The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-13


grand career, we could even then understand
them. But that the France Of the nineteenth
country, with all her culture and polish, with
all her capacity for progress, with all her
devotion to liberty, with all her regard for
| justice, should tamely submit to eighteen
years of Bonapartism, is a mystery that be-
comes more mysterious with each passing
day.
Rochefort is demagogue of the first
water, symbol of that peculiar type of effer-
vescent and disjointed genius of which
'Brick" Pomeroy is diluted specimen. He
is in the minority, and he is red-hot. He
feeds upon nastiness and revels in agitation.
His prime maxim is that whatever is is wrong,
and altogether wrong. The accident OF cir
cumstance has made him champion of Ii
cense, devotee of justice, martyr in the
cause of liberty. If France were turned up
side down, he would reverse his own position,
and attempt to balance himself upon his head
with as much superhuous energy as he now
expends upon the effort to stand squarely on
his legs. But in the flaming and inflamma-
tory article to which his name was affixed in
the issue of the MarSeEEaSSe of the 11th, he
unwittingly hit upon phrase which affords,
perhaps, the best solution to the
present situation in France. 81 have
had the weakness" he writes, ''to believe
that Bonaparte could be other than an
assassin" All his past expressions would
give the lie to this assertion if he were not an
utter stranger to sincerity; but it is, never
theless, key to the mystery we have noted.
France has believed that Bonaparte could
be othert than an assassin, and, acting upon that
belief, has endured eighteen years of Bona
partisan, and enjoyed eighteen years of sta
bility without liberty. If she had INDUCED
in eighteen years of liberty instead, the sta
bility would doubtless have been equally
wanting, and France the loser to an incalcu-
liable degree.
But for months past, France has been
chafng under her yoke. She has yearned for
liberty, as well as for stability, and mani
tested an eagerness to make another expert
ment at comprising both. The Legislative
elections of last May showed how strong is
this yearning, how calling the yoke has
become, how imminent is the next uprising.
Napoleon has read his people Alright, and
thought to satisfy their cravings by the empty
professions of the Sendtus ConsuItum And,
when he comprehended the fact that some
thing more than insincerity would be de
manded, he has made substantial conces-
sion, and called into his counsels the man who
for years was the life and soul of the opposi-
tion. Will this concession avert the third
republic? r.
M. Olivier, in responding to the demand
for justice to the murdered editor of the
MarseaHdise, used these significant words:-
''We are justice, law, and moderation; If y0u
force as, zoe soiH be p0aoer." The phrase shows
how quickly he has adapted himself to his
new position, how readily he has picked up
the Napoleonic maxims If he can convince
the people of France that these words are not
the mere blind to deliberate assassination
of liberty, he will carry himself and the en-
pire safely through the crisis. If his associa-
tions with Napoleon have effectually weaned
the people from him, and destroyed their
confidence in his devotion to the cause of
liberty, he will fail; and his downfall
will be the signal for hand
to-hand encounter between imperialism and
the people-bloodless, perhaps, but severe
and, for the time being, decisive On more
than one ground, it is to be hoped that JUS
tice, law, and moderation will prevail, that
Prince Pierre Bonaparte will be given trial
so free from imperial Interference that the
demagogues of the Rochefort stamp will be
powerless for mischief. The prosperity and
security of France depend upon this con-
summation. She is not yet fit for republic,
scarcely fit for a constitutional regime such
as is embraced in the policy of the new min
istry. If the only stable government which
she has enjoyed since the day when the
head of Louis XVI rolled into the
basket of the guillotine can be coerced by the
wisdom and patriotism of Olivier into con-
ceding such a measure of substantial liberty
as her people are fitted to receive and appre-
ciate, the way for the true republic which
must eventually spring up from the ruins of
kingcraft will be prepared, and France will at
last enjoy both stability and liberty, will at
last be capable of liberty without confounding
it with license. But if Olivier fails, anarchy
will follow, and out of anarchy will rise
another empire more stable and less liberal
than the second imperial regime.
LEAGUE ISLAND.
The bill for the transfer of the Philadelphia