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    Dec. 27, 1851J CfH> £ra&f r. 1223

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    Letters From. Paris. [Fkom A Special Co-...

    Paris , Thursday , December 18 , 1851 . My Dbab Friend , —The friends of M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte represent him as really animated ¦ with , the best and most honest intentions : they do not deny his ambition , which they say is overruling , and quote the mainspring of all his words and acts ( he " believes in his star" ) ; but it is a noble and sincere ambition to complete what his uncle left unaccomp lished in public works , and in the organization of 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 *• comptfmer les hautes classes ; ameliorer les classes pauvres . " One of the diplomatic 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 such 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 I am now more sure than ever ; but it exists 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 ) beginning to dispute his succession ?

    Not being a soldier , too , he would be a fool to go to war , as the first successful general would turn his e " clat ag ainst 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 aaid ) 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'ttat ( as much from disgust and disenohantraent 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 hum bugged ( 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 his proposed plebiscite" and constitution ; but they are re-Bolvcd henceforth to act for themselves , and only to fi ght at their own moment , not by any order of professional barricaders . They ure resolved to wait a little , and see what M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte will or can do for them . They don ' t care from whom the measures come ; and they know he must be their man soon or late— if he stops where he is . Bo they

    wait . It is a fact , I know from one whose relations with the Ely see are very near , that Louis Napoleon has made his will '; but not like Cuinar—leaving his gardens to the people ( for he ha » none to leave ) — but absolutely disposing of France , in cam ; he is pushed off by a fly i" £ HMot > to thre 0 Generals ! Generals Magnan , St . Arnuud , and Rual ( of the artillery ) . You will scarcely credit such u monstrous pretention ; but I know this to he true : it in not an on dit ! This will show you on what a dreadful uncertainty Fruncc—superficially tranquil -hangs . Only think of the frightful anarchy that would ensue now on the death of Louis Napoleon Honapurto . Therefore , the most enlightened of the 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 man y 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 gross 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 revocable , who only keeps the Sovereignty 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 tpecial vote , " No man in France sees so far or so clearly as Girardin . He is the only man who 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 o rumours , for I might fill quires —and each letter would be a rectification of the former one ; but above all things , don ' t believe the Government papers . I don ' t send you any more stories of the brutality of the soldiers during " the 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 ; f or 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 . Havin , 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 , wh y are you so anxious to appear when you cannot write in opposition to us ? M . Havin replied that it was a question of" property ; that the suspension involved a Iohh of subscribers , and probable ruin of the paper . We desire to appear even in this mutilated form , " en attendant des jours meilleurs . " Ah ! said M . de Morny , Better days , indeed ! Pray what do you mean by better duys ? M . Havin : When the Press may be a little more free 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 wliat terms . Instant suspension , and for un indefinite period , in case of any departure from them . Bo the Siecle reappeared yesterday . tSuch is the liberty of tin ; Press now : just what it is in Berlin , Vicuna , Naples . And even the friends of the President suy that lie will not be in u hurry to restore the freedom of the Press —that he has only one idea of Government : vigorous compression ; and aill liberal measures must be autocratic ; of and from himself .

    Imagine whether this system can answer on this soil of France , upheaved by revolutions ! Iu a country that has niwur known liberty , yes ; but in France , juat us in a Hteam-engine compression ( without safety-valves ) must , produce explosion . And France , too , where there are ho many restless spirits who live by the pen ; in intellectual France , where all the intellect is on the Hide of the Democracy ! There in u very important corps in Franco who are almost to a man . Republicans , and who ure juat 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 have in a former letter told you who 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 commenced , will give employment to an immense number of workmen for a long time . This is undoubtedly a go od 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 time does he give himself for his second and third epochs ? You know that the French not only " dance on volcanoes , " but make iokes and puns even on the

    gravest things . There is an atrocious pun afloat on the poor d issolved Assembly : "II n ' y a plus des vingt-cinq francs ; \' i \ . 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 endeavour 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 kuoiv as a fact , that Wilson derives his correspondence from persons intimate with , and fa vourable 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 European peace . It is thus that Cavaignac and Charras ( Republicans ) , Lamoricere , Bcdcau , and Changamier ( Legitimists ) , won their spurs in Algeria , where they were kept away from France and French movements . But mark the sequel : after the Revolution of ' 18 , 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 . Annual ( a perfect bandit ) from Algeria to massacre quiet citizens , as if they were Bedouins or Kabyles . So that Algeria has done nothing but demoralize and brutalize French soldiers into brigands and

    . 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 is obliged to export , into the colony even Jonu / t : for the cavalry . And there is no fiign of a second generation of Frenchmen in Algeria ! another Nemesis ! Kver since the Restoration the Liberal and Democratic party in Franco have exploite Bonaparlism—the stupid idolatry of the Kinpcror . ' Now they have hi . nephew , an inglorious autocrat .

    f have told you that the only consolation of the Liberal * in France now is to reud the Mnglish prims ; and I urn told that the French Government , don ' t know anything about our weekly pupeiH , lor the Examiner and Spectator come iu without interruption . { So you need have no apprehension on this score . A large industrial emigration ( principally from the working associations ) ih preparing to set out . lor New York . All the heads and hearts of tho country that , can getaway leave France , at least till ' * this tyranny be overpast "; but many are of" course chained by family Lies .

    Dec. 27, 1851j Cfh> £Ra&F R. 1223

    Dec . , 1851 J CfH > £ ra & f r . 1223

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1851, page 1223, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_27121851/page/3/