The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-20
THE POLITICAL PROSECUTIONS TN
FRANCE.

The chief solicitude of the De Fortou
administration Of the Republic Of France
seems to be to guard with tender care
the morbid sensibilities Of that extreme
ly sensitive parsonage, President Mac
Mahon. The energetic prosecution of
Gambetta is not the only instance of It's
rigor in Furnishing those whose bland
speech or less direct innuendo may have
CHANGED to offend the Marshal Presi-
dent. Some time ago, 1t may be re-
membered, the arrest OF an editor In
Savoy was announced, whose offense
was an insult to Grant. 1t now turns
out that the insult consisted in drawing
comparison between Grant and
Theirs and MacMahon, unfavorable to
the last, observing that Grant had
resigned his Office when his term
had. expired, without saying anything
about holding on ''till the end" With
Tombstone, we might exclaim, Faith,
we met. and found the quarrel was upon
the seventh cause" Yet, upon this
very distant reflection the court Of cor
rectional police fined and imprisoned
the unfortunate Savoyard. We're IF"
the peace maker under the republic
that the philosophic clown of Shakes
peare tells us it always is, it might east
ly have obtained this offenders pardon !;
| for Ell" he meant to intimate to MacMa-
hons prejudice that Grant relinquished
the Presidency voluntarily, or that he
would not certainly have held on to it
to the bitter end had he no
sterner republicanism than that
of France to deal with. instead
of insulting Grant he paid him a
most undeserved tribute in ascribing to
him self-abnegation that very few
Americans attribute to him, while the
insult to MacMahon Is but 'circum-
stantiaP' after all, and not such as to
Justify, according to the court ETH
quette of our fool, the extreme resent
ment 1t met with.
But this is not the most grievous in
stance Of the impatience Of these French
Republicans with contumacious indi-
viduals. A gentleman, who was partly
deaf, has been imprisoned and deprived
of his political franchises for five years
for refusing to testify to certain injuri-
GUS criticisms of MacMahon made in
his presence, the Judge declining to &C
cept his deafness as sufficient excuse
for his not giving evidence in support
of prosecution.
The most reasonable deduction, 1T ap-
pears to us, that can be drawn from
these incidents is that the people who
can lodge such powers in their govern
ment as to enable it to bring about such
prosecutions and convictions have but
poor idea of the liberty Of person OF
the freedom of speech, which are the
very bulwarks Of republicanism. Ger
tainly, so long as they are possible in
France, republic there is an impossi-
bility, or at least so dangerous an ex-
pertinent as to justify a faithful
and patriotic ruler in course
which, among more democratic
people, could be designated only as
that of an ambitious usurper. It
is barely possible that MacMahon
may realize this fact, as Napoleon
claimed to have done before him, and
which he urged in extenuation Of his
course as contrasted with that Of Wash
ington, for whom he protested the most
extravagant admiration. However this
may be, it is very certain that liber-
ty Of speech and action is being mar
rowed to limits altogether inconsistent
with the safety Of Republican institu'
tions, and that the government in these
measures is doing all that it can do to
make Republic impossible.