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Leader (1850-1860), 1st January 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8, GERMANY. ' (From our own Correspondent.'...

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      Original Correspondence. France. ( ^ Fro...

      columns of the Moniteur . M . Rapetti is Doctor of Laws , formerly Frofessorof Comparative Legislation at the Sorbonne , and is now Imperial Historiographer , which , from the fact that Mr . G . P . R . James was , I believe , historiographer to the English , would require a very inventive genius * Of possessing- this gift which may be of service to a romance writer , but must be destructive to an historian , and even reviewer , M . Rapetti has given abundant proof . Not only has he the greatest facility for inventing anecdotes ,, facts , and historical documents , but he is not encumbered with any silly , antiquated notions that might interfere with the profitable employment of his inventions , as the reader may judge . On the 20 th of July , 1857 , he published

      a Teview , signed Rapetti , of " Marmont ' s Memoirs , from 1792 to 1841 . " There is no occasion to mention that these Memoirs gave dire offence to the idolaters of Bonapartism , especially to those who live by its exploitation . M . Rapetti was charged With reviewing the work , but , alas ! the slashing style of Mr . Croker has no imitators in France . The review , was probably the dreariest that ever appeared in the official journal ; a French budget is infinitely more lively and more intelligible . In the midst of the wearisome waste of letter-press , M . Rapetti stuck . in a little bit of slander , which was divided between text and foot-notes * but the substance whereof yras to the following effect : " A General had the unhappy idea to leave among his papers a defence , an

      apology , for the conduct of M . de . Raguse . The G eneral de Pelleport forgot to leave among his papers all his reasons for excusing the defection of Essonne , especially this one , that he himself took part in the defection ; the name of Pelleport figures among the first ¦ with the title of General of Brigade , on an act of adhesipn to the defection of Essonne , whereof an authentic copy is in our hands . " It so happened that on the 30 th of March , 1814 , General de Pelleport was dangerously -wounded , while fighting for the Empire in the streets of Belleville , under the walls of Paris . His wounds were at first considered mortal , and he was so totally incapacitated by them from any physical or mental action whatsoever , that it was materially impossible for him to have had

      intended to impute to the General an active and personal co-operation in the defection , but a moral complicity , because nine days afterwards he signed the act aforesaid approving the proceedings of the legally constituted bodies . So scandalous a subterfuge was never put forth before , probably , in any court of law . Such are the brief outlines of the case . The trial lasted several days , and M . Rapetti was so ill advised as to defend his ' own case . There is an English proverb that when a man' pleads for himself he has a fool for a client , and M . Rapetti ' s exhibition will not falsify your vernacular wisdom . It was the most ridiculous , the most profoundly stupid , and the most offensive show-off that can be imagined . A total incapacity for public , speakingj inability to collect his ideas , violent attitudes , mountebank gestures , facial distortions , confused notions , indistinct articulation , together with overweening arrogance and disgusting vanity , were paraded day after day before the court . Fortunately , perhaps , for the widow and son of the General de Pelleport was it that M . Rapetti did so thoroughly expose himself , for the result of the advocacy of his own cause was that the court declared that the act referred to was a mere copy of many like ones that were addressed to the Government , and that the assertion as to participation in the defection was erroneous , or at least equivocating ; whereupon M . Rapetti was condemned in costs , and to publish in the Moniteur and a Bordeaux paper copies of the judgment . . So much for the historical accuracy and honesty of the Imperial historiographer .

      anything to do with the defection , as it is called , which occurred at Essonne on the 5 th April , 1814 . On the publication of M . Rapetti's libel , the family of General Pelleport wrote , complaining of the conjunction of his name with the conduct of Marmont . With that insolent disregard for personal feelings which is peculiar to literary as well as other Bumbles , M . Rapetti concocted another article in continuation of the review , which was published in the Moniteur , 3 rd August , 1857 , and tacked on to the end what pretended to be the copy of the document giving adhesion to the defection of Essonne , and which document was said to be dated "Rouen , 19 th April , " , and contained the signature of Pelleport to a declaration that the officers of the 6 th corps

      dparme ' e , under the orders of Marmont , would adhere to acts emanating from the Senate , the Legislative Body , and the Provisional Government , also to the re-establishment of the Bourbons in conformity to the constitutional Charter , and the officers promised to always take for base of their conduct the honour and welfare of their country . Even supposing this document to be authentic , and to have been signed by General Pelleport , impartial , honest men will regard it as a credit to the signers . The allies were in Paris . France was heartily sick and wearied of Bonapartism , as I will prove on a futureSoccasion . The creatures of Napoleon— Ney , whom he had gorged with spoil , and those lacqueys he pensioned and disguised as senators and deputies—were the first to fall from him .

      The adrainistratorsof the law and constituted authorities of France pronounced the ducManco of Napoleon , and the officers who adhered to . these proceedings—after they had occurred , be it remembered—did no more than their duty . Were they to sacrifice the honour and -welfare of France to gratify the vanity of one man , who had lost so little of his foreign origin as to be unable to speak their language , correctly , and to bo able to boast , " See how my soldiers love me , far above their country and their kin ! " To proceod : when the second Rapetti libel was published in tho Moniteur , tho family of the dead General looked upon it as an aggravation of the first offence , and took legal proceedings in order to obtain the Insertion in the officialjournal of a statement to the effect that the General de Pelleport was not at Essonno on tho 5 th April , 1814 , because , on the 80 th March preceding , ho was wounded nearly mortally

      under tho walls of Paris , and therefore unable to take any share in tho military operations of the 6 th corps d ' ermtfe ' from that date until its dismemberment or dissolution j that General dc Polloport never gave his adhesion to any act whatsoever which convoyed adhesion to the capitulation at Essonno , nor to any political movexnonts of tho 6 th corps d ' armde j and that tho name of General de Pelloport cowld , never havo appeared but to tho Apt dated " Rouen , 14 th April , 1814 , " whiofx conveyed approbation to tho aots of jpolltjlcal bodies constitutionally organised , if tho not duos exist . M . Rapotti rofu » od to insert tho corrootlpn , but tried to avoid tho difficulties and scandal of having slandered tho ( land by tho most impudent and dishonest ploco of trickery that over disgraced an historiographer , Ho wroto In tho Munitour admitting that 'General do Polloport took no part lit tho operations of tho night of tho 4 th to fitl ) April , when the wesertocl dofeotlon took place , and ho eald that ho novor

      $ Thj X E A Dei. [No. 458, Januart 1, 18...

      $ THJ X E A DEI . [ No . 458 , Januart 1 , 1859 .

      Germany. ' (From Our Own Correspondent.'...

      GERMANY . ' ( From our own Correspondent . ') December 28 . The chief political event of the past week has been the election in Bavaria , which has resulted in favour of the Liberal party , to the great : discomfiture of the King and his Ministers . This is a victory for the Liberals that mayjprdve worse than a defeat , for we can hardly suppose that the monarch will tolerate an institution that enables his people to evince a contempt for his known wishes . The Princes of Germany , in close imitation of the ancient Princes of Italy , have hitherto appeared more desirous that their respective states should occupy a distinguished artistical position rather than a high political one in the

      eyes of the world . Enormous sums are spent to ornament their resident towns with picture-galleries , museums , palaces ,, theatres , and monuments , while their villages are left in the condition they were five centuries ago . The difference between a Stddter ( townsman ) and a Dorfler ( villager ) is as great as that between a negro and a European , excepting in those parts of the country much frequented by foreigners for health or pleasure . Trade and agriculture are of little consequence compared with art , not for the sake of art itself , but for the fame of the thing . A constant rivalry has been going on in this way between Berlin , Vienna , Dresden , and Munich , upon the grand scale ; and between Cassel , Hanover , Brunswick , and others upon the petty scale . Formerly ,

      likewise in imitation of the Italian Princes , it was their glory to entertain poets and philosophers at their Courts , but as the modern German poets and philosophers are creatures of extremely L iberal tendencies , they are not quite so much in vogue at this moment . Lyric poets are especially obnoxious , with their everlasting Deutsch ~ land" and Froiheit . " This is disagreeable , for what is the use of a splendid Court without a poet to sing and spread its splendour ? This necessary absence of poets has taken away from the Princes one groat inducement to decorate their capitals , and has forced them to seek fpr fame in another direction , Thoro is now a rivnlry in constitutions . We havo a Prussian Constitution , and a Bavarian Constitution , and a Hanoverian Constitution ,

      and many more constitutions , which have been drawn up with great deliberation and sworn to with ceremonious solemnity , voluntar ily submitted to out of shoor goodness of heart , and solely with tho desire to boriofit " dui Hebe thcuero Vaterland ; " butsomohow or the other these constitutions bring no limitation to tho power but only to tho faults ot tho monarch . All tho good under tho Constitution oomos from the Prince , all the bad from tho Ministers , for tho Prince can do no ^ Yrong , nothing but what is good . Constitutions are found to bo very hurmloss things by all parties to amuse themselves with and

      gain fame by . The Sovoroigns of Bavaria havo always boon ambitious to appear well in tho oyos of tho world , and , therefore , they havo followed the examples of thoir rivals , and havo Anglicised or Constitutlonalisod thoir form of Government like thorn . They can boast of thoir Parliament as well as Prussia , and will make as much to-do in the world with thoir elections , and thoir budget a , and addressee , and " his Majesty ' Ministers , " and National Anthem , & o . Somo months ago , I niontlonocl that tho Bavarian Government intended to sook tho flssont of tho Parliament to aomo additional clauses to tho

      ber , not because they had declined gagging themselves , but , as it is given out , because they had elected as president a person who was obnoxious to him . The new election has just terminated , and proves wonderfully Liberal in the results . More than two-thirds of the whole number belong to the Liberal party . This its now the second appeal to the people , and the people have , it may be said , unanimously justified the resistance of the Parliament . Will the King laugh at the decision of his people and try another appeal , or will he sittipLdissolve the Parliament and not call another ? There is

      little danger in either case , but probably he will bo induced to let matters rest awhile , not to excite too much interest in the public mind . Anything but political excitement ! There was too much of it , as the Prince-Regent of Prussia said in his address to his Ministers — the Regency question was . not , in his opinion , sufficient cause for it—hinting that , unless the noise was stopped , it would , be necessary to take energetic measures to thwart the evil intentions of disturbers of the public peace ; in other words , the people must eat whatever pudding their Prince serves up to them and hold their tongues .

      There are still authors and publishers so silly as to imagine that , because the Prince of Prussia has acceded to power , they may write and publish anything they please upon " political subjects , provided they avoid slander ; the consequence is , great loss of time , learning , and paper—for papers or books in any-way unpleasantly political are even now ruthlessly confiscated . Thus , a few days ago , a work entitled " An Inquest , " figunrtively signifying a review of the past , was seized by tho police at all the booksellers where it was advertise , 1 to be had . This is done under the reign of the very liberal Prince of Prussia ; and at the moment , too , when ministerial circulars are being issued professing to relieve

      the press from one of its most oppressive , almost on the very day that the police authorities received M . Flottwell ' s circular , which informed them , in a rigmarole of unmeaning sentences , that he know there were evils connected with booksellers ' and publishers ' licenses , and that he should take , it into- ¦ consideration whether the Legislature should interfere , and in which the police were likewise instructed to inform him whenever they felt it their duty to threaten or put the law in force against any bookseller . This : Mi Flottwell Iin-3 certainly the knack of writing circulars which the lpngo : vou study them the less meaning the 3 ' appear to

      contain . The above circular about the booksellers' licences-, which are granted by the Government , and . may bo taken away at any moment , to the entire destruction of a man ' s business , -at-first sight leaves the impression upon the reader that some real relief has been grante-. l , some fetter removed , whereas it contains absolutely nothing more than what I have said . Some newspaper .-, indeed , expressed their gratitude for this great liberality on the part of the Prince and his Ministers , but after studying the circular for about ten days , they arc lieginning to come to the conclusion that it has no . meaning at all in itself ,. but only what is given to the sentences by the imagination of the reader .

      The rumours of war between France and Austria havi been wafted northwards . Although the domestic an I reflecting Northerner * are not so easily led astray b . . mere newspaper gossip as the idle holiday-mukinu natives of the South , they begin to feel alarmed whru they observe that tho rumour is considered important enough to call forth an elaborate contradiction in tlic French Moniteur . It U not so much the rumour as the declaration of the Moniteur which causes alarm in tin ' mind of the commercial man . Wo all know , from Int . '

      uxporionoo , tho value of such declarations by continental States . The people have bo little faith in the honesty « . | their Governments that , the more solemnly they as . su vorate the loss tlioy aru believed . Declarations like that in ' JLho Monitettra . ro put forth to gain time , and soothe misceptible allies or neighbours and the trading community , who might take fright at preparations for a war ' which , by beginning unexpectedly , would overthrow ull thoir calculations . Up to tho very day of tho formal doilnration of war against , Russia , it wits' nusortoil by Fivtioli official jourualri , or presumed official journal * , that then

      waS no danger of vrar , and that all disputes wero |>< tho point of being amicably Bottled . Now , whether there is truth in tho rumour or not , one thing is certain , namely , that AussLriu ifl making great military preparations , or that tho papora aro permitted- to wproad falsehoods « broud , fur wo aro inloriiiod that tho Aumrian ( jovennnont i » purchasing lioraci ) in ull quarter : * , mid placing garrisons upon a war footing in otrni ' ;^ ' 11 ' "' positions . Thudo clrournstancoa put together , if tln'Y cannot reasonably bo takon as signs of npprouching wur or disunion , tend , at any rato , to fiighton all w-ho havo i

      anything to lose by tho breaking out of wiuv i '»« s ' gigantic standing nrmiua and , continual doubts u .-i to tjio btubllity of tho Governments , aro fast ruining | lw «¦ »»» - tlnont of Europe . Tho alarm which him boon civatul In Austria itaolf lintt Induced tho Uovcruuiunt l » i * rttl : i an edict to tho e / J ' upl , that In curtain purls of thuc . 'imtry married inou and only hoiisj will bo ox . ou'H ' d I ' ruin tl 10 ooiiserljitlun . it is curtain tlml Austria In In a llrlilWi Hltuatlyn , for she Iiuh only tho moat Ignorant nt U '' potman try mul the anny to . ruly upon . llalod a * < 1 hi to by Hungary , by Italy , ami liberal Germany , u » 1 '' H > ' ° defeat would , iu all probability , prostrate liur . < "' °

      press law , to assimilate it with tho laws existing in Prussia , which olnusos hud boon rojoctocl by a former Parliament . Tho Ministers , who expected the now Parliament would bo loss obatroporous , found themselves , however , doooivod . Tiio now Parliament was more rosolujtoly opposed to arbitrary Interference with liberty ofspoooh than tho other . The King , therefore , employed his constitutional right , and dissolved tho Cliam-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1859, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011859/page/8/