The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-09-07

iCs-p.sr tkat may be skipped by those sOho do
not care Gbout politics in novels.
T. s1cn became apparent to the leaders Of
no various political factions, and to France at
,-,e that the man whom popular suffrage
III nIscei at the head of affairs possessed not
III, administrative ability, but indomitable
..s-,y and force of will. The first feeling was
oTs 4 estoDishment, which quickly resolved
i.,f;at0 modification and anger. Legitimists,
0,sa9;sts. Fusionists, Liberals, Republicans of
Il .sade$ discovered that they had made a
ri.,ka sd one that left them no resource,
...s such as might spring from faotious op-
re;tcn in tie Chamber. But here again they
rs-e filled, By the very Constitution which
l.s e5st 50 much tine and labor to perfect /:
ni II needed not the gift Of prophecy to fore
.ss tia. there must ultimately arise, between
tbs sd Cf The State and the Chamber. a
s.r5r.le f. mastery, which would terminate
n tie al3ulling of the revolution, by creating
sdespclsn more arbitrary than the one it had
ben intended to destroy.
An9lh,r alarming fact had also been brought
% rsh. by the ballot box. The Bonapartists
b.d a party il the country. The representa-
tive cf TIE true, honest Republican faction,
EL;ch bal voted to man in favor of Csvaig-
nae ste53 revealed in ell the weakness of their
r.1os. strength. Throughout France they
bad pslled lever than one million and half
or7of,z The extreme Republicans, represent
Cd iy Leiru Rollin, numbered few over three
h1ad.ei and seventy thousand, all told The
Reds or IS they were more commonly styled,
tie Sc slist Republicans at the head Of whom
seed RasDail, scored only within thirty-six of
,hrtv-ssven thousand. Next came De Lamar
t1e, Who msy be said to have represented the
nJds-ate Republicans, and who voted for him
later than for Csva'gnac because he was a
r9u2r pcet, was known as q statesman of
s.ma ability, and because he had rendered
great service to the country at a critical mo-
neDt when, but for his admirable conduct, his
E0ble moral courage, and the exercise of his
Marvellous gilt OF speech, modern reign of
terror would have been established on the
runs of the monarchy of the barricades. Ii
I'D net show that France had no faith in De
L9nartine, because he secured only eighteen
thousand votes, but that it had no faith in re-
yublcanlsm. Had the republicanism of France
been pat up to auction and each vote reckoned
st one dollar, it would have been knocked
down as worth less than a million and a half
" NS4A1Ao. huOWn 10 T6DT6-
sent the Orleauist interest He had served in
Africa with thu princes of that family; was
PERSONAL fAvorite Of theirs; and, to some extent,
stood also identified with the army. Four
thousand seven hundred votes denoted the ex-
tent If bis popularity. The Legitimists and
other insignifcantsts told twelve thousand four
hG-irod votes, altogether. Last in the cate
cory here presented, though first on the list
historical, came tho nephew of the Great
Aan-the first Nap leon. 1t could not be de-
NED that nearly I'll voting France had spoken
oat IN unmistakabe terms, when she declared,
b. the voices Of fvo million G. A--1-Sa and
tairs, iO,.s Thousand I'VE hundred and tweusy
Of Ler adult male citizens, that she chose to
rCpres; ut her, the man whom-rightly or
wrongly -she considered as embodying her
traditional idea Of power, and her conviction of
the necessities Of the time. And this was the
fact that startled. Whilst each party leader
knew that the voters of his political section
had aided, to some extent, in augmenting this
immense n jority, there was no Disgusting thai,
dajocting these the elections had gone i'm.
ucnscly il his favor
Then they began to think Who and what
lid he represent, that he should have thus Sc
cured so triumphant returnf Ii could not
b ;ae re = Republic and the new Republican
Ism or Csyaigbac would not have been thrown
Ogt and 80 on Of the rest. France, therefore,
lro7od herself neither Republican nor Legiti-
Est n-r o -leanist nor Socialist. She was, in
her then mood, Bonapartist, and nothing else J;
and Bonepartism, in her mind, represented the
viii and the power and the capacity to govern.
1t represented yet more-the potency of the
POPULAR Will, the empire Of universal suffrage.
disappointed in their own hopes, envious Of
the success Of the man they had aided in scat
ING on tee republican throne, Jealous to the
Jas: degree, Of the Liberties or licenses,
r'tha:-tdat they had surprised, no wonder
th3 leaders Of TIE various factions oonspired to
t.s.Gty tho power theY had created, and to re-
rCya :te man around who's person and whose
associations tao nation bad declared Its conf
d,ncc IL lff.csions ana aspirations, to be GEN.
It'd ani WHIST Hondcr that the man thus
lest With icslous;cs, fJiled in every attempt
III lis own or pipati6gl to give larger liberties
70 The peyrle ahilst determined to deprive of
tie power &C mischief those who abused their
pllt al privileges, cagnizant of the motives of
csf,,. an, ald Of the objects and designs of
rs .. jacn.5-What wonder that, seeing the
tees proIi5ogs, the public temper favorable,
ana sfGrie4 % by pardonable ambition and
y beiiei il his destiny, he should have as
Piel 10 lay over again the brilliant political
yra'aas CT the 18sh Of BIumaire, 1899, and of
''e 3).a Of April 1904
eiil's.
40 sooner did the new President give proof
Ais determination to govern by himself, as
= Ia Dc TIE powers CT tho Constitution permitted
an: and TO show that he Intended to take ad-
: h'ass, @ the utmost, cf the arbitrary author
~ Nhlen under certain circumstances it
Faced IN his bands, than the factions began to
3. spare against bin, and against one another
dc various phases which had characterized
l.e Consular epoch and prepared the first en-
IRE fuddenly presented themselves to every
Lnd, looming already In future by no means
es'aat. The present and the past had toe
many strong points of resemblance in common
!" escape even the most superficial observation
SHt whilst the contamination was in every
SV4ys heart having there certain well-de
-le4 iozm and substance, no one burst whispel
y IS aeigtb0r the secret that trembled on hi
'pS. All France knew it however, and kept it
Is Is rot to be supposed that the country a
- e, which, after all, had the deepest interes
: sake on the Issue of the coming struggle
LII lCoE upon passing events with indlffer
(, .Ic'-:hat IL should regard with favor the mel
CHo we're conspiring, under the shadow of th'
constitution OF 1S48, to overthrow the Govern
:. they h2d established and set up one o
t t1sr oSn In its place. 1t had long since los
,-'h IN legitimacy, because Legitimacy ha'
.e'tl ieps faith with it. After decapitating
- %, this same Legitimacy, which had con
tFed to live in fat seclusion at Hartwel do
ing the brilliant days of the Empire, had beer
onGe more thrust upon France by main force
Ony 20 be trampled upon behind the BARR
ia1gs OF 1880, and finally to be killed outrigh
y the ridicule OF 1S4S. The country then trle,
q iegitlmacy of the middle Glasses represent
~ by an uncrowned monarch, who Wake
@oout the streets in low shoes, and carried
SOlton umbrelia-who had BACKED his ow
oVOts, and had declared himself ready to do
sss'n. But this legitimacy soon proved itse
~ nave come of the wrong stock. 1t sougt