New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-08-31
THE FAILURE or DESPOTYSM.

TIE FAILURE or DESP0TlSM
There has been the greatest possible activity
in raising troops throughout tho different
Departments of France during the last few
weeks. The orders issued by the Military
Directory at Paris require the local authorities
TO forward all arms bearing men to the Capt.
tal with tho utmost CELEBRITY. We have had
accounts of bodies of these hastily raised levies
moving from the southern and central parts of
France to enter the ranks of the active army;
and large numbers of them were sent from
Paris to MacMabOn at Chalons, before the
evacuation of that place. But, after all, it is re-
markable how slowly and unwilingly the people
of France respond to the urgent calls of the
Government to como forward in defense of
the country against the invading German
armies. The population of France Is forty
millions, and the French have always been
accounted the most martial people in Europe.
So far az we can Judge, there have not been
more than $4,000 troops engaged in the active
operations under Bazaine and MacMahon, and
the forces defending Paris, with tho troops
stationed at other points, are estimated as
numbering less than 100000 men. This is GER
tainly poor display for military country
like France. Why has there not within the
last thirty days been great patriotic enlist
ment of at least a. million Frenchmen for
the defense of their imperiled countIyf Why
are not such scenes witnessed in France as
we became familiar with in this country dur
ing our own great war few years agoi We
had no reputation as i, military people, We
had the most clumsy and inefficient machinery
for raising trOOpS.---We had large party In
the North which sympathzed with the Rebel
lion. Yet how rapidly President Lincoln's first
rcquisition for troops was filled up. How
quickly during subsequent periods of the war,
when our military system was better organ
lied, we raised hundreds of thousands OF men
in the Eastern and Western States, and for
warded them to the points of danger, whore
they were at once incorporated with the armies
already in the field. The crisis in this cOun-
try was scarcely less terrible than the present
crisis in France; and yet how different the
spectacle presented in one country from that
which was displayed in the other.
The Government of France, az it has ex-
isted for nearly twenty years under the des-
potism of Louis Napoleon, has been wholly
dependent upon the military power for its
existence But it was great army, and not
a martial people, that the Emperor required
OF desired. He has done all in his power to
repress the ideas and practices which at this
time would have given France dozen patri-
otto armies for its defense. Under the Empire
the growth of an intelligent patriotism has
been impossible, and the general use or pos
session of firearms has been forbidden. The
Emperor of France has been at war with
the intelligence and the conscience OF France
ever since he mounted the throne. He has
not only destroyed the liberties of the coun-
try but has debauchcd its politics and crushed
its public spirit. 1t was not patriotism, hut a
savish homage to his person and dynasty,
that he demanded. Instead of giving the
people those governmental institutions which
would have secured their devotion, he has
given them a debased CPsarism which was
detested by all liberal-mindcd Frcnchmen.
We now see the results of his system in the
lowest condition of public spirit that ever was
shown by a great nation in the supreme mo-
meDt of its existence.
The results of his prohibition of the use of
arms are also painfully visible. The leyies
which have been hastily raised are utterly in
capable of handling the guns which have been
given to them. 1t ia just as well that they
have only old muskets for they can learn to
use these more quickly than the chaSSepots.
But what value are either shot-guns or ehasse
pots in tho hands of people who know nothing
whatever of them, and who certainly cannot
now make them of any avail against the tri
umphant armies of Germanyf During the war
of the Rebellion, our American citizens quickly
became soldiers because the great mass of
In I. oil ofo
az militia-men or in one way or another.
But the throne of the Emperor would have
been endangered if the people of France had
been allowed to possess or use arms; and
now France is paying the penalty Of having
an Emperor whose strength was dependent on
the cOuntry's weakness. When public spirit
and political vitality are crushed, it is not in
a day that they can be revived; nor is ii pos
sible for people unaCcustomed to arms to
learn their use when an enemy is at their
throat. The despOtsm of Napoleon the Third
has been failure, because it has ruined
Franco