Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1854-05-23

LIBERTY IN EUROPE.
BY VICTOR HUGO.

Never since 1883 has the prospect for Liberty
and Progress in Europe been darker than the first
half of 1858. Hungary, crushed out OF life be-
meath the desolating hoofs of the Cossack and the
Croat; Italy, statc-prison, guarded and throng-
cd by Austrian, French and Neapoiitan solaiery;
Switzerland, overawod and humbled; Spain,
sinking deeper and deeper through measureless
corruption into limitless d,spotism; France,
gagged, fettered and guarded, ever while seem
ing to glory in her debasement and shame Rus
STA, swaying Austria and Prussia by nod, and
| apparently on the point OF advancing decisively
to the realization Of her long cherished scheme
| of aggression on the Danube and the Bosphorus
such were the aspects presented by Europe
through tho former half OF 1888.
| It was in full view of this state of things that
Victor Hugo speaks as follows at the funeral OF
o French exile in Jersey, English channel, in
April, 1855:
cay the last farewell, Jean Bosquet, OF Tarn ct
| Garonne, was noble soldier Of democracy. We
have seen him, an inAexible exile, waste away
| sorrowfully among us. yearnln9 Tor nome
was knawing at his heart he felt that the re-
collection Of all he had left behind him was slow
ly poisoning him he might have seen again his
absent friends, the beloved places-his native
city, his house he had but to say word. That
execrable humiliation which M. Bonaparte calls
amnesty, or pardon, was offered to him he hon
estly rejected it-and he is dead. He was only
thirty four years of age-there he lies.
will not add praises to this simple life, to his
grani death. Let him repose in peace in his OBJ
ecure grave, where the earth will soon cover HIM,
AMI whence his soul has gone to seek the eternal
hopes of the tomb.
Let him sleep here, this republican; and let
| the people know that there are still proud and
pure hearts devoted to its cause. Let the repub-
lie know that men will perish rather than forsake
her. Let France know that men Gle because
they can see her no more.
Let him sleep, this patriot, in the land OF the
stranger! And we, his companions in conflict
AMI in adversely, we, who closed his eyes: If his
native ely, his family, his friends, ask US !;
''Whcre is he:'' we will answer; "Deat in ex-
ile!'' as tho sol1iery, when the name OF Latour
d'Auvergne was callel answered; 'Dea1 on the
fell Of honor:"
Citizens To-day in France, apos.acy is joy
GUS. The old land Of the 4th Of July an ! OF the
10Th of August, assists at the hiaeous spread OF
treason, an at the triumphant march of traitors.
Not one unworthy action which is not immedi-
ately rewarded. A mayor breaks the law-he Is
made a project; soldier dishonors his hag-he
is made general priest sells his religion-he
is made bishop; a Judge prostitutes Justice
he is made q senator; prince, an alventurer,
commits every crime, from the base trick which
would shame pickpocket, to the cruelty which
would make an assassin shudder-ant he becomes
the sound Is Of triunphal music, bouquets and dan
cling, addresses, applause and genulexions. Ger
Witty comes to congratulate ignODiny.
| Citizens these men have their festivals; we'll
we, too have ours. When one of the compan-
ions of our banishnent, wasted by home sickness,
exhausted by the slow fever of OLD habits broken
up, and affections laceratel, gives way at las,
ana dies, after having drunk to the drcss all the
agonies of prescription, We follow his bier Gov
cred with a black Goth; we come to the side OF
his grave; We, too, kneel, not to success, but to
to the tomb We bend over our buried brother,
and we say to him: ''Friend, we congratulate
thee because thou hast been valiant; we con-
graduate thee because thou hast been generous
and intrepid; we congratulate thee because thou
hast been faithful; we congratu ate tbee because
thou hast offered up to thy republican faith the
last breath of thy DO iy tine last pusation OF thy
heart we congratulate thee because thou hast
suffered; we congratulate thee that thou art
dcad!' Then we raise our heads again, AMI we
move away, our hearts full OF a sonbre joy
Such are tie festivals Of cxilcs. This is the aus
tere AMI serene thought which is at the bo.to n
OF our souls AMI in the presence OF this scpul-
chre, Of this grief which seems to swallow up a
man, in the presence Of this appearance OF ami
hiation, feel ourselves strengthened in our
principles AMI in oir convictions. The man
whose mini is rna!c up, never trea'!s more
firmly than on the sitting SOL Of the tomb.
And or eyes fxei upon this dead body, upon this
being who has fldci away, upon tnis sla .oN
which has vanished, We, mistaken believers, go
rify that which is immortal, and that which is
eternal--liber;y AMI God. Ics-Gol !! Never
should 4 tomb be closet, until this great, this
living word has fsllcn into it Tho ueaa claim
it, and we are not the men to refuse it. Let the
free anil religious people among whom we live,
understand well. that the men Of progress, the
men Of democracy, the men OF revolution, know
that the destiny Of the soul is two fold; and that
the abnegation they show in this life proves how
profoundly they rely uron another.
Their faith in TINS grand AMI mystcriou, fu-
ture rcsists even the repu.sivc spevtacle which
the cnslavei Catholic cl-rgy has presented since
the second OF December. At this mo nent, no.
man Papism 5tartlcs the human conscience. Yes;
l say it, and My heart is full Of bitterness when
| think of so much abjcctness and shame: these
priests, VITO, for money, for places, Tor crosses,
and nitres, for the love of temporal gods bless
and glorify perjury, murder ami treason these
cnurches, where lie Deunss are sung in honor of
crowned crime; yes, these ciurcIe; AMI these
priests would be enoughto shake tho strongest
convictions in the fr.nest souls, if beyond the
| Churches We did not sec ! heaven; and above the
priests God. And here, citizens, ON the thresh-
| mold of this open tomb, in the mi1st OF this
| thoughtful throng which surrounds this grave,
tho moment has come to sound solemn word,
that may take root and spring up in every con-
| science. tre
Citizens! at this present hour, this fatal hour,
| which will be market in times to come, the prin-
ciple of absolutism, the OLD principle Of the past,
triumphs all over Europe. 1t triumphs a. it
should triumph,-b the sword, the az, ami the
cord; by massacres an musketry; by tortGres
and the scafold. Despotism, that Mo och, sur
rounded by human bones, celebrates her fearful
mysteries in open sunlight, under the rontifcate
of Haynau, Bonaparte, and Radetzky. in
Hungary, the gallows; in Lombardy, the gal
lows; in Sicily, the gallows; in France, the
guillotine, transportation, and exile. In the Pa
pal States alone, cite the Pope, who calls bim-
self le roi de doneour in the rapal States alone,
in the last three years sixteen hundred and forty
patriots 1.-THE figures arc authentic) have persisted
By shooting or hanging, without counting the in
Vulnerable many who are buried alive in dun
gcons. At this moment, the continent, as in the
worst periods of history, is encountered with
scafolds and corpses; and if, when the day comes,
Revolution should seek to make for herself nag
of the winding sheets Of the victims, the shadow
of the black flag would cover all Europe. This
blood, which is flowing in streams and in tor
rents, all this blood, democrats, is yours. .f
And yet, citizens, in the presence Of this satur
MALTA Of murder, in the presence of these infa-
nous tribunals, where assassins sit in the robes
of the judge, in the presence of all these dear and
sacred corpses, in the presence of this dismal and
ferocious victory of reaction; declare solemnly
in the name of the exiles of Jeraev who have piv.