The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-08-05

When "the imperial nephew of his
uncle or Napoleon the Little" as
Victor Hugo CONTEMPORARY dubbed
him, was endeavoring to justify his
betrayal and murder of the second
French republic and his establishment
OF the second French empire, he sol
emily and falsely denied that the re-
stored empire meant war, but epigram-
matically and yehemently exclaimed,
THE empire is peacew
Colonel Roosevelt is not only both
voluminous writer and voluble speaker,
but is also an omnivorous reader.
Whether during any of his incursions
Louis Napoleon's famous speech to the
chamber of commerce of Bordeaux
Oct. o, 1S52-the speech containing the
imperial maxim just quoted-I do not
know; but, if he never perused that
remarkable grafton, he, by a strange
concentration of events and mental
processes, performed the most astound-
ing piece of paralleling both thought
and expression to be found in the an
nails of oratory.
In his speech before the National
League of Republican Clubs Colonel
Roosevelt earnestly enjoins his coun-
trymcn to remember that expansion
does not bring war; it ultimately
brings peace
'"The empire is peacew asseverates
the dreaming, scheming, ambitious son
of Hortense Expansion ultimately
brings peace" echoes the dreaming,
scheming, ambitious governor,colonel
of New York.
Two lovely berries, nodded on one
stem, the stem Of Imperialism; twin
statesmen reveling in iridescent
dreams of peace-peace to be obtained
by a quantum sufficit of throat cut
ting and bloodletting-the identical
sort of peace which reigned in War
saw on a memorable occasion and
which damned to everlasting fame"
the men who secured it by sword and
fire.
The Empire Is Blood.
Now, be it remembered that am not
accusing Colonel Roosevelt of plagiar-
iZing from Napoleon III. | would not,
even in the estimation of a hair, de-
tract from his just fame, but one of
two things is true-either he had read
Louis Napoleon's Bordeaux speech and
boldly appropriated or unconsciously
assimilated both his ideas and his Ian
guage or the exigencies of the case
DnncnNyplf N q
same argument in favor of his i'm
perialism as the French emperor used
in defense OF his imperialism.
1 like epgrams. 1.-THE empire is
peace" is splendid, sonorous, striking
sentence. 1t appeals to the magma
ton, it sootheS the troubled spirit, but
it was a lie when uttered by the willy
Frenchman. 1t is q lie today, and it
never can be the truth.
The entire history of Louis. Napo
]eon's tawdry, tinsel empire demon
strates the utter falseness and hollow
ness of his terse epigram, "The empire
is peace" It began in blood; it -four
ished in blood; it persisted in blood.
The coup detat, which gave it birth.
was one of the bloodiest and most mon
strous crimes recorded in the files Of
time and brought death, Imprisonment
and exile to nearly every Frenchman
of that generation at all worthy of re-
membrance.
Instead of bringing peace to France
the empire brought the unprecedented
humiliation of Metz and the awful ca
tastrophe Of Sedan. 1t sent Louis Ma
poleon himself to die an exile at CHS
elhurst and his son to die in South At
age Zulus under the cross of st. George
in the service of that country which
had Gagged the great Napoleon like
savage beast upon the sullen rock of
st. Helena.
That's the sort of peace which Louis
Napoleon's empire brought to France.
The Money Question.
We stand today on the money ques-
ton precisely where we stood four
years ago. Truth does not change to
falsehood in four short years. The
men who wrote the Chicago platform
nau the courage OF their CONVICTIONS,
and they have had no reason to change
their conclusions since.
Consequently at Kansas City we re-
adopted, not merely reafiirmed, but re-
adopted, the financial plank of the
Chicago platform in all it's integrity
and all it's force, in spite of all cajol-
ings, all threatenings and all tempta-
lions to do otherwise. From the bot
tom of my heart l rejoice that we did
so, for if we were right then we are
right now.
Individually have no doubt what
ever that, Notwithstanding the recent
unfriendly congressional legislation,
not only America but the whole world, |
will soon return to bimetallism under
an impulse of self preservation so
strong that it cannot be resisted.
The fact that the per capita volume
of circulation has increased in the last
three years grows out of the accident
that the balance of trade has been
in our favor, which
happy condition was and is purely