Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-05-26
CRISIS IN FRENCH POLITICS.

great struggle between Turkey and |
Russia, the eyes of Europe are for a
. time withdrawn from the seat of
war and fixed upon political transac-
tions at Versailles which bid fair to
bring on one of those violent changes
of government which have with
in the last eighty years seemed
inevitable in France at no distant
period from one another.
To those who havenOt been watch
ing the political events in France
subsequent to the Franco-Prussian
war it will be difficult, in so short a
space as we are able to devote to it,
to give any adequate conception of
/. the gravity of the present emergen-
cy. We must touch briefly on lead
/ ing events so as to communicate
/ general conceptions rather than de
tailed knowledge.
It is known that the disastrous de-
feat at Sedan brought about the col
lapse of the government of Napo-
leon the third at first, so long as
Paris held out against the Prussian
armies, that city was under military
( government, and while a govern
ment republican in form was pro-
visionally adopted the military au-
, thOrities under General Trochu
maintained some semblance of pub
lie order. As, however, the Prussian
armies closed in on the devoted city
the mob grew stronger and the mill
itary authority weaker; the univer-
sal demand on the part of the
dangerous classes" as they are
called was for arms, Ostensibly to
fight the Prussians with, really for
the purpose of Overturning what
ever government there was and eS-
tabIishing mob rule. In the sallies
and suburban conflicts with the
Prussians which occurred during
the latter part of the siege, this in
surrectionary soldiery did very lit
tie real service, it may be said none
or worse than none. In actual fight
they uniformly fled before the pub
lie enemy and occupied the inter-
walls in plumber and licentious riot.
Every one looked with dismay on
this element of Iawless force which
threatened to become predominant
in Paris whenever the pressure of
foreign investment might set free
the elements of strife atpresent held
in partial allegiance.
In the course of time Paris yield
ed to the irresistible force of destiny
and was occupied by Prussian ar
mics. One result of this war, of
course, was the disarming and dis
banding of the regular army, an
event which carried dismay to the
hearts of all who had anything
to lose, since nothing but the pres
ence of the Prussian forces then in
tervened between the unhappy city
and a state Ofanarchy; and the hOr-
rors of 1898 were sufficiently i'm
pressed upon the minds of French
men to pOrtend what anarchy in
Paris was likely to bring with it.
Immediately upon the withdraw
al of the Prussian troops the COM
munists first got possession of the
artillery on the hill Montmartre,
which commanded a large portion
of the city and very soon had I'M
controlled possession, when fire and
slaughter and prescription were the
order of the day. The national
forces which still remained in an
organic condition in the Southwest
provinces were soon brought up, and
it required a second siege of Paris
before law and order could be re-
established.
When the Instruction was sup
pressed, the establishment of an or
ganized gOvernmentpresented diff
culties nearly insuperable. 1t be-
came apparent that while all parties
except the Subjugated communists
desired a government capable of
maintaining order, no one was will
ling to submit to the one that did not
carry out its own notion; the legiti-
mists desired a restoration of the
hereditary line of Bourbon princes,
theOrleanistst that of the descendants
of Louis Philippe, the NapOleOnists
that of the descendants of the great
Napoleon, the Republicans a consti-
tutiOnal republic with an elected
President, and even behind them
the communists, chained and
trampled down as they were, glared
and muttered ferociously, abiding
their time.
No one ofthese parties was willing
to give itsactive cooperation to any
government that was not ruled by
its own chieftain and, as a combi-
nation of any three of them could
easily defeat the fourth, gov
eminent which should unite the ma
ton in its support seemed an inn
possibility.
Probably these difficulties would
have been insurmOuntable, but that
in the background doomed the Prus-
sian power dreaded by all.
An immense sum of money under
the name of indemnity was due
from France to the Prussian gov
eminent and several important
towns in the Champagne country
were still garrisoned by Prussian
troops and it was well known that
unless the Prussian government,
(which had now byethe bye become
the German empire) could see some
organized government in France
competent to guaranteethis mOneyit
would take the rule into its own
hands.
Between the Prussians on the one
hand and the communists on the