The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-01-16
l The Southern Rebellion md the French
RovoIution-A Parallel.

The Southern Rebellion and the French
RcvoIution-A Parallel.
| Between the Southern rebellion and the
French Revolution, viewed simply as great
events, without reference to their causes, and es-
pecially without reference to the question Of
We Of course hold that every circumstance in
French history, and every point in the law Of
reason, fully justified tho action by which tho
French people overthrow the ancient monarchy,
and broke up through the crust of European
order, in their attempt to establish free gov
ernment We as definitely hold that the jeff
Davis rebellion is the most wicked attempt that
history ever saw to break down good govern
oent for the representation Of Q monstrous evil
and for the qualification Of personal ambition.
So much promised, We may compare the events
without danger of having it thought that we
c0nfound them one with another In any general
sense.
Both were revol6 against tho established
order of continent, and each effectively ar
rayed tbs power Of a nation against the con-
servative forces. In France and in tho United
States alike the revolt was nursed when it
might have been crushed by the men whose
duty it was to oppose it. Louis might have
| put the revolution down q dozen times; but he
acted in the premises with such ridiculous ex-
tremity Of weakness and vacillation that it was
not supposed any man could be 80 utterly pur-
!, poscless; and his conduct was thought to De
the result Of some deep design Lameth said,
"The executive is pretending to be dead"
Here Buchanan was a reduplication Of Louis.
He stood still and let the rebellion grow into
an organized power. Though his utter want
| Of character was well known, yet the people
| were disposed to credit his conduct to trea-
sonable completely, rather than to believe that
any such complete nonentity as be appeared 10
be could ever have been elected President Of
I The Unified States. y
Europe put considerable power in tho field
in the cause Of order, and expected that it
would put the rebellion down at blow. 1t
sent its well equipped troops on a military
promenade" against the raw lcvies of revolu-
ti0nary France, drilled and formed by the
! excellent officers Of the old French armies.
On the field Of Valmy the French Revolution,
contrary to all anticipation, gained its "Bull
run" battle. Had the forces opposed to the
rebellion gained that battle, they would have
marched to Paris without another struggle, re-
established the old order, and the rebellion
would have been done with. But there, as
! here, the unlocked for event led strangely to
another result. Valmy showed that Europe
had an enemy that it could not despise, and
impressed every one with the conviction that it
was but the first battle of q pr0tracted and
desperate war. There was an immense cry to
arms; and arms were taken up scarcely to be
laid down ut all until every household on the
continent had felt The influence of the struggle.
valmy and Bull run each apparently gave
a start in life to new nation; but the dreadful
contentious Of ambitious politicians nearly de-
stroyed the existence those battles gave The
| Reign OF Terror that swept France was not less
terrible, though different in character, than the
reign of terror that the quarrels of Southern
leaders has caused to sweep over the South
ern States Of this Union. Had the politicians
been left to themselves they would have de-
stroyed tho cause in both cases, both by the
plumbers of their foreign system and by tho fac
tiOus quarrels that destroyed all concert Of
| action in domestic matters. In France military
success represented in the person Of Napoleon,
| "saved the revolution" No political misman-
| agemcnt could destroy power that was victo-
rious on every field where it's colors were socn.
Here it was the same in q less positive degree.
Military success, represented by Lee, Stonewali
Jackson, Johnston and some Others kept the re-
bellion alive in spite Of Davis and the rest.
Our affairs, az they at present stand, have
reached an advanced stage in the parallel.
| Shermans march from Atlanta to Savannah is
| equivalent to the battle Of Leipsic 1t cuts
away from the power Of the rebellion all the
| Gulf States as that battle did all Germany; 1t
arrays all those States against the rebel power,
and it sets free an immense force enabling 1t TO
march at once on the Paris that here Is situated
| on the James Hence, while Grant is already
in front of Lee-wbie the country rises for the
| Union in GoOrgia-wc hear also of the advance
| towards Richmond Of both Sherman and
Thomas. Their arrival will finally settle the
| great struggle, and will give us at once the
| Paris and the Waterloo Of the parallel. II is
| one remarkable point IN the comparison, that
here we have crowded into four years the very
| same series of events that in Europe extended
over twenty.
| The Dominican and Spa nish-Peruvinn
Imbroglio-The Proposed Action of
| spain.
The latest advices from Europe inform
us that not long since tho Spanish minis
| try strongly advised the Queen Of Spain
to withdraw her troops from St Domingo,
where, for the last three years, they have
been waging disastrous and signally