New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-03
THE DECAY or LOYALTY IN FRANCE

The Republic of France is exposed to unde-
niable dangers by reason of the hostility OF
the Government of MacMahOn and the I'M
reasoning dread of the majority of the Assem-
bly,. These reasons may for while prevent
the definite establishment of the form of gov
eminent for which the people of France have
so clearly shown their preference for the last
eighty years, whenever they have had an OD-
portunity of expressing their opinions But
the restoration of monarchy must always be a
difficult and well-nigh impossible enterprise
on account OF one evident fact-thc almost total
decay of the principle Of personal loyalty among
the people at large. There seems now to
have been something Of inspiration in that
celebrated prophecy of Diderot, who said
before the Revolution, "The public execution
"of a King would change tho spirit of the
nation for centuries" The mOnarclucal
principle suffered irreparable damage from
that stroke of the AK in the Place de la
COncOrde which decapitatcd Louis the Six
teenth The execution of Charles the First IN
England had no such far-reachiDS effect.
The revolution of the Seventeenth Century
there in fact consolidated the throne
by separating from 1t its dangerous
mowers and prerogatives. The monarchy re-
NAMED. shorn of those attributes which were
It's weakness and sustained by powerful
aristOcracy and IN almost united public opinion,
which have protected it until the present time.
BUT the French Revolution was based upon
principles so wide aud deep that the whole
structure of society was changed with the
change in the form Of government, and the
death of the King was merely ceremony by
which the country formally renowned the past
with its traditions and its privileges. and
brought in democracy 20 control and to guide
their future.
There have been three Kings and two En-
pcrors in France since then. but they have
never enjoyed the unquestioniDg and super
stitious worship which was the lot of former
monarchs. The two Bourbons who came back
from exile to be crowned had TO submit to
charters acknowledging the national sove-
reignty, and Louis Philippe was never more
than a crowned citizen. The first Napoleon
conquered France, Just as he conquered Egypt
and Germany, by the force OF his own genius
The second used his name to get the conf
dence of the Republic, and then cut its throat
nv An act of unheard of treachery, jas
Victor Hugo graphically said, light
ling his burglars lantern at the sun
"of Austerlitz" But even under Louis Bona
parte, while the Senate was unanimous and
the Assembly virtually so, when every election
brought in its millions Of majority for the
Empire. there was no sentiment of personal
LOYALTY to the Emperor. He was the candidate
of the established orders and classes. He had
Il Of no Church tho
peasantry, of the merchants in the towns, and
of the administrative system everywhere. But
all those people voted for him, not because
they thought him divinely appointed to rule
over them, but because they saw they
were enjoying sort of apparent
prosperity under his reign which gave
them the securities Of order with most
of the superficial forms of the Republic.
They cast their ballots for him with no more
thought or intelligence, and no more personal
LOYALTY than Wall Street felt in 1872 for Gen.
Grant They said, without thinking much
about it, that Napoleon was safe man, and
voting for him would keep money easy and
preyent any revulsiOn. Such sentiment 60
ing from mouth to mouth among men who are
too busy to think, and perhaps too conceited
u learn, uaS SIeot choSo AZ oioS'ioho. Dut
it has no relation to genuine loyalty.
This il something which still exists in some
portions of the world So considerable person
as the Reverend Charles Kingsley says that his
heart throbs and his knees tremble at the sight
of the Queen of England. There are plenty of
Prussans who have no respect for their Maker,
| and who yet adore, literally adore the Kaiser.
This barbarous loyalty is fading slightly in Japan.
where a few years ago the nobility of the Island
used to fight for the privilege of committing
| hari-kari at the grave of their princes. 1t
holds its ground in China in spite of rebel
lions and foreign trade. The loyal journals
of the Central Flowery Kingdom say that at
the recent interview accorded by the Emperor
TO the Diplomatic Body. the ENJOYS of the
tributary powers were so overcome by his
majesty Of demeanOr that they had to be
assisted from the audience chamber in a
fainting condition. One of them died not
long afterward, and the Pekin court gossip
runs that he persisted from this rash exposure
| TO the imperial efiulgence. We have nothing
like this even in Washington, nothing at all
resembling it in Paris. Nobody, except the
members of the Right and the Cabinet Of
Macslahon, really honors the King and believes
in the throne. IL ia 100 late in the day to
make whole people get down on its knees
and worship creature of parchment and tinsel
| which few otice- seekers have agreed TO call