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The Peop le were generally pleased with the coup A'itat at first : they thought it republican , especially universal suffrage was restored . But the system fl open voting undeceived them ; and had not the Elvsee returned to secret voting by a second decree , t : \ s possible the resistance might have been more obstinate . But on the whole the workmen were distrustful and bewildered ; uncertain whom or what to fight for ; unwilling to be drawn into a struggle at the hour M . Bonaparte had selected ; disposed to wait to see what he would do for them . is of humiliation and
The universal feeling now deep disgust , and discontent ; but the bourgeoisie are satisfied so long as Paris is full of foreigners , the shops open , the Boulevards gay . They were terrified , too , at the thought of a general uprising in ' 52 . *• Spoliation—pillage—masssare , " &c . ; as if it were nothing to be murdered wholesale , to be stormed and ransacked by a faction who proclaim themselves champ ions of Religion—family—property . Oh ! mothers and daughters of England who read Mrs . Ellis , if I could tell you who and what and of what manner of life are the gentlemen and ladies at the Elysee who represent Religion — family — property . The Princess DemidofF !
The present Ministry may literally be called a Sinister Ministry : for M . Bonaparte has two halfbrothers in M . de Morny and M . de Maupas : the former a son or" General Flahault and Queen Hortense : the latter of Queen Hortense and I know not ¦ whom ; for Hortense was prodigal of her Creole blood . The fact is , that Louis Bonaparte is not a Bonaparte at all ; it is known that his putative father was impuissent , and that his real father was a Dutch Admiral . Rather a good mixture : the fire and impetuosity of the Creole tempered by the phlegmatic taciturnity and stubborn reserve of the Dutch .
M . Carlier , the late Prefet of Police , had it seems been playing a double game for some time before the coup d ' etat . Ostensibly he had broken with the Elysee and become the ally of the Royalist factions . He had wormed himself into all their plans . He gave them several false alarms of a coup d ' etat . On one occasion they stopped at the Assembly all night ; when the real night came they were all at their own houses ready to be pounced upon by the Police , in their beds . M . Maurice Duval , who has been sent as Commissaire-General to three departments , is ; i man who has always been employed in violent and brutal measures . It was he who treated the Duchess of Berri so brutally at Blaye .
You see that the usurping Government are pursuing the very measures so furiously attacked in Ledru Rollin . They are " Napoleonizing " the departments . It is becoming an honour to be arrested . Arrests are taking place every hour of every person suspected of independence . M . Goudchaux , the Banker and Minister of France in February ' 48 , was arrested yesterday . M . Leon Faucher has received a passport for Belgium . The police entered the house of M . Carnot with false keys , and penetrated even to the bed of Madame Carnot with dark lanterns to see if her husband was sleeping by her side ! They have also made a seareli in the house of Madame Viardot .
Victor Hugo is in Switzerland . All the Republican representative are arrested , or in flight , or concealed . Some general otticors have been placed in retreat ; notably , too , a Colonel of Engineers . It is said that Cavnignac , Luniorieiere . Changarmer , and Charms ( who was not wounded , you are glad to hear ) have been removed from Ham , put on board ship and taken to sea to cruise for the present , in regard of eventualities . But the Government dare not deport them . under other
I hear that La Vrc . sse is to appear editorship , and that ( Jirardin will bring out a Republican paper in Belgium . TheHlmrehuldernhavebroug ht mi action against him for discontinuing the paper , uh it appears it was not suspended ; but he refuses to ¦ write during tin ; existing state of things . The two chief editors of the National aro in Belgium . Of E . Ikroste ( of the Mpublique ) I hear nothing . I saw the President go out and ieturu to the Klysee the day before yesterday . Not n cry—not a hat taken oil " . People dim ; not speak what they think , but tin ; disgust is general , and the conviction that it . cannot last . But they are afraid of what will replace it .
. ........ The workiii" men have- been apathetic this time , and unprepared , but they aro awaking ; and the army especially ( the captaiiiH and non-commissioned ollicers ) are returning to their h ( mihcs . The question is , how long will it last ? If it could last long there would be an immense , emu / ration oi the best heads uud hearts of France — they would take France else when ; . They arc worn out by this oppression and degradation . Such an emigration as we rend of in the earlier history <> f the Greeks .
No letters are safe at the pont-oflice , at the pruHent moment ; if deemed in any way suspicious , they are opened , uh u matter of course ; if found to contain
political news in an unfavourable sense to the party in power , they are not forwarded . I have met persons who complain of receiving letters opened , and of letters addressed , to friends in the provinces not having reached them . The present regime is Austro-Russian , precisely such as is in force at Vienna and Naples . The secret police are everywhere at all hours , even in the most unexpected places , in the most intimate society . For one word you may be imprisoned , or ( if a foreigner ) sent out of the country . You remember the account of the massacre of the 15 th of May , by Bomba , at Naples , and the numberless arrests and imprisonments which followed of all the best men in the country—and the trials only now begun .
This coup d'e ' tat is an exact copy of thoseproceedings , in all their worst and most sanguinary and vexatious features . You have only to read the French papers to note into what a revolutionary state the country has been thrown . The official decrees , declaring departments in a state of siege—sending extraordinary commissaries to " Napoleonize" the provinces and to coerce the elections , prornotingcreatures to official posts , replacing all functionaries whose civism is undeniable , degrading some officers and decorating others , &c , &c , quite as revolutionary , or more so than those of the Provisional Government , when a dynasty had been swept away , and the whole form of government changed .
There are three or four of the decrees deserving special attention , e . g . the one giving back the Pantheon to the Jesuits , as the church of St . Geiievieve . This church has three times changed its name . The original church was built by Clovis at the instance of his queen and St . Genevieve , and dedicated to Peter and Paul . A religious house was attached to it , and in time became a celebrated abbey . St . Genevieve , at her death , was buried in henceforth dedicated to her
the church , which was . The church having fallen to ruin , Louis XV . was induced by La Pompadour to rebuild it on a magnificent scale . The great revolution converted it into a pantheon , " Aux Grands Hommes La Patrie Reconnaissante . " The restoration restored it to the church . The revolution of ' 30 repantheonized it . And now M . Bonaparte restores it to his friends and patrons : in this , too , as in all other things , following the Emperor of Austria and the King of Naples . who l is
The Archbishop of Paris , as you earn , a Republican and an excellent Christian , and much beloved by the workmen , has been garde d vue since these events . He has refused to allow a Te Deum to be sung in honour of M . Louis Bonaparte . There is another very important decree , with respect to the expulsion from Paris of men who have suffered imprisonment , or who have been tender the surveillance of the hautepolice , and their banishment to Cayenne or Africa . decree is stroke
The latter part of this especially a of despotism of almost indefinite severitj ' . For who in these latter days , with so many factions succeeding one another in power , has not been under the surveillance of the haute police ? But it is a sword that may be used with terrible effect against those wiio now employ it . A decree appointing two Marshals of France : one , General Vaillaut , who conducted ^ the engineering operations at the siege of Rome . This is noticeable . First , as a consecration , personally , by Louis Napoleon , of the attack on the Roman Republic ; and secondly , as a blow for Oudinot , who was ( as you remember ) the Comtnander-in--Chief , but who is now in prison at St . Valerian for having declared against the President . Oudinot is a Legitimist .
Is it not pitiable ? So it is with every successive revolutionary Government in France ; they employ their time in striking at persons when they should be organizing things ; rewarding their creatures and punishing their adversaries , instead of bringing forward popular measures . What a position this Louis Napoleon Bonaparte might have had if lie had put himself at the head of the " Democracy ! But those who know him well , tell
me that he ban no idea of Government but compression , military despotism , bayonets , and police ! Some of his friends , indeed , say , that once established in his place , he will bring forward some very bold measures in behalf of the working classes ( among others a strong tax on property ) , but others Hay that his only ambition is tontay where he is , with increased power of enjoyment , of nplendour , and luxuries . And bin entourage ure worse than himself .
As for the Democratic works he wrote in prison , they were written with a cool and determined hypocrisy ; for it , weeins he really does know how to ime his pen with a certain form ivnd facility . All these ; recent measures have been prepared and carried out by himself . But he is al ways impenetrable , and almost always apathetic . This is hin Dutch blood . Ilia Creole blood shows itself in the cxuchsch of his private debaucheries . Did you observe the decree for the making of a railway round Paris , connecting all the main lines ? Thin , it seems , bun been hoiuc time in contemplation . To give you an idea of how completely the workmen ubstained from , lighting this time , out of all the
workmen employed at the Northern Railway Station , only one was absent during the two days of last week , and he was ill in bed ; whereas , in ^ that unhappy and untoward insurrection of June ' 48 , they were all at the barricades . But you must not suppose the workmen are Bonapartists , they are Republican to a man ; but they are hesitating , distrustful , and perhaps a little disenchanted of revolutions ; and they , want to see what " this man " will do for them . Amon the donations to the troops , I can certify these : ' rhree thousand francs per barricade . And I know from an eyewitness , that to the soldiers who were in occupation of the bureau of a suspended Journal , ten sous a day were distributed ( extra ) to each man ; and four francs to each non-commissioned
officer . . „ , , , ,, The Financial difficulties will be very heavy at the close of this year , when very heavy payments have to be made pensions , interest on caution money of functionaries , &c . Either /^ taxes ( unpopularity ?) or Loan ( on what cond itions in the actual political state of affairs ?) , or emission of paper money . Ihere is a talk of an offer of 100 m illions o fr ancs ot Treasury bonds to the Bank in exchange for specie . If the Bank refuse—( will the Government dare take
it by force ? why not , at the point of the bayonet ?) —by a forced curre ncy ! But in either case the effect , commercially , on public confidence of such revolutionary acts , once more is a copy of Vienna . They are " bulling" the market here as much as they can . If they do not arrest " Bears " as they do at Vienna , they employ all sorts of tricks to give a factitious rise to the quotations ; and they send men andboys through the streets crying the rise in the funds . They want to force confidence . committed b
The " official news" of atrocities y " the demagogue party" in the departments are of course immensely disfigured and exaggerated—even when at all true ; but of course there are malefactors who take advantage of troubled times , and who assume the name of a political party as a mask for pillage and disorder . But have not M . Bonaparte ' s drunken soldiers set the example of violence ? And who was the first to break the law ? The way the soldiers voted was as follows : —A regiment formed into a square . The men called out one by one . ( Vote for Louis Napoleon . ) Ay or no . The noes arrested ! ( Historical . ) The 3000 who have had the courage to say no are a pretty good number under the circumstances . Of course we shall have the Empire . He is
marching straight for the Empire . The bourgeoisie are delighted at the thought of the gaieties , balls , &c . Trade so flourishing . Paris so full of strangers , and on such good terms with Russia and Austria . Shortsighted , corrupt fools ! for all depends on the life of one man ; and who is to follow him ? Oh ! the Emperor of Russia will provide him with a consort ! But a man who chooses to act Caesar must expect to find many ready to act Brutus . And what then ? French society is horribly corrupt : rotten to the core . This is the cry of the Government organs , and it is perfectly true ; but is Bonapartism to be the cure ?
The system which the great Emperor so elaborately organized , has been and is the death of the country . I mean that huge centralized machine of functionarism : 500 , 000 functionaries , and nearly as many soldiers . Servility , corruption everywhere . Some of the Legitimists are knocking under . De Falloux ( the Jesuit ) has adhered ; and so has Berryer I hear , but cannot vouch for the fact . It is thought by many that Russia supplies funds to the Elysee ; you know the Due de Leuehtenberg , the Emperor ' s son-in-law , is cousin to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte .
That iniquitous Lottery of the Golden Ingots in also supposed to have furnished M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte with cash , as very little of the money , which was to send men to California , has yet been accounted for . You know that the Republican party contains almost all the intellect and genius — the best heads , and hearts , and names in France . I assure you many are ko heartsick of this incessant persecution , th . it u general emigration is talked of—like our " pilgrim fathers " of old—to leave M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte to be Emperor over masses of corruption and brutish peasants only !
But . it cannot last . He may declare himself President for ten years , or Kinperor for life . The longerthe shorter . And out of tlm evil good may conic ; ltonapartism , the canker worm of the Democracy in Franco , will l > e eradicated for evermore ! General ILulbiercs , Home time Minister of War , haa been placed on half-pay by General St . Arii'iud . General JCulbicres wrote a loiter to him , reminding him that in "M he had waved the Minister ' s nword from being broken for some disgraceful conduct . " It , is now your turn to break mine ; but you are not able to tarnish my honour . "
The Republicans generally ur <; more sensitive about ; the degradation of the honour of the urniy thwu nbout their own defeat . L ,
Untitled Article
D EC . , 1851 . ] aw au a&rr . n "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1851, page 1199, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1914/page/3/
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