The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-03-31
The Emperor Napoleon and His Blum
dera.

The Emperor Napoleon and His Blum
ders.
Immediately after the coup d'etat, when the
Emperor had secured absolute power and was
safe in his seat, his seat was the least secure
one that any man in his senses ever sat in. His
throne trembled with every movement of the
nstion-with every pulse of its life-and the
most trivial circumstance might originate
commotion that would sweep it away. 1t was
necessary that the attention Of France should be
diverted from the fact that there was once more
French throne; that men should have other
food for thought, and another topic for the
daily salutation. It was necessary also that
this topic should be one of great interest, and
the Emperor, simply as q necessity of his own
position, plunged France headforemost into the
Russian war; Here was sphere for the
national thought and employment for the
national power, and, better still, . double
qualification to pride and state; for in this war
one member Of the Holy Alliance was
arrayed against another member, and both
were humbled almost to the feet of France.
The success in that way was grand, though
future vengeance was stored away in Russia,
and though, through the thin veil of the entente
cordiale, the hatred and hostility Of England
gloomed iercer than ever. And the Emperor
did all that at the expense of France simply
for the sake OF his own safety.
And still he had to go on. 1t was not safe to
be quiet yet. He was wandering Jew, for
whom there was no rest. Once more the blaze
of glory was invoked to dazzle the eyes Of the
French people to their real position. And
there was also another temptation. His entente
cordiale still kept separate the members of the
Holy Alliance. He had humbled Russia and
England. Austria came next, and he went
into the Italian war. He staid in long enough
to accomplish his purpose. But he accom-
plished more than that He showed the real
weakness of Austria's position, and demon
strated that alliance between that Power and
England was impossible, because the British
people, though they did not like France, were
heart and soul against the Austrian cause. 1t
was another purely Napoleonic triumph at the
expense of France. 1t was triumph over the
Holy Alliance; but it embittered Austria ter
ribly, and 1t started revolution in Italy The
| Emperor did not want that He wanted to
humble Austria, not to help Italy; and while in
ostensibly to lift Italy up, in the next month
they were at Rome, very evidently to keep
Italy down.
Each of these wars, though on the surface
success, was in truth a blunder and failure.
Both were blunders, because they unnecessa-
rily reawakened, stimulated and kept alive
in the three great Powers Of Europe the
dynastic hatred and bitterness against the Ma
poleonic family; and both were failures, because
while they wasted France, they did not have
the desired effect upon her, and did not give
Napoleon any equivalent in France for the
hostile spirit he had excited elsewhere. He had
to give the nation excitement, employment,
glory; but he had to get these on hard terms
like one who mortgages his future for the inn
perative necessities Of to-day. He had hoped
that In the face of common enemies France
would forget that he was not her friend-but
she did not She was feverish still, and then
the Emperor, urged on by his necessities, slip
ped into the still greater blunder, and gave
another mortgage In the Mexican expedition.
| From this expedition the other European Powers
withdrew when they saw its true nature; but
Napoleon could not withdraw. He had France
behind and only Mexico in front, and he went
on, because he dared not stop. And this Next
can expedition arrayed one more great Power
| in the world-the United States-against the Ma
poleonic dynasty land this blunder, Insignificant
as it may appear, will be the Emperor's Mos
| cow if he do not get out of II very soon.
| Napoleon has thus Numbered in his relations
with England and Russia and Austria, as well
as in relation to the revolutionary spirit Of
Europe; he has Numbered more greatly still in
his ruinous ENHANCEMENT with Mexico. But
France, to soothe and pacify which he fell into
all these blunders, was not satisfied, and
| now he has made before France his
| greatest blunder Of all. This is the publica-
ton of his life of Cesar-his announcement,
his programme. France was kept quiet by
rigid censorship Of the press. But now the
Emperor has inadvertently furnished way by
which the people and the press can speak so
freely that he might better have abolished the
censorship and had the credit for it. He is
Caesar, and straightway all France, while II
treats the Emperor's name with the respect
exacted by the police, unbottles its wrath
against Casar-that atrocious Roman, that foe
Of freedom, that trampler on the rights of
others, that believer in fraud and force. And
Brutus-what a glorious example Of a great
and good mani What friend of his country;
q murderer, to be sure-but then, he murdered
Cesar Already q French paper, quoting the
Emperor's preface, has printed with it q TRADE
against Cesar out Of voltalre. The project
would have suppressed it; but is there any
French ruler strong enough to suppress Vol
tairei And thus the Emperor will be beaten over
Caesars shoulders, and, by this simple means,
France will learn great fact-that Is, exactly