New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-27

pute inch by inch the encroaching tide o
democratic ideas, will cling to old abuses
and call to its aid all the conservative ele
ments within reach. Forgetting or ignor
ing for the time minor griefs, it will unit,
hereditary enemies in coalitions agains
the common enemy. But when it has
done all in its power, what is the result
A check, at most; not a victory-the seem
ing retreat of the waves at rising tide, as
they break upon the shore and fall back
only to return with greater force and more
encroaching sweep. Kings and cabinets
may enthrone themselves on the very out.
ward limits of their long established pre-.
negatives, and, like the foolish Dane, may
say to the ocean of democracy surging
around them, ''Thus far shalt thou come,
and no farther y but the steady waves
cease not their advance, and the throned
tyrant soon sees that he must recede be-
fore them or be overwhelmed. Look at
France now, and compare the situation
of her people with what it was before the
revolution. What ifthe form of monarchy
have been re-established, and wealthy,
nobly descended citoyens and citoyennes
has resumed the titles by which they
were known in ante-revolutionary days
Do those titles have the same significance
now? Do they invest their bearers with
the absolute rule over the peasantry which
appertained to them in the days of the
"Bien Aime ?" Far from it. Those DAYS
are gone forever, and no ''treaties, alli-
ances, coalitions or secret understand
ings" between kings or cabinets, or ruling
men, can ever bring them back. The love
of show, and glitter, and pomp, which
forms so conspicuous trait in French
character, may again, as heretofore, call
for the establishment of throne Though
it is highly improbable); but the man
elected to sit upon it will only be the
servant of the French people; his royal
trappings the livery of his Office.
In England, also, the steady advance
of political reform in the direction of true
liberty is the lesson of her history for
the past three hundred years. To be sure
this work, in her case, has been accom-
plished not so much by noisy agitation
as by the incessant attrition of liberal
ideas. In the case Of her policy toward
her step-sister, Ireland, there is little
doubt, however, that good has been done
by the importunate agitation of her
wrongs and her rights. Fenian risings
may have been put down and Fenian
leaders punished, but still fenianism has
the condition of Ireland.
F Look, too, at Italy-for so long time
divided into insignificant and contending
States-now nation. What has accom-
olished this change but agitation, polit-
cal agitation? But it is chiefly in our
own country that the advantages of rad
cal agitation in bringing about stu
9endous political changes have been man
tested. Here, to be sure, opinion has
always been nominally free, and there
nave been no royal dynasties to exert
oppressive power. But there has been a
trong conservative class, who have |
leemed IAN adhesion to established order |
IS the best or sole guarantee" of the |
afety of the country; who retained |
or years the control of the government,
nd excluded from one section of the |
ountry the introduction of all sources of |
inimical to their own political
Jews. And yet, by means of incessant
'olitical agitation, leading ultimately to
var, there has been produced revolu-
ion as great as that of a change from a
to republican form of gov
In fact, no changes of moment can (as a
eneral rule) take place without previous
citation. The people must be gradually
-rought up to the necessary state of en-
1usiam before they can assume that tone
hich rulers are bound to listen to. The
nglish people are slow to move; they
ould, as nation, far rather bear the ills
hey have than fly to others that they
now not of, as long as those ills are at
Il bearable; but once thoroughly reused,
will require more king-craft than can be
lsily furnished to put them down, or
i'm them from their purpose; and, not
outstanding the notifications for the
etter which their government has been
radually undergoing, the people have
ill, in the aristocratic system, griev-
ice of which they are becoming daily
ore and more sensible, That this griev-
ice will be easy of removal, nobody can
retend to say; neither that its removal
impossible. One thing, however, is
'rtain. No modification of it, in the
ay of reform, can possibly take place
ithout prolonged and persistent previous
olitical agitation.