The true Democrat., 1857-06-02
Decline of Liberty and Population in
 France--Her Position and Hones as

England. The Times says:
 People who moralize on history have never doubted that national greatness has it's rise, its examination, and Its setting Assyria Greece, carthage Rome, and the rest have passed away. oPa'hS boast and Empire, on which the sun never set, has been transferred to England the ruins of whose metropolis a ponnInr wrter bas already figured a New Zealander as contem. plating. Why, indeed, should not the great nations of the present time yield the sunrema. cy to younger rivals? England and Franco aro od, Tn comparison with the other great powers of the world. Even Austria Is no lonrnr the uerman Emplre, and as for Russia Prussiaa and the United States, they are but upstarts of ves terday. We cannot wonder that all the histo- rians and philosophers, all the theorlzers about the progress of civilization and the march of empre should abound in predictions of the decilhe winch Is to be the inevitable fate of the leading nations of Europe.
 Dut We feel ourselves young and vigorous. Ii We are just establishing our colonial system and taking possession of our Asiatic empire. if we are building new houses of Parliament and lnsututlng national collections in the-fne orts It Is not the same with our nearest nei5bb,r France Is very powerful, much richer than she Was; she has q capital which is the resort of inc world, and a court which yields in mayniticcnce to none But Of late years, and especially sInce the establishment of the Empre. there has oeeA strange de j1ction among the educa- tcd classes, and all those who think. or profess to thnk on political subjects. Railroads. cold colha3e, increase ot trade, and increase of fe- venue, have Jailed to restore cheerfulncss to a ''' 5o ol'aS oi fTehchmen. Amid the feast of prosperity they have always seemed to soe !, sword SnSupu1p1 ovnr la, o.,,,,,. I, Europe hS been sounding the praise of France France itself has been unsai,fed. Tho De I'9fu1Its of the old political world and inc od literary world has mingled with the ofTieia, 1e D"em of the imperial retainers All this was to De expected. In France the liberty when was b1ttled for during sixty years is ex tEct-certalhly for long time, perhaps fore 'eI' Oah we wonder, then that the eminent men "io galhcd lame and position amid the contests of free political life should in their ou age lOoN Wllh anger on the destructieu of all they had founded, and anticipate only de- cay Tor the country which has Uetrayed itself and them?
 The preveant feeling which has resulted rom these augures of Ill has been deeuenej by the publication of tile Inst census. Tbe iu- erase q population during the tive wears end- Ing l6oO, WAS only 256UOU, while the censu, ol t0, gave an increase ot ll7DOJO Nnv as the trenchmtn Is not an emigraut rarely qHttlng ms country to cultivate the wilderness ot the New World, or the Antipodns this al most lmperceptabe increase Of pupulalion is certainly dlScouraglnJ sign Not more than l''Ooo ffehcA emi5rate yearly; it follows therefore, that the stationary character which PoPuiauoh seems now to have as~umel must result iroh some dellrelcy in roliHc p0wer /,
 '"c consequence "i deterioration of race or III mi''eI'ai "pa'aclea winch society should remove l"e'c ""'N' lhIeed, seem to have been lately a rtud elimination iu the rate of increase u,i. ''l !" tne present dHy the increase has almost Fai'Hhed. But for more than half a centnrv the French have not been a prol56 peonln l., l'1O the P1pnlat'"H numb-fei 25, ,5UlOyD:tbt k, 1t was almost lull to the population of the Brush Islands at the present dAv. At to,t tune Great Bntain hardly contained more th,,, loOoOOO sous; While 1 eOaul witA ,Y;na 4 Oo5'oJl more, Was rather burden than d su.- P'fl we may well conceive the alyauta ,a, when oUf HvaI hai in those days from her superior numbers, and admire tne colr, r. WItA "hlch onr tpuriathero were always r,at,, TOT war Wih France, a country which had an eHecuVe population of noc far from three times tnci own. Dlt now things nave indeed alter eu. ne bHtiah people have imcrea,el And mullPlei and repeuIshel the earth in a man Ter beyond example. Frenchmon may au ,b al our large families, while their own bous.- ho!ds are limited to two or three: but N. b.,ya certal Y the best of it. since within tba l,., two generations we have been able not oaly to a~Hlal N pppuialln- America and colonizin , Australia, but we hlve ac uaIiy rais.d our nome poPH'aton to something approachiDg elutltV with French. IT we t4b-. Great Brj- la'o alone wc hn'l that the population has con- sideHahiy more than doubled since the French revolution, while thlt of Fnuce hls scarcely. Increased more than thirty five per cent Not WlhalAhd'l- Iri'h ianues and EnLi ,h strikes. cA"itfd a1I snort htrveat> the nun Der of c,il. dIcH porn hh~ hetn continuaIiy ;n cuormou, ex- cess over the d.lthS But u Frame. vn faJ tnA' every naiurt. or political calamity ch.cz~ the increase In III uKed manner. Tn 19t7 tine excess of births over deaths fsI Gno p3- oJo to 62,oU on account of the scarcity arl thLS SnuI excess Wa, d5lip diminished tn l3 . o-W hy the cholera ot l8tJ. Things grnv worse alter 1851 under the dnuL'e intl l.... ,I scfHlN ant wa", u.l 1851 anl l655 tb. deaths Tor the hrst time exceeded the births. Nu' We teafn tte astonishing fit that at tha present tlme the population of France is ae- tui.N dimInsi1uL, although cm.rratj,a hls almost entirely ctAsa!. War, a succession of bai haryeatN, thn grape blight, and tn. di..ls. ol lht S.INWolm, are all D ptutei Co a> havint, a share n pnIR"luL tuis >taril iliu., result. but y, cannot out iecl that there must b. some cause deeper and more aJi iu. than unv If tba.c- Tor the laNt thirty years, at least, the proD,r. t"na'" increase has been stea lIv l.>seaino. ahi the present time only witnesses the oh .g.ra hohl increase to dimnution. This k q Glc. w wh'e" may syn awhAt justify a Guilot or d De 4onfoeFlIIe m thelr mourutul tone
 France has certainly changed in character Sihfe her revolution. Before that great con- Vn!slon the French hal good deal of what we oo"SueI now exclusively An5lo-SlXon qual- ueS. They colonlzed and conquered; they set. ttea Oahada where they keep their ground to the present day; they planted Louisiana. as cendel the Mississippi. and nearly sncceednl m checking the development of the colonies which are now the United States They got the start oI us in India, won battles formed alliances, and almost effected what Providence eventually reserved for England. Their fleets even as late as the American war. were canal to ours In strength, and fought against us with out disgrace. Their merchant marine was, to a S''i' later period, almost equal to ours in tun- ha9e' put within the present century the two nations nave gone different ways. How much we nave chau3ed lt Is unnecessary to Sav but certainly France seems to have lost much of the energy and vitality of the old times. The excessive development of the military system Ill Europe, and the attention paid to strictly contlnental concerns have turned the French from the field on which they wrestled with Us under the elder Bourbons They do not trade and coIonlze AS they used. Manufacturers, mostly oi an artistic kind, and agriculture. car ned on in comparatively primitive fashion, are the occupation of the people, and these do not give the energy anI spirit which more al- ventnrous empoynepts inuse into popuIa, tlon Ii we add to this the land system which the revolution has ao,.hed, and the parcel Ing ou' ot lnherilauces which are too s,n ,. pro- perty to remanerate labor, we may partly ex- pian how t Is the French, with all the.r taste and genus, are smitten with inertness aul Ster