Year: 1870




| We have also given our opinion on the general
question. We this morning publish additional
facts. The additional facts only go to show
that the situation was in every respect quite
as serious as we thought it was. 1t seems
from our latest news that barricades were
erected within a few squares OF the Palais
Royal and that even there the police, without
the aid of the military, were helpless. On all
the boulevards strong detachments of police
were stationed, with instructions to dispense
the crowds. Rioters have been arrested by
the hundred. 1t is said that some of the
rioters were wounded. 1t is added that not a
few were killed. What adds to the gravity Of
the situation is this, that the MarsesHaise yes
terday did not appear. It's editors had aided
the rioters, and in consequence they were
arrested. The Rappel, which was so
far in the same condemnation, had to
lament the arrest Of one Of its leading men.
So critical had affairs been on the evening of
Tuesday that the Ministers remained at the
headquarters of police all night According
to the latest news and in spite of all the
ominous signs the city was tranquil yesterday
evening and remained so at a late hour Of the
night. A sympathetic radical movement in
Marseilles, slight in effort, yet significant from
its coincidence, was put down by the police
Of that city.


1t is safe now, we think to say that another
dangerous crisis has passed over, and that
Louis Napoleon still remains master of the
situation. No one is so grateful for the fact
as Louis Napoleon himself. He is master
because all his friends, every one Of whom
owes him so much, have remained faithful.
But Rochefort has revealed a strength and
commanded an amount of sympathy which
have given the Emperor more sorrow than
comfort. 1t was the Emperor's conviction
that by giving Rochefort permission to return
to France and to take his place in the Corps
Legislatf he would kill him and all his friends.
He thought that he was so popular that he had
only to seem generous and magnanimous to
make an end of all that contemplate class that
mourned the death of Bandin, that read the
Lanter7sc and the MorseiVaise and that had
some affection for the Rappa. Facts have not
justified the Emperor's convictions. That he
has been generous and magnanimous no one can
deny; but in proportion as he has been the one
and the other SO has he made himself trouble
1t is undeniable that under the new system, so
far as it has been tested, the Emperor has
been losing at every step. Just as he has
allowed France to speak France has said we
will not have this man to rule over us. The
only seeming drawback to this judgment is
the unquestionable fact that both the Upper
have stood by the government and denounced
the disturbers OF the peace and the wonld-be
revolutionsts. In connection with this fact it
ought not to he forgotten that the present Par
Lament of France was elected under the an
cient regime. An honest and unrestrained
election now might show very different state
Of feeling. As it is, however, the Emperor
still remains master of the situation, and there
is no reason to doubt that master he will
remain.


AS we have said again and again, Napoleon
is master because the army is his humble and
obedient servant So long as he lives, so
long at least as he retains the use of his
faculties, he will retain his immense power
All the prominent men in the army, all the prom
inent men, in fact, who have power through
out France, whether in towns or villages are
the Emperors creatures. With him they
stand; with him they fall. So long as he is
himself they can be relied upon. They will
stand by him 80 long as he can stand by them.
But if the Emperor were to die tomorrow or
if he were to lose his faculties, as did George
the Third of England, where is the man
among all that crowd of sycophants who now
live and grow fat under his shadow who would
stand by him? In sentence we can say it,
and our Judgment amounts to this, that this
Rochefort affair proves that Napoleon's son
has not the shadow of chance to succeed
his father if his father is at an early day cut
off, The chances are just as much in favor of
the Count de Paris and little more in favor
OF republic.


1t is well to bear in mind that the age is
new. 1t is not the age Of the first Napoleon.
1t is not the age Of Louis Philippe. 1t is not
even the age which foated Louis Napoleon
first into the presidency and later into the
imperial throne. Railroads, telegraphs and
newspapers have been working hard during
these twenty years, and public opinion has
grown into dangerous fact. 1t is well for all
men to bear in mind that public opinion is now
ruling the world, and that it must rule it more
and more. Newspapers are now more potent
than dynasties. In ancient times mystery
ruled. In these times there is no mystery.
Men and nations think aloud; and this loud
thinking, echoed and re-echoed by the news
papers, makes an end Of all dynasties and of
all monopolies. When the present Napoleon's
work is done it will not be wonderful If the
peoples Of Europe have made up their minds
to dispense with the expensive toys which we
have been trained to call dynasties.


The LATE SToRM--PRINCE ARTHUR.