New-York tribune., 1870-04-15
THE ALTEPYl7yyE or PEVOLUTY0N

THE 1LTERN17IpE or REFOLUIIVN.
Thanks to a system begun by a coup d'ctat,
and kept up by dcXtcrity, NapOIconism enjoys
in these it's later years what we may call
chronic crisis. Not n week passes when the
Corps Lcgiaatif fails to have it5 excitement
not q day goes by when those who measure
the pulse OF Personal Government cannot de-
tcct the symptoms of m old slow fever. France Is
mastered, but dsOrdercd; ruled, but not cured.
Every Radical who knows by what sitting
powcr the free voice Of q good part of France is
suppressed every BOnapaTtist who breads the
loss of his valuable livery; Ill the thousand
and one creatures OF the OycrpOweling Person
atty, who pass for Nap0lcons Of small work,
ike so many coins mintcd with the impcrial
irnage-assuredly feel in thcir cOnScicnceS that
something troubles the conscience OF France.
1t il no slight trouble and it dates back nine
teen years at least. Even at this late day 1t
threatens TO prove for us, just when many
least expect il, that WIOng-nO matter how
energetic and lOng-livcd, no matter how pow
erfully joined to the strange necessities created
out of national weakness and yice-cOntains
in itself the elements OF It's own destruction,
and is bound to die.
There is a class of observers, Americans
even, who believe in Napoleonsm much as
they believed in Slavery when il seemed to
them an incOntrovertblc fact. In old times
this sort of belief was called Conservatism; in
more modern days people are provoked to call
il stupidity. 1t is harsh word to apply to
the predictions of a class of men whose heroes
have so much to do with the government of
the world. But, then, their heroes must be con-
sidered to some extent stupid also. Where,
for instance, shall We find nation
more Justly celebrated for itS scholars, its jour
nasts, its thinkers, than England '-and yet
did ever nation deal more blundering}y, and
brutally, and unintelligently with problem
like that of Irelandi Napoleon has well earned
a certain credit for being astute and able,
and France has great many brave and
brilliant men - but when did courage,
briliancy, and cunning so combine to raise
so fraudulent and unintelliSent system
az that of Personal Government We thought
Slavery dreadfuuy stupid-wc are inclined to
think certain phases of NapoleOnism no less
so. Hence we cannot at all admire the
fashionable idiocy of those American women
in Paris who sympathize with Prince Bona
parte. Yet we are puzzled, deeply puzzled, to
discover by what inspiration of love or honor
came to offer his fluctuations 20 the criminal
of the Rue dAuteuil.
A serious day has come FOX France. The
blundcr of Prince Bonapartc'5 acquittal
may not have been the design or desire of
Napoleon, whose murdcrous relative can
scarcely be favorte with 80 polite man
But it was, nevertheless wrought out By I'm
pcIial machinery of Napoleon's own making
and whether the blunder belongs to tho En-
pelor or the Empire, it amounts, after all, to
the same thing. We regard il "a one o.
gravest consequence. Already France con
trasts the acquittal Of Prince Bonaparte with
| the continued imprisonment OF so many
| Journalists, whose worst fault was sliyht
compared TO the crime of the Rue
| dAutcuil. Again, we hear of those eruptiops
of labor called strikes. A general dcmonstra-
| ton Of labor throughout France Is one of the
features Of a conspiracy which no empire can
finally destroy. WoIkingmcn are TO he asked
TO designate by blanks their vote for "A re-
public on the day of the Plcbiscium. The
Plcbscitum, said Prince Napoleon, :" il the
"last alternative OF rey0iutiOn.' The En-
pcror Is bold man, aud perhaps this
time blind one, who trusts once
more to the test of the great hap0leouic prin-