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Leader (1850-1860), 6th November 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 1057, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      "I am not anxious that we should have other great movements for great objects . I myself hare had so much of political agitation that nothing but the most imperative and overwhelming sense of public duty would induce me to connect myself with anything further of ihe kind ; but I do believe that we owe it to posterity as to ourselves , that we should learn a lesson from this great movement which is about to terminate , and that we ought , if we can , during our generation , to make the course of our children , and o £ their , children , easier in procuring such political ameliorations and changes as the circumstances of the country may

      require . ( Cheers . ) The patriotism of our day does not consist in the destruction of monarchies or the change of dynasties . Our fathers wrested the institution of an annual Parliament from unwilling and despotic monarehs . Be it ours—and I speait to those who can do it if we "will it ( cheers)—be it ours to wrest a real House of Commons from a haughty nobility , and to secure the lasting greatness of this nation on the broad foundations of a free Parliament and a free people . ( Loud and enthusiastic cheering- )"

      The other speakers were Mr . Bazley , Mr . Keogh , Mr . Cheetham , Lord Goder ^ ch , Mr . Milner Gibson , and Mr . F . Berkeley . Mr . Keogh made a sensation when he exclaimed , with obvious allusions to Mr . Lucas and his doctrines , that the Irish members were charged with sympathizing with tyranny and despotism , but he was there to declare that they sympathized with no tyranny abroad , and they obeyed no tyranny at home . ( Here the whole company rose , and the cheering and waving of handkerchiefs lasted for some time . ) Having long experienced , under the regime for which they were not answerable , crushing despotism themselves , they must be as bereft of mind as devoid of feeling , if they sympathized with any one that tyrannized over the bodies or the consciences of men . ( Great cheering . ) The meeting broke up about eleven o ' clock .

      Untitled Article

      LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From ouk own Cobresfondent . ] Letter XLV . Paris , Tuesday , November 2 , 1852 . Events are hurrying on . The day after to-morrow the senate re-assembles for the purpose of decreeing the famous Senatus-Consulte , the object of Louis Bonaparte ' s ambition . It will positively be drawn up in the terms T stated in my last letter . All the questions raised on the subject of the Empire are now resolved . The convocation of the Electoral Colleges for the adoption of the Senatus-Consulte is fixed for the 21 st inst .,

      and the Legislative Corps will meet on the 28 th to proceed to the general verification ( depouillement ) of the votes . The proclamation of the Empire ( I need scarcely say that I am only giving you the best authenticated rumours ) will take place on the 2 nd of December ( immortal anniversary !) , and the coronation , if not postponed to the spring , on the 20 th . The marriage with the Princess Wasa was , I hear , but scarcely beliove , decided on Monday last ( yesterday ) ; she was to abjure Protestantism , and to be " reconciled" to the Catholic faith by the hands of the Bishop of Brunn . The question of the succession is also decided . Once more , old . Jerome , the formidable depositary of the family . secrets , has carried the day in the face of an opposition at once numerous and violent . Jerome had

      an interview with Louis Bonaparte , which resulted in the decision of the latter that the collateral succession should go to Jerome and the issue of his marriage with the Princess Catherine of Wurtemberg . This special provision is designed to prevent any ulterior claims on behalf of the children of tho first marriage , who settled in the United States of America . To this effect the Senatih-Consulte , dated Floreal , An . XII ., will ho revived , according to which , in default of issue of Louis Honapiirte , the imperial crown devolved upon the issue of . Jerome .. Nevertheless , Louis Bonaparte has reserved to himself the right of choosing a successor in the difleront branches of tho imperial family . In

      conwquenco of thin decision , all the fracas of opposition raised by ivitiiin noiiators against the candidature of Napoleon Jerome , the son , falls flat . It is even a . s s w ( ed that Louis Bonaparte , bearing his cousin accused o ( his factious tendencies , replied , " that such an hnpulv < ion was no obstacle to bin claims , since in ' doing ' o pposition ho was only playing his part of Pretender . " l () 1 " all this , however , Louis Monupurte is particularly "iixious to get r » l of bin most , dear cousin , and , it is ^ 'ported , linn offered Uni tho vieeroyHhip of Algeria , ypurated thus by tho son from hi « competitor , the or'"'ip'mt of t /| le throne would have lcsn to fear . He knows well onough , by his own experience , that wlum "othing but the ac / of violence stands between the

      •¦ oiispim tor and the crown , tho crime is not long < lo orred . I have reason to believe that the question of recon" M-utiiig the constitution lias been also decided by Loui « Honapurte . " It will not do to change a constitution "voi-y six niontliH , " he wayH ; " inodiflcat . ioiiM uro hocoh-Hilr y , -let all ho done at once that eircuiTintaneeH do-» mud . " Therefore Boimimrtu iw to bo seized of th «

      Dictatorship during the interval between the Senattts-Consulte and the proclamation of the Empire , for the purpose of making all the modifications in the constitution he may deem advisable . I have already acquainted you with the nature of the modifications proposed . The object is neither more nor less than the extinction of universal suffrage , which is to be replaced by a counterfeit . The people will cease to be electors . Only the Government functionaries and the municipal councillors will retain their electoral rights . Now , as

      Bonaparte reserves to himself the right of dissolving these municipal councils , and of culling them from a triple list of candidates , you will readily understand how derisory this pretended right of suffrage will become . The rights and privileges of the legislative corps will also be restricted . The quasi-publicity of the sittings , as it exists at present , will be absolute , and no discussion allowed . The council of state will discuss , and the legislative corps proceed to vote , aye or no , without a word .

      This will be the " liberty of the tribune , " according to the Empire . As to the liberty of the press , four journals will be authorized , and all the rest suppressed . In a word , all the rights and liberties of the French nation will be summed up in the right of paying taxes for the good pleasure of his Majesty , Emperor Bonaparte . In the meantime , the Imperial Guard is being organized . New regiments are in course of formation among others , the regiment of " Guides deTEmpereur . "

      More than 800 applications have been made to serve as officers in this regiment . Eight hundred applications , out of which forty are to be appointed ! The military and civil household are being constituted . All the appointments are already distributed . A herd of chamberlains and valets are waiting impatiently the moment to enter upon their functions . Their brilliant costume is designed . A list of other appointments is complete . The twelve marshals to be appointed will be created Dukes ; the generals of division , Counts ; and the generals of brigade , Barons .

      The whole ai my , however , does not appear to be so well satisfied as these gentlemen . A military conspiracy was lately discovered at Fontainebleau ; two officers and two sous-qfficiers * were secretly shot , without trial , in the night of the 29 th ult ., at Vincennes . This is the seventh or eighth conspiracy that has been smothered in blood since December . Here , in truth , is the weak side of Bonaparte : he leans on the army , and on the army alone ; and it seems the army , as a whole , neither respects nor loves him . Therefore the Government sedulously contradicts all reports of military conspiracies . Faithful to its policy of misleading public opinion , it converts this affair at Fontainebleau into an obscure civil plot .

      A number of projects , financial and political , are a tributed to our ruler , and all marked by a certain hardihood of design . The financial projects arc said to consist in abolishing all the octrois ( town dues ) throughout France , amounting altogether to a total of thirty-two millions of francs ( 1 , 280 , 000 / . ) , not including Paris . The towns included in this sweeping measure would be indemnified by tho product of the tax on licences ( I'impot ties patc . ntes ) , which would be surrendered to their profit . As these licences produce as much jus thirty-five millions of francs , ( 1 , 400 , 000 / . ) the loss to tho State would be compensated by the re-establishment of the Salt-tax , in addition to a tax on paper , horses , domestic servants , and dogs , as had been in contemplation last May .

      Paris alone would not bo comprised in this abolition of tho octrois . But , as I told you in my last letter , the octroi of the capital is to be extended to the line of the present fortifications , and the duties on certain articles considerably lowered . Bonaparte , I am informed , is to take advantage of the Dictatorship of » . few weeks , with which he will be invested , to assume the respon . Hilrilily of these various measures , in the more ; regular execution of which he might have reason to apprehend ill least the hesitation of the legislative corps .

      As for the political projects which rumour lends to the forthcoming Dictatorship , they are quite of a different character . Louis 'Bonaparte thoroughly understands , we are told , the impossibility of re-establishing the Empire , without restoring its grandeur . He hat * well considered the vast contradiction there must be between declaring himself the successor of the Emperor , and Mnbuiitting to the treaties of 1 HI ! T > which humiliated Franco , lie linn concluded that , ou this ground , sutisfaction in due ut once to the army and to the nation . Accordingly , he has jimt proposed an European Congress , for the revision of the said treaties . His pretensions are very modest : ho demands certain modifications , but in ease of * their being vefiised , ho will ho con-• Tlw aoux-ofliciirs in tho . French army arc what iu our army would bo cnllod " non-cornmlsBioncd" oflicors .

      tent to demand the erasure from the text of those treaties , of all such clauses as have been in effect infringed by changes that have occurred during the last thirtyseven years . The new and revised text would confirm and sanction the actual status quo , including the absorption of Poland by Russia , the occupation of Cracow by Austria , the possession of Algeria by France , the reintegration of the Bonaparte family , in all its rights to the imperial crown of France , etc . etc . To induce Great Britain to enter into this new European league , Louis Bonaparte is now promising" your Government ( such is the report ) to obtain from this European

      Congress a limitation of the boundaries of the United States of America , * so that England may be henceforth guaranteed against any new annexation , which would inevitably tend to an inordinate and exorbitant expansion and increase of the maritime , commercial , and political power of the United States . Any new " annexation" would be considered as an infringement of the " balance of power , " and punished by the combined forces of the European Governments . I don't know how far England is likely to be cajoled by these seductive proposals : but I do know that , so far as French interests are concerned , such a policy would be a

      deliberate treason on the part of Bonaparte : our natural and political interests having nothing to say against the development of the American Republic . Bonaparte anticipates another result from this European Congress . For the moment he conceals his designs under the mask of a profound deference to the will of the great European Powers ; but his real object in thus declaring himself ready to hold cheap the dignity of France , is to sound the Congress on the grand question of assuring the future tranquillity of Europe against the deluge of revolutionary ideas . The moment he has brought the Congress on to this ground , he will he its master .

      In effect , the conclusions are easily deduced . France is the focus of revolutionary ideas in Europe . To insure the repose of the existing monarchies , either France must be dismembered , or governed by a strong hand , that will be responsible to the rest of Europe for its tranquillity . This stronghand already grasps the sceptrej But it must be sustained : and to sustain it , sepme satisfaction , some compensation must be given to the national spirit . Such will be the first thesis of Bonaparte . Passing then to the state of Europe in itself , he will point out the minor states as so many eventual foci of revolution : to wit , Belgium , Piedmont , Switzerland , Italy , and portions of Germany ; and he will conclude for the absorption of these minor States by the great Powers .

      By these two paths , Bonaparte hopes to win the great Powers to his own purpose—the NEW MAP OP Europe ; in which France will resume the Frontiers ' of the Rhine . To compass this result , he is ready to concede Southern Germany to Austria , and Northern Germany to Prussia . As to Russia and England , he would give Constantinople to the one , and Egypt to tho other—if he had not his eye on both , and if the Mediterranean were not destined to become " French lake . " Such , I derive from no mean sources , is the secret purpose of this European Congress . M . Drouin do l'lluys has for some weeks opened negotiations with the great Powers on the subject . We shall not have to wait lonir for tho results .

      The . regime of compression still flourishes in France It is even exaggerated to absurdity . 1 mentioned in my last letter tho official representation at the ; Thesitro I'Yancais ; where the audience was composed solely of functionaries , and the piece wan Corneille ' s Cinntt , ou la Ctcmence d Auguste . Jules Janin , in his critique for the 'Journal des Dqhats , took tho liberty to review this play , and to remark the allusions which every party that rises to the surface ? of power in succession borrows for iis plumes ! For this horrible licence of pen , M . llcrtin , director of the Dtibals , was summoned by tho Censorship , and from the lips of M . Latour Oumoulin , received a bald and harsh reprimand .

      Untitled Article

      CONTINENTAL NOTES . A H D- K Ti- K A I ) K It IN 1 ' A It I M . Adi ) -ki ,-Ka I ) Kit has been the lion of 1 ' urin ninco liitf liberation uml arrival in that city to mto Kh wonders und to bo soon , hiniHolf the great cut , womlor . His noble and lofty bearing-, tho mingled lire and wvenil . y of liis liiien , the ( lark , deep eye , tho iinoly-cIiiNellcd face , ' tho lonely grandeur of the expiM'HHion , the ' chivalroiiH and gallant air , all conspire to liiuko tl » o chief a true hero of romance ,- u pure type of tho Caucasian race m > dour to the imagination of Mr . Dim-uoli . His manners , too , arc * at once gentle and imposing : gnilitudo towards hw liberator comen un-

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      1 NoVfiMSlsfc 6 , 1852 . ] THE LEADE R . 1057

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      • VVo only winli M . Houaparte or Ilia " intimate jiei'Honal friend" on ( Jiin nic ! e of the water , may get thin i > n : ciou « limitation mlilied by our brother ** acroMH tho Atlantic . Wo trow not . — Ku- Leader .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 6, 1852, page 1057, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1959/page/5/