The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-05-23
General yIncHInhcn and the Troops Of tho
Assembly In Paris-What Is 10 Foilows


ton that the Commune has at last practically
collapsed. 1t is possible that while we write
| Marshal MacMahon and his soldiers are in
| possession of the rebellious capital of France.
| II is now over three months since Paris sur
rendered to the German forces. II is conse-
quently more than three months since the
poor blockaded and starved inhabitants began
to believe that the enemy was gone. At the
time when Germany and England and America
were doing their best to alleviate the wants of
the furnishing thousands who had so stoutly
held out against the Prussian soldiers, little
did the Parisians believe that three months
additional sorrow was In store for them. The
presumption now is that relief has come to
Paris once more, and that France, after hav-
ing fought in vain against the foreign foe and
fought in vain against herself, has at last
found peace. The fall of the Commune makes
an end of the civil war.
Taking it for granted, then, that Marshal
are not now, in full possession of Paris, the
future of Paris and France becomes the
absorbing question. What will the Versailles
government do? In what shape and by what
means is France to settle down to peaceful
and submissive ways? France has been 80
much of puzzle to itself and to the world
generally since July of last year, not to go
further back, that the answering Of these
questions is confessedly difficult. To give a
direct and positive answer is asimple impossi-
bility. 1t is our belief, as we have said, that
the fall of the Commune makes an end of the
civil war. 1t consists with our certain know
ledge that Germany means thatit shall be so.
Still, it has to be admitted that the end Of the
civil war, happen when and how it may, will
leave France in q most unsettled as well as
most unhappy condition. government
which will represent the popular will, sat
stability will remain a desideratum The
first thing, Of course, which the Yer
saies government will have to do
will be to restore order in Paris.
Considering what has been done during the
two seges this will be hard and painful
task. 1t will be necessary to deal with the
men who created and who maintained the
trouble. 1t will be necessary to give liberty
to all those who have been unjustly impris-
oned 1t will be necessary to consider the
claims of loyal citizens and foreigners whose
property has been destroyed, and to do justice
to all. To say that this implies much work
and involves great difficulty and danger is but
to give expression to truism. Whether all
this shall be regarded as necessary prelim-
mary, or whether, except in certain immed-
ately pressing matters, it shall be postponed to
more convenient season, we know not. |
Certain, however, it is that oil these matters
must weigh heavily upon the government.
Certain, too, it is that in addition to all this
the Versailles government will have to set
about the reconstruction of France.
We have seen during these recent troubles
that France, taken as whole, has no united
purpose. Her wants are many; but her wants
reveal no points Of contact. A more democrat
lied nation and people never commanded
the attention of mankind. Since Poland,
through her confessed incapacity for self-gov- |
ernmeut courted invasion and fell prey to |
the rapacisy Of her neighbors, no such exam
pie as that Of France has been presented to
the world. Like the monster in the ancient |
fable, she has been eating up her vitals and |
if the onlookers do not hasten her destruc- |
ton it is not because they are without the
temptation. To save France from herself, to
give her new chance for her life-that is the
work now before NJ Theirs. Whether the
French are to remain a separate people or 10
- To- toJ 6 81 ~.
erfl neighbors is the alternative which to-day
commands the attention of many thoughtful
minds in and out Of France. Since 1889
every government in France has proved
failure. We can afford for the present to
touch lightly on the horrors of the Reign of
Terror and on the feebleness of the Directory.
The consulate and the empire were brilliant
but the consulate ruined French liberty and
the empire was a mockery of the great Revo-
luton. The empire fell, and France felt and
confessed what the outside world long had
known, that its glory was vain show. The
restoration was failure. The Citizen King
was failure. The republic of lS4S was
failure. The coup dftat restored the Bona
parties, revived French ambition, recalled or
seemed to recall the glory of the days of the
First Napoleon; but the collapse of the second
empire will be remembered as one of the
wonders of the historic past. The self-con-
stituted government Of September was a
failure. The government of NJ. Theirs has
been anything but success; and who can
tell to-day what France wants, who are to be
her next masters or what Is to be her final
fate? Tue glory is departed, and how the
glory Is in any sense to he revived is the mys-
terry Of the moment
Our readers have been made familiar with
the purposes aud plans Of the Commune. In
our edition Of yesterday we gave these, as
formulated by NJ de Girardin We do not