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January 22, 1853.] THE LEADER. 75
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LETTERS PROM PARIS. [Fbom our own Corres...
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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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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Brother Jonathan, Prolific Of Destructiv...
would be drawn ; " for he did not see any one in that room who was too old to carry a musket , if they were called upon to defend their hearths and homes . " ( Hear , hear , and laughter . )
January 22, 1853.] The Leader. 75
January 22 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 75
Letters Prom Paris. [Fbom Our Own Corres...
LETTERS PROM PARIS . [ Fbom our own Correspondent . ] Letter LVI . Paris , January 18 , 1853 . Discord reigns in the Bonapartist household . The swarm of parasites are stinging themselves to death the courtiers are at daggers drawn against one another . Fould has re-opened his quarrel with Persigny ; Nieuverkerque has had a duel with Edgar Ney ; the aides-dercamp , ousted from their appointments , have
declared war to the knife against the chamberlains who supplant them . To crown all , Bonaparte is on bad terms ( en froid ) with St . Arnaud , and there is a coolness between him and Drouyn de FHuys . A writer employed by the police had written from Paris some articles against M . Fould , Minister of State . These articles were publistedin the German papers . M . Fould , indignant at the insult , which he suspected to proceed from Persigny , ordered , on his own authority , a domiciliary visit at the house of the employe .
Now , you should know that domiciliary visits are within the exclusive cognizance of the Ministry of Police . To order and cause to be executed a domiciliary visit without such cognizance , and contrary thereto , was a flagrant violation of all rules , and an audacious interference with the process of our despotic institutions . In consequence of this arbitrary act a rather lively scene occurred in the Council of State between MM . Fould and De Maupas . Persigny took advantage of the occasion to vent his spite against M . Fould , and to side with Maupas , in renewed invectives against M . Fould .
The last-named personage , if I am correctly informed , was far from remaining silent , and without regard to the presence of his Majesty the Emperor , the two Ministers belaboured each other with all the delicacies of the vocabulary of the fish markets . During this discussion his phlegmatic Majesty amused himself characteristically with making paper cocottes , and ranging them in a superb order of battle of his own invention .
As for Nieuverkerque and Edgar Ney , the latter had accused the former of having almost killed him by his awkwardshootingatCompiegne , andtheformeraccused Edgar Ney of having prevented the Emperor making him a Senator . A ' meeting' was the result of these hot words , in which Edgar Ney received a second ball in his arm . Nieuverkerque , notwithstanding the tears , the cries , the desolation of the Princess Mathilde , received an immediate order to depart into exile . Only , as in the case of General Narvaez , his exile is disguised under a scientific mission to Greece . Whether or not his inconsolable Calypso will accompany him to Attica , I can't « ay .
Now , a word about the aides-de-camp and their quarrel with the chamberlains . Before the 1 st of January , the former had charge of the interior service of the palace , near the person of j ; he Emperor . An immense advantage was attached to these domestic functions—among others , the favour of continual access to the person of the Emperor , and the means of entertaining him at all times with whatever might serve their own ' mtcrmts . This privilege insured them considerable influence . Accordingly , at certain hours they were besieged by eager place-hunters , who , money in hand , solicited their intervention with the Emperor in favour of private ends . The aides-de-camp had contrived to establish a perfect cordon sanitaire round their poor
Sire , and through this rigorous and continual blockade , nothing but what they desired could penetrate to the ears of Bonaparte . But the institution of Chamberlains mado short work with all these auriferous privileges ; so the aides-de-camp are now driven out of their fortress , and replaced by chamberlains . Now , the first belong to the nrmy , and bear the sword , whereas the second aro only civilians , another reason for M . les . Aides-de-camp to despise MM . les Chamberlanns , who , if we listen to the epaulettes , uro nothing but pekins en calotte courle . Hereupon , insults , mutual defiance , six challenges ensued . At this moment the Tuileries is a menagerie of cuts and dogs . All the hangers-on will end by devouring one another , and some line morning- tlio palace will be completely empty .
A word ttl > out the dissensions between Uoniipurto and certain of his ministers . First of nil , the affair oi St . Arnaud , Minister of War . Anothor seiindaT of the Bourse . St . Arnaud , you remember , is a desperate gambler . Before ho became Minister ho was overhead and ears in disgraceful gambling debts . The 2 nd of December paid them all oil' . As H ( x > h as lie came into office lie left oft * playing cards , and took to dabbling in the Funds Tho Bteady riao of Stocks thut preceded the Empir
enabled him to realize enormous profits . But by the sudden and continued fall ever since , he has lost still larger sums : in the space of two months he dropped abtfut two millions and a half of francs ( 100 , OOOZ . ) of his former winnings , and a week ago he was a loser to the extent of 1 , 200 , 000 francs ( 48 , 000 ^ . ) M . Dubosc , his broKer , having called upon him to pay up the difference , St . Arnaud refused . M . Dubosc immediately referred the case to the syndicate of stockbrokers , who , to shield the personality of M . Dubosc in the affair , enjoined him to recover the amount by all possible
means . Thereupon St . Arnaud again defaulted , and M . Dubosc , en desespoir de cause , as a last resort , addressed himself to the Emperor , who , anxious to avoid tbe scandal , paid the sum out of his private purse . But for all that , the scandal was not avoided . A whole syndicate of stockbrokers cannot call a meeting without some whisper of the cause getting abroad . The day after , the whole Bourse and all Paris knew of St . Arnaud defaulting ; and two days after , the Moniteur had the impudence to declare all the rumours current about St . Arnaud calumnious . This note of the
Moniteur incensed all the men on Change , and they replied to the defiance of the Moniteur by a fall in the Funds of two francs . You may conceive the displeasure of Bonaparte . Sustained as he is solely by the Bourse , he finds all the brokers turned against him . He has already determined to supersede the Minister of War : his successor is to be General Caurobert . It only remains to gild the pill for the hero of the 2 nd of December . A good pretext is found in the expedition which is now preparing in Algeria . Orders have been sent to press these preparations with vigour . It will consist of 40 , 000 men . St . Arnaud will be appointed to the command of the expedition , and so got rid of . Not at all . St . Arnaud knows he is the stronger man : having the army in his hands , that power
is his safety ; he wont let it slip at any price . We may probably witness in the course of a few weeks the following singular spectacle—an omnipotent Emperor disobeyed by his Minister . The character of St . Arnaud suggests all sorts of suppositions , and lends colour to all kinds of possibilities . If Bonaparte rouses the temper of St . Arnaud too warmly , that Minister is capable of laying hands on the Emperor ; sending him to Vincennes , and proclaiming Joinville King of the French ; or Henry V ., King of France ; or even Napoleon IV ., the son of Jerome , Emperor . All would depend on the adventurer ' s caprice , or on the price eacb of the pretenders mig ht be willing or able to give for his support . Such an event would little surprise me ; it would be consistent with the natural course of events .
Despotism is nothing but the government of the sabre , and the government of the sabre is the rule of the Praetorians . Praetorians at Rome , Janissaries at Constantinople , Strelitz at Moscow : names change , but the events , the facts are the same : it is ever the domination of the armed force over their pretended Sovereign . For a simple Yes or No , they strangle an Emperor as you would a dog . The only way Emperors have of escaping such a disagreeable entertainment is to massacre in good time their Janissaries or their Strelitz . Such is the futality of Bonaparte ' s position . He rests
on the army alone : he looks like a formidable colossus , looming large in all the formidable apparatus of despotism . But that nrmy is resumed in one man , and that man is a condottiere , an adventurer of a passionate and violent temper . He has only to wave his hand , to snatch Bonaparte from tho midst of the Palace , and pack him . off to a Fort . Bonaparte , conscious of his dependence on that man , is obliged nt once to coax him and to seek to get rid of him . Hence the falseness of his position ; hence an infallible crisis , in which St . Arnaud or Bonaparte must go to the wall .
Tlio difference between the Emperor and M . Drouin do l'lluys was less grave , and of another nature . M . Drouin de l'Huys had gone to ^ mit lengths with the Russian Ambassador in the a Hair of the credentials ; so that Bonaparte ' s concession was like a disavowal , placing the Minister in u false position . He sent in his resignation , which was refused ; but at thin moment M . Walewski , Ambassador to . London , is talked of us his successor .
I shall say but little of the ball nt tho Tuilenen , to which only fuuctionuricM and foreigners were admitted . II , can hardly interest you much . I shall content myself with informing you that Bonaparte , that great restaurateur of authority , haw recently restored la culotle ( knee-breeches ) , doubtless us an emblem of this authority . * Tbe prodigality of attentions heaped upon your compatriots was the object of general remark . What I admire most is tho good faith , the candour , tbe delightful naive . U with which your countrymen receive all these cajoleries . They accept all these empty promises * A '' ronch proverb : 1 'orter la culotto : —6 tro to chefdu m 6 n » gQ ~ 'i \ ii viv > tiny , to " wear the hxuw \\ vti . "~~] fiv . Leader .
for cash payment . ( IZs prennent toute cette eau bemte de cour pour de Vargent comptanl . ) Decidedly the Dutchmen are ' cuter than the Englanders , after all . The Moniteur , however , by way of a corrective , I suppose , has fulminated a new note against the English pres ' s . This note was very ill received at Paris , especially at the Bourse , where indeed it was greeted by a further-fall . - Only ten . days before , the Moniteur
contained a pompous euloginm on the new press law in Spain , just promulgated at Madrid by the quasi-liberal ministry . That eulogium , which went so far as to vaunt the blessings of the liberty of the press , had induced some people , with good-natured credulity , to imagine that si change of policy in a more liberal sense was ° in contemplation . On that vague hope the Funds had risen . But soon came the article against the licence of the English press to dissipate all illusions .
Nevertheless , one could not help asking why so sudden and so severe a passion for the liberty of the Press beyond the Pyrenees ? Many people fancied they had found the key in the alleged recent re-opening of certain negotiations with Maria Christina to obtain the hand of one of her natural daughters . Qtd se ressemble , s ' assemble ( " Birds of a feather , " & c ) , says the proverb . Unfortunately , Maria Christina refused for the third time . Only the day before yesterday , her final refusal arrived . Two other attempts had been made in Germany , one for the hand of a Princess , but the King of Prussia
interposed to prevent the project ; the other at the Court of the Emperor of Austria , to obtain nothing more nor less than au Archduchess . But at A ienna , the fate of Marie Antoinette and of Marie Louise is not yet forgotten , and there was little disposition to hazard the adventure , again . Great has been the disappointment of Bonaparte in his connubial enterprises . He can no longer escape the conviction , le malheureux ! t hat no one in Europe takes him seriously . Everybody takes him for a puppet , and
treats him " as such . " Every sovereign of Europe tries to play him all the tricks he can . Austria broke off his engagement to the Princess Wasa ; Russia enjoyed the sport of doctoring him before sending him credentials ; Prussia takes pleasure in cheating him out of a Princess ; and so with all the rest . It is now said that in despair of obtaining a Princess , he has made up his mind to marry a simple mortal . At a recent ball , he met a certain Spanish Countess , — Mdlle . de Montijos , —and I hear he is going to marry her . Desinit in piscem ! So ends the comedy .
In default of any real interest attaching to their hero , the police are busy in getting up a factitious interest in his Majesty . Two malefactors were lately arrested at Vaugirard . For a whole week the public was regaled with a story of two liberated convicts , guilty of a horrible assassination . But as these two men defended themselves vigorously against the police agents , the police took occasion to transform them into political conspirators . For want of imaginative power , they invented the following stupid story . Two individuals , dressed as gentlemen , wore in the habit of following- the Emperor far and near on horseback , in all
his excursions , and seemed to cling to him wherever he went . The police were put on the scent , and after some time discovered that these two men frequented an obscure wine-shop of the Vaugirard , . where their arrest was eilected . No doubt it was a presentiment that nobody would believe this story that induced the police to convert tbe accident by which Edgar Ney received a shot or two nt Cowpwgnc into a regular attempt on bis life . All Paris knows that it was De Nieuverkerque that awkwardly fired the unlu -Icy shot ; but the police is determined at all hazards to throw u halo of interest around their hero , and in
default of real danger , to create ! some imaginary and fictitious alarm . Otherwise , our regime continues unchanged . II- in seriously proposed to modify the jury system . According to the principle of universal suffrage , every citizen is now qualified to be a juryman . It is true that in reality , on the pretence of desiring io avoid inconvenience to working men , tktty are never summoned . Now we are to go back to tins truth . Tho principle of universal suffrage is to be cut in half , and blinded of one <>> ' <' - Tbe prefects are to nominate tlio three hundred most notable persons in each arrondissement , out of which h
the corps of jurymen will ha picked . One more ypocrisy unmasked ! As to the press , it has still a hard life of it . Printers uro condemned , for n mere syllable , to lines of a . hundred thousand francs and upwards . Clandestine presses are just now the special object of the rigours of tho police , who find " clandestine presses" everywhere . A copying-miK'hino ( pre . vse a copier ) m u " clundeHtino press ; " a washerwoman ' s mangle in a " clandestine press . " A merchant at Marseilles wan lately sentenced to a lino of 10 , 000 francs for having a " clandestine press . " Jt wua for copying liia letters ! 8 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1853, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22011853/page/3/
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