The New York herald., 1865-03-05

| Rome givhcx lAm- - - empire. but few
.ristocrstic A;,iliss holding ths votes Of al
other Roman cItAs..os In complete subsection.
Cesar judged chadAse Of government to be
imminent, and In this he w. right; but he con-
| templated return in his own person 70 tne
former system Of . hngship, and hetS Fas ms
error. Nations, no more than individuals, re-
peat in the progress Of their lives the passions
or the follies ofpast eras. Rome did not want
king; and, speaking by the hand Of Brutus,
Caesar was bloodily rebuked for supposing he
could make himselfs successor TO the last OF
the Tarquins. But Rome did want change OF
government; the hour had become ripe for pro-
ducing q new system Of rule; and in tho person
of Augustus, and with the title Of "Imperator,"
or general-in-ehief, borrowed from the camps
and only suggesting military asoendancy, the
Roman people passed cheerfully under the yoke
Of an empire-that being the form OF govern
ment which most clearly realized their aspira-
tons for universal conquest
In France and with the older Napoleon the
case was different There the kingsh;p of the
Capets, accompanied by the expressions Of
feudal aristocracy, had become efete, and all
Frenchmen needed change The republic. in
the days Of Its infancy, was assailod by power
full combinations Of foreign foes and domestic
traitors. II absolutely needed for It's guidance
through that bitter period the firm hand and
absolute will Of successful military chief
This want the elder Napoleon supplied; and
history tells us how generous was his wed
come, how boundless the homage, almost the
idolatry, Franco poured at his feet But as
Caesar, mistakenly, under similar circumstances,
supposed Rome to need kipss1so Napoleon,
misled by his vanity and personal ambition,
was an egregious folly, only to be pardoned
for the severity of the penalty which 1t evoked.
France in making a republic in Europe had
fulfilled her needs. Her new system was not
worn out; indeed, it was only in its infancy, as
1t is even yet That new experiment has since
been interrupted by foreign accidents-a few
generations in the history Of nation being
comparatively ~ briefas the fainting fit ofa mo-
ment in the life OF young child. In throwing
off the Bourbon and Orleans dynasties, and ac-
cepting Louis Napoleon as emperor by the
voice of universal suffrage, France well knows
that she is returning fast towards her intermit-
ted experiment of democratic republic. 1t is
her destiny, she feels, to live under tho now
form Of government that she was the first TO
create in Europe-.he present cmpcrorship OF
Louis Napoleon being no moro than mask or
curtain behind which the forces Of her nation
hood are preparing for return to the compile
ton OF their interrupted dream. Mnm.
Nations never 60 backward on their tracks,
nor can dissimilar causes In their history, any
more than in the history of individual lives,
produce similar results. Charlemagne tried to
revive the Roman imperial system in his own
person, conquering all Europe west Of the Dam
ube and calling 1t tho "Empire of the West"
the Roman Power having then removed its
capital to Oonstantinople and being well con-
tent with recognition as the Empire of the
East" That Western Europe needed change
Of government Charlemagne clearly saw, and
as military conqueror he was accepted In the
iconoclastic spirit His revival of an empire
was successful for his own stormy
and troubled lifetime; but the moment
that powerful repressive influence had been
removed, the nations saw new thing-the feu-
dal system-rise up in Europe; that very feudal
system which has since been swept away in
blood and fire by the first throes Of the French
revolution. Like Cesar thinking Of returning
to the ancient Roman kingship; like Charlie
magne hoping to reconsolidate in bis own
dynasty the early Roman empire; like the First
Napoleon, forgetting that his purple was but
tolerated as portion of his military uniform,
and that his true character was that of the
armed hand of democratic republic-we now
see Louis Napoleon dreaming of French en-
pire which is to endure and be perpetuated in
his family, and painfully writing books to prove
that In himself is revived the Augustan era
which only came to Rome after nearly four
hundred years Of an aristocratic republic.
If the present Emperor Of the French be alive
half dozen years from now, he will be quite
likely TO appreciate the philosophic truth Of
this articles philosophy not spider spun from
dreams, and discolored by personal aspi-
rations, as Is his own, but drawn with
disintercsted candor from an application Of
mere common sense principles to the great
teachings Of historical experience. In the be-
heading Of Louis Capet, France signifed her
conviction that republican form Of govern
ment was essential to her progress. That wish,
in any orderly sense, has never yet beeR graft
fed, Europe conspring to forbid tlsxperi-
ment, and France having for a brief time to
accept an "imperator," or absolute comman-
der-in-chief, as her only safeguard. The wish
for the republic, however, has not died out, nor
can France forego the idea until the idea
shall--in the course of centuries perhaps-havc
fulfilled its mission. Louis Napoleon may
translate books and write commentaries to
prove himself new Augustus, and to convince
the French people that under his dynasty alone
can their happiness be thoroughly developed.
The whole thing is nonsense, hOwever-the