The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-19
''THE PATH OF THE POSSIBLE" FOR
FRANCE.
From the N. Y. Times.

In 1869 the Emperor Napoleon III had pre-
sented to him the alternatives of liberalizing
his Government or foreign war. Failing to
try either course, the downfall of his dynasty
by revolution was certain. He chose to tenn
porize for year, giving the people the SEM
blance of liberal reforms, until he found that
the morsel only made their hunger greater
and angrier; and then, as his devices became
more and more transparent, he took the fatal
step, and plunged into war. While he was
yet hesitating, and before the effect of the
elections of May and June, 1869, on the i'm
perial policy was apparent, M. Renan, one of
the most accurate historians and one of the
most acute and courageous thinkers of France,
published in the Regue deS Deur Mondes
paper entitled constitutional Monarchy in
France" 1t was a philosophic analysis of
the cause of events since the revolution of
80, and an eloquent plea to the Emperor to
abandon personal government and establish
the firm guarantees of constitutional mo-
narchy. There is in this article, which was
reprinted in pamphlet form and widely read,
much that bears on the recent past, the pre-
sent, and the future of France.
M. Renan traced the ills that have afflicted
France, the instability of her Government,
the superficial and often deceptive character
of her institutions, the terrible possibility of
bloody anarchy forever overhanging her
course, and the decay in her of the elements
of great nation, to vital error born in the
days of the great revolution, and inherited
by two generations since France "believed," f"
said NJ Renan, ''that liberty may be esta-
blished by the sovereignty of the people and
in the name of central authority, whereas
liberty is obtained by small local con-
quests, one after another, by gentle re-
FORMS" The First Empire was the logical
consequence of the immense importance
ofta hoI hxyE oh 10 he
ernment. "The State established in the
French way is too strong; far from guaran-
teeng all liberties, it absorbs all liberties; its
form is either the convention or despotism.
The restored Bourbons fell before the first
active revival of the revolutionary idea,
which demanded liberty of the Central Gov
ernment. The House of Orleans was under
mined by the same restless craving. The
Republic failed at the same point, and the
Empire succeeded only because it met the
hunger for universal liberty, distributed from
Paris by the splendid illusion of universal
suffrage. In 1869, however, the Empire
found itself face to face with the old pro-
blem. ''The Empire was despotism sur
rounded by tictions; the representative fic-
tions slew the despotism. At this point
Napoleon postponed his answer to the fatal
questions the country proposed, and turned
to war.
1t is easy to trace through the late convul.
sions the working of the idea which NJ Re-
nan follows from '89, and which he styles
''the eternal French error of a distributive
justice, for which the State holds the bal
ance." The patience of the country under
the astounding usurpation of the Favre-Gam
| beta Republic" the readiness with whioh il
allows the Assembly, elected to make peace
| to contemplate the making of Constitution
| the frenzied effort of the Commune to snatch
| by violence in Paris the power to impose
| on France its wild ideas-all are symptoms
| of the operation of that insane over-esti-
mate of the central authority. But these
symptoms were accompanied by othel
and healthier ones. The provinces-whIch
in May and June, 1862 first gave the EN-
peror preliminary notice of their growing in
dependence-have slain the Commune they
have fought with Paris and are victorious
And the sentiment which sustains Theirs
however temporary it may prove, however
surely it may yield under the discomfort which
the impossibility of guaranteeing liberty from
either Paris or Versailles will occasion, il
now very obviously the imperious desire fo
order, whatever becomes of liberty. Here
then, in this momentary suspense of the
passion for ''liberty through the sove
reignty Of the people, is an opportunity
to begin those measures, possible alike t
republic or monarchy, which NJ. RenaI
urged on the Emperor, and which mus
form the first step in the progress of tn
French people toward freedom not granted
but earned and possessed. Among those emu
merated by Ri. Renan are Decentralization
diminution of government, strong organiza
tion of the commune, the canton, the de
partment; the development of good primar
instruction, and Of superior instruction capa
ble of giving to the morals of the educate
class the basis of a solid philosophy; tn
formation of an Upper Chamber providin
varied modes of election, and realizing, b