The southern press., 1852-01-03
SOUTHERN PRESS
WASHINGTON CITY.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1852.
Results Of CestraIix atisn In France.


show the position of Louis NAPoLKoN TO be en-
trely critical. The apeace Of desolation," as
the Herald wouli call it, is no proof of the sta
bility of the government. Arbitrary rule car
nowhere triumph so little as in France, among
population the most enlightened, active, gen
erous, and Industrious of Europe.
That the people of France have taken no par
in the partial riots which have occurred, is suffi
ciently proved by what little information gets
abroad, in spite of the government. But thai
the people are thoroughly agtated, and that il
many parts they are disposed to open nsurrec
ton, is now equally clear.
The popular sentiment is evidently divided Al
to the course to be taken. In Paris, the people
are disposed to accept LOUIS NAPoLEoN's propo,
sitiOnto to exercise their right of voting, and thus
arrive peaceAbly at solution of the difficulty
But in the country there are two agencies al
work of a dangerous and formidable character
one resulting from the influence and intrgues o
the priests and the aristocracy, and tie other from
the hatred to authority which the action of cen
tralzation has produced over the whole nation
1t is all very well to rail, as the government
organs do, at what they are pleased to call so
cialism. This socialism, however, is the fruit OF
Capitalization, and posons the moral and politi
cal atmosphere of the country.
In seeking remedy for the evils which this
system has entailed upon France many of the
liberal party have stupidly enough imagined that
it was only necessary to substitute republic
for monarchical government But we have
already seen, and little common sense might
have detected it at once, that any form of cen
tralized government must produce that tyranny
and oppression, and defiance of public opinion
and progress, which has heretofore ever charac-
terized it.
Now, when we come to bear in mind, in con.
necton with these movements in the depart
ments, how opposed the government is, and has
been, to the removal of many great abuses and
restrictions, weighing upon commerce and agri-
culture, and how arbitrary, in the smallest mat
ters, are the acts of its officials, (oftentmes
entirely unconnected and uninterested in the
localities they govern,) and, consequently, how
completely unrepresented the people everywhere
feel themselves to be, no one can wonder,
coupling these facts with the we'll known bad
character of many government officials, at the
hatred and contempt for authority that every
where must manifest itself in an enlightened
country.
Such acts Of violence as those detailed in the
recent advices from France, would otherwise be
inexplicable. Jumbling them up together with
socialist extravagance, foreigners would be apt
70 think people capable of such acts, must be
beings Of some other nature But men are the
same everywhere, and we at all times see the
sams results produced by the same causes.
Consider again, for moment, the natural
condition of France. The land is divided
among almost the ~hole people. The great ma
jority forming, of course, very small holders
These small holders, in order to exist honestly.
would require the utmost freedom from all re-.
stxiction weighing upon industry. Their exist
ence, as class, requires it; their necessities as
mon, whose feelings of independence have been
increased, and their intelligence developed by a
more moral and elevated condition in the social
world, require room for actien.
What is the real condition Of things? The
land 10 burdened with taxes. No proprietary
body in the world pays so much in proportion
TO the value of their possessions. No man can
carry produce few miles from his home, with
nuf hoav Aufto. IN in tho &c q 10
and so trammelled is commerce by thousand
restrictions, that enterprise is everywhere dis.
couraked
The French laws are a species of Chinese
wall, hemming in and restraining the activity of
every district.
The larger class of propretors can get along
well enough. They complain, however, and
then the government gives an ear to their case
But the condition of the great mass is over
looked, and far from seeking remedy where
it can be found, the government calculates upon
keeping the people down, and forcing them to
sell their heritages to the richer class. In ad
dition to these evils, almost the whole land is
deeply mortgaged.
Under the influence Of Capitalization, the peo-
pie feel that they have no power to work upon
the government and obtain those ameorations
which have long become necessity. They
have no selfgovernment. They have not the
slightest influence or authority in their own dis
tricts. They are governed by men who look for
support and appreciation from Paris--by men
who arrive at Office. for the most part by acts
which render them odious to their fellow coun
trymen; for in the struggle that is necessarily
going on between the people and authority, there
10 abundant opportunity for n display of zeal
and devotion on the part of unscrupulous asp
rants to Office.
II 10 quite useless to say Of the French PEOPLE
that they have no respect for law. How can
they respect what is an absurdity, as well as an
oppressions Either the laws must be made in
accordance with the wants of the nation and the
nature Of the institutions or they must conflict
with the public interest," and produce injurious
results.