The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-08-19

OISdI le UOuj anu 10 DE
prophet"
To the consumate diplomacy Of
RIchelieu was il d ne that Protestant,
ism, as represented by the German
Protestant League, was not over
thrown, and, although he was both O
Cardinal and one of the no5lesse,
he, the greatest of French states
men, struck the sturdIest blow al
C lass privileges and feudal despot.
ISM they had then ever experienced
France alone among the Catholic
nations lever yielded to the dc.
mands of the UltramoDtane party
at Rome, bat preserved intact the
rights Of the Gallican Church. We
now come to the time, when,
throughout Europe, during the
reigns OF Louis XIV, XIV, Toryism
in England and despotism every.
where were triumphant, and when
superstition and religion and mon
archy and divinity were considered
Synonymous terms. England had
witnessed the rule Of the fanatical
Puritan, had felt the iron hand oil
Cromwell, and then cast herself
headlong IEto the reaction under
Charles IL, and liberty had become
the bette nOir of society. First
through NolIere, Racine, Rousseau
and Voltaire, France rescued man
from the long night of mental deg,
relation into which the reformed
churches, with the Ancient Mother
Church, had fallen, Influencing and
moldIng the character ofthe great
Frederick o! Prussia; civiIlzrDg bar
barrie Russia with art, science and
literature; ~ridiculing the hummer.
les of the dark ages, and emancipa>
ting human thought. And when
all this had been done, amid the
terror OF Kings and the applause OF
the people. France proclaimed the
Revolution. A few years only be-
fore, the French nation, thoroughly
approving, though at first the kind
hearted Louis XVI Was unwilling,
France recognized the nationality
of the American colonies, and
through Lafayette and Rochamheau
rendered that aid which secured to
the United States Its freedom. The
wars of the French Revolution, in
the midst Of which Napoleon ap-
peared, found every dynasty in
continental Europe, and the Tory
party in England, fighting for feu-
dalism and the "divine rights o!
Kings against the people of France,
and tho principles of political and
religious freedom. Napoleon, as
Emperor, was only a crowned DEM
ocracy, crowned from the dire ne
ccssity Of the case, just as ancient
Rome often gave dictatorship to its
noblest citizens, that with Imperial
authority he might, as he did,
break forever the power ofthe mon
arches of Europe to deprive the
people of constitutional govern
ment. 1t was that fact, and not the
ambition of Napoleon. that united
hordes of Russian and Austrian des-
potlsm to the rest of king and
prlest-ridden Europe against 1.-THE
grand nation" The coalition
against Napoleon can be proven to
have arisen manly from the fear
entertained of the triumph of the
liberal literature and politics of
France, and the dread entertained
by aristOcracrics and royal families
of final overthrow.
AS the event has proved the de-
feat OF Napoleon at last. only gave
the feudal tyrants short respite from
tho rising tide of reform and the
Bonapartcs.
Fox and other leading liberals Of
England sympathizcd strongly
with the first Napoleon. The after
throes of liberalism in France,
brought with them the overthrow
of Tory Cabinets everywhere. The
revolution of '48 reused to freedom
the entire world, and France, as ev-
or, sounded the tocsin.
Tie present Emperor first rescu-
ing his country from the followers
of Robespierre and the Marianne
who would unnul marriage, abolish
the church, destroy wealth and re-
store primitive barbarIsm-pro-
ceeded TO remodel the agricultural
districts till the great mass Of the
people should own ard till their own
land, set up banking systems by
which at low rates of interest the
Government money surplus should
always be lent out to the people
and kept IN circulation; replaced all
the crowded portions of French cit.
les, once fostering with crime and
disease, by broad streets and venti-
lated blocks, and raised the nation
from bankruptcy and ruin to
wealth and an enormous and remu-
~neratIve commerce. To-day,
France has a smaller national debt
than England. and pays far less IN
terest than the United States. She
had universal suffrage before it was
adopted in America, and although
the licentious press of the Jacobin
is restricted, life and property are
safer in France than anywhere
else in the world. The satisfaction
of the people is sufficiently attested
by q plebIscite of five TO one in far
vor of a constitutional Napoleon,c
regime.
Napoleon having consolidated his
power, and, by the arts of peace,
made the Empire prosperous, in due
time found Russia ready to over.
whelm Turkey, and, from conquer,
ed ConstartInople, preparing to die.
tate Tartar terms TO Europe. As
Lord Clarendon and Kinglake, the
historian, have admitted, he fairly
dragged England into the war, res.
cued Turkey. and the English army,
although repulsed at the Redan
followed the victorious French
through the Malakoff into fallen
Se0astopol. The next grand event
0f Tho EpoDira ruoc tha Italian uor