The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-11-25
Thursday Morning, November rs, So
THE NEW FRENCH EMPIRE.

yernor Morris said, when the Boutbons were
restored. the "long agony is over-france re-
poses in the arms" if not of her legitimate, at
leost Of her chosen sovereign. She has repu-
dated. and apparently. forever, the Bourbon
family-,hat family which had ridden her like
an :ncubas for two hundred years previous 10
I7S9-that family which she then tired 10 get
rid of but which all Europe combined to tas
Ter upon her, England, whose "Ieg'timHte'
sovereign was then alive, and monk in an
Italian convent, leading the way under the gui.
dance Of monarch, who, according to the
principle on which she then professed TO act,
was usurPer.
Napoleon iii. may be a very bad mamie
NAV be tyrant and an usurper-he may be
all that the New York Tribune has chosen 10
call him-but as the representative OF great
praciple-a principle sacred in the eyes OF all
men who believe that the rights OF man are
some,bing more than dream--the principle
ri the right ofevery nation to choose Its own
rulers-he is entitled to the respect OF every
republican. 1t was the attempt of the armed
tyrants Of the European world to stifle this
growing bell eff in France, sixty years ago, that
gave rise to all the bloodshed and devastation,
which has been so eloquently depicted by their
n;nions and which they afterwards had The
address to fasten upon France herself.
Let us look at the facts. France, groaning
snder the miseres inflicted by the feudal ty-
raunv of thousand years, about the year l7o9
was reduced TO bankruptcy. There was no
possibility Of relieving her, except by asst NJ
bling the Third Estate, that is, a representa-
ton Of the people. Temporising ministers and
ouack fnanciers had tried all their arts in
vain the disease, driven temporarily from the
surface, fixed only the more firmly upon the
vitals of the State, and of society. Compelled
by necessity, Louis XVI assembled that
sody. which afterwards, under another name,
wrenched the sceptre from his grasp. The
nation had hitherto been nothing, and the King
everything. The nation was determined to be
something in future land the King was,f fer long
time, resolved to be everything still. Thence
was the origin of all the misforiunes OF that
unhappy monarch. The times were no longer
as they had been, when, in the rel gn of his
grandfather, during what Blackstone calls tie
persons were confined upon lettres de cnchet,
seized, that is to say, by the officers of ju,tice
without having the offences with which they
were charged announced to them-torn from
their families, or arrested without their know
ledge-hurred away to some of the hum
bred Bastiles with which the land abounded-
plunged hundreds of feet below the surface of
the earth, there to expiate the crime Of having
offended the mistress of some great man, or of
having proved too faithful guardians OF their
wives o. daughters honor. The King could
no longer stab faithful Minister to the heart,
without exposing himselfto cen.ure-the Lord
could no longer reduce the daughter of his
tenant to a state, worse than death, without
being responsible to public opinion. The time
for all these things had passed, never to re-
turn. The people determined not TO leave the
thunder bolt in the hands Of the leudaI Jove,
trusting to his msgnanimity not to use it,
They heard ofthe treaty of Pilmitz, by which
Austria, Prussia, and other German States,
agreed to partition France. Hitherto, the
King, though in their power had been in no
personal danger from that moment, believing
tina, he inst ated these proceedings, stricter
watch was kept over him. The Prussisns is-
vaded the French territory. The Duke of
Brunswick issued that memorable manifesto,
in which he threatened to punish, as traitors,
all who dared to resist him, in defence of their
ewn country. The King attempted to escape,
and, Of course, his name was connected with
the invasion. The most terrible exciteme at
prevailed in Paris. Tens of thousands of re-
cruits swarmed along all the highways, march
ing against the foreigner. The people became
mad with fear and excitement. They were
threatened with foreign subjug atien-,hsir
frontiers bristled with foreign bayonet.-thev
were offered, in public manifesto, the alter
native Of returning TO slavery, or of having
their fields laid waste, their cities sacked and
burned, themselves executed if they atten pied
10 defend their country-that country itself
being, at the same time, devoted to partition
among the conquerors. What were the French
TO dot TO submit to these insolent foreisners1
They did not think so. They answered their
threats and insults, by massscreing all The
Royass prisoners, by guillotning the King.
by driving their armies, like hunted deer,
across their territories. What else could have
been expected How could the Prussian Ge-
neral have expected anything else. when no
isssed that Infamous manifesto a production.
~h'ch makes the blood of every freeman, who
reads IT. boil in his veins, even at this ds,anc.
o. time, and although he be no Frencbman-
What must have been its effect, then, on Par.
al 'aat time, when the writer was actually ad'
vaheing upon it, within little more Than an.
hsAdred miles, at The head of 10000 veterans
rae troops OF the great Frederick, soon to he
followed by 100000 more, when there 49,.
Hoth'ng between him and the Capital. bu, :,
mere handful Of undisciplined recrut.9
Nothing can demonstrate more c,e.,,x H..
art with which the English oligsrchist pres,