New-York tribune., 1878-04-29

ried the Nation to the verge OF the
abyss, but not over it. Even when
the BOnapartists were clamorlDg 1or a
military as well as a civil coup detat, ana
| when NJ. Gambetta was condemned for deciar-
ing that whenever the millions OF electors
should pronounce their sovereign will the
President must 60 out or go under, the ne
pubbcans did not lose their heads. Ihey
scarcely stirred, but waited in silence until
they could vote The audacity OF this new
Polignac Cabinet excited rage and contempt
but did not kindle riot in the streets, nor
open way for anarchy. reaction and u Urpa-
| ton. Although the leader whose name was
an absolute guarantee of cOnciliaton ana MOD
Grafton fell dead in the heat of the canvass,
the general result of the elections was TIL
umpb for the moderate men on both sides.
! Since the Presidents surrender in December
the Republicans have used, but not abused their
| success. The principal measures which NJ. Du-
faure's Ministry has introduced, and which nave
been carried through the Senate owing to
break in the ranks of the Orleanists, have been
the COlportage Bill, by which the recurrence
of arbitrary proceedings against the press mas
been rendered impossible; the Amnesty Bill,
by which 5000 prosecutions have been sus-
pended and the State of Siege Bill, by which
a dangerous privilege has been regulated so
that martial law can only be decreed with the
direct sanction of the Chambers. While the
Republicans have secured themselves against
unconstitutional aggression, they have been
! too wise to irritate the Conservatives unnec-
| essariy. BY their patience during months OF
suspense, and by their moderation in the hour
of success, they have vindicated their right to
self-gOvernment.
That this triumph of self-possessOn and COM
mon sense is due in large part to the leadership
of that extraordinary organizer. Nj. Gambetta,
there is little doubt. M. Theirs, as he himself
confessed was an old disciple of the Monarchy
who practised Republicanism because he had
agreed to do it, and because he could do moth
ing else, inasmuch as he was convinced that
the masses were in favor of it; but be could
not dispel the apprehension that even under
constitution democracy might degenerate into
the Communism Of II, or, worse still, into the
Terrorism of '93. NJ. Gambetta has faith in the
progressive elements of Republicansm. With
the same untiring patience and flaming energy
which he displayed in organizing the peasants
in Orleans and making last stand against the
Germans, he has labOred to repress the dan
gerous tendencies of universal suffrage and to
establish the Republic upon the enduring
basis of constitutional law. If tie prejudices
of the rural population against the present
form of government are passing away, as is
indicated by the fact that last Fall the Republic
can vote was more evenly distributed between
city and country than in previous elections,
the result Is due to this mans political sagac
ity and remarkable talent for organization.
But the principles are larger than the man.
When Victor Iugo's Marius, after listening as
long as he could with selG-respect to the
sneers I'm which his associates vented their
hatred of Imperialism, strobe across the hoor
and pointed out Corsica on the map as an
island that had made France truly great, he
was met with the quiet response, " France is
great because she is France" So, too. 1t is
not NJ. Gambetta who has made Republicanism
in France truly great, but the genius ana the
good sense of the cause itself.
Our cOuntrymen who 60 to Paris this sum-
mer cannot do better than to study the political
conditions under which the new Worlds Far
Is held. 1t does not, like the Exhibition OF
1855, follow wanton outrage on peaceful
State-the establishment of the Second Empire
nor does il, like the Universal EXhloltlon OF
1867, gd the triumph of a crowned in
tIiguer, who after plundering his country
men of their liberties sought to amuse them,
and certainly to make them more comfortable, by
sprinkling the streets, opening new squares,
Strengthening the bOulevards and converting
the Bois de Boulogne into fairy garden. The
tinscl splcndor and eneryating pleasures OF the
Second Empire have passed away and the roots
of genuine Rcpublicanism have gone deep into
French soil. 1t is no longer a nation OF
children that will smile over Baron Hauss-
manns grandiose projects, without stopping to
count the cost or TO reason whether their
prosperity Is merely artiiicGl-a hollow make
believe. The new Exhibition comes at a time
when Frenchmen have put away childish
tbings-when they have learned to think and
act for themselves without losing their self
and