New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-21

was quite right to take honest employ
ment at the hands of Napoleon, especially
the employment of representative of France In
a free country like the United States, where
there was certain to be no occasion for the
dishonoring intrigues of European diplomacy
We saw also how the frauds of the plebiscitlIm
had imposed upon many of the less advanced
Liberals, and made them believe that Napoleon
ism was now an accepted institution to which
they had only to conform as well as they
could. We lamented that Prevost-Paradol was
lost for the time to the cause which he had so
brilliantly supported; but we welcomed him
to America as a true-hearted friend OF liberty
and friend of our country.
Of the awful event which has so suddenly
taken him away, man has no explanation TO oiier.
Our first thoughts naturally turn to those
orphaned children-a girl in the first blush OF
womanhood, boy just old enough to appre-
ciate the horrors of the tragedy-to whom, IN
the midst of the gayety of a fashionable water
ing place, the telegraph yesterday carried the
message that they were fatherless strangers In
a strange land God only can know OF the IN
tense suffering which must have so wracked
that noble intellect as to drive parent to the
most cruel of all Oifenses against his OIL
spring, and a man of courage to the most
cowardly of all crimes. That M. Prevost-Par-
adol was insane on Tuesday night there can
be little doubt. If he was a man OF sensitive
mental and physical organization there were
causes enough to overthrow his reason. We
have no question that the false political posi-
ton in which he was placed was the cher OF
them ALL When he left France there was no
expectation of war, and to all appearances 1t
would be easy for him to fulfill all the duties
of his office without violence to his poltlcal
convictions. When he landed i'll New-IOrk,
he found Napoleon committed to the most
atrocious of modern European wars, and bent
upon consolidating his despotism by the sac
rifice of tens of thousands of lives and millions
of treasure How could an honest man with
NJ. Pr6vost-ParadOls political antecedents de-
fend such a war, as he would have to do in
his diplomatic capacity How could he resign
and go home without aiming deadly blow at
his country by proclaiming to all the world
that France had not the support of
her own official representatives. Bitter
indeed must have been his re-
Elections upon the bluhder which after so
many years of good service for freedom had
led him at last into the service of tyranny.
If he had been place-hunter, renegade, or
even a little bit of fool, he might have
plunged into the whirl of Washington Gfe
shut his eyes to his own situation, and
enjoyed himself upon the whole very well
indeed. Being neither of the three, his reason
wavered, and, when other troubles came, fell
utterly to pieces.
His loss may prove great misfortune to
ell 10 Io 70 In
the conflict now beginning we shall be more
or less interested, and it is possible that our
relations with the cOmbatants may become
very delicate. 1t would have been a great
advantage to us to deal with a minister
whose liberalism was so well approved, and
whose appreciation of our principles, knowl-
edge of our institutions and familiarity with
our language and modes of thought, were so
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