The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-10-19 00:00:00

Etc gotauxhage etseder.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1872.

M. TRIERS & PRINCE NAPOLEON.

The President of the French Republic has
difficult and delicate duties to perform, and im-
portant interests to maintain to the best of his
ability. We believe that he is sincerely anxious
for the good of his country, and that in his re-
cent action in reference to Prince Napoleon he
has done what he conceived to be his duty and
the safest and best thing for France. But we
nevertheless think that M. Thiers has commit-
ted a grave error of judgment in ordering the
expulsion of Prince Napoleon. The reasons of
the Prince appearing in France are now pretty
well beyond dispute. He went there to find a
school for his sons; but that was only one rea-
son, but he was no doubt influenced by the ap-
proaching elections. It seeing that there had
been several private meetings of the Bonapartist
party in France, to decide on the course they
should take with regard to these elections—
whether they should, in a word, urge their
course, or leave matters to take their course. As
there was great difference of opinion on the
matter, Prince Napoleon went over to France, it
is said, to explain personally the views enter-
tained by the imperial exile of Chislehurst.
Supposing this to have been the case, M. Thiers
had doubtless a right to his opinion whether this
was or was not plotting against the Republic.
Perhaps the balance of opinion on the part of
all who may have read of these conferences is
that they at all events looked very much like
plotting; but then M. Thiers went far beyond
mere opinion. Re founded very decided action
upon it, and action which we think was neither
warranted by the facts nor advisable as a politi-
cal step to take. lie ordered the expulsion of
the Prince. The latter immediately protested,
and it must be admitted that he has some power-
ful arguments on his side, lie declares that he
is a victim to the abuse of power ; that he is a
French citizen entitled to the civil and political
rights of a Frenchman ; and that his movements
had been open and legally authorised by a pass-
port properly ifisr. The following extract from
his protest certainly puts his case in a very
strong light. •` A French citizen," he says,
" who is not under the ban of any exceptional
law, is violently arrested, and a councillor-gene-
ral is prevented from staying iu France. More-
over, I have a right to consider myself as having
been drawn into a trap, since the Government
allowed me to enter France with a regular docu-
ment, and was always informed by its agents of
my presence. My political conduct, full of
moderation, has never afforded the Government
the slightest pretext for accusing me. I defy it
to bring any complaint against me which is
punishable by law. in reality, the name of Na-
poleon, which 1. have the honour to bear, is my
only crime in the eyes of the Government."
There is no doubt that his name—a name once
so powerful in France, and still identified with
gleire—had much to do with his expulsion,
which was virtually carried out by force. The
Prince having declared he would only yield to
compulsion, he was formally arrested; the lug-
gage of himself and his wife was speedily packed
up ; and a special train, which had been in wait-
ing, conveyed the Prince and Princess, a few of
their friends, and a couple of gendarmes, to the
Salsa frontier. It is said that when M. Thiers
took steps to effect this expulston he was not
aware that Prince Napoleon was accompanied
by his wife, but we can hardly believe this, ow-
ing to the open way in which they had travelled
together. The Princess Clutiiilite was of course
not expelled with her husband, but she very
naturally chose to go with him. The result,
however, makes matters rather unfortunate fur
M. Tillers. The Princess is the daughter of the
King of Italy, and this fact cannot but give rise
to a good deal of unpleasantness. But quite in-
depently of this, the President of the Republic
did not in this matter act with that sound judg-
ment that he has hitherto displayed during a very
trying and troublous period of the history of
France. Prince Napoleon is not great as a con-
spirator, and even had his share with Bonapartist
conferences regarding the elections deserved the
name of "plotting," they would doubtless have
been less injurious to the Republic than the
political martyrdom which M. Thiers has now
effected. There is always a reaction to this sort
of thing, and it is not easy to see where the re-
action may stop. It may be, in the present case,
that Prince Napoleon, his old friends, and the
new friends who will be created by the persecu-
tion, will be more powerful with the alleged arch
conspirator out of France than in it, and in any
ease M. Thiers has given to him an importance
that he previously did not possess. We hope,
however, that the storm will blow over, for, de-
siring the best interests of France, we feel as-
sured that plotting to bring back the imperial
exile will do the country no good. Whatever
the Napoleons may have been, done, or suffered
for France, Napoleonic policy is now played out,
and the long-distracted country will do well to
consolidate the political institutions she now
possesses.