The New York Herald Newspaper, February 25, 1876, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY ‘25, 1876.-TRIPLE SHEET. REPUBLIC. VS, MONARCHY Senor Castelar in the <As- sembly at Versailles. Pictures of Excitement and Coarse- ness in the Tribune. FAVRE AND THIERS. The Princes of the Blood In- voking Restoration. + De Broglie, D'Aumale, De Joinville and | | the express vote of the same partisans—even made the Count of Paris. Panis, Jan. 6, 1976. To tas Eprtor or tae Herarp:— In continuance of my letter of yesterday, it may be | said that the inconvenience of discussing the origin of | the first Senators named in order to form one of the branches of the legislative power was practically showa, and especially by the terrible mutual imprecations which were Ongendered thereby, possibility of constituting a majority of those who wish for arestoration and a return to the eld times, and those who long for tho reappearance of the imperial Power, or of those who wish for a return of the eclectic monarchy, pure ana simple, to be started at Frohsdorf by the grandson of Louis Philippe in favor of the grandson of Charle The greater part of this celebrated majority for the Ministry is said to be Bonapartists, but the Bona- | Ppartists declared by the mouth of the youthful Deputy, M. Raoul Duval, that at arecent session they had | united with the Left in order to substitute for the secret equivocal policy of the past few months tho | policy of open, free declaration; and when the Duc do Broglie, the chief of the party for an Orleanist restora- tion, hears this, wounded in his political pride, owing to the utter defeat he sustained during the late parlia- mentary contests, he mounts the tribune and says that the last coalition was so favorable to his enemies that he would not beable to present a series of common principles: as though the coalition represented and sus tained him; as if he would be permitted to present them ; as if it intended to act in favor of the monarchy, and as though he would not labor for the most unique monarehy possible, which, in order to have strength, | must be supported by him! For twenty years he hos combated this idea, being during this period in favor | of the Empire, aud his deciaration now 1s but | a piece of audacious self-contradiction, an an- tithesis of wll constitutional government, After the Duc had finished, one of nis young disciples “took the word” in tho tribune, and in a bombastic, melo- dramatic discourse, embellished with pretty but empty | Phrases, announced the ruin of Jerusalem, the begin- | ning of @ furious, unrestrained anarchy like that of | Medusa, incendiary revolution and many other such delightful topics, composed for the purpose of inspiring terror, But it was followed simply by open derision and prolonged laughter. Now it became necessary for the illustrious M. Picard, the Parisian mind par ezcel- lence—who is gifted with unequalled epigrammatic | talent, calm and sensible, a complete master of the French language—to ascend the platform, and, with the same acuteness which has always distinguished him, he took up aud dissected the previous speech by the | light ot bis tmmense parliamentary experience, It gave him pain, he said, to see the petty indignation of frustrated combinations and the lamentations of de- feated candidates dragged forth, even to the height of | the tribune. THR DEPUTIES IN STORMY SESSION. Up to this point the session had been a battle of epigrams; trom this to the end it was a battle of abuse, Several articles of the press law were dis- cussed and examined by Jules Favre with great legal acumen and censured with technical criticism. The Chamber having become a little tired of the previous incidents, fatigued by its own shouting, listened to the orator with quiet and respectful attention, ag a student would to nis professor. But it might easily be seen that Favre does not now hold and bas not in this Congress that predominant position he held under the Empire and in its Assembiics, The work of his hf is ended. The dictatorship born on the 2d of December has been broken down by its own errors and is no more, and now the genius of this great orator comes to expire at the feet of the tribune where, for the space of many years, it has been elevated asthe august personification of republican eloquence. For that reason, having already finished the principal mission of his existence, he enshrouds himself io pro- longed reserve and only drags himself forward occa- sionally in the debates. But, anyhow, we may safely give our assent to a law after ho has counselled it and judged it by his clear criticism; corrected or explained it with his mature experience. Treating it from his ex- tensive practice in legal matters, to which he owes his authority, he condemned the soyerity of the meas- are with the accomplices of the guilty men who sought to have it made a law. Well considered, it may be ad- mitted that some of these precautions, perhaps ex- treme, wore taken against the spread of libellous Bona- partist pamphicts; but they could prosecute them for these libels and pamphlets as being factious, as at- tempts to upset public order, as amenable crimes ‘egainst the general security. COARSENESS IN THE TRIBUNE, Order was complete; the calm absolute; nota rumor was heard; nothing occurred during the whole time sufficient to justify an exclamation, when suddenly. & young member from one of the benches near the Presi- dent arose, heated and discomposed, to protest against the language of the orator, and he did {tin such a way astocreate a frightful tumult, which required tho President.to employ all bis means of persuasion and all his instruments of authority, but without avail, to secure silence. Up rose Wallon, “the interrupter,” who seemed still to cling to the idea of looking after the imperial purple, Tho adjurations of the Left to prevent bis speaking being sustained by the appeals of the President, he arose in the tribune and Immediately gave an explanation to the Right In effect he said, with an exceptional gravity and with brevity, that the Bonapartist pamphlets wore principally devoted to combating the falsehoods of Jules Favre, But, being anxious to explain this piece of coarseness before retiring, he only succeeded in increasing and aggravating {t, like all those who aro ioexpert in saying a thing well. 1n the presence of such persistency the session was converted into a true free lance, and insults and abuse filled the air, thanks to the provocations of the sworn defenders of order, ‘The gist of all this is seen in the determination of the Empire and its partisans—a tenacious pledge—to elude ® responsibility that cannot be evaded, THR RESPONSIBILITY OF THE Wan, Taoless pledge! History and the human conscience have decreed their condemnation, and they will not be able to reopen the matser by such “sweating’’ of lead. everywhere the memory of attacks against independ- ence and the desire for fresh aggressions, A military monarchy in the midst of Europe, with victories ali- menting its pride and our suspicions, ft called forth the armaments of peaceful England and irritated the natural warrior, Prussia It was compromised by its origin and character in a series of military adventures, such as its dreams of conquests in the Crimea; fighting for the democracy | But it mare undeniably, | more clearly, demonstrates the moral ana material im- | | military party. | the bonor of the country. itself in the guise of a liberator peyond the Rhine as tt had done across the Alps and acquire the Rhine provinces as they had acquired those of Nice and Savoy. When this project of terrutorial aggrandize- ment, which bore its own condemnation, stumbled against insurmountable difficulties the Empire turned toward Iberty and loosely held the iron sceptre in band, as a ship that leaks all over floats its cargo about. But liberty withheld its hands and hastened to record that it could not accept its would-be assassin as an ally. IMPERIAL BLUNDER, Then the Empire turned to the two governing éle ments of its poticy—in the interior to the plébiscile, to ecclesiastical demagogues; in the exterior to war, to the demagogues of conquest; and without allies, because Russia distrusted it on account of its alliance with Eng- land, and England was suspicious pecause of its ox- pressed friendliness to Russia, because Austria remem- ered the campaign in Italy, and Italy the attacks at Monte-Rotondo and Mentana; without material means, because its army did not contain either the number or excellence which had been presupposed; and while its military administration was in a state of complete an- archy it launched into a dynastic war, excited by the flimsy pretoxt of an insult to its ambassador, which was never intended, causing an invasion of the national territory and despoiling the throne before Sedan by a captive in the hands of the enemy—in order that it should expiate in banishment its extended tyranny and its treacherous confiscation of the liberties and rights of @ great people, All the responsibility of the war and its consequences must fall upon the Empire, which conscience asserts to-day and history will repeat in the future. The imperialists clutch desperately to the opinion that after the battle of Sedan the war might have been ended by simply coding Strasburg and pay- ing 4,000,000, 000f., whereas, after the capture of Paris, they had to cede Metz, with Strasburg, and to pay 5,000,000,000f This is a SPRCIMEN OF THE FANCIVUL SormisMs with which the mind of this dwindling party treat the realities of fact and apply to the revelations of history. Everybody knows that as victory for France meant the forcible annexation of the Rhine provinces, governed according to the French administrative regimen, so victory for Prussia implied the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, still bearing the ancient seal of their Germanic origin. Every war arises and {s made with | groat armies, Every army includes and sustains a Every military party has naturally certain influence during the contests; and thus as the Emperor of victorious France was unable to resist the impositions of his military party, which demanded the annexations beyond the Rhine by force, so the Em- peror was unable to resist the requirements of Ger- many when she demanded tho unconditional annexa- tion of Alsace and Lorraine, There was in this exi- gency the double necessity of victory and defeat, follow- ing the turn which fortune takes. BISMARCK'S FIRST CLAIM. But there is in existence at this moment an incon- testable document, which proves with an inimitablo eloquence that Alsace and Lorraine were condemned to a sep. n from the mother country whenever the necessities of the war in Franve should so require, This document {s the official account ot the conversa. tion held immediately after the defeat, between tho Prime Minister of the King of Prussia and the Com- mander of the Imperial Army at Sedan, It says:—“In speaking to me of peace, Count Bistnarck said that Prussia had declared it her unalterable resolution to demand, not only the indemnity of four milliards of francs to pay for the cost of the war, but also the ces- sion of Alsace and Lorraine as a complete guarantee of security; because,” he added, ‘France would always menace us, and we must have as a solid defence an ad- vanced, secure line of strategy.” Yet those responsi- ble for the misfortunes of France; those that | brought them about, who attempted to save tho dynasty at the expense of its frontier, now cast in the face of their successors this tremendous Inheritance of misfortune; in the faco of the courage, of the sacrifices made, the herote rosis- tance maintained, the government of Paris sustained, with the army corps excited, that they should have saved something more precious than life or territory— I confess I could not hear this without expressing indignation at the tremendous injustice, And an imperialist throws this im the teeth of the Ministers: of National Defence, that they had neither been able to elude nor repair the blunders that could not be eluded and the irreparable errors of the Empire. JULES PAVRE DEFIANT, At this moment Favre recovered his old grandeur, Abused, calumniated, conspired against by the Bona- partists, [ thought I saw in the air the images of his historic enemies, and on recovering the lofty eloquence and stoicism he fought them right and left and thrust them, as it were, beneath im at the foot of the tribune He drew himself np to his full height, gazed around him with Olympian soberness, moved his lips with smiling, bitter disdain, and majestically and serencly crossed his arms to demonstrate that he could not be hurt by such odium nor tainted with their filth, He is pale, almost like marbie Upon . bis spacious forehead are the open wrinkles, occasioned by deep sorrow and painful events; his beard, Jong and gray, gives him the aspect of a monk or a penitent; the deep and melancholy eyes emit bright flashes of light that are like fulgura- tion worthy to accompany those of his severe and sober eloquence, and his figure possesses always, in harmony with his speech, an incomparable majesty, At first his yoice appears a little harsh, the tone not uniform. and a certain hiccough, with which he almost involuntarily cuts off the sentences, produce a disagree. able effect. But, apart from all these imperfections the exceeding warmth and loftiness of idea, the evapo- ration of noble sentiments in the fire of an eloquence that illuminates and inflames, the great artist abso- lutely enchains, by the tragic heat and Olympian majesty, thrusting forth his vindictive phrases like so many rays of piercing light His time has passed, his mission fulfilled, the destiny marked out for him by Providence is consummated, and in society as in nature the ripe perish and pass away after having accom- plished their end. The excitement of the time during which tho Empire wag destroyed, and that work of demolition completed, was also the time when by his superb genius it was buried beneath the accumulated ruins. But this de_ tracted from the strength of this Samson of speech. Tho fecting af having uprooted a tyranny, however, ougat to console him for the sorrow of not being gble to survive his strength and all his grandeur after thay providential ministry. We do not know that he will be regarded as Demosthenes, though he would have conquered Philip, We do not know that he will pass im the category of Cicero, because he would either bave finished Antony or fallen at his hands. When Mira- beau concluded his work, when he pulled down from its pedestal the Babylonic idol of absolute monarchy, ho stood above the crumbling fragments and died like a Titan, between those weighty robes formed by the fragments of the throne and that toga of shining ideas formed by the surpassing grandeur of the convention. Dead or alive, Jules Favre will forever be regarded as one of the greatest glories of France and one of the most {llustrious ornaments of our time, “A few phrases of classic simplicity, a few accents of sincere indigna- tion, a few truthful historical references were su‘licient to complete in that stormy session the tremendous cas, Ligation of the Empire, and to demonstrate in the clear- est light how holy liberty is always exalted, free {rom all stain or blot, THR ASSEMULY DEFENDED. Many have desired to calumnfate the Assemblies; | but there does not exist a government to-day that is Regimen of conquest by its very nature it revives | more worthy of man nor more healthful to society. In them speech reigns, and speech is the incarnation of the idea, and in the idea are the unique elements suf- ficiently powerful to conquer and contrast force. We have violence in Assemblies as we have tempests in | the air, preoccupations as in the evil world, conflicts as in every sphere of the universe, but we know of no | better means for directing nations, for making them illustrious, for teaching them dignity, for governing them by virtue of the mind, to elevate them into the and the Pontificate at the same time in Italy; planning | full possession of right, Much also (3 said of the cnai the expedition to Mexico in opposition to independence | ‘tnd tho Republic on the free continent of America. Then the annexation of Nice and oy in the South. east implied other and analogous annexations to the Northeast—and the rectification of the frontier beyond the Rhine aud machinations against the autonomy of Belgium—revealing the fact that the Empire can no more renounce tho idea of conquest than the tiger can Ue Induced to give up his flesh. Uniearned in the history and policy of its enemies, unsupported by its dipvomacy, deficient in knowledge of formidable Ger- many, it belioved that tho Germans of the interior would hate the Germans of the North, as the Italians hated the Austrians: that it would be able to present latans, of the sophists, of the men who delight in end- less argument, but they always disappear, fall to tho bottom as the heathen and end sndiy, The Agora closed, the tribune falls; speech is evap. orated; a conqueror compels one orator to commit, suicide; a pretorian plucks the tongue from another; | a Causar confines political debates to his own narrow algove, dragging them in their majesty from the foram ; A conquering warrior consummates the infamy of the Eighteenth Brumaire, and as human activity must have some source of exit, debates being prohibived, they fall to fighting. They no longer hear the clamor of argu- meat, bat the clash of arms, and after the lapse of a certain time there is added to the silenced consei the terror of invasion, paralysis of the understanding, irremediable death and dishonor, An Assembly should be deliberate in its conclusions, broad in controversy, inimical to superstition and error, and a slave, indeed, to the spirit and opinion of its time; but there should be no necessity for the human sacrifices, the consum- ing holocausts that every despotism necessitates and | demands. Thus true human grandeur is found united with Assemblies. Athens became illustrious through her Agora, Rome by her Senate, Florence by her Councils, England by her Parhament, Spain by her Cortes and munictpal guilds, America by her Congress, France, by her Assemblies and even Christianity, by its meetings, Whenever men meet together, therctore, to receive the inspiration of ideas and to exercise the divine art of speech they advance in mental power and clear- ness and breathe anew the spirit of civilization. PICTURR THIS ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES, which has been so often judged with severity—an As- sembly of reactionary sections, of clerical superstitions, of unexampled tenacity in opposing the political idea which every fact has imposed af hunting among the ruins for the spoliations of the past, with the view of vivifying and reconstructing them. Arising from these faults, these errors and weaknesses, is an Assembly which, by the strength of rational discussion, has established a firm government. On the very hour of its dissolution, at the present moment, in fact, it can look back to the past and recount with pride that it has liberated the national territory, paid an indemnity which was simply prodigious, established institutions representative of the modern spirit, restored the Daianves in the exchequer, improved the military ad- ministration, so counselled the French, who were greatly opposed to compulsory military service, until they went into’vamp as they would go to a féte aud sub- mitted with alacrity to the tedious duties of the army, maintained complete order and brought about te of prosperity almost without example. Such results are the worst that the Assembly has given, and their impor- tance increases when compared with the results that | might be obtained under the most favorable Empire. No, indeod, we ought not to forget the results of the Assembly at Versailles—nor even those of the Empire of Bonaparte—and especially that France has been, in all Political history, what the clinic is in medicine. Neither should France forget that the Empire gave hor a fallen tribune, an enslaved Parhament, continuous war, caused her humiliation in the New World, pro- duced horrible outbreaks, the rain of her treasury, the loss of her army, the dismemberment of her territory, terrors of defeat and the revolutionary incendiarism of tho Communo—all through the entreaties of those revo- lutionists, through the foolish Uptopian supporters of Casarism., M, THIERS AND THE GOVERNMENT. And here it may be said that M. Thiers has con- tributed most to the supreme end by the extraordinary clearness of bis intelligence and the purity of his won- derful patriotism. He is the real founder of the third French Republia. A monarchist all bis life, he would have preferred a government whose ideal is in England to that whose ideal was in America, But every effort made in France to put this idea In practice had been frustrated. The French people did not award to the monarchy that | religious respect awarded by the English, and the | kings of France did not maintain the same respect tor the constitution as the kings of England. Every French parliamentary monarchy has ended by subject- ing the will of the nation to a personal policy. And thus every generation of liberals has set aside the divers monarchies and substituted for them the Repub- lic. Absolutism became the result of this double exer- cise of monarchical power, and the fact that liberal opinion formed the Republic inspired M. Thiers, a man of deep penetration and observing talent, with an idea that soon became almost fixed in his tenacious convictions—that France could only save and fortify herself by the establishment of a conservative Repub- ic that should embrace all the necessary liberties, and beyond these necessary liberties a strong government, with all the essential attributes of power indispensable to an unembarrassed and regular Executive. From the moment that this tdea entered nis mind, which is gifted with an unrivalled shrewdness, M. Thiers applied himself to complete ana realize it, and labored with a disinterestedness 80 lofty anda constancy so thorough that it will be the eternat honor of his life. Republican of reason, as he says himself, he tent a hand to the alliance of the monarchy with Mberty, and went among the old republicans in order to sustain tho alliance of the liberal republic with order and authority, ‘The mobility of the French character, the ingratitude of the Assembly, the odium from his former friends the Orleanists, the displeasure and vindictiveness of tho imperialists, the imprudent rashness of the repub- | licans, preferred an obscure radical from Lyons to their Minister for Foreign Afairs. Parliamentary conspiracy carried intrigue for monarchical restora- | tions so far as to lead some to believe it possible to se- | cure a return of the old legitimacy. All these causes aided in depriving the government of official power, but ‘ecould not deprive him (Thiers) of his opinion; neither could they detract from the immense power and moral influence that his genius, which is eminently French in clearness and precision, exercised incontestibly over the mind of France. THE HABITS OF THR BX-PRESIDENT. He rarely goes to assist at the sessions of the | Assembly, because he has a horror of the climate of Versailles, because of the memories the old seat of royalty revives and of the vulgar Deputies who disre- gard his supreme authority and forget his illustrious sorviees. He never speaks in the tribune, but whenever it is necessary he gives his well considered vote with mathematical exactitude and juvenile vivacity. He starts from his houso in a carriage, drives im it to the door of the palace of the National Assombly, takes refuge in the library, looks over and reads the orations of Cicero, votes in his regular turn, and, having fulfilled his dutywretarns to the hotel of La Place | George, where he relates with an incredible grace all the incidents and most interesting details that may have occurred among the law makers of the deliberat- ing Assembiy. His enemies are constantly casting in his teeth the assertion that he preferred the Republic to the Monarchy simply to gratify personal ambition, and he replies to them, not with undignified speeches on the tranquillity of his conscience and on his exalted position, but with undentable, irrefragable facts, Even to-day, for instance, he could renew the demonstration of his popularity if he desired by obtaining any num- ber of votes and in so many departments that nis eleo- tion would almost be equal toa plébiscite, But, far from this, aware that such manifestations would be ate tributed to his vanity and would finally tend to injure the present President, he has renounced all the candi- datures but that for Belfort, a place preserved to the territory of France in the midst of ruins, like the remnants of a shipwreck, by his tact and patriotism. ‘Thus it was that . THE LEFT CENTRR, the group animated by the mind of Thiers, pub- lished an electoral manifesto, which cannot be called the programme of a parliamentary section, but the soul of French policy. It is well considered, broad, formulated with precision, written with a masterly hand in a natural, sensible style, founded on the solid basis of the majority which, for the welfare of the Re- public and of France, ought to meet in the next Par- liament, This section contains a few of the old republi- cans arid the majority of the Orleanists, who, seeing the impossibility of the monarchical system, gave in their adhesion to the conservative Repubiic, It is only nee- essary to mention Picard, Casimir Périer and Labou- laye, to see the two productive sources of this movement and the illustrious names that help to guide it, M. Bar. doux, who now presides over the Left Centre, is a man forty-four years of age, a Onished orator, expert in the science and practice of legislation, the defender of per- secuted liberal Journals during the Empire, celebrated for his speeches in the tribane, his knowledge of com- missions, the height of his intelligence and the warmth | of his affection for liberty and justice, Tho writer of the manifesto was M.’Laafrey, who, though a sworn enemy of the historic school of M, Thiers, has nevertheless been one of the most prom- | ment friends of his pohey. As Thiers contributed during the Monarchy to restore the Empire, so Lanfrey has contributed to destroy that legend and to demonstrate that the glories of liberty only are fecund and imperishable. In his own style, notable for its Spartan sobriety, wanting neither in | color nor warmth, he showed with great precision tne services rendered by the party—what it had done oy its prudence and available knowledge to plant the in- stitution of the Republic in the volcanic soil of France, | But it is recognized that this design was proclaimed so | 88 not to lose the support which the group of the repub- lican Left, presided over by M. Jules Simon, and the group of republican-union, beaded by M. Leon Gam- betta, had been known to lead. In those two democrats trained, consammate politicians, disposed to favor all (transactions tending to save the Republic, the new re- publicans moet with two intransigentes of the old school, who are willing to sacrifice everything before their reputations as “‘inflexibles’”’ and their popularity for agitation and clamor, Say they, France did not fall because the Assembly did not proclaim the Republic, They might well have said it was as much owing to the conversion of Thiers as to the consummate ability and profound political talent of Simon and Gambetta that this great nation has founded the republican in- stitutions and has entered by virtue thereol into their complete, pacific possession. RESTORATION AND THE PRINCES OF ‘‘BLOOD.’* The shade ot the monarchical restoration recedes further and further each day. Recently the Princes of Orleans published letters withdrawing their names from the contests for seats, both for the Senate and Assembly, This determination surprised everybody and gave rise to innumerable vagaries. Since the fall of the Empire the old princes of the blood have not ceased for a moment their conflict against those who brought upon France the death ot the monarchy. The Duc d’Aumale ensconces himself in Parliament and uses bis influence in favor of restoring monarehy. Tho Count de Paris went to Frohsdorff, prostrated himself before the chief of his family and made his unheard of proposition of reducing the legitimacy to a simple hereditary line and the continuance of its old traditions. There was a time when that double manm@uvre would have brought a resurrection of that monarchy and would have fomented revolutions and inflamed tho popular rage. Frustrated in this attempt by the love of Henry V. for the symbols of his dy- nasty, other tentatives followed, such as the Grand Council planned by the Duc de Broglie in order to make France, if possible, a Venetian republic and place at its head aprince of the blood. Broglie det layed and the Republic was proclaimed, but he has never ceased for a moment to act with the view of carrying out tho,Orieanist pledge of taking beneath his exclusive tutelage the new form of government and of directing and giving volition to the progress of democ- racy. To this end he made of the Ministry of Buffet A BROGLIN MINISTRY, supported by a majority composed of all the monarch- ical parties, That majority had already combined; compact laws appeared such as that on the election oy districts and the naming of the prefects, the symptoms of persistent regolutions beneath well defined pro- grammes, determined, clear, so as to revise the constitu- tional code at the right moment and hurl themselves with force against the definite establishment of the Re- public, when the crisis came on the subject of the life Sevators and crushed all their hopes, There being no possible hope of an immediate restoration, no promi- nent position open, not even the Presidency of the Senate, one of the correspondents of the London Times announces, with emphasis, that the Duc d’Aumale will present himself as a candidate for President of the Re- public at the end of the present incumbency, It can scarcely be imagined how great was the publie surprise on seeing that the Princes of Orleans were to retire from the political arena, as stated in thoir letters, and that they had decided to stand aloof entirely in the elections then forthcoming. The excitement was gen- eral; very numerous the comments and bitter the con- troversies, Everybody fancied that beneath this pre- text of resignation there was something of deeper im- portance observable, First one prince and then another, the DUC D’AUMALE AND THE DUC DE JOINVILLE, retired, and in doing so directed all kinds of invectives against the army, which they could never sustain, even to the rank and file, which was repulsive to everybody, considering how great the observance of the laws and tho respect for.discipling, It was reckless, too, in a document which records only the military character of the President, while om{tting that beyond this charac ter, lofty and resplendent, there was the one much higher, magisterial and civil—the stern direction of the Republic, the civil personification of the State, which the vote of the Assembly had ereoted and which was sanctioned with the nation’s plaudits. When the advanced journals come to treat the Pres!- dent with respect; when the extreme Left even im- poses absolute confidence in the security of the trust confided to the honorable and unimpeachable Mac- Mahon; when the friends of Thiers consent to forget their preferences and make out their programme over- looking the claims of MacMahon as general in con- sideration of the safety of the republican goverhment; when from all sides come symptoms demonstrating that authority, without a crown and sceptre, can obtain support such as former emperors and kings never could command—after all this it does not look well for princes, who should feel compelled by their high positions to observe great circumspection, to con- found suspicions ‘and excited fancies with apologies against the strength of the Executive that has been imposed by the people, which has received power for seven years. and only requires as assistant the majesty and serene, virtue of the laws, REPUBLIC V8, MONARCHY. Mach has beén said among us of Vhe inconveniences of the Republic, but nothing is said of the incon- ventences of the monarchy. .If on the one hand the Presidential elections tend to agitate the people fora moment, the claims of the princes on the other tend to agitate perpetually, What will the cost of the elections be compared with the cost of the wars of succession between ‘ Philippe of Bourbon and Charles of Austria, between Isabella IL and Carlos V., between Alfonso XII. and Carlos VII. ? Ifthe Republic has agitations.on account of Presidential olections, the monarchies had more for the princes of the blood, added to their dynasty of legitimate kings that other dynasty of princely, ambitious conspirators, To be persuaded of this evident truth we have only to read the history of the family of Orleans, Born near the throne, they in- hertted the deepest anxiety to possess it, aston of Orleans conspired against Louis XL, i agp of Or- 5 leans voted the death of Louis Louis Philippe of Orleans dethroned Charles X., ana Anthony of Orleans helped to ‘dethrone Isabella II, as it impelled by the fatality of his blood and of his race to complete itt Spain the same tragic destiny that had been begun in France, And all these tragedies are ex- plained by this:—The Orleans constitutea family of princes Joined to a family of kings, who, born within the shade of the throne, struggle on against the laws of majorities, through the pride and caprice of birth, without a following and withouta crown, The kings, in order to console these sons deprived of power, showered upon them enormous wealth. This wealth they generally employed either against their brethren or their superiors. Thus one of the places where the French Revolution was started was the Palais Royal, the rosidence of the Orleans, a veritable barricade, erected bebind the Tuileries, the residence of the Bourbons, And by another freak of this principle of hereditary right by which the execationer might now have been gathering his victims, the unique and legiti- mate successor of the house of Bourbon ts made the chief of the house of Orleans, The same things occur among us, After having spent two centuries fighting with the kings of France, the house Aastria relin- quishes the crown of Spain tothe kings of France. Ferdinand V, fought with Louis XIL and Charles VIIL ot France; Carlos V. fought with Francis I. of France; Philippe Ii. fought with Henry IL and Henry IV, of France; Philippe IIL fought with Louis XU. of Franco; Philippe IV. foughs with Lou's XLV. of Francs, and Carlos IL, the last of these Spanish kings, had to give up the crown of Spain to Philippe of France, THUS THR COMTE DR PARIS, greatgrandson of Philippe it6 and grandson of Louis Philippe, inherits all their characteristics, in- heritor also of the legitimacy, representative of that dethroned, guillotined family so calumniated by the Orleans. And he who has been the hero of liberty on American battle fields appears to give assent to the barbarous principle of caste touching the thrones of Europe. As though this principle should not fail for want of practice, the Duc d’Aumale comes with bis vaunted command in the army, his title of count, his party militant, in order to personify and represent either a republican monarchy, a monarchiwal republic, or some other hybrid that will satisfy the eternal as- pirations of tne princes for the first [een the high- est place in whe country. But it is impossible that they will succeed, simply because the princes tive upon the prestige of ‘the kings; and here, in addition to the natural repulsion that all republicans have for the va- rious representatives of the ancient dynasties, exists also the odium that these representatives cast upon each other, the mutual bitterness between these com- petitors, which are sufficient of themselves to discredit and overwhelm them. SOME MONARCHISTS recount with horror the usurpations of Bonaparte and the assassination of their favorite prince, the Duc @Enghien up as with intern in the fosse of the fortifications at Vincennes by the discharge of rifles Other monarch- ists maintain that the white flag of the Bourbons was the standard of invasion, of iniquitous war, of con- spiracies against the country, the winding sheet of the nation. - The first invoke the spectre of feudalism and theoeracy, the horror of the campaigns of the fleur de lis, The latter invoke the three days of July, the enormous hypocrisies, tho Orleanist Machiavelism, the war of Caines, the mischief charged to the Duchess de rivairies which tend to wound the royalists of every shade and, consequently, to annihilate all chances af @ return to the old monarchy. THE DUC D’AUDRIFRET-PASQUIER, President of the Assembly, reviewed all this in bis re- cent masterly speech on the political situation. Five years of Parliament bas been sufficient to repair, so far as they were capable of repair, the errors and crimes of twenty years of Empire. A constitutton has been voted, and by that constitation we were freed from anarchy and despotism. The new republican institutions have induced the most complete order and have brought to France a period of unexampled rity. The completion of the constitutional work may be safely contided to the loyalty of Marshal MacMabon, to the patriotism of bs mtd hema rome hogy w the eat eerie canton sot ta of universal sui of “Five vive blique’” bee arteva tu se to these solemn words, a cry that will resound in every conscience and inevery heart in the civilized world. France has “the word,”’ and enters into the élections May she exhibit to the world, with calmness and prudence, t! incontestable right of a government by the people maintained, without the necessity of crowned ti ators, in the “om of a well ordered dio on Re) os GEORGIANS NIGHTMARE. The Reign of Stupidity in the Empire State of the South. * GOVERNOR JEEMS MUNCHAUSEN SYITH His Elevation from Obscurity and His Probable Return. A FINANCIAL CHAOS. Artaxta, Fob, 19, 1876, Georgia, In this centennial year of our national ex- istence, ts {n a far worge condition than she has ever been since her first settlement Her farmers are rained, her merchants are embarrassed, her industry Paralyzed and her peopledispirited. Her crops for the Past two years have been almost total failures, and at the end of fifteen years of war, misrule, heroic perse- veranee and brave toil she stands witn nothing left her but a heritage of withered hopes which make the heart sick. However, her people are courageously at work trying to build up their shattered fortunes, They have abandoned the suicidal policy of planting all cot- ton and no corn, and we trust that their future will not be as dark and desolate as their past has been. The Legislature is now in Session and political excitement runs high. The people are stirred up, trying to fence against the diflcalties that environ them. Two ques- tions profoundly agitate them—one is the calling of constitutional convention, and the other who is or what is the Governor of Georgia? The constitutional convention will be called, and should be, as the neces- sities of the situation imperatively demand it, The Governorship of Georgia has been involved in great uncertainty until recently; but it has been finally and conclusively ascertained that it isa joint stock affair, and that she is afflicted with three Governors, who are called in their order Dr. J, F. Bozeman, Colonel P. W. Alexander and J. M. Smith, sometimes facetiously called Jeems Munchausen Smith, Esq. ‘THR THREE GOVERNORS. _ Dr. Bozeman is a fine old dapper gentleman, a dis- ciple of Esculapius and somewhat addicted to finance. Colonel Alexander is a newspaper mah, of local ce- lebrity, and during the war figured somewhat as a war correspondent. He is a clever gentieman of the old school, thoroughly in decay, and is, if ever man was, most emphatically a lost cause. Jcems Munchausen Smith, Esq., whom the people elected to fill that position, is one of those men who, unfortunately, figure too frequently in the world’s his- tory. He isa squarely built, compact man, betwe whose nether extremities and mother earth there ex- ists a most distressing intimacy. A view of His Ex, cellency as he promenades up and down the streets of Atlanta is the sublimest spectacle that ever greeted mortal gaze. We have seen that grand old hero, Lee, riding at the head of his victorious legions; we have seen the mighty Jackson charging at the head of his columns and bursting like a storm upon the hosts of the enemy; but the appearance of Governor Smith, as he goes to and from the Capitol, for pure, unmitigated, unprovoked and inexcusable grandeur far surpasses them all His Exceliency’s mere walk is overwhelm. ingly eloquent. He wears his hat in such a manner as expresses whole volumes of meaning, and he twirls his yellow hickory stick with a world-wide significance. His oratory corresponds with his personal appear- ance and is decidedly unique. When elected he was serenaded by his friends, and he responded in just such an oration as Demosthenes, with all his genius, could never have delivered. Says he:—‘feller citizens, we'll kyour these carpet-baggers of sucking eggs, you bet So furasI am consarned, I'd vote for the devil from hell, with brimstone in his pockets and his tail on fire, before I would for Grant.” (Intense amazement and disgust on the part of the hearers) How Jeems Munchausen Smith came to be Governor of Georgia is no mystery. Itis one of those accidents which are the curse of American politics and against which no experience, it seems, can guard. Inthe first place, Governor Smith ig a self-made man, a fact which the religious world will gladly learn, as it relieves the Almighty of a fear- ful responsibility. Then his ambition is inordinate and is equalled only by his matchless imbecility, He also belongs to that class of men who look as wise as a con- gregation of owls, but are in reality densely ignorant and phenomenally stupid. SMITH’S ADMINISTRATION A GIGANTIC BLUNDER. But chiefly he had for nearly sixty years lived in Georgia, during which time he had revelled in obscu- rity. When the State of Georgia passed under demo- cratic rule its people were confronted with many grave problems, for the succesful solution of which was re- quired the highest order of statesmanship, She had many highly gifted sons who wore thoroughly com. petent to the task. Yot in obedience to a cowardly and ultra-conservative feeling they were contemptuously thrust aside and Governor Smith was fished up out of the lowest deeps of obscurity, a man about whom nothing good or bad could be said, and who was unob- Jectionable simply because he was unknowo. The ‘usual result has followed. His administration has been a disastrous failure and a gigantic blunder. When the reins of government were placed in his hands new officers were to be ap- pointed, and a ring of plundering thieves, who under Bullock had preyed upon the vitals of the State and fattened upon the misfortunes and sorrows of the peo- ple, were tobe punished, The disordered finances of the Btate were to be regulated and Georgia restored to a sound and healthy prosperity. What has been the result? The people in many instances are not satisfied with his appointments, and especially the manner in which he has treated some worthy and distinguished gentlemen. As soon asthe Governor was elected ho rained a flood of promises all over the State, which of course was followed by a drought of performances. He sent for Herschel V. Johnson, ultimus Romanorum, a man whom the people of Georgia have always delighted to honor, for the express purpose of appointing nim one of the Ju of the Supreme Cour. Yet after having done so he appointed a man im his stead whose name was hi mentioned in connection with the office. It seems thot he invariably promised every man who applied to him, and disappointed every one nominating one who was hardly an the late Treasurer, Jobn Jones, was removed by two. prominent clilsens of this, State, applied two prominent citizens tale, ap) for een iaathapedreae hee out and make 4) which each of them PW. octrees invested largely in in Georgia, When Bul- Jock fled a raid was organized and made upon them. The Georgia National was and the pr ‘of Bullock, Blodget, Kimball, Hoyt, Harris Bod all the Test, amounting toa vast sum, no one knows how much, was sold and appropriated. Yet, strange to say, not adotlar of this money has ever (ound its way into the treasury of the Stato, THR PINANCRS OF GRORGIA ry that ever emanated from the brain of man. tt hus all the captivating lucidity of black mud, and ts as intelli- gible as would be the dissertations of a Hottentot on the Nebular hypothesis) Whoever desires to explore its mysteries must be content, like Milton’s Satan in his voyage through chaos, to “find his uncouth way through tbe palpabie obscure,” dimly appears that the State has lost $300,000, though by what means or by whom does not appear. @ Governor it to the late Treasurer, John Jones. Mr. Jones oe ae borne acharacter above 4 offence has been proven against bit " something more than the mere asseruicn of His Bxcel- tency to destroy the favorable opinion which the peo- Giareee ae ever entertained for mr. Jones. ‘he Governor in his Message admits that Mr. Jones nas executive warrants for a large portion of the deficit, and feebly attempts to destroy the effect of this poe A acne There are several qi ons rcibly suggest themselves, _ Porno porate — — al cing during the time, four years, in legee embezziements and irregularities in the ment of the Treasury were occurring? If the latare could discover them why could not the ernor, and why did he permit Mr. Jones to remain in office nearly twelve months after the turor was raised against him? Moreover, it Is currently reported by these who ought to know, many, that Henry Clews, the financial agent of the Stee under Bullock, and who as such agent had many of THR REDERMED BONDS OF THR STATS In his possession, wrote a letter to Governor Smith, telling him he would expose these bonds to public sale, and advised and urged him to send some N i Es i fie thers, were soli Of the redemption of dates, &c., no 1ecord wag kept and no notice given Mr. Jones by any one. After these thelr Bumpers, nted to ption. He consul with Gov _ redem| ernor Smit by pot vide and by his advice and consent they were Mr. Jones bas not as yet fully disclosed his de! X He has done so partially, and, so tar, it is remonall ene, The investigation hasbeen ez parte, and Mr. et 5 el das toe eee eA, ied bias ) det iin. The people of Georaten Bowe tani and favorably known Mr. Jones. He has been in life for many years, and up to the time of his alleged defalcation never be- traved a trust confided to him. In troubled and dan- gerous times Me ireg ayo pe of plun- derers, aad it ra parse by at that he will pass throu with: integrit % hed and honor untarnished. We balers hig cs fence will bury Governor Smith’s boasted reputation as ry guardian of the peoplo’s interest forever out of sight We do not charge corruption upon Governor Smith, He may be honest, and it may be that all the disasters that have overtaken the financial administration of the State are attributable solely to his want of ability. One thing at least is certain— THE NEGRO TROUBLES, ‘The other branches of His Exeelien tration, while they have not been as financial policy, have certainly beén readers will remember that in August last the whole country was stirred up over the su; existence of ® negro insurrection in Southern ja The true history of that insurrection has never been written, and we propose now to give it. A crazy negro wrote a foolish and threatening letter, which Some one trans- itted to His Excellency. imagination immediately took fire. Hi from afar. Being in a warlike mood he ealled out the military, donned his cocked ‘hat, girded-on his sword, and, like another Bobadil, marched to the sceno of action and swore by the foot of Pharaoh that the insur- rection must and should be put down. He went to "s administra Sandersville, Waynesborough and other places, where he found an excited people all up in armsover a foolish and baseless ramor. Instead of attempting to allay the excitement he could not resist the impulse to play the deinen, and he ed the multitude in a series of incendiary and ipilammatory speech: assumes great credit for oes he took in that affair; but it is time the people of the United States, and of Georgia in particular, should know that, had it not been for the good sense and wise patriotism of Herschel Y. Johnson, thousands of innocent negroes would have been massacred and the State plunged into all the horrors of an wsurrectionary war. As it was no one waa convicted. It was proved conclusively that there never was an insurrection or one thought of, and 80 this State escaped this great danger. Voltaire’ ipo burst of indignation, once exciaimed, ‘What must that le be whose god is amonkey?”’ Some people, in view of the deplorable state of affairs, may be tempted to propound a similar interrogatory, but they should not judge quickly or censure ly. The of Georgia are shrewd, enterprising and-bonest; and this can be said in their behalf—the fault is not theirs. At the time they placed their destinies under the control of Governor Smith his towering imbecility was not so ronounced in its character or aggrav: in its mani- Feotations, We admit that so long as Governor Smith is Governor no relief can be had; for has it not been written, ‘Against stupidity the very gods battle in vain?’ There is nothing ever to be hoped for from the childish tinkerings of ambitious mediocrity placed in positions of great responsibility. But at the next elec- tion the people of Georgia will kindly and gladly permit His Excellency to retire forever to the shades of pri. vate life, and they will pass again under the dominion of men of ability and genius. Then Georgia will re- ain her ancient supremacy as the Empire State of the Sum, and her people will be prosperous, contented and great as they were in the glorious days of old. The election of aSenator to succeed Senator Nor- wood is loom! |p into importance, As wonderful aa it may appear, Governor Smith is @ candidate. The force of impudence can no further There {s also 8 large crop of minor candidates. But itcan sately be predicted that the next Senator from this Stave will be either Herschel V. Johnson or Benjamin H. Hill, aa the embargo on brains has been forever 10 Georgia. SALE OF PAINTINGS. The oil paintings comprised in the collection ov Francis James were sold at the Leavitt Art Rooms, No, 817 Broadway, last evening, with the following results:—‘‘Horses,” ‘Cavalier’ and “Italian Water Carrier,” by Golofre, each $2; “Holy Family,’’ by Marco D’Oggione, $4;° “St. Marguerite,” after Carazzi, $2: “Venus,” by Casado, $16; ‘Maja and Orange Seller,” a picture about three feet by five, by “Lazcano,” $3; “St. Elizabeth,” $6; “Gypsey,” by Frances, $4; “Still Lifo,”” by Olanide, $35; “St. John,” after Velasquez, $2; “Troubadour,” by Valdi- vieso, $12 50; “Yard of the Four Nations,” by De Biow, $20; “Just Caught,” by Frances, $10; “Madon. na,” by Perrino, $170; “Cnrist and the Money Changers,” by Grecco, $1; ‘Female Head,” by Valdivieso, $4; copy after Rubens, $25; “The Banderillo,” by E. Sala, $750; “Death of Lucrece,” after Lebrun, $30; ‘Watching the Mas- querade,” by Perez Rubio, $4; “Evening on the Meuse,” a small painting by Jan Hilverdink, with frame, $100; “Interior of Stable,” by Van Lenerderk, $20; “Laat Will and Testament of Queen Isabella,” by Diaz Carreno, $17; “Madonna,” after Rizzi, $4; “Spanish Lady,” by Frances, $6; “Infant Josus and St. Jobn,’’ after Murill $h5 “Landscape,’? ry F. Anderson, $45; ‘‘The Fiagellation of Our Saviour,’” after Sebastiano ‘del Piombo, no bids; ‘A Foragi Party,” by M. Kollock, $32 50; ‘Landscape, by — William Magrath, 50; eo Opéra,” by the late J. 0, in- cluding frame; “The Garden of Lor ns, ; ‘Palm Trees in Valencia” Garner, $5. ‘Flowers,”” Md George Clare, $137 50; ‘Sheep,” b; Van Leverdo: ; “Madouna,”’ after Perugin bids; “Death LM idacese Wane Rasol "Bio; Mar shenes Market in Madrid,” by Pradilla, ” by Preyer, $35, with me; “Gran! 18, i $82 50, with the frame; “Conception ofthe Virgin, at Marillo, no bids; “Annual Festivity of the Bucenhauet in Venice,” by Canalletto, $110; ‘Summer Day in Con- necticut,” by Clinton Ogilveo, $55 with frame; “The Artist and Connoisseur,” by C. L.Cardon, $70; “Autumn pe,” by Julia’ H. with frame, $27; “a Sister's Care,” by P. P. Ryder, $190, on a ten by fifteen. inch canvas with but two Seuss ; “Scene in Rouen,” by T. Sandoro, “Market Scene in Madrid,” by Ke ste $50; “1 aie; a Riau 30," with ensett 3 * frame; “Green Market at The by A. Eversen, ‘Calish h,” after Baucher, “Quiet Aftern ‘an $70; a Stab! ‘an ia frame, Pe, $5; “Still Life,” \asca| wulean, $45; ‘On the Water,” by Shurtleff, H in Valencia,” by N. Serret, $25; “Hol ily,” atter Raphael, no bids e Scare Edward Gay, with frame, $22 50; » by 0. P. Rydor, $107 ree Frie! "a group of shee; tuck, $90; “Sunnie in the Adirondacks,” 26 bd ; “Autumn Scene,” by Casilear, $100; intry Road,” by De Blais, $80; copy ‘after Murillo, no bids; “St. Paul,” after Cajes, no “Antuma, ' landscape, by Chapin, $40; ‘Poul ith frame ‘Parent wil fn. Kaninj 20; Lan sett, $42 te wit frame; Magi,” $17 50; “Plight into Ej Von Le Hay Se tro lossal beads, by Sala, on ; two col each; Tet "hichael “Overcoming the Devil after $1; “Rebecca at the Well,” by’ Da $265 “Christ Bearing the ” no bids; ‘*Virgin,’’ by and David,” ‘by Tiepold, be sold to-morrow evening. CENTENNIAL PAINTINGS. HISTORICAL PAINTINGS FOR THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. ‘ ‘There are at present on exhibition at the Academy of Design in this city two paintings, by Mrs. Imogene Robinson Morrell, on historical subjects, destined to attract a good deal of atvention daring the Centennial ceiebration, for which they are intended. The pictures are named respectively, “The First Battle of tho Puri- tans” and “Washington Welcoming the Provision Trains.” The former represents the meeting of Miles Standish with the Indians, Pecksuot and Wattamat, de- scribed in Longfeilow’s “Courtship of Miles Standish.”” In the foreground stands the white captain, sword tm hand, and wearing his breastplate and helmet, with Hobomok, the interpreter, at his side. The two chiefs are stretched at Standish’s feet, one dead upon his leathern shield, the other convulsively grasping the earth with both bands tn his dying struggle. To the right are the wigwams “between the sea and the forest,” whose shade rests od them. Further back ‘at the left are the friends of Standish, with their cannon belching Cogent that = @ Behind the group = of 6 white men is seen distant sea Many of are expressive and the whole work ay be with minute attention to {vo arrangement of the figures. The other picture rep- resents ® scene on the Hudson near Newburg. Waren huh onlie waaer ee seat on splendid ebargers ie ler, 801 near shade ie trees, Over a bill a lit to the right coma wee rd drawn by slow labor in advance ot the mounted leaders is @ li wearing his hunting cos tume, and yet turtherona number of small boys are seen whose actions indicate a participation in the general joy. Their demonstrations naturally exceed the sober expressions of satisfaction on older faces, Wasnington is represented as in bis year, The ex) ‘jon on his face is that of Sean is officers seem congratulating bim om junate esca; from barassi1 privations, cont and coloring of the horses oe admirable e entire work is strikingly im) ve. Mra. aon theke Yo fora ” after voy te de i spent four years and a hi tures in Paris, where they were ap ES iy re whance thev me to be convened te es. Ho - yt