The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-03-28
THE GALAXY.
MIDDLEBURY.VT.
Tuesday, March 28, l848.
EUROPEAN PROSPECTS.

magnitude Oh INC Interests at slake 1He ufCte"
reyime-thc old order of things-of which the
Feudal System. MonaIchies, Aristocracies, Es-
tablished Churches, were once vigorous and fruit
full branches-is now, if we can at all correctly
complete ard speedy destruction. When the pco-
pleof France maddened with wrong, & bewildered
in their moral perceptions by series of delu-
sions and mockeries and abuses, arose in their
strength and ungoverpable fury, in l7s9,-tten,
indeed it was plain that the downfall of all these
glittering absurdities was decreed-was sooner or
later inevitable. But what could such mob
without wholesome discipline, without moderation,
without definite aim, be expected to accomplish
Stung into frenzy by the sense of injury, and
deeply conscious Of the real source of that injury
their Indignation, when once it had broken thro
the restraints of such government as had been
given them, could not stay itself within the lin
its of wise discretion, nor subside until the last
rently forever externnatcd. The Revolution
passed from stage TO stage, strewing its course
with devastation and maSsacIe,-to all sober splr-
IFS, living in quiet era inexpressiblv horrible.
Yet. with all its horrors that Revolution accom-
plshed a work whose effects were not confined to
France, nor even TO Europa work which only
the coming time can fully understand and rightly
estimate
The Revolution embodied itself in Napoleon,
marched in triumph to nearly every capital in
y c1t 6
cent order with terror and foreboding. What
ever be our opinion of the Conqucror of Europe
one thing at least is true. He did more to spread
the contagion of Democracy through every quar-
ter of Europe-drectly and indirectly-than all
other influences combiped. And it was only
when the Pigment of a hereditary monarchy and
the founding of an Imperial Family, took posses
sion of his mind, that shorn of his strength, the
monarchs OF Europe succeeded in suppressing his
powerfully has never yet forgotten the Rcpnb-
lican lessons first learned through General Bona
parte and his army That unhappy people was
among the least ready to submit TO the dictation
of the Holy Alliance. Full of internal commo-
tions, like her own volcanoes the eruptions Of the
Democratic spirit were almost continual, even to
the very day when the guns of St. Angelo an
nounced to the people of Rome that Gregory
XVI. was no more.-And how enthusiastic was
their ioy when il was found that the New Pope
was man TO whom the impatient subjects Of
Austrian domination could look for countenanee
and support Less than two years have elapsed
since the coronation Of Plus IN, but the politi
cal changes in Italy have been rapid and wonder
full. And it is not too much to say that these
movements have unquestionably FASTENED the
great crisis in Europe which seems now to be
fully come.
France submitted somewhat patiently to the de-
crecs of the Congress of Vienna until July, 1880
Then again did the French nation assert the fan
damental principles which calmer mood and
better experience than they possessed in 1889,
enabled them to see more clearly and reach more
directly The Bourbons were expelled from the
throne. The acts of the Congress of Sovereigns
were nnnulIed. The people again took the pow
er into their own hands. Convinced that even
then, with slow but steady progress towards
Rcputlicanism even since tho first great out
break, they were not quite prepared for pure
Republic they elected sovereign and adopted
a Constitution essentially Republican. The "Re-
formed Charter" professedly based on the SOW
ereignty of the people, was drawn up on the
eth of August, and on the 9th of the same
month, Louis Philippe, the Citizen King"-de-
irving his power not from Divine Right, but from
the Choice of the People-took the Crown and
swore to preserve the Charter inriolate, carrying
out all its principles.
How did the King set about discharging this
responsibility What has been the history of
his rule for the last eighteen years $50 far
from attempting TO realize the aims of the Revo-
luton to which he owed his elevation, he has in
variably shrunk from acknowledging the real
source Of his power. Pledged to guard the Press
from any encroachment of its liberties, he has
openly and directly subjected it to iyrannical re-
strictions. Solemnly promising to protect the
minor states of Europe from any encroachmcnts
on the part of the allied Sovcrcigns. he has d.
rectly interfered in furtherance Of the designs Of
Russia and Austria in respect to Switzerland and
Italy. Instead of devoting his whole energies to
the service OF his people, ana TO the building up
of the French nation, as every body expected of
the Sovereign they had chosen, his main encr-
gies have been devoted to the interests ofhis own
family and to the founding of q new and perma-
nent Dynasty. The Notifications of Paris and
the Spanish Marriage were both movements
made in direct opposition to the will of the peo-
pie and to what they naturally and reasonably
expected of their King.
Guizot. from the first a faithful adherent
of the King had been, for most of the time during
these eighteen years, in the Ministry, entering
heartily into all the views of his superior, until he
came, for the last two years, exercise an almost
exclusive control over the affairs of the nation.
The bitter odium which the measures of Louis
Philippe excited in the minds of the people, was
made to rest heavily upon the shoulder of his