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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 30th January 1869, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, TO LOUIS THE ELOQUENT AND THE GOOD.

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    • TO LOUIS THE ELOQUENT AND THE GOOD.
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      ¦ . . " ] ¦ T T H E Tomahawk: A Saturday...

      ¦ . . " ] ¦ t T H E TOMAHAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . , % € MUlt , ' & g & ttlmt 8 'lnk * tt "INVITAT ^ CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 91.] London, January 30, 186 9. [Pri...

      No . 91 . ] LONDON , JANUARY 30 , 186 9 . [ Price Twopence .

      To Louis The Eloquent And The Good.

      TO LOUIS THE ELOQUENT AND THE GOOD .

      My Imperial Friend,—I Am Sure You Will A...

      My Imperial Friend , —I am sure you will allow one who has always offered to you the tribute of his respectful admiration to congratulate you oh the noble and generous Speech which ybu have just delivered from the Imperial Throne . Ah ! happy France , to hear from the lips of her Monarch such

      soulstirring , such truthful , such magnanimous words I To hear from the Great Mystery ' s own mouth the sincere expression of the thoughts which guide his conduct ! To hear him , the great arbiter of Europe , humbly calling himself the responsible chief of a free country , and in that character " explaining

      frankly to the nation the progress of ' the Government / How beautiful that sounds ! It carries one back at once to the days of the great Frank , Charlemagne . Some wicked people have called you ' le Roi Charlatan ? How very false , how very wrong ! * Charlatan' indeed ! When did Truth speak in such

      noble words , or in such noble form , as she did in your words , and in your shape , from the Imperial Throne ?—the Throne that you not only inherited , but to which the universal voice of the French people raised you . Well may the Pope pray to live long enough to canonize the second Saint Louis !

      How touchingly simp l e is your acknowledgment that " without difficulty " is- a Government founded such as yoursu a Government sufficiently impressed with the wants of the age to adopt all the benefits of Liberty , and sufficiently strong to bear even its excesses . " By excesses , of course your Imperial

      virtue means the coup dftat ' , the press prosecutions , the conscription , the system of secret police , and other such playful eccentricities of a free Government . Your endurance of these excesses is a wonderful proof of power ; the endurance of them by your people a wonderful proof of their love . I shall copy

      every word of your speech if I stop to descant upon all its merits . I must only glance at some of the more wonderful truths , the more noble sentiments with which it teems . Tomahawk sighs in vain for a Government like yours . It would be a positive pleasure to be fined and imprisoned by such

      a great man . But then , as Tomahawk always speaks the truth , and your strong Government loves the truth , and never fears it , he could not possibly hope for such an honour . The army is on a peace footing . Is it really ? What must it be on a war footing ? Two million of men withdrawn from *

      peaceful pursuits seems a tolerable sacrifice to public security . But stantly then increasing we are so our fooli army sh , , we to don be al ' t w understand ays buying that and to construct be con- - ing material of war , to be always making displays of military and nav I force , and to be constantly bursting out with

      spasmodic fits of activity , is the way—the only way—to preserve peace . To reduce your standing army , and to organise volunteers , means war . Well , we wonder if we could bear to see the French army on a war footing ! Perhaps not . The military rer . sources of France are henceforward " on a level with its destiny

      in the world . " Excellent good hearing this ! The destiny of France is evident . She is to be the barrack of Europe , which will supply all the other nations with soldiers when they want any disturbance quelled , or any quarrel settled . A very noble destiny this , and one which you , brave Louis , may be proud of having *

      invented . " Thanks to the periodical increase of the revenue , we shall soon be able to devote all our solicitude to the diminution of public burdens . " " We " means your Imperial self and your alter ego the Legislature . What a very interesting spectacle it will

      be to sea you devoting all your solicitude to reducing taxation ! Hitherto some of your solicitude has been devoted to raising loans . Of course if some of your solicitude has accomplished such financial success , what will all of it do ? We shall soon find France not only the freest , but the cheapest

      country in the world in which to live . That happy day cannot be far off . Oh , Louis ! spotless heir to Napoleon ' s name and fame ! greatest of the Buonapartes ! what a splendid imagination you have ! Do you ever think that if the little venture of ' 48 , or the

      bigger venture of ' 51 had failed , and you had come back to your lodging in Marylebone , what a fine income you might have made as a novelist ? It really seems spiteful of Fortune to have robbed the army of romancers of such a chief . It is positively cruel of you to employ your leisure in such trivialities as the

      Life of Ccssar . Why don ' t you write your own autobiography ? What a dazzling vista of inventions that would be ! What a marvellous creation of the Beautiful , the Ideal ! But no ! you are the great Emperor , in whose person we see the intimate alliance of power with liberty . Very

      intimate indeed ! Like that of the Greek slave who was chained to the dead body of his betrothed ; you can watch the gradual corruption of that which you love . Yes , turn to my p body icture m of , y wour s victim ee your down portrait the there stream , as of Time sit . rowing And when the dead the

      • end is reached , think you that body shall know no resurrection ? Surely it shall ; and is it not wiser , great Master , for you to cease your efforts to bring her to life again ? Let her lie , then , cold and dead . Do not insult those who loved her by flaunting before their eyes a dummy gaudily dressed in her likeness . Adieu my dear You E mperor s till death , , Tomahawk .

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), Jan. 30, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_30011869/page/1/