The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-06
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1870.
LIBERTY OR REVOLUTION.

LIBERTY OR REVOLUTION.
'TrBERTY and revolution are face to face
wrote M. Olivier recently, in preparing the
address of che Central Committee for the pie
5tse;te. This is the Napoleonic version of the
issue which eliminates on Sunday. But the
Paris Steele of yesterday, with more candor,
puts it in this shape:-"The Government
asks for an unqualified approval of the past,
and carte 6Ianche for the future" The whole
scheme Of the popular vote means nothing
more nor less than this, and it is only by
diverting the attention of the people from
the true issue to the alleged conspiracy against
the life Of the Emperor, that the false issue
can be made to predominate. The Journal
O6iciI of yesterday was loaded down with
pronunciamentos and letters concerning this
bugbesr, and the persons implicated in it
are to be brought at once before the High
Court of Justice for trial, on the plea that the
conspirators ''have resolved to execute their
purpose before the Sth of May" If this asser-
tion means that those already in custody
had so purposed, the alleged necessity for an
immediate trial is sheer nonsense; while, if it
refers to such of the plotters as have not yet
been captured, the acceleration of the trial of
their associates will serve only to put them
on their guard, and at the same time incite
them to more determined effort than ever
But the simple meaning of the whole move
ment is the desire on the part of the Govern
ment to identify opposition to the p1ebiscite
with the idiotic schemes of Flourens and
Beauri, to hoodwink the French people into
the belief that negative vote means revolu-
ton and anarchy. Through the agency of
the immense machinery under the control of
the Government, the first reports concerning
the conspiracy have been spread broadcast
over France, and the time which is to elapse
before the taking of the vote is too short for
the opposite side of the story to be made
equally public. And now comes this last Ma
poleonic trick of an affectation of
such immediate peril to the State that
the trial of the conspirators must be COM
menced even before the vote is taken. The
whole governmental machinery is of course in
operation again. and doubtless before Sun
day morning every voter in France will be in
possession of copy of the charges against
the oonspirators and of the decree convoking
the High Court of Justice for their trial;
while the rational opponents of the pIebtscite,
the men who follow the leadership of such
temperate Liberals as Jules Favre, will find it
impossible to oounteract the false impressions
created by the agents of the Government.
So, despite the efforts of all the rational
opponents of the empire, the vote on Sunday
will be taken on the false issue of liberty or
revolution, and if an affirmative response is
given, it will be nothing more nor less than
can unqualified approval of the past, and
carte blanche for the future"
The Senat4s ConsuItum recently submitted
to and approved by the Senate is included in
the so-called liberal reforms upon which the
people are to pass judgment on Sunday. 1t
contains several provisions of vital import
ance, prominent among which is the one
which declares that ''every law relating to
taxation must first be voted by the Legislative
Body provision which, if carried out in
good faith, would be decided gain for the
people. But it is rendered nugatory by the
provision which declares that ''the Constitu-
tion can only be modified by the people on
the proposition of the Emperor" the simple
meaning of which is that the Emperor may,
whenever his ascendancy is endangered by an
opposition majority in the Corps Legislatif,
appeal to the people directly for the ratifcs-
tion of such changes in the Constitution as
will turn tho scale in his favor, and enable
him to make a successful stand against the
Legislative Body. The popular vote in France
has heretofore been a farce, and the pre-
sumption is that it will continue to be such
for some time to come. 1t is the knowledge
of this fact that enables the Government to
appeal to the people with confidence, and it
is for the sake of keeping this unfail-
ing resort in reserve that it was prompted
to introduce into the last SeRdtus O0a-
sultUm the provision which will enable the
Emperor to change the Constitution at his
pleasure. That the result of the vote to be
taken on Sunday will be favorable to the Em-
peror there can be but little doubt, but it is
not so certain that the day will not be marked
by serious disturbances which may endanger
the stability of the empire and unsettle the
foundations of the throne.
ZINE VOICE especially when il is com