Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-04-11
TUESDAY. APRIL II, 1871,


An int .ligent observer in Paris, giving an ac
count of the red insurgents in that city, says
The events Of these four days have sent up
the stock of the second empire to higher figure
than it has reached for ten years." This is the
saddest commentary on the present condition Of
France that can be written. Dreary and hope
less indcedSmust be the situation of affairs IN
thateountry when quiet, tbOuohtful people can
see no better refuge from anarchy and rum IMAM
the despotism of Louis Napoleon. Are the
French people really incapable OF any oettor
political organization than this2 It's maniiestly
impossible for them to organize republican
government while the red anarchists and as
sassins, utterly incapable of making a decent
use of Ii erty, are sufficiently numerous 10
create such DEVILS carnival as that which now
engages the worlds attention. 1t is plain that
these luuatic troublers of France cali not be
governed TOO much. Ernest Renan describes
the "reds" as an "irreconcilabe party"
which makes republic impossible, will not al
low constitutional monarchy, and refuses
to accept any existing government" These
wrctches, represented by Marat Robcspierre
Rochefort, FlOurens and the rest, have wrecked
every attempt to establish republic in France
and made military despotism necessary to order.
Heretofore, they hav. not been well understood,
in this country. They have been. praised and
gloified as prosecuted patriots, when they
should have been denounced as the worst enc
mics of liberty. The wicked absurdity of
praising them is not likely to be repeated.
We notice in one OF our exchanges a curious
article on the troubles in Paris, IN which the re-
sponsibiity for them is charged to Louis Napo-
leon. He has so many sins of his own to an
swer for that it is cruel to denounce him for the
crimes of these red anarchists, and the world
can derive no benefit from any attempt to make
the demons who turn Paris into pandemou-
UNI, seem different from what they are. The
article to which we refer, represents that the
anarchy in Paris is due to the ''immoral pro-
cedures of the empire" especially to its police
OF rebuilding PmiS, which brought to that city
multitude Ct working men from the provinces.
This influx of provincial working men, says the
writer, has debauched the polite, re-
fined, well behaved curriers' of the
capital, made them rude and unmanner-
ly and transformed them into demons.
Ii this were true, it would be one of the :rost
remarkable facts in the history of civilization.
But TO hear it stated, stirs one to laughter. The
foul creatures who have always composed the
bloody mobs of Paris, it seems, were pure
minded, innocent beings-refned gentlemen
until they were corrupted by the second EN-
pirc! And all the original demons in Paris
came there from the rural districtsl They were
brought TO the city by Louis Napoleon; and now
we see the result. 1t is not easy to see how O
sensible man can allow himself to write such
stuff He should read again some honest his
tory OF the i-st French revolution and its rel IN
of terror.
Doubtless, the present trouble in Paris has
been unnecessarily allowed to grow to its pres
ent importance Prompt and decisive measures
might have crushed this red conspiracy at the
outset. In dealing with it, Theirs has acted
more like an old woman than great states
man. He hesitated, parleyed, talked compro.
mise, and spoke to the red villains with exces-
sive sweetness, when his measures should have
been quick, stern and ercless. His sweetness
and hesitation did more than anything else to
make the troops at his command doubtful and
untrustworthy. 1t was one of those cases where
promptness and decision are essential TO success.
Bismarck would have strangled the conspiracy
before much was known of it outside of Paris,
and dealt with the conspirators in a way to
make them harmless. Theirs was not equal to
the occasion. He may be skilled IN the arts of
intrigue, and able in a discussion of general
politics; but, he has failed to deal properly with
these Paris insurgents. They will probably be
suppressed, because they have not the means to
succeed, and because action against them will
be influenced by men who understand the neces-
sity OF being something more than sweet and
compromising.