Tha Present State of France.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 95, 5 September 1871, Page 7

Tha Present State of France.

—I) I (Arrow Advocate.) For (he first time in a good many months j our Europe in news has come to hand ] without any harrowing accounts of war or civil strife, and there oven appears some [>ro:iiis-.i of well-established peace on the . rluropcui .-.'P.uiieut; at nil events, let us hj-)o intra -..U ho a very long interval, in Fr.iuco, the veteran statesman, M. Thiers, seems to h.ivo lost no time, on the re<estiiblishrnont of order, in facing tin.' aspect of affairs', ami has set vigorously to work ' to remedy them, Spite of the terrible re- 1 verses of fortune that have overtaken the people, and the national disasters under which the country must sillier, the resources of France would appear to be; quite unimpaired and as elastic as ever, and her power as a great wealth producing country only temporarily diminished. On a call by M. Thiers' Government for a loan of the enormous sum of one hundred millions sterling, more than twice the amount (or the whole of the indemnity to be paiil to Prussia, with something over) was offered in a single d iy ; thus showing not only that there was no lack of money in France, but that French and English capitalists felt quite sure that her liabilities would he ; met. Those prompt efforts to face the difficulties of her position, and to re-estab-lish properly-constituted authority, will do' more to revive the trade and commeice of the country than volumes of manifestos, and all the windy oratory of inflated democrats, who, while preaching freedom 'and universal brotherhood, only kindle the. i flame of revolution, and substitute for real ! liberty an unrestrained license to murder land destroy indiscriminately, without re- : gard of persons or property. We read <f proposals for the re establishment of the French monarchy, but in the person of a King only, the idea of another imperial ruler evidently finding no favour either with Government or people at present. There is, however, a very strong impresi sion in the minds of European .statesmen, and, for that matter, of many political thinkers in private life, who know something of the French national character, that a form of Government nearly' approaching an absolute monarchy, with ample powers secured to the Legislature, !is the only possible sjrt of control under which such a volatile anil excitable people can be kept within bounds. We believe it will yet be in in alined th it French Imperialism, under Napoleon I If., never had . a fair trial, lie O.ved his exalted position j quite as muc'i to that trait of the national j character uu ler which French ne:i catc'.i with avidity at an idea, however extravagant, si mpi v becu;se it is an ilea, as to i his own inherent talents, great as they are. He owed his own downfall to the same trait iu his own character ; for the latest de-; velopment of the " Idee Napoleon" was, that the bl tsphemous Yaiikeeism li al mighty people," if imported into the territory of the French peasantry, was the very thing that was wanted to enable him to subjugate the country to his own policy, rather than to shape his policy to tit the coun'ry. lie accordingly made and unmade ministries at his own absolute will, and silenced the obj -ctious of French statesmen, and the earnest remonstrances of men of the Thhrs stamp, by the device of the />.'eOw/7«, thus making the em bit tared multitu lea of the manufacturing t).vns, or the sample .and igmrant peasantry of th ! rural districts, a power in the. State, siper'i r even to the Legislature. Like another Frankenstein, he had thus raised a spectre; that spectre of The People, whim, when inv iked in revolutionary Fraii'vi, has indeed a dread significance. With grim deterniiuitioii and savage purpose, tired of pi tying at soldieis in the Champs de Mir*, and eager to find real work for the Ciiassopit and the mitrailleuse, th it spectre one woeful day pointed to War! and only too well the i hapless Monarch knew that the '• .Man of Destiny" must submit to Fate. To re- | main passive and conciliatory was to |U*o- ; voko the alie.natio i of the army, (in whose : ranks the dangerous leaven of disaffection • hid already shown itsilf in B'V'O ominous 1 "noes," deposited in the ballot urns,) and I thus precipitate the downfall of his throne l iu the streets of the c ipitnl. So the only i alternative was to meet certain death in the field of battle,—that, while resigning a Crown he could not save under any cir i.'iinutsm ,- es, he might purchase hi:; life at 'V ■. j..t of a IVw mmtlii' liberty.