Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-12-20

! towards France, whose destiny is TO be-
come, by turns, the terror, the byword and
! the admiration Of nations. The situation
! of affairs is just now in the highest degree
difficult and dangerous. There is an open
| struggle between the Assembly and the
! Executive; and in the purely provisional
! status Of the Government there ls no tri-
: bunal, no arbitcr by which the difference
; can be peaceahly arranged. To add TO the
present perrleNites, the legal power seems
I to be vested in an Assembly which noto-
ricuslv miSrep: escnts the views OF the
majority of the nation, Of which tlie Pres
! ident Is probably the Incat faithful expo
nent. In this dilemma what is Monsieur
Theirs 10 do? If he yields or withdraws,
the Assembly composed principally Of
Monarchis;s, will atteInp. 10 effect the rcs-
tcrat!on Of the Bouvbons or the Orleans,
and this attempt will be the signal Of a
most terrible and bloody civil war and Of
PrtlssIan Ieoccupation. On tie other
hand, il Thiers resists, lie must put an end
to the existing deadlock by dissolving or
dispensing the Assembly, and ordering new
elections. There is no doubt that the dis
solution Of the Assembly, and new elections
are ardently desired by the great bulk Of
the nation, provided it can lie accomplished
peacefully. But 10 Constitution exists,
and the entire government is purely prOvis-
ional there is no lSw giving to Monsieur
Thiers the power to dissolve The Assembly
he cannot do it without - Coup d'Etat,"
aud France has already had more than
enough Of these Violent nOStIums.
Even If lie were to attempt one in order -
save the republic, lie must use force, and
who can tell, in tic present situation,
whether the army would support him or
the Assembly, for some of the generals i'll
commaud are believed TO Ire hostile to the
government? Ga the other hand, the
monarchiss, elected a period e fearful
peril and for the sole purpose of making
peace with Prussia, cling with tenacity to
the power which they possess, and it is not
to b. expected that they viii vote their
own dissolution.
This dangerous crisis is du" To tie
sclisEness OF political parties and ot those
wretcbedly contemptible rTetenders 10 the
throne, whose total extinction from the
face Of The earth is one Ct the greatest
! blessings thai France could crave Of
Heaven. a sad experience has proved to
us, though we have no throne as an apple
OF discord, that political parties are too
often ready to sacrifice aud destroy their
country to crafty their selfish ambition.
! The monarchiSts, well knowing that they
misrepresent the general sentiment Of the
country, well aware that new elections
would hurl them forever from power, are
! ready to plunge their country into all the
horrors of civil war and foreign invasion, in
| order to promote the interest of their
favorites. The LegitmiSts dream Of re-
storing the BOurbons. the white flag and
the lilies, with all the expressions, intoler-
ance and bigotry of feudal times, but their
only adherents are TO be found in the
clerical party who, since the days of
the St. Bartholomew and tie reVOca-
ton of the Edict Of Nautes. have always
been the supporters Of tyranny and perse-
c,ltion. Had they the power as they have
the will, there would exist il Europe
neither liberty CT speech, nor of the press,
ror of worship, and the Holy Inquisitlcn
would once more reign supreme.
The Orleanists, whose leaders are Ctau-
GARNER and the Orleans Princes, represent
constitutional monarchy and make pa
rlde OF liberal opinions; bat France has not
forgotten the selfish use they made Of pow
g. Iof
, days of Louis Philippe, Who refused to
draw the sword to vinGicata the national
honor. but was willing to IlunEa The coun-
try int war 10 establish hi< son rpon the
steps q the Spanish throne And as if any
thing were wanted to prove the egOtism of
these rretende-s, those Orleans Princes,
the wealthie5t in Europe worth to-day
70 hundred millions Of francs. are urging
with all the Gag 9rnes3 o. aratic3 the
restitution Of forty millions more which
f., they assert were Illegally seized by the Re-
public Of 1S4S; this at a time when Frauce,
bleeding at every pore, still owes Prussia
two thousand millions Of indemnity.
Finally, the cable informs us that there
is e,elt activity at ChiscihuiSt-that dis
patches ale continually passi0. between
Napoleon aud Bismarck aud tie prominent
Bouapaltists in France. The eX.emperor,
it is said, looks anXiously for the breaking
ont of a civil war, hoping that Prussia will
interfere and restore his dynasty by the
power of her bayoncts. Doubtless he
would be willing 10 repay her services with
another province town from bleeding and
mutated France.
1t is possible that this crisis may pass oil
peacefully. All that is needed TO consoli-
date the Republi, is time. But this is tie
very cause of the crisis. Everything was
going on mos, prcsperOUsly and hopefully
since the success of the great loan and the
monarchists perceived that the Republic
was daily making progress in :he confidence
and affections Of the eople. If this wtra
allowed to go on much longer, their cause
would he irretrievably lost. Hence this
sudden deadlock. Rule OF ruin is their
device, but it Is TO be hoped that nOtwith-
standing the political ignorance and mex
perience Of the French people, they win
have enough common sense TO see through
all these selfish manOuvres, and to show
those obliging pretenders that the nation is
quite able to live and take care OF itself
without their help.
Another Survivor from the Missouri.
Richard Smith, another survivor OF the
burned steamer Missouri, has arrived at