The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-04-17
Franco In Adversity-Thc Cemmunlsts mud
tho RrCudaurs.

Il
That the present condition Of France Is
gloomy and sad is but too evident to the world.
AT the same time it is rather premature to
write her epitaph. He Is but an Indifferent
physician who will not consider the diathesis
| OF his patient before he makes his prognosis.
The one having any just claim to be disciple
| of Hypocrates or Galen will be sure to inquire
whether the patient has suffered from similar
attacks on former occasions, and If SO, whether
he has not enjoyed intervals of pretty good
health. If this is found to be the case favor
able issue may be expected, although there may
be very bad train of symptoms, including
high fever, which, when 1t approaches Its
climax, may impel the unhappy sufferer to
knock down even those who patiently and
| lovingly administer to his wants.
| Let this test be applied to France and what
| shall we SEQ Is her condition anything more
! deplorable now than 1t has been at different
periods of her history? And those who un-
dertake to answer this question intelligently
will find that at no time has France made
more rapid strides in the great race of civiliza-
ton than after one of those politico-moral
commissions during which her case seemed
most hopeless. This we shall illustrate pre-
sently. In the meantime it should be borne in
mind that, although such vicissitudcs and con-
| trasts have been more common in France than
| anywhere else, they have by no means been
| confined to that country. Every great nation
| has felt them to greater or less extent.
| When Hannibal had maintained his invading
army for nineteen years in the heart of Italy
having reduced her rich aud smiling valleys
| almost to desert and defeated again and
again the chosen legions of Rome, commanded
| by their best generals-the former rivals Of
the republic who had been made to feel the
strength Of her arm exnlted in what they re-
garded as her fall Yet It was the invader
fell first, and in her fall she left Rome the I'M
disputed mistress of the world. Nor do we
mention this merely as an example of the
| vicissitudes Of nations; 1t affords us q
much more instructive lesson from its direct
bearing on our present subject, for 1t was
the ancestors of those very people who are
now committing such lamentable excesses
that enabled Hannibal to set the armies of
Rome at defiance on their own soil for so long
| period. This Is no Gallo fable, but fact
fully authenticated by classic history. Livy
tells us it was in vain that the Romans sent
ambassadors to the Transapine Gauls for aid
against the Carthaginians until the former had
given full satisfaction for some former bad
treatment; the same historian admits that as
soon as the Gauls did take the Roman side the
invaders had soon to make a precipitate re-
treat. Still more emphatic is the testimony of
Sallust as to the wonderful vigor, ferceness
and impctuosity of the Gauls. That eloquent
historian closes his Jugurthine war with the
| greatest tribute 10 them ever paid by any
nation to the valor of its enemy He shows
how all the other foes of the Romans had been
subdued in turn, but that those terrible Celts
| made all Italy tremble. He admits that to
conquer them was utterly out of the question.
fought not with any hope of subduing them,
but for selfpreservation. SCUM Calls pro
salute non pro gloria csrtari."
As to the Gauls and Germans, they have
been at war with each other at intervals more
or less long from the very dawn Of history.
Caesar, the most impartial of historians, in
forms us that one time the Gauls crossed the
Rhine and overran Germany; another time
the Germans crossed the same river and over
ran Gaul. He says that In his time the Gauls
had somewhat degcnerated on account Of their
closer familiarity with the luxurious habits Of
the Greeks and Romans but at the same time
he gives them the palm, not only Of having
been the most formidable enemies he had any
where encountered, but also the most advanced
In civilization Of all the barbarian nations.
That they have retained these relative char
acieristics to the present day-only modified
by the progress of modern civilization-no
thoughtful observer will deny. But before
we pronounce on the destiny of France, from
her recent war with Germany and her present
still more unfortunate civil strife, let us remem-
Der that it is not 80 very long since Germany
was quite as much humbled by France as
was great nation more PROSTATE than was
the latter in 1906, although only seven years
had elapsed since the Germans were victorious
in battle after battle on French soil. Now the
scale is turned again, aud Frederick William
III. and bis royal and imperial allies avail. in
mute fear the arrival of the French at Berlin
''as Rome's proud Senate once waited for the
Gauls, their ancestors. The battles of jena,
Auerstadt, Eylau, Pultusk aud Friedland and
the capture Of Breslau, Dantzig, Konigsberg
and MaQdeburR made all Germany COVER.
Prince Hohenlohe and Marshal Butcher We'd
with each other in their hurry to surrender to
the French and obtain the best terms they
could, while the King is reduced to the humi-
liation Of applying to England for the means
of subsistence for himself and his family.