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HISTORICAL REVELATIONS OF 1848 . ¦ " 1848 . "—Historical Revelations . Inscribed to Lord Normanby . By Louis Blanc . Chapman and Hall . Lord Uobmaitby ' s volume of the French revolution of 1848 was so singularly full of indiscretion and inaccuracy that M . Louis Blanc would have found it an easy task to to have criticised the whole statement into tatters . But he has chosen to correct the Marquis by superseding him . This book -consigns Lord Normanby ' s to eternal repose . What was wanted , and what we have here , is a clear explanation of the political events that took place in France at and for several months after the fall of Louis Philippe—events which have been variously misunderstood and described with more or less party bias from different points of view . M . Louis Blanc , of course , has his own bias , and never loses sight of the theories which characterized his policy as a minister ; but that policy was not what Lord Normanby represented it to be ; and the valuable and interest-In ** memoir now in our hands lucidly develops the entire course of cir-< rumstances from the overthrow of the Orleamsts to the ostracism of tho republican leaders . Written in English , with surprising force and ( flexibility , it abounds in revelations of real historical value ; and the preface is a masterpiece of temperate remonstrance . In the body of the nai - rative M . Louis Blanc deals ironically with the mass of tittle-tattle called A Year of Revolution , and pleads that , not being a nobleman or an ambassador , he is compelled to employ the language of a gentleman , and is , therefore , not upon a level with his high-bred antagonist . In the first ohapter he presents a brilliant picture of Paris during the formation of the Republic ; and future historians will contrast the cheerful light and congratulations of those days with the hideous gloom and taciturnity that followed the Napoleonic Coup d'Etat . M . Louis Blanc , as he advances , breaks up Lord JNormanby ' s version , and scatters the fragments right and left . He shows , moreover , by the quotation of debates and decrees , that to himself was largely attributable the generous act of the Republic which reversed the sentence of banishment against the Bonaparte family and enabled Louis Napoleon to occupy a legal position in France ; and to this explanation he adds a remarkable chapter on his personal relations with the prisoner of Ham , when in captivity . Louis Napoleon wrote urgently to Louis Blanc , almost petitioning for a visit from the distinguished historian and liberal leader , and tho intercourse that then took place was curiously characteristic . Preliminarily we read : — I knew of tho Bonopartiat party something more than , waa generally known , owing to my acquaintance with Mrs . Gordon , tho roal fraraer of tho conapiraoy at 43 trasburg , in which two persona only cut a figure : she and Lieutenant Laity . Mrs . ¦ Gordon waa a handsomo woman , too much addioteil to meddling , but warm-hearted , naturally eloquent , full of perseverance and courage . I have hoard from her own —¦ . —4 ip 87 that-the'Con 8 piratora-of » Strasburg- 'wanting-an-old-8 oldier-whoso * rank"aTid'"namo "' might tell on the garrison , oho hastened to DIJon , whore Colonel Vautlroy lived , then in utter ignorance of what was going on , and so powerfullly forced upon hia hesitating aulnd the neoeaaity of a . prompt determination , that eho hurried him away to Straaburg adanoe teuanCe , without , so to spunk , allowing him time to put off his slippers . Her devotion to tho memory of Napoleon was hcedloaa and boundless , but , she did not make much of tho Bonupartfst pnrty , which sho thought was deficient both in men of Intelligence and dnergy , with ( he exception of MM . Laity , Aladoniso , and Fiulin . M . Jftalin , who went by the asBumed name of Dc P&raiywj , and who had chosen for
his motto these two words , " / serve "—Je sers , was , in Mrs . Gordon ' s oi > i ~ """"* pillar of the party . As to Louis Bonaparte , she did not make much of hL "¦ ' l ' I remember that one day I asked her in jest whether she loved him " jp > r > said , with a smile , " I love him jwliticalty . To tell the truth , il iiwjv . lt Vvjfet d ^* The first thing which struck 3 V 1 . Louis Blanc was that Louis N-iriol had in him nothing of the Napoleonic typo—that he spoke with a ' fo accent , and that he had less command of language than any man he ^*] ever conversed with . It was afterwards that he remarked the di ' lFerenc features , manner , and deportment of the prisoner of Ham from the oth members of the Bonaparte family . However , the conversation bee free , and Louis Philippe ' s conduct was Unanimously condemned T ^ arose the question of the future . Louis Napoleon declared in favour ^ universal suffrage , but said , "My creed is the Empire ; " and when h visitor asked how an hereditary empire could be reconciled with the so 3 reignty of the people and universal suffrage , turned the point , deserted h " ' argument , and p lunged into professions of Socialism . At times Lou ' Napoleon broke into a passion of tears ; at others ho defended the ' Roma despots against Tacitus ; then he expatiated on the infamy of the sn system ; lastly , he clasped M . Louis Jilanc in his arms , and said farewell with moistened eyes . Afterwards , when Louis Blanc was in London an exile , his first visitor was Louis Napoleon , who inveighed against the tyranny of proscription ; but , even then , he was a conspirator , and endeavoured to dupe his republican friend even as he deluded the Count d'Orsay , whose letter on the invasion of Home is one of the most interesting among the historical revelations of M . Louis Blanc . The entire volume however , is one of disclosures and explanations which will constitute the ' light of French history at a period to come when the story of the Republic and the Empire of the nineteenth century shall be broadly and impartially told . The political and social character of the revolution of 1848 ; the process by which it prevailed in popular confidence , the discussions on the right of labour , the theoretical and practical developments of Socialism , the establishment at the Luxembourg of the Corporative Associations , the opening of the National Workshops by M . ] Ma . rie , in spite of M . Louis Blanc ' s most strenuous opposition , the foreign policy of the Provisional Government , its judicial operations , the alarms , intrigues , and contests that arose , and the elections , pass under close review , and contribute to the picturesque variety of the relations . The chapter entitled "The Insurrection of Hunger , " illustrates the stupendous difficulties with which the Republic had to deal , while those which describe the personal acts and progress of Louis Napoleon expose with singular effect the under-current of duplicity and craft in the Emperor ' s character . Finally , M . Louis Blanc writes : — So was the coup d'etat of December made not c > nly possible but easy . There > vas no need , for its success , of deep calculation , of plans long 1 matured and skilfully framed ; there was no need of cleverness : the only thing required was that the man in whose bands all the forces of the State had been foolishly concentrated , should ba one of those men who are fettered by no scruple , trammelled by no respect for justice , and determined to shrink , in the attainment of their object , from no kind of violence . Now , thanks to French administrative centralization , Paris once manacled , France could not fail to be enslaved . Nor can the maintenance of the Empire to this day be ascribed to the skill of the Imperial ruler . It certainly requires a great deal of talent and a high intelligence successfully to govern a mighty nation , despite auy such impediments as maybe created by tho liberty of the press , the fact of every political step being submitted to parliamentary control , the free and public discussion of all the schemes devised , the disclosure of all the blunders committed , and the necessity of observing the laws of the country as well as the principles of justice . But where no such impediments are to be dealt with , the task of governing is one to which the first coiner in equal , provided he may have at his disposal a sufficient number of police spies and bayonets . In these cases , brute force supplies the deficiency of genius . Let , therefore , the lowminded worshippers of success kneel down before the Empire ; let them cull u a great man" him whose greatness consists in the permanent violation of ; ill that is held sacred amongst men ; let them , after miatukiug might for right , mistake < i' * i > tho power of the sword for that of the mind , and the efficiency of an unopposed will for the triumph of a keen intellect—pitiful as misconceptions of this kind may be , they are hardly to be wondered at , so little are most nieu capable of funning a sound judgment of anything that glitters . A perusal of this book , written in English , " tho vernacular of freedom , ' is necessary to a right comprehension of 18 48 , the year of revolution in France .
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A LADY'S STORY OF LUCKNOW . A Lady ' s Diary of the Siege ufLucknow . Written for tho Perusal of Friend- ) at Home , Thw originality of this volume consists in its descriptions of scenes that came seldom under the military or civilian eyo during the siege ol Liioknow . The narrator hns little to say of the incidents noticed by Mr . Kvcm , the btaii Officer , or Captain Anderson ; her pictures are of those interiors in ™ Residency whory the women and children worn crowded , where round-shot , shattering tho walls , struck off' the limbs of infants , and rendered it wQ surgeon's frequent task to amputate the limbs of tho delioale mul Uie Helpless . . One of the author ' * first impulses is to outer in her simple " » IlUl " " rally written diury an expression of joy that aho is childless . Upon t outburst of the eiego , she , with most of thu liuliea and children , was . hnr : m down into a subterrunenn room , the gloomy , dump , and dark S "I { t Tye Kliana , rennuning there until nightfall , while tins enemy thimdoi « eu , «» the gates in enormous musses , and with powerful artillery . I'Iumi ocetii ^ melancholy entries : — " Poor Miss Palmer ' s log was shot off ' tliis ullenio"n . "T ^ rTD nTinTIn ^ the body this morning . " "A little girl ut tho IJogiiin Koteo NV , " „ , [ , ! . to-duy by a round-shot . " " 1 ' oor Mrs . Thomas died of sinull- [«> N . ' ^ round-shot came through our house to-duy . " Almost ovory |>» itf ° 1 S c . "" Qj > torized by ono or more similarly honrtruiiding records . In I lie n » » those deaths it is curious to road of a birth utLuoknow : " A hulo mu « J » " * jj cousin ctune to-duy into this stormy world . " But tho infants wnliy " "" '" ^ iiko flowers , and ono of the writer ' s occupations was to close their oyo >
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; :. L of all thought , all feeling , all aspiration , with its spies at every window , and its listeners at every door , cannot last . If it could last two generations , it would be incurable . The cure is to be found in its own principle . The wish of Caligula is accomplished at Paris ; lie wished that all Rome had one neck—¦ all France has now oite head . " This pamphlet , remarkable in substance lor its profound political sagacity , is scarcely less so for its brilliant form . It re--commends itself to French readers by its unsparing severity , and to English readers by its generous love of England .
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, ¦ ¦ ¦ "We have received from Paris Eug&xe Pelletan ' s new volume , Les Droits de i'Homme , and after reading and re-reading it , we cease to despair ofabetter future for France . Eugene Pei , letan is one of those noble and disinterested men , who , if a country could be saved by a few isolated virtues , might be the regenerators of French liberty and of French society . He is one of those men whose absence from the ' ante-chambers of the Tuileries is more conspicuous than the presence of a thousand De Mornts and Baroches . He is one of those men who prefer the severity of circumstances to the affluence of degradation , a "dinner of herbs" with honour , to the livery and licentiousness of servitude . Interdicted from writing iu the independent press , because of the great influence which his name and writings have won among the youth of France , Eugkne Pei ^ letan devotes his lonely and saddened leisure to the duty of teaching- his fellow-countrymen the rights and duties , the privileges and responsibilities of the freedom they have never _ yet known how to practise or preserve . The title of the work has something revolutionary in its sound ; f ) iit the book itself is neither that of a sectary nor of a professional agitator ; it is the . solemn thought and chastened experience of a man of blameless life and character , exalted intellect , and noble heart , who has traversed a period of storm and danger , broken by fitful gleams of light and darkening into the gloom of despotism , and who has stood in the breach of civil conflict , and , with his hand on his sword-hilt , prayed for peace . Under the form of conversations with , representatives of every phase of French politics and society , M . Pelletan discusses with , infinite courage , a sustained strength of reasoning , and brilliant eloquence , all the perplexities that cloud the coming future of his country , and all the problems that await solution . As we propose to speak at length of the contents of this volume , we -do little more at present than announce its appearance as a happy augury . To unpolitical or indifferent readers , the exquisite charm of the style is sufficient to recommend these pages ; but English Liberals will be glad to find a French writer condemning every form of arbitrary government , whether it be imperial despotism or revolutionary dictatorship , appealing from force to right , and constantly invoking the sanctity of equal and protecting law .
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402 _ _ ., _ THE lEADER . [ No . 422 , April 24 , 1 S 85 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1858, page 402, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2240/page/18/
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