New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-03-15

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC AID OUR OWN
When the Apostles Paul and Barnabas
displayed before the people Of Lystra the
miracles and mysteries of the Christian
faith, they would have been at once wor-
SHIPPED by the populace as divinities'
The people, however, were told that they
were but ''men with like passions as your
Selves" that Christianity was higher
and purer principle than Paganism, and
exhorted the new disciples to continue
in the faith" and that we ''must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom
of God" Without intending to preach a
sermon from this text, we may soy
tha the pursuit Of republican free
dom is in exact analogy with this
scriptural incident. Apeople proclaiming
q republic differ in nothing from them
selves before such proclamation. Men
may be very tired of a king or priest
hood, without being thereby qualified to
govern themselves. To acquire the capac-
ity for this high trust men must discipline
themselves or be disciplined by the coz
sequence of their own wrong or error. It
is through political circulation" alone
that q people reared under the rule OF
despots can be elevated to the rank Of
freemen.
The history of the French people is an
example of this truth. No monarch
could have been mo re absolute, no nobil-
ity more depraved, no priesthood more
mischievous, and no people more igno-
rant and servile than hose of France up
to the period of the French revolution.
The vengeance of an outraged people
stated itself upon their oppressors, and
humanity was shoe ked at the crimes COM
mitted in the name of liberty. There
came a reac ton. The people fell
again under the command Of an
ambitious ruler. Then blood and treas
| ure were expended in wild endeavor to
| subject the civilized world to the sway Of
France. Then succeeded acts and scenes
of revolution, with short alterations Of
anarchy, until the last overthrow of impe-
rial authority and the humiliation OF
revolutionary rapacity left the French
people free to adjust the balances between
popular right, property and intelligence.
In the contest which has for three
or four years past agitated the Parliament
and people of France. the conflict Of
reason has been substituted for the comba.
of arms, and an intelligent comparison
of the merits of competing systems fol-
shallow devices Of political diplomacy.
Every theory, from that Of those who
regarded property as robbery, to the
most moderated error Of the most anti
quated Bourbon, was patiently heard and
examined. The French nation passed
through this turbulent tribulation and
has come out republican. To compare
the tyranny and corruption Of the crown
with the deplorable depression of the peo-
pie, which marked the period Immediately
antecedent to the first revolution, with
the present intelligence, moderation,
prosperity, and control Of the French
people, will satisfy any friend of free
principles that the French people are pre-
pared for republican form Of govern
ment, and that it bids fair to stand among
| the most stable Of Europe.
At the same time we can not avoid OBJ
serving that some French philosophers
deplore the tendencies Of our own gov
eminent toward the abuses Of European
monarchies, and even affect to doubt the
duration of this republic, the model OF
all others. We do not know enough OF
the opinions Of these gloomy prophets.
It is not impossible they may he ad-
vocates of some form of monarchical rule
in France, and may find in the imputed
defects in our government warning to
France not to depart from the form ei
| rule under which her Bourbons displayed
SO much splendor and her Napoleons
gathered so much glory.
For ourselves, We do not fear for this
republic of ours. 1t is too strong in the
morality Of its people. 1t is too indie
pendent in the Industries Of its people.
America is not inhabited by the stipen-
diary thousands Of Rome, nor by the
| cellar-bcrn nomads of Paris. This peo-
pie does not subsist upon their govern
| ment by largesses, nor could its sturdy
tillers of the soil be swayed or seduced by
the'corrupt fashions of few republican
| courtiers. These base and vain creatures
| may have counterfeited the countersign
| of republicanism, and copied from
their own kind in Europe an extravaganza
| which can alone be maintained here by
fraud. Does the foreign critic insinuate
that these ridiculous and detestable pea
cocks represent or control the American
people? To say SO would be either to
avow an ignorance Of facts or hostility
to republican government, with JOY
that it should perish in ignominy, and be
supplanted by mona rchical, an auto
cratical or an ecclesiastical government
TO be imported from Europe.
We have a sanguine hope for the French
republic, with on answering confidence in
Wa ora worry grateful for the