New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-06-04
WHAT AFTER THE COMMUNE 2

eminent by an armed resistance to thei
= authority. Paris is in the hands of Thier
7 and the party of which he is the chief ant
leader. With the carnage and slaughte
7 which has characterized the success o
the Versaillists and their soldiers unde
Mcmahon, himself a defeated marshal, i!
. the victory complete? While in the out
set of the communist movement there
was much sympathy felt for the people II
their endeavors to introduce certain fun,
damental reforms in the new government
of their country, that feeling was changed
as they attempted a revolution by force,
in order to carry their measures into
operation. Had they resorted to peaceful
means through the channels of negotia-
ton and legislation they would not have
utterly failed, as they now have done, in
their undertaking. The vanity, selfish
ness and ambition of the leaders of the
commune" have involved it in ruin and
destruction, and the poor, misguided fol-
lowers are the sufferers. With the dying
throes of the commune comes up the
question: What will be the issue of the
contest Though the revolt may be
considered crushed by the superior power
against it, is not the blood which has been
split in the late dreadful carnage, like the
sowing of dragons teeth? Thousands of
prisoners are in the hands of the YER
saillists. Will the scenes of 1889 and
1894 be re-enacted, and will there be
another bloody holocaust in the name of
liberty? God forbid. Paris is indeed
humbled and her people will be shorn of
all power which they have heretofore pos
sessed. Time was when Paris was France,
and as that city dictated the provinces
obeyed. The rule of the red republicans
is ending amid carnival of horror too
shocking to contemplate. If men, women
and children are being massacred in the
most indiscriminate manner, as we are in
formed, is not this an injustice which will
leave behind it legacy of an undying
strife? ''The blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church" will prove as true in
this instance of the wholesale slaughter of
the fanatical communists as it has in re-
spect to other bloody prosecutions in the
past Though it may be terribly unfor-
tunate for France that men should have
perpetrated such crimes as the commune
has done, yet is that an excuse for the ap-
plication of the lea tdlionis by the YER |
saillists? By giving these communists
the claim to martyrdom it has lent Vi
tality to their principles, however
false and absurd they may be, of
which their crimes had effectually de-
prived them. Forty thousand prisoners
to be-tried by the courts for the alleged
crime of resistance to authority, and
whether condemned to death or exiled,
will entail curse upon the government
that enforces either penalty which must
sooner or later work it's destruction.
Clemency instead of vengeance should be
the marked feature in the administration
of Theirs and his ministry, toward the
poor, misguided rebels composing the
commune. 1t must be admitted that it
had strong hold upon the masses, or it
would have been more easily subdued.
Leaders and followers alike were terri
bly,, fanatically in earnest, or they never
could have been carried to excuses so
wild as those which have conferred on
them a splendid infamy. Despite the
present fearful chastisement, Belleville
md Montmartre will be cowed, not tanned. |
Their rage was like that of wild beasts,
md their punishment has correspondent
With it. After what remains of them has
etired, sullen and watchful for a new
opportunity to spring, Paris may be at
,eaee; but it will be the kind of tran
utility which can not dispense with the
heller of the bayonet, and amid which
freedom can not grow, because
n the last resort the standing army is
upreme.
The most destructive weakness of ]
rance is the number of hostile !
actions into which her population t
J split, each clamoring against the |
ther with hatred so bitter and intense $
yhich only blood seems to assuage. In G
he late war with Germany the energy of t
be French nation was divided against e
self. The country wanted common T
ope, a united faith, solidarity of prin- &
iple to champion it in the struggle. f
Until these miserable feuds are terni- r
ated, there is little hope for France. a
erhaps the feeling of hatred toward S
russia, because of the humiliation of the t
rench nation, may help to bring the t
lction prejudices to an end, and solidify b
ne feelings and views of the people to b
ommon purpose of the maintaining r
overnment which will be strong and u
This will not be done unless n
lstice and amnesty shall control the b
ction of the new government, whatever O
lat may be. t
Cruelty and revenge will not heal the t
'ounds which have been made by the p
errible scenes which have TRANSFERRED in a
aris during the past month. President P
HERS, in dealing with the late insur- n
ents, should recommend the course a
'hich we adopted toward our erring s.
rethren IN dealing with Southern seces- y
-, ~