Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-04-07
THE Present TROUBLE IN FRANCE

The present situation in France may be
likened to the performance of great
drama, the curtain having fallen upon a
prologue that promises much to anexpectant
audience composed of nations. The radical
republicans have outlined certain reforms
and certain acts as imperatively necessary
to the life of the republic They insist
that agitation must be the means of pro-
erosion towards the highest possibilities OF
the country that this is to be accom-
plished by constant insistence upon and
the actual effectiveness of their reform
measures. They hold that the working
classes of the cities expect more liberty and
more enlarged opportunities to advance in
a republic than the present system affords
them, and becoming impatient of that, will
turn against and embrace the supposed OPP
portunities of communism, and any other
movement that promises much. These
radicals, therefore, of whom Clemenceau is
the chief orator, condemn the administra-
ton for passiveness and scout the idea of
quiet, preferring agitation which their
leaders declare to be 8" the safeguard of
liberty" On the other hand, all the sew
eral classes of opponents to republican
form of government point to present finan-
cial and industrial troubles as the result of
republican rule, and the metropolitan
masses, ever ready to accept conclusions of
that character as correctly deduced, per-
ceive only the existing government before
them, and charge upon it all their troubles,
as mobs always do, formobs are unreasoning.
NJ. Leon Say, the eminent economist,
voices the business view, and declares
that peace and prosperity will be best con-
served by finding new outlets for commerce,
but his counsels are vain SO long as
capital is kept out of the country by
cabinet reconstructions and political furore.
The laboring classes are, unhappily, in
want. Excessive building in Paris, be.
cause of which thousands of houses are
now unoccupied; foreign competition in
trade and undue investment, brought on
financial stringency, and the result was
cessation of many industries and the dis.
charge of a great number of workmen.
These now make riotous manifestations,
under the impression that they can
brighten the Government into measures
for their relief, and that will set the
wheels of industry in motion again. Cap
ital, alarmed, withdraws itself; the an.
archical elements seize the opportunity to
inlame the populace and exaggerate their
grievances. The rural population and the
middle class, who make up the conserva-
tive element, are mostly at heart republi-
cans, but they fear as much as they abhor
the Commune, and deprecate energetic &C.
ton, as likely to precipitate revolution.
These may be not inaptly termed the
utilitarians of the situation, whose stand
ard of motives and obligations is
measured by the comfort of France.
This conservative element insists, para.
doxical as it may Eeem, upon such non
aggressive and passively defensive attitude
on the part of the Government as will
protect material interests and prevent rev.
olution, but also upon such vigor of treat.
ment as will command respect and punish
offenders against the peace of the coun-
try. In this situation is involved
the secret scheming, in an undercurrent
of intrigue, of monsrchial agents and pre-.
tenders Of clerical and political factions
OF all who have revenges to accomplish and
ambition to crafty the frequent changes
in the Ministry the turbulence and in.
tolerance of the Chamber of Deputies the
stubborn dignity of the Senate, and
the timidity OF Cabinet and Executive,
varied by occasional manifestations of
energy directed against lawlessness. Such
condition of affairs is not calculated to
inspire confidence in the stability of exist.
ing French institutions 1t does not invite
capital, stimulate industry, or enable even
those public works to be carried on
deemed by the French SO necessary for the
employment of the laboring classes when
private industries fail. The $4,000 unem-
ployed workmen and the Is, 600 ruffians and
loafers who will not and never work, unite
and parade the streets crying for bread, but