The Portland daily press., 1870-09-23
THE PR ESS.
Friday Morning, September % 1870


"Citzens. said. the day on winch Tue ne
nuhlc returns I shall return Here am"
With these words grand old Victor Hugo, |
whom il is fashionable to ridicule, addressed
the enthusiastic people on his return to Paris
After nineteen years absence. Long ago the
Emperor reversed the decree of Punishment
assinst this fierce Republican. For years he
might have dwelt in peace and safety in Paris
Ito him 1.-THE centre of humanity" "the capt.
tai of civilization 'the sacred city," spot
dearer and more venerable than Mecca to the
Mahometan or Jerusalem TO the Jew. But
he scorned the murderer's clemency, and
sternly vowed that SO long as he whom he
disdainfully called Napoleon lie Petit main
tanned his throne on spot that the Diety has
designed for the very citadel of liberty, the
capital of the universal republic of the future,
he would never set foot on its SOIL So he has
steadfastly kept watch from his station in tie
little Isle OF Guernsey, in the English Chan
mel, near the coast of his dear France, ready TO
return at the first sign of dawn after the i'm.
perial night which he, almost alone, trusted
would speedily end. One after another his
old democratic associates returned to France.
HOPELESS of throwing off the yoke they one by
one gave in their adhesion to the Empire. Oh
lvier at length became prime minister, and
even Prevost-Paradol in an evil hour accepted
an important diplomatic appointment from
the great criminal of the nineteenth century.
Hugo meanwhile improved the time by in
doctrinating the world, which he had Tor an
audience, with ideas subversive of absolutism.
The author of Les Miserables spoke with a
Voice tina. drowned the feeble utterances of
the author OF the Life of Julius Caesar. 1t
was bayonets that made converts to Cesar
ism, bat genius and the inspiration of heart
fired by the profoundest devotion to liberty
that gave the untitled author the most re-
uectfal hearing.
The Liberals of Europe are uery liberal.
Nhn like the Garaballis, father and sons.
Mrzzini, Louis Blanc and Victor Hugo, tried
b. any American standard of radicalism,
would be found to entertain the most extreme
Notions. In the United States our efforts and
even our hopes are for the most part directed
t. the preservation and advancement of our
Own Republic. We are fond of saying that
E iropean natons"are not yet fit for liberty
Bat the European Liberals propose to them
se.ves as objects of immediate attainment a
c lmmonwealth embracing the whole ofEu
rope, universal suffrage. the disbandment o.
all armies, the dispersion of all navies, and, as
result, the overthrow of such relics of bar,
barism as wal, diplomacy, restrictions On trade
custom houses In their meetings which
they call Peace Congresses they have already
with that confidence and hopefulness which
characterize enthusiasts, gone so far as to or.
game what they call the "United States oil
Europe" 1t must be confessed that our pat
riotic devotion to the Republic in America is
narrow and selfish when compared with the
cosmopolitan symrathies efthese European
democrats, whose country is the world and
whose fellow citizens are their fellow men.
Among these generous enthusiasts no one
is entitled to more respect than Victor Hugo.
The extravaganza Of his sentiments has
made him the subject of good deal of
thouehtless raillery, and even his obstinate
defiance to the Bonapartes has been the oc-
casion of more or less sarcasm. The Emperor
seemed so grand, so secure, SO powerful and
so happy that the poor exile seemed ridicu-
lous. He chose to be true to his own heart,
but men called him crotchety, and cherisher
of "odd, perverse autipatbies." But the tables
are now completely turned, and we may well
learn the lesson that stern adherence to ones
convictions of right is not altogether puere
and that faith in the ultimate triumph of
right is not altogether useless. Who to day
would not he the glorious exile of Guernsey,
rather than the red-handed, black hearted
butcher, the exile at Cassel? Who does not
now see that Hugos persistence in resistance
to the Empire was better than the lamented
Provost Paradols il-tiined apostacy, followed
by such aeonies OF remorse as drove tfelr il
lustrious victim to self destruction Almost
five hundred years ago famous old Chaucer,"
when deaths hand was at his heart strings,
said not unworthily,
Truth to thy own own heart,
Thy soul shall save.