The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1862-05-07

signal precedent set BY the leading continental
nations Of Europe The French people we're not
bsrbarians They we're not adventures like the
followers of William the COnqueror, leaving
their own country to acquire power. pelf, and
plunder in Britain. They we're struggling Ter
freedom and equal rights. They we're striving
to shake of the burdens of centuries Of suffer-
ing and wrong under their despotic kings and
their still more desposic nobility. They drew
the sword against privilege, and threw away the
scabbsrd. That we may not accuse them OF
passionate haste let us look upon the picture.
which the ablest, most impartial, and most .ccu-
rate Of modern historians. draws of their condi'
ton at that period. Mr.. Theirs says:
1.-The political and economical state Of the country Was
intolerable. Everything privilege in individuals
classes cities PROVINCES and trades Everything
was q tramnel upon industry and the genius OF man
Civil ecclesiastical and military digntes were excin
sivey reserved certain classes, and among these
classes certain individuals Aprofesson could not be
embraced except under certain titles and pecunary
dions. The cities had the privilege Of Ievying and col
ectng the mposts and share thereof, and the choice
Of Mere favors from the Crown were con-
verted by long survvorshps in the family into family
property and did not permit the monarch TO give any
preferences No liberty remained except 10 consdera
t.on of pecunsry gifts and the minister had 10 be as
puted with for the abolition OF burden which was
wholly without value utility. Everything Was mo-
tonless few hands, and everywhere the few resisted
the despoiled many. Burdens weighed upon the one
class. The nobility and the clergy held nearly TWO
the lands the other third held by the peo
pie who paid the imposts to the king, discharged
throng Of feua rights to the nobility paid the tithe to
the clergy, and, besides, sustained the depredatons
committed by the mobiles in their hunting Excursions
The mposts weighed most heavily upon consumption, ,
and consequently upon the mass of the people Tne
always and with mpunty in arrears, while the people
the contrary matreated imprisoned, we're condemn
ed to surrender their persons in default Of their goods
They nourished with their sweat, they defended with
their the high classes sDCietV without being
able to live themselves
Such is the revolving picture of the condition
of the French people. 1t was Of these abuses,
growing out of the feudal system, which made
the laboring and producing classes the victims,
the derision of an idle and effeminate nobility,
that the people demanded reform. Their efforts
we're resisted By the privileged classes, the royal
family, and the great mass Of the nobility and
clergy. Privilege was true to its instincts 1t
cung TO its advantages with desperate tenacity,
and regardless of all it's enemies aud pldnderers
Who sought TO loosen its grasp upon its long en-
jOyed spOi!s prepared to plunge the nation into
the horrors Of civil war. To this end il divided
its forces, and while some remained at home to
act the part of spies upon the republicans, and
to welcome the foreign invader to the soil Of
France, others emigrated and stirred up the sur
rounding nations to join in the bloody crusade
against TIE TcpuDhC. UuIu anu WiSttOut euC
was beset BY implacable foes Both q foreign
and intestine war pressed upon her. Treason
and assassination within CO operated with legit.
macy from without, and while the friends Of
reform cried aloud, "iJe,ty, equality, fraterni-
IT," privilege, in the midst Of it's myrmidons
lowering on the frontiers, raised the gloomy
shout Of "order, legitimacy, down with anar-
chy."
Without justifying the excesses inseparable
from the struggle, We are not surprised at, nay,
We cannot but admire the spirit of steady def.
ance aud whole souled devotion of the patriots
to their principles, when, with leaguering armies
of foreigners upon their borders, and the fres Of
civil strife raging in their midst, they proclaimed
''war to the castle, peace to the cottage" 1t
showed they were conscious that they were
struggling III the interest Uf liberty, aud that
courage, a courage that defes all the assaults
and all the enticements Of power 10, after all, the
only safeguard for its protection and preserva-
ton.
A wasteful and corrupt court had bankrupted
had contributed so little to the public burdens,
we're fugitives abroad, conspiring with the public
enemies for the overthrow of liberty and the
restoration Of the old tyranny. The estates OF
the Church, comprising about one eighth of the
lands, had never contributed . farthing to the
public necessities, and most of their occupants
we're openly disloyal to the republic, giving aid
and comfort to the rOyalist conspiratOrs at home
and corresponding with the enemy abroad.
Under these circumstances, and as an obvious
means of defending the country and prosecuting
the war, the Convention seized upon and con6s
Gated to the public use the estates, real and per-
sonal, of the immigrant mobiles who refused 70
adhere 10 the republic, and also the property ol
the Church, providing for the support Of the
loyal priests and for religious worship, out Of the
funds of the State. This property constituted
the sole basis which the financial system Of
France rested, from the commencement Of the
Republic down to 1900, and during that period
more than FIVE hundred millions of dollars was
| as history shows, derived from the sales of such
property.
Il was plain. undisguised con6scation and
the sales we're never wholly arrested during the
reign of Napoleon. 1t wss not without its ben.
e6ts. 1t caused the estates Of q once burden
some, privileged class to change hands, parcelet
them out, and placed them in the possession o.
small proprietors, thus rendering them proddct
i've, and inviting and encouraging the industry
of the free laboring man. This great measure
and the early decree abolishing nobility and tn,
right of primogeniture. made Of France q new
nation. They secured to her the realization o
| the vision Of rAbbe Seyes: ''What 10 the thirt
estate! Nothing. What should it be? Every
thing" They gave to France patriotic soldier,
who carried her conquerpg eagles to all the cap
itals of Europe. They gave to every French
man, however lowly, q home and q fireside. An,
they taught the world that nations and Law an.
order and renown can subsist without privilege
that the only solid foundation of national strength
Is in the hearts Of an industrious, laboring, eel
sustaining people; that liberty and equality ar,
no dream, and that there is no patriotism q
strong a that which arises from q sentiment O
brotherly kindness, and consciousness of equal
ity before the law.
Sir. the anaogies existing between the socia
condition Of France at that frightful period, an,
that prevailing under the slaveholding olgarch,
in large portion of the insurgent States, canno
escape the notice Of the careful observer
has plainly not escaped the notice Of the leader
Of the insurrection. But had they been wise il
time, had they considered calmly the difficult
Of forever upholding the principle Of privileg
and all its concomitants in the midst Of peopl
worshiping liberty and equality as their house
hold gods, this fratricidal war would never hav
burst forth. But let me tell them that in the
mad attempt to banish these gods from th
hearths OF their own people, they viii in the en-
but endear them to their true worshipers; ant
like the French noblesse, find themselves drive
from the congregation. In saying this, do NJ
refer to the black population.
1t does not detract from the force Of this ex
ample that there we're great and lamentable e,
cesses committed by the new Governmen
Every revolution has its irregularities over whic
humanity is compelled to weep. I refer TO th
con6scatious in France, not 90 much 10 approv
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