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The Duel Between France and Germany

C >> Charles Sumner >> The Duel Between France and Germany







THE REPUBLIC.


In the abolition of the War System the will of the people must
become all-powerful, exalting the Republic to its just place as
the natural expression of citizenship. Napoleon has been credited
with the utterance at St. Helena of the prophecy, that "in fifty
years Europe would be Republican or Cossack." [Footnote: See the
_New York Times_ of August 11, 1870, where the reputed prophecy
is cited in these terms, in a letter of the 27th July from the
London correspondent of that journal, with remarks indicating
an expectation of its fulfilment in the results of the present war.]
This famous saying has been variously represented; but the
following are its original terms, as recorded at the time by Las
Cases, to whom it was addressed in conversation, and as
authenticated by the Commission appointed by Louis Napoleon for
the collection and publication of the matters now composing the
magnificent work entitled "Correspondance de Napoleon Ier":---

_"Dans Petat actuel des choses, avant dix ans_, toute
l'Europe peut etre cosaque, ou toute en republique."--LAS CASES,
_Memorial de Sainte-Hellene_, (Reimpression de 1823 et 1824,)
Tom. III. p. 111,--Journal, 18 Avril 1816. _Correspondence de
Napoleon I_, (Paris, 1858-69,) Tom. XXXIL p. 326.] Evidently
Europe will not be Cossack, unless the Cossack is already changed
to Republican,--as well may be, when it is known, that, since the
great act of Enfranchisement, in February, 1861, by which twenty-
three millions of serfs were raised to citizenship, with the right
to vote, fifteen thousand three hundred and fifty public schools
have been opened in Russia. A better than Napoleon, who saw
mankind with truer insight, Lafayette, has recorded a clearer
prophecy. At the foundation of the monument on Bunker Hill, on the
semi-centennial anniversary of the battle, 17th June, 1825, our
much-honored national guest gave this toast: "Bunker Hill, and the
holy resistance to oppression, which has already enfranchised the
American hemisphere. The next half-century Jubilee's toast shall
be,--To _Enfranchised Europe_."[Footnote: Columbian Centinel,
June 18, 1825.] The close of that half-century, already so
prolific, is at hand. Shall it behold the great Jubilee with all
its vastness of promise accomplished? Enfranchised Europe,
foretold by Lafayette, means not only the Republic for all, but
Peace for all; it means the United States of Europe, with the War
System abolished. Against that little faith through which so much
fails in life, I declare my unalterable conviction, that
"government of the people, by the people, and for the people"--
thus simply described by Abraham Lincoln [Footnote: Address at the
Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19,
1863: McPherson's Political History of the United States during
the Great Rebellion, p. 606.]--is a necessity of civilization, not
only because of that republican equality without distinction of
birth which it establishes, but for its assurance of permanent
peace. All privilege is usurpation, and, like Slavery, a state of
war, relieved only by truce, to be broken by the people in their
might. To the people alone can mankind look for the repose of
nations; but the Republic is the embodied people. All hail to the
Republic, equal guardian of all, and angel of peace!

Our own part is simple. It is, first, to keep out of war,--and,
next, to stand firm in those ideas which are the life of the
Republic. Peace is our supreme vocation. To this we are called. By
this we succeed. Our example is more than an army. But not on this
account can we be indifferent, when Human Rights are assailed or
republican institutions are in question. Garibaldi asks for a
"word," [Footnote: "The cause of Liberty in Italy needs the word
of the United States Government, which would be more powerful in
its behalf than that of any other."--Message to Mr. Sumner from
Caprera, May 24,1869.] that easiest expression of power. Strange
will it be, when that is not given. To the Republic, and to all
struggling for Human Rights, I give word, with heart on the lips.
Word and heart I give. Nor would I have my country forget at any
time, in the discharge of its transcendent duties, that, since the
rule of conduct and of honor is the same for nations as for
individuals, the greatest nation is that which does most for
Humanity.

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