The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-09-27
THE DEATH OF THEIRS.
Its Probable Effect on the Future Of
France,
Letter 10 the Meto York Tribune.
LONDON, September 5.

The news of NJ. Theirs death, whicl
occurred at ten minutes past 6 on Monda
afternoon, did not reach London til
Tuesday morning. It was not general.
known till about noon, when secon'
edition of one of the morning paper
announced it. The evening paper
learned it soon enough to enable them Il
publish, not merely the geographic
which had long since been prepared, bu
articles discussing the immediate effec
of this most unexpected event on th'
political situation in France. Thi
morning the death of NJ. Theirs, knowl
to the whole civilized world, is the topi'
which occupies every thoughtful mind il
Europe. The Russians have taken Lo
vats, but if they had swept every Turl
out of Bulgaria, the influence of such
performance upon the near political fu
ture of England would have been les
than the possible results flowing from tht
death of the great French statesman.
say this from no feeling of personal af
fection for M. Thiers; it is not an emo
tional expression; it is only the repeti
tion of what is on everybody's lips
Friends and foes are agreed on the one
point of the immense significance of the
event. 1t is realized as clearly abroad az
in France; and in every country which
has any close relations with France, any.
thing to hope or to fear from her, any
interest in her welfare or her misfortune
the death of her foremost citizen is either
deplored as calamity or welcomed wth
a hideous glee NJ. Thiers, during his
lifetime, had many honors paid him, but
the tributes of respect or of hatred called
out by his death are greater than all the
rest. When Cavour died, when Palmer
ston died, when Lincoln was murdered,
each country felt its own loss, perhaps,
as heavily for the moment as that OF
Thiers is felt. But in no one of those
cases was the direct result so important
as in this case it may prove to be. 1t is
not too much to say that the security OF
the French Republic was bound up in
the life of M. Thiers. Only six weeks
more, and its most urgent peril was
passed. I hope and believe that the
elections may still be carried by the Re-
publicans by such majority: as shall be
decisive. But while, with Thiers alive,
such result was as absolutely certain as
any future event can be, with Theirs
dead the same perfect certainty can no
longer exist, nor is there the same perfect
security in the victory, if achieved. The
doubt thus suddenly thrown upon a
question in the right settlement of which
all Europe has a concern, is enough to
explain the dismay which has fallen upon
the real friends of France throughout
Europe. And not only upon her real
friends as that phrase is commonly un.
derstood, but upon every country and
court which wants peace and tranquility,
and does not want war and general con-
fusion. More than that; M. Theirs was
the most French of Frenchmen, and his
admitted undisputed services to France
have been beyond comparison greater
than those of any living Frenchman.
Yet, to the clique of priestly conspirators
who have got temporary hold of the
government, of France, his death, comes
as the greatest of blessings, while in
Berlin there is no reason to doubt that it
is sincerely regretted. Regretted for pre-:
cisely the same reason that it is regretted
in Italy or in England-that it removes
one great obstacle to the ascendency for
which restless factions are striving, and
which, once gained, would inevitably
bring France into collision with Germa-
ny or Italy, or both, and so kindle once
more the flames of European war:
That such disaster will be averted is, l
repeat, still probable; but with such mo.
mentous issues pending, who can be con-
tent to exchange q certainty for a proba-
bility?
And even that is only narrow view,
most imperfect glimpse of the tremen-
dous consequences that may follow the
disappearance of M. Thiers from the
stage. Those of us who believe that the
hope of Europe lies in the steady growth
of Republican ideas are those who must
deplore his death the most. The wreck
of the French Republic would do more
and worse than bring war and disaster
upon that one country. 1t would dis
credit the Republican idea, discourage
Republican effort all over Europe, and
postpone to an indefinite but certainly
distant future, not merely the triumph ol
Republican institutions, but the develop
ment of free popular institutions under
governments still remaining monarchical
in form, as in England. Theirs idea o.
republic was not that of Jefferson, il
you like. 1t was incomplete, but it was
probably the only conception of a re-
public which at this moment the French
people were willing to accept. He hao
clear eye; if not for what might be pos
sible hereafter, for what was possible
now. He thoroughly understood tht
political timidity and the political ignor
ance of the untaught majority of his OWL
countrymen. He announced the maxim
which for all French Republicans of {
practical kind-for M. Gambetta first o
all-has passed into a political axiom
that the Republic must be Conservative
or it would not be. His accession to th'
Republican party outweighed every othe
adhesion and argument in its favor, TO
one decisive reason. He was not a Re
publican by sentiment, by theory, b!
preference, or by personal interest, but
Republican because he had become con
vinced that it was the only settled form
of government possible in the. circum
stances. He never concealed the fac
that he would have restored the mon
archy if he could. It was the final proc
of his surprising ability that he perceive!
the impossibility of putting either brancl
of the Royal family again on the throne
Few men in the history of the world
who have grown old under one set o
ideas and institutions, have been able t
emancipate themselves, toward the clos
of their lives, SO far as to adopt and &C
upon a new and wholly different set.
may remark, in passing, that the Orlean
lists never forgave him. They hated hin
with hatred that in men of stronge
natures would have been ferocious, an
that in them was venomous. Inever ha
any relations with Theirs that would Civ
rise to a feeling of personal loyalty t
him, but when Of late years [ heard hir
talked of by Orleanists, l always felt tina
1 should like to walk out of the room