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of the legislative body , who are ready to oppose any concessions on this point . They have already had several reunions during the last fortnight , and are Called Us Independents . They loudly declare their intention to defend the interest of the tax-payers ( cotttribttables ) ; and to call for a detailed account of the expenditure , which should he annexed to the budget of 1853 ' It is well-known that tins is a very delicate question ,-and one on which a niost serious conflict cannot fail to arise ; L . Bonaparte having regulated the bucket of 1852 , on his own private authority , without furnishing any of the items of expenditure .
A third element of opposition , and one which , to a jnan of Mi Bonaparte ' s susceptibility in affairs of etiquette , could not fail to cause him extreme annoyance is the circumstance of the . deputies persisting in presenting themselves at the soirees of the Elysee in plain clothes . He looks upon this seriously as an act of contempt against his decrees . In the meantime , I * . Bonaparte adviinces towards the empire ; not openly though , for that has never been his method , but by tortuous and hidden manoeuvres . He wishes to appear as if driven ( la main forcee ) in the matter , as I told you in my last letter . The
reviews are going on , and we have still the Vive VJEm pereur of the soldiers . The faithful legion of Decem-Irailldrds never fail to attend his path punctually , at time and place appointed : but now , in lieu of Vive Napoleon , they deafen us with formidable cries of Vive VEmpereur , The intimes of the Elysee tell everybody that we must have the empire . Pcrsigny , a few days since , at the opera , met the Vieomte de 1 'Epine , the celebrated champion of the Empire , he that formally demanded its establishnient in the Bulletin de J ? aris .
" Continue , " said Persigny ; " the thing prospers : we will manage to be driven" This word is a complete avowal ; it is the agent of police provocateur , accessory to the fact . Compare this with M . Bonaparte ' s own words : "I shall not proclaim myself Emperor , unless the factions drive me to it ; " and you will see these gentlemen know what they are about . They will instruct _ the police to prepare an entente , to be laid at the door of the factions ; M . Bonaparte will have fouifd his pretext ; the factions have driven him to make himself Emperor !
More facts . Two deputies from the South had declared that they would move for the proclamation of the empire . M . Bonaparte , seeing these gentlemen afterwards at one of his soirees , asked them in a loud voice to tell him " What they considered was the wish of the people ? " " That you should be emperor , prince , " replied they . Louis Bonaparte thereupon shook them by the hand in a significant manner . On the occasion of the preparation of the Civil list ,
several senators waited upon the President for the purpose of learning his views on that subject . " My pretensions are very modest , " says Louis Bonaparte ; "I desire only the plain income of President . But as , by the force of circumstances , I might become Emperor , let mo have a civil list of twelve millions , sis if I were already einporor ; for I should not wish the people to say , that my coming to tho empire , has cost them n sou . " These words wore uttered publicly , word for word , before six persons .
Tho empire , you perceive , is well decided upon in Louis Bonaparte ' s mind , and if it wore not for Itussin , it would have been proclaimed ere this . In tho meantime , it virtually does oxist . Arbitrary measures continue as heretofore Tho censorship , though abolished by law , is still maintained . It certainly does not apply to tho press , but ovory pamphlet , not being decidedly a book , ( is well as overy circular , is submitted to it , in spite of tho law . Ah a sot-off , Louiw Bonaparte is reported to bo contemplating an act of gonornl elomoncy . Ho has despatched several commissaires exlraordinaires into tho provinces , to revise tho decisions of tho late
commissions judiciaires . " Lot mo hear , when you roturn , w ns ninny pardons as possible , " nro tho words miid to Iwvo Ixjcju addressed by tho President to M . Qucntin ijnuclmrt . After having destroyed bo many of his vicwuiB , L . Bonaparte now speaks of pardoning- hoiuo . Urdors uro moreover boing given to suspend nil tlio transportations . Letters from Marseilles and Bordeaux confirm this intelligence . It is unfortunately mUuuMnto . On tho SOfcli of March , tho Monllour ¦ SUytrien gives im account of 1850 transports who » avo landed in Algiers . To-day wo are informed that u » oy amount to 2237 . Louis Bonuparto , it nppciu'H to , me , is clesirouH of stopping transportation , now that "Kjvo in no one to transport .
the fuliuro omperor over scokw to couoiliato tho good will o ( tho Catholic clergy . Tho other day , nt tho I'Qroinony of conferring the cfirdinul ' H lint on ' a French ) iKUop , ho availed himself of tho opportunity , to irmiHt . ! \ ° "ocosHity of an intimate union between tho Hpi"lual and temporal powors . Tho Protoatwnt clergy ,
however , is far from being made the aim of imperial cajoleries . A Protestant school , which had been established at St . Maurice ( Yonne ) , has been closed by order of the Government , on the alleged ground , that there were no persons of the reformed-religion living in the place . An attempt had also been made to establish a Bible Society at Estissac ( Aube ) , but it shared the same fate as the Protestant school . I ' hope to s ' uCeeed in drawing the attention of the English press to proceedings of this description , for they are continually occurring .
There is to be a modification of the Ministry . This change will bo decisive . M . Casabianca , Minister Secretary of State , makes way for the versatile Persigny , the Egeria of our Dutch ! Numa . Persigny is in fact the adviser of L . Bonaparte . The place of Minister Secretary of State belongs to him , then , by right . The following arrangements will be made under the new Minister . The council of Ministers will sit under the presidence of M . Persigny . 'The'latter will be the only member of the council to confer , and transact business with the chief of the state , and will therefore be the principal personage of the situation . In a word , Persigny governs and Bonaparte reigns .
One of the prerogatives of royalty , as you are aware , was the right of chase in the royal forests ; this right has just been conferred upon L . Bonaparte , by the Senate , which , in giving him a civil list of twelve millions , g"ave him possession of all the regal palaces , such as Versailles ,- Compiegne , Meudoii , St . Cloud , Rambouillet , Pontainebleau , &c , and the exclusive droit de chasse in the royal forests of St . Germain , Marly , Bambouillet , Compiegne , Senart and Fontainebleau . This senatorial decree is about to produce a curious law-suit . In the month of August , 1848 , the administration of the forests executed a nine years lease
of the right of chase in the said forests , to a number of private individuals , at a fixed annual rental . The concessionnaires , who have been four years in possession * -and "who hold a lease in due form from the administration , will oppose the execution of this decree . The concessionnaires of the droit de chasse in the forest of Compiegne , _ being all of them members of the Opposition , have resolved , as a matter of principle , as well as for tlie pleasures of the chase , to avail themselves of every fox -in and stage of legal proceeding to maintain their rights . The affair promises to furnish much amusement . S .
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . THE DEATH OF PllINCJS SCilWAKZENBEKG . The sudden death of Prince Schwahzenbekg , from a stroke of apoplexy , on Monday last , tho news of which reached London by electric telegraph on Tuesday afternoon , has removed from the scene the most active , daring , and unscrupulous chief of the Counter-Revolution in Europe . In him tho Emperor of Austria has lost one who , in a crisis of unexampled peril and difficulty , was found to bo the only man able to rescuo from destruction a tottering dynasty , and to reconstruct and reknit a dismembered and insurgent Empire .
" IIo found" ( says tho Times , in a summary of his career ) " the Empire in ruins , and ho leaves it entire . Ho found tlio authority of the Imperial Court nt its lowest obb—attacked in Italy , rejected in Hungary derided in Vienna , and effaced at Frankfort—insomuch that tho Tyrol scorned tho onjy possession which tho house of Hapsburg could call its own . He left that authority absolute throughout tho dominions of tho Crown , and as influential as it has ovpr boon in tho councils of Europe . "
Prince Schwarzenberg has died in tho vigour of manhood , at the comparatively early ago of fifty-two ; but ho lmd " lived" all hia days in tho most emphatic eonso of tho word . It was not until tho last four yearn of his life that ho wns called to tho supremo authority , which , since November , 1848 , he has wielded with absolute power , and with absolute success . " His earlier years" ( says tho Times ) " hud been dovotcd to pleasure , to gallantry , and at times to military life , for ho hold tho rank of Lieutenant Field-Marshal in tliu Imperial nrmy , and served with distinction under MnrHhal K : idotsky in Italy ; " and as a diplomatist ho liad been Austrian Minister nt Turin and at NnploBj at tho lattor court ho was surprised by tlio Revolution of February .
He , might almost lmvo nut for tho hero of Lord Byron '/ i I ) on Juan , from bin versatile ) powers and varied triumphs . " Lovo , war , tho court , tho mvnp , " in nil lie was active , and conspicuous . Liko almost all men of great energy of character , and strength of brain , ho found time and leiniiro for " hucooshcs in conflicts neither diplomatic nor military . " " Whorovor either of thene Horvieon Hunnnonnd liim ( nays tho Daily Nowa ) he invariabl y found time and loisuro to bestow on the eorvico of Cupid , in St . Potoruburgh , in Naplos , tind in London , tho diplomatist was n successful wooer ; though in tho two latter citioH his buccobbob wore attended by unploaeaut coneoquonceB . In Naplon , tho
lazzaroni ; and in IJondon , a court of law , revenged the injured husbands . At the time of his death , Prince Schwarzenberg was an outlaw from this country on account of unpaid damages and costs . " But we are rather concerned with the Schwarzenberg of "triumphant- despotism than with the " Prince Eelix" of -English courts of justice ; who was wont , as a diplomatist , to carry into the hearts of husbands that desolation which , as a Minister , he has in latter years carried into the heart of Europe . The Morning Chronicle sums up what he has effected since his advent to power in the winter of 1848 .
" With every province in rebellion , and with a bankrupt exchequer , lie contrived—although compelled , against his will , to accept the intervention of a haughty ally—to regain for Austria its former rank both in Germany and in Italy ; he humbled Prussia as none but Napoleon had ever humbled her ; ho took military possession of the Legations of Bologna , as well as of the Grand Duchy of-Tuscany ; whilst he put an end to the war in Schleswig-Holstcin without drawing the sword . At one and the same moment Austrian soldiers were quartered in Florence and in Hamburgh ; and all these gigantic military demonstrations took place at a period when it was believed that the Imperial resources had been completely exhausted by the campaigns of Italy and Hungary , and that the whole force of tho
army was needed to restrain the disaffected population of the reconquered provinces . When , to all appearance , tho influence of Austria in Germany Avas completely undermined , he succeeded in restor ing the prestige of tho Empire , and in securing tho lead in the affairs of the Confederation . By skilful diplomacy and well-timed demonstrations , he was successful in recovering all that had been lost by the Itcvolution . At the present moment Austria is unquestionably more powerful in Germany than when the resources of the Empire were wielded by the hand of Metternich : and whilst the revolution is altoge - ther crushed in the Italian provinces , the minor princes of the Peninsula are more than ever under the dominion of "Vienna . "
It was not to be expected that a man of his temper and antecedents would respect any engagement , or any compact , shrink at any means , however violent , or at any instruments , however cruel , in-the . pursuit of his ends . " With a headstrong tenacity and courage ( writes the Times ) , which , seemed to take no account of the dangers before him , he at once repudiated all concession and compromise , und resolved to suffer no abatement of the Imperial power as long as lie was its representative . " He called in Russia to the subjugation of Hungary , whilst he was wresting Germany from Prussian supremacy .
" The Confederation was well nigh transformed into a Prussian Empire with republican institutions ; the minor princes were faintly struggling for existence ; even tho Kings had been swept into a league which was to supersede the Federal treaties , and Frederick William IV . seemedon the point of ' winning more by revolutions than Frederick II . had done by war . It was hero that Prince Schwarzenberg put forth an amount of intrepidity , activity , and address which were crowned by the most triumphant results . By the treaty of Bregenz he drew closer the tics between Austria and the southern kingdoms of Bavaria and Wurteinberg ; ho gradually detached Saxony from the Prussian alliance , and obtained the neutrality of Haiftvcr . Armed with , this support , and relying
upon tho indisputable authority of tho Federal treaties , lie then revived tho Diet of Frankfort , and whilo Prussia atill denied its existence , its authority was already invoked and about to bo enforced on tho confines of her own dominions . With equal boldness and skill immense masses of troops ¦ we re moved at the approach of winter to all the commanding positions in Germany from tho Vistula to tho ltliine ; presently Hesse was occupied , and even tho war in Holstein terminated by the advanco of tho Imperial troops ; yet not a blow was struck , and tho Cabinet of Vienna obtained , by tho mere display of its diplomatic influence and military strength , all the r ' oHultfl of a victory . A few days later , peace was again restored between Northern and Southern Germany at tho negotiations of Olmutz . "
So much inny be said by Iuh most favourable biographer . On tho other hand " , it may bo doubted whether many of Iuh victories wore not duo to tho weakness and vacillation of his opponents . At home , his policy wan simply the reconstruction in its most odious and exaggerated form of tho most brutal and degrading despotism . Mottornich wad content to lull tho people by fuastH and games , mid to treat them as a pore a Vengrais ; Wchwarzenberg scourged thorn , not with whips , but with neorpiouM . He iniulo wnsto paper of couHtitutiout * and charters , and reduced to a solitary item tho conquests of tho revolution . Barracks and
bureaucracy , police and Npica , a prying nnd inquisitorial toiTOlMHin , woro liis lending principles of Government Ho" ought to bo gratefully ' remembered by tho fimnties of Order : for Order wn « hia god , and woman-floggings wore ) among tho sacrificed ho wa « wont to' pay to that divinity . . lly the peoples of Kuropo , by all who lovo liberty , justice , law , humanity , his numo would soom to doservo to bo hold in execration . But tlio fact in , that with all lu « undoubted strength of will , and energy of action—with all bin skill , vigour , and address—ho wuh not a man to bo remembered oven for 1 uh atrocities . Execration would bo too high ai pedestal for a man who found a tottering empiro in tho dust , and rebuilt it
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Ajeii 10 , 1832 . ] THE LEADER . 339
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Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1852, page 339, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1930/page/7/
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