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    The Bonapartist Revolution In Paris. "Th...

    Some Mountaineers were present at the sitting , and amongst others , Grevy , Ferdinand de Lasteyrie , Didier , Colfavru , & c . So far the matters appeared to go smoothly enough with the Assembly . But after they had passed their various decrees , matters changed their aspect . A body of the Chasseurs of Vincennes surrounded the building . They had scarcely taken up their position , when M . Berryer appeared at one of the windows of the Mairie , wearing his representative scarf , and declared to the crowd which stood outside looking at the soldiers taking up their places , that the Legislative Assembly , being insufficient numbers to deliberate , had ( pronounced the

    decheance of the President of the Republic , and appointed General Oudinot Commander-in-Chief of all the troops of Paris . Just as he said this , M . Thamisier , another representative appeared behind M . Berryer , and raised the cry of Vive la Rtpublique . This cry was most coldly received by the crowd . " What is Berryer , " said one , " but the servant of Henri V . ? " "And what is Oudinot , " said another of the persons standing near , " but the man who went to Rome ? " Almost immediately after , an officer of the chasseurs of Vincennes knocked at the door where the Assembly was sitting with closed doors , and insisted on gaining admittance . This was refused at once , but the officer insisted , and in a few moments after the room was cleared .

    Four members , MM . Daru , De Broglie , Odilon Barrot , and Mole , remained in the apartment . An officer of the staff presented himBelf , saying that , as they would not separate , he should take their names . M . Odilon Barrot then replied , and said that , after such a violation of the Constitution , he demanded to be arrested . The officer replied that he had no instructions to that effect , and that his orders were simply to clear the room . MM . Odilon Barrot , Mole " , and De Broglie then withdrew . M . Daru was following them , when the officer declared that he was his prisoner . An employe of the first Mairie arrived , to place the hotel of the Mairie at the disposal of the representatives , but the detachment prevented the meeting .

    The representatives then dispersed ; some went to M . de Broglie ' s , others to M . Dufaure's . M . Cremieux was arrested in the street In the sixth arrondissement some representatives of the Mountain made an attempt at resistance . By proclaiming the dissolution of the Assembly the President has committed that specific act of high treason which the constitution specially describes and provides against . By law he is now ipse facto divested of his functions . The executive power now legally belongs to the Assembly . If the Assembly could devise the means of meeting in any part of France , and were to appoint a Minister of" War , it would be duty of every officer in the army to obey

    his orders , and the regiments that might follow Louis Napoleon would be mere voluntary armed bands . That the Assembly in its present crippled , divided , and discredited state , should attempt any assertion of their constitutional rights and duties against the present usurpation is in the highest degree improbable . But if it does not , France lies prostrate at the feet of an unscrupulous dictator . The appeal to the people is evidently a farce . Without a free press , without freedom of speech , without electoral meetings , with the terrors of martial law in Paris and numerous departments , and with prison doors yawning to receive every man of independent spirit , it is obvious that no serious opposition to the President ' s will can be organized in the course of the next fortnight .

    The Minister of War ( of the President ) has sent circulars of the Proclamations to the People and to the Army , to all the Generals and Chiefs of Corps . He has also sent a decree , in virtue of which the Army is called on to express its will in forty-eight Aours after the receipt of the manifestoes . Accompanying the above circular are the following models of acceptance or rejection : — I " Acceptance—In virtue of the order of the - ¦» , the officers , non-commissioned officers , and soldiers , whose names are affixed , have replied ' affirmatively' to the renolution presented to it in the following terms : — The French people desires the maintenance of the authority of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , and delegates to him the powers necessary to make a constitution on the basis set forth in his proclamation of the . ' "

    •• Rejection—In virtue of the order , " & c . [ The rest being precisely the same as the preceding , with the single exception of the word " negatively , " substituted for " affirmatively . " ] This is tho new freedom of election . The troops are invited " to express their will under tho inspection of their chiefs , within forty-eight houra of a militury revolution . It is an exact purody , to the letter of 1804 . But the Emperor had half Europe at his feet . He had led tho urmy to conquest . The circular of the Minister of tho Interior ( M . de Morny ) to the prefects , is more revolutionary than Government of 48

    arly of the Provisional February , . It organizes a species of official terrorism , demands adhesion of functionaries in writiny , orders the suspension of independent journals , and tho arrest of all persons suspected of legality —in the name of public order . Under theHO conditions tho French people arc by another ducrco convoked in their respective chstrictrf , for tho 14 th of this present month of . December , to accept or reject the folio win plebiscite ( an it is called iu Imperial stylo ) . ' The French people wills tho maintenance of tho

    authority of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , and delegates to him the powers necessary to frame a constitution on the basis proposed in his proclamation of the 2 nd of December . " The electoral lists are to be formed according to tho law of the 15 th of March , ' 49 . The scrutin de liste is abolished : and the registers are to remain open at the secretariat of every municipality in France , from Sunday the 14 th instant to Sunday the 21 st instant . Rumour says that Generals Cavaignac , Changarnier , Bedeau , and M . Thiers ha ^ been transferred to the chateau of Ham . General Bedeau suffers severely from the wound which he received whilst resisting his arrest .

    General Lamoriciere is reported to have escaped with the soldier who arrested him , and brave Colonel Charras to have died of the wounds he received when he was arrested . Orders have been issued to arrest Victor Hugo , but he has hitherto eluded all search . MM . Odilon Barrot , De Tocqueville , and Berryer have been sent to the fortress of Mont " Valerian . MM . Berryer and Benoit d'Agz have refused the offer of liberation . MM . Broglie , Dufaure , and Flavigny have been set at liberty . A decree has been posted , prohibiting all meetings and public assemblages , in order , we suppose , to secure freedom of election .

    M . Mole has addressed the following letter to the Journal des Debats . It will be seen that his personal liberty has been respected : — Pari 3 , December 2 , 1851 . " Monsieur , —Permit me to ask you to insert this letter , which I send at the same time to the Moniteur . After having been this morning expelled from the residence of M . Daru , Vice-President of the National Assembly , with all the rest of my colleagues . who had

    assembled there , to protest against violence and oppression , I vainly attempted to join the members of the Assembly who had met at the tenth Arrondissement . Numerous troops prevented me , as well as several other representatives , from reaching the door of the Mairie I now have recourse to your columns to declare that I join fully in the conduct and acts of my colleagues assembled at the Mairie of the tenth Arrondissement , and that if it had depended on me , I should have shared their fate . —Eeceive , Monsieur , & c , Mole . "

    M . Leon Faucher has written to the President , refusing the nomination to the so-called Consullative Commission . " Paris , December 3 . " M . le President , —It is with painful astonishment that I see my name figure amongst those members of an Administrative Commission that you desire to institute . I did not imagine that I could have g iven you the right to offer me this insult { injure ) . The services which I have rendered you , while believing I rendered them to

    the country , perhaps authorized me to expect from you a different return . In any case , my character merited more respect . You know that during my career , already long , I never belied my principles of liberty , no more than my devotedness to the cause of order . I have never participated , directly or indirectly , in the violation of the laws , and to determine me to decline the mandat that you confide to me , I have only to recal that given me by the people , and which I yet retain . —Accept , Monsieur le President , the homage of my respect . " ( Signed ) M . Leon Faucher . "

    The high spirit and dignity of this remonstrance of theEx-Minister almost make us pardon , if not forget , his past career But if any man may be said to have sold the constitutional liberties of his country , to have undermined representative institutions , and to have encouraged the usurpations of the Executive , it is the unfortunate writer of this noble rebuke . His remorse is , perkaps , a sufficient expiation ! TL ) . o members of the Parliamentary-Club in the Rue

    de rUuiversite , assembled on Wednesday in the r ordinary place of meeting . Two or three companies of troops oi' the line soon arrived to disperse them . The commander of the troops announced to the members of tho meeting that he had received orders to allow them to leave the place of meeting in full liberty ; but if they should attempt to assemble in any other place , they would be arrested . M . de Falloux appealed to the officer in command , but in vain . The representatives retired in great agitation .

    There was fighting in tho streets of Paris on Wednesday from midday until five in tho afternoon , in the Faubourgs St . Martin and St . Antoine . The resistance was courageous and desperate , but the force in the hands of the usurper of a nation ' s rights in enormous ; it is used without remorse and without hesitation , and the working men of Paris are comparatively unarmed . All through the day the greatest uneasiness prevailed in every quarter . Tho National

    Guard has boon paralyzed by an order from General liUowostiuo , and the grocery battalions havo not yet shown themselves by tho side of tho people . Besides , tho troops have orders to shoot on tho spot all taken with arms in thoir hands ! Tho story of the death of Hiuidin on a barricade at the corner of tho Hue do Kouilly is tlms given by the correspondent of tho Morning Chronicle . " Early on the morning of Wednesday , great crowds of the workmen iiHKoinbled in groupn in the Faubourg St . Antoine . At tho comer of the Hue de iteuilly . an attempt wan made to raise a barricade , und tho excitement Wft « very greut . Every moment added to the crowds of

    people assembled . Large bodies « f ? ' Infantry , cavalry , andL artme ^ rwere a , fS ^ J ^^ big the quarter MM . Baudm ^^ ' cher C fected « Madier de Montjau , Montegn ard reSr ' . 7 n ?^ ° ' *» d tempted to address the peopg . M . SffiEift ?* «*• prudence to mount the barri cadefand * to wV **¦ soldiers , who were approaobin * for the « nrtf Mgue *« peeing the erowd . H fhe soldifre fired ? SPBtV * - fell dead on the spot . M . Schcelcher Z ji Baudi « wounded . M . Esquire was killed ? and tl * F & de Montjau is spoken of as having met with k adler fate ; hut this last intelligence doe « not app ? £ ^ ***? , The barricade was carried " . On all othpr „ there has been no resisting the masses of J ?! moved upon any given spot . But it must be !? membered the accounts we have obtained Lt or less obscure and questionable . In the l ! ° ? - ° re column of the Times yesterday we find th £ f * mate . fcUJS e 8 u-

    " From the immense amount of the militarv res ™ , * of K + ? overnmen S l stern ** wS 3 KH which they are employed , it was not to he expected Tw any successful effort of popular resistance could be m » H in Pans . Nevertheless , from an early hour vested the streets of the capital , and especially the iCSSS of St . Martin and St . Antoine , witnessed a renewal of th ! scenes of carnage we have so often had to record and t ! deplore . In vain the Minister of War decreed that ever ? person taken in the act of raising barricades should suffer according to the most rigorous laws of war or , in other words , should be instantly shot . The barri *

    cades were raised , and they were defended by the indomitable courage of the population from , midday to five in the afternoon against the forces of the army supported by artillery . The insurrection was quelled , it is saidbut we fear this conflict is only the forerunner of more general disturbances , which can only be crushed by acts of unqualified severity ; and how is it possible for a Government to submit its pretentions to the decision of the country by universal suffrage , whilst that question is in reality pending between the cannon of the army and the barricades of the people ? "

    But the Morning Chronicle of the same date wrote : — " The news which we have received up to this morning seems , when carefully sifted , to exhibit the completeness , rather than the qualified character , of Louis Napoleon's success . Barricades have been thrown up , but the want of heart manifested in erecting and defending them may be taken as the measure of the inclination to resist among the population of the Faubourgs . " The Post , backer of Louis Napoleon , and warm approver of the coup d'dtat , said : —

    " In the latest news which we have received from the gTeat scene of action in Paris , we find some objects of regret , but no sources of discouragement . Disorder has made its fuiious effort , and blood has been shed ; but authority and discipline have not for a moment wavered . * And then attacks the Socialist Party , and dilates on the probable horrors if the coup d ' etat had been «• Red "I In the same strain the Herald summed up . " The latest acccounts from Paris , at the time we are writing , are favourable . Some slight attempts were made on Wednesday night to erect a few barricades , but they failed , owing to the firmness of the troops , lne extraordinary tact and boldness of the President s proot

    ceedings seem to Have completely paraiyzeu u *> »»»» party (!) and there is now good reason to hope that the crisis will pass over without confusion or bloodshed . While the Daily News , which dissertated on the wonders of the submarine telegraph when it should have written on the Revolution , said—nothing atau « In a political point of view , the success of the President does not appear to have been by any means •« complete" Out of 120 names in the Moniteur oi

    . Wednesday , nominated by the President asaOounc i of State , only thirty-nine have been found wJiowu accept the post . One writer says , that thenw Court of Justice had assembled at llouen , and con demned the President for High Treason . A placara signed by Victor Hugo , and a nother by *^ £ GKrardin , had appeared on the walla of *" - , JLd w . , . «» t ^ ila tl , Or , pnnlA th « t the Nutional Guards anu to dethrone

    m ^ Lme are marking on Paris , ne President ; Emile de Qirardin , and the unarresti a Left , declare the President on outlaw . An article by M . Oranier de Cassagnac appean > _ the Cotistitutionnel , which contains a sm 6 ul" dited lation . He says- " Did not the : most acog ^ chief of the Legitimists send , last Monday . __ Exebal message to the President ° f * i i ? Bt minority , cute a coup d'Stat , transport the pooiitf" , Jf tJliB and five minutes after we are with , you ch kt message is denied , we will »» " »« . * ^ S ug ht it . who gave it , and the representativ ewl ^ id « on Thus , tho « ame men who begged tho i Monday to make a coup d itat ; n ™ J l rttinfJt the up an act of impeachment on luoj ^ J of ordcr President for a coup dT

    and society . " . , rtl > ron nroclamation General St . Arnaud h «« i-suedlalTierce pro to the inhabitants of Pan * "" B « w » J ^ Jf enemies ot opposition to "Louis Napoleon as i ^ ^ o Aer and society , " ^ ho wish for 1 » U « B dho . struction . " Every pp « *™ l » V ™ ° fro ° m among tho Bioxis to these enemies '' of ^» 2 nSw » delig W ranks of tho 8 e whom JSngjwh C ^ ervaUr £ ^ to call tho friends of order . * * om «*

    Lisa Mt &$A*9v. Rsa***™

    lisa mt & $ a * 9 V . rsA ***™

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 6, 1851, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06121851/page/4/