The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-16
SPIRIT or Eza RREss.
editorial Opinions of the Loading Journals
Upon Cnrreut Topjcs-U0mpilBd Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
THE EMPIRE LOST.

the
rounseled by M. Theirs, before his election
TO the Presidency, not TO commit himself 10y
promises Of fidelity, Nj. Girardin gave the re-
Inarkable advice to be honest. To the other,
when il was suggested that he might become
Emperor, he is reported to have given the
assurance that he would not reign for three
months. M. Girardin may not be a true pro-
phet, but it is certain that long ago he earned
the nickname of The Weathercock. On this.
and on royal accounts, we take more than
usual meaning from his averment that ''the
second empire is approaching its end, and
that cts fall is inevitable"
Napoleon might have prevented what now
appears fatality coeval with the prostration
and decay of his life He might have Napo-
leonized France in a liberal way many years
sgo, thinks NJ. Girardin; and even so lately as
in 1869, after the general elections, could have
ordained plebiscite instead of a senatus con-
sultum, and an amnesty without conditions,
instead of one excluding such O man as NJ.
Iedru Rollin. The French editor is we'll
aware, doubtless, that Prince Napoleon impe-
rialist as he is by virtue of palaces and pen
sions, and republican in respect of an exceed
ingly liberal speech, was pronounced oppo-
nent of the plebiscite, however earnestly he
inveighed against non-elected body like the
French Senate making O constitution for
France in the utter absence of the representa-
tive part of the government. The Prince is
supposed to be q shrewder politician than the
editor, and may have calculated that at best
an appeal to the people was profoundly dan
gerous Better the monstrosity of the EN-
perors own chosen Senate voting q Senatus
Consultum than summoning the people in
discriminatory to feast after SO long a star
walton. Be this as it may, the opinion of
La L56GTt6 is not shaken that the invalid EN-
peror is about to encounter the greatest crisis
of his life. Is it still possible to avoid catas-
trophe? asks our French contemporary of a
man who knows how to look revolution in
the face" Should the peril of the hour
neither inspire nor enlighten nor stimulate
him, then he loses the remnant of his power,
and, says M. Girardin, ''the empire is lost. :"
He would be bold who would venture to
predict at this date either that Napoleon or
his empire can long survive tho crisis upon
which France seems to have entered. Peace
remains with the enapire, though the radical
deputies, albeit not many in number, loudly
and Justly complain Of the prorogation Of the
Legislature, though the press is unusually
bold and outspoken, and though the people
at large as witnessed in part by the late
Councils-General, are not entirely satisfied.
The moment has arrived in the Judgment of
the Steele, when France must know some
thing about her foreign as we'll as her home
policy, and with all her proneness to rebellion
be taken into the imperial confidence. There
is to be O new empire or a new France; but
as yet everything depends upon the pulse of
one sick man; and the sick man is forsworn
and the people are ready to forswear.
THE LATE ELECTIONS-THE FIF-
TENTH AMENDAIENT-PENDL
From the NJ Y. Herald
The late elections have been very close in
Pennsylvania and Ohio. One way or the
other the result in Pennsylvania signifies
nothing, because in that State, beyond their
local issues, there was really nothing at stake.
In Ohio the contest was of some national
importance in two aspects-frst, in regard
to the fifteenth amendment and secondly,
in reference to Pendleton, as the Democratic
champion of Ohio and the West for the Pre-
sidential succession.
With the vote of Ohio there would be a
fair prospect of securing the required ratifica-
tion by three-fourths Of the States of the tif-
teenth amendment during the coming winter.
With Democratic ma jority in either branch
of the new Legislature the vote of Ohio will
be lost, and considering that California is
lost and that the new emocratico-conserva-
tive Legislature of Tennessee is regarded as
worse than doubtful, there is the probability
of hitch in said amendment which may carry
it over into the elections of next fall The
whole number of States in the Union is thirty
even-three-fourths of thirty-six is exactly
twentyseven; but the thirty-seventh State
will make twenty-eight required for the ratif-
cation pending.
Now, how stands the case? The States
which have ratified the amendment are
twenty to wit:-Arkansas, Connecticut,
Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana,
Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri,
Nevada New Hampshire, New York, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vir-
ginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The
States which have rejected the amendment
are:-Delaware, Georgia, Ohio-three. The
States which have not yet acted on the ques-
tion are-Alabama, California, Iowa, Ken
tucky, Maryland Minnesota, Mississippi Ne
braska New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island,
Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont-fourteen.
OF these States, Mississippi and Texas are re-
quired to ratify as condition of reconstruc-
tion--two; and Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska,
Rhode Island, and Vermont are certain-fiVe
more, which will make in all twenty-seven.
We want one more, and we have these
States from which to get it, viz.-Alabama
California, Delaware, Georgia, kentucky
New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, and
Tennessee. Now, as for California, Delaware
Maryland, Kentucky, New Jersey, Oregon
and Tennessee, they may be counted out, 81
that our chances are reduced to Ohio, Ala
bama, and Georgia. With a Republican
Legislature in Ohio the thing is fixed without
further difficulty; but in default of Ohio
little iudicious diplomacy on the part of tn
administration may secure the one vote want
ING on said amendment from Georgia or Ala
hama. These States have no interest now il
any further opposition to this amendment
inasmuch as they have negro suffrage esta
blished within their borders. 1t is thei
tha tO in