The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-05-16
Napoleon---Engiand--eximea


The Courier e. Enqukez thus ably
discusses of che past, thsSpFesent, and
the probable faturs 81
If the end justified the means. Louis
N apoleon would be the greatest and the
best, as wsllsas the most successful ruler
Of his epoch But a few years ago he
was reluctantly permitted to return to
France from an exile in which he had
struggled with poverty and suffered per-
sonal degradation, and he is new about
to leave the imperial throne which he
has RECONSTRUCTED, to take command of
the armies of France and of Frances
hereditary enemy, in a siege, upon the
result of which hang the fortunes of a
continent, mayhap of a hemisphere
He found France distracted by the ieal-
ousies and intrigues of rival factions, he
leaves her once more tranquil and con-
tent,-that is as tranquil and content as
France can be. When he entered Par
is, trade was -paralyzed, the manufac-
tors loom stood still; the husbandman
sowed, uncertain who would reap; now
the Bourse is t~hronged, the shuttle fits
busily back and forth, the merchant
princes of London thank him for re-
storing life to trade, and the superfous
produce of French farms is consumed
upon American tables. He assumed
power when the credit of France was
nanght, and when all the world, and
Frenchmen most of all, looked upon the
future of French as the most puzzling of
problems; and now he has but to open
his Golfers and the nation fills them,
while the nations obligations are eager
ly sought by the great capitalists of
Europe as a safe investment of their
funds. He became Chief Magistrate of
France who the ceaseless watching of
an eye and the unfagging exertion of an
iron will were the necessary conditions
of a days exemption from rapine and
anarchy /; and he can send his armies
out of France and follow them himself.
He was the scorn of Kings and the scoff
of nations, and most of all did England
pour out upon him the plenteons gocab-
ulary of contempt and he has but Just
returned from a visit to the British me-
tropolis, which was an ovation from the
moment he set his foot on British
soil until he left it; and browning
glory of all to him personally, the flower
of England's noblemen stood by while
Victoria, the hereditary Queen Of Great
Britain and Ireland stopped to bind the
Garter on his leg: Did he sneer In his
heart as that Royal Lady, the represen-
tative Of William the Conquror, bent be-
fore him, or did he exult, or did he
both ?
Englishmen are proYerbially, and by
their own confession, blind to their ma
tional failings and keen eyed to those Of
other peoples; and yet there is some
hope that the visit of this successful adj
venturer may lead them to compare
proftably the present deplorable admin
istration of their Government, and the
condition of their brave soldiers in the
Grimea with the administration aud ths
army of the nation which, four times
within the. last sixty years, has passed
through internal trial from which fol
more than two centuries England has
been exempted. Thereaare Englishmer
enough who cansread the riddle. Wal
ter Savage Landor, not meaning to dc
so, solved it twenty-five years ago, in the
words which he put into W mouth
in his colloquy with Newton. 4" IF yor
had conversed, as [ have" says the di
vine, " with some of those persons who
constitute such Cabinet Councils
you would think the word Cabinet quite
as applicable of them as, to cards, o.
counters, or miniature pictures, or essen
ces, or pots of pomatum, or pots of aay
other kind, or what not Within ass
How then, in the name of wonder
are the great matters of government
carried on 80 asks Newton, and receives
this answer, "Great dinners are put up.
on the table, not by the entertainer but
by the walters. There are usually some
dcxterous hands accustomed to the bust
ness. The same weights are moved by
the same weights and pullies. There is
no vast address required in hooking
them, and no mighty strength in tbs
h~auling.n as rs.4 4s,44sd 3 sau .eiq
Now these dexterous hands, accus.
toned to the business, will do that bust,
ness we'll enough when the same weights
are to be moved by the same weights and
pullies; but when events occur of move
character and vast Importance, practices
and dexterity fail,-how miserably, the
world has seen within the last three
months. England has seen it and
trembled and she seeks safety from the
danger which threatened her in a mul,
titude of councillors, She diffuses as
much as possible, the responsibility and
the power, when the greatest possible
concentrations of both in able hands is
required by the emergency There are
certain prescribed forms. of administer
ing her affairs, which must of course be
observed; but these are not such as to
prevent one man from exercising an all
controlling influence over them, did the
man exist with the abilityTto attain it,
1t seems indeed as if Britain had no
man equal to her emergency. Clever
men, accomplished men, experienced
men, she has enough of, but. the mar
who unites wisdom and skill with daring
and frmness, and who adds to these the
prestige which would enable. him ever
to stretch his hand out, toward the helm
of State seems not to exist thin hel
borders. When Peel and Wellington
disappeared from her councils, the reign
of timorous medioerity began and
when the end will come no one can tell
for she has sedulously nourished and de.
veloped the system unheard of under
the prerogative, usurping Tudors which
makes rank and routine the only roads
to power. c Dread and blank astenish.
ment has full possession of her rulers
They fear the people they fear the
press they fear each other they are