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    Dec. 27, 1851.] &t)e itaDrtft 1223 ^ — i...

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    Letters From Paris. [From A Special Corr...

    " """ Paris , Thursday , December 18 , 1851 . My Dear Friend , —The friends of M . Louis Napo . i nn Bonap arte represent him as really animated th the best and most honest intentions : they do ot deny his ambition , which they say is overruling , " nd quote the mainspring of all his words and acts ( he '' believes in his star" ) ; but it is a noble and incere ambition to complete what his uncle left un-8 ccOniplished in public works , and in the organization * { the Democracy . One who knows him well tells me he said , only a few days before the coup d ' etat : — What I desire to do is to * ' comprimer les hautes classes ; ameliorer les classes pauvres . " One of the dip lomatic corps heard him make use of very

    similar expressions only the other evening at the Elysee , as he was standing in the midst of a group of generals . In fact , he contemplates a kind of Absolutist practical Socialism ; * . e ., social ameliorations carried out by the initiative of his own central ¦ will , instead of by the People themselves . How they ¦ will ' suit his foreign alliances ( for he is mainly supported by Russia and Austria ) it is not easy to say , thoug h I am assured that , " malgre les apparences , " no guch ' alliances are yet formed or forming . This I take the liberty not to believe . To me , indeed , it seems that

    a European plot exists to get rid of , I do not say Democracy , but even Constitutionalism ; and in this case M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte will have to provide for Belgium ( a very uncomfortable neighbour , not only in literary piracies but in political liberties ) as Austria for Piedmont . But will England suffer this ? Then , again , how will " les hautes classes " in this country—the bourgeoisie , merchants , proprietors , & c , who are now so anxious to rally to him as the saviour of property , & c , & c—enjoy his policy when he turns round upon them and strikes all

    realized property with a heavy tax , removing taxes and tolls which press on the working classes ? I do not now dwell upon the multiple elements of opposition which are only now dormant , and which , as soon as ever his authority is established with the semblance of stability , will be sure to revive : I mean the Legitimists , who are certainly a small body , but very obstinate and very compact ( their cause is utterly impossible in France , of this exists

    I am now more sure than ever ; but it as an element of opposition ) , and the Orleanists , who are a very large body , and would prefer Joinville to any Bonaparte . I need not say how utterly baseless and untenable an Orleanist monarchy would be ; but it must be confessed , and is now more than ever acknowledged , that , notwithstanding all its manifold corruptions , France enjoyed a very fair share of liberty under Louis Philippeand the Revolution of February was very

    imtempestive . Others—neither friends nor enemies of M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte—say that he will , when once established , institute large Democratic measures—not disinterestedly , but because he must do so , for he is condemned to peace , and what is he to do with an enormous army debauched by the wildest promises and instigations , and with a lot of generals who are already ( I assure you ) beg inning to dispute his stcccession f

    Not being a soldier , too , he would be a fool to go to war , as the first succ essful general would turn his eclat against him and oust him ; for he is not a General Bonaparte , though he often wears a cocked hat and uniform—it is the National Guard—and as to his decorations , he found them " ( as it has been said ) in his cradle . So he is bound over to keep the peace ; and what is so revolutionary as peace ? The working classes , who have stood quite aloof from the resistance to his coup d ' etat ( as much from disgust and disenchantment of revolutions and revolutionary chiefs—who have talked and promised and never satisfied them—as from contempt for the Assembly ,

    and satisfaction at the repossession of universal suffrage ) , do not rally to him . They even distrust him , and begin to think themselves humbugged ( as if they would prefer an Empire to the Monarchy , they prefer the Republic to either , and are resolved to defend it ) , now that they have an inkling of hia proposed plebiscite and constitution ; but they are resolved henceforth to act for themselves , and only to light at their own monumt , not by any order of proft'HHional burricaders . They are resolved to wuit a little , and see what M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte - will or can do for them . They don't eare from whom the measures come ; and they know ho must bo their man booh or late— if he . stops where , he is . So they

    Wait . it in a fact , I know from one whose relations with the Klyaee are very near , that Louis Napoleon has made his will ; but not like Cajsar—leaving hia Burdens to the people ( for he hau none to leave)—but absolutely Uinposiny of France , i » case his in pushed olf by a Hying shot , to three General * t Ueuerals Magnan , St . Arnaud , and Rual ( of the artillery ) . You will scarcely credit such a monstrous ^ retention ; hut I know this to be true : it is not an on dit ! Thin will show you on what a dreadful uncertainty France—superficially tranquil— -hangs . Onl y think of the frightful anarchy that would ensue now on the death of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte . Therefore , the most enlightened of thu Democratic

    party are of opinion , and earnestly hope , that no catastrophe may occur to prevent his having his fling : he will use himself up in no long time . It is true that a man who apes Caesar must expect many to ape Brutus ; but if he were to die in this way it would be fatal to liberty and to Democracy . Let him have rope . In the mean time Democracy will purge itself of its many errors and organize afresh . It is the ffross faults and follies of the old Republicans that have ruined the Republic for a time , more than reactionary plots . The Provisional Government did nothing but unsettle and disorganize , and rouse hopes and passions without gratifying them . Cavaignac set the example of bloodshed , dictatorship , state of siege , compression ; and let slip the occasion of freeing Italy ; nay , he first gave the idea of sending troops to Rome .

    By the way , General Cavaignac has been set at liberty , with orders to travel for a year . He is engaged to be married to a rich " partie . " Victor Hugo is in London . Emile de G irardin is selling off everything and intends to leave France , probably for London . I hope he will come to London . He has not only entirely abandoned the direction of La Presse , but he intends to sell his shares in the proprietorship as soon as he can . How clearly he had foreseen the inevitable results of the Constitution when he wrote his pamphlet on the Simplification of Government , of which one chapter is " No more Presidents , " in which he says , with his usual force and precision : —

    " We must choose frankly between Absolute Monarchy and Real Republic . " The Real Republic is unity in Sovereignty . " It is effective and direct responsibility . "It is a functionary essentially and constantly retoeable , who only keeps the S overeignty on the condition that the majority which has elected him maintains it in his person by a vote renewed annually , and even in case of extraordinary circumstances by a special vote , " No man in France sees so far or so clearly as Girardin . He is the only man w ho seeks to make politics and government a science and a duty , instead of a struggle and a game .

    I do not trouble you with all the " canards " and " on dits " which come to one ' s ears from all sides in this classic land of rumours , for I might fill quires —and each letter would be a rectitication of the f ormer one ; bu t above all things , don ' t believe the Government papers . I don ' t send you any more stories of the brutality of the soldiers during " days , " as a friend of mine , an eminent name as a writer , is preparing a reliable history , which he is going to send to me for publication in the Leader ; it will be most interesting and important . Here ,

    however , is a little anecdote which 1 can vouch for . The Siecle ( Cavaignac ' s paper ) reappeared a few days since . It was suddenly suspended again ; the reason given was , that it abridged and altered the accounts of the departments given in the Government organs ; for I should tell you that all the independent papers confine themselves to a reproduction of official documents . M . Havin , the chief editor ( and ex-representative and ex-deputy , a man of the highest respectability ) , went to M . de Morny to inquire the reason for suspension , and to state that the Siecle had positively not altered the Government

    accounts . M . de Morny : Do you suppose then , M . Iliivin , that I suspended you for any reason of that kind ? That was the ostensible reason : the real one is simply that I have the power to do so , and I choose to exert that power . Besides , why are you so anxious to appear when you cannot write in opposition to us ? M . Ilavin . replied that it was a question of property ; that the suspension involved u loss of subscribers , and probable ruin of the paper . We desireto appear even in this mutilated form , " en attendant des jours mcillcurs . " Ah ! said M . de Moray , Better days , indeed Pray what do you mean by better days ? M . Havin : When the Picas may be a little more

    Jrce again . M . de Morny : I fear then , M . Havin , you will have to wait a long time . However , on the whole you may reappear ; but you understand on what terms . Instant suspension , and for an indcimite period , in east ; of any departure from them . So the Suele reappeared yesterday . Such in the liberty of the Press now : just what it i « in Berlin , Vienna , Naples . And even the friends of the President say that he will not be in a hurry to restore the freedom of the Press—that he has only one idea ol Government : vigorous compression ; and all liberal measures must be autocratic ; of and from himself .

    Imagine whether thin system can answer on this soil ol France , upheaved by revolutions I In a country that has ¦ never known liberty , yen ; but in France , just as in a Hti-am-engine compression ( without safety-valves ) must , produce explosion . And Fiance , too , where there ; are . so many restless spirit , ;* who live by the pen ; in intellectual France , where all the intellect is on the side of the Democracy ! There is a very important corps in Franco who arc ulmoal to a muii Republicans , anU who nre just now

    under severe police surveillance—it is the Civil Engineers , mostly pupils of the Polytechnic School . The voting on the " Oui ou Non" begins on Saturday next , and closes at four p . m . on Sunday the 21 st . I hav e in a former letter told you w ho will vote and who ( probably ) abstain . You have seen in the papers that M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte has , by a decree , granted to the veterans of the Imperial armies what the Assembly

    refused to sanction . It is difficult to deny the justice of the grant , but I hear some bourgeois shrug their shoulders at it a little . The great public works which are now to be c ommenced , will give employment to an immense number of workmen for a long time . This is undoubtedly a good stroke of policyrather an absolute necessity . One of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte ' s ambitions is to leave monuments of his reign" behind him .

    I hear-he lately expressed himself as follows : — " My life may be divided into four epochs . The first was wasted in rash enterprises ; the second , in the triumph over anarchy in France ; the third , in reconstituting a strong Government , and in the pacification of Europe ; the fourth , a coup de pistolet . " So , poor fellow ! this is what he too expects after all for his pains . But the question is , how much t ime does he give himself for his second and third epochs ? You know that the French not only " dance on volcanoes . " but make jokes and puns even on the

    gravest things . There is an atrocious pun afloat on the poor dissolved Assembly : " II n ' y a plus dos vingt-cinq francs ; ' il n ' y a que les dissous "—this has a double sense—as it not only means dissolved and dix sous , but dix sous is the regular pay of the soldiers per diem . The actual Government of France is a Government of very small men with bullet heads and close-cropped hair , very broad red trousers , and muskets taller than themselves ; they shout of Liberte , Egalite , Fraternite , still having at you from all the churches and public monuments !

    I endeavou r to write you only what you won't find in the papers , as postage is dear , and there is so much to be said . I don ' t mention names of persons whom I have seen , as they are eminent . I believe the secrets of letters for England are respected ; but letters from one part of France to another are shamelessly opened , and forwarded ( if harmless ) with their seals broken ! I find the Economist takes Louis Napoleon ' s part ; don ' t be surprised at this . I happen to know us a fact , that Wilson derives his correspondence from persons intimate with , and favourable to , the President .

    There is one other thought I wish to mention to you , the Nemesis of Algeria to France . The Restoration bombarded and took Algiers for an insult to the French Ambassador , promising to abandon the place as soon as the insult was avenged . They broke their word . Louis Philippe not only did not give up Algiers , but proceeded to conquer the country by we know what atrocities of warfare . Still it is certain that he was desirous to give up Algeria which he found to be a drain to France , till Louis Napoleon ' s attempt at Strasburg . Then , finding that there was a spirit of disaffection and discontent in the

    army , and a Bonapartist element , he resolved to keep Algeria for the purpose of getting rid of the unruly spirits in the army , and of keeping the military armed and employed in a time of Kuropean peace . It is thus that Cavaignac and Charms ( Republicans ) , Lamoriecre , Bedeau , and Changarnier ( Legitimists ) , won their spurs in Algeria , where they were kept away from France and French movements . But mark the sequel : after the Revolution of 'IS , Cavaignac , fresh from Africa , introduces the horrors of African warfare into the streets of Paris . Then the reaction draft away Republican regiments to perish in Algeria .

    Then Louis Napoleon brings St . Arnaud ( a perfect bandit ) from Algeria to massacre quiet citizens , as if they were Bedouins or Ivabyles . So that Algeria has done nothing but demoralize and brutalize French soldiers into brigands and assassins . And this colony sinks millions of French money and kills thousands of French soldiery every year ; and it is so destitute of resources that Fiance : m obliged to export into the colony even / orat / e for the eawilry . And then ; is no sign of a second generation of Frenchmen in Algeria ! another Nemesis ! I'lvn since the Restoration the Liberal and Democratic party in France have ; exploit *; IJonapartism—the stupid idolatry of the Kinjieror ! Now they have his nephew , an inglorious autocrat .

    I have told you that , the only eonsolat ion of the Liberala in Franco now is to read the Knglish pross ; and I am told that the 1 'Ycneli Government don ' t , know anything about our weekly papers , lor the Examiner and Kpi'ctator conn ; in without interruption . ( So you need have no apprehension on this score . A lai"c industrial emigration ( principally from the workin" associations ) is preparing to set out lor New York . " All the heads and hearts of the country that , can gel , away leave France , at least till " this tyranny bo overpast . "; but many are of course chained by family tics .

    Dec. 27, 1851.] &T)E Itadrtft 1223 ^ — I...

    Dec . 27 , 1851 . ] & t ) e itaDrtft 1223 ^ — ifc * II ~ MllJ

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1851, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27121851/page/3/