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LETTERS FROM PARIS. [From our own Corres...
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* Tbis is in direct coritraelietion to a...
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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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Wail In Burmah. We Printed Tho Laconic D...
n _n 0 ff a month ago had their scaling-ladders carried the attack by volunteers from tho very place against _* ° the force was going . The steamers that went to ¦ r _sein saw the inhabitants on the banks waving their i nnds up the river , and signalling ' good speed' to the _exodition against that place . The troops who have fought nst us and have come in , laid down their arms and "S ed that they only fought while their families were in i _nataffe for their bravery , and on their release they came t ioin the English cause . The very last expedition against P em which has not returned yet , was sent at the earnest treaty of its inhabitants to save them from the cruelty C fhe Burman Government . The commander of the _LcwmiK , now threading her way up to Prome on a
surof the river , reports that he finds the villagers on the banks even so far up , afford him every assistance . They ready with supplies , and the inhabitants are stacking fuel for the steamers they are expecting to advance upon Pome with all our troops on board . The head men of the villages and districts , 60 and 60 miles off Rangoon , have come in and begged for protection against their own Government . The cultivators entreat us to say the word , ' will the English pr otect them if they sow their fields this season ? ' The Karem Christians are watching us with the greatest interest , —they have prayed for the English to come and take their country and give them liberty , —and is this an answer at last to their prayers ? Curious enough , too , the very courtiers round the King havo whisnered now , in their cups , to ears now here , ' we shall be
glad if the English would take the country , we are sick ot this tyranny , where life , fame , property , and families are not worth five minutes' purchase . '" The object of annexation , independently of commerce and general policy , is stated to be the protection of the inhabitants , who have taken sides with us against the Burmese , and to place tbe King of Ava in a position rendering future wars impossible .
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Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter , XXXIV . Paris , Tuesday Evening , August i 7 j 1852 . TB _^ f ete of the 15 th August was not favoured b y the weather . Raw gusts of wind , varied by pelting showers , prevailed from morning till night , and made havoc even of the illuminations . Only the fireworks were successful . So much for all tbe enormous waste of money and of imagination expended by tbe Government . The official journals had trumpeted this fUe as one unrivalled in times past and to come . The blase public was utterl y disappointed . Tbe intention of the President was to excite the enthusiasm of the
working population of Paris , of which he might boast before foreign powers , and so persuade the Emperor of Russia to waive the veto to his assumption of the Imperial Crown . He was anxious to show that he had become popular _vvjth the working classes , and that they were ready to place the crown on his head ; and that with such a guarantee tbere would bo no future apprehension of a revolution in the streets of Paris * . But the failure was complete . Not a cry was raised in his honour , not a head was uncovered to salute himj not a single burst of applause rewarded the vast efforts to dazzle the populace by tbe magnificence of tbe spectacle . The people remained cold , and showed no kind of enthusiasm . I will give you one or two details of tho fete .
At half-past nine in the morning a Te Deum was chanted- at the Madeleine . Bonaparte was present with his official cortege . At the doors of the church nil the veterans of the Empire , in their historical uniforms , wero grouped . They ( and they only ) received the President with shouts of . Vive Napoleon . Not a lad y was at the windows in tho Rue de la Concorde . After tho ceremony Bonaparte mounted a horse , richly < "iparisoned with gold and velvet , and accompanied by his aides-de-camp , tho Generals Canrobert , Roguct , De Cotte , Vaudrey , and Colonels Be ? ville , Fleury , & c , he proceeded through tho Place de la Concorde to the
Champs _Elysees , where the National Guard of Paris and of the banlieue awaited him . This review of the National Guard had been a subject of long and anxious discussion at the Elysee . The _olllcera of various companies bad been _sont for ; and many had said that they muUl not answer for the spirit of tho men , and that a great number were disposed to cry Vive la Pepubliqui - licse dispositions alarmed the Government , and the following plan was adopted . Only _u certain number <» ' each . company were convoked ; and these were selected , if not for tbeir _dovotodiiess , nt least for their
»» hlloreiioo ; those who wero suspected of strong opinions received no summons , and wero obliged to ro-»• ' »» at heime . The National Guard , then , in the ordinary sens * ,, was not convoked at , all ; but only ' ' ¦ ''tain national , guards . Hut ' this was not the sole precaution taken . AU the battalions coming from _^ peetod quarters wen ; carefull y isolated from one _'"lother , and dispersed among the regiments of tho _'"'iticue , _compound for tho most part of the gross and K »«> nmt peasantry of tho suburbs , tho most ignorant _w « dull of t | M , _population throughout the whole of 1 ' »» ee . _Hcsides , instead of huvingtho Purisianbattalioiis
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
drawn up along the avenue of the Champs Elysees , the most " suspect" were stationed outside of Paris , in the Avenue de Neuill y . The President ( with his staff ) contented himself with passing down in front of the lines of the first battalions only , at a gallop , from the Place de la Concorde to the Rond-point of the Champs Elysees . He would not venture beyond that point , though the battalions reached as far as the Pont de Neuilly . From the Rond-point he returned to tbe Place de la Concorde , to the Obelisk , and the defile immediately began . Round him were ranged the municipal horse-guards and the lancers . Each battalion as it passed before Bonaparte found itself so encompassed by the cavalry , tbat it * could not budge . At
the slightest seditious cry , the municipal guards and the lancers could have charged the offenders in flank . Every battalion defiled in succession before Bonaparte , and received from his hands the new standards . Only some battalions of the banlieue shouted Vive Napoleon ; the rest maintained absolute silence . After the defile , the standard bearers returned to the Elysee to carry back the Eagles . Some cried , Vive I'Empereur , as they entered the court-yard of tbe palace . As long as tbey were in the streets , and before the eyes of the population , they dared not utter a cry ; but as soon as tbey were protected by the wall 9 of tbe Elysee , they gave full vent to their enthusiasm . After the review the crowd dispersed through the various quarters of Paris .
Open-air theatres had been erected in tbe Champs Elysees , at the Barriere du Trone , and on the Boulevard de l'Hopital . In these theatres , military pantomimes were performed , a 3 is customary in all the great public file s _. Sham fights , storming towns , bombardments , firing of cannon and musketry , whizz , bang , crash , fire , smoke , fracas , Bedouins captured , Frenchmen victorious . Such is the regular bill of fare of all these spectacles : such is the programme beloved by gamins and nursemaids . Tbe official imagination has not yet devised anything new in these entertainments .
On this occasion , however , the Parisian population was treated to one very novel spectacle , the representation of a sea-fight . The new naval school frigate , La Ville de Paris , manned by sailors , brought at a great expense from Brest and Cherbourg , was cannonaded by two steamers , manned by Chasseurs de Vineennes , and , as a climax , was boarded and captured by assault . Immense preparations had been made fer the illumination in tbe Champs Elysees . On either side of the avenue there were festoons of coloured lamps , with " N . " and eagles as a device . In the avenue itself fountains , decorated with flowers and variegated lamps . The
Arc del'Etoile , illuminated with gas , was to have formed the background of tbat magnificent decoration . But the weather spoilt it all . No illumination was possible . The garlands were swept away , the " N ' s" and the eagles torn to shreds . The wind blew the gas-lights , and left everything in total darkness , or nearly so . The cost of the illuminations for the Champs Elysees alone was 400 , 000 francs . The fireworks only had a partial success . As I had informed you in a former letter was to be the case , the Passage of the St .
Bernard by the Grand Army was represented . There was a very fine effect of snow falling in the midst of a shower of fire , and covering the whole mountain . Then the French army was seen clambering up the Mont St . Bernard with their guns and wagons . The Hospital of the Monastery was seen in the distance in the midst of tho snow and tho flames . At the crest of the mountain , Napoleon , dressed in the historical redingole , stood out in relief against tbe sky , rising above the arch of the world .
After the fireworks , the crowd moved away to the Champs Elysees and to the Boulevards to see the illuminations , or , at least , what tho wind hod spared . Only the public buildings hud been illuminated . As to private houses , an invitation had been addressed to them by tho Ministry of Police , which in no single instance was obeyed ; not one private house luul a lampion . Surely an evidence of the esteem in which tho existing Government is hold !
Last Saturday tho _liedroom of the President ut the _Elysee caught fire . It , was soon got under ; not , however , before it had destroyed a great number of private papers and documents and among the rest bis accounts of expenditure . This circumstance occasioned a very general remark , that it was really an intelligent fire , a veritable feu d ' esprit , since it relieved the . President from the unpleasant duty of giving an account , of his expenditure lu the bedroom was found nn imperial cloak und crown , which were hardly preserved ( Venn the flumes , with a diamond necklace that once belonged to Queen _Ilortense .
Ihe ofhciul press had made a great _foss beforehand about tho numerous pardons that wero to bo grunted on tho occasion of thisf ' Uc . All this was for the solo
Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...
purpose of putting tbe people in good humour . The Moniteur has been dumb , publishing no list of the pardoned . It is said , however , that 800 prisoners have obtained mercy . But what tbe official journals take good care to suppress is the fact , that the pardons are almost all for criminal , not for political offences . Of the political category there are , it is said , only 50 out of 800 j Madame Pauline Roland of the number . A note appeared in the Moniteur , stating that there would be no general political amnesty , but that the President would reserve the faculty of granting pardons , after due examination of each case , to those who might ask it of him . It is to be hoped that none will be base enough to sue for pardon , and so this generosity will be wasted for want of exercise .
M . Thiers has performed an act of courage which should be remembered to his honour : he has rejected as an insult the favour which the munificence of Bonaparte had deigned to vouchsafe him , and has refused to return to France . "I will return to France , " he is reported to have exclaimed , " with all the rest of my fellow-citizens proscribed on the 2 nd December , or I will never return at all . " * An infamous bargain of the same kind was proposed to Victor Hugo : he was to be allowed to return to France on condition of suppressing his book , Napoleon le Petit . Victor Hugo nobly repulsed this shameful offer , and by way of reply hastened the publication of hia work . He was , as I have told you , driven out of Belgium , and is now
seeking refuge at Jersey . Since bis arrival in that island , Bonaparte ( we hear ) has addressed a note to the British Government , complaining of tbe refuge accorded by England to the enemies of the French Government , on an island only twenty miles from the French shore . The English Government is said to have replied that the right of asylum at Jersey was an old privilege consecrated by time ; and that it was neither in their power nor their intention to infringe that right . Bonaparte , implacable against Victor Hugo , had resolved to pursue him from one end of the world to another . You may learn from this resentment tbe ravages his book is committing in France , where its clandestine circulation is universal .
Incensed at these continual refusals to accept of his clemency , the President has adopted a new system : — to cause it to be believed that the proscribed are constantly soliciting pardon . The Belgian and English journals have published the names of a number of ex-representatives of the people and other refugees , said to have applied for leave to return to France . Louis Blanc , among others , has been tbe subject of these calumnious inventions , which , I need not add , those honourable citizens have repudiated with the contempt they deserved .
"he elections for the general and municipal councils , annulled for- want of votes , have been proceeded with a second time . The simple majority only is required at a second poll , not as at the first , a quarter of the votes on the register . The electors stood aloof as before , except in a certain number of localities , where , rather than suffer the Government candidate to pass , they went in and carried the man of the Opposition . Notably , at Strasburg and at Nancy .
These results were displeasing enough to tho President , who it is said has a coolness with Persigny in consequence . There are two parties at the Elyseetho Persigny party , and the Fould party .- the former is bent on ruling by force , resting on the army , nnd the army only : the latter projKises a . more liberal system to conciliate the middle und commercial classes , and to rest for support on the great material , interests , as Louis Philippe did for eig hteen years . It is supposed that this latter party will carry tbe day .
Meantime Bonaparte is fortifying himself in Paris to an extraordinary degree . He is constructing at the hack of the Hotel do Ville an immense barrack , quite a second Bastille for its strength and its importance . This vast building is at least 100 metres long ( about 350 feet ) . The foundations are completed , and tho building is already rising above tho ground . The square will be vory large , and capable of containing GOOO men ; the guns of tho barrack will command the new Hue Rivoli , and the great Jtuo St . Antoinc , anel will be able to sweep an enormous distance . These precautionary measures indicate clearly enough that Bonaparte relies more upon bis guns than upem tho affection of the people of Paris . It has been reported more than once that , Persigny is deranged . Ho had gone to Dieppe for _sca-
* Tbis Is In Direct Coritraelietion To A...
* Tbis is in direct _coritraelietion to a paragraph of the Semi-official J ' ays , translated in ( ho _e-e > rre ) Hpemelenie _" e > ed' our _elaily coiitenipe ' irarics , which represents 1 \ _I . _Thiern as _e'ligerly embracing tho loavo te . return to Prance , and full of gratitude te ) his bimtfactor . 11 c was reported to bo packing up in joyful haste , and expected teiarrivo " in tho Uuo Ht . Georges" em Thursday ( last ) from Vovay , Switzerland , wbero he hael settled _deiwn for tho summer residence of an "illustrious exile . "—En . of Loader .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21081852/page/3/
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