The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-16

VaruS- Dut III every case we saw q knOWleuBe
of dramatic effect and an attempt to influence
the imagination. No one knows better than
M. Rouher how largely Frenchmen are in
fuenced by the imagination And when, in
addition to these tricks and expedients and
arrangement of machinery, we have the mar
Vllous name of Napoleon-the most splendid
that the world has seen since Cesar-and all
the legends of genius and victory that sur
round it, we can well understand that any
politician or party who invokes that wondrous
spell will always find response in the hearts
of Frenchmen
1t may be answered that Napoleonism
brought Sedan, and this France can never
forgive. Again we answer, Napoleonsm
brought Waterloo, and this France forgave
long, long ago. Sedan was gigantic disas-
ter; but Waterloo far exceeded it 4; for at
Waterloo France lost all the material results
Of the Revolution, all that she had won in a
quarter of century of war. When Napoleon
rode from that bloody Belgian field France
was weaker, poorer, more circumscribed in
territory, more severely wounded than she had
ever been before or has been since. Sedan lost
Alsace and Lorraine; but Waterloo lost that
magnificent Empire which at one time ex-
tended from the Elbe to the Adriatic All
of this France forgave, and it would not
surprise us if. in new spirit OF magnanimity,
she summoned to the throne the prince whose
name, whatever msfortunes it may repre-
sent, represents also the most glorious period
of French history. We see nothing in France
but the Republic or the Empire. We trust
the Republic may live. If not ripe enough
now, it will be in another generation. In the
meantime France will prepare herself for that
time which must come sooner or LATER when
she will see that, great as any house or name
or legend may be. France is greater than all.
Our Statesmen In History and Biog-
raphy.
We print in another column full analysis
of the methods adopted by the two biogra-
pliers of the late Chief Justice Chase. 1t will
be seen from this that the work of neither
writer will be entirely satisfactory to Mr..
Chases counrymen; but it is perhaps too
early to expect comprehensive biography of
any member of Mr.. Lincoln's administration.
In fifty or a hundred years-when Chases
diaries can be scanned without prejudice or
passion, when Mr.. Gideon Welles' good
natured but perhaps somewhat perverse
prattle about Seward and his other colleagues
can be estimated at its real worth, and when
a fair judgment can be accorded to all the
leading spirits in the war for the Union-a
complete life of our great statesmen can be
written. Then Lincoln and Seward and
Chase will each find his real biographer.
But, better than these, posterity will then get
q history Of the Republic during the era of
the slavery agitation and the struggle which
followed in the field that will be priceless in
comparison with any single biography. There
will be the era in which Clay and Calhoun
and Webster and Benton and Fillmore took
the leading parts, the era of Cancellation and
compromise and the era of agitation and war
subsequent to the repeal Of the Missouri Com
promise, in which Lincoln and Seward and
Chase and Stanton and Douglas and Sumner
were the active spirits, each claiming master
for its delineation. The narratives of sieges
and marches and battles, from Bull Run to
Appomattox, will not have any stories as
stirring as the descriptions of the contests
over principles in the national forum both be-
pen as brilliant as Macaulay's and as palms.
taking as the severest old annalists. Their
historian will come with time, and to him
these biographers of Chase and the biogra-
pliers Of the other statesmen of the age may
contribute but grain of gold for the precious
statues he will carve, a tint Of color in the
living canvas he will paint.
THE MASSACHUSETTS SENAToRsHR. The
election Of United States Senator to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the death of Charles