The New York herald., 1870-04-12
The Situation in France-Thc New ""''
ernmeut Experiment.


vier has, as we expected, given france new
sensation. France is again before the worid
as prominently as she has been any time this
last half century, and France Is, perhaps,
more occupied with herself than she has been
during the same period No one in or out OF
France of any note has thought for Prince
Pierre Bonaparte or for Henri Rochefort, or,
indeed, for any of the names so recently
so prominent Our minds are filed, not with
thoughts of c0ups G6tat or of Capitalization or
of the one man form of government, but with
thoughts of great changes, Of large conces-
sions of peaceful revolutions, Of mysterious
self-abnegation and the probable results Of the
same. Fifteen, ten, even FIVE years ago, who
would have dreamed that Louis Napoleon, the
worshipper, the historian, nay, the incarna-
ton Of Cesarism, would one day by single
act proclaim that all his past had been fall
ure, that he had been wrong, and that, after
all, Casarism was not for France? Has Ma
poleon done all this Some say he has,
Some say he has not. In any case it must be
admitted that the reform which the Emperor
the world generally.
Our news from day to day shows that in the
Senate, in the Corps Legislatii, and, indeed,
among all ranks and classes of the French
people, the proposed experiment of the En-
peror is occupying mems minds to the exclu-
sion of almost every other subject. 1t is 80
novel, so unexpected and so revolutionary that
it is not much to be wondered at that the
country should be divided between those who
think 1t an imperial dodge and those who
think it an imperial blessing. We are not of
those who think that there is any insincerity
in the Emperors conduct or that there Is any
mischief in his designs. His language to
Olivier is plain and frank in the extreme
''Lay before me Senotus C0nsultum," he
says, (which shall firmly fix the fundamental
dispositions derived from the plebiscite of 1852,
and which shall divide the legislative power
between the two chambers and restore to the
nation that portion Of constitutional power
which it had delegated to me-" In such terms he
resigns the mighty power which he has welded
for eighteen years. His resignation is not
more frank than his reasons for 80 doing are
clear The constitution of 1852 ''had above
all things to provide the government with the
means of establishing authority and order.
Now that successive changes have gradually
created constitutional system in harmony
with the basis Of the aleIiscite, it is important
to replace all that refers to the preservation
of legislative order within the domain Of law"
Therefore 1t is that ''that grand body which
contains so many brilliant men, is invited to
lend an ''efticacious concurrence to the new
order of things. We may question the wisdom
of the course which the Emperor has resolved
to follow; but we cannot discover in his
language any evidence of insncerity or any
indication of dark after-purpose. The
Emperor resigns his share of the constituent
power and if his expressed wishes are
carried out the Senate will become House of
Life Peers, the legislative body will have the
right, not only to discuss, but, in cooperation
with the Senate, to change, the constitution,
and the empire will be transformed into par
liamentary monarchy. The Emperor's pro-
gramme carried out, he will be less powerful
than his Prime Minister, nor will anything
short of coup detat restore to him the
power which he has voluntarily resigned.
At the same time, taking into consideration
the peculiar condition of France, the past
policy of the Emperor and the strange materials
on which he has to depend for the carrying
out of his reforms, it is not easy to regard the
present movement in any other light than that
of an experiment which may or may not be a
success. 1t is not our opinion that much diff
Guilty will be experienced by the Emperor at
the hands of the Senate for, of all legislative
bodies, the French upper chamber, since the
days of the Council of the Ancients, downward,
has been at once the least active and the most
obsequous In the meantime the Senate is a
body of the Emperors own creations there is
therefore, but little likelihood that it will op-
pose his plans. The real difficulty in the case
ia the reconciliation of the empire with uni
versal suffrage and with paid deputies From
the moment that the new constitution becomes
law the lower house in the French Parliament
will be all-powerful. The young blood of
France-those who are swift with the pen and
glib of tongue-will rush into it. Intellectu-
ally France will find new life, and the new
life will develop itself in the Corps Legislatif.
| 1t will be necessity for the Prime Minister to
belong to that body. No House Of Lords, as
in England, staid, sober, interested; nc
Senate, fred with ambition and patriotism, as
| in the United States, will check the ardor Of
the young democracy of France. Still, what.
ever the result. no one can deny that French
men, if they can, have perfect right te
| govern themselves, and that the Emperor has
done we'll in yielding up to France what France
originally gave him. We await the action o
the Corps Legislatif on the SenGtus C07ssultun
and the Emperor's proclamation with som'
interest. The immediate future is big with
the fate Of Napoleon and of France.
uooHoo The Atlantic cable convevs th,