New-York tribune., 1869-06-15
NOTHING Gained.

| It was upon the nights Of Montmartre, in
| 1914, that q Russian gunner shook his linstOck
at the beleagured city, excaiming: $50, father
Paris, you must now pay for our mother
Moscow" The revolutionary experiments of
| France had resulted in failure that seemed to
be final; the dynasty of Napoleon appeared to
be falling into iTetrevable ruin; ; the Bourbons
were hanging upon the skirts of foreign armies
| ready, by the aid of foreign arms, to resume
| the crown; the ancient city of the Seine, lately
so arrogant, and illustrated by the spOils of a
hundred victories, was soon to endure the
ndgnity, almost for the first time, of a hostile
occupation, while the Emperor was flying, and
| flying in vain, to the rescue of the capital
which had so often been intoxicated 10y his
! triumphant bulletins. The hour of ruin came
The Prussian cavalry, the Russian infantry, the
semi-savage Cossacks, were the masters of
Paris, while the tickle Parisans, with the dust
still upon their knees which had done religious
homage to Napoleon, shouted "Yive En-
"pereur Alexandra! Viye lie ROi de Prussie !!
! "Vivent nos Liberateursw
More than half century has gone by since
that wondrous, historic day. The Bourbons
have again fallen, and no foreign hand has
been stretched to raise the representatives of
|
| the throne by the ruin of its detested kindred
and has in its turn been deposed by the barri-
cades to which it owed its elevation; Bona
parte once more occupies the seat of st. Louis ;
and now, only on Thursday last, the turbulent
| population again erected one of their beloved
barbados, and were dispersed by the cavalry
of the Third Napoleon! just as the artillery of
the First Emperor in 1895, scattered the Ma
| tional Guard which was marching TO the over
| throw of the Convention
These are but rude, historic pictures but how
mournful is the story which they tell We
must 60 back to the latter days of the Roman
Empire, if we would parallel these long years
of constantly recurring doubt and danger Of
violent yicissitudes, of strange contrasts be-
tween the public gloom and the flashes of
military glory by which it has been sometimes
illuminated. Paris, which recalls the purple
luxury of the Lower Empire, which has repeated
the cOrruptons and the military violence of the
conquerors of the world, and itself endured the
! jndignity of a degraded Senate, still dreams of
| n commonwealth not merely victorious but yir-
tuous, and SUI It's dreams are dissipated by
the roar of cannon, the rattle Of musketry, and
France who maintain their public characters
umimpaircd, but their voice is unheeded
They keep to popular principles, despite
the apostasy of the monarch and his creatures !;
but when will their day comet The iTritatiOns
and the hatreds which always precede great
public cOnvulsiOn are distinctly observable
there is suilerance, there is endurance; but in
the best minds of France, there is anything
but acquiescence. The love of liberty, which
is naturally cOmbative either wastes itself in
purpOseless excesses, or, with greater dignity,
il bides its time. "The French says De Toe
queyille, 81 have but one really permanent feat
" uTe; it is the ease with which we submit to
everything, and assume every form and every
" aspect according to time and events This
is the conclusion of one whose authority is
eminent, and it may be true to a certain ex-
tent of the aristocratic and commercial classes
but it does not appear to us to be true of
either extreme of the French people-of the
highest thinkers or of the lowest workers
of Dc TOcqueville himself, for instance,
or of the mob at Montmartre. The
higher ideas which preceded the first
Revolution-nObe, in spite of certain fol-
bles-still survive. Notwithstanding the per-
sistent discouragement of basey material
court, there Is still pure thought and lofty phil
osophical speculation in France. An undivided
attention to the exact sciences never satisfied
the mind of u nation, and never will, for
thoughtful men will still be recurring to those
problems upon tho solution of which human
progress really depends. Nor can we see that
the people, below tho most respectable body of
shOpkeepers, have lost single illusion or dis
carded n single liberal theory which they have
received from stormier periods. The Demo
cratic IDEAS Of 1870 have been thousand times