The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-09-08
when dn7ler the 81 pressure 81 local cir

When unuef the pressure OrelOcal clr-
oumstances, not perhaps yet appreciated,
he declared war, he placed himself with
his troops and no doubt did all in, his
power to maintain the arms Of: France.
It may he that his military abilities were
poor-we believe they are. But no one
can doubt, that, as q ruler, he exhibited
q skill, foresight, varied capacity and
an enlightened spirit, that places him in
the ranks OF the great men of his day
and generation. Without great talents,
no one could have filled, rs Napoleon
III has done, the most conspicuous po-
sition in the civilized world. Nor can it
be denied. that, rs an Emperor, he end
ed his career with dignity. He did not
seek safety in flight. He did not leave,
rs the First Napoleon did, on memorn-
BILE occasion, his beaten troops. But
when he saw the great disaster that the
overwhelming army of his foes was to
bring upon France, as if seeking to
break the force Of tho blow that was to
fall upon his beloved country, he step
ped promptly forward, and accepting
the personal humiliation 80 wounding to
his hopes and his pride as man, Empe-
ror, father, and husband, he laid down
his sword at tho feet Of his kingly foe.
He thus, in effect, said to tho Prussian
King, ''if you make war upon the Impe-
rial dynasty, take my sword, and let
Francebespared." Whilst. then. VIC ac-
knowledge the fact that the star of Ma
polcon the III has gone down forever
''amid the hills and woods Of the Ar
gonnes," let no man mean]y nook him
in the hour of his calamity, but render
ing unto Cesar the things that are Ce-
snr's, let us do justice to those eminent
abilities and that rare tact that enabled
Napoleon the III to be successful ruler
of great people for twenty years.
Tho moral of Napoleon's fall is thus
stated by the New York World:
"And these things bring us to the
moral of his foil. For if man 80 much
more highly endowed, and in the main
SO much moro nobly moved, not only
than most princes born in the purple,
| buG GuAu OcCldcu uoJOIlGy Ol Luc clcCC-
ed chiefs of men, could not make Caesar
ism success in such country rs
France, what man in what country can
ever do SO? The surrender of the third
Napoleon, We repeat, then, is the sur
render not of the man but of the system.
1t is surrender in which all the world,
therefore, may rejoice. save, perchance,
the very monarch who receives it. The
cry which went up in some parts of
Europe, yesterday, hailipg new Empe-
ror of Germany in the stead of the fall
ing Emperor of the French, will be q
cry Of evil omen to victorious Germany
if it be heard aud answered by her. Not
in this case will it be true, as of the on
cient Scythans it was tabled to be, that
the strength Of the vanqnished passes
into the victor. The tragedy of Sedan
only repeats that elder lesson of Fon.
tainebleau which the vanquished of
Sedan would not learn or heed. Let lis
hope, for the sake of Germany, OF
Europe, and of the world, that if the
victor of Sedan prove no wiser, the great
people, ut least, whom to-day he holds
in the hollow of his hand, may not be
drugged by triumph into sharing lis
unwisdom."