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Leader (1850-1860), 15th November 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 6, 1082 «!) * Heaim% [Saturday ,

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      Mil. O'Connor And T1ik Kossuth Demonstra...

      " November 13 , 1851 . "Dear Sin , —I am much obliged to you for your manly and direct appeal . lam aware that my conduct has undergone the usual fate attending public men . Perhaps the working classes have begun to show a confidence in me which may be regarded as inconvenient by some who dislike any competitor for popular favour . If such persons there are , they may lay aside their fears : I compete with ho man . In dealing with any man , or any party , I act solely for the specified objects in view , ¦ without regard to other objects or other persons .

      " I have made it a rule in private life , and I intend to adhere to the same rule in public , never to defend myself , I will give you my reasons for that rule . My conduct is always dictated either by my sense of what is right and reasonable , or by my own inclination ; but in either case it is very idle for a man to expect that others will adopt his judgment as their own ; yet , to defend yourself is to attempt to persuade others into adopting your own view of your conduct . I desire to leave the judgment of others free : I have seldom much deference for an opinion opposed to my own resolve already formed , and have no value for any approval that is not perfectly spontaneous . The most that I can do , if it is needed , is to inform others what my conduct has been .

      "As the newspaper to which you refer never falls within the range of my reading , I do not know what may be its claims to the confidence of the working classes . If there are any men who have formed a judgment on the statement of one side , I have no desire to gain their judgment over to my side : it can scarcely be worth having . But I can never withold information from one who makes so frank an appeal as you do , in so excellent a spirit . at to state all that

      " I do not consider myself liberty passed in the preliminary arrangements of the Kossuth demonstration ; and as I withhold some particulars , I am quite willing to remain under the responsibility from ¦ which the statement of those particulars would exonerate me . I will add that , even if I could obtain licence to state those particulars , I do not think it worth while to do so . I will give you quite materials enough for making your own judgment , and have not the slightest wish to conciliate' a verdict .

      " I was made aware that , if Mr . Feargus O Connor were to take a recognized or prominent part in the demonstration organized by the Central Committee , M . Kossuth would not accord us his presence . I heartily agreed in the propriety of that determination on the part of M . Kossuih . I refer you to the reports in the papers for what passed at Southampton to warrant the reluctance to act on the same ground with Mr . Feargus O'Connor . I refer you to language uttered by Mr . O'Connor at the Kossuih meetings in Finsbury ani in the South Londonhall—detailed allusions to the person of the Sovereign against which the person of any woman , ought to be sacred . I refer you to the conduct of Mr . O'Connor at the Highbury-barn banquet—his placing a chair on the table and sitting there , and passing his arms round M . Louis Blanc . Those public facts , in my estimation , are sufficient to show that he does not retain sufficient

      selfcontroul to t . ke part in proceedings of a public and formal nature . M . Kossuth did not require Mr . O'Connor ' s exclusion from the room , and I never said that he did . M . Kossuth dictated no details nor particular arrangements . It was for sucli reasons as those which I have indicated , that I invited the committee to consider the mode in which we could secure the decorum of the proceedings , in a manner the least vexatious to the individual , but effective for the purpose . The deliberation of the committee ultimately led to the plan adopted , —

      that of admitting only those to whom tickets had been given , by name . The committee took that course unanimously . On the Monday , to avoid a disturbance which might have marred , though it could not have defeated , the glorious demonstration of that day , I took upon myself to depart from the orders of the committee , a : id to admit Mr . O'Connor , on the promise which he gave , and in which a friend of his joined , that he should take no part in the proceedings . The committee have since adopted a resolution approving of my conduct at Copenliti" en-house .

      " Such are the facts . I will add to the naked statement but a few observations . I have been told by more than one leader of the political party to winch Mr . Feargus O'Connor belongs , that what was done wasri ^ ht in itself , but that it ought to have been done ' under the rose , ' privately . 1 object to doing things under the rose ; I decline , for my own part , to proceed in any but a perfectly open and direct manner . 1 have been told that ' you cannot act ho , to mich a man ; ' and that the conduct which » eeins to me no objectionable must be tolerated for the sake of the past . 1 do not understand how any man can acquire a vested right to assist in public proceedings one instant after his assistance , in useful . I have no personal feeling in the matter . Mr . O'Connor is not uiiKJiiLr my personal friends , I have no auHOciatious

      that bind me to him . 1 have defended him from chaigeH connected with bis land scheme ; I have recognized the heartiness of his public service ; I never thought him otherwise than a foolish man , detrimental to the popular cause , it ia nowpainful to witness that which bis friends insist upon his right to keep before the public ; and 1 do not understand how any lnim of good feeling , to Hay nothing of democratic opinion , can recognize mich a right . Secure the comfort of an old public servant in every possible way , —let bis friends exert . themselves in that behalf , and strangers will help them , even theme who have formerly refused to admit , that Imh HervicrH were of the bent . Hut 1 deny the right of any man to be recognized aa a public Her van t , au instant aifter he ceases to be useful .

      " I do not understand this murmur of personal coii-BiderationB which I hear around me . I deal only with the body of the working cIhhhch ; 1 avow my opinions , in ( economy , in politicH , in religion , without reserve or uuiilillcation ; if my countrymen of the working oIubb

      think me useful , they will trust me so long as my actions are of an useful kind ; if they thine otherwise , they will leave me . I have to thank them , indeed , for many tokens of personal confidence ; I have formed among them many personal friendships which will outlast any turns of fortune ; but the tenure of public confidence must rest on a sterner rule than personal regard . If I am thought harsh in my view , I do not wish to be thought otherwise . The interests of the people have been played with too long . I will not join in the game . Usefulness to the public , advancement of public objects—those are the only things which I regard . As I have done in the past , I shall continue to do in the future—I hope with more efficiency as mutual experience enables my political friends and myself to understand each other more thoroughly . " Again , my dear Sir , let me thank you for the kind and manly directress of your appeal . " Yours , most sincerely , Thornton Hunt . "

      1082 «!) * Heaim% [Saturday ,

      1082 «!) * Heaim % [ Saturday ,

      Kossuth Demonstration Committee. The Sub...

      KOSSUTH DEMONSTRATION COMMITTEE . The subjoined resolution was passed at a meeting of the Kossuth Demonstration Committee on Thursday night . " That , a question having been raised respecting the proceedings at Copenhagen-house on the 3 rd instant , the following statement of facts be recorded , and forwarded to the newspapers . " The sole object of the Committee in the arrangements for Monday , the 3 rd instant , was to make the demonstration as effective , and therefore as orderly , as possible . " The Committee knew that Mr . O'Connor ' s conduct could not be relied upon ; as his behaviour on previous and recent occasions proved that his actions were not under his own control .

      " The Committee had had assurances that M . Kossuth objected to receiving an address if Mr . Feargus O'Connor took part in the proceedings , and the Committee made their arrangements accordingly . 41 On the 10 th instant the Committee passed a resolution approving of the conduct of the Chairman on the 3 rd instant " A . E . Delaforce , Financial Secretary . "

      Continental Notes. The Majority, "By The...

      CONTINENTAL NOTES . The majority , "by the mouth , of their reporter , M . N . Daru , have rejected the proposition for the repeal of the law of the 31 st of May . The tenor of this sophistical apology for a law of enmity and provocation may be judged from one sentence , which affirms that " Universal Suffrage consists in the generality of those in whom the law recognizes the capacity of electors " ; in other words , ihat a great principle is to be interpreted according to the whim of a reactionist majority , by an ex post facto expedient , and that an article of the Constitution , the law of laws , may be set aside by a measure of exceptional rancour , under the subterfuge of ? noralizalion . The report states that no measure has contributed more to the cause of order than the limitation of the suffrage ; that it was a law of morality ; that it excludes from the ballot none but houseless vagabonds or criminals , so that we are to believe that 3 , 200 , 000 of the population of France are in one or other of these

      categories . If it has done so much for the cause of " Order , " how ia it that every succeeding Ministry lias adopted a severer policy of compression , and has resorted to acts of the most arbitrary violence on the plea of the " public safety "; that nine departments are in a state of siege ; the ordinary tribunals superseded ; the whole country a network of police spies and gendarmerie ; every kind of liberty suspended ; Paris garrisoned by an army of occupation ; and , in line , the actual situation of affuirs more revolutionary and more threatening than we have seen since- December ' 48 ? The truth

      remains that the law of the 31 st of May , intended to be a reply of the Parliamentary reactionist majority to the Electoral republican majority who had returned three Socialist candidates for Paris , was a revolutionary act ; an act of defiance , an appeal from r ' ujht to force . The hesitation and inconsistency of the majority in this emergency which their own blind obstinacy , as well us the President ' s initiative , and the reserve of the Republican party , has created , appear in a shy and furtive promise of modifications : —of " ameliorations , which justice may recommend and experience Khali have indicated . " Under cover of t . hene

      luntdiorutions do the majority think to reserve the chance of a ptudent retreat , without loss of dignity ? The report says , that to consent to complete abrogation would be a guilty weakness ; to sacrifice the guarantei ; of a three years' residence would be equivalent toahiogation . It , therefore , concludes for the maintenance of tlir > principle , reserving the possibility of introducing lnoditieution . s through the nowcoiumunul law . All the weakness of a cap itulation with all the perils of obstinacy : such is this report . The Republican opposition accepts of nothing less than entire restoration oi" universal HiifPrage . The Message of the President deprives the law of limited suffrage , of all moral force , of all possibility of application . It throws the whole weight of unpopularity , rind the whole responsibility of events , upon the Legislative majority . In order to protest more signilicantly ugainst tho execution of the lnw of tho 31 « t of May ,

      Government continues unabated , and the intemn ance of M . Louis Napoleon ' s imperial addresses to the military increases in virulence , we are at a In to conjecture the upshot of the hostilities of thl Assembly and the Executivegrowing dailymore intense as the crisis of their fate approaches . The majority composed of the Bourbon factions ( the few Bonapart ist adventurers having changed sides ) are united only n the suppression of liberties . They do not even

      the electors of Paris are convoked for theHsTTTTT month . As the election to fill the vacam / * General Magnan might have been legllWHn ? * ° f to January next , suspicions of the Presidpnt ' e cerity in desiring to reestablish universal snflv " were naturally excited by this unusual preciritart But an article in the Bulletin de Paris an offl "' , Bonapartist journal , recommends this election « fit occasion for a decisive protest against li •? a suffrage by a general abstention frorrf votine aii the Republican committees had resolved upon « f abstention ; the fusion of the Bonapartist i similar policy looks like a thorough determ , * nation to break with the majority , but as f one day to another the Ministry disavows tT President and the President the Ministry and th Assembly both ; whilst the reactionist fury of trT

      maintain an upright and honest position of dignity and independence . To-day a hasty and unprovoked measure of aggression against the Executive , conceived in trepidation and insolent defiance ; tomorrow , when the Ministry is challenged on the fact that a representative of the people has been insulted and assaulted by the gendarmes , an utter indifference to the principle of inviolability and to the majesty of the Assembly attacked in the person of one of its

      members ; tacit connivance with the Executive , and the " order of the day , " because the insulted member is a Republican . If there could be any chance of success for a coup d ' etat it would be in the disgraceful weakness and violence , the utter absence of patriotism , and the factious insolence of the majority of the Assembly . What anarchy can equal the sayings and doings of the chiefs of the Party of Order ? M . Louis Napoleon , stung by the Assembly , makes a flaming harangue to the officers of the regiments lately arrived in Paris , on the anniversary of the 18 th of Brumaire .

      11 Gentlemen , —In receiving the officers of the different regiments of the army who succeed each other in the garrison of Paris , I congratulate myself on seeing them animated with that spirit which was our glory , and which now constitues our security . I will not speak to you , therefore , either of your duties or of discipline . You have always performed your duties with honour , whether in the land . of Africa , or the soil of France ; and you have always maintained discipline intact in the midst of the most difficult trials . I hope that these trials will not return ; but if the gravity of circumstances should renew devoted

      them , and compel me to make an appeal to your - ness , I am sure that I should not be disappointed , because you know that I demand nothing that is not in accord with my right ( recognized by the constitution ) , with military honour , and with the interests of the country ; because I have placed at your head men who have my entire confidence , and who merit yours ; because if ever the day of danger should arrive , 1 will not do as the governments which have preceded me have done ; I will not say to you , ' March , and I will ^ follow you , but I will say to you , ' / march , follow me' "

      The officer * presented to the P resident were to the number of 500 or GOO . They met at the Tuilencs , and marched thence through the Champs Elysecs to tne Elysee , and thence to the Ministry of War . " March and follow me . " These words , in tlic mouth of a man who has no power to command " four men and a corporal , " uie sufficiently nbsuiu . Where on earth will he lead bis soldiers , unless be to the conquest of sausages and champagne , ua o the plains of Satory ? Amuchy ! Anarchy . The persecutions of tho press have recloub wl w violence with the new Ministry . Im Jldvolutioti . sacrificed to the manes of Curlier .

      , ___ „ Eugene Bareste of La lltyntbtique ( than ^"" j ^ purer und more temperate journalist < lo (! B n ( j , ' j-. | i ' is consigned to prison for having inserted on t' ( ' ' ^ of a subscriber a paragraph of false news , win ^ ^ hud hastened to rectify on discovery . Vet i _ actionary journals invented the massacre- » h : ^ darmes by Socialists , invented a jacquerie , &• ¦> impunity . . , ( 1 ,. ic q en Provincial journals and Republican almanac masse , are seized and prosecuted . n 0 ^) CU ^

      At the opening of u new Orchestral ' ^ on , stanzas by Victor Hugo , written lor tln > / ¦ , were to be recited . They are in prmse oi aii , ^^ peace , and liberty . Unfortunately tho u »« ) )]( lll ( i . contains an allusion to Italy , Hungary ,, an « ^ ft (; r This is enough for the protege <> i N . liol . V , ,, / , V « an hour and a luilf ' s waiting u ( ' omml ™ \'' frivnf , ' " interdicts the recitation . Imagine VVaiic . Landor ' H noble Ode to KosHuth torhuU }™ minglmm ! Such is French liberty m »»'' y i (! noa As for French national honour , u letter liom

      of Novomber 7 tayn : < lX ^ ,-" The influential personages in Paris , f ° ™ 'j ' reatii' *' * tions Austria i « indebted for the d . HCO . uteo uh £ rd of Kossuth in MurBeilles , are about to reoMV , tl . r cnt < their c onduct incritB ut the hauda of thw u ° ^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 15, 1851, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15111851/page/6/