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    « ' « If they are content to look to the possible action of Sttoh a Government , putting aside all considerations of now tt came to + e a government at all , this may be expediency of a low kind , but it is not morality . " ' Your obedient servant , ... 1 * Geor < jb A . Denibow , Archdeacon of Taunton . "' East Brent , Innocents ' -day , 1852 . ' "

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    FOREIGN OPINIONS OF THE ENGLISH MINISTRY . The character of this ministry is perfectly tranquillising tor France and for the world in general . The good relations which existed between our government and that of weat Britain during the administration of Lord Derby cannot fail to consolidate itself under that of men like Lord Aberdeen , Lord John Russell , and their colleagues . If talent and experience in the direction of public business be guarantees of moderation and conciliation in the times in which we live , no foreign ministry can give more guarantees for peace than the new English cabinet . —Constittttionnel . In a country where parties are so vigorously constituted as in England , these two statesmen ( Russell and Palmersfcon ) have sacrificed to the public weal the susceptihties of their amour propre , and they have accepted , Lord John Russell the department of Foreign Affairs , with the leadership in the House of Commons , and Lord Palmerst o n the Home department . They will neither one nor the other suffer any humiliation by so doing , and public consideration in England will repay them with usury what they may appear to have lost in official importance . — Journal des JDebats .

    The name of Aberdeen is a guarantee for that conservative , peaceful , honest foreign policy of which the noble earl has been the representative during the hist generation . Lord Aberdeen undertakes the guidance of foreign affairs just at the moment that Louis Napoleon has conceived the idea of altering the customs' tariff , and thus opening the French market to the produce of foreign industry . There is a British statesman who was induced by such an alluring prospect to forget the most sacred duties to old friendsand allies ( alluding to Lord Malmesbury's hasty recognition of Louis Napoleon ) . Let us rejoice that the new English Premier ana Minister for Foreign Affairs is not that man . —The Vienna Tresse .

    Never has there been in England a government composed of so many brilliant parliamentary and administrative reputations ; but some persons are not without apprehensions that this fact itself will prove a source of weakness to the cabinet . All these eminent men have performed a momentary act of abnegation of their personal importance in accepting posts lower than they might reasonably claim , but will this self-abnegation be maintained P Will not the sentiment of importance resume its sway ? Will not each minister want to exercise a preponderating influence on the affairs of the government , and so give rise to dissensions which will hasten a dissolution of the cabinet ? These are reflections which occurred to some minds , but perhaps they are premature . —IndSpendance Beige .

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    LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ Fbom our own Cokrespondent . ] Letteb LIII . Paris , December 28 , 1852 . Bonapakte remained at Compiegne , instead of returning to Paris as he had purposed . The secret of this change of resolution is , that he was anxious to go to La Fere to try at the polvgone of artillery in that garrison the new system of gunnery of which he is the inventor . He pursues , you see , hia plans with all the tenacity nnd obstinacy of u Dutchman .

    So the Senate was obliged to send a deputation to present to Jlis Majesty the Emperor the Senatiis-Consulte of December 23 , which makes Bonaparte the autocrat of France . The principal provisions of this new Imperial Constitution are as follow : —All the articles of the Constitution of January 14 , which supposed Bonaparte to l > e responsible , are suppressed . He has the absolute right , without consulting a singlo houI , to aign all treaties of commerce . He has equally the right of commanding and authorizing , by decree , all works of public utility , all enterprises of general

    interest . He has the absolute right of applying to these suiil works such credits us may be necessary for their completion , without having consulted the Legislativo Chambers . In ono exceptional case only , these credits urn to be submitted to the legislative corps . The budget of expenditure will no longer bo voted by chapters : we fall buck thirty-seven years in this respect : they are to l > e voted simply by ministries . The solo concession Itonupurto has graciously consented to niako in , that the budget will be decreed in the

    Momle . ur by chuptm's : and even on this point Boimparto bus reserved to himself the right of npplying to any service , other than the one designed , the credits of each " chapter , " at his own good pleasure . All this is incredible , but it is the strictest truth . The corps legislatif am to receive henceforth 2500 francs salary ii-pieco monthly . Ho the people who once christened the ruprommtntivm of the- Republic by tho niiino of tho " Twenty-live francs , " already dul > the deputies of Bonaparte tho " Twunty-llvo hundred francs . "

    Tho discussion of the SonutHs-Contmlto was very utormy in tho sittings of tho Commission , and guve rise to a strong opposition in tho midst of tho . Semite ituelf . It in important to givo you houio dot nils thereupon . It

    had been attempted , as I have before told you , to obtain some relaxations from Bonaparte on the various points in litigation . To every solicitation he replied by a formal refusal , in menacing terms . Thus , for the budget which the Senate desired to vote by chapters , one senator having had the audacity to say to Bonaparte , " that even under the old monarchy , the right of the nation to control its expenditure was exercised by the States-General , and that , besides , his Majesty , who was in the habit of professing so high a respect for the principles of ' 89 , could not destroy the existing state of things , " i-eceived this answer , — "Eh Men ! let the Senate raise a conflict , and they will find out what it will cost them . " This menace , as you may imagine , had its due effect . The untoward senator held his

    tongue , and all remonstrance was stifled . On the question of commercial treaties and tariffs , Bonaparte told the Commissioners who went to urge their suit even in the forest of Compiegne , that he could not yield a jot on that clause , — 1 . Because on the promulgation of the Constitution , he had never dreamt of abdicating a right which he regarded as exclusively belonging to him . 2 . Because for some months past he had been conducting an important negotiation with the Zollverein , which was only delayed by the unwillingness of foreign powers to treat with him if such treaties as they were disposed to sign had to encounter all the tedious oscillations of the parliamentary regime . To the force of these reasons the Commission of the Senate could not

    choose but yield . They returned to Paris without having obtained a single concession . It was then that M . Troplong made his report to the Senate . The English journals have probably given you some fragments of that document . I need only say that it is drawn up with considerable skill . Omnipotence of the executive in matters of financial and commercial policy is there represented as a consequence of the Constitution of January 14 , of which ( says the report ) the fourteenth article implicitly guaranteed tins right to the President . Now , to refuse to the Emperor what was accorded to the President would be a flagrant violation of the

    Constitution . So susceptible , indeed , so touchy are these rulers' of ours on the violation of constitutional guarantees ! However , it must be added , that the Report leaves to Bonaparte the responsibility of all changes of tariffs which may be effected , and this , too , in terms so solemn , that it seems to take in his name the most explicit engagements of discretion . The day following the Report came the discussion . A most lively contest ensued on the subject of tariffs . The Senate comprises a few of the large manufacturers—M . Mimerel ,

    cottonspinner of Lille , who , by grace of our protectionist system , is allowed to levy a tax of about five millions of francs on the consumer ; M . Lebosuf , manufacturer of pottery , to whom France owes the exclusion , ever since 1834 , of English pottery , at once so beautiful and so moderate in price : and many other manufacturers of the same stamp . These two gentlemen , who had been so uproarious in the Commission , suddenly lost their voices when it was their turn to speak in full Senate . MM . Baroche , Ferdinand Barrot , and Beaumont de la Soramc demanded the creation of a Council of

    Commerce . M . Charles Dupin spoke in favour of the proposition , and reminded his colleagues of the fact alluded to in tho Commission , that even in the time of Louis XIV ., Colbert was in the habit of consulting the great manufacturers and the notables of tho commercial world . MM . Baroche and Turgot pleaded on the other side tho prerogatives of the executive . A senator , M . Goulot de St . Germain , had the audacity to challenge the official representatives of the Government as to " whether these concessions would be likely to put an end to the encroachments of the executive , and serve as a guarantee against further modifications of the Constitution . " M . Baroche roplied rather drily that " the Kmperor was resolved to modify the Constitution just . whenever and however ho miirht deem convenient . "

    The Ministers in general , MM . Baroche , Fould , and Bineuu appeared to upprourh the discussion with very cavalier pretensions . In fact , the Senate ! was treated by them par dessous la jambe . An amendment , demanding the establishment of a " Conseil < le Commerce " wan put to the vote . The first division was declared doubtful . It was only rejected at the second . This gorut of opposition is very significant . The ensemble , however , of the SonatAs-Consulte was adopted by a

    largo majority . I here vvero seven dissentients—MM Boultiy do la Mourthe ; ex- Vice-President of the liepublic , Bcuiiinout ; tho Coiuto do ? Se ' gur ; General Barnguuy d' Hilliois , who is furious at not having been made Marshal ; the Marquis d'Audifliot ; General IIiiHson ; and the Marquis do Croix . Huron Charles Dupin , the Comto Lemereier , M . Viellard , and several others abstained from voting-. After tho vote , a dooroo was road on the hereditary succession . This de < : m > hud boon , mmk dowu nmhod sonic timo tfinco to tho

    Senate , and had been deposited in the archives . It constitutes , as I informed you in a former letter , old Jerome and his son , Napoleon , heirs of the Emperor . Its promulgation created in the political world and at the Bourse a t » ried and profound sensation . Some went so far as to say that the next heir but one would scarcely hesitate to mistake his cousin for a stag , and in the course of some imperial hunt to bring the crown down with a flying ball . And as imaginations travel fast in France , there were already floating rumours of an unlucky bullet that had hit Edgar Ney as he rode on the right of Bonaparte . All these reports were , it must be added , absolutely baseless .

    These hunts , by the bye , have been so many magnificent fetes . The day begins with the " throw off , " and closes with the curee by torchlight . The ladies received from Bonaparte a costume galant of his own colours , green and gold . Every day , new presents and new gallantries . Yesterday there was a magnificent raffle ( tombola ) , in which every lady won some precious prize , gold bracelets from Froment - Meurice's , with diamond necklaces or aigrettes . Bonaparte does things as grandly as a Louis XIV . It amuses us not a little in France to see this heavy , lumpish Dutchman ( ce gros lourdaud de Hollandais ) playing the part of a gallant . Everybody compares him to the ass in the fable , who wishing to caress his

    mistress , raises his dirty hoof , and chucks her under the chin quite amorously , ( " leve sa patte sale , et la lui porte au tnenton fort amoureuseme ? it . " ) Another gallantry is also talked about , of which the Princess Mathilde was the heroine . This lady had forgotten to bring away from Paris a particular dress which became her exceedingly . Bonaparte despatched a special-train express at high speed . In one hour and a half , the train was at Paris , and back again with the dress . We must not despair of seeing , one of these days , the railways employed in " expressing" the slippers of the ladies-in-waiting , or the nightcap of some porter of the chateau . Nevertheless , his new Majesty feela the void of isolation spread around him daily more and more . Not a soul of the old noblesse consents to enter

    Jus Court or accept the high offices in the household ( de haute domeslicite ) with which Bonaparte condescended to honour them . The Due de Mortemart , to whom he proposed to be Grand Marshal of the Palace , laughed in his face ; the Due de Mouchy , who was to be High Chamberlain , flatly refused ; and the Due de Guiche , whom he had sent for fro m Germany , to offer him the dignity of Master of the Hounds ( Grand Veneur ) , has returned to his post

    without accepting anything . Bonaparte is reduced , in very spite , to fly at lesser game ; he must needs pick his grand dignitaries among his personal entourage . General Reynault de St . Angely is , or is about to be , appointed Grand Marshal of the Palace ; Berthier , the tioi-disant Prince dc Wsigram , is to be Master of the Hounds , as his father was ; Maivt , soi-disant Due de Bassano , is to be Grand Chamberlain ; M . Menjaud , Bishop of Nancy , is to be nominated First Almoner of the Emperor , with 25 , 000 francs . salary , &c . « fcc .

    The negotiations with certain chiefs of the Moderate * Republican party were , it turns out , perfectly true . This is the pith of the matter : —Bonaparte really sent for Ciirnot , as 1 told . you , but after the hitter ' s instant refusal , he sent for M . Bcthmont , some time Minister of Justice in 1 H 48 , and to him proposed to take M . Kouher ' s post of President ( Its Section in the Council of State . He also offered to him and his political friends an accession to office as complete as possible—in short , a veritable carte blanche .. M . Bcthmont replied that he could irive no answer before he had consulted the

    chiefs of the Moderate-Republican ] tarty . Accordingly , he proceeded to summon them at the house of M . Marie , and there communicated totheintheoHrrsof the Emperor The statesmen in question— -among whom were MM . Carnot , Cavai ^ nac , Goudchnux , Desgonsee , formerly <(| iestor of the National Assembly , lluvin , Home timo socretury of the Assembly — replied , with extreme vivacity , " that ( hey vould not ho far forget their principles as to consent ( o servo a Government sprungfj'oni the coup d ' etat of the second of December . ' * " This carle blanche , he gives us , " exclaimed M . Goudchaux , " is nothing but a mockery . What should wo

    < 1 «> with this carte blanche ' ! Could wo restore to tho people a single one of their confiscated rights ? Could we restore the liberty of the press abolished , the right of meeting suppressed , tho liberty of speech annihilated ? It is lifter having voted himself twenty-live millions of civil list it is after having reduced nil the public liberties to a Scuato without , the right of eon-« . ml , to a unite Legislative Corps , to u Council of Stale tl | at simply resistors its muHtin- ' d will ; it is aft < r having absorbed all the rights of the nation , and tu « siuned the most absolute omnipotence , that he proposes to give us carte blanche . I say again , it iu a mudicry . Wo lmvo a carto llanchv which w worth

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    January 1 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 5

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1853, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1967/page/5/