Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1878-05-17
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spare moments to consecutive
reading Of Victor Hugo's "LAnnee
Terrible,n the history of crime.
The strong dramatic impulses of
the man, his fondness for antith-
esis, fondness which runs almost
to the verge Of the finicky, his i'm
petuous apostrophes and fine fac
ulty of invective, make the book
study. No excess Of mannerlsm,
however, can divest Victor Hugo
Of the Intellectual energy and
virllity which, had 1t been divided
amongst two intellectual athletes,
would have caused the productions
Of each to be characterized by a
more correct taste but which would
have left both great men. We
think we have deduced several in
strctive lessons from the perusal Of
THE work, and we shall give our
readers the alternative of either
being interested or bored by our
moralizings.
France to-day presents most in
teresting spectacle. She has met
her peril and conquered it. For the
nrst time in her history brute force
has been encountered and has been
intimidated. For the first time in
her history the Republican ele.
ments, in the moment of triumph,
have shown moderation. To-day
the French Republic-confessedl
triumphant over absolutist In
trigues-is as contained, decorous
and modest as the Republic of the
United States. The old French en-.
thusiasm, instead of leaping the
channels of constitutional govern
ment and spreading over every
thing in a resistless flood, carrying
the wreck of matter and the crush
of worlds in its course, simply
shows its energized action by deep
ening and widening the bed. This
is q portent of most beneficent mo-
ment. When French Republicans
turn their backs on the guillotine,
and exhibit, in the moment of tri-
umph over their rulers, the mod
GRAFTON which the Wings show in
England when they replace the
Tories in the ministry. or the
Democrats will show in the
United States when Republican
is replaced by Democratic Presi-
dent, startling advance has been
made in that Republican propa-
ganda which aims to replace in
Europe the rule of Kings and EN-
perors by that of the people.
But TO return to Victor Hugo
and his History of a Crime"
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, with
the remorselessness of Nero,
trampled Republican institutions
under foot. He violated his SOL
emn oath. He caused blood to flow
like water, every drop of it inno-
cent and heroic, because it was
sacrificed In resisting usurpation
and in endeavoring to maintain
the sovereignty of the people. He
made his way to supreme power by
paths infinitely more objectiona-
BILE than those which carried Au-
gustus to the head of the Roman
Empire. Admitting that he was
cruel only to the point of accom-
plishing his purpose, his purpose
itself was unholy. He strangled
the French Republic, and his Ne
mesis was as surely at hand as it
was in the case of his great uncle.
Fraud for time appeared to go
along prosperously in France. An
era of Brummagem splendor set in.
Great advances were made in a
material sense, but fatal dry rot
was cankering at the heart of the
ejifice of fraud. The perpetrator
of the crime was restless. In far
deeper sense than was intended by
Shakespeare when he fabricated the
happy phrase, uneasy laid the
head that wore the crown of
France. While everything was
quiet and normal in the "pleasant
y land of France" it did not seem SO
to the fraudulent occupant of the
Tuileries. Relief from the gnaw-
ing canker must be sought in pro-
jects which hurled the legions of
that historic country against other
powers. In the incense of military
kglory oblivion was hoped for. 1t
was all in vain. One scheme bore
! in It's womb another. While an
everything Providence so managed
things that good grew out of evil,
notably the liberation of Italy, the
betrayer Of the French people was
none the less Fastening to his
doom. No man was ever surround
ed with a greater semblanee of
power than Napoleon Ill, unless
It was Napoleon I. When the latter
ct out for Moscow, at the begin
ming of the century, he no more
dreamed that his destiny was &C.
complished, and that retribution
was at hand. than did the third
Napoleon when he set out for Ber-
lin and pulled up at Wissembourg
and Sedan.
Tie only thing in this world that