New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-19
A N1pOLEONIC SPEECH.

tolerably sure of having their own way in
! these DAYS. AS soon as their intentions are
made plain, they are instantly adopted by
the men in politics ard carried forward into
acts. But while they remain undeveloped
| they are the source of great distress OF mind
TO those who make living out of their pop
ularity. In our own favored land it is the
agricultural interest which seems to be com
ing forward as a political power, and there
has probably never been such general respect
shown to the cultivation of the soil since tho
time of ADAM when farmer was king
and people at once. We have heard
of one statesman who never appears
in public without a hickory shirt,
and of another who berOically deties rheu-
matism and takes his nightly rest in hay
NOW. Patriots of this kind are usually called
demagogues when they are citizensj but
when they are princes, 1T is customary to
give them some more courteous name. Just
now the path TO popular favor III France ap-
pears to lie in the direction of religious de-
votion, and the piety developed by this state
of things among the asprants for the Crown
is one Of the most edifying spectacles OF the
time. The Comte de Chambord perhaps de
serves none of the ridicule which attaches to
the Others; for he was bigot when bigotry
was questionable, and stoutly stood by his
medieval superstitOns when the France OF the
Empire seemed welded to a shallow worldli-
ness and a cheap affectation of Voltaireanism.
But the Princes of Orleans, who have always
treated the Church with that tolerant respect
which powerful institutions always compel
from prudent people, have suddenly become
much more devout than formerly. They still
leave to the head of the house of Bourbon the
privilege of being the most pious of the family,
and in their quality of clever men insist upon
certain reserves in their faith. Still, they are
far more earnest Catholics than they were be-
fore the pilgrimages to Paray-le- Monial began.
But it is among the lmperialists that we
should naturally look for the most violent
| adhesion to the new religious movement, and
there we are not disappointed. They are of
| the class to which hypocrisy does not seem
expensive. They are new people, and there
fore take delight in initiating the aristocracy
| They were brought up upon a regimen Of
fraud and so find it easy to attempt once
more to swindle public opinion. They are
setting their young Prince up as the hope Of
religion in France. 1t is rather embarrassing
|
such tattered habit and repute. No amount
of Disgusting can turn this soothing rOysterer
into pillar of the church. They must work
with the material they have. Fortunately,
another Prince is Cardinal, and the Prince
Pretender is young and sickly, and this makes
a fair showing for the purpose. The Empress
Mother is an invaluable accessory in such a
performance. She has enough sincerity in her
bigotry to make it graceful and effective.
The incident last week at Chlselhurst had,
however, character of its own. The Fete
| Napoleon was celebrated with religious cere-
monies alone, and after the masses were over,
the young Prince made little speech, in
which the dextrOus band of NJ. ROuher ap-
pears. If the boy or his mother bad prepared
it, or if the family chaplain had edited it,
there would have been too unctuous tone to
suit the voting masses upon whom, after all,
the fate of France depends. M. Rouher has
no embarrassing scruples. He talks of re-
ligion sometimes, as our own Senators
talk of the Stars and Stripes, and with
about as much emotion. He said once.
in a Cabinet Council, where Duruv
was trying to introduce some school
reforms, AS for me. am neither Catholic
"nor Protestant "No,' rejoined Duruy,
"you are an Auvergnat." This shifty huck-
ster prevented the little Prince from putting
too much devotion in his speech, and while
doing justice to that point he made far
more significant reference to another. 81
4" find my patrimoDy," he said, " in the prn-
" ciple of the national sovereignty and the
"banner which consecrates it, This il little
less than a declaration Of defiance to the
Comte de ChambOrd and the white flag
he has 50 long made an obstacle
1 to all efforts at restoration. II would indi-
cate that NJ. Rouher looks beyond The
mummelies and nilgrimages OF Paray-leMo-