The Duel Between France and GermanySumner, Charles
History
The Duel Between France and Germany
Sumner, Charles
Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871
"The Princess was struck with the greatness of the calamity. She
saw the kingdom without a sovereign, without an army, without
generals, without money, surrounded on every side by implacable
and victorious enemies; and her chief resource, in her present
distresses, were the hopes which she entertained of peace, and
even of assistance from the King of England." [Footnote: History
of England, (Oxford, 1826,) Ch. XXIX., Vol. IV. p. 51.]
Francis became the prisoner of Charles the Fifth, and was conveyed
to Madrid, where, after a year of captivity, he was at length
released, crying out, as he crossed the French frontier, "Behold
me King again!" [Footnote: Sismondi, Tom. XVI. p. 277. Martin,
Tom. VIII. p. 90.] Is not the fate of Louis Napoleon prefigured in
the exile and death of his royal predecessor John, rather than in
the return of Francis with his delighted cry?
LOUIS NAPOLEON.
The fall of Louis Napoleon is natural. It is hard to see how it
could be otherwise, so long as we continue to "assert eternal
Providence, And justify the ways of God to men." [Footnote:
Paradise Lost, Book I. 25-26.]
Had he remained successful to the end, and died peacefully on
the throne, his name would have been a perpetual encouragement to
dishonesty and crime. By treachery without parallel, breaking
repeated promises and his oath of office, he was able to trample
on the Republic. Taking his place in the National Assembly after
long exile, the adventurer made haste to declare exultation in
regaining his country and all his rights as citizen, with the
ejaculation, "The Republic has given me this happiness: let the
Republic receive my oath of gratitude, my oath of devotion!"--and
next he proclaimed that there was nobody to surpass him in
determined consecration "to the defence of order and to the
establishment of the Republic." [Footnote: Seance du 26 Septembre
1848: Moniteur, 27 Septembre.] Good words these. Then again, when
candidate for the Presidency, in a manifesto to the electors he
gave another pledge, announcing that he "would devote himself
altogether, without mental reservation, to the establishment of a
Republic, wise in its laws, honest in its intentions, great and
strong in its acts"; and he volunteered further words, binding him
in special loyalty, saying that he "should make it _a point of
honor_ to leave to his successor, at the end of four years,
power strengthened, liberty intact, real progress accomplished."
[Footnote: A ses Concitoyens: OEuvres, Tom. III. p. 25.] How these
plain and unequivocal engagements were openly broken you shall
see.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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