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Leader (1850-1860), 24th January 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 71, Untitled Article

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      wag at ten ao u 8-and-a-Jialf in Pana ^ ilJg ^ QgLJit 5 w-a tax of 15 per cent , upotv th « mass of con-S , to fill the pockets of the farmers in the Sbouthood of Pa& . Now the manufacturers tnu&t We their turn . To gain popularity , Louis Bona-Sarte would have to lower progressively t ^ e customs fisT but far iromthis , in aU the various depu-? atinna he receives . the- « ianufacturers demand the Stehance ^ « protective ' -j ^ ; and Bonaparte wcedes to these demands . This system ^ you perceive , compels Bonaparte to foster every abuse ; had he the power to get rid of them all , he would not ^ use it The logic of his position is more absolute than he M Fould / Minister of finance , had devised two arand measures ; the first was to substitute the Bank of France for the Receivers-General in the collection of the public revenues , and thereby to realize a vast to concentrate

      economy in the public service , ana an amount Of specie in the coffers of the Bank . The Receivers-General petitioned . Bonaparte in person . Bonaparte took their part against M . Fould ; in other words , he sacrificed the public good to the claims fo a few personal interests ; M . Fould was also desirous fas I think I have told you ) to convert the Five per Cents into Three per Cents , For this-purpose he ¦ was " bulling" the funds by artificial stimulants . His object was to get the Three per Cents up to 75 and then to offer to holders of Fives , Threes at 75 . which would represent Four per Cents . This ¦ urnuld have been a great economy to the Treasury ,

      and a measure of high public utility . Well . ' the holders of Fives , alarmed at M . Fould ' s project , " entered " a complaint to the President , who at once signified to M . Fould to desist from his plan . In all things , and on all occasions , Bonaparte is compelled by the fatality of his position to sacrifice the public welfare to the interests of a few privileged persons ^ r ^ IMsthis ^ ppositic ^ tothjeMinister ^ s plans that induced M , Fould to offer his resignation . Hence the reports of a" Ministerial crisis , which are

      still , and will long be , prevalent . Do what he may , then , Louis Bonaparte ra condemned to helpless impotence . Every time he desires tP destroy an abuse he is met by vested interests , which declare themselves the sole , support of Ms authority ; and , in the face of their remonstrances , he stops short . It is still the old rut into which Government after Government has fallen , and been overturned , in France * In the meantime , Louis Bonaparte silently pursues his design of an Imperial Restoration . A secret

      circular has been addressed to all the public functionaries , " inviting" them to designate him in their letters and in their official documents as " Prince , " and to give him the title of Monseigneur . " The reports of the Ministers to the President now carry these designations . Another circular invites all the authorities in the departments to rechristen the streets of provincial towns which had received Republican names , and to restore their monarchical titles . The same measure , having been applied last week to Paris , is made general .

      The Palace of the Tuileries is being restored . A first credit of 200 , 000 francs ( £ 8000 ) has been appropriated to this object ; but the " Court circle" persist in insinuating that the condition in which Louis Philippe left the Palace is quite unworthy of the " Chief of the State "; and that to restore it as it ought to be restored will require a very large sum to be expended . Something even " richer" remains to be told . The furniture of the Tuileries belonged to Louis Philippe , who took it away . There remains , then , no other furniture in perspective but that of the Empire . Now , this furniture is so execrably ugly , so meagre , and bare , in comparison with the

      sumptuous style of our epoch , that the courtiers recoil with shame from the idea of relapsing into the wornout dS / roquo of the Empire . To completely refurnish the Tuileries would cost not less than from fifteen to twenty millions of francs ( from £ 600 , 000 to £ 800 , 000)—a sum calculated to inspire serious reflections on the trifling inconveniences of an Imperial Restoration ! The Reign of Terror continues in Paris and in the departments ; the proscribed representatives have received notice to quit the French territory within

      twenty-four hours . In consequence of this order , MM . de Girardin , de Lasteyrie , Creton , Chambolle , and all included in the same category , left Paris on Wednesday last for Belgium . The representatives " of the Mountain , " who had been confined at St . Pelagie , have also been conducted to the frontiers by police agents . The seven representatives condemned to transportation have bjeen Bhipped off , as well as 458 others . 1 he lat $ er were the first batch for Cayenne , but the ¦ violent gales in the Channel drove the transport into Cherbourg . ,,.., »«

      FreBh lists of proscription are still ready to appear , os I had informed you . They are only delayed to allow the emotion produced b y the former ones to subside . On these new lists three classes of prisoners are said to figure : — 1 . Publio writers . MM . Solar , Forcado ( of the Meisager de VAssembly Caylus , Duras ( of the National ) , Alfred Nottement ( of the Opinion Pw&-lioue ) t Jules Martinet ( of L ' Ordre ) , de Reims , &c

      . 2 . Functionaries who served the monarchy of July ; among whom are mentioned jsIMTd ^~ Haussonville ^ Piscatory , de Pontalba , &c . 3 . Friends of the princes of the house of Orleans . MM . Paul Daru , Albert de Broglie , &c . &c , all Or-• leanists . Apropos of the princes of the house of Orleans , it is positively in conteiMplation to send to the Mohiteur a decree of confiscation of the property of the Orleans family . This property would serve as an indemnity to the Bonaparte family . Shall I tell you of a thousand other revolutionary measures ? The journalX ' Orcfre ( about which I mentioned last week the warning bestowed on the chief editor ) has teen suppressed . The order was , to cease to appear . The closing of cafes and cabarets continues . Even shops for cheap grocery have been sacrificed to the rigours of the Government , because they bore the name of " associated shops . " A decree has suppressed the association (" pour la vie a bon marche" ) , a sort of Redemption Society ' s Store at Wassighier ( Aisne ) . The result is that the people must ^ buy dear , that they must cease to have a conscience , " and that the working classes . must ^ be victimized by high prices on the first necessaries of life . Arrests go on without intermission . Madame George Sand has been arrested at her estate in the Department de l'lndre .

      In the Cote d ' Or , at Montbas ( the country of Buffon ) , forty-eight persons have been arrested under pretext of having formed a secret society ; The ^ number of persons arrested in the Saone and Loire is 467 . The insurgents of the Var are 1198 in number , Confined in the Fort Lamalgue , at Toulon . But the number of those who are in flight , and against whom arrest-warrants have been issued , is reckoned at 8000 . In a private letter , I am told that the number of persons who took part in the resistance in the Departments of the Var and of the Basses Alpes , is s ^ rconsiderabIfr 4 hatJagrieulture is failing for want of labour . On certain estate ^ in ^ lhe ^ SouxbTthe-olives are rotting on the trees for want of hands to pick them . A decree of the general in command of the Basses Alpes confirms the fact by the rigour it displays . ^ ¦ . . ....

      1 . Within three days-soldiers will b # billeted qn guard in the houses of all persons who have taken flig ht . ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ _ 2 . Within ten days their property will be sequestrated . 3 . Any person who shall have given shelter to 8 h insurgent will be considered an accomplice in the insurrection , and liable to be shot . ¦ A new decree has just suspended the reorganization of the National Guard in the departments . The entire mass of the population is to remain disarmed at the disposal of the Government . The " terror " is universal and incredible . Even the working classes are affected . They are beginning to emigrate . The Association of Tinplate Workmen ( ferblantiers ) , and a fraction of that of the Cabinet-makers , whose furniture was so remarkable at the Great Exposition , have already concluded negotiations with American

      capitalists . If the movement continues as it has begun , if artists , literary men—the thinkers ^ and the workers—are forced to emigrate , the revolution of the 2 nd of December will have entailed consequences as disastrous as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes . Now that the press is mute , it is the salons that constitute the Opposition . This drawing-room resistance causes serious uneasiness to the Government . Madame de Remusat and twenty other ladies , the wives of distinguished representatives , have kept up an incessant fire of quolibets and pleasantries against the Government of Louis Bonaparte . To silence this fire , Bonaparte had no other resource than to strike the representatives themselves , and so to attack the wives through their husbands . The list of Senators and Councillors of State ( such as it is ) is daily expected . S .

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      CONTINENTAL NOTES . Our Correspondent ' s letter leaves little to be added by way of illustration of the present deplorable condition of France . In the Minister of the Interior ' s Electoral Circular to the Prefects , " cynicism and hypocrisy "—which we have more than once described as the seasoning of all the acts and documents of the coup d'etat—are pretty equally mingled . For the latter quality , take this paragraph : — 44 Nevertheless , as the Government is firmly decided never to use corruption , direct or indirect , and to respect all consciences , the best means of securing to the legislative body the confidence of the population is to cull to it men perfectly independent by the ^ rjsituation and character . ^ Of the former , though a comparatively Jnild specimen : —

      J * As noon as you shall have indicated to me jnthe con * ditions above-mentioned the candidates who appear to you to have the best chance of uniting tho majority of suffrages , the Government will not hesitate to recommend them openly to the ohoioe of tho eleotom . " Of both : — 44 Formerly , when tho suffrage was restricted , when the electoral influence was divided between certain families , the abuse of these influences was odious . A lew ill « deflervod decorations— -a few places—were able to

      secure the success of an election in a small college . It was natural that this abuse should revolt consciences , and " ^ a ^ rtSe ~ abstinence-of--thft administration from all

      ostensible interference should have been insisted on . Its action , its preferences , were then occult ; and by that very reason compromised its dignity and authority . But at the present time , by what * favours is it to be imagined that the Government could seduce this prodigious number of"eleej [; qrs ? By places ? The Administration of France has " not cadres- sufficiently vast-to contain the population of a canton . By money ? Without spealcing of their honourable susceptibility , the whole public treasure would not suffice . " Then follows an ungenerous allusion to Cavaignac , not in the best taste , as against a fallen opponent—a description of " public opinion" which it would be well for the signer of the Circular to study .

      44 With universal suffrage there is but one powerful immense spring , which no human hand can compress nor turn from the current that directs it ; that spring is public opinion ; that imperceptible , indefinable sentiment which abandons or accompanies governments , without their being able to account for it ; nothing is indifferent to universal suffrage ; it appreciates not only acts , but it guesses tendencies ; it forgets nothing , forgives nothing , because it has , and can have , but one moving principle , the egotistical interest of each individual ; it is sensitive to everything , from the great policy which emanates from the chief of the Government , down to the minutest proceedings of local administration ; and the political opinion of a department depends more than may be thought upon that spirit and conduct of its administration . "

      The Correspondent of the Daily News writes : — " So great is the horror of the Government of all free circulation of opinion , that a decree has just been issued by the Prefect of Police , prohibiting manufacturers and vendors of printing presses , lithographic presses , and copying machines , from selling the above 'dangerous machines , ' without taking down the name and address of the buyer , which name is to be immediately communicated to the Commissary of Police of the quarter . Ihisjegjilation will be very effectual in deterring those who might be " disposed to write ciTeulars ^ to'rtte ^ ree and independent electors in favour of any Opposition candidate . "

      A railway from Bordeaux to Bayonne is in contemplation . The line from Paris to Strasburg will be opened in August . The journey by quick trains will take from ten to twelve hours . Colonel Charras , Captains Cholat and Millotte , expelled representatives , are struck off the lists of the army . - The _ decree of the Provisional Government of March , 1848 , which reduced volunteer service from seven to two years , is repealed . General Cavaignac's request to be placed on theretired list of the array has been granted by the Minister of War . The Due de Beuffremont is said to have indignantly refused the office of Senator .

      The President has applied to Vienna for the removal of the remains of the Due de Reichstadt juried in the Imperial Chapel ) to Paris . The consent of the Austrian Government has been given . It is said that M . de Persigny will proceed to England on a special mission . What can M . Fialin de Peraigny have to do here ? To spy out the nakedness of the land ? or to study the refugee question ? or to shake hands with some of his old friends among the refugees of ' 48 ? From Madrid we learn that the recent military riot has been quelled ; but not a few suspected generals have been ordered away from the city , and some banished . The following is extracted from a letter dated Vienna , January 13 , 1852 : — 4

      • You are aware that our Consul-General in Servia is particularly obnoxious to the Austrian Government , and that his "blustering Highness , Prince Schwartzenberg , 1 registered a vow , ' that both Mr . Fonblanque and his French colleague ( M . Limperani , a cousin of the President Louis Bonaparte ) , should be driven out of Belgrade . Hence all the attacks upon the consular dwellings and persons , and the calumnies in the Austrian newspapers against the honourable officers just named . The end of all this is drawing near , for I learn from Constantinople

      that the Turkish Government has resolved to sustain , the provincial representatives of the Powers moat closely allied to the Forte , and that ample satisfaction will be given for the attack made upon Mr . Fonblanque last autumn . On the other hand , it may be supposed the Austrian and the Russian consulates in Servia are doingall they can to encourage and exasperate the aggressors , and are unceasingly urging the celebrated canon of a Servian primate — ' The English fleet cannot come up » the Danube . ' 44

      In a recent number of the Vienna Lloyd there has . appeared a notice to the following effect , dated Belgrade : —Mr . Fonblanque , the English Consul-General , made-roontrary ... to tho usage of-all other consujs—no personal visit to the Russian Resident on tho Emperor Nichotas'a birthday , but sent up' his card from the car *' r iagif , which he caused to drive to the door of tho house . Tho Russian Consul sent back the curd , with the * remark that on that particular day he only received personal visits . Mr . Fonblanque , highly incensed , tore the card , and sent a note demanding satisfaction . Now the visible intention of this statement—which is true as far as it goes — is to create a belief that tho British agent attempted to put a slight on the Russian agent on a national occasion , and had consequently aoted in an HI bred and impolitic way . But a letter received from Constantinople supplies the suppresaio veri of Lloyd ' * Belgrade correspondent , and places the matter fa a

      Untitled Article

      Jaw . 24 , 1852 J ® & * % taXt V * .. . . . ' . .. n

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1852, page 71, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1919/page/3/