The Portland daily press., 1871-02-01

We believe that the European dispatches
for the last fe'' days have occasoned several
msapprehensions. There is nothing coming
from any authentic source which shows that
the war is at an end, that the Bonaparte fami.
ly will be restored or what terms of peace
Prussia will demand. What appears from Of
fetal dispatches is that an armistce for three
weeks from last Saturday has been agreed up
on, that National Assembly is to be elected
on the sth of February and is to meet at Bor-
deaux on the 18th Of the same month. That
assembly will decide upon some form of gov
eminent, and when the government has been
duly clothed with power, then. and not till
then, can Prussia and France negotiate as to
the terms of peace.
By this armistice the present Republican
government virtually abdica:es, and submits
to the people the question of confirming the
powers that it assumed under the pressure of
great emergency, or setting it aside in favor
OF some form OF monarchy. Great interest
will now attach to the election of members of
the Assembly. Prussia probably sympathizes
with the Bonapartes, but its primary purpose
seems to be TO secure the establishment OF
some legitimate and duly authorized power
with which il can negotiate peace or, if the
other alternative is decided upon, with which
it can fight. The Germans are tired of fight
ing phantom, that has the power of dispers
ing itself over the whole country,-that is
row with Favre in Paris, now leaves that city
with Gambetta in balloon and goes with
him from one end Of France TO the other.
Undoubtedly there will be a vast amount of
eectioneerng done by the partisans of the
different aspirants for the throne in the few
days that are to elapse before the election
At Wilhelmshohe, at Chisehurst and at Gen.
eva, there will be great activity. Napoleon
Ill. will dream ofthe purple once more, while
his wife and child, now exiles in England,
will anticipate triumphant return to the
Tuiieries. At Geneva are Prince Napoleon,
cousin of the ex-Emperor and the ablest liv-
ing member of the Bonaparte family, some OF
the Orleans family and the Count de Cham
bord, fancifully styled Henry Fourth, being
the Bourbon pretender to the throne. are con
gregated. The Bourbon can hardly have a
ration al hope that he will ever be called to
sit on the throne Of Louis XIV, from which
so many of his ancestors have been driven by
the hatred of the French people. But Prince
Napoleon may more reasonably hope to profit
by the reorganization of the government
lie is one of the most liberal of European
statesmen, and if the government decided
upon by the delegates to the Assembly should
even be democratic, he would no doubt be
prominent candidate for the Chief Magistra-
cy, unless he chooses to share the exile of his
cousin. The Orleans family is quite popular,
too, and il the people decide in favor of
to regain the throne from which his grand
father Louis Philippe fled twenty-three years
ago. He served on McClellan's staff during
the peninsula campaign, and is good deal
better man, morally and intellectually, than
the common run Of princes.
In the United States the wish will be uni
versal that the property of the Republic may
he secured by the action OF the delegates
The hope is desperate one under the cir.
cumstances. Besides the multitude of scions
of royalty who are out of business and whose
adverse interests will be actively at work, the
Republic has also to contend with the opposi-
ton arising from its unsuccessful resistance to
the Prussians To be sure the Empire left
France in ruins, but too many will thought
lessly ascribe the misfortunes of the country
to those who have nursed it in its last sick.
ness.