Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1

---

[235] saw Count Circourt,¹ a Frenchman, who though young has great attainments, and speaks many languages. He was the private secretary of Prince Polignac, and of course, with the prostration of that mad minister, lost his chances of advancement for the present. I was not formally presented to him, as it is not the usage to introduce strangers to each other; all in the room are privileged to address each other without an introduction.

Went to Cutter's, an American tailor established in Paris, to be measured for a surtout; was struck by the close attention paid to the shape of my person by the measurer. It was noted, among other things, that my right shoulder was slightly higher than the left. Of course, the appearance of this was to be counteracted. So the tailor makes the man!

Next read the papers at Galignani's, where I have subscribed for two months, paying twelve francs. Here are all the English and French newspapers covering two large tables, and all in constant demand. When, however, I looked for American papers, it was with difficulty that I could find them: they were put away in the dark. Such is the interest excited by our affairs! But I must confess, that, as I perused the columns of these papers, —being fresh from the perusal of the elaborate sheets from the English press, and the smaller but piquant and vigorous papers of France,—I felt strongly the pettiness of the politics of my country, their provincialism, and their lack of interest for the cosmopolite, besides also the ordinary character of their editorial matter. There is not so good a market for editorial talent in our country as here; in other words, the talents which will make a good editor with learning, comprehension, and rhetorical ability will find better situations with us than at the desk of a newspaper. Au contraire in France, Thiers steps from the chair of his printing office to that of prime minister; and Armand Carrel, as a simple journalist, in the pages of the National, exercises an influence on the destinies of his country, greater than the most favored minister of the crown. In America the profession has not the same high regard which it has in Paris; and men of distinguished talent, before whom the world is opening, hesitate to engage in it, except as an agrement of youth, or to piece out the narrow income of a profession. However, I will not speculate upon the reasons; it is sufficient that there is a great difference. The French press, so far as I have been able to comprehend its spirit, is vigorous, keen, constant, watchful, and full of ability, with force of rhetoric and argument in great store. The papers are not more than half as large as ours; indeed, they are of about the same size with a half-sheet of an American newspaper, folded in the middle,—being, therefore, in the folio form; still they contain as much, and indeed more, interesting matter than our papers. Their four pages are full of discussion, reports, or news, with but a few lines for advertisements; which latter form the bulk of an American newspaper.