The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1871-12-09
The Policy of Vengeance.

Mr.. Theirs fsays the New YORK 1T3~
buae) has added another to the many
blunders of his administration. He
has steadily refused to take any steps
with the Commission of Pardons in
favor of the sentenced leaders OF the
Commune, and a few days ago Rossel,
Ferre and Others were shot to death
at the camp of Satory. As usual on
such brutal occasions, the nervousness
of the soldiers condemned to perform
so unsoldierly an act prevented the
yolley from doing its full work, and
the writhing victims had to be dis
patched with revolvers. All these hor-
rible details go to Paris to be read by
the hundred thousand friends Of these
gallant convicts who believe in them,
who think that they have done moth
ing wrong, and who will always hate
and abhor the government which has
taken their lives. 1t is useless to reply
that these men were criminals; that
they had rendered themselves liable
to the punishment they received that
it was not the government but the law
which killed them. There still remains
this vast difference between polit-
zeal and common crimes, that in the
one case the criminal classes them
selves are conscious of their fault, and
there are no masses of sympathizers
with them when they perish; while in
che other case there is no infallible
moral test, except that of success or
failure, which can determine the diff
ference between victors and vanquish-
ed. If the revolution of September
had failed, most of the gentlemen
composing the government of France
would have been as worthy of death
as the men whose blood now tinges
the sod at Satory.
But leaving out of view the question
of the right of the government of Vef-
sailles to try and to kill andato Danish
the men of the government OF Paris,
In regard to which there are two well
defined opinions, there can be no rea.
sonahle discussion as to the expedien-
cy of it. 1t is the cry ing fault of des-
potism that it poisons the perceptions
of those who live under its control.
When they revolt and emancipate
themselves it takes Il good while for
them to outgrow the bad habits of the
despotism they have thrown off. The
Republican governors of France seem
to find it impossible to proceed with
their enemies or opponents in any
other way than the Napoleonic. They
are like slaves who have just been
made overseers. They practice on the
backs of their brethren the lessons of
government they have learned from
their former masters. The COmmun-
lists were no better. They began their
official life by shooting Generals Le-
comte and Thomas. But all these
wrongs do not justify each other. Still
less do they prove themselves to be
prudent and expedient. The Empire
never fully recovered from the sullen
hates and angers that came from the
massacres and banishments of 1852.
No man who had relative or friend
shot down on the Boulevard Mont
martre, no family which had a mem
Der wearing his life away in the gal
leys, or on the pestilent shores of
Cayenne, ever forgave or forgot the
cruelty and violence in which the En-
pire rose. Fathers taught their sons
to hate it. Men of letters would not
permit it to be forgotten. The sever
est police measures could not keep
Kinglake's history of the coup d'etnt
out of France. In 1868, when Napol-
eonism seemed impregnably estab-
fished in power, it received a deadly
wound from Mr.. Tenot's book, which
was couched in language SO cold and
guarded that it could not deeently be
suppressed.
1t would seem to be impossible that
any one could have lived in France
without noticing these things. Yet,
Mr.. Theirs, who is a man of singular
intelligence and extensive experience,
goes on just the same as if the world
was new, and history had taught us
nothing. There was not Communist
slaughtered by his orders or his per-
mission in the streets of Paris but
weakened his moral authority and the
chance of perpetuity of his govern
ment. But especially unwise and
short-sighted has been the policy
which drags along this endless chain
of trials and condemnation. Enough
was certainly done for punishment
and example IN that pitiless butchery
which marked its track with blood
from the Arch of the Star to the GEM
etery of Pere-la- Chaise. All vengeance
should have been stated by that days
qualification. The moment order was
restored the thousands of unhappy
prisoners should have been turned
loose, to begin as soon as possible
their ordinary life and effaee as far al
they could the yestiges of the wa
and the rebellion. The bad impress
5 on produced by the condemnation O
Rochefort and the shooting of Rose
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