The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1873-06-12
French Republicanism.


have shown results singularly tavo
able for republicanlsm. The workin
classes have gono almost In bod
to tho polls, and have given thei
suffrages for equality and freedom
Notwithstanding all the efforts q
the monarchists, the priests and u
tramontanes, they were able to infiu
f1poe scarcely one-tenth part Of th
whole vote Of the city Of Paris. Th,
only contest A. the election lay be
Itween the maderate republican,, rer
resented by rresident Tsiers, an,
the radical party, led by Gambetta
The latter triumphed by very con
siderable majority. 1t seems to hav,
been almost equally successful in tn,
provinces, and we may safely assum,
that for the future France will take
its place among the progressive ma
tions, and that neither the intrigues
OF royalists or lmperialists nor the
disastrous influence of the papal pol
itlcians will be able to turn the
French peoplc.from their resolution
to reform and perfect their new re.
public. Gambetta, 1t is stated, is an
ardent advocate of education, of the
cultivation and industry, and the pu.
rification of the national morals. We
may trust that he is also the friend OF
peace. He is said to be man OF
simple habits and of extreme homes
ty; and if he aud his followers are
able to lead on their fellow.country.
men into the new path Of simple re.
publicanism-lt they can achieve that
victory over themselves which so few
French reformers have ever vet at.
tanned, and resist, like Washington
or Jefferson, the temptations and
the opportunities of power-they
may confer on France such signal
benefits as patriots SO delight 60 be-
stow.
What France most wants is some
bold and honest intellect, to tell its
people their faults; to subdue their
national vanity, which a Theirs was
once tho first to inflame, and even a
Gulzot to tlatter; to call them to re.
pent of their barberous taste for
warfare, and OF that oyerbearing
temper that led them to an unpro.
voked assault upon Germany. To
assure them that the evils they now
suffer they themselves caused, and
that it is the part of true greatness
to learn wisdom from misfortune;
to urge them to abandon forever
their dream of military supremacy in
Europe, disband their army, destroy
their navy, sand give all their labor
to internal reform. During tho siege
of Paris, it is said, Huguenot mln-
lister, with that fearless integrity
which has always marked the follow.
ers of Farel and Lefevre, ventured
to offer this unpalatable counsel to
his countrymen. He assured the
Parisians that the guilt of their war
upon Germany, so wholly without a
cause, must yet be atoned for. In
the midst of an enraged people, suf-
ferlng under the privatlons Of the
German invasion, he demanded their
and atonement. His
voice was unheard, perhaps silenced,
in the cry tor vengeance. Yet 1T is
possible that from the Huguenot ele.
ment of the population, now permit
ted for the first time in three centu.
riss to hold national synod, may
come the future statesmen of France
and the commencement of a purer
career with French politicians. To
be as honest as Huguenot was a
provcrbial phrase Of the seventeenth
century, before the Huguenots had
been suppressed by bitter persecu.
tions. It is such a class Of pollti-
clans that Franco and all other ma.
tions need.
No country has suffered such a
ceaseless train of woes and disasters
from unscrupulous rulers and unpat-
riotlc priests as France. Nor has
any other such a pressing occasion
for complete change of policy. Its
reform must reach to the base Of SO.
oiety. It must denounce, as forever
ruinous, those ideas of conquest and
glory which have been iuculcated by
three centuries Of Bourbons and Ma.
poleons. 1t must show tho people
that the school house is more neces-
sary than the iron clad, and an army
of accomplished teachers more valu.
able than all the hosts of the empire.
It will make education, labor, and
integrity the foundation of new
France. II will dismiss the soldier
to the plow or the factory, disarm Its
worthless navy, and strive to amend