Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1848-02-09
From the Boston investigator.
The French Revolution,
ITS CAUSES AND ITS cossEQUENcEs.
n,onclndnd |
(Concludcd.)

concluded.
There is passage in the sixteenth book OF
l,amartine's work, which shows to what condi-
ton misrule had brought large portion OF the
French People. He is speaking of the charac
ter oe the insurrectonists of the goth of June,
1892, and says,-"The mixture of all sexes.
ages, and conditions: the confusion of costumes
and rags beside uniforms, old men beside young;
even children, some carried in their mothers
arms, others holding Their fathers hand or his
garments; common prostitutes, their silken dres-
ses soied and torn. indecency on their brow.
and insult on their lips, hundreds of women OF
the lowest description, and from thedregs of the
people, recruited to swell the cortege, and ex-
cite commsseration from the garrets of the
faubourgs, clothed in tattered 6nery, pale, ema
ciated, their eyes hollow, and their cheeks sun
ken from misery, the Person.hcdtions Of rant
in fact, the people, in all the disorder, the con-
fusion, the exposure of the city suddenly sum-
moned from its houses. its work shops, its gar
rets, its and hauEts of debauch and infamy;-
such was the aspect of intimidation which the
conspirators wished to give to this scene."-
This accumulation of horrors was infinitely
more discreditabIe to the government-to the
men against whom it was arrayed-than it was
10 ..the conspirators.' These latter did but, at
the very most. make use Of the very means fur
nished by the former to bring about their own
overthrow, A nation which contains such ma
teriaI, must stand sadly in need of change. Had
the government done its duty, the conspirators
never would have evoked the ''Eersonifcations
of ,cant' to level it with the dust. But the gov
ernrnent had been false to his trust, and it fell
-s'and great was the fall thereof"
Some of the conservative writer's on this sub
ject, in their anxiety TO prore thai the Revolu-
tion was caused bv what they are pleased to
call the "spresd of In6de principles" prove al
together too much. Many of them have dwelt
with much JUNCTION upon the fact. that when
the French army was in the East, under Buo-
naparte, few of the soldiers felt any interest in,
because they possessed 10 knowledge of, the
Scriptura scenes of Egypt and Syria. Joseph
and Moses, David and Jesus, Bethl hem and
Nazareth, were words 10 of more tran ordinary
meaning to them. They excited no reverence
in the minds Of the soldierv. This is adluced
as an evidence of the total depravity' of French
men in that age, as if ignorance were some
thing of an active nature, to be acquired by
hard study, and which he said Frenchmen,-
from the extreme pervcrsity oftleir nature, had
chosen, rather than knowledge. We see in it
nothing of the kind. but ample proof rather Of
the total neglect of what they he'i % bc'their
duty bv the French clergy. The men who
composed the army which invaded Egypt, we're
all born, and most of them must have arrived
at mans estate, before theRevoation broke ont.
Their religious education was the business of
the clergy of the French church, church that
had abundant means of educating the whole
people. Yet we find that numerous body Of
Frencbmen, drawn right ont of the whole com
munity, were of what it was the admitted duty
of that church to teach theml This proves,not
that lnhdeIity caused the Revolution, but that
the priesthood were too false and covetous to
give even stones to their disciples. We believe
that ther are many books which it is more for
a mans advantage to be familiar with, than the
HebrewSybilline leaves: but so the French cler-
CIV did not believe, and they are to be tried by
their standard of right and duty, and not BY
ours.
Coming down from the causes of the Revo-
luton, to consequences, we find every reason To
rejoice at its occurrence. No great movement
of the human race ever effected so much. The
Reformation was less effectual in sweeping "a
way cobwebs and dust, and in preparing the
ground for the erection of a political ediice at
once useful and stately. 1t has changed the
destinies of the world. The effete empires of
So were regenerated BY it. 1t created a
political people in 'ce' Es'ng 10 that neart
OF EHnope, comparatively libera, lhstitu'.~'
and more equitable laws, and preparing the way !
for still greater reforms. We see its influence
So the widening the base of the political edlfice
in England, through the extension of suffrage,
the emancipation of the Catholics, and the adop-
ton of commercial policy verging upon free
trade, and sure to end in 1t. 1t contributed to
the preservation of the Nationality Of Poland,
despite of the partition of that great country
1t paved to the comprehensive organic changes
of Stem and Hardenberg. which gave TO Pras-
STA people in exchange for an army. 1t broke
down irresponsible despotism in Spain and Por-
tugal, and opened up the way for the establish
ment of constitutions in the Peninsular king
doms. italy learned from it that her people
only needed good government to become once
more among the favored races of the world In
attaining tie great ends of life. The vicious
colonial empire of Spain was burnt ND in its con-
sumipg fires, and free states established in the
southern portion Of the Western world. In fine,
Il shook despotie power every where. and taught
mankind that they were capable fpulling down
those idols created in barbarous ages, and whose
supremacy was incompatible with the weil-be-
iDp of the race. The veil was torn away by 1t
from the Mokanna-visage of society, and de-
voton thereby exchanged for that adherence
which leads to reform and purer Worship.
We NAV be told, that in France, the Revo!u-
ton led to the reign Of Napoleon, and that the
despotism which ne established extended for
time over well-nigf, all Europe. We must be
excused for not joining in the common cry "a
rainst the dominion of the French Emperor