Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-09-28
IUalohman s. Jnlrnal.
WEDNESDAY,, September q, 1870.
The Euronean CaIdron.

T.
riches aud spleudors, became outworn and
Gillette and the dominant forces Of the world
deserted the orient aud lodged in the conti-
nont Of Europe The Latin race took up a
new line Of march and in its conflicts with its
surrounding races it impressed upon them.
alike In its defeats and victories new order
Of religious and social principles. Christian
ity extended itself westward and claimed the
European continent for is own heritage
There it ha. worked out new forms Of civil
lied life and fulfilled the predictions Of It's
founder, " / came not to bring peace to the
earth, but a sword" For eighteen centuries
the loavcn Of this wonderful religion has been
working in the mighty races Of the continent
generating new conflicts new social forms
new Congratulations aud higher conditions Of
progress For centuries, Italy led the van
guard Of civilization and ushered the nations,
by force or persuasion, along the highways Of
Providence But after having established the
foudal system Of the medieval period and run
out religion into the puoriitos Of asceticism,
cramping its manly aud active powers with
the ideas Of the cloistcr and the monastery,
it had to give up the leadership to others
For q while Spain, for centuries the first lieu
tenant Of Italy, carried the sword which had
fallen from the hand Of its leader, but she
was unable to wiold it successfully long.
Then France became practically the head Of
Europe its ascondanoy, questioned and often
disputed by force Of arms, yetmas never
decidedly oyorthrown. With all her reverscs
and defeats, with her many wars with Eng
land and Germany and Austria and Russia
and Spain, in which she has been alternately
yanquished and victor, She has yet maintain
cd her practical supremacy on the political
and military arena Of Europe From the time
Of Charomagne to the days Of the first Ma
poleon, she has had, in the main, the practical
leadership Of the continent. And for the last
fifty years, thoughhe policy has been changed
in a measure, She has been Of invaluable scrv-
ice in the work Of destroying those feudal
| ideas she had done so much to establish. The
Napoleonic conquests broke up foudal insti-
buttons and made fcudal IDEAS Ridiculous
Every victory that Napoleon won by the aid
Of those splendid Marshals of the Empire,
whom he had raised from tho ranks, taught a
lesson in human equality which was carried
to every home in Europe. But with this aud
with his remarkable Code, the political value
Of France has come to an end. The third
Napoleon, unable to build up n better order
of ideas, or reconstruct a better polity on the
medieval ruins which his uncle had effected,
made the prepostorous attempt to revive in
France herself the old system which had been
broken in pieces a dcspotism resting on
brute force; a Cpsarism both of Church and
State. The French nation gave him his way,
and permitted him to use all the powers of a
great empire for the enlargement of the des-
potic principle. They surrendered thcmsolye.
to his extraordinary genius. They placed
themselves, their army and navy, their polti-
cal, social, educational and religious institu-
tons in the hands Of an adycnturer and usur-
per. They allowed him to lead thersons into
one war after another; to put Spanish bigot
at the head Of his Court to prop up the
falling temporal power Of the Pope with the
bayonots that had pierced the feudal system
through and through They gave him au
army Of 100000 men with which to regulate
the affairs Of their continental neighbors-
With such magnificent power, furnished hin
by people who had stood at the head OIL
civilization for five hundred years he became
the arbiter Of Europe. He separated himself
from all the liberal ideas which would have
given France the lead for another half decade
Of centuries, and by the will Of the people
dispossessod the people of all their political
righte. 1t seemed as if under his lead the
French nation had surrendered the last hope
Of republican freedom on the continent
But what has been the result? What has
become Of the Emperor who two months age
made Prussia retract her consent to the can
didatc for the Spanish throne What hai
become of the nation which has never beer
Inundated and disgraccd before?
In lS43, when Louis Napoleon was i'm
prisoned at Ham, he published some striking
remarks on the government OF Louis Philippe
which contained the following sentences
Some years ago, there was in the United
States a man called Sam Patch, who wen
iuto the following trade he constructed, Will
a great deal Of art, scaflolding above The
falls of Niagara, and after having raised q
heavy contribution from the immense Grove
assembled from the whole neighbOrhood to SEE
him, he mounted majestically to his platform
and then threw himselfhcadong into the boil
ing waves at the foot Of the cataract II,
repeated this perious experiment seyera
times, till at last he was swallowed up by
whirlpool. Alas there are some govern
ments whose appearances on the scene Of III,
world are in every respect analogous to tha
Of the American juggler; their history il
summed up in these words fearful scafold
ing, terrible fall On few stakes planted
in the ground, they raise shapcIess building
composed Of fragments aud bits borrowed
from the ruins of the past and when theii
task is finished, their bastard building, as
without utility as it is without foundations
has only served to throw them hoadong from
greater height into the abyss And sucl
has been his fall and the fall Of France will
him.
1t is perhaps as melancholy and suggostiy,
a series Of events as has occurred in human
history, that has been passing before our eye
for the last two years. First, the Queen o
SDain l. driven firth from her nolone 10 toL,