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Leader (1850-1860), 12th February 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 20

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      212 The Leabeli. [Ffo. 464, February 12,...

      212 THE LEABEli . [ ffo . 464 , February 12 , 1859 /

      Original Correspondekce.. : ?—— . •¦ '

      ORIGINAL CORRESPONDEKCE . . : ?—— . •¦ '

      . Trance. : . {From Our Mancorrespondent...

      . TRANCE . : . { From our manCorrespondent . ' ) Paris , Thursday , &| p . m . napoleon nt . ex £ ' rrALiE . Events have followed in such quick succession since I last wrote , that what is barely a week Old is now antiquated and almost forgotten . Close on the Piedmontese marriage , which seemed to people here the consummation of a union against the peace of Europe , came the long-expected pamphlet , " NapoleonIII . et l'ltalie , " the joint-stock production of his Majesty and of M . le Vicomte de la GuerroniSre , Chancellor of State , and inspiring medium of the Patrie . Intended as an elaborate defence of the Bonaparte policy towards Italy ,, and having , besides , a twofold mission to fulfil—to convince Europe as well as France that aggressive wars would not be entered upon , and , at the same time , to satisfy Italians that a warlike demonstration would be made in their favour , it is not surprising that this last specimen

      of Napoleonic literature should be a failure . I mean a failure so far as regards ¦ its influence as a State document . As a mercantile speculation , it must have been eminently successful , for 25 , Q 0 O copies were sold the first day , on which the net profits must have been not less than 800 Z . With regard to the substance of the pamphlet , I fear it is oil an equality with previous literary productions by the same hand . Its form is a very different matter , and so far reflects credit upon one of the authors at least . But in ail other respects it is held to be most unsatisfactory—in short , a grievous blunder . The constant strain on the Imperial vision which has been maintained for the last tenyears has rendered the coup < Taiil less comprehensive and less accurate than formerly . He who spends his time in striving to look beyond the deep shadows that are falling thick and fast on France , may be excused if he falls into errors and deceits ; if he

      mistakes his solitudei for homage to his power , or fancies he has but to speak to find a ready echo on all sides . It is when the light of freedom breaks through the gloom that hesitation and : doubts occur * as owls are scared by sunlight . People abroad , probablj ' , are not able to do full justice to the difficulties and dangers of the throne here . It is based on universal suffrage , and served by theiagents of an alien power to whom feelings of home and family are . prohibited . A breath made it yesterday , and a breath may unmake it to-morrow . The Imperial regime no more than any other form of government has taken or can take permanent root in the country , but it is for the present the only one possible . Still , it can only

      exist on condition of satisfying the requirements of the priesthood , and of appearing to possess absolute control over the physical forces of the empire . On the one hand , the Government is obliged to make concessions to the priesthood , as well as great sacrifices , to maintain the reputation of France for being the eldest daughter of the Church . On the . other hand , it is compelled to pay deference to physical force , and to justify its title to be regarded as the offspring of revolution , the liberator of Europe , and the defender of oppressed nationalities . Hence the extraordinary compound of revolutionary and reactionary ideas which startle , vex , and dissatisfy the readers of the pamphlet . To conciliate the support and services of the clergy in France , the

      power and prestige of the Pope must not be diminished , tut to prevent the Liberal party from passing into open opposition , and to remove the causes which frenzy men into assassins , the Pope ' s Government must be reformed . Wherefore-the Governments of Italy are proposed to be federated under the presidence of the Pope ; once again the wearer of the fisherman ' s ring is to bo set above the wearers of crowns , and , in the eyes of the ignorant , be made to seem the chief sovereign of Italy . How long it would take to proceed from semblance to reality , each may judge for himself . To remove the . influences which goad tho Romans and populations of the Legations into desperation , and make assassination excusable in their eyes , the status quo in Rome must not be allowed to continue . Wherefore civil administration should bo secularised , the people

      I never before witnessed , all organs by which people could express their wishes declared against the folly and wickedness of plunging , into hostilities " which would necessitate the sacrifice of the treasures and soldiers of France , and of which no one could foretel the end . " From this unanimity the Presse is , of course , to be eisceptedi The Prince ; -whose wishes it represents , though past the age of illusions , would not hesitate , like another Paris , to sacrifice his native Troy for another Helen . - Moreover , the military ardour which burned so fiercely at the commencement of the Crimean campaign has again revived , and Horace Vernet has been asked if he would paint Prince Napoleon at the passage of the Ticino as pendant to the picture of the

      same illustrious general on the banks of the Alma . In presence of the unequivocally expressed determination of Prance not to incur the hostility of all Europe , and risk life , money , and position to procure a fresh subject for Horace Vernet ' s magic-pencil , and an additional pictorial illustration of the Prince ' s military virtues for the gallery in the Palais Royal , the pamphlet was a failure . The speech from the throne was looked for to compensate for the mistake and restore public confidence , which had been so rudely shaken . The speech was certainly intended to be sincerely pacific . But . as the necessity of speaking to Buncpmb is as great for the Emperor as for the American President , there was an additional dose of Bonapartesque tanfaronnade which , harmless as it would

      beat other times , is construed into evidence of offensive intentions . The hope that the apprehensions of Avar would be dissipated has been again disappointed . The reiteration that VEmpire d ' est la paix failed to produce the anticipated effect because it was preceded by a clumsy deceit—a pretence to . be innocent of the causes of the perturbation , which was " deplored" and called " surprising . " The great card of the English alliance was played without winning a trick , for it was neutralised by the assertion that " irritating remembrances of the past " and " national prejudices " still existed in France towards you , and had to be trampled under the heel of despotic power in order that the good understanding between the two powers might -not be interrupted ,

      leaving it to be inferred that the heel had but to be uplifted- — the strong personal authority of the Emperor to cease- — for these remembrances and prejudices : to destroy the alliance .. Some , people affect to see in these injudicious expressions a threat applied to England that it rests with the Emperor entirely to light up another war , and that nothing but his despotic will saves you from the eruption of French military ardour . Certes , if this be so—and I sincerely believe that hitherto the Emperor has done more than any one else to preserve , amicable relations between the two countries- —the alliance rests upon a very frail foundation , the life of one man—nay , on his condition of temper . Nor was it calculated to promote belief in the continuance of peace to declare and

      that the policy of France was to be still as officious meddling as previously . For that is what is taken to be , meant by the stilted declaration that " the interest of France is everywhere where there is a just and civilising cause to be promoted . " The allusions to Italy and Austria are regarded as of the least importance , although they ought to be of the first , for it is believed that they state no more than it is desired the public should know . .. Taken altogether , the speech is , perhaps , the most extraordinary that was ever delivered from the throne . It ia the defence of the Emperor before the bar of public opinion , the laboured protest of his innocence from nourishing guilty designs against his neighbours , and the ingenious excuse for his policy . Qui s ' excuse s accuse .

      M . JDE MOHNY ' s ADDttESS TO THE LEGISLATIVE BODY . AfESr the Emperor , M . de Morn } ' , par ncbile fratrum , was called upon to try Iris soothing powers upon the public . . This gentleman 'is believed to bo the instrument of Russian policy in Western Europe , and to bo hostile to the English alliance , from , not having been allowed to take so large a share as he wished in certain Belgian speculations in which ho was associated with some English capitalists . The reader' will remember that it was the Count do Morny who this time last year uttered such terrible menaces against England for " nourishing assassins in her bosom , " and lea tho -way for those insolent petitions to bo allowed to rush upon " your den and tear revolutionists from your culpable protection . " Since then M . de Morny has changed his tone . Ho now pipes the dulcet notes of peace . Rumour

      says that ho is not indisposed to bo associated with English capitalists in constructing ; the Algerian railways . It may bo that the remembrance of huge profits derived from tho St . Aubin iron-works and Orleans Railway has revived ; and as the old war-horso will to tho last obey tho sound of the trumpet , so will M . de Morny follow his instincts of " stag . " Last Tuesday , the day after tho speech from the throne , M . do Morny met tho assembly of uniformed pensioners , which ia by courtesy called the Legislative Body , As neither the Imperial pamphlet nor ( ho Imperial speech had produced tho offeot desired , the President of the Corps Ltfgisiatlf was instructed to crow peacefully on liis Cwn heap , or , if ho would roar , to roar in no fiercer notes than the turtlo-dovo . In justice to tho well-disciplined body over which tho Count presided , though } io spoke to thorn with cruel irony of " tlio efficacious and ronl irifliionoa

      should be represented in the discussion and examination of laws and expenditure ; local municipal councils should keep alivo public spirit ; tho administration of justice be reformed by tho introduction of tho Code Napoltfon ; and taxes bo levied on a more equitable system . But to , reconcile Popery with liberal government , to give the Popo a Parliament , is folt to bo an impossible anachronism . As well might one attempt to harness a car . t-borso team and locomotive to a . railway train . No people have a more lively sense of tho ridiculous than the French—none are more impatient under it : and they feel that if 41 Napple ' on III . ot l'ltallo" is taken in Europe as a fnltliful exponent of tho character and intelligence of tho JYonoh Government in tho last half of the nineteenth century , they must excite the contemptuous commiseration of the world .

      T « B EMPICROIt ' 8 BJPITOOU . Sad chough as the pamphlet is thought to bo as a State document , U \ q speech from the throne is to bo njoro impolitic and unwise . Ike public required to bo re-Aisurod against the ohnncoa of war . "With a unanimity

      The Constitution Reserved For Them," It ...

      the constitution reserved for them , " it should be stated that they were earnest in applause of every peacefu l sentiment , and allowed their wishes to carry them beyond the traditions . and instruction of the claque . When asked to meditate upon the Emperor ' s speech and . prove their gratitude for the Emperor ' s care of the honour of France ( how- strangely some" people prize what they neither possess " nor understand . ' ) , they gave the due measure of applause . But when the Count de Ikforny spoke of the Emperor ' s assertion that " peace was not to be broken save in the defence of national interests , " thereby rudely dispelling the delusion that France would interfere to

      establish Italian independence—that " peace was the chief wealth of modern society 7 ' —that ' * people ' s blood was not to be lightly spilled , and war was the last resort of offended honour " - ^ tbat " most difficulties may be overcome by peaceful arbitration" — -that " public opinion was omnipotent , to which Governments were obliged to defer , " the obstreperous and enthusiastic applause seemed to fill his Couritship with astonishment and . perplexity . Evidently in the copy of the speech from which he read , the " signs of applause " were not printed . When he paused for signs of approbation , as printed , there were none , and as he read hastily , he was interrupted , much to his dismay .

      The general conclusion is that there will be no war . It is currently reported that Austria has offered to ¦ w ithdraw her troops from the Legations , concurrently with the disappearance of French soldiers from Rome , thus removing the only cause for dispute , and effectually checkmating theturbnlent policy of the Emperor in Italy . Your readers will not fail to remark in the published accounts of the opening of the sessions , that whereas ia democratical and aristocratic England , -where the people are " enslaved , " the sovereign goes to meet the representatives of the nation ; - in imperially democratic France , where every man has a vote , the representatives of the nation are summoned to dance attendance in the palace of the sovereign .

      Geemant.. (From Our Own Correspondenly ....

      GEEMANT . . ( From our own CorrespondenLy . February 9 th r 1859 . There is nothing of interest to report in the proceedings of the Prussian Parliament . It would seem as if all were afraid of disturbing the delightful unanimity which the Prince Regent represented as being the glory of Prussia in the eyes of ah enviously admiring world . The Prince is liberal , his Ministers are liberal , and the delegates * for the far greater number , also liberal . What more do we want ? By maintaining our present masterly inactivity we form part of a grand phenomenon . We have our Regent ' s word for it ,. Besides , the budget which haa been laid before us proves that the finances are in a splendid condition , and there is no need of increased taxation—at least for the present . The political change

      in Prussia is beginning to produce a movement among the neighbouring states , as shown by the attempt made by the Hamburgers to reform their mediaeval constitution , as your readers were informed by your Special Correspondent . This large city , which has been , and still is , in constant intercourse with the most enlightened nations , and which holds within itself all the elements of freedom and truly enlightened self-government , is ruled by customs that belong entirely to the middle ages . That now , . for the first time since 1848 , n public spirited movement should be commenced , is evidence of the crushing influence of tho absolutist party that was carried into power by the . reactionary panic of the last ten years . This reform agitation in the old Hanse town is the most interesting subject at present , but I refrain from dilating upon it , as your Special Correspondent may perhaps go fully into it , I have , however , some connected

      observations to make upon another question with Hamburg . My attention has been directed to a loading article which appeared in tho Daily News ot February 1 st , in which some grave and hardly credible errors occur . From the stylo of tho article I should say it had boon originally written in tho Gorman language , and with the object of raising Hamburg at tho expense of a neighbour . If , however , it is tho production of an Englishman , I can only say lie has perhaps " tlio GIooko klingen gohort , und woiss nicht wo sio hiingt . " Kngnan papers often , and justly , ridicule tho errors , most ircquontly malicious , of foreigners with regard to luigUsu affairs , and a mistake , although committed by a loading English journal , ns in this instanco , not ill-monnt , wm be greedily Boteed upon to hold up tho English pross to ridicule . London journals more especially , having no inconsiderable influence upon tlio minds of thlHfcinff mon in Germany , oucht to bo particularly ^ oiiroiui

      when they pretend to state foots , for if ounu false in faots , they will bo considered falso in their luoaa . In the article alluded to , tho Daily News says ; -- *»» position of Hamburg is full of danger , for b 1 » o alone oi tho Hanso towns has boon able to resist tho pressure or tho roBt of Germany ,- employed to induce her *<> « btt ™ ° " thoso groat principles of free trade which , while tuay are part and parcel of !> or history and hor famo , also the object of tho unmitigated hostility of tho State * of tho Zollvoroln . " In another paragraph It isaj b "Of tho character of that policy and tho weight oltmu pressure OHudlne ? to tho efforts of tlio -2 ollvorcin States against tl < o freo trade of tho llanso towns ; , w «

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1859, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12021859/page/20/