The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-30
sPxRxT OF xHu PRESS.
editorial Opinions of the Leading Journals
upon Current Topics-Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph. -.
THE EMpEROR's BtuNDERs

= ~
From che n. Y. Tribune. III
No ruler with a reputation for astuteness
has ever done so little to deserve it as the
Emperor Napoleon. In the course of his
career be has achieved one brilliant success
the overthrow of the republic and the esta-
blishment Of the empire on a basis of murder.
He has played one clever triok-that of the
plebiscitum; but as this was only the intro
duction to the scheme of war, we must wait
for the final result before we pronounce il a
success or a failure. In the other great events
of bis reign be has made mistakes so serious
that it is a wonder how he has escaped de-
struction. His first movement after Selling
the throne was divert his subjects by a war
with Russia. And what was the result of that
war 1t proved the gallantry of the French
army, which needed no proof; it involved
France in frightful loss of men and money; it
left Russia practically as formidable as ever.
Sebastopol was captured, but at q cost
o thousand times greater than it was worth.
Russia was temporarily crippled in her navy,
and lost a little strip of territory; but she
was not Inundated, and at the end of the
war Europe felt that the Gear was stronger
than any one of the powers allied against
him. The italian war was undertaken for the
purpose of humiliating Austria, and at the
same time fixing French ascendancy in Italy.
1t resulted in the creation of a powerful
Italian kingdom, which is a perpetual menace
to France, for Victor Emanuel, far from being a
creature of the Tuileries, is more than half
inclined to be an open enemy. Napoleon has
earned the lasting hatred of Italians by sup
porting the Pope in Rome, and the displea-
sure of the Pope and the clergy by consenting
to the obliteration of the States of the Church.
He made Italy formidable, and now inds
that he has not q friend in the whole PENN
sula.
But this is not the worst. Having weak
ened Austria, he gave Prussia the coveted OPP
portunity to strike a blow, and to his dismay
saw the face of Germany suddenly changed,
and q tremendous and threatening power
rising at his very door. He had not been
astute enough to see that his most dangerous
rival was not Vienna, but Berlin; he had not
comprehended the character of the Prussian
statesmen, or OWNED the strength of the
Prussian arms, or seen that while Austria was
made up of hostile and incongruous ele-
ments, the rival German State must inevi-
tably rise to power by the aggregation of
kindred populations. The pet scheme of
France was to get possession of the Prussian
provinces on the left bank of the Rhine;
yet, in his blindness, Napoleon smoothed the
way for Prussia to make herself the greatest
power in Europe. The war of 1866 showed
him his blunder, but he saw at the same time
that Prussia was too strong then to be at
tackled.
n6duWUu0 III udu LuIuoQ Ills dttoQCl0Q TO-
wards America. He threw away the friendship
of the United States by marked favors to the
Southern Confederacy, and when our hands
were full, he occupied Mexico, and with much
. rhetoric about the unity of the Latin race
established an empire as illegitimate as his
own. This was the greatest of all his blunders.
Turned out of the country by order of Mr..
Secretary Seward, he saw his Latin empire
tumble to pieces, and the unfortunate prince
x,ho~, ba bod ,,lanaI op the fhrona ohof ILL.,
a traitor. The Mexican adventure was not
only a disaster but a disgrace. Hardly
recovered from this, fresh humiliation awaited
him in Europe. Having failed to make
Austria the instrument of defeating Bismarck,
he proposed at Berlin a secret treaty even
more infamous than the coup Getdt-a treaty
by which he declared himself in effect the
common enemy of Europe. He offered to
consent to the Confederation of the German
= States on condition that Prussia would permit
him to assassinate Belgium and dismember
Holland, the infamy of this proposal being
heightened by the fact that by a solemn treaty
he was under an obi cation to guarantee
Belgian independence. Prussia treated the
proposal with disdain; virtually gave him
notice that she did not value his assent to the
confederation, and would not ask for
it. The confederation was to be accom-
plished whether he liked it or not.
Whether the present war is also to be a
French blunder it would be useless to pre-
dict. If it turn out anything else, it will
differ essentially from the Emperoris previous
achievements. He certainly has made some
mistakes in the mode of beginning it. By
the exposure of the secret treaty Bismarck
has turned upon his adversary the hatred and
fear of all the European powers. By the
violence and injustice of the declaration of
war Napoleon.has sacrificed the moral support
of all enlightened men, while his insolence
towards Spain has deeply offended the Spa
nish people, notwithstanding the dubious
attitude of Spanish statesmen. And of one
thing we may be assured: whatever the issue
of the contest, the union of North and South
Germany, which France so earnestly desires
to prevent, is already practically accomplished
by Napoleon's own act.
PERSONAL INTERESTS AND GREAT
-. .'@ PARTIES.
From the n. p. Times.
Tn referanca To the camnaion in Ohio tha