The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1919-02-13
Some Lessons from History
WILLIAM +. FREELAND
France aHt L9ais RalOie1n.

DluE Oy tuG IeDN'I'u y VI ~ ih' ~
stroyed liberty in France aud mau,
himself empcr,r and Sole ruler Of The
county. Let US Sc something OF the
manner in which this chslp demagogue
this believer in democracy, this irienC
Of the peoples republic vo;k'd. We
have found him making fac spceche!
telling OF his love for the people ant
how he was devoting himself 10 theil
welfare. To have listened to his sweet
words was to think that heaven hac
sent him as tie seiiappointed man tr
save the world for The Democratic
Republic" that he had given such cs'
tentatious supper.
No sooner was he in power as pref
dent than he set about deliberately to
destroy the power Of the elected reprt
seutatives. He was determined tc
achieve his own ambitious designs.
Finally he deliberately adopted tie
policy Of acting a double life. With
his support the assembly passed a Law
curtaiing the voting population Ct
France. This cut out about one thud
of the voters, mostly the laboring ele'
ment. Remember this was done at
the instigation Of BoDaparte, This
hypocrite wished TO get lid Of the as
sembly and now on the second Of De-
cember 1851 he ordered it dissolved
claiming as his reason the Iaw limiting
suffrage. In other words he destroyed
the representatives Of the people for
having enacted law he desired and
supported. 1t was much as though
a president Of the United States should
quietly get bis party which were in
the majority in congress to pass a Law
and then by the power Of his hench
men drive congress from Washington
and rule solely by the power Of his
paid office holders and subsidized sold
iery.
It should not be thought that there
we're not Frenchmen who saw the dan
ger and warned France. Thiers had
shown the danger, but alas! his coun,
trymen did not heed. Too late they
saw ne had been wiser than they.
Years later France reaped the bitter
harvest OF her trusting when Bismarck
with contemptous scorn tore two Of hsl
fairest provinces from the nation and
took a foe Of FIVE billion francs. Aud
bitter tragedy, it was Theirs who
in the hour Of disaster had 10 strive tc
save France in so lar as it was humanly
possible from the result Of her folly il
trusting fair spoken demagogue.
There was some opposition TO the
usurpation Of the tyrant but he put it
down ruthlessly. This man who loved
the people had his hirelings shoot
them down by the hundreds in c3ld
blood merely because they venturcd
10 cheer the republic and the consli'
tuition. It is said that in Paris alone
twenty six thousand persons were ar
rested merely for the crime Of not kis-
aing the feet Of the man who bad be.
trayed them. Women walkii hcme
in the darkness thought it had rained
because the stresls were slippery and
found that they were walking in blood
The fervid genius Of Victor Hugo has
portrayed this betrayal in language So
iorcelul, so luli Of grim irony sDd scolr
that ! Sish tvcrv American voter
might read it and r,fl:ct upon the iale
that came to a nation that trusted to
the fair speeches Of man who had a
iorked tongue.
With an absurdity that would have
been humorous il 1t had not been so
tragic Bonaparte now proposed to ap-
peal to the people to iatiiy his de.
struction Of the republic. Still he was
the insincere autocrat posing before
the people as a democrat. The elec
ton was called. Bonaparie had the
army, the election officials, the count
ers and the ballots. When his friends
figured bp the returns he had a ma
jority OF ten 10 one. His machine Fad
moved efficiently but his managers