New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-03-23
THE BONAPARTTST PROPAGANDA.

ought not to be done. After having carried on
the administration of affairs since last May as
if their sole object in life was to benefit the
Imperiaist cause, they have taken alarm at
the demonstrations at Chiselhurst, which were
the natural result of their own action, and
have begun to put the finishing touch
to their imprudences by furnishing the persons
who took part in the ceremonies attending the
birthday of the late EmperOr's son. They
gave undue prominence to the affair by their
fruitless precautions, and doubtless greatly
increased the numbers of the excursiOnists by
ordering the provincial authorities to exercise
a strict surveillance over all who went. Now
that the occasion is over, and the best
thing to do is to let people forget
it, tho same maladroit academicians and
nobemen can think of nothing better than
TO make a public scandal by attempting to
chastise the participants in the Chiselhurst
performance. The Duke of Padua, who, by
virtue of having a longer purse than the rest,
headed the pilgrimage to England and paid
most of the expenses of the picnic, has been
turned out of the MayOralty which he held in
his department, and some of his associates
who occupied places where the wrath of the Gov
eminent could reach them have also felt the
same visiting hand. This is all that was
needed to stamp the enterprise with the seal
of success. 1t was piece of political adver-
Using, which had very little to rest upon at
first. But the MacMahon Cabinet gave it re-
spectacle dimensions at once by their fussy
notice of it. The Queen of England gave it
the sanction of her name by sending Garter
to the ex-Prince. The Broglie Government,
however, have just given it the most invalua-
BILE notoriety by their proceedings against the
returning excursionists.
If anything could revive the dscredited
cause of Bonapartism in France 1t would be
such senseless fOllies as these on the part of
the adherents of the older dynasties. Ii is
almost incredible that the men who are com
hitting these blunders are of mature age,
respectable natural gifts and considerable ex-
perience of affairs. They have been Generals,
ambassadors, and Ministers; they have shared
in the politics of several forms OF govern
ment. But they seem capable of nothing
but mistakes in office. THE Dukes Decazes
and de BrOglie regard the Napoleon intrigues
with genuine contempt and adherence. But
they are doing more to forward them than any
two Bonapartists in France-more than M.
ROuher, who 80 calmly expresses his disregard
for them at the same time that he adj
vises his followers to sustain them for
the present, or M. Olivier, who stands
i'm an attitude of conscious merit at
the door of the Academy and refuses to take
his seat unless he can puff the Empire in
doing it. The object of the gentlemen who
are carrying on the MacNIahon Government is
simple enough. They have not yet given up
all hope of monarchical restoration, and
they wish to hold on to their places until
chance occurs to bring in King. A mir
acle may give the COmte de Chambord
some common sense, or natural causes
may make the Comte de Paris his
heir. But if the worst comes, they are still
inclined to accept it and hold office under
Conservative Republic-by which they under
stand a sort of government under which Dukes
shall be ministers, property shall be respected,
and only well bred people shall be counted in
the Census. The blind persstency with which
they pursue this dream has something at once
exasperating and touching about it.
= Thus far it has helped the Imperialst cause
very little. Out of fourteen seats in the AS
sembly which have been filled by new elections
since NJ. Theirs lost his majority in the Cham
Der, all but one,have been gained by the Re-
.publicans, and that one, carried by a coalition
of all the Conservatives. has gone to Bona
partist. In the face of such incessant warn
ings as these, the MacMahOn Ministry still
appear to hope that they can devise
some means to keep power in their
own hands, and to prevent the vast majority
of the people of France from having any voice
in the definite constitution of the country.
The Committee of Thirty are devoting all their
energies to connecting some impossible scheme
of Acknowledgement, which will do them no
more good than it did their predeces-
sOrs in 1850. The Deputies of the Left
are preparing for what will doubtless
be- an important and exciting debate
upon this question. and they will further force
an issue upon the majority by formally pro-
posing a dissolution of the Assembly in June.
They will of course be voted down by brute
weight of numbers; it is possible they may be
prevented from fully discussing their prop
ositions. But the demonstration will have Its
effect, and it can hardly fail to be favorable
to the Republicans. We do not see as yet
any indications that the disgraced and ex-
ecrated Empire is to be restored. The Cab
met of Dukes are doing their best for it, but
it seems to be a task even beyond such faulty
as theirs.
THE MERCHANTS MEETING.