New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-16
ATIONAL ERA.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1873.
THE Death Of Napoleon III.


The death OF Napoleon IS a. i !; were 'h'
9th act Of one Of those dramas in which TN
catastrophe takes place in the iourth' an'
leaves the fifth to drag along AZ mere eau
dalappendace, for the sake ot,radItonai stage
nronricty. sedan and the revolution oil sep
tenbsr had sealed the doom Of lmrerailS"
in France. DESTROYED, beyond resurrection
the last vcstise Of splcndog which, unth ''''"'
attached 10 the name Of Napoleon. Inc j"
finn old man at Chlselhurst after having o"' =
lost all his credit fJr depth, shrewoies'' ""'
ssgacitv. might have kept on spinning ..
t,ig,cs for twenty years longer w'''io"' SCH
ouslv disturbing much less imle'i''"e
peace OF France or Of any other S''''e III i1u ~,
rome. The intelligence that the Empress VIII
assume the regency during the minority oil hef
son sounds rather ludicrous than ahythinS
slsc r,J.r ibe circumstances, as such as
s,,,,n,ion would be one Of the most empty
demonstrations vet made by deposed rulers.
The most important consequence oil inc 'I"'
will be, that it will act a. se'lier " '"'
p,ocbip,,ious of those ImpcTialists "ho' III
,boir uisopprchcnsion Of the tide OF events
eni of pouular feeling could not refrain from
conspiring for the restoration oil the Ehpirc.
4 bow Of seventeen, and woman whose OK
IRENE Ultramonianc tendencies ana utter
loci. or understanding Of the spirit OF the age
and ,hc wants of nations manilcstly dsqualiiy
her hopelcssly for the high trust she claims,
arc moor material with which to klndle en-
thusiasm. Not even the most lnveterate
1n,serialists can honestly bclicve-no matter
what the may publicly professional Louis
Bonaparte has any greater prospects ever to
ascend the French throne, than Henri Dieu-
donne de Bourbon or the Count de Paris,
who. like him, when vet harmless boys, lost
the succession to the French throne through
the folly of their grandlathers.
Politically an event Of very little conse-
0uencc. the death OF Napoleon will neither be
felt as a bereavement anywhere, save, per-
haps, by his nearest surroundings and those
who adhered TO him merely for selfish mo-
tiyes and still entertained hopes of rebuilding
their fallen fortunes through him. Indeed,
there is no prominent man in a high station
whose death would awaken less sympathy,
cause less sorrow, and if it had been Napo-
Icons fortune to die on the throne, there
would be feeling OF relief, as If great
scourge had been removed. Noworse man in
our days, rese to a throne, and none more
utterly lacked all redeeming features. There
was nothing in the world that he would not
have sacrificed to his thirst for power and to
his cravings for the imperial crown. trail
tor to the Republic, that he had sworn to
he waded through the blood of lis
slain at his order TO assume the
which was TO serve him as
to the throne. Without re-
spect either for the rights Of individuals Or
of nations he fought Republicanism in every
shape and the principles of liberty generally,
not with the invcteratc, blind prejudice OF
those born on or near the throne, but coolly
and Systematically, as obstacles and impede
ments in lis aa.ss-. lie sent many OF the
best men into prison and exile to penal
colonies lie attempted 10 destroy the Mex
lean Republic, with view to stab ours from
behind, and he maintained the Pope in his tenn
poral power by French bayoncts against the
almost unanimous wish of the Italian people.
Bold and INSCRIPTIONS as he was i'll the
perpetration of great crimes, he neither
shrurk from the devices Of low cunning,
through which cowardly natures usually en-
deayor to accomplish their ends. In corrup-
ton, bribery, intriguing, and plotting he
probably outdid all other European rulers.
He was incapable even Of those transient
clans of magnnimity and justice by which
other criminals and tyrants sometimes will
yindicatc their share of better human nature.
Cold, suspicious, reserved, INSCRIPTIONS,
shrewd, perlidious, avaricious, aud licentious,
his picture will be handed down by history
as one of the most rcpulsive preserved on its
pages. That Il man 80 utterly void of true
genius or greatness of any description, yet
for twenty years should have held in his
hand hot only the destiny of France, but the
balance Of Europe, and that the power
first among her sovereigne, proud in the
of their legitimate right, ''by
the grace Of Cod should have trembled
and cringed before him, the usurper, the up
start, and the bastard to-day seems almost
incredible, and does not reflect very favora-
bly, on the dignity Of royalty.