Year: 1877




popular sovereignty and representative gov
eminent; in the right and power OF the
nation the collective body Of the people
to exercise all the functions OF self-govern-
ment; in the political, not social, equality
of all the parts of the nation, and an op-
ponent of the very existence of privileged
classes and individuals, and, above all
things, an opponent to the barricade; II
necessary, of the notion or theory that the
nation can in any circumstance become
subject to the will of any individual who
may by the accidents of its history come to
the surface and drift into places of dignity
and trust This is what it means to be
republican in France just now. These are
political conceptions in accordance with the
intelligence and opinion of the age in which
we live; for the republican idea in France,
as in every other country, is the idea that
is in sympathy with the progress OF thought
that utterly casts aside as relics of barbarism
and miserable superstition all the formerly
accepted notions of the precedency OF
classes or families or Of hero worship or
priest worship.


AS against this political programme what
is presented by the opponents OF the Repub-
lie? Their theories are to be found in the
manifesto of Marshal MacMahon. Their
conceptions of the relation of government to
the people. their views of political justice, OF
equality, of right, of national sovereignty,
are all stated in the single name--Mac Ma
hon. He is the panacea for every evil, the
security against every danger, the assurance
of every hope, the guarantee of every right.
In this there is indicated, perhaps, some
poverty in political conceptions; but the
case was difficult. All opponents of the
Republic in France are friends Of privilege,
friends of pretenders, supporters and advo-
Gates of some one of the many schemes of
tyranny that propose to put the people
down and to put over them rulers and
keepers, imperial functionaries or royal
officers. AS the people are to decide the
issue at the polls these men dare not declare
their real opinions and purposes. That
would be to insure an overwhelming de-
feat. They dare not, moreover, say
that they would restore the imperial sys-
tenn, for that implies the Prince Imperial,
and would ALLEVIATE all the royalists. They
dare not say that they are for this or that
monarchy for to declare for one would
ALLEVIATE the friends of the other, and to de-
clare for either would exclude from their
predatory attempt all the sharpers, swim
dlers, adventurers and blackguards who
hope to thrive under the eagle. They dare
not for fear Of ridicule claim for their cause
even the virtues Of the republican system.


They are thus without any political
gospel whatever, and they fancy they adopt
safe programme in planting themselves
behind the Marshal President and putting
him forward as the personifcation of their
cause and their intentions. And what is
there in him to justify the nation in accept
ing party for which he alone vouches? He
is tenth rate soldier and twentieth rate
politician. In land that produced Moltke's
master one would scarcely expect to see
the national passion for glory dazzled by a
commander who, in utter want of military
capacity, led hundred thousand magnif-
cent soldiers at Sedan into the worst
,
and in the land of Talleyrand it is incon-
ceivable that people should accept as the
head of the political system man so want
ing in his perception Of the relations Of
things, or in his capacity to express himself,
that he appears to suppose he holds forty
millions of people in the hollow Of his hand.


1t is said that MacMahon is honest but
before any importance is attributed to a
mans honesty in such q case it should be
known that the man supposed to possess
this virtue can give it effect, that he has
intelligence enough to bring his honesty to
bear on the political issues of the hour
Around Marshal MacMahon there is a rare
circle of politicians, for whom, in view Of
their history, no one would claim the pos
session Of a virtue which they themselves
would esteem so little as honesty of pur-
pose in politics. The Due de Broglie and
M. de Fourtou are men who mean to rule;
men who intend that power in France shall
be retained in their own hands, or in the
hands of those whom they can control and
by whom their schemes and views shall be
deemed Of more consequence than all be-
Sides They do not care for the opinion OF
France. They regard the French people as
sheep to be driven to market or to the
slaughter and to be bought and sold and
otherwise dealt with in the transactions OF
men like themselves These men are not
honest, and in their hands Marshal Mac
Mahon is the simplest tool to be used in the
furtherance of their schemes. Of what
value is his honesty, therefore, even it he
is honest?


The Massnchusetts Republicans.