Year: 1877




give to-day are rather hot shot from the re-
spective sides. In the tone and in the terms
Of Marshal MacMahon's denunciation OF his
opponents, for it is little else. it is obvious
how all differences Of political principle
have given place to mere party passion. All
the courtesy that is customary even
toward those with whom we differ,
within limits where it is possible
that either side may be animated by
good and patriotic motives, is swept
away in the fury OF rhetoric that is intended
to be vigorous and is only violent That
easy good temper which is scarcely to be
separated from faith in the strength OF our
I own position, that gracious tolerance for the
errors Of opponents whom we pity because
| they cannot see the right way rather than
hate because they will not pursue it-these
and other characteristics Of the conduct Of
conflicts in countries where party division
is an essential element of political vitality,
do not appear in the campaign in France.
But this campaign is only in a slight
degree exceptional in that respect. It
is but trife more intense in its





are always either utterly Indifferent
or terribly in. earnest and where
man is terribly in earnest in politics, and is
thoroughly satisfied that the view he holds
is right, it is difficult for him to conceive
that any but a villain can hold contrary
view. To make head against his opinion is
TO be not merely his opponent but his
enemy. He is laboring to save his country,
and the man who is laboring on the other
side must be laboring to ruin it. He can
see no further than this. Satisfied with this
view of the case, he does not endeavor to see
further, and he pursues this view with all
the fervor and intensity of his character
not merely to the vilifcation Of all who op-
pose, but to the use of the guillotine against
them where he has the power.


This mode of assuming that all opposi-
tion rests on base motives that the other
side is not only wrong, but wilfully and
wickedly SO, is characteristic, and explains
the great feature in the present canvass-the
assiduously repeated charge by the govern
ment that the republicans are animated by
all the bad impulses Of radicalism and that
if they obtain the upper hand society will
be in danger and order will perish unless
defended by the army. This is the signif-
canoe of his present document. All its
phrases are mere covers to the purpose
involved in the declaration about order,
which is an allegation and a charge that order
needs to be defended from the republicans.
Pour Pordre, Jen feponds," said the last Ma
poleon in a memorable crisis, and Marshal
MacMahon's opinions of imperial utter
ances Of that sort are such that he is not
ashamed to parody them. His assumption
of responsibility for order and peace
lacks, however, even the sombre dignity
possessed by the similar declaration from
Louis Napoleon, for the fact that order was
really in danger In the case in which he
proposed to maintain it gave significance to
his phrase. MacMahon's phrase is put
forth in pursuance of the passion of the
hour and the tactics Of the Ministry. which,
while not daring to plainly assert that any
class Of the people or any party threatens
revolt or resistance, desires to hold up as o
bugbear the fear that they do, and for that
purpose attempts, by the use of a phrase, to
assimilate the present period to one in
which revolt was imminent But the
result is ridiculous. For the President of
the Republic to vociferate through the land
that he will guarantee the preservation Of
order at o time when it is not threatened by
any person or persons whatever, does not
dismay the country, as he would desire,
of
and dispose it to rally to the side of the
political giant who promises safety and
peace On the contrary, it simply gives
pitiful notion of the Presidential intelli-
gence. People see through the shallow
ruse; or. if they have moments faith in it,
they wonder that o soldier should be
frightened at the echo of his own voice, for
all the disquiet is of his own raising


But whittier must all this violence lead
In case the republicans should carry the
country-still more if they should score an
overwhelming victory and, returning four
hundred Deputies, come into almost absolute
possession of the Legislative power--how
can the President descend with any grace
from the high horse on which he has been
capering in the electoral arena? He has
declared that the purposes of this party are
inimical to the quiet of the country; that its
victory and possession Of power are incon-
sistent with the preservation of order, and
moreover, that the preservation Of order
! is his especial function, and that it would
| be dishonorable and shameful for him to
abdicate his duty in that respect. Can
man who has identified his course with
declarations like this pursue policy of
mastery inactivity" toward those oppo-
nents? Can he afford to wait even until
they supply him with pretext against
them, especially as this might imperil his
position by showing to the country that the
republicans are as solicitous for order. tran
quillity and the prosperity of the nation as
- - Tbiu u,ould look vary like a rafraof