The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-28
The Paris Riots.

q GOUDltA u1ONSl1ChGs II
and the fools who follow, must have some
device inscribed upon their banner, which
shall give an air of responsibility and a SEM
blance of rightto the sudden tumult. Thus,
in the great riot of New York, when the
roughs were plundering the man in broad
cloth, and the day laborers were numbering
the man in black, a higher order were ma
king speeches against the unconstitutional
draft, and were in revolt against the man in
blue. These three tributaries fed the, swell
ing and resistless tide of popular violence
which swept through the streets OF the great
metropolis.
In the Paris revolt, also, three distinct
classes may be enumerated. There is, in
the first place, the political Partisan, the
man against whom the provincial Mirabeau
Numbered of old-the man who, ignoring
the various nations enclosed within the
boundaries of the French Empire, regards
| the capital as France itself, and, as Thierry
bitterly says, s'knows no rights but the rig hts
declared at Paris, no liberties but the lib
sserties sanctioned at Paris, no laws but the
claws made in Paris" He looks with SOW
ereign contempt upon an Assembly consist
ing of q majority of provincials, convened
at Versailles away from the local influence
or armed interference Of Paris, and consti-
tuting the power of a government over
which NJ. Theirs, himself a provincial, pre-
sides. These malcontents demand that the
Assembly shall come to Paris, andthat Paris,
whether as a municipality or q fortress, shall
be independent of the national control.
Their demands remind one of that familiar
song: ssWlll you come into my parior, said
s'the spider to the fly" M. Theirs is, in
deed, too old O politician and too good a
historian to be caught in such q trap. But
be Is too narrow a statesman to recognize a
real right which is embraced in the Partisan
pretensions-the right Of municipal self
government. At this point he refuses to
make q compromise, and just here NJ. THEIRS
is in the wrong.
A second class consists OF the Partisan
%workingmen. They are seeking for what
they. call s.Liberty, Fraternity and Equality"
impressive names under which an active
hostility to civilization, and the widest and
most incendiary schemes OF social change,
are concealed. During the Revolution OF
'4s, this class for q lime received daily pay
from the government, through the hands OF
NJ. Louis Blanc, their literary patron, until
at length the burden of their eXactions be-
came so crushing that it had to be thrown
of by o counter revolution. These work
men now constitute the bulk OF the twenty
five battalions of the National Guard. The
Commune is pledged to give them about 30
cents Il day per man, and about SO cents a
day per officer, in time OF peace, and at the
rate of pay of their rank in the army during
active service. How much that is we have
no means of knowing. Probably the bank
ers OF Paris know but too we'll. The ''Ouv-
%'.riers,'' or shall we say .cormorants, are
living upon the pubic, and are lighting for
the overthrow of social order, and for u COM
munity Of goods, and, probably, also OF
wives.
But there is a deeper deep. The dens Of
thieves and r%ultians, found in every great
city, havc discharged their occupants. They
are philosophers, who, surprising Boudhon.
have inverted his famous maxim, "Proper-
sty is lheit;'' to them, ''theft is capital"
Accordingly, they have pillaged individuals,
private houses and churches, and perverted
to their profane uses the sacred vessels aud
vestments Of religion. And, towards and
murderers as well as thieves, they have as
sassinated unarmed generals, torn to pieces
defenceless women, overborne and drown
ed solitary policemen, and cast helpless
priests into prison, or scourged them ut the
altar.
With all our sympathy for Paris, We are
almost sorry that the great city did not per-
ISL, like Moscow, q sacrifice for the Empire
oil which she was the sacred city. Better that
she should ave'been consumed by German
lire, than that she should be, as she is now,
overrun aud devoured by native vermin.
y leading journal OF New York predicts that
the Communists will overthrow the Yer
sailles Government, and ere long threaten
the peace of Europe and the world. For
our part, We confess that some signs OF the
times point in that direction. The tendency
is to turn over The conduct of public affairs
to the ignorant aud vicious. II is the policy
of the Back Reput,l,cnnlsm of America, as
we'll as of the Red Repub!icunism OF France.
1t is the policy of the Washington Congress
as well as of the Paris Commune. But we
do not believe it Can succeed, just because
we do believe in Providence. Should The
worst come-the earth is combustible, anu
there are Iighlnings in the sky!
Taxativn on Railroads..
nl:- -...,:~ 700 h,f,r, to TIpital Slotns