Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 23rd August 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 792, Untitled Article

Page 792
Page 4
4 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)

      Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      the part of an ultramontane bishop . The position of the Reactionists generally , of the Bonapartist faction particularly , is becoming desperate , as the new Republic of the new year begins to herald its dawn . The whole situation turns upon that iniquitous and inauspicious law of the 31 st of May . If it be not repealed before the general elections , civil war ; if it be repealed , a Democratic ( perhaps a Democratic-Socialist ) majority in the next assembly . Of this there can be little doubt , after the elections of March and April last year ; the organized abstention from voting of the Democratic party since the mutilation of the suffrageand the vigorous and active propaganda

      , carried on throughout the departments in spite of all restrictions , perhaps because of them . The repeal of this law of the 31 st of May is the only pacific solution , but it would not suit any section of the reaction . They prefer the chances of a coup d ' etat , or to reckon on the appeal to Northern despotism . The trial of Alphonse Gent and others for the conspiracy ( real or pretended ) of Lyons , is still going on . After the disgraceful illegalities of a preventive imprisonment of nine months , their letters and papers meanwhile committed to the tender mercies of the police , they are now before a court-martial . Hitherto , through all the mass of papers examined , nothing has transthe

      pired more serious than the intention of " conspirators " to celebrate the death of Louis XVI . by a " succulent repast . " An act of questionable taste , perhaps in one sense , according to the republican procureur , " calculated to raise emotions of indignation and disgust . " One feature in the trial repulsive to English forms of justice and to our laws of evidence , is that police agents are allowed to bring forward anonymous reports of secret spies , most damaging to the private character of the accused , who are unable to cite these purveyors of infamy to the bar . The probable issue of the trials will be perpetual imprisonment ; but perpetual in France means only till the next revolution when culprits become heroes .

      The candidateship of the Prince de Joinville for the Presidency begins to assume a definite shape . If the " proposition active " for the recall of the Orleanists be carried , as it is expected to be , in November next , it will be more formally announced . In order to avert the danger of this competition , orders were given to the ministerial press in Paris and in the departments , to present , in the most violent colours , the recent manifesto signed by 119 representatives of the Republican opposition , so as to give the majority courage to abandon the said 119 to prosecution . This stratagem would break up the comwhose

      pact and desperate phalanx of 188 , without consent the revision of the constitution is impossible . In the absence of the 119 , either in prison or escaped , revision would be treated as an exigency of " public safety ; " and Louis Napoleon would then become a candidate as constitutionally as M . de Joinville , or Ledru Rollin ; we say Ledru Rollin , because the Creton motion cannot succeed without a simultaneous umncsty in favour of the Republican exiles . But this plan has perhaps been abandoned , through the peremptory challenge of the press of the minority to the Government , to point out a single unconstitutional passage in the manifesto .

      Friday , the 15 th instant , being the anniversary of the Emperor's birth-day , Bonapartist banquets were held in Paris , under the patronage and protection of the heroes of the lute society du Dix DScembre . A . M . Belmoulet appears to have been the Coryp haeus at the moat important of these gatherings , and to have recited some balderdash in prose and verse , more or less dithyrambic , to the old tune of the yrande armie and la yloire imjx'riale ; phrases hollow and meaningless enough now , for the Emperor carried the empire once lor all with him to the grave . It is a giant shadow that makes your " uncle ' s nephew " look small enough with his chosen army of riff-raff rioters , and his buttles of the plain of Satory !

      The little episode ofThiors ' . s owuhwUt advertising a cheap table d'hote , is a curious testimony to that little great man ' s notions on " the , family " of which , as a Uurgrave of the party of Order , lie is an official champion . We can vouch for the genuineness of Miidumc Ripcrt . The persecution of all that savours of republicanism in a Republic goes on bravely , Every ( lay we have an imaginary plot " cooked , " for the mere purpose of imprisoning preventively the most active and able supporters of the Constitution . The press of the Opposition in hunted to the death by lincH , suspension , imprisonment . The recent annual report on the administration of criminal justice during ' 4 i > , discloses

      a perfect martyrdom in the ranks of the independent journuls . Mighty-eight journaln prosecuted for political opinions . Out of this number uh many « ih thirteen tried at least twice , ten thrice tried , woven four times ; of two papers , one was prosecuted seven timefl , mid the other ten times within the year . And besides the long imprisonment , of their editors , the republican press has been mulcted a mim amounting to about £ 7000 . Such is the ; merciless cruHUclo against the liberty of the presH , for which M . Louis Napoleon claims the gratitude of his country . We may add that tlu , criminal statistics of ' 4 < J show a decrease of attuckH ugaiiiBt property and tin increawe in assaults ftgainat pereona ; the latter may , perhaps , be

      ascribed to the fact that the gendarmerie employed in Imperial propagandism , »«« ja oi the regular duties of that useful corps . The « iovernmfnt , which should be the exampe of legality and order has become an incessant system ^ provo cation and vexation . Domiciliary visits often . accompanied by rudeness and violence , paid to quie ; per Lns only suspected of attachment to- the constitution teSE addressed to Journals confining

      Er ^ dT . libellous matter for prosecution ; »™?* ° " ° * J £ S ? and scho olmasters , if not monarchical , P » £ « licences abruptly withdrawn ; legions of National Guards dissolved for shouting , » Vive la MP" ? *™' the very Marseillaise interdicted as sedltiou 8 : *" . „ liberties , all the traditions , all the generous hopes . of the People handed over to a ™™* ° ™ J " alliance of Bonapartists , Legitimists , and Jesmts . alliance ui jjuncipi *** " >"" , —o ' , i Ath met the

      The Conseils d'Arrondissement on « n instant for a session of ten days By law they are forbidden to treat of any but local questions , lJie present Government has brought its Prefets to bear upon their discussions , and to promote set forms petition for revision of the constitution . In on e case , at Limoges , the Conseil took advantage of the privilege accorded to others to vote for a petion of their own ; expressing a desire that , " For the future , the constitution should be fairly observed , and all laws contrary to its spirit be repealed . " This vote is annulled by " the President on the ground of the law of 1833 , which forbids all political discussion to the

      councils . Mark , that so long as they demand an infringement of the constitution , the prorogation of the presidential term of office , they are allowed to break the law of 1833 ; if they demand a strict observance of the constitution which is the law of laws , their vote is judged illegal and annulled . Is not this party of order the party of illegality in France as in the rest of Europe ? The councils general of the departments are to meet on the 25 th instant . Their session extends to the 4 th of September . They will , of course , be allowed to discuss , illegally , the revision if in a favourable sense . But it must not be forgotten that the very existence of the Conseils gene " - raux and d'Arrondissement is arbitrary and illegal .

      Elected by universal suffrage for three years in 48 , their powers expired last May ; but on the pretext of waiting for the organic law they are indefinitely prolonged , whilst a third of the electors are deprived of their votes . The journals of the Elysee , " organs of personal interests" ( as M . le Docteur Veron once wrote in a pet ) daily provoke to civil war and to coups d'Hat , with impunity ! while six of the most eminent publicists of the opposition are in prison for defending the cause of civilization and humanity . The latest trial takes place this week . M . Sarrans , once an intimate friend of Louis Napoleon when the Prince was a proscribed exile , is prosecuted for

      appealing to the recollections of the prisoner of Ham in behalf of the political detenus at Belleisle , who it seems are treated with a barbarity scarcely surpassed by Rome and Naples — noisome cells , want of ventilation , coarse food , bad clothing , brutality of gaolers . Why not ? it is still the " Party of Order" in power . ' It is difficult to get at the truth about the recent riots in the Department of L' Ardeehc : for the only accounts received are from the Reactionist papers : all the Republican having

      been suspended or suppressed in that and the neighbouring department . But they seem to have arisen from the brutal interruptions of some Republican songs by the gendarmerie . Wherever the mayor has had the good sense to allow peaceful and orderly festivities , there has been no provocation , and consequently no rioting . What would the real Napoleon have said of his Order of the Legion of Honour , if he could see his nephew decorating a corporal in the National Guard for " assisting in the repression of a riot in 1 / Ardeche . where he was wounded ' .

      In the rest of Europe , reaction pursues its blind and fatal path . The affairs of Germany are an imbroglio into which we do not recommend our readers to plunge their heads . What with faithless kings and bewiUlered peoples , the mystifications of the Diet of Frankfort , and the illegal convocations of Provincial Diets , one duy declared to be powerless for political modifications , and the next encouraged by royal edict to effect tho same : the minor principalities and duchies recommended to eliminate from their several constitution *! all the quasi-republican elements of ' 48 ; and , half jealous of possible mediation , the settlement of accounts for exchange of services in the reactionary campaign

      of ' 49—the discusHioiiH about a Federal army to be placed on u war footing—and to whom , and whether Austrian or Prussiun , the command should bo given . It is all perplexity—a complication of knots , which perhaps ' fr ' 2 may help to nolve . Wo mark the following rumours : —The Austriaim are loth to quit Hamburg , and have even increased their forcea in llolstein—to the disgust of Prussia , which now regrets having Buffered their intervention . At Berlin we find a man of letteiH arrested for having written a popular history of the French ({ . evolution . AuHtriu has apologized to tho Federal Commissary of { Switzerland , for some violutioiiH of territory in thoOuntou of ToHsin , and tuTcctu tho most friendly diHpoBitiono . lladetzky flada the ground crumbling under him in

      Lombardy , and entreats for reinforcements , which cannot be spared him in the present attitude of Hungary . At Bologna the convent of the Annunziata has been occupied by the Austrian troops as a fort . Brigandage increases in the States of the Church and in the Austrian territory , and threatens to equal the good days of Gregory . Now , however , it is attended with an unparalleled desperation . At Milan the Government of the bastinado prevails , relieved by occasional mock trials . When Schusa was shot , the other day , an executioner was wanting . A deputy was sent for , and on his arrival refused the office , and was thereupon shot ! " Kill me , if you will , " he said : " you will only have two victims instead of one . " Martyrdom is making Italy united . Once united , she can never be enslaved .

      At Rome the same cruelties : the same intrigues of French and Austrian . General GSmeau , it seems , was not at all satisfied with his reception at Castel-Gandolpho . He was only asked once to dine with " hia Holiness" and King Bomba , to the Austrian general ' s three times . On his return to Rome he occupied all the principal posts of the city , on the plea of " orders from Paris . " The Austrians in the mean time are seizing on the best strategetical positions on the line of their occupation ; and their press

      industriously sneers at the weakness of the Papal Government . The French ( they say ) are playing one of their own comedies—Les Fourberies de Scapin . Scapin is the General Gemeau , Mazzini the terrible Sacripant , and the Papal Government takes the part of Geronte . In the name of Mazzini , the French take measures of precaution which result in depriving the Pope of all liberty of movement and action . In the name of Mazzini , the French general takes 70 , 000 muskets from the Pontifical arsenal , and fortifies the

      Palazzo of the Holy Office . As a consolation to the troubles of the Pope , the Emperor of Haiti , Faustin Souloueque , the First , has sent an ambassador to the Vatican , requesting the loan of an archbishop for his consecration ; and the Bey of Tunis has asked for a resident bishop , to whom he concedes a local title , and the honours of a general officer ! The recent revolution in Portugal seeems to hav effected only one object , Marshal Saldanha ' s personal aggrandizement—for the present , at least . the 13 th ultimoinforms

      A letter from Gallicia , on , us that in the whole province the Austrians are very busy in trying to catch Mazzini , and for that purpose warrants of arrest , with a very minute description of his person , are circulated and communicated to all the commissaries of the circles . The Gallician peasants , who since a certain time have made a great progress , openly jeer the busy Austrians . They say , making allusion to tn . e general decay of the potato crop , " The potatoes came to us with the Germans , and will leave us with them . " In the circle of Nasielsk , the commissary ordered the peasants of a village that them

      as soon as Mazzini should appear amongst they were immediately to apprehend and to deliver him to the authority of the circle ; but the peasants said , you likewise ordered us to capture Kossuth , whilst he was at that moment so gloriously thrashing you that you were obliged to apply to the Muscovites for help ; we therefore beg leave to request you , and the authorities in general , not to consider us to be such fools as to believe you any more . But be assured , sir , that should Mazzini order us to catch ana to deliver you to the Poles , we should perform our task so well that even the Muscovite would not save

      A correspondence from Berlin , inserted m tho German Gazette , of Posen , speaking of the operations of the Central Democratic Committee of Europe , £ J > among other absurdities , tho following : — 'ihat Mazzini has deposited £ 10 , 000 in the Bank oi England , destined for the refugees , who , tit the iirai opportunity , will leave London for Germany o France . That he ( Mazzini ) already has at his

      disposal twenty-five American and English wteuinCH , ouch of whom can carry one thousand men ; but tn he intends to double their number . That he J 1 * bought several hundred pieces of ordnance . A " . ^ is about to make a descent in Piedmont , witua army of 60 , 000 to 60 , 000 men , the greatest P " " which is now in America , where the forces are to concentrated and drilled , to be ready at a momen

      nonce . . ^ According to a newly made arrangement in Ku » b and Poland , a pofwport will cost 2 / 50 mlver roum ( £ 11 13 » . 4 d . ) , and will only nerve for six monl " (' . ho that if the parly wants to stay , for oxmnpl « , «¦ ' ^ years abroad ( which is the maximum allowed ii nobleman , for tho commoner cannot exceed one yw 7 ; his passport would cost him £ 1 * 26 , exclusively <> i Htaiiipn .

      Untitled Article

      792 fffte &ta $ * i . ^_ [ Saturday ,

      Untitled Article

      KINVOLUTIONS IN THE EAST . There can be no longer any doubt lingering i »• J "' minds of the incredulous . The year lH / il ih theiU rf annas mirabilis . Not only hnvo we had in Xj "K oi the British Imposition , in Frunc-e tho »« d H ] ' « . 'y great parties muitter . with judicial blmdnenB , hi . « - ^ many u vigorous attempt to revive tho Btiitus < l » " . and tho German Diet actually reconstituted at 1 J » fort , in Italy reaction attended with unp » rauoii <

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1851, page 792, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1897/page/4/