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LETTERS FROM PARIS. [From our own Corres...
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* Our correspondent alludes to tbo follo...
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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.
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Queen Victoria Has Retired To Her Scotti...
sorry diversions . The Empire , with a new raise en _scdne , aud a spectacle regardless of expense , is the next drama in the repertoire _^ and then " an Era of glory ; " the last _diVWSidh _jftfetehted fc _§ Europe by the ruined lessee of i _^ fit _bankrupt theatre—France ! A report has reached us , the accuftUlJy of which we have no means of _testing , bilt _^ ich may interest some of our readerl as a _report . It is , that a reduction of the duty on French wines has been extorted from our present Government . The story runs thus—Some time back the French Government asked for such a reduction , but met with a refusal . The same Government then threatened
to impose a duty on Irish linens , and M . de Persigny came over to renew the negotiations under cover of that fire ; and now he has been victorious . Some colour has been given to this report by the agitation in Belfast to procure a reduction of the wine duties in question . However bad a grace may have been displayed in the manner of granting the concession , in itself it will be good . Only
we do not see why French wines are to be specially favoured . Why not extend the concession to German and Mediterranean wines , the latter of which are so little known in this country ? Louis Napoleon may have the concession for a boast in his tour to the south , but we are not bound to continue a tax on other wines as a protective duty in favour of his influence and policy .
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Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter XXXVI . Paris , Tuesday Evening , August 31 , 1852 . At length the Empire is decided upon . Preparations for the event are carried on with great activity . The Elysee has begun to understand that there is no time to lose . Persigny ' s visit to England , we may believe , was not wholly alien to the intention . His journey to London is said by the quidnuncs in Paris to have had three principal objects : —1 . To shut the mouths of the English press . 2 . To arrange the commercial differences between the two countries . * 3 . To sound the English Government on the proclamation of the Empire . How
far he may have succeeded in these three negotiatiohs is not yet known . But Persigny has not been your only official visitor of late . Colonel Fleury , one of Bonaparte ' s aides-de-camp , has been to England , accompanied by two draughtsmen , and he , too , was charged with a double mission : —1 . To obtain designs of the state carriages used at the coronation of the Queen of England . The son of the principal coachmaker of Paris was charged with this duty . The design for tho royal , or rather imperial carriages , is to surpass in workmanship and material anything of the kind yet seen . The other object of the mission was as follows :
Accompanied by a second draughtsman , who was nothing less than a Captain on the Stall " , Colonel Fleury was charged witli an inspection of every point along the coast of your island , more especially with an eye to available points of landing . You understand to what eventualities this mission i . s directed . The fact is , that soon or late it will be difficult for Louis Bonaparte ( even if disposed to peace ) to escape war . The Army , champing' the bit with sullen impatience , must have exercise ; and it will bo found indispensable to create a
diversion from domestic discontent by some great coup _iVeclat on tbe frontiers , and so to regain at one stroke nil the popularity that is now waning away . Louis "Bonaparte and his entourage cannot be pacifically _disponed . M . Drouin dc _L'lluys , in bis recent address to tho representatives of Foreign Powers who demanded explanations , gave a marked hint of tbe turn affairs wore taking , lie began by assuring the _ambassadors that tho President would do nothing personall y io accelerate the realization of the Empire ; but that in case tho Empire should be proclaimed , it would
de-* We have reason io believe , from very good authority , thai JM . I ' orsigny ' flying visit , to London , ho far as it may bave been ollicial , was mainly directed to questions of international tariffs . It » ecmH that tho French Government recently put out a feeler to our Cabinet for a reduction of the duty ou French wines—a sop to the Girondo and to Burgundy , to secure the applause of those important . Departments on the 'President '!* _forthcoming progress in tbe « .. uth . This reduction was , of course , refused by the British Cabinet . Tbe French Government then threatened Ui raise the duly on IriNli linens—a menace whieh , as we have boom , has already aroused the alarm of Belfast . M . Versigny is understood lo havo ronowed tho original proposals on bis recent visit to London . As to shutting tbe mouths of the English From—tho idea would never have ontored any bead on thia _mido of ( ho channel—En . Leader ,
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
pend on tbeir _attitude to _iWkfe ; its advent either an arch of peace f _& Europe , or an Era of glory for France . Bonapart _^ _grbu ifee , has struck a bargain with F _6-£ _&| n Powi _*| . HeS teems to say to them , "Ifchow well that _yOfi , want tb prevent me being Emperorthat you btfve put tiie under . the ban of Europe—that ydii are full , of hostile _dispositions against me—that _Srou are _reader to _ueKl & re war if X proclaim the _Einptfe .
Eh bien ! You may do as you please- _^ rEtfiperor I shall be : if you keep quiet , so much the better for all ; if you budge a step , I bave only to sound the alarum of a national war , and how much will your Crowns be worth ? " Such is the meaning of the language Bonaparte has held towards Foreign Powers ; and it is probable that the representatives of those Courts retired from the interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs , uneasy and mortified .
Au reste , the imperial comedy goes on bravely . According to the letter of his promise , M . Bonaparte does nothing personally to hasten the proclamation , but his agents leave no stone unturned . As I have before informed you , the most positive orders were despatched to the Prefects on the 16 th of August . They arrived too late to secure the conseils d ' arrondissements , but en revanche , the councils general are almost unanimous in tbeir imperialism . I will
not repeat , what I have insisted on m former letters , as to the actual composition of these councils : you have only to remember tbat the immense majority of the population stood aloof from their - nomination , so that in fact they are made up exclusively of the devoted creatures of Bonaparte , and for the most part having been only completed by a second election , for want of voters in the first , are the elect of a miserable minority .
I will give you a sample of the style of these addresses , taking the first I meet with , that of Vaucluse : " The council general of the department of Vaucluse , penetrated with gratitude to the Prince President for the heroic act by which he saved society , an act which has received the sanction of 7 , 500 , 000 suffrages , Considering that after an interval of fifty years the French people have pronounced , by repeated votes and in the most striking manner , their desire to reinvest with the sovereign power a prince of the Bonaparte family : tbat in 1848 as in 1804 , on tbe 2 nd December as on the 18 Prumaire , it has been the
work of a Napoleon to close the era of revolutions ; and that these great events are stamped with a character so providential that their consequences cannot be too loudly proclaimed : Considering that the temporary powers conferred upon the President respond neither to the genius of our institutions , nor to the nature of our interests , nor to the services which Louis Napoleon has rendered , and is called to render still , to the country : considering , finally , that thc Empire , as tbe sole form of government which
partakes both of the monarchy and of the republic ; of the first by its hereditary descent , of the second by its popular elective origin , can alono satisfy all parties , and reconcile them all by a fusion into one great national party;—expresses its desire that tho Empire bo re-established in the person of Prince Louis Napoleon and his descendants ; and that to that end , conformably with Arts . 31 and 32 of the Constitution , a Senatus-Consulte be proposed to the acceptance of the French People . "
Most of the addresses are conceived m a similar style . Tho Elysee has been obliged to have recourse to the councils-general , in default of the people , who refuse to sign the imperialist petitions . Thus wo find , in ono and tbo same Department , a council-general which calls itself tbe representative of the population , demanding the Kmpiro ; while tho population itself , to which imperialist petitions are presented for signature , refuses to sign them . As yet there aro only four departments in which these petitions havo received a certain number of signatures . Of these the department of _L'Aube is the last mentioned ; and even in tbis , as indeed in tbo other cases , only a single commune , that of Aulnay ; and in that one commune ,
only a few men of one of tho two parties which divide it havo . signed tbe petition , which demand * , — 1 . Tho accession to tho imperial throne of Prince . Louis Napoleon . 2 . Tho _suppression of universal suffrage , so far as fhe municipal and cantonal elections aro concerned only , "because that system is tho sole cause of the dissensions and of tho discords which , since 18 . 11 , divide ono of tho smallest possible of communes info two camps , and disturb the local tranquillity . " You see , then , this petition is nothing more than the voice of tho Uonupartist faction in that . single commune of Auhuiy ; und from its very language we may divine that the said faction is not quite at ease in the midst of the surrounding population . This fact is so evident , that even the official journals have remarked that since
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
of _reMTopte there haS " - * _^«™ tp fact , the fflysle is , and has good reason to h _* sorely _displeased by the _Jesuit of the elections Tb system of absteiitidn has been general in the " citie towns , and villages . _Scarcely anywhere was the r quired number of votes got together ; and it is est / " mated that about three-fourths of the total number of electors throughout France refused to partici pate in th electoral act . At _Besanjon , Marseilles , Bbuen , _Eeones Angouleme , Metz , Aix , the refusal was universal . ' All these facts make Bonaparte gloomy enough , and force him to precipitate events , if he hope to master them .
He has lately experienced an afiront which keenly affected him . His courtiers were anxious to keep the fite of Saint Louis at St Cloud . On tbis occasion they " worked the oracle , " and sounded the trumpet with every species of reclame , sending circulars about in all directions to invite the Parisians to " assist at" the fete . The railway companies were ordered to carry the humbler classes at half price . Monster placards were stuck up on all the walls of Paris , _announcing tbat tbe great fountains would play and grand illuminations take place at St . Cloud . Injunctions were conveyed to the inhabitants of St . Cloud to illuminate their windows . The effect was to be magnificent . It appears that the population of Paris had not thought
it worth their while to take the hint , for no one stirred a step to go and see the fSte ; no one , even at half price , consented to sanction by his presence the _^ e of an intruder and an usurper . A few of tbe least reputable of the populace , and some English tourists ( in the capacity of mere sight-seers , of course ) , figured at St . Cloud on the occasion . The great fountains began to play , and the gas-light illuminations to burn , when , seeing that so few spectators were present , the ordaiuers of the fite declared that they would not pay a sou to the contractors ; whereupon the latter ( not unnaturally ) proceeded at once to turn off' the gas ; and , as if by enchantment , total darkness swallowed up the illuminations .
But the inhabitants of St . Cloud were tbe most malicious of kill-joys . They had been told to illuminate their windows : and punctually they obeyed orders ; but with better wit than will : they put lampions in tbeir windows , but with only grease enough to burn for five minutes : after five minutes , total darkness , as if by enchantment ! Louis Bonaparte , I am told , was not very well satisfied . The story of the lampions of St . Cloud will be handed down in history , henceforth , in company with the story of the lantern of the Bourgeois of Falaise . * Bonaparte is reduced to the same " fix . "
The inquiry into the causes of the fire at the Elysee resulted in an opinion that it was not accidental , but intentional . I told you that the accounts of _expenditure were destroyed . Louis Bonaparte would not allow the result of the inquiry to be published in the Moniteur . Tho " progress" in the south is now once moro definitely fixed . Bonaparte is to start on Sep tember
15 th : he will take on his way Nevers , Moulms , ltoanne , St . Etienno , Lyons , Grenoble , Valence , Avignon , Marseilles , Toulon , Aix , Nimes , Montpellier , Narbonne , Carcassonne , Toulouse , Agen , Bordeaux , Angouleme , Rochefort , La llochellc , Niort , Poitiers , and Tours . He will pass the 20 th of September at Lyons , the 22 nd at Gronoble , the 26 th at Marseilles , tbo 28 th at Toulon , the 5 th of October at Toulouse , tho 8 th and Oth at Bordeaux , and be back again at Paris on the 16 th . During all tbis timo tho Prefects are strictly forbidden to grant passports to operatives for Lyons nnd
* Our Correspondent Alludes To Tbo Follo...
* Our correspondent alludes to tbo following story .--The mayor of Falaise having ono night run foul of a citizen of tho gooil town of _Falaiso , ( in those dayB there waa neither gas nor oil-lamp , ) the mayor guvo orders next morning that no citizen should go out at night without fl lantern . The following night , the mayor , going his rounds , ran again against tbo _samo citizen . " You haven t reuu tho _ortlonnanrt ) , you stupid fellow , " said the mayor , m a passion . " Yes , I have , " said tho Norman , " and lain ' s my lantern" ( " mats si , a prcuvu quo voila ma lantcrne ) . " But there's nothing in it , " rejoined the mayor . ' _•* " « ordonnanco said nothing about that , " replied tho scrupulous citizen . Tho next day appeared a new ordonnanco _^ enjoining the citizens to put cundloB in tbeir lanterns . ¦ nightfall , the mayor , anxious to see whether Ins or « v were obeyed , went his rounds again , and once more l _^ foul of the luckless bourgeois . " 1 havo you tins _^ _"J _^ said the mayor , in a fury , " you have no l _( u , ' , * , r "' _, ' , ease me , hero it is . " " liut no candle in if . " " *'" ' fl * si , " (" Oh ! but I have , " ) " and here it is . " A'ijl < _p Jt the lantern he pulled a cimdlo—milightvd . " B » _'' _'' ' ' ¦ , lighted , " resumed fbo exasperated mayor . " . V ¦ ( i l 0 nothing about lighting the candle , " quickly _rojoinou baurquoin . Bo another ordonnanco had to bo _MBuea , joining the citizen *) to light tho _oandlou in thi » r l _*™"" —Ed . Leader .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091852/page/2/
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