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