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LETTERS FROM PARIS. [From our own Corres...
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# We have received a copy of tins energe...
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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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Thk Kafir War The Propontis Reached Plym...
The rehel Hottentots attacked five wagons while roceeding from Graham's Town to Fort Beaufort , _though guarded by a detachment of 31 Sappers and Miners , under the command of Captain Moody , on the 13 th of June . The rebels on this occasion had posted themselves in the thick bush of the Konap-hill , and as soon as the small convoy appeared tbey opened a sudden volley , by which the leading mule-wagon was disabled , and nine of the small convoy killed . During the contest which lasted for some time , nine more were wounded , but the remainder were brought off in good order by the cool gallantry of Captain Moody . The _wagons contained some Ammunition and Minie muskets , which latter were , however , rendered useless by the precaution of removing the nipples .
On the 19 th of June , Major-General Yorke , with a large force , supported by Colonel Michel and Colonel Eyre , inarched against the camp of the rebel Hottentots , which was reached the next morning ( a day before the Hottentots expected to be attacked ) . The Hottentots were routed and their huts burned . A Cape Corps sergeant , who was taken prisoner , was immediately hanged . Three of the Minie rifles , and part of the ammunition lately taken at the Konap were found . Among the slain was a Cape Corps deserter , who had a gold watch and chain ; and a soldier found a pouch full of sovereigns . A Kafir boy was taken in Fort Beaufort , who disclosed the mode of replenishing tbe
stores of the enemy . In the evening , women , carrying wood , enter the town and remain till ten at night , when they manage to leave , laden with supplies . An important treaty was concluded in January last , between Pretorions on the part of the emigrant Boers , who have established themselves beypnd the Vaal river , and the Commissioners of the Orange River Sovereignty , guaranteeing the independence of the Boers . Major Hogg , one of the commissioners , has since died of a fever at Bloem Fontein .
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Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter XXXIII . Paris , Tuesday Evening , August 10 , 1852 . The result of the municipal elections is decidedly far more significant than could have been expected . The abstention from voting has been almost universal . Everywhere the result has exposed the failure of the Government and of its agents ; everywhere what the official journals call the " indifference" of the
population has been unmistakably proved . In many cantons the election was annulled , for want of voters . I may cite Nantes , where only 6000 out of 25 , 000 electors voted ; St . Etienne , where only 4000 out of 19 , 000 ; Bordeaux , Rennes , _Beauvais , Bourges , Vierzon , Angers , Bourg , Caen , Besan £ on , Dole , Evreux , Orleans , Troyes , Abbeville , Toul , Strasburg , Lyons , Niort , Poitiers , Auxerre , Dieppe , La Rochelle , _Nevers , Toulouse , Versailles , equally " indifferent . " In many rural cantons it was the same . In default of other
weapons , the country has , on this occasion , replied to the appeal of its Ruler by contempt . It was impossible to falsif y the results , where the voting was by canton . There were only the votes of nine or ten communes to he added up , to obtain the total result of each canton . Mistake was out of the question , and the trick of tho 20 th of December , and of the 29 th of February , could not lie played . In tho rural districts , as in the towns , the real isolation of our Ruler is now glaringly distinct . The Dictator , now that he has created silence around him , hearing only the false and fulsome flatteries of his courtiers , the glozing reports of his functionaries , and
the grovelling adulations of his lacqueys , had begun to ]> ersuade himself that he had cheated tho country , and that all who' once cursed , now adored him . The negative vote just accomplished , may , perhaps , havo opened his oyes . Now he may see that a void is gaping around him , nnd n void which broadens and deepens duy by day . You must have remarked that Strasburg , where the President lately found such an enthusiastic reception , has , by abstaining from the municipal elections , refused to concur in recognising tho government of the usurper . The ollicial journals , tho Moniteur , I ' alrtc , Pays , Ike .., endeavour to create a diversion from
the elections . The Constitulionncl alone , for spite _Hgiunst Persigny , dwells with u malicious pertinacity "pou the checks and defeats which the Government bus generally experienced . Cruel , you may imagine , h » s been the disappointment at the _Elysee . Louis _"oniiparte , WUM so struck with tho result , that io fell ill . The chronic , rheumatism from which h _^ Huili . _rs , bus struck his legs , and some days he is M » "t « unable to walk . His forthcoming visit to tho southern departments causes some uneasiness . All the '" go towns , fnmi Honleaux to Marseilles , even those ni which the liinni _.-iiuil _.... i _,..., _;! _. _l ,.,.,,. ,,., « ,,, i i _ .. , » _winei _, the munici pal councils have voted large
sums or the reception and feasting of thc conqueror , havo stained from voting in tho recent elections , or have
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
voted for the candidates of the opposition . It is a grave question in the ministerial councils , whether tbe President ought to expose himself to risk in the midst of populations so decidedly hostile . At a loss for expedients , bis adherents have determined upon the following system . Persigny is reported to have lately held this language : — " We hold all the threads of power , all the functionaries , —executive aud administrative , all the forces of the State . Let us rely exclusively upon- these supports , compromise them in our
policy , make them feel that they are lost men wben we fall , and so give them at least the courage of fear in default of a better . Compromise them , but at the same time gorge them : and raise their salaries once more . The Legislative Corps must be won over and mollified ; last session we heaped insults upon them ; we made them conscious of their servitude ; this policy must be reversed , and what is more , we must pay them—give them an indemnity of 10 , 000 f . ( 400 _Z . ) each , and so buy off their opposition . " It is , I believe , almost resolved that the members of the _Legislative
Corps shall receive an indemnity of 3000 f . a month during session . This would amount to 10 , 000 f . a year , and be much the same thing as the notorious 25 francs a day which made the National Assemblies so unpopular . The consequences of the elections are felt in every direction . Agents of the Government are deprived of their posts : especially the unsuccessful mayors . The circulars of the Prefets accuse them of having abused their influence to carry tbe election of candidates opposed to the Government nominees . This accusation reveals to you a fact of deep import—viz ., that in France , where the ignorance is so dense throughout tbe rural districts ( and these rural districts contain thirty-one millions of inhabitants , to five
millions resident in the towns ) , the mayors retain a vast influence over the minds of the peasantiy . Many of the Government nominees , observing the number of electors who abstained from voting , retired from the contest , and renounced their own nomination . Among others , a candidate in the Tarn et Garonne addressed the electors _n letter in which he said , that " the suffrages he had been accustomed to obtain for fifteen years having failed him for the first time , he considered it a warning to desist from the course he desired to pursue . " On the other hand , the Prefects have taken the field again for new elections , many of them refreshing the electors with a proclamation to stimulate their zeal . The words of the Prefet de I'Fwe deserve to be
quoted : " Remember / he says , " that to abstain from voting is a negation of your civic rights ; remember that it is an act of ingratitude towards the Government which makes an appeal to the electoral power , that it is a desertion from the ranks in which you marched on two former solemn occasions , and that such indifference is an abandonment of the most precious interests of our country ! Certain persons devoted to the most dangerous doctrines , enemies of your interests , hostile to the generous Government of Prince Louis Napoleon , have dared to solicit election , and to make an appeal to your credulity . They deceive you now as they have always deceived you . They speak in the
name of the people , and preach revolt against that authority which is tho most sovereign expression of its confidence and of its will . Remember , they aro all branded with disgrace , in the name of society and of our country ; remember that their candidateship is nothing but- a trap to surprise your good faith , an insolent defiance of your own rights and of the rights of him to whom you havo confided the salvation of Franco . Remember , above all , that the men who have refused tho oath of fidelity to the Government of Louis Napoleon , havo denied the right of universal suffrage , and violated the will of tho nation . Your contempt should be the sole reply to their guilty manoeuvres , and the best exposure , of their impotence . "
It would be a waste of time to dwell upon all the absurdities of this language . Two facts , however , it discloses : 1 . The abstention has lieen considerable enough to make tho functionaries of Bonaparte cry out . 2 . The Republicans are once more in the lists , and their eventual triumph already alarms MM . Ies Prefets . _Jjet us wait . Qui vivya , verra . On tho other hand , in a great number of localities , the electors havo protested against the nnuia . uvres employed by the agents of Government to secure the success of their nominees . It appears , from the protest of the electors of MiirommoH ( Charenle-Znferienre ) , that the _sous-jircfet , convoked all the functionaries of tho canton , and enjoined them menacingly to vote for Lucicn Murat , and that his threats involved , not loss of oflieo alone , -hut exile to Algeria .
Great preparations are making for the fUe of the 15 th inst . 'fhe outlay will be enormous . Gaines on a vast scale will bo instituted in different parts of I _' _liris , to curry out the famous maxim of tho Roman _EmtiororH , " Panem et Circences . " With bread and
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
shows our Ruler pretends to muzzle the people . For this coming fete a complete amnesty of all parties was announced . It was discussed more than once in the Council , and rejected . Louis Bonaparte took the side of clemency , and his Ministers that of severity . It was put to the vote , and the farce concluded with a rejection of the proposal . But , not to cheat public expectation , excited by these rumours , too grossly , some few representatives of the people , banished by the decrees of the 10 th of January , have been permitted to return from exile . The decree of last January had established two
categoriestemporary banishment and perpetual exile . Of the eighteen banished under the former category , eight are allowed to return to France—viz ., MM . Creton , Duvergier de Hauranne , Chambolle , Thiers , de Remusat , Jules de _Lasteyrie , General Leydet , and Anthony Thouret . Of the sixty-six representatives banished for perpetuity , seven are authorized to return—viz ., MM . Renaud , Signard , Theodore Bac , Joly , Belin , Besse , and Millotte . I need scarcely add , that all the agents of Government , and all the official journals , have received orders to make a great ado of this peddling act of clemency .
By order of Louis Bonaparte , dramatic performances are to be given gratuitously at the three principal theatres on the 15 th instant . Cinna ( or , the Clemency of Augustus ) , Corneille's tragedy , is to be presented , in allusion to the recall of some fifteen citizens . Paid claqueurs will occupy , as a matter of course , tbe principal seats , and will give the signal for applause to the crowd . Victor Hugo ' s brochure on " Napoleon the Little " circulates secretly in France . It is written with admirable vigour and vivacity . As I am not aware whether you may have yet introduced it to your readers , I subjoin one or two of the most salient and remarkable pessages . *
< c The men who , in their character of representatives , had received in trust for the people the oath of December 20 , 1848 , and who beheld ita violation , had with their mandate assumed two duties : the first , whenever that oath should be violated , to rise up to oppose their breasts to the bullets of the usurper , regarding neither the number nor the strength of the enemy ; to shield with tbeir bodies tbe sovereignty of the people , and with the resolve to combat and depose the usurper , to seize every arm , from tbe laws that may be found in the
code , to the paving-stones up-torn in the streets . The second duty was , after having accepted the combat and all its hazards , to accept proscription with all its miseries ; to stand up for ever in the face of the traitor , his oath in their band 3 to cry for justice ; never to bend , never to relent ; to be implacable ; to seize the crowned perjurer , if not by the arm of the law , by the grasp of truth ; to burn red in the blaze of history the words of his oath , and to brand with those burning words bis brow . The writer of these lines is one of those who recoiled from no endeavour to
accomplish the first of these duties : in writing these pages he fulfils the second . It is time to re-awakeu the conscience of Men . Since the 2 nd December , 1851 , a successful ambush , an odious and disgraceful crime , triumphs and dominates , rises to the height of a theory of government , expands in the face of the sun , makes laws , renders decrees , takes society , religion , and domestic virtues under its protection ; gives the hand to the potentates of Europe , calling the . in 'brother , or cousin . ' This crime no man denies , not even the men who won , and who live hy it , and who only say , ' it was a necessary act : ' not even the chief malefactor ; he only says
that he has been ' absolved . ' This crime includes nil otber crimes : treason iu tbe conception—perjury hi the execution—murder and assassination in the assault —spoliation , swindling , robbery in the triumph . This crime bears within its bosom as integral parts of itself —the suppression of law , the violation of constitutionall y inviolable guarantees , arbitrary sequestration , confiscation of property , nocturnal massacres , secret butcheries , ' commissions' replacing tribunals , ten thousand citizens transported , forty thousand citizens proscribed , sixty thousand families ruined and driven to despair . These facts aro patent ! Ah ! well , painful as it may he to _coiifess , the assent of silence follows the , crime : it is there .
present , visible , sensible to the sight and touch : _nii'ii let it pass , tbey go to their business ; the * shops are ' open , the Exchange gambles ; trade , sitting on its bales , rubs its hands contentedly , and we are approaching the time when all will be treated as a matter of course . ' The man who sells a yard of cloth does ndfc hear tho very measure he holds in his hand say , ' It , is a false measure that rules . ' The dealer who weighs an article of commerce hears not the balance lift its voice and sny , « It is a false weight that governs .. '
# We Have Received A Copy Of Tins Energe...
# We have received a copy of tins energetic and fiery _indictment . It will receive distinct notice next week in another part of our paper . —Jin . of Leader .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14081852/page/3/
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