On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    sion for any one of these objects . This excessive cehtralization reqtured some modification . There was a great desire that commimal matters might be left to the commune ; that departmental affairs should he arranged by the conseil-general of the department ; and this reform was called decentralisation administrative . You will readily conceive that the measure decreed by L . Bonaparte is but a sham- In fact , his decree merely removes these matters , from the- central bureaux in Paris , into the hands of the prefects ; and it is well known that thej > refects are but the servile instruments of the Government ; so that , virtually , the Government will still continue to administrate for the communes . The decentralisation administrative is therefore nothing but another fraud .

    The opposition against Bonaparte is steadily increasing in the provinces . In Paris it is universal , not to say unanimous . A torrent of squibs , caricatures and pamphlets are poured upon this pauvre Sire Those tit-bits of bitter satire are sedulously handed about , to the great amusement of the public . This new species of warfare has provoked the malignant ire of the Government . It thunders its deerees against

    printing , like the bear in the fable , throwing stories at the fly . One of these decrees goes on to say , that " 110 one , upon any pretext whatever , shall be allowed , without ' authority , to male use of any printing presses large or small , and that the manufacturers of such presses shall be hound to give notice of the names of all purchasers . " Even the letter-copying machines in mercantile houses inust be authorized . Can you conceive such a deplorable state of things ?

    Another decree abolishes the right of association and meeting . Every meeting of more than twenty persons must be authorized by the Government . There is a wide difference between this and your meetings in England ! The transportations , are still going on in every direction . The Boriapartist journal , La JPatrie , owns that there are 6350 persons exiled to Algeria alone . Fresh arrests- are taking place every day in Paris . About twenty persons were arrested in the Faubourg St . Denis last Friday , under the pretext of participation in thtr barricades of the 4 th December . The

    Government still continues to incarcerate , without anymotive being assigned , persons suspected of liberal tendencies , and who are obnoxious on that" account . After having been in prison a few days , a passport is offered to them for Belgium or England ; and these unhappy men are thus exiled , though innocent . We have read of the despotism illustre of Metternich ; we now feel the ingenious despotism of Louis Bonaparte . The Prince President persists in his aggressive demands on the neighbouring States . Now it is the turn of Spain to bend before his will . The Spanish Government has been compelled to summon before the tribunals ,- the journal , La Nation , guilty of some articles against Bonaparte .

    As to the Swiss affair , everything appears to have been definitivel y arranged . Louis Bonaparte , at the instance of Lord Cowley , the English ambassador , modified his pretensions as to the expulsion of the political refugees . He has been obliged to bo satisfied with the promise made by the Federal Council , that it would not permit any steps to be taken on its soil , against the government of Louis Bonaparte . S .

    Untitled Article

    CONTINENTAL NOTES . We give the text of the President ' s Speech ( alluded to by our Paris correspondent ) at the installation of the Great Bodies of tho State .

    THE PRESIDENT ' S SPEECH . __™» , V nB TiEa . Senatkuks—Messieurs ujsDnruTES , ., . | ° dictatorship which ( ho pcoplo conlidod to mo ceases tins day . Things aro about to resume their regular course . U is with a fooling of real satisfaction that I corao hero to proclaim the putting in practico of the constitution , for my constant anxioty ( preoccupation ) has boon not only to romablish order , but to render it durablo , by endowing ¦ t ranco with institutions suited to her wants . But scarcoly a low months ago , you remember that tho more I confined inyscll within tho narrow circle of my attributions , the > noro it was attempted to render that circle narrower still , 1 " OVdor to deprive mo of mnvflmnnt nml nnlinn . Oftnn

    < iHcouragcd , 1 confess it , I have thought of abandoning a power bo much contested . What restrained mo was that J- saw but ono thing to succeed mo—anarchy ! Every whore , I . " " 3 roa 0 up pasHiona , ardont to destroy , incapablo of "uncling anything . There was nowhoro' o ' ithor an institution or a _ man to oling to . Nowhoro a right uncontostod , ¦ whL A ° , ft ftl » 1 ! lvtion ; any practical Hystom . Thoro ' ftiro , fi ... i' , . fl io tho assistance of a few courageous mon , J finks above nil , to tho onorgotio attitude of tho army , all uo ( laiigorH woro ditipollod in a i ' ow hours , my first caro wiw to ohIc institutions of tho pooplo . For too long a time B «« HU , y hart roHomblod a pyramid turned upaido down , and aitom ptod to bo placed Upon itn point . I havo replaced it "I > on Kb baso . Universal sufFrago , the only source of right » " woh conjunoturos , was immodiatoly re-established . Authorit y regained ifo ancondanoy . Afterwards , Franco , wiopcmg the principal provisions of tho constitution which

    I * submitted to her , I was permitted' to crleate poUtical bodies whose influence will be so much . ; tho greater from their attributions being wiselyregulated . ; . In fact , no . political institutions are durable but those which , fix . in an equitable manner the limit at which each power should stoto . There are no other means of arriving at a Useful and beneficent application of liberty . Examples are not remote from us . Why } in 1314 , did we see with satisfaction , in spite of our reyerseSj ' the inauguration of the parliamentary r ^ fftMW ? JBer cause the Emperor , let ' us iiot fear to confess it , had beeij , carr ied on , by reason of war , to a too absolute exercise of power . Why , on the contrary , in 1851 , did France applaud the fall of this same parliamentary regime ? Because the Chambers had abused the influence which that regimeh&d given

    them , and in desiring to rule over all things , had compromised the general equilibrium . Again , why was not France troubled by the restrictions applied to the liberty of the press and to individual liberty ? Because the one had degenerated into license , and the other , in jp laco of being the regulated exercise of the right of every individual , had by odious excesses threatened the rights of all . The extreme danger , for democracies especially ,, of seeing badly-defined institutions continually sacrificing " power and liberty by turns , Was perfectly wefi understood by our fathers hah * a century ago , when , on emerging from the revolutionary tempest , and after vain experimenta of all sorts of systems , they proclaimed the constitution of the year VIII ., which has served as a pattern for that of 1852 .

    Doubtless , it does not sanction all those liberties to the abuses even of which we were accustomed , but it consecrates others that are truly liberties . On the morrow of a revolution , the first guarantee for a people does not consist in the immoderate use of a tribune and the press . It consists in the right to choose a governm e nt such as it likes . Now , the French nation has , perhaps for the first time , given to the world the imposing spectacle of a great people voting , in all liberty , the form of its government . Thus , the chief of the state , whom you haye before you , is really the expression of the popular will . And what do I see before me ? Two chambers . One elected by virtue of the most liberal law that exists in the world ; the other , nominated by me , it is true , but also

    independent , because it is irremovable . Around jne you see men of admitted merit and patriotism , always ready Jut . support me by their counsels , and to enlighten me with regard to the wants of the country . This constitution , which from- this day forth will be put in practice , is not , then , the work of a vain theory and of despotism . It is the work of experience and reason . You , gentlemen , will aid me . to consolidate , to extend , and to improve it . I shall communicate to the Senate and to the Corps LSgislatif a report ( cvposS ) of the situation of the republic . In that they will see that confidence has everywhere been re-established , that industry has everywhere revived , and that , for the first time after a great political change , the public fortune has increased instead of having diminished .

    Within the . last four months my government has found it possible to encourage many useful enterprises , to reward many services , to relieve much distress , to elevate tho position of the greater part of the principal functionaries , and all that without increasing the taxes or deranging the estimates of the budget , which we are happy to present to you balanced . Such facts , and the attitude of Europe , which has received the changes that have taken place with satisfaction , give us a well-founded hope for the security of tho future . For if peace is assured at homo , it is equally so abroad . Foreign powers respect our independence , and we have every interest to keep up the most friendly relations with them . So long as the Honour of France shall not be engaged , the duty of the government

    will bo carefully to avoid every cause of perturbation in Europe , and to direct all our efforts towards internal ameliorations , which alone can procure the well-being of the industrious classes , and assure the prosperity of the country . And now , gentlemen , at the moment when you are patrioticall y associating yourselves with my labours , I wish frankly to express to you what will be my conduct . People seeing mo restore the institutions and souvenirs of tho Empire havo repeatedly said that I desired to restoro the Empire itself . If such had been my constant anxioty , this transformation would long since have been accomplished . Neither tho means nor tho occasions have heen wanting to mo . Thus , in 1848 , when six millions of suffrages elected mo , in spite of the Constituent , I was not tho consti

    ignorant that tho simple refusal to acquiesce m - tution would havo given me a throne . But an elevation which must necessaril y have produced grave disorders did not seduce mo . On the 13 th of Juno , 1849 , it would have been equally'easy for mo to change tho form of government—I would not do it . Finally , on the 2 nd of December , if porsonal considerations had prevailed above tho gravo interests of tho country , I should have at onco asked of tho people , who would not have refused it to mo , a pompous title . I was contented with that which I had . When , therefore , I look for examples in tho Consulato and tho Empire , it is because thoro , more than any whoro else , I find examples stamped with nationality and grandeur . Being now , as heretofore , resolved to do everything for Franco , nothincr for mysolf , I would not accept any

    modification of tho present state of things , unless I woro constrained to do so by an evident necessity . From whonco can that ariso P Only from tho conduct of parties . If they resign thoms . elvos , nothing shall bo changed . But if A bv their hidden intrigues ( sovrdps menfcs ) they nhould sock to sap > tho foundations of my government j if , in thoir blindness , they should "deny tho legitimacy of tho r < 3-eult of tho popular election ; if , in short , they by"thoir attacks whoiild unceasingl y put the future prospects of tho country in question , tiion , but then only , it might bo roasonnblo to ask of tho people , in tho name of Ihoroposo of France , a now titlo which might irrevocably fix upon my head tho power with , which Franco has invested me . JJufc lot us not occupy ourselves beforehand witli difficulties which doubtloss havo no probability about them . Let us koop tho republic . That threatens no ono—it may roassuro everybody . Under her banner I desire to inaugurate onco

    agkm ari era of forgeffuhiess arid conciliation , and I cdl without distinction upon all' those who iirill concur with me ; for the public good ; Providence , which has hitherto sq visibly blessed my effort ? , will-not permit . its work toremain unfinished . It will animate us all . with its inspirations , and give us Ithd wisdom and strength necessary to consolidate an order of things Vhich will secure the happiness of our country and the repose of Europe . On Tuesday the Corps Li gislatifmet fii the Palais

    Bourbon , andV ; held a sitting in the hall devoted to their deliberations , which commenced at two o ' clock * The board was first constituted . M . Billault , the president of the chamber , then addressed the assembly . A document was , however , communicated by him , which produced a much greater sensation than his address . This was the letter written by General Cavaignac and MM . Carnot and Henon to refuse the oath : ...

    To THE PHESipBNT OP THE CORPS LEGISI . ATIF . Monsieur lo Presiden , t , r-The electors of Paris and Lyons came to , seek us in retirement or in exile . We thank them for having thought that our names would of themselves protest against the destruction of public liberties , and the rigours of arbitrary rule . But we do not admit that they wished to send us to sit in a legislative body whose powers # o not extend to repairing the violations of right . We condemn the immoral doctrine of mental reservation ( reticences et arrieres pensees ) , and we refuse the oath required upon entering the Corps Jjegislatif . We beg you , M . le President , to be good enough to make this declaration known to the Assembly . —Paris , 29 th March , 1852 . . Cavaigitac . CAEIfOT . Henoh ^ The following are the most striking passages in the opening speech delivered by M . Billault : — " Placed under the invocation of the great principles of 1789 , fortified by that government spirit which marked the Consulate , these institutions have received an evident consecration by the scrutin by which we are elected—ours is the duty to infuse into them practical life . That is the commencement of our mission : and that mission , whatever may be said of it , is certainly not altogether without grandeur and authority . ¦ ¦ ¦ "' .. __ " We shall not , indeed , see the Legislature surrounded by parties which incessantly hold the Ministry in checft , compelling it to concentrate all its forces upon its own preservation and defence , and by so doing not unfrequently

    enervating the power of the State . Whenever , as Ministers or Deputies , we may employ these Parliamentary tactics , it is to business now that we shall be obliged _ to consecrate them—serious and practical business , This is our part in the Constitution * It consists in voting the taxes , the discussion of the budget and of the laws . It implies not merely the right of deliberating freely and publicly , of adopting or rejecting , but also that of amendment , no longer , undoubtedly , with the same facilit y of improvisation , against which previous Assemblies vainly endeavoured to defend themselves , but with a degree of maturity which can only prove fatal to Utopian projects . " Marshal Jerome Bonaparte opened the sitting of the

    Senate with an address , of which the following ore tho principal passages : —He took » retrospective view of the past , and stated that tho rdgime of tho Empire was so powerfully constituted that its overthrow could only be brought about by a general coalition of the European Powers , which in their turn were aided by treachery . Ho spoke next of tho coup d'Stat of 1851 , and explained it by the prestige of tho name of Napoleon , which name , according to his ideas , is tho personification of order and liberty at homo , of independence , of national dignity , and of greatness abroad . The act of the 20 th December sprung from respect for tho only sovereign—the people—and for tho advantage of tho people alone was it consummated . Ho declared furthor that the period of the Dictatorship had now reached its termination , and ho pointed out that

    tho Constitution was open to improvements . It contained but a limited number of principles , which sprung from the various institutions of Franco . Ho next pointed out tho duties of tho Senate . That Assembly was not called upon to make tho laws ; its character , influenco , and functions were e ssentially conservative and moderating . Nevertheless , that Assembly possessed a rig ht of proposing draughts of laws of groat ; national entorost . Ho intrcatod tho mojnlicra-of tho Senato to show onergy , and ho laid groat stress upon that word , but ho exhorted them also to moderation and clemency .

    ( It is presumed that theso words refer to a demand for an , amnesty of which it is dupposcd that it is to be preferred by tho Senate . ) Tho Marshal Joromo concluded his speech by stating that ho boliovcil his political career was terminated ; but when tho President appealed to his patriotism and his devotion , and that , too , after bo many years of oxilo and of vicissitudes , and when Providence seemed to deoreo that he , tho last of tho Senators of tho Empire , should bo tho first among tho Senators of tho now reign ( rtyime ) , ho had felt happy to accopt t ) ho place , and to ho , as it woro , tho connecting link which chains tho past to the present .

    Tho Moniteur of Tuesday published a . decree' ordering the erection of ( a Crystal palaco in tho great ' square of tho ' Chumps Elysdos , to serve as a permanent building for tho Exhibitions of national industry and other public purposes , including civil and military i ' fltos and ceremonies . Tho Minister of thd Interior is ordered to report to tho President of the Itopublio an to the best moans of execution . It was oven waid at Paris that tho government was in treaty with Mossrs . 'Fox and Henderson for tho purchase of their building . Tho text of tho decroo runs thus :- — Louis Napoleon , President of tlio French Itopublio ; considering that thoro does not exist ; in Paris any cdifico adapted for public exhibitions which can respond to what ia required by national fooling , by tho magnificence of art

    Untitled Article

    April 3 , 1852 . ] . THE LEADER . 3 iS

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1852, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1929/page/7/