The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-05-14
BY~DAVIS g. CREWS
THE DECLINE OF YRANcE.


Carthage, Rome, and the rest have passed
away Spain's boast of an empire on which
'thes sun never set has been transferred to
England, the ruins Of whose metropolis
popular writer has already figured Il New
Zcalander rs contemplating. Why, indeed,
SHOULD not the great nations Of the present
time yield the supremacy to younger rivals:
England and France are old in comparison
with the. other great powers of the world.
aIven Austria is no longer the German En-
pire, and as for Russia, Prussia, and the
United States, they are but upstarts Of yes
terday. We cannot wonder that all the
Historians and philosophers, all the theo-
rizers about the progress of civilization and
the march Of empire, should abound in pre-
dictions of the decline which is to be the
inevitable fate of the leading nations Of Eu-
rope. There was, some years ago, good
deal ofthis treinulous forcboding i'll England
the country had seen its day, had reach
ed the apogee Of prosperity, and SO on. But,
happily, the spirit of our people has reject
ed all such discouraging suspicious. They
feel that nation which is every day in
creasing in numbers, in wealth, and also,
we may say without presumption, in NOR
,aity and happiness, which is adding colony
ito colony, and conquest to conquest, canno:
be in danger of decline, and that to look
forward to An hour Of collapse or an epoch
of degradation is as absurd as was the con-
duct of the Laputan philosophers, who made
themselves miserable about the approach of
the earth to the sun after a long period of
revolution. But if we feel ourselves young
and vigorous, if we are jost establishing our
Colonial system and taking possession Of
our Asiatic Empire, if we are building new
Houses Of Parliament, and insituting ma
tionai collections in the fine arts, it is not
the same with our nearest neighbor. France
is very powerful, much richer than she was i;
she has capitol which is the resort Of the
world, and Court which yields in magni-
ficence to none. But of late years. and es-
pecially since the establishment Of the En-
pire, there has been strange detection
among the educated classes, and all those
who think or profess to think on political
subjects. Railways, gold coinage increase
of trade, and increase Of revenue, have fail
ed to restore chcerfulncss to n large class of
Frenchmen. Amid the feast of prosperity
they have always seemed TO see Il sword
suspended over the country. While all
Europe has been sounding the praise OF
France, France itself has been unsatisfed
The De Profundis Of the old political and
the old literary world has mingled with the
TIE Deum of the Imperial rctainers. All
this was to be expected. In France the
liberty which was battled for during sixty
years is extinct-ccrtainly for long time
perhaps forever. Can we wonder, then, tina
the eminent men who gained fame and po
-sition amid the contests Of free political lif
should in their old age, look with anger OIL
the destruction Of all they had founded, ant
anticipate only decay for the country whic
has betrayed itself and them?
The prevalent feeling which has resulte
from these auguries Of i'll has been deeper
ed by the publication of the last census
The increase Of population during the fiv
years ending 1856 was only 256.ooo soul
while the census Of 1s46 gave an increas
of 100000. Now, as the Frenchman
not an, emigrant, rarely quitting his countr
to cultivate the wilderness of the New Worl
or the Antipodes, this almost imporceptib
increase of population is certainly di
couraging sign. Not more than 1000
!, French Emigrants yearly; it follows, ther
fore, that the stationary character Whie
HE population seems now to have assume
must result from some deficiency in profit
power, the consequence Of deterioration
faee or material obstacles which socie
-Abould remove. There does, indeed, see
70 have been lately a rapid diminution
the rate of increase, until in the present d
the increase has almost vanished. But
more than half a century the French LA
pot been prolific people. In 1900
popnlation numbered 96,5OO,00O; that
;t was almost equal to the population of t
Pritish Islands at the present day. At Il
fine Great Britain hardly contained me-
tl,an 10000, 900 souls; while Ireland, W
some 1000 more, was rather burd
tbaIi a support. We may well conceive.
advantages Which our rival had in tho
days from her superior numbers, and
Epire the courage with vhicl, our forcfatll
we're al#ays ready fora war with France
acopntry which had an effective populat
%of not lar from three times their own. ]
Row things have Indeed altered. The B
isii people have increased, and multipli
aid le1ished The Aarti in a manner