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Leader (1850-1860), 4th September 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 838, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      sorry diversions . The Empire , with a new mise en scene , and a spectacle regardless of expense , is the next drama in the repertoire , and then " an Era of glory ; " the last ctversfen jwfaented to Europe by the ruined lessee-of tltfrt bankrupt theatre- ^ France ! . ' A report has reached us , the accutp | cy of which we have no means of testing , h . ut \* hjch may interest some of ouv readejf * as a rejwpt . ' It is , tnaji a reduction of the duty on French wines has been extorted from our present Government . The story runs thus—Some time back the French

      Government asked for such a reduction , but met with a refusal . The same Government then threatened to impose a duty on Irish linens , and M . de Persigny came over to renew the negotiations under cover of that fire ; and now he has been victorious . Some colour has been given to this report by the agitation in Belfast to procure a reduction of the wine duties in question . However bad a grace may have been displayed in the manner of granting the concession , in itself it will be good . Only we do not see why French wines are to be specially favoured . Why not extend the concession to German and Mediterranean wines , the latter of

      which are so little known in this country ? Louis Napoleon may have the concession for a boast in his tour tp the south , but we are not bound to continue a tax on other wines as a protective duty in favour of his influence and policy .

      Untitled Article

      LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From ovn own Cobrespondent . ] Letteb XXXVI . Paris , Tuesday Evening , August 31 , 1852 . At length the Empire is decided upon . Preparations for the event are carried on with great activity . The Elysee has begun to understand that there is no time to lose . Persigny ' s visit to England , we may believe , was not wholly alien to the intention . His journey to London is said by the quidnuncs in Paris to have had three principal objects : —1 . To shut the mouths of the English press . 2 . To arrange the commercial differences between the two countries . * 3 . To sound the English Government on the proclamation of the Empire . How far he may have succeeded in these three negotiations is not yet known . But Persigny has not been your only official visitor of late . Colonel Fleury , one of Bonaparte ' s aides-de-camp , has been to England , accompanied by two draughtsmen , and he , too , was charged with a'double mission : —1 . To obtain desig ns of the state carriages used at the coronation of the Queen of England . The son of the principal coachmaker of Paris was charged with this duty . The design for the royal , or rather imperial carriages , is to surpass in workmanship and material anything of the kind yet seen . The other object of the mission was us follows :

      Accompanied by a second draughtsman , who was nothing less than a Captain on the Stall " , Colonel Fleury was charged witli an inspection of every point along the coast of your island , more especially with an eye to available points of landing . You understand to what eventualities this mission is directed . The fact is , that soon or late it will bi > difficult for Louis Bonaparte ( even ii' disposed to pence ) to escape war . The Army , champing tin ; bit with sullen impatience , must have exercise : and . it will be found indispensable to create a

      diversion from domestic discontent by some great coup d ' ectal on the frontiers , and ho to regain at one stroke all tbo popularity that is now waning away . Louis Bonaparto and bin entourage cannot be pacifically disposed . M . Drouin de L'lluys , in bin recent address to tbo representatives of Foreign Powers who demanded explanations , gave a marked bint of the turn iill ' airs were taking . He began by assuring the ambassadors that , tbo President would do nothing personalty to accelerate the realization of the Empire ; but that in case the- Empire should bo proclaimed , it ; would

      depend on their attjtpde to triage ; its advent either an arch of peace f < $ f Europe , or * an Era of glory for France . Bonaparte ^ yprt see , has struck a bargain with . Jfoxt&gn PowtfK r H 0 peems to aaj to them , "IIokkt WbH that joo wank to prevent ine being Emperor—$ hat you Ijfrc P ut , * & « under the lian e £ Europe—that yon are fu $ of hdftile dispositions agprinst me—that Jon are re ^ y to declare war if I proclaim the Einpije .

      22 h lien ! Yta / t mpy do as you pleas *—Emperor I shall be : if you keep quiet , so much the better for all ; if you budge a step , I have only to sound the alarum of a national war , and how much will your Crowns be worth ?" ¦ Soeh is the meanings of the language Bonaparte has held towards Foreign Powers ; and it is probable that the representatives of those Courts retired from the interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs , uneasy and mortified .

      Au reste , the imperial comedy goes on bravely . According to the letter of bis promise , M . Bonaparte does nothing personally to hasten the proclamation , but his agents leave no stone unturned . As I have before informed you , the most positive orders were despatched to the Prefects on the 16 th of August . They arrived too late to secure the conseils d ' arrondissements , but en revanche , the councils

      general are almost unanimous in their imperialism . I wfll not repeat , what I have insisted on in former letters , as to the actual composition of these councils : you have only to remember that the immense majority of the population stood aloof from their nomination , so that in fact they are made up exclusively of the devoted creatures of Bonaparte , and for the most part having been only completed by a second election , for want of voters in the first , are the elect of a

      miserable minority . I will give you a sample of the style of these addresses , taking the first I meet with , that of Vaucluse " The council general of the department of Vaucluse , penetrated with gratitude to the Prince President for the heroic act by which he saved society , an act which has received the sanction of 7 , 500 , 000 suffrages , Considering that after an interval of fifty years the French people have pronounced , by repeated votes and in the most striking manner , their desire to reinvest with the sovereign power a prince of the Bonaparte family : that in 1848 as in 1804 , on the 2 nd

      December as on the 18 Jsrwmavre , it has been the work of a Napoleon to close the era of revolutions ; and that these great events axe stamped with a character so providential that their consequences cannot be too loudly proclaimed : Considering that the temporary powers conferred upon the President respond neither to tbe genius of our institutions , nor to the nature of our interests , nor to the services which Louis Napoleon has rendered , and is called to render still , to tbe country : considering , finally , that the

      Empibe , as the sole form of government which partakes both of the monarchy and of the republic ; of the first by its hereditary descent , of the second by its popular elective origin , can alone satisfy all parties , and reconcile them all by a fusion into one great national party ;—expresses its desire that the Empire bo re-established in the person of Prince Louis Napoleon and his descendants ; and that to that end , conformably with Arts . 31 and 32 of the Constitution , a Senutus-Consulte be proposed to tbe acceptance of the French People . "

      Most of the addresses are conceived in a similar style . The Elysee has been obliged to havo recourse to tbo councils-general , in default of tho peoplo , who refuse to sign the imperialist petitionSi Thus we find , in one and tbe same Department , a council-general which calls itself tbo representative of tho population , demanding tbo Empire ; while tlje population itself , to which imperialist petitions are presented for signature , refuses to sign them . As yet there are only four departments in which those petitions havo received a certain number of signatures . Of these the department of I / Aubo is the lust mentioned ; and even in tins , as indeed in tho other oases , only a single commune , that of Auliuiy ; and in that one oomnvune ,

      only a few men of ono of tho two parties which divide i ( , have signed tho petition , which demands , — 1 . The accession to tbo imperial throne of Princo Louis Napoleon . 2 . The suppression of universal suffrage , so fur as the municipal and cantonal elections are concerned only , " because that system is tho solo cause of tho dissensions and of tbo discords wbicji , s ' 18 . ' $ 1 , divide ono of tho smallest possible of communes into two camps , and disturb tho local tranquillity . " You see , then , this petition is nothing more than tbo voice of tbo Honnpartist faction in that single commune of Aulnay ; and from its very language we may divine that ; tho said faction is not quibo at oiwo in tho midst of tho surrounding population . This fact is mo ovidonfc , that even tho oflicial journals huvo remarked that since

      the municipal «« t | pns there has been a swexcitnt ' rfr epitf ^ a&lFUp * ' "" tortah In fact tfc ^ % | £ is , and has good reason to be sorely displeased hy the result of the elections Th system of atsftuftioo has been general in the cif towns ,, and village * Scarcely anywhere was the ?' quired number <* votes got together ; and it is estt mated ; that about t ^ efeftrarths of the total number of electors tfiWRigndut Prance refused to partici pate in . th electoral act . At Besaneon , Matawlles , Rouen , Renne ° Angouleme , Metz , Aix , the refusal was universal . ' All these facts make Bonaparte gloomy enough and force him to precipitate events , if he hope to master them .

      He has lately experienced an affront which keenly affected him . His courtiers were anxious to keep th fSte of Saint Louis at St Cloud . On this occasion they " worked the oracle , " and sounded the trumpet with every species of reclame , sending circulars aboutin all directions to invite the Parisians to " assist at" the fete . The railway companies were ordered to carry the humbler classes at half price . Monster placards were stuck upon all the walls of Paris , announcing that the great fountains would play and grand illuming tions take place at St . Cloud . Injunctions were conveyed to the inhabitants of St . Cloud to illuminate their windows . The effect was to be magnificent . It appears that the population of Paris had not thought

      it worth their while to take the hint , for no one stirred a step to go and see the f 4 te ; no one , even at half price , consented to sanction by his presence theJZte of an intruder and an usurper . A few of the least reputable of the populace , and some English tourists ( in the capacity of mere sight-seers , of course ) , figured at St . Cloud on the occasion . The great fountains began to play , and the gas-light illuminations to burn , when , seeing that so few spectators were present , the ordainers of the fete declared that they would not pay a sou to the contractors ; whereupon the latter ( not unnaturally ) proceeded at once to turn off the gat ; K&& , as if by enchantment , total darkness swallowed up the

      illuminations . < But the inhabitants of St . Clou&WTO Jjte moat malicious of kill-joys . They had beeit , told itp ^^ IanuBate their windows : and punctually tlwy- obeyed orfors ; but with better wit than will : they put tamgunis in their windows , but with only grease efttiugft . to , » urn for five minutes : after five minutes , tot ^ J darkness , as if by enchantment ! Louis Bonaparte , I « m told , was not very well satisfied . The ntory of tire Zwmplons of St . Cloud will be handed down in history , henceforth , in company with the story of the lantern of the Bourgeois of Falaise . * Bonaparte is reduced to the same " fix . "

      Tho inquiry into tho causes of the fire at the Elysee resulted in an opinion that it was not accidental , but intentional . I told you that the accounts of expenditure were destroyed . Louis Bonaparte would not allow the result of the inquiry to be published in the Moniteur . The " progress" in the south is now once more definitely fixed . Bonaparto is to start on September

      15 th : he will take on his way Nevers , Moulins , Boannc , St . Etienne , Lyons , Grenoble , Valence , Avignon , Marseilles , Toxilon , Aix , Nimes , Montpcllier , Narbonne , Carcassonne , Toulouse , Agen , Bordeaux , Angouleme , Bochefort , La Rochelle , Niort , Poitiers , and Tours . He will pass tho 20 th of September at Lyons , tho 22 nd at Grenoble , the 26 th at Marseilles , the 28 th at Toulon , the 5 th of October lit Toulouse , the 8 th and 9 th at Bordeaux , and bo back again at Paris on

      tbo 16 th . During all this time tho Prefects arc strictly forbidden to grant passports to operatives for Lyons ana

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      * VV ^ o havo reason to believe , from vory good authority , lluil , M . IVrHigny ' s flying vihiI , to London , ho far hh it , may Imvo been ollicitvl , wan mainly riinwlwl to quotations of international iarifltJ . It scorns thai ; tho French Government recently put out a fooler to our Cabinet for a reduction of tho duty on French winos—a sop to tho CJirondo and to . Burgundy , to serum tho applause of UioHO important ; l ) oimrtnionts on the Pmsidoj » t n Jorthoomiii {* progress m tho Houth . Thin reduction wiw , of oourso , roiusod by tho . Hn-IihIi Cabinet . 'Die French Govorhmont then tbroalonod to raiso tho duty on Irish liiionu—a monaoo which , an wo have boom , ban alroady aroused tho alarm of Hoi tost . M . lYmirny is uudorsLood to have fonnwod tho original proposals oil his recent , visit to London . As to shutting tho moul !» h of Mio . Ungiish Prosa—tho iiloa would never havo ntorod anv head on this aide of Iho channel—Ui > ' Loador .

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      838 THE I >|; A D ER . [ Saturday > ¦ ¦ ' '" ' " ^ Jj __^—_ ^ J ^^—J ^^—^ MMjfc —^^ . ^ M ^

      Untitled Article

      * Our correspondent alludes to the following story Tho mayor of Fulaino having- ono night run foul oi ft citizen of tho good town of Falaiso , ( in thoso days there was neither gas nor oil-lamp , ) tho mayor gave orders nox morning that no citizen ahould go oufc at night without « lantern . Tho following night , tho mayor , going hin r " " f ran again againwt tho name citizen . " You haven t rout tho ordomianco , you stupid fellow , " said tho mayor , m puKHion . " Yes , I havo , " said tho Worman , " ana lioro my lantern" ( " niais si , a prenvo quo voiln ma ^ ^ lL \ '

      " But there ' s nothing in it , " rejoined the mayor . *' ordoiinaneo said nothing about that , " replied- tho soru ][ - lous citizen . Tho next day appeared a now ordonn < m ^ enjoining tho citizons to put ( randies in their lanterns . _ nightfall , tho mayor , anxious to oeo whothor hiH ° " were obeyod , wont hie rounds again , and onc 0 . I ! , - » foul of the lucklflHS bourgeois . " 1 havo you Una tH » ^_ said the mayor , in a fury , " you havo no lantern . ' euso mo , hero it is . " " But no candle in it . ,,... » . of Hi , " (" Oh ! but I have , " ) " and here ib i * ** f . < ; > ,, tho lantern ho pulled a camWo—nnlu / htod . i *"* » " ^ lighted , " roHiiined the exasperated mayor . / "V j ti , 0 nothing aboufc Ughting tho candle , " quiekly r « J ' "" . bouryoois * Ho another ordonnajuoo had to Do wm « » joining tho eitiscoua to light tho candles m their i »» " " —Ifi © . £ , u < tdvr .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 838, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1950/page/2/