New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-21
THE REPUBLIC FOR FRANCE.

THE REPUBLIC FOR FRANCE.
Mr.. Emile de Girardin, the first controversial
list in French journalism. has just published
remarkable article in regard to the Republic
in France, which gives encouragement to the
hopes we have expressed in THE TRIBUNE III
relation to the prospect of the permancnce OF
liberal government in that afflicted country.
Some native critic had written him letter,
containing the hackneycd arguments against
the republican form which we have all heard
to safety, and which Mr.. de Girardn condenses
into that nervous phrase 40 often used by
Marshal Prim against CASTELAR,: How can
"you have Republic without Republicans y
1t is one of those smart epigrams that
seem very conclusive to the unthinklng, but
little examination shows 1t to be founded Oh
erroneous statement and inaccurate logic
There are Republicans enough In france, as
there were in Spain, to carry on the Govern
ment well enough and to draw the majority
after them, as the actual administration usu-
ally does in those countries, There IS no more
difficulty in overcoming the prejudlceS OF the
monarchical factions against the republic than
in recOncilng those they barbor against each
other There are really fewer difficulties in
the way of the establishment of a permanent
liberal government than are to be found i'll the
path Of any attempt at dynastic restoration.
Mr.. Grardin thinks that the very fact OF
the destruction of the Commune and the an
initiation of its members, instead of being
taken as an argument against the Republic,
only shows how much more feasible 1t now
is than ever before. The Republic thus ceases
to be revolutionary and becomes the rallylng
cry of the party of order. Vhe unwholeSome
following of thieves, malefactors, and
warrants of all species which formerly
trooped in the shadow of the Re-
publican flag has been dispersed and
overpowered by the triumph of the tricolor,
and becomes hencefOrth weak and covering
branch of OppOstion-tO be watched and
managed by the ordinary police; they are the
omen foes, no longer the false friends of order,
and are as dangerous to the Monarchy as they
are to the Republic. The latter form of gov
eminent, freed from all the dead weight of
revolutionary violence which incumbered it,
now presents itself as the necessary and
logical expression and consequence of the prin-
ciple Of universal suffrage.
Z To carry on the mechanism of government
properly, men of a certain ability and infor-
nation are necessary. 1t is absurd to say
these cannot as well be obtained by election
as by primogeniture and it is certainly easier
to correct all errors of election by subsequent
votes than to get rid of vicious or incompe-
tent king by revolution or natural decay. If
you do not like Mr.. Theirs or Mr. Favre, or
whomever you elect President, you may change
him when his term il out, but Louis XIV.
lasted sixty-fOur years. There is no reason why
the maintenance of order should be a more ardu-
Gus task for Mr.. Theirs in the Presidency than
for the same gentleman when President of
the Council of Ministers in 1910. Certain it
il, that even with the present imperfect
organization of the Republican Government,
France has stood by the Administration in its
battle with revolted and triumphant Paris,
and has restored the national authority to
full acceptance in the capital. in spite of
prolonged and sanguinary resistance. The
dethronement of q king and the destruction
of dynasty which followed the emeutes
of 1880 and 1S4S form a most striking
commentary on the vulgar error that
a monarchical government has any essential
element of perpetuity. If after the astound-
ing exhibition of strength and fOrtitude which
was made in our great civil war, the world
needed any further proof of the power inner
ent in a true democracy, such proof might be
furnished in the recent success of the Pro-
visional Government against a revolt far more
serious and imposing than either of those
which drove Charles Y. and Louis Philippe in
one days uproar from power to lifelong exile.
People may declaim about the difficulty the
head of The Republican Government will have
in forming Cabinet of capable men of his
own views, out of the limited material at his
disposition. But the suggestion shows a spirit
fettered by the meanest bonds of tradition.
1t is not absolutely necessary that Cab
met should be formed either from
politicians of the gutter or from
the ancient hacks of party. There are enough
honest men in France within reach of Mr..
Theirs TO form better and stronger admins
tration than the country has known in recent
years. And in any case, as Mr.. de Girardin
causticallY remarks, the Republic could be
"better administered without Republicans
ethan the Monarchy with the ROyalsts."
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