The New York herald., 1870-04-26
The Plebiscite-1he Empcror's Policy and
the Future.

| In the HERALD of this morning we print the
Emperor Napoleon's address to the officers OF
the civil service. In the HERALD OF yester-
day we printed the conclusion OF the Empe-
ror's address to the people. We have already
reproduced and commented upon the kernel
of the ple0isciss in our edition Of Sunday. II
is fair now to say that Napoleon has said all
that he wishes to say in the matter Of this
latest pleJiscite, and that all the world has q
fair right to sit in Judgment and freely to ex-
press Its opinion.
1t would not be difficult to draw distinc-
ton between the address which he has made
to the officers of the civil service and the
address which he made to the people. Both
addresses will take their places in all the
future as able State documents. Each is as
! nearly perfect as any document Of the kind can
be expected to be. In his address to the
people the Emperor gives proof that he knows
the meaning OF ad cGpt0ndum oratory, and
that even in print he can show himself master
ofsuch oratory. In his address to the officers
of the civil service we are not permitted to
say there is not equal ability and equal
mastery Of the situation. The Emperor
appeals to all the people and he appeals to
all the officers of the civil service, asking them
to sanction the past, to endorse the present, and
lend their combined help to make the future
what it ought to be, or at least what he
wishes it to be. Further than that the EN-
peror fully understands his audience and fully
| understands the merits and demerits Of
| modern society all over the reading and think
ing world, we shall not repine upon the quail
ties of the two discourses.
1t is now safe to say that the ple6iscite is
now before us as well as before France. No
one who reads the dispatches of yesterday will
refuse to admit that the Emperor has made
out good case, and made fair and not
unjust appeal to the French people. Remem-
bering that eight millions of Frenchmen voted
| for him in lS+8, that similar vote was cast
in his favor in 1852 when he called upon
France to re-establish the empire, and point
ing to the concessions Of ten years, to the
triumphs of eighteen years, and to the conf
dence unbroken of twenty-five years, he asks
all true Frenchmen, including all the civil Off
GERS of the empire, to make this latest cleo
tion sure. That he has right to make
such an appeal we are not prepared
to deny. From the exhaustion of
the first empire, from the weakness Of the
Restoration, from the stupidity Of Charles the
Tenth, from the selfshness of Louis Philippe
and the miseries that begot the revolution of
1S4s, France might have recovered life with
out him; but history must admit that the
Third Napoleon gave France the life she
needed, and that for at least twenty-five years
he figured as her saviour. He has given her
a strong government; and Frenchmen, finding
peace within their own borders and security
for property, have given themselves to
industry, to home life, happiness and the
accumulation of wealth. He has done more.
Overcoming the dynastic dislike of his name
and the European jealousy of the people over
whom he ruled, he has forced recognition
from the courts Of Europe and made France
o power in the modern world. Whatever
fault Frenchmen may have had to find with
their chosen chief in connection with the
coup d6tat, they have had no choice
but say they have been governed by the
most intellectual, the most able, the most sue
cessful man in modern times. Ifsome French
men have had reason to grumble, millions Of
men, the world over, have had reason to envy
or admire or worship him. Nothing is more
absurd than to imagine that the French, the most
spirited and the most liberty-loving people in
the world, could be governed almost absolutely
and for twenty-five years by a fortunate tricks
ter. That any man should have been able in
this age of universal intelligence, of the rail-
road, the telegraph, the open mouth and the
free pen, to play the rifle Of Cesar, of Crom-
well, Of the First Napoleon, among the French
people, will be regarded by all the future as
great miracle. That such man, after twenty
two years of prosperity, should ask the French
people to repeat their vote, will be con-
sidered by. the same judges as of all
things the most natural. Whatever,
therefore, from our own national OF
individual standpoint we may think of the
ple6iscite, we have no choice but say that
from the higher standpoint of an all-embracing
philosophy Napoleon is fairly justified in the
course he has taken.
1t is, we admit, an exceptional course. But
in great emergencies exceptional courses are
iustifable Once again France is excited and
demands change. The Emperor is not
opposed to concession. He is willing to give
his people larger measure Of liberty but
liberty must be compatible with order. 1t is
not, therefore, without good reason the Empe-
ror says :-'sIn 1852 l asked power to assure
order. In 1870 now ask power to establish
liberty" 1t is plain, open speaking. Never,
perhaps, did any ruler fling himself and his
motives so completely upon the people. He
does not forget what he owes to the founder OF
his house. He admits that France honors
him as the heir Of the great Napoleon.
But he is not disposed to ignore his own
merits. He has son, and he wishes to make