Baron Haussmann, the man who found Paris a strange mixture
of slums and palaces, and left it the city of magnifi- cent, tasteless, dreary boulevards we all know, died on Sunday at the age of seventy-nine. He owed his favour with Napo- leon III. to the latter's visit in 1853 to Bordeaux, where Baron Haussmann had successfully organised a "spontaneous display of enthusiasm." TheEmperor called Haussmann to the capital, made him Prefect of the Seine, and entered eagerly upon a. number of colossal .projects for the embellishment of the capital set forth by his new proretc. Haussmann called to his aid M. Alpbaud, an engineer, and these two, joined by the Emperor, set about making Paris what they considered a beautiful city. The expenditure was enormous, but it no doubt oted wealthy foreigners, and helped to make Paris the c7ef pleasure-town of the world. By giving plenty of work to the artisans, it also assisted Napoleon III. in his efforts to drug public opinion. Napoleon I. gilded the dome of the Invalides in order to divert attention from the de- struction of the Grand Army in Russia ; and his nephew hoped that France would forget her degradation and the loss of her liberties in gaping at the splendours of a Haussmannised Paris.
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