The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-08-02
The Situation in France.
THE COMMUNE OR THE EMPIRE.
from the London Tablet


Steadily and logically the condition of
| affairs in France continues to grow worse.
Government is at a dead-l The future
of the country is illumine6 by hardly a
glimpse of hope. The present shows little
but the promise of further complications.
by calm appreciation of the realities of
the situation, there is a strong reason for
no longer hoping the re-establishment of
the Monarchy; namely, that we are less
worthy of it than ever. The manner in
which the press generally has received the
last royal manifesto reveals stateZ5o of
opinion absolutely opposed to the character
of loyalty" There can be no doubt of the
fact. The immense majority of the leading
organs of opinion have clearly shown that
the return of the Commune is in their eyes
slighter calamity than the return of the
Monarch. In word, Henri V. is not a man
of the-age. To be q man of the age, he
should not write such manifestoes at all.
He should, like the Napoleons, cram his
speeches and proclamations with the catch
words of the day, with "rights of man !"
and sovereign people," and "enligbtened
democracy" and "principles of 49," Such
to his liberty to exercise the most rbitssry
authority. With few words about
"modern culture,n "obsolete supersti-
tions," and /" the conquests of liberty" he
might attain the unbridled power of a
Kaiser or Tsar. He has unfortunately
persisted in declaring that, while resolved
matters properly within the purview of
Parliamentary Government, while warmly
accepting the system of representative
assemblies. there are, under even limited
Monarchies, limits to the caprices of a mere
Parliamentary majority. This was enough,
it ia plain, to render Henri V. more " i'm
possible" than ever. The argument that
he has simply told the truth is altogether
Irrelevant. Pretenders who mean to sue
coed in their pretentions have no business
with truth. What nation educated in the
precepts of "modern civilization" requires,
is not truth, but fattery. That Napoleon,
a Prim, Bismarck, should trample ublic
rights and liberties under foot, is no harm
whatever so long as every invasion of right,
every outrage on conscience, is heralded by
the proper amount of phraseology.
1t is a fatal objection, exclaims the press
of Paris, that the Comte de Chambord
holds that "a king not only reigns but
liam merely reign' Does the President of
the United States merely reign7 Does
Marshal Serrapo merely reigu land is it so
unreasonable that king Of France should
also claim right to share in the Govern
ment of his Kingdom 7 Nay, to put it more
plainly, has not a King of France the
powers of Marshal, invested by Parlia-
mentary vote with an undefined authority
Marshal McMahon, however, can send
messages, and refuse resig nations, and de-
mand dissolutions, with the full applause
OF the Parliamentarians; and were he to
decline to- morrow to obey q Parliamentary
vote abolishng his functions, the very men
warmest in his defence would be those
same Parliamentarians. Any sort of au-
thority which stoops to declare that it bor-
rows every thing from the people for the
people, can act as it pleases with the
applause of the people. 1t is perfectly
permitted to wrong the people to any
extent; it is onl y uncomfortable to say that
the people may do wrong. The absolutism
OF the Empire, the dictatorship of Gam
eetta, call up no protests in the name of
modern ideas. To confess faith in reli-
gion, to set the Divine law above plebecites,
this is the single objectionable sin.
1t Is with the most complete appropriate
ness that Bonapartist deputy, NJ. Paris,
proposed the resolution in the recent de-
bate, which was accepted by the Govern
meDt. The Liberaiist " Dukes" the men
of the Broglie and Decazes school, have
prevented the restoration of the King, and
have hereby ensured the restoration Of the |
Emperor. 1t isa jest to talk of the out
iawry of the Empire. At this moment |
Francois the Empire over again, so far as
1t is nnJ thing. As has been truly said,
there is nothing in the administration, in
Tue army, III the law, i'll the public instruc-
80 NV NdpoiSoHIc. Nc III my
has no other traditions than the Napoleonic
legend OF Marengo and Austeritz and |
ooiferino. The entire French administra-
ton Ia C;esarean; the law lives in the
Code Napoleon. The rising generations
are educated in the spirit of the Impe7ialist |
University of France. Under the name of
the dncien regime it is the entire past of
France which is repudiated. Modern
france dates from the First Napoleon, the |
nell and the organizer of the Revolution.
:" Charlemagne is but barbarian, st. Louis
a clerical, Louis XIV. tyrant; such is the
summary of the national history. With
Napoleon commences modern civilization"
1t is in vain, then, that there is a sort of
solemn make-believe kept up about the
Empire being abolished and dead. 1t is
neither abolished nor dead. The Republic
Is not only dead but rotten. At the best it
can only evolve new forms of putrefaction,
new odors of malaria. The Royalty is not
dead indeed it is, on the contrary, full of
lie and vigor; but it is betrayed, over
powered, and IN exile. The Empire alone
remains, and even the Dukes" will shortly
understand that this is the case. The