Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-06-27
from Our Regular Correspondent
Paris Letter,
PARIS, June 8, 1888.

Paris Letter,
PARIS, June 8, 1883.
frenchmen as rule are wofully ignor-
ant of foreign countries. There are,
however, some remarkable exceptions
Guiaot knew history well; De Tocqueville
studied America; Tame understands mod
ern life. The French journalist as rule.
however, is capable of saying everything.
and bis ordinary reader may be made to
believe anything. 1t is no wonder that
the foreign policy of a people SO led,
should be cratic and reckless. To paint
Prince Bismarck as he really is would
offend the just susceptbilitics of France.
He must be represented as still plotting
against the nation he only partially con-
quered. and intriguing against her at
every foreign court. French egotism also
nvents hostility and jealousy on the part
OF neighboring governments; they all
envy France, and would pull her down
from that pre-eminence which she still
enjoys in spite of her sufferings in 1871.
There is certain basis of fact in these
exaggerations. France is still great
power. She is central. rich, inh abited by
a versatile and vigorous race, and she
must be reckoned with in case of any
European war. But plans for partition
exists only in the heated brains of literary
Frenchmen. All Europe would rejoice if
it could be convinced that policy of
repose was finally accepted by France.
The arrangements and understandings
which in all likelihood have been outlined
Or Swallowed out by the great chancellor
are purely contingent. They will leap to
light only if France stirs beyond her pres
ent boundaries. and again appeals to the
God of battles. History explains their
existence. France was always aggressive,
and strong nation revived after a tre-
mendous and singing defeat is naturally
suspected of an intention to revindicate
her old prowess and reconquer her old
military fame. The wound left by Alsace
Lorraine torn off is still fresh. French
soldiers know their way across the Alps,
and cause for quarrel could any day be
discovered. The implied rather than
expressed reliance of Italy upon German
aid in case of a rupture, however, instead
of being provocation to war, is a plea for
peace. The linked array of armed men
nhip frop, ha north oil bo
eastern and southern frontier of France is
in itself grave warning and the line OF
battle it indicates may be the cause of a
long peace. 1t is isolation and weakness,
not alliance and strength, that tempt
ambitious powers. AS to the reconcilia-
ton of Italy and the pope, it has other
recon foundations beyond desire to
attack Fra nee. If the Tullerios were still
inhabited by most Christian king, or il
the sovereign could be called THE Eldest
Son Of the Church, it might be wise for
King Humbert 10 secure the friendship OF
the pope before going north. The repub.
lie is now distinctly hostile to the church
that the Vatican has every reason to
regard Italy as in comparison a political
friend. Were it not that 81. Peters chair
is surrounded by theological traditions of
an inelastic order. reconciliation on the
basis of accomplished facts' would be
easy enough. The Italians, who have
wisely become friends with the Austrians,
their hated oppressors of old are shrewd
enough to accept the alliance ofthe papacy
which owed its entire unpopularity to its
confederacy with the Tedeschi. After all
the church of Rome is Italian. The popes
for centuries have been of that nationality,
and so are the majority of the Cardinals to
this day The rancor AGAINST religion
itself that characterizes radicalism--
indeed, republicanism-in France. does
not pervade Italy to the same extent !;
for sensible Italians smiled at the wild
hatred of all priests that marked Garibaldi.
The traditions of the papaoy are not al,
opposed to Italian unity, as the history of
Leo X and the early eign of Pho Mono il
lus;rate. There is all the more reason for
reconciliation if the peninsula advances in
its democratic ideas, and extends the
suffrage. The mass of people are believ.
ers in the church, and can still be influ.
enced by the clergy. and the time may
come when the Quirinal and the Vatican
will have to unite against the republican,
who detest both.