Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-06-24
THE NEW WORD AND THE
....i,..z...- OLD.
The EnEIuense OF this Country upon
7tesr. = ga Europe.

hold Fennsy ivenian Congress gather, and
ere long, on Bunker Hill, Democracy an
nouncing, in rifle volleys death-winged,
under her Star Banner, that she is born,
and whirlwind like will envelop the whole
world. "-Cd7Iyles French Rec@atSon.
/ The influence of this country and her
institutions upon the governments and
peoples of Europe it would be next to
impossible accurately to ascertain and
make known. Every year many thou
sands of Americans cross the ocean and
eagerly seek every opportunity to &C.
quaint their transatlantic brethren
with the peculiar excellences of
our system of government No people
when abroad are 80 boastful, so full of
their country, 50 fond and proud of her
institutions, her wonderfully progressing
career, or 80 disposed to furnish every
iota of Information in their possession
concerning her internal management and
history. This is generally remarked in
the Old World. Her people are really as
tonished at the singular gusto and hearty
warmth Americans display when speak
ing of their native or adopted country, q
warmth that sometimes foolishly leads
them to speak disparagingly of every 9TH
er country, of all other customs and In
stitutions not found at home. But the
effect Of this undoubtedly is to spread
widely the growth of democratic feelings
and principles. Especially is this so
among the laboring classeA To their eve
America is painted as a grand temple of
God in which all men can worship ac-
cording to the dictates of conscience,
where liberty dispenses equal political
| rights and privileges, without dis
| tinction of race or creed, and where
honest toll and endeavor will, without
fail or hindrance, Insure success and in
| dependence. Those who emigrate to this
country foster this belief by writing back
to friends and relatives concerning the
blessings of civil and religious liberty en-
joyed here. In this way the seeds of
Democracy are being quietly and industri-
| ously soWn every day throughout Europe.
| VIII they grow in that soil and bear |
| fruit just as certain as that Indian corn
would grow if planted there, perhaps not
so luxuriautly as here, yet still with much
of life and vigor. Ours Is peculiar era,
an era of transition, in which the old |
must give place to the new. The hand
writing is on the wall, the fiat has gone
forth. Old forms of thought and govern
ment, ecclesiastical as well az political, |
have served their purpose, and are decay
ing. VIII pherix-bir arise from their |
dead ashes2 The skeptcism prevailing |
everywhere and in everything IS an indi
cation and sure precursor OF higher and
better things. Inquiry and doubt must
always precede change and improvement.
Wherever much travel is done, people of |
different nationalities and habits of
| thought meet and mix together, inter
| change communion of ideas, there in
quiry and doubt is sure to be generated.
In this age of railroads and printing
presses, ocean steamers and cables, ideas
are interchanged with almost the celerity
of lightning, and TO an extent incredible.
1t would be strange, indeed, If the fresh,
living ideas and thoughts that have for
| their patron the mighty American repub-
| lie, in such an age as this, should fail of
working and stamping their influence
upon the decrepid and trembling mon-
arches of Europe. France, perh aps, is
more alive to this influence than any !
other of European governments. In the |
last vote on the plebiscite, although the |
Emperor obtained large majority of \
votes, yet it could not justly be ac-
counted a victory for the Empire, for |
the Emperor had cunningly interwo- |
ven the question of the Napole0nic |
dynasty with that of of the liberal con
eessions he had only short time before |
made. The people were asked if they /
approved the constitutional grants made /
by the Emperor; if they preferred the |
liberal Empire to personal rule. They |
could not vote Eyes" unless at the same |
time voting the Napoleonic dynasty. |
These two separate and distinct questions, |
that should have been voted upon sepa-
rately, were bound up together in one, so |
that refusal of the one carried with it |
the refusal of the other. Yet even as it |
was all the principal cities of the Empire, |
where it might Justly be considered the |
principal wealth and intelligence resided, |
voted against the plebiscite, and in favor |
of the Republic. And this is highly sig |
nifcant. For in these large cities the |
people are even more interested in the |
preservation of order and tran
quillity than those in small towns
or those out in the country. In large |
cities much of the business is sustained
by foreign travel and commerce, and an
interruption of these affects very sensibly
and iniuriously every kind of business.
One who has never been to Paris can't 4
imagine the amount of business that is /
supported by transient travellers. All the |
wear round Paris is filed with alsrge pop |
ulation of visitors, who fill the hotels, and |
scatter their gold prOfusely in every di- |
rectiou. Emeute outbreaks and revOlu-
tions Would take all this gold from the
pockets of Partisan shop-keepers, for
pleasure seekers and travellers would GER
tainly avoid places where neither life nor
limb were safe. And what is true in this
| respect of Paris is equally true of Bor-
deaux and Lyons and Marseilles, and the
| other principal cities of France. These |
: shOp-keepers and men OF business KNOW
tai their trade win suffer by revolution
ary outbreaks. They know that the En-
perOr has incarnated order, end that 1.-THE |
Empire means peace, and yet they vote
solidly against it. They, by their votes,
with the example of America before
them, insist that they, and not the
| accident of birth, shall have the right |
to determine who hereafter shall be |
their rulers. Few Frenchmen are disposed
to deny that France has not pTospered
| wonderfully under the Emperor's rule.
Her cities have been changed into perfect |
| maryeIs of beauty and cleanliness. As
by magician's wand ''cloud-capt tow
ers and mighty palaces, and solemn tenn
nles" have arisen. With firm hand he |
has ruled his people, teaching them the
duty of obedience. And they have learnt |
under him. They are no longer the ssme |
/ peoule they were under the first empire.
Love of glory and tinsel and glitter no
longer leads them. They have, what we
cali, sobered down, and are becoming
more and more sensible of the hesrtless,
selfish nature of the first Bonaparte.
They begin to loathe where they once
worshipped. The present Emperors
greatest enemy is the memory OF hls
uncle. His death will be the signal for
revolution, and it viii not altogether
be confined TO France. In Italy
the democratic principle has strong
hold. Mazzini and Garabaldi have not
lived in vain. The miserable ecclesias-
tical tyranny that for hundreds OF years
has fastened itself like hideous night
| mare upon the country, eating out its
| very vitals, converting everything 1t
touches into offa and filth, would ere