, 1874-07-15

full and almost as brutal as the draft riots in
New York, and although the recent signs in
France are not apt to give the republicans
much comfort, we still believe that there can be
no stable government that is not republican
IN form and spirit. We put aside as unworthy
even Of serious consideration the sentiment
which the American mind, in its moments
of excessive political vanity, is SO apt TO fon-
die, that 'the French people are unfit for self
government France has never shown so
much progress and real national strength as
under the Republics. The Republic has al
WAYS meant peace, while every other form of
government meant war. The republican wars
we're made in e f-d~efence, to protect the ter
ritory from kings and princes who came as
enemies of freedom. The monarchical and
imperial wars were mainly i~nvaSions to con-
Qutr and extend and save d~ynaStie7. Never
has republicaniSm shown its fitness more clear
~ than since Sedan We do not think the
Republic Of Gambetta or TAjets especially
exalted forms of free government, but they
are forms that have been honestly administer
ed. When Napoleon was living in the pam
pered luxury Of CaSSel as a war prisoner, when
his marshalS were squandering he armies of
France by treachery and incompetency, a re-
publican government that came, as Bismarck
Etel'tf lN-A ttN NAIlN t~iNlA NuO Oily
heroic blow that was struck for France during
the war. When the country was PROSTATE
and bleeding and apparently dead, another
republican governments lifted her, bound up
her wounds, rescued her soil from the conquer
or and showed the world her marvellous re.
sources. From that time to the present there
has been peace. Why is it now that We see
discord and agitation
The reason is a plain one, and it cannot be
too carefully studied by republicans all over the
world. The antagonist of the Republic is
Napoleonisn. We can understand how the
first Bonaparte could make Napoleonism a
system, but only such a man could do it.
Since his time what have we seen Begin
ming with the eighteenth Of Brumaire-em-
b~racing the invasion of Spain and Russia, the
murder OF Due dEnghien, and the needless
catastrophe of Waterl0o-what was the career
Of the tranSc endant genius who then ruled
France, but a splendid, Jove-like, imperial
tyranny, which had no purpose that was not
selishneSs, which never hesitated to use every
power to gain its purpose ? To make kings
of the dreaming Louis, the foolish Joseph, the
gaudy Murat aud the worthless Jerome, NapO-
le0nism squandered the blood of hundreds of
thousands of Erenchmen on fifty battle fields,
and surrendered to the alliance of kings all
LOd6 NapOIcOO : genius, NllCu was great ana
the genius of revolutionary France, which was
greater, had gained. This was tn: fault of the
magnificent genius whose glory astonished the
world, and to which the world has always par
doned so much. 1t was the eagle-and since
then we have had the vulture and the crow.
Can we find more fitting emblems Cor the Third
Empire Concede to Napoleon III. as an ex-
ponent of Napoleonism all that his e|ulogists
claim, and what is his system but another
phase of subtle, successful, gaudy and, in the
end, ruinous tyranny 2 He reigned twenty
years. During that time he was master of
France, the richest country in some respects in
the world lie was so weak that he permitted
a wanton war, and when war came it was
found that, notwithstanding the millions France
had lavished on the army, there was no army.
The millions had gone no one knows whittier,
and France was at the mercy of a justly anger
ed and inyincible enemy. Wherever a menace
or an adventure with a weak power could
serve his purpose Napoleon was strong. He
could fight Russia with the aid Of England and
Austria, assisted by Italy, but when it cam to
an actual war with an armed enemy he was de-
feated. We look in vain through the career of
this ruler for any Of those fascinating, and, in
the eyes of the world, redeeming qualities
which gave glory to the founder of his dynasty.
He was a gigantic meddler and bully. When
we had our rebellion he showed his hatred of
liberty by sending an army to SUPPRESS the