The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-05-09


additional?
The Internal Troubles OF Francc-Bismarck
on tho Warch-A Chance for the Resto-
ration OF tho Empire or Charlemagne.
No words of ours are needed to convince
the reading public that the condition of France
to-day is more pitiable than 1t has been at any
former period of her history. The intelligent
Frenchman In France is more convinced Of
this truth than any member Of the outside
world. If any nation ever lay PROSTATE
France lies PROSTATE. That she is full of fight
is no proof of strength. France is house
divided, and we have high authority for say
ing that q house divided cannot stand The
world looks on and wonders; but 1t pities as
much as 1t wonders, and there are many
simple people who, knowing nothing of history
and little of politics, see in the France of to-day
| only an enlarged example of a stupid, brawl-
ing, badly governed household. We are not
of those who see no principle in the Commune
and who can find for the members thereof no
bers. Nor are we of those who see good, and
nothing but good, in the Versailles Assembly.
Our belief is that there is principle on both
sdes for the Paris Communal fights for mu-
nicipal rights, and the Versailles Assembly,
with all its faults, fights for national unity; but
we cannot close our eyes to the fact that
Frenchmen, in their excessive love of indi-
vidual liberty, and in their too ready DISPOSE
ton to rest satisfied with the present and to be
Indifferent towards the future, have brought
on themselves all this trouble. A purely self
ish man is seldom good member of house,
hold, Of private circle of friends, of COM
munity. How can he be good citizen or a
patriot? Frenchmen, since the revolution Of
1889, have, as individuals, been growing
more and more selfish year by year; and
hence the weakness of France as q nation to-
day
Our latest news shows that Germany is i'm
patient of the disorders which affect her con-
quered neighbor. Bismarck has waited long,
and he has not been unkind. If France cannot
meet her Obligations it is no fault of his.
reasonably indulgent but his patience is
exhausted, and he says SO. In bis proclama-
ton to the people Of Paris-a proclamation
which will be found this morning in our tele-
graphic columns-M. Theirs says :-"The
Germans declare that they will mercilessly
once suppressed" We have little hope that
the Communists will yield. They are fighting
for municipal rights-fghting for them, we
think, at q wrong time and in wrong way,
but still fighting for them-and they are just
as willing TO have the Germans in Paris as the
troops of the Assembly. 1t is our belief that
the Commune would regard German occu-
patton of the capital city as more a relief than
defeat. Count Bismarck, as all our readers
know, advises a resort to the pls5iscite. In
the circumstances zSf6iscite could not be
regarded as unfair. If any faith is to be
placed in the French vote for the last twenty
years 1t seems not bad way of bringing out
the dominant national sentiment. If the advice
of Count Bismarck is complied with and the
plf6iscite resorted to, the question to which
France must answer eyes" or ''no" must
be submitted to the French people by the
government will put it is difficult to say. But
whatever be the question put to the people
we have no doubt at all as to the purport of
the "yeas" and ''nays." 1t is not to be denied
that for one time more the attempt to estab-
lish republic has failed. The French people
have not responded to the Paris Communists.
Out of the great cities the Commune is hated.
The rural population who, in the event of a
1,le6iscitc, will have the controlling vote,
detest the Commune. On the other hand,
there seems to be no chance for the royalists.
During all these anxious days and weeks and
growing months scarcely word has been said
in favor Of the Bourbons, older or younger.
The Count de Chambord is species of
Micawber the Count de Paris is a nobody;
the Due d'Aumale is bit of demagogue.
These three represent the cause of the Bour-
bons, and, notwithstanding the mention of the
King Of the Belgians and the King of Sweden,
both of them Frenchmen by descent, the
cause of the royalists. Our correspondents
In Paris and all over France give us the best
of reasons for believing that Frenchmen,
taken as q whole, are as Indifferent to
the royalists as they are opposed TO
the republic. Twenty years of the empire and
twenty years of much apparent prosperity
have made Frenchmen forgetful of Charles
the Tenth and Of Louis Philippe, and nine
months Of so-called self-government with accu-
mulatng disaster and intensifying sorrow, have
made them despair Of the republic. The plt-
5iscite cannot, will not establish the republic;
t will not restore the kingdom.
On the face Of things 1t is apparent that the
empire, with some member Of the family Of
Bonaparte at Its head, has the greatest chance.
The glitter Of, not the glory Of the empire, fills
the Frenchman's mind. The greatness of
France for three quarters Of q century has