New-York tribune., 1873-06-14
4 FIGHTING GOVERNHEYT.

There was one thing about NJ. Thiers which
his aristocratic critics could never forgive, and
that was his lack of energy in dealing with
the opposition. He did well enough in pre-
serving order, in collecting the revenues, and
supplying the enormous sums for paying the
indemnity. But they thought him deficient
in that righteous intolerance which leads truly
good men to hew Agog in pieces before the
Lord. 1t is said of Queen Isabel Segunda
that, reading in a loyal paper one day the
statement that her only fault was being too
merciful, she sent in rage for Naryaez,
and said, "Read that Didn't / always
"toll You we were not shooting enoughP'
This was the reprOach addressed TO NJ. Theirs,
in spite of the deportation of thousands Of
Communists and the daily slaughters mt Satory,
by the red-heeled Marquises and mummies Of
the Faub0urg st. Germain. IL they could only
have their way, they would soon make all
Frenchmen think alike or know the reason
why. They demanded continually what they
called Commencement dc Combat They wanted
a Cabinet which should at once open an active
campaign against all lawless speaking and
thinking, which should not attempt to con-
cilate the voters of France but should show
them that the Assembly was their master,
and should teach them the way to travel.
When they found M. Theirs would not play
this part, they turned him out and attempted
1t themselves.
They certainly have left no room for doubt
as to their intentions. They were scarcely on
the Ministerial bench before they began their
crusade. They made holocaust of all tho
Liberal oillceholdcrs they could reach, and
filed their places with partisans of the reac-
ton. They then ordered the Projects to hold
o tight rein on the newspapers, and, where it
it was convenient, TO cajole or to bride them
They did this so coarsely and awkwardly that
NJ. Gambetta fastened the disreputable busi-
ness upon them in the Assembly, and they
showed themselves as destitute of shame as
of dexterity by admitting it. But this
was only beginning; greater deeds awaited
the muse of history. NJ. Ranc, the new
Deputy from Lyons, had been technically i'm
pcated in certain acts of the Commune, but
the Thiers Ministry, though not lax in its
dealings with the relics of that great lnsur-
rectiOn had found no excuse for prosecuting
him. Gen. LAdmirault, commanding at Paris,
asked permission of the Assembly to drag this
distinguished culprit before a Court Martial.
1t was then discovered that NJ Henri ROchefort,
whom these gentlemen read and applauded
vehemently while he was battering down the
Empire a few years ago, was still imprisoned
in French fortress, in spite of the sentence
of transportation which had been passed upon
him. He is slowly dying of pulmonary dis
ease, and NJ. Theirs thought he might as well
die in France as in New Caledonia; particu-
lary as he had done no wrong, never shared
in any of the yiolences of the Commune, and
went to Versailles to give himself up to the
Government authorities before the Commune
fell But it seems scandalous in the eyes
of NM. MacMahon and Broglie that
this dying pamphleteer should be allowed
to breathe his last anywhere but in those
pestiential regions to which he was sem
fenced during the craze which followed the
victory of order. Or perhaps this measure of
vengeance Is demanded by tho vulgar and
malignant tribe of parasites of the Tuileries,
who are at this moment useful and necessary
10 the majority. At all events, he is to be
transported. The outrage of his original sem
tence is less than this cold-blOoded execution
of it. after all men had considered it dead
letter.
But the fighting energy of this amazing Cab
met was not yet exhausted. 1t seemed deter
mined to make itself ridiculous, as we'll as
savage 1t is announced this morning that
Gustave Courbet is to be sued for the recoV-
cry of the sum expended IN the reconstruction
of the Vendome Column. Courbet was the
most absurd and fantastic of all the Com
munists. He did as much to destroy the Com
mune by his follies as any one. He executed
the order of tho insurrectionary gov
ernment for the demolition OF tho Column
in tho Place Yendome; but when tho
Commune was conquered ho was seen 10 DO