The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-10-15
MARsaAL MACM1HoN IND FRANCE.
Dublin Nation, Sept. 49,.

The Marshal President of the French Re-
public returned at the close of last week
from provincial tour which, IL we except
the conduct of the extreme Radicals at
Lyons, may be said to have been some
| thing very like ga royal progress" He
was not attended, Indeed, as he went from
| town to town, by what is called large
and brilliant staff" Or by gaudy Sntourd9e
of " candlesticks 8 in waiting" and the Ike.
True soldier as he is, be seems tn>have al
together eschewed Ostsntatious display in
dress or deDeanour, and to have avoided
rather than courted popular applause. Yet,
sternly though he proceeded through the
| round of his official duties, the popular
feeling in his regard manifested itself in a
striking manner. His reception in Besan-
con, for example, was, according even to
the Unconditional Baron Reuter-, of a re-
markably cordial character" The whole
town was illuminated; the civic authori
ties of the place paid him the spontaneous
and unbought homage of freemen; the
clergy, through their archbishop hailed
him, at a eolemn service in the cathedral,
ss the saviour of his country and the peo-
pie at large echoed the sublime appellation
in their multitudinous shout of " Pfre lie
MarechalH' In a word, France-aristocra-
tic and democratic, mOnarchlcai and repub.
lican, military and civilian, clerical and lay
scene to have embraced him as its deli
verer and protector, and to have shown that,
IL
accord him a reception as splendid rs ever
witnessed even in the FiG Sacra of ancient
Rome.
1t has been remarked that France has
travelled far when man who was once the
most brilliant soldier of the Empire, and
whose sympathes lay wholly with the arts
tocratic party, is now the chief magietrate
of a fepu bile, and exchanges compliments
with the most democratic city of the cGun-
try" But, without denying that France
has grown in political wisdom, it may
safely be affirmed that there is enough in
the last five or six years of Marshal Mac
Mahon's life to justify of itself the most
unbounded manifestation of the nations
love and admiration for it's most illustrious
public man. What other man occupying
his position, has displayed in his public
conduct such supreme devotion to country,
as contrsdistinguished from partyf Take
him in the whole period that has elapsed
since the disastrous days of Worth, and
We shall find that 10 his every action he has,
even to the extent of trampling on his own
convictions, followed what he deemed to be
the national voice. He was, as it is now
known, profoundly impressed with the
impossibIity of directly relieving Bazaine,
yet, yielding to the command of the impe
rial court, which then represented France,
he imperiiied his MILITARY reputation by
leailug the last available Freuch army To
the cruwniDg disaster OF Sedan. Placed,
on the conclusion of peace, at the head of
the army, he never once looked to the right
or the left with view to mounting to the
supreme executive office. At last the lead
ers of the Monarchical party pnt him in the
place of NJ. Thers, bnt here again be con-
Iinued steadfasC III his patriotic course. AS
long as the country was represented at Yer
eailles by a MOI al chical majority, he did
the will of the Royalist party when it pro,
bounced for q republic, he did not attempt
to stem the flowing tide of popular feeling.
Indeed the MarRhal's conduct in the presi.
Dental Gu air since the triumph of the Mo
derAte Republican party seems to US the
crowning proof of his disinterestedness
There can be no DOUBT that his family
ties and his political sympathies led him in
the direction of the legitimate monarchy
he sincerely believed, in common with
many of the best friends of France, that
monarchical institutions were the most
suitable for the French people yet he has
| not hesitated to assume the title of Presi-
dent of the Republic, or to call to his eide
An advanced Republican Ministry on the
demand of the majority of his fellow-citi
zons to that effect being clearing expressed.
Again, there can be no reasonable doubt
that since tie advent of this Ministry to
power many things have been done of which
he does bot approve, but with which, never
theless, he, DESTROYS, above all things, that
France should govern itself according to its
own ideas, does not publicly quarrel. Those
who we're mistaken enough to think that he
would play the part of a Monk rather than
of a Washington, may, after all, be excused
the failure of their prophecy, for the ex
amples of such self abnegation as we have
here revealed are not witnesses in every
generation.
But ruler who is resolved to live up
rightly and rule conscentiously is stand
ing rebuke to evil-doers, and it is, there
fore, only natural to suppose that under
Marshal MacMahon France should have
gained something in every department and
aspect of her public life. As matter of
fact, this is the case. There have, of late,
been none of those fraudulent practices
which ate into the very vitals of the EN-
pire, and which, to mention but one in
stance out of many, gave it's soldiers, at
critical juncture, boots with paper soles.
No incompetent man, like Marshal Lee
oelf, has been allowed to push himself into
place of power. 1t was only the other
day that that most important of all public
offices, the Ministry of War, was conferred
Oh general who had no other earthly re-
fhon oh