of bargain and sale--'The blackguardocracy'--Sketches by a Republican minister--French freemasonry a persecuting sect--Their power in the Government--Utterly unlike the freemasonry of England, Germany, or America--The war against Christianity in France and Spanish America--1867 and the industrial progress of France--Extent of the chemical works of France--Retiring pensions for workmen--Chauny in the olden time--How the honest burghers freed their city in 1432--A contrast with the rioters of the Bastille in 1789--Henri IV. and La Belle Gabrielle--Chauny and the Revolution--The murder of d'Estaing--Chauny acclaims the Restoration, and gives a gold medal to the Prussian commandant--Public charity and public education in the 12th century--Benevolent foundations pillaged in 1793--Law and order under the _ancien régime_--A canal in the law courts--An enterprising American turns rubbish into indiarubber at Chauny 162-185