The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-06-15
The French Crisis.


the resignation of the Republican ministry,
III consequence of the dictatorial letter of
President MacMahon to VI. Jules Simon,
of the 10th ult., the subsequent appointment
by the President of a ministry with the
Due De Broglie at its head, and the pro-
rogation of the assembly in order prevent
an inquiry into the motives of the Presi
dent for his hasty and unlocked for action,
which was about to be set on foot by NJ.
Gambetta, of the Left, and which for
time filed the minds of the friends of pop
ular government wi II grave apprehension
for the safety of the Republic, has some
( what subsidized, leaving the conspira,ors in
a quandary and ;be people defiant and con-
fidcnt of ultimate triumph.
The cause of the coup IL etat was the
iutrigues of the monarchists by whom
France is continually cursed, embracing
the several protlig ate brcods of Chambord-
ISIS, Orlcanists (Bourbons), and BonapaIt-
lists. The Bourbons, who are represented
by the Count de Chambord, who styles
himself Henri V, and the Orleansts, of
which faction the Count de Paris is the
bead, bad long been rivals, but some two
o. three years ago they entered into a.
compact by which ii was agreed that in
the event of the success of their united eff
forts to subvert the government. of the peo
pie and re-establish the monarchy, the
Count de Chambord, wko is considerably
advanced in years, would be King, with
the right of succession reserved to the
Count de Paris. Under this agreement
both of these factions have been plotting
i'll concert, and the letter of McMahon to
Simon is supposed to have been dictated
by the Due De Broglie, the arch couspira-
tor of the Right, or monarchial party, with
the view of paving the way for the mon
archy by precipitating the present crisis
before the coming elections would have
permanently established the Republic,
which they would most assuredly do if
they we're conducted by the municipal of
ficers of the naticn. Hence the necessity
in the minds ofthe conspirators of a change
of ministry and the consequent removal of
the obnoxious officials, to be followed by
the appointment i'll their stead of men
known to be in sympathy with their 1erNier
resort of defeating an honest expression of
the popular will at the ballot-box. The
desperate strait of their cause is seen in
the fimsy pretext set forth i'll MacMahOn's S
letter that Simon had failed to appose the
passage of the repeal of the press law of
1875, which was originally made at the in
stigaton of Prince Bismarck to gag the
French. 1t is possible, aud even probable,
too, that the crowned heads of Europe have
urged on the would-be usurpels Of the
French government.
France under the Republic has, since he
fall of Napoleon III, enjoyed greater pros
perity than she ever before knew. Not
only has she paid an enormous war indemni-
ty To Germany, but by judicious leg gslation,
which made her paper money legal tender
and her refusal to entertain the iGea of a
resumption of coin payments, she has accu-
mulated in her treasury over S400 600, 900
in specie, or four times the amount at pres
ent in the treasury of the United States,
which is OF course very tempting bait to
the avaricious minds Of the royal brood Of
, vipers who are plotting against her peace
and liberties. Once let the Republic have
successful experiment in France and the
force of its example will be so powerful
/ with the down-trodden slaves of monarchy
i'll Europe that the logical result will be a
revolution i'll politics, which will forever
wipe out those hereditary dynasties which
have lo1g been the bane of the old nations OF
Christendom. 1t is for this reason that the
monarchiesof Europe aid and encourage the
French pretenders, with the hope that on
the ruins of the Republic a monarchy may
be erected as a prop to their own tottering
thrones. But this hope is without founda
tion in fact, for in no country is the Re
publican sentiment stronger or more potent
than in France. The vutaries Of monarch y
may deluge the land in the blood of its cit
izens and achieve a temporary success, rs
they have done Oh several occasions within
the past century, but the will of the people
will at length triumph despite the machin
atoms of kingly usurpers, and the advo
Gates Of the DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS viii
be made to feel that the ''authority of the
temporal ruler depends upon the consent o
the governed" " aud not on any right in
herent in the individual by reason of roya
lineage, military prestige, or past service.
to the nation.
p. S. Since writing the above, the new.
from Paris indicates that the Bourbouist.
now suspect that MacMahon has all along
been acting in the interest of the young
J Napoleon aS the future ruler of France
and that his mother, the ex- Empress Eu
genie, is intriguing with the same end il
view.
Hon. HENRY S. MORT died at Milford