Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-27

and at the time of his accession was, there
fore, 81 years of age. He was true Bour'
bon. He had learned nothing, and was
strongly of the opinion that he held the
throne BY divine right, and that the sole
duty of his subjects was unquestionlng ooe-
dience The Chambers he regarded much
as Louis XIV had regarded the Parlia-
ments of Paris-useful for recording the
royal DEGREES, and, with some Limitations,
to be entrusted with the minor and disa-
greeable functions of government
A Reply From the Barricades.
Significant hints that the people were not
disposed to take the royal view of the mat
ter were given in the election riots of 1877,
but as these were suppressed, the King, foI
the moment startled, resumed courage and
determined to be king in fact as well as
in form. He began by appointing three OF
the most unpopular men in France to omces
in his .Cabinet-Polignac, living express
sion Of the Clerical party, Bourdonnaye, o
violent Royalist, and Bourmont, best known
to the people and the army as deserter
from the French camp at Waterloo.
The Assembly resented the appointments;
the King dissolved the Assembly, and In
the new elections, almost to q man, the
members of the opposition were returned.
The King believed that he had a great mis-
sion to perform; nothing less, in short, than
to stihe Liberalism and to establish his
Government on an exclusively religious
and monarchical basis. Even the most de-
voted of his Ministers saw the danger and
warned him of it, but with fatuity that
seems absolutely incredible, he refused to
listen, and on July 26, 1880, DEGREES we're
published by the official paper, which sup
he Of hn
the recent elections and arbitrarily estab-
lished an entirely new electoral system.
The answer came next day from the barrl-
cades; and by the night of the 28th all
Paris was in the hands of the Revolution
lists, and the King was besieged in his
palace Too late he discovered his mis-
take and wished to annul the obnoxious de-
creSs, but too much blood had been shed;
the King, fearing the fate of Louis XVI,
fed to Versailles, then from France, and a
provisional Government was at once estab-
lished-
Reign of the Two Louis.
Although raised to the throne by what
was practically a popular vote, the son of
Philippe Egalite could no more than his
predecessor forget that he was king in
the old sense of the word, and not g servant
of the people. Designated as the "Citizen
King" he was, nevertheless, extremely
unpopular after $780, and at various times
no less than seven different attempts were
made on his life by individual would-be
assassinS His throne was always un-
steady; but had he shown the prudence that
might have been expected from a man who
had before him the example of q father who
perished on the guillotine at the hands Of
an infpriated people, he might have re-
tanned power as long as he lived The
strange obliquity of mental vision, how
ever, sometimes seen in men of lofty posi-
tion, made him insensible to all signs of
coming trouble
The mutterings of the impending storm
were heard in 1S47 There were scandals
involving the members of the Government
Several men, prominent in political circles,
were accused of bribery; some were con-
victed and sentenced; others escaped. The
general spirit of unrest observed throughout
Europe at that time Vas active also in
France. The people began to clamor for
reform. A strong body in the National
Legislature favored compliance with the
popular will. The Citizen King stood
forth as the opponent of change. The spark
that lighted the fire was the prohibition of
grand reform banquet proposed for Feb
ruary q, 1S48 Revolutionary disorders
broke out, barricades were thrown up, the
TuilIeries ransacked, the prisons opened
and frightful disorders resulted
On February "a, three days after the ar
bitrary prohibition of the banquet, the
King abdicated in favor of his infant grand
son. The people refused to accept the in
fant and long regency; the King and his
advisers ESCAPED to England, and on Feb
ruary 26, less than a week after the pro-
posed banquet, Republic was proclaimed
from the steps of the Hotel de Vile. The
Republic was not at once established A
provisional Government was formed, which
meant a dozen real despots instead of
would-be arbitrary King, but the National
Assembly was called together, constitu-
tion patched up, and, on December 20,
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was pro-
claimed President Of the Republic of
France. This, the second Republic, over
whose destinies Louis was elected to pre-
side, lasted until 1852, when, by what Vic
tor Hugo calls great crime" the empire
was again proclaimed.
The Present French Republic.
The third Republic, the one now appar-
emily tottering to its 1all, like the first and
second, grew out of the corruptions of the
court. So long as Louis Napoleon was sue
cessful in his enterprises at home and
popular, but the failure of the scheme to
set up dependent empire in Mexico cast
the first cloud over his fortunes. His peo-
pie became restless, and, aware that crisis
was at hand, he sought to avert it by the
war with Prussia No sooner was this
begun than, to the astonishment of the
world, the whole military system of the
French collapsed in the most helpless man
ner possible
The shameful events of the war of 1901,
the manner in which the French armies
were separated in the field and beaten in
detail, the shutting up of Bazaine with his
great host within the Notifications of Metz,
the defeat and capture of the Emperor at
Sedan, the gallant but Intellectual defense
of Paris against the German armies, are all
matters of recent history. Stung by the
disgrace attending the conduct of the war,
the people of Paris demanded the deposit
tion of the Imperial dynasty The Republi-
can members OF the National Assembly
passed the decree of deposition on March
l, 1871, and, as usual in French history, a
provisional Government was formed to pre-
pare for another Republic. This was at
once confronted by the Commune with its
ideas OF anarchy, and the German armies on
the outskirts eff Paris witnessed the civil
strife going on between the troops of the
line and the soldiers of the Commune. The
insurrectlou against a revolution was finally
put down with a terrible outlay of blood
shed and the third Republic established on
what was supposed to be a firm and perma-
nent basis.
The first President. Thiers, elected Au-
gust 81, 1871, for the term OF seven years,
held his Office until May "a, 1873, then re-
signed. His successor, Marshal Mac
Mahon, was elected on the day of Thiers'
ratirarnapF and ba foo rasi1rad ha4o.o