Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-01-29
Tho "Holy LocomotIve.y

the press is one of those noble outpourings of
natural eloquence which emanate at long in
tervals from great, conscientious, and earnest
natures. 1t is without reserve; devoid offear
of consequences. The truths it includes are
not now spoken for the first time, nor was it
M. Hugo who spoke them first. They are old
and accepted facts arrayed anew, lighted by
the livid fire of a genius in PAIN sent forth in
the sight of the world from the crater of
volcano in eruption. In the fierce flow of
wrathful diction, we encounter again the
author of Napoleon the Little. We recognize
the patriot with whom there is no compro-
mise, and who hates or loves. In this man
there can be no STOPPING to conquer. He is
no amiable politician who is content to take
advantage of another by lodging his heels,
and watching for a moment of unguardedness.
Hugo must show his teeth and his steel to his
foe. Vanquished, he will suffer the indignity
of chains, but not the shame of recantation.
1t is now eleven years since, bafffed and dis
comforted he was driven forth IRON his native
country. He, the man of thought, was told
that he might no longer plant his desk upon
his native soil. He must out, with his pens
and rags, and black pond of seditious ink.
For man had arisen who would have thought
flow, hencetorth, in France, through channels
cut by imperial police. His thought must
hencetorth be OF green shade, and he must
sing of the imperial bees humming their hymn
of glory in the folds of a conqueror's robe.
He might remain at home, if he would con-
sent to wear the livery of the palace.
When Hugo was banished France, he went
forth to exile, because he would not accept
these eXecrable conditions. That which was
burning in his heart when he took refuge on
British soil, has been now many years dis
covered to us. The sustained hate, the white
hot anger, the pitiless invectye, ay, the blind
and savage abuse, of which Napoleon the
Little" is matchless example, reveal the
almost awful passion which stirred in the
banished genius. lie made peaceful Jersey
volcanic rock, and hurled the fire and lava
towards the Tuileries. The wrath and fury
struck the calm reader as wickedness, as yet
a wickedness emphatically human; and it
was when Hugo's liyid page fell under calm
eyes that it lost its force, or nearly all its
force. 1t was judgment pronounced by
most prejudiced judge, 1t was the victims
son passing sentence on the murderer. Men
applied their cool intelligence on the enraged
patriots verdicts, and speedily discovered
that all was not as stated by him. Mems
reason taught them to shake their heads when
Hugo pointed to Napoleon the third as
supremacy wicked dwarf, without ruth or ra-
tional power; blight and curse upon man
kind; vampire that was seeking to get his
teeth near the heart of France. Europe, when
NJ. Hugo reared his famous monument of
abuse, was quite disposed to listen, and with
pleasure, to all that could be justly said against
Louis Napoleon, and, indeed, to little more.
1t was time when his panegyrists were
treated with contempt. But men, in the
mass, strive always to be Just; and they
would not endorse this unreserved judgment.
They repudiated the Hugo monster as a crea-
ture conceived in black blood.
Years have, we trust, brought calm to the
fiery brain of the author of "LesMiserables."
His cool judgment cannot accept the offspring
of his mad passion. Europe, disposed to APP
plaud him when his sound and fury first
caught his ears, views now, with temper and
with much admiration, the career of the third
Napoleon. The ruler Of the last eleven years
has not been a scourge to France. To-day,
France stands where she never was before.
To-day, France is prosperous To-day, she
is enjoying the opening of a career of glorious
liberty. The chains are dropping from her
fair arms; her eloquent lips move again; and
in her eyes is the divine ray OF freedom. All
remember, NJ. Hugo-under the auspices
Of your sometime monster and villain.
1t will be a great day for France, when she
can once more hold her gifted son in her
arms, and press her loving hands upon his
silver head. We hope and believe that this
happy day is not far distant. We are con-
vinced that ''Napoleon the Little" desires to
see it dawn. To this end, what should be
the course of NJ. Hugo, and of the French
writers, whom he eloquently addressed few
days since at Brussels.
We follow NJ. Hugo, while he wreathes with
his rich array Of rhetorical ornaments the
liberty and civilization which are the results
ofthe press, and which are impossible without
the press. We take up his exquistely happy
citation from Gregory the siXteenth's ency-
clical. He will allow that the press is ''a.iery
throat, darkness, Il fierce rush with horrid
noise" He will not dispute a syllable of the
poor, blind monks proposition. ''JuSt so"
says M. Hugo, gleefully perceiving an adrot
use to be made of the Papal ignorance.
at is locomotive which is passing it is the
press, the mighty and holy locomotive of
progress. Where is it going? Whittier is it
dragging civilization? Whittier is this power
full pilot engine carrying nations? The tunnel
is long, obscure, and terrible-for we may
say that humanity is yet under ground, SO
much matter envelopes and brushes it, so
many superstitiOnS, prejudices, and tyrannies
form thick vault around it, and so much
darkness is above it. Alas since mans birth
the whole of history has been subterranean.
We see nowhere the divine ray; but in the
nineteenth century, after the French revolu-
ton, there is hope, there is certainty. Yon-
der, far in the distance, a luminous point APP
pears. It'increases-it increases every mo-
ment. 1t is the future-it is realZatiOn-itis
the end of woe, the dawn of joy-it is Canaan,
the future land where we shall only have
around us brethren, and above US heaven.
Strength to the sacred locomotive~ Strength,
we echo. But strength means time -
strength means prudence-strength means
forethought. Strength should have a double
share of wisdom, Milton teaches ms. M.
Hugo, if he lack anything, lacks prudence.
We hope and trust that his eloquence will
not lead his listeners of the French press to
extravagant lengths. We have proof that
the emperor is ready to give all liberty that
they will prove it safe for him to give. He
has permitted descriptions of the Hugo BAN
quet to appear in the papers. He who, ''like
a lap-dog, lays himself at the feet of the peo-
pie in power and wags his tail''-to quote Jean
Paul-ls a mean and contemplate creature,
and we despise him accordingly; but we do
not reserve any of our admiration for the
snarling puppy who behaves like the unruliest
of his race against every throne that is not set
up exactly after his own pattern. 1t is to be
hoped, for the sake of France, and in the in
terest of civilization, that the sacred locomo-
tive may not be driven against the govern
ment that has once more set it upon the rails.