Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1852-01-03
AFFAIRS IN FRNCE.


The comments o: the journals 9TH of this country
aud of Great Britain, in relation the present eond
ton of thugs in France, show my varieties oil op'
Mon. Predictions the most oppote as to the result
OF Louis Napoleon usurpalionlFe 10 be met with
To oHe quarter we are told, wiihhe utmost positive
ness Of assertion that France vi Indignantly reject
tyranny thrust upon her unawas ana enforced BY
the bavonet while with equal cadenee ii is declared
in other quarters that Louis N'oeon is the necessa-
ry man for the times, aud ih his Government al
fords the Gully reasonable pyosc0 f peace and order
in France.
The Empire or the Red ReIbic-these are the al
tenstives it would seem for anee. Her experiments
at Repu6lieanism have not seeded so well as TO
make her much in love with latter, an i'm peria
system, a throne, based urn universal suffrage, il!
likely 10 exhibit a strange a>may. II Is clouded
Future that France has beol her-so obscured to the
view that conjecture is whoy at fault. A period of
civil strife seems unavoid,le. The following ex.
tract from the Paris correspondence of the National
Intelligencer presents psiul picture
The dispatches receiveeup 10 late last night show
several Of the Deparmer to be at present devouFed
by frighttnl and rampant narchy. Plage massacre,
a horrible iscuuerie wopy OF the days OF The
first revolution, ravapg them. The insurgents do
not seem actuated by ~ respectable political motive;
by love for the Republic by respect Ter the Consttu
tom by detesato OF a,surpng dictator. The bands
OF armed insurgents al not rushing to common
rendezvous, organizing choosing respectable leaders,
and forming army udetence OF the constitution and
the rescue OF the repoc Ohlt they werethus acting
yopr CORRESPONDENT wald wish them Godspeed. No it
is soc al rather than civil war it is the poor rushing
in nufate bands win ponard and torch, against the
rich, the working mai against employers the peasants
are rising against tie land owners; the men OF the
country are pouring y thousand. in dsoderly hordes
into the cities. Thy armed with reapng hooks,
| scythes and sacks bear away he plumber and they
| spread devastationBnd dlsmay around them. Who
can hesitate on account OF merb political differences.
lend support to my Government TO any power SUI
fcieny strong 10 put stop to these atroclti1s! VINO
by opposition iron political, motives, however Just,
| however well founded, would weaken Government
which most detesabe politically, is certainly willing
and let alone, will be able, to put stop to this inter-
nal war which bursting out al over France} shrink
from the contemplation OF wilat would have been
the fate OF Pals il the insurrecion OF last week had
been triumphant.
The confirmation Of Louis Napoleon's power by
the vote oflEle people was earded certainty, al
the last adices aid established for ten years the
assumption taken for grained pretty generally that
the title O Emperor would sool be substituted for thai
OF pfesieent he London Standard sustains the course
OF Lous Napoleon and says:
| .sThere is not an intelligent man in Europe who
will deny that the 'stagnan alarchy phrase which
we applied to France many days before the memora
Bile Tuesday week-fhe sstagIant anarchy of the las
sly months was but the VlSL oil tremendous con
| vhlslon-
| The torrents stilnessere it rush below
ssln such a crisis, the good genius of France sum
mon d. in the words OF Nelson's signal, every mar
to do his duty The summons was addressed 10 all
but most directly and m st lOudiy TO the trustees
political power: above al to The President of the Ee
public. That magistrate may have been Influenced
by personal ambition; we do not say that he moi
but ii Washington ad been III mis- place, Washington
himself must have taken some step as violent to save
| the country. WasbIn9ton's course might not have
| been the same as that adopted by Louis Napoleon
We no more youeh for the fautess eXcelency of the
Presidents measures than for his freedom from per
sonai ambition: but contend that no patriot, how
pure or wise sosyer, resolved to save his country
could ia the position in which Louis Napoleon was
placed. act with less than the vigor and decision with
which he has acted. Tha successful rebellion OF Feb
ruary 1915 had reduced France to of anarchy
that conioued, row dct1Ue stdg2lant for
sve wears. The danger at length arrived at a de-
gree which threatened an almost Immediate dlssou-
ton OF those bonds by which society is held together,
in its loosest and most barbarous state; nothing
bat dictatorship could avert the Tlghiu calamity;
and whatever his motives of private ambition, IT he
had such motives, ne acted exactly the best citizen
would have acted in like circumstances, when he as
sumed the Dictatorship 1t is due 10 him say more
over that unlike many other hasty captors OF sover-
ego power before him, he was gnitless OF any share
ia producing the miserable necessity which has open
ed to him his present position, and has IN manner
forced him into il willing or unwilling. He was no
party TO the rebellion of 1913; that was the work OF
coalition of Socialists, Red Republicans and Legiti-
leon is now opposed, and to which every man who
abors for the peace and safety of France must be OPP
posed forever
Another British journal calls the movement OF
Louis Napoleon "a dabolical setndlc,' and declares il
is impossible that spirited people like the French can
long endure it. Approximations are expressed by other
journals that general war will break out in Europe
in consequence OF the revolution in France since the
necessity of Louis Napeleon's position, the argu-
ment runs may compel him 10 keep large army. and
to keep it employed. But there Is scarcely any end
to the pecuatons and eonectures to which this start
ling event in France has given rise, and which can
fad its solution only in the disclosures of the Future
Bait. american.
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