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218 THE LEADER, [Saturday,
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LETTERS FROM PARIS. [From our own Corres...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Election Matters. Me. Dren.Aei/I'9 Addre...
opposition from Mr . Wingrove Cooke . Lord John Manners does not violate the Derby prudence very much He says " that a great reform and revision of the tariff are asked for at the hands of the government ;" and he trusts " that a verdict of the sound judging people of England will be given in favour of tariff reform . " 'As a set-off for a bread-tax , he vaguely , promises measures of social improvement , and hints at measures harmonizing the relations of employer and employed . Colonel Forester is returned for Wenlock , and -Lord Henry Lennox for Chichester , unopposed . Lord Henry denies that Lord Derby is " pledged to anything ! " " more than that , he is pledged to obey the will of the people , as announced by the next general election !"
Mr . Secretary Walpole , in his address to the electors of Midhurst , speaks generally of maintaining the principles of " a true and just conservative policy ; " Mr . George Bankes ( Judge Advocate ) tells his Dorset constituents that he has sacrified " principle" in accepting office . Mr . Frederick Peel makes the upholding of " free trade" the main point of his address to Leonrinster ; where , at the next election , he will be opposed by a Protectionist .
218 The Leader, [Saturday,
218 THE LEADER , [ Saturday ,
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter X . Paris , Tuesday , March 2 , 1852 . 1 have but a meagre budget of news for you this week . The elections have absorbed public attention for the last few days . Sunday and Monday were the days of voting . The results in the provinces are not yet announced . In Paris , the government candidates have been elected in the 1 st , 2 nd , 6 th , fth , 8 th , and 9 th arrondissements . In the 3 rd , General Cavaignac , by a majority of 1000 . His election under present circumstances is a veritable protest . In the 4 th and 5 th arrondissements , where none of the candidates obtained the requisite majority , there will be a second voting on Sunday the 14 th hist . , ,. . .
Only the Bonapartists have made any considerable stir-this time . The Royalists have shown but little movement ; the Republicans have remained indifferent ; and the Socialists have abstained altogether . The electoral movement has been purposeless and witliout animation . On Friday last scarcely any electors had called for their tickets . So absolute was the apathy of the population , that certain of the mayors of Paris and of the suburbs were obliged to address a circular to the electors favourable to the good cause , to invite them to get their tickets . On December 20 , the citizens stood in a file at the gates of their sections to draw their electoral tickets : this time , the number of distributors exceeded the drawers—and of these latter , it should be
observed , that the majority were functionaries or employes of the government , obliged to manifest their zeal . In the Faubourgs , the workmen abstained almost to a man : " It is absurd , " they said , " to vote for men who will have no power to act . " It was only by an accident that , at Paris , the opposition candidates , Michel Goudchaux , Curnot , and Cavaignac , wore able
t ) get placards posted in their favour . The Government required their addresses to be stamped and on coloured paper : the privilege of white paper being reserved exclusively for the Government nominees , as it usually is for the Decrees of the Executive . The nominees had the additional advantage of the Prefect of the Seine ' s countersign , or of the local mayor ' s ; and what is even more rich , their placards were printed and posted at the expense of the municipality . '
In short , no preference , no privilege , was spared to the nominees of Government ; no hindrance , no vexation , no intimidation , to the independent candidates . At Paris , ono opposition circular , only , wns officially tolerated : that of M . Mortimer Ternaux . This gentleman , after he lmd received due authorization , proposed to have 40 , 000 copies . struck off , being the number of his opponent ' s placards . The- hitter ' s were stamped , and distributed gratis by the post . M . Mortimer Ternaux hoped for the « imo . privilege He counted
without his host : for he was officially warned by the Government , that if ho allowed any unstamped copies of his circular to bo distributed , they would bo instantly Bjized , and proceedings commenced against him . Now the fine incurred , in nuch u ca . se , falls * not outho-collective iinpresHion , but on each sovoral copy in contravention ; so that 10 , 000 copicw , at 100 francs fine ench , would amount to a million' of francs , ( 40 , 000 £ . ) M . Mortimer Tornaux found himself compelled to get Ins copies stamped ; but instead of 40 , 000 ho restricted fie number to 4000 .
So minute and incessant worn the obstacles thrown in the way of opposition candidates , whether by potty annoyances or by throats , that many who at first proposed to start , withdrew at lawt . Many highly honourable names , both in the Republican and in the
Conservative party , are cited as having retired , under this pressure , from a useless struggle . To some , menaces , direct and categorical—to others , indirect and equivocal —were addressed . It must be confessed , however , that the Government did not dissemble the part it took in the elections . Every Prefect" openl y enjoined the electors- to vote for the nominees of Power . As models of prfifectoral
style , the circulars of the Prefect of Lyons , and of M . Berger , the Prefect of the Seine , are specially mentioned . In every inairie and commune of France , printed bulletins of the Government nominations were distributed at the expense of the localities . Moreover , the Government declared in the official journals , and by instructions to all the prefects , that no names of citizens banished by the Decree of January 10 , would be sanctioned . Authorization to print the name of
Lamoriciere was refused . In many departments the independent candidates were not even able to get their candidature announced in the journals . The journals were warned by authority that the publication of the bare names would expose them to immediate suspension . A ministerial circular expressly enjoined the prefets , sous-prefets , and other agents of authority , to prevent , by force , if necessary , any bulletins but those of official candidates being distributed . In pursuance , too , of ministerial instructions , the Prefects warned such journalists as might think themselves free to write by virtue of the
new press law , that attacks against the government candidates would expose them to the severest measures , even to suppression . Any . complaint , written in good French , against the electoral frauds which authority might have the fancy to perpetrate , was strictly forbidden to these unlucky journalists . An ex-representative of the Vendee , M . Luneau , a conservative , had ventured to present himself as a candidate well disposed to the government , but independent ; for this simple fact , Or rather for this simple word , M . Luneau was forbidden to print his circular * It is well understood that M . Bonaparte will not hear of independence in the legislative body . What was it the
Constittitionnel said a few days since , when it exclaimed in pompous phrase , " Alt that the French people reserved to itself in the disposal Of its rights was the nomination of the legislative body I" Was ever lying more shameless ? After what precedes , you may well divine the results of the provincial elections . With the rare exceptions of a few exceptional arrondissements , the majority will belong to the government candidates . It is true that at least half of these candidates were determined beforehand by the opinion of localities , and are only government selections by name . But in any case Louis Bonaparte will have attained his object—to make Europe believe that he lias the majority of the country on his side .
On the anniversary of the 24 th of February , a popular demonstration was attempted on the Place de la Bastille . A great number of citizens presented themselves on that spot to ltiy at the foot of the column crowns of immortelles , in honour of the victims of the " days of February . " At first the sergents-de-ville contented themselves with removiug the crowns as fust as they were deposited ; but later in the day , when the crowd had become considerable , the demonstration was forcibly dispersed by a piquet of lancers preceded -by a mass of sergents-de-ville . Forty persons , according to the official journals , were arrested .
All is falsehood in the present regime under which France is labouring . The law itself is a Ho . You have remarked how tho stamp law is applied to the candidates of tho Opposition , and to Government nominees .. Let me tell you how tho now law on tho press is brought into operation . According to this new law , the censorship in abolished : but as in tho acts of this infamous Government falsehood is paramount , the Jilcho du Midi has been seized by order of tho Prefect de rileYault , for having dared to dispense with tho necessity of submitting the proofs to tho censorship , after tho publication of tho Decree on tho Press .
Au resle , journals and journalists are throughout Franco exposed to tho severest rigour . I informed you in January , that it was the intention of Government to decree- tho banishment of about one hundred journalists . Tho . hitter hostility with which the first . decrees of proscription of tho 10 th o , f January were received by public opinion , caused tho measure to bo deferred ; at prosont , tho Government , wanting
boldness enough to tako openly tho initiative , executes its vindictive purposes Htealthily and in detail . A certain number of clandestine expulsions of journalists have boon oftbeted within tho last few days . Among others are mentioned M . I . Martinet ( do VOrdre ) ; M . Camillo Bcrru ( de V ' Mv 6 neinen € ); M . Fauvoty , formerly editor of tho lleprfisentant du jPeuple ; M . J . Viard , of tho Courrier de Dijon , and many other writers of distinction . Another hypocrisy I have to record w , tho false
announcement in the government journals that Guinard ( formerly colonel of the Artillery of the National Guard * and condemned for the echauffoureeof June 13 , 1849 ) had been pardoned . Guinard has written to the Constitutionnel the following reply to the fabrication . Citadel of DouUens , 26 tli February , 1852 Si ^ ty—I am informed that the number of your journal Which reached ; Doulletts this morning states , that the President of the Republic has granted a pardon to the detenu Guinard , sentenced by the High Court of
Versailles , in consequence of the aftair of June 13 , 1849 . You have been incorrectly informed : what is granted is to those who leg : and I have never begged a favour of the government of December 2 nd . It is not that I accept the condemnation of the High Court of Versailles . M . Denain , one of the principal editors of your journal , should remember , that on June 14 , 1849 , I presented myself more than once in the offices of the Constituiionnel to demand the insertion of a letter , for the purpose of rectifying inexact statements of acts attributed to the Legion of Artillery .
This legion had , as ever , done its duty ; I alone was responsible for its acts , and I was unwilling to escape by flight , when flight was easy , from the tribunals of my country . Although that court has passed a severe sentence upon us , my conscience protects me as firmly as on the first day : and the condemnation pronounced against
citizens claiming the exercise of a constitutional right , and defending a disarmed population against the most disgraceful violence , is still in my eyes a great iniquity . But I have grown old enough in political struggles io know how to resign myself to ill-fortune , and to suffer with constancy when I suffer for truth and for the rights of the people . May I trust to your loyalty , Sir , to insert this letter . A . Gtxinabd ,
A similar protest on the part of the prisoners of the Lot et Garonne is sufficiently concise . " We are still in durance : we have commissioned no man to bargain for our release . We await with courage the end of our captivity . " Facts like these , console . In a great many quarters prisoners have been discharged : their places are filled by new arrests . Letters receivedfrom unfortunate citizens transported without form of trial , and confined on board the Duguesclin , at Brest , state that 300 of them are to be conveyed very shortly toLambessa , in Africa ; 125 others have been set at liberty .
A variety of decrees have recently appeared in the Moniteur . The most important of the number organizes a system of credit fonder— ( agricultural credit . ) According to this decree , the Government may authorize either lenders or borrowers to constitute themselves into mortgage loan societies . These societies will have the right to emit bank notes under the name of " letters of pledge "—( lettres de gage . ) The institution of lettres de gage ( Pfandbriefs ) is borrowed from Prussia and Poland , where it is said to have produced satisfactory results . These letters of pledge will bear interest at five per cent . The interest will be
paid by means of annuities subscribed by the borrowing proprietors . These annuities , besides the interest on the " letters of pledge , " are to include two per cent , as a sinking fund on tho borrower ' s capital , and ono per cent ., at least , for charges of administration . ' By this system , proprietors of land or houses will be able to find money on mortgage at eight per cent ., redemption included , which they could not do before . _ It was by no means rare to see mortgage loans returning twelve , fifteen , and twenty-two per center annum . Tho rural population wcro tho chief victimsof this monstrous usury . This decree had been in contemplation for three years . Before the end of this week the decree will appear
which fixes tho Budget of 1852 , without the intervention of tho legislative corps . It is a Bum of tiitcen hundred millions of francs ( £ C 0 , 000 , 000 ) that Louis Bonaparte is about to dispose of at his good p leasure , without any control whatever . It will be tho inon , monstrous act in tho entire financial history of civilizw nations . Another decrco , anxiously looked for , is to suppress tho University , and to hand over tho monopoly ot n-Btruction to tho Catholic clergy . From what ««• transpired of tho dispositions of this decree , there jh i bo only ouo public college to each depnrtmonI : " Normal behoof
present there arc five or Nix . The that prolific nursery of . ' distiMgniahod professors , iJ fountain-head of profound studios , is to bo saorii . to the vengeanco of the clergy . The College > > Franco will bo closed . Tho professorship * , «" illustrious by such men na Gui / . ot , Cousin , < main , Michelot , Michel Chevalier , and w > "' J other celebrated men of science and leniiimB , historians , publicists , and economists , will bo clcsin . Tho faculty of letters itself , before which ftU U 1 ^ J ^ examinations wore carried on , will bo Hupi ¦ What is more ; in horror of a p hilosophy w »» cii b teach won thcu- rights , as it tenches them their uu
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031852/page/6/
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