Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1881-02-26


July Ii occupies much the same place
In The heart of Frenchman ,ha. July
does in the heart OF an American. On
ths' memorable day the Bas,ile fell, and
It's fall was the rise Of liberty. II Is no py-
rotechnical extraraganee to say tha, on the
RUNS of tha, old prison was erected the
temple OF liberty for France and. largely,
fpr the world That was in 1889. La
Bastile was the political prison Of France
Behind its thick and simos; impenetra-
BILE walls, as we'll as in its dark and putrid
dungeons, had been buried many sere,
state, many victims of oppressive royalty
and despo:ism. That it was looked upon
as one of the most Objectionable monuments
to the true lovers Of liberty and indepenu-
ent thoughts is not to be wondered a,
Speaking OF the fall of the Ba54iie and the
French Declaration Of Rights Lafayette
said: May this great monument raised
to Liberty serve as lesson to the oppress-
or and All example 10 the oppressed. 4"
That prayer, worthy of the grand friend of
America in her hour OF sorest need, has
been more abundantly realized than could
have been anticipated then. 1t is pro-
foundly interesting to note the vicissitudes
through which Liberty has passed in reach
ing It's present high and secure position in
France. The good accomplished when La
| fayette wrote as above, was soon 10 be
| subverted, and the cause of justice put to
shame by the horrors of the Reign Of Ter
ror. Had it not been for that out break
| of frenzy, it is probable that the first Re
| public would have been as Stable as the
American Republic
II, In, 80
en- free sway to all their baser passions and
prosecuted numerically their work of ven.
geance with blood dripping hands; If they
had shown more conservatism and govern
ed without aid Of the guillotine ; in word,
If there had been no KObespierre threre
would have been no Napoleon. The cruel
| ties of the former made possible the des.
potism of the latter. The blood of the
guillot,ne was the seed of the wars which
devastated Europe under hlm who died a
St. Heiena-For more than half century
France had little occasion to celebrate July
14th, and for a greater part of that tim,
such celebration was looked upon by tn,
government as species Of treason. Blu
now France is Republic, with no reasor
to apprehend restoration Of either th'
Bourbons, the Oreanists, OF the Bonapart
lists. The French Republic is hardly les
secure than the American Republic. Tn
amnesty OF the Communists of the siege o
Paris period bespeaks the confidence Of th
Government itself, and the future is mol
ally certain to justify that confidence
There could be no grandcr sight thai this
of great nation foremost really, in a
Europe, establishing the principles Of Re
ruhlicanlsm in the midst Of eatre1 1che
despotism. France Is land of liberty anC
, not OF law at the expense of liberty. Til,
Republic may be called Il growth Of til
wilderness, but the French Republic ha
, to contend against the most dishearienin.
, obstacles. 1t was like trying to raise cor
in city TO develop republicanism in oil
: France. 1t took less than a decade I
! reach the degree of security in growt
here which required nearly century ther,
= MIR. Paine charged MIR. Burke, and II,
. without reason, with plying the plumag
= but forgetting the dying bird SO muc
more did he sorrow for Marie Antoinetl
than for the oppressed peopleE and Il
world has become accustomed to thin
more of the horrors of the French Kevt
\ luton than of its beneficence. But Il
glory of the latter vastly outshines the L
| rid flames OF the former.