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THE MASKED " EMPIRE" IN FRANCE . [ Fiiom our own Correspondent . ] Paris , Thursday , December 11 , 1851 . —In medias res , without preface . The time is short , and the summary of events crowded into so small a space of Vme must be crowded into a still smaller space of paper . _ On Sunday evening I went to deliver my letter of introduction , which C had kindly given me to a friend from whom I should obtain reliable
intelligence . Singularly enough I found him just in the act of finishing a letter which he had been writing to us . I found him in a state of feverish dejection and excitement , wounded in spirit , oppressed , almost heart broken . It seemed to be a real consolation to him to be able to vent his grief and indignation , and to pour his pent up feelings into a friendly and sympathizing ear . After a few moments of hurried and
anxious question and reply as to the truth or probability of the various reports flying about , I begged him to read me his letter . He said how fortunately timed my visit was , as it saved him the possible risk of sending the letter . Here it is . I don ' t change a word , as I should be afraid to weaken its force and meaning . You know how moderate and calmly judging the writer is . " Paris , December 10 , 1851 .
" Sir , —I know not whether this letter will reach you , notwithstanding the precautions I intend to employ to have it posted . You will not be surprised to find " it not signed ; but I think you will recognize the hand . I earnestly recommend you to make vvhat use of it you can to enlighten public opinion ; but I beg you not to reply to it nor to name me as the writer . If you publish it , I shall be much obliged to you not even to send me the journal , at least for the present ; for I see no use in my being arrested , as I certainly should be if it were supposed that I am your correspondent . Although , in truth , I am by
natural bent of mind disposed to write you nothing but the most exact and moderate relation of facts , yet this exact truth is so damning and terrible for the successful conspirators who , by a nocturnal assault , have just made themselves masters of Paris ! I shall not repeat the numerous details you will find in all the newspapers , but I am desirous to enlighten you upon the character and the real meaning of the struggle in which the population of Paris has lately succumbed . First , as to this population , you should know how in these last four years it has been diminished in number in its most active and energetic
portion , partly by the diminution of work , especially in the building employ , partly in consequence of the unhappy days of June ' 48 and of the deportation which followed . Besides the population is , for the most part , completely disarmed . In its moral condition , too , I will not attempt to dissemble that it is . seriously weakened . In one sense by the too exclusive influence of doctrines of material interests , preached by certain of the Socialist sect ; and in another ,, by the consciousness of defeat , now three years and a half ago , in those daytt of June of which 1 have just spoken , in which it wasted so untimely ,
and by a deplorable perversion , all that energy and enthusiasm , which are now wanting even for the service of a most just and holy c ; ause . Add to this the general distrust and contempt Avith which the whole People regarded the majority of the National Assembly ; and the deep astuteness with which Louis Bonaparte presented himself as the restorer of Universal Suffrage ; and you will no longer be tuirprised at vvhat I now nilirm that , in the struggle of last , week , the masses , the body of the people , the people properly so called , who never meddle in politics hut on grand occasions , this ' 1 '/ topic' did not
stir . The men who fought were few ; they were either Republicans of the bourgeoisie , or a few revolutionary workmen , the elite of the -most intelligent operatives in Paris . Besides the actual combatants these two classes furnished many elements to that incessant agit . uiion which wa . s intended to harass the troops . Such was the condition of the one camp . . Now lei , us pass to the other . There were at Paris last week upwards of 1 ()() , ()()() soldiers perfectly armed , equipped , well led , and plied with liquor , and well commanded . 1 ask you if the Democracy hud a chance of success ! Success was only feasible , in ease of defection among the troops ; anel it was to
cause ; this defection that some little resistance wun sustained . But . no defection took place . M . Louin Honaparte had attached to his cause the : mass of the hoI < 1 i < t ; i and tin- mnjority of the ofliccrs by odious meaiiH , for which , 1 trust , the army will hereafter blush with shame , hut which , for the moment , were certainly effectual . I write it . with pain , for 1 am obliged to state the ( act , grievous as it is ( and I do do wilfi real grief ) , the standard of honour in the French army is lowered . This is the truth . The Holdicis received one ( rune extra per diem ; the noac (( ininissiiiiicd oflicers one ( rune and a half ; the jut . illery three francs , besides distributions of wine , Inanely , and victual . ; . The fact is . that tho ivholo oj
last week many of our soldiers were not sober . Money , too , was distributed among officers , even in the higher ranks . Colonels , chefs de bataillon , received some thousands of francs , more or less . Generals d fortiori * Their debts were paid . Much was given , and more was promised . " Doubtless the majority of the officers did not partake of these shameful bribes . Doubtless many of these acted with extreme repugnance . Doubtless among the non-commissioned officers ( the most
Democratic element in the army ) there were many who would rather have foug ht in the Republican , than in the Bonapartist , camp . But the severest orders had been given to shoot the first wayerer : they were entangled in a machine from which there was no escaping but at the cost of their lives , and the violation of military formalism . The result is that the French army , although Democratic in its essence and in its spirit , has won the battle for despotism . A significant lesson , which it behoves the Democracy never to forget !
" I now come to the struggle and to its various incidents . Generally speaking , the population was indisposed to engage in a regular and close resistance . Their object was to wear out the troops . " An incessant agitation , frequent barricades slightly defended , quickly abandoned and thrown up again , at intervals ; such was the plan instinctively adopted by the Republicans . The enemy knew this well , and all their efforts were exerted to bring about a close and decisive combat . In this they succeeded on Thursday , the 5 th instant . They allowed the barricades to be raised till nearly seven o ' clock in the evening , and then gave the order for their
destruction . The struggle lasted till nearly midnight . I shall not trouble you with accounts you may have read elsewhere ; but I content myself with g iving you a few details , on the complete exactitude of which you can rely . For the most part fe-w men were behind the barricades ; very few men armed ; the greater number having neither guns nor ammunition ; many not even a morsel of bread . The barricades at the Porte St . Denis and the Rue Montorgueil , which were the best defended , were manned chiefly by workmen . The scattered shots at the troops in various parts of the city were principally fired by bourgeois , or by Avhat you would
call gentlemen . The cruelty of the soldiers was horrible . It was by command ; and , as I have already told you , the men were drunk almost to a man . On the Boulevards , a few , very few isolated shots from windows , were replied to by a general random volley from the troops , which being quite sudden and without any warning given , wounded or killed people who happened to be passing by or standing about , or even in their houses at their windows , or on the balconies . I was on the spot , and was present at this murderous execution . Such are the tactics of war M . de St . Arnaud has imported from Kabylie into France !
" This firing lasted several minutes even on the Boulevards ; the Boulevard Montmartre especially , where not a shot had been fired upon the troops . The bullets rained into the rooms . The soldiers loaded and discharged and loaded again , like skirmishing parties , firing low or high , or straight before them , or across to one side of the street or to the other , at random . In front of one house which I know , four men were killed , of whom three were passers by , and one a shopboy standing at the door . In the Passage Jouffroy , ten persons , elderly men for the most part , all well dressed , some wearing the Legion of Honour riband , were killed by a volley fired down the passage . All this took place in quarters where the soldiers had not been attacked . In houses from which a single shot had been fired the disaster was far more dreadful .
Cannon was employed . They penetrated into tho houses and Blew all the persons they found in the rooms , even women , even children . As for prisoners taken behind barricades , they were shot without quarter . Such were the orders . But it is quite certain that the chief loss is not among those who fought , or who manned the barricades , but among inoffensive people ; , among many even of the reactionary party , many Bonupurtists ; among olel men , women , anel e : hilelren . There are few quarters of Paris , perhaps not one , where there is not mourning for the loss of one or more of the inhabitants who had geme out that morning to transact their business or to visit friends , and who never returned liotne . " I am relating thest : horre > rs with the most complete calmness and composure I ele > not exaggerate ; rather the reverse ; I am ne > t spinning phrase's . " I leave to tin : future , te > all I'Yance , to the ' army itself , when it has recovered freim intoxication , to judge ' the ae : ts of MM . Bonaparte and St . A . rnuud . Thin , St . Arnaud ( perhaps ye > u are ; ne > t aware ) i « a rcckli ! HH anel lawless adventurer , win * was formerly cashiered for me > st disgraceful lnalprae-tieM'H ; lor ele :-grading his cemnnission , by swindling , forgery , notorie > us debauchery . It , is this ruined man e > f lost character that M . Bonaparte has pickcel up in Africa to make his ( Constable ! ; fe » r it is he ; who has had the ; whole cemelue-. t e > f this military revolutiein , anel whe > has insured it , n success . What can I say more ? Paris has done ; its duty ; it ha « eleme what it . e . ouhl . It is for the departments to act . It is for some distant
regiments to efface the stain the whole army suffer and to purge the honour of France . " Will it be s > You will know when you receive this letter but T know not yet . I am convinced that all is not vef over . That a certain part of the population is for M Bonaparte is not to be denied . The petite bour / jeoisi especially , the shopkeepers will give in their a'dhe sion , not because they honour him ; but because the " are . ignorant , uncultivated , destitute of generoul feelings , far less intelligent than the working classand because they are released from that ugly ni ^ ht '
mare of 1852 ! But the masses are gloomy and dis heartened ; profoundly humiliated . All men of heart and of a little clearness of judgment are ready to renew the struggle . At the least assurance of a serious insurrection in any part of Europe , Paris will take fire again . In any case the present state of things cannot last . This is the universal conviction Louis Bonaparte is not the man to put down the revolution ; he has committed too heinous a crime to be allowed to enjoy its fruits in peace . May God grant us to see better davs ! "
Such is our friend ' s letter . I recommend it to your most anxious attention . It throws a broad clear lio-ht on the atrocities of last week . I need not remmd you how calm , and temperate , and practical , is the mind of the writer ; how humane and gentle his disposition . It was really painful to me to witness his grief . I add a few remarks in the way of comment . I have been assured by another friend , who is in a position to arrive at facts , that the number of killed is 2 7 00 , according to the registers . Of this number two-thirds had as little to do with the insurrection as Regent-street or the Strand . They were not even people collected to the spot by a rash , curiosity ( as
many of our countrymen , the most insatiable of sightseers , might have been ) , butpersons who were passing from house to house on domestic errands , unconscious of what was going on ; or standing in doorways , or on balconies , or even sitting quietly in upper rooms . The soldiers ( more than one eyewitness assures me ) were unmistakeably maddened with brandy , and instigated by bribes . The fairest parts of this fair city were given up to their brutality , like a hostile cit y taken by storm . They fired at citizens as if they were vermin ; if a shopman was closing the front , ii a visitor was entering a house , or coming out into the street , he was shot down ; if a curtain stirred or a blind fluttered , a volley of musketry was discharged into the room . I have been in houses where the
inhabitants were lying on the floor for hours in constant fear ; or huddled into back rooms ; and even then they were threatened with the irrruption of these wild beasts , who spared neither sex , nor rank , nor age . So conscious are the soldiers that it is the higher classes and the bourgeoisie who have suffered most , that they call the Thursday of last week the " Journee des Paletots . " A captain said to a friend of mine : — " We know we are assassins ; but it was our ordersand what were we to do ?"
, That General St . Arnaud is even worse than lie is described in the letter of our friend . I have heard particulars of his antecedents . It seems he was lust in the Gardes du Corps ; he was cashiered for swindling ; then he became a vende > r of old furniture ; then a tenth rate actor at one of the Theatres on the Boulevards , under a feigned name . After the Involution ot ' 30 he managed to get himself into the army again ; «_* \^ . a » \_ f I 141 V 11 ML . VVl - » . » f ~ j * -- V — ~ — p . the
and he has since been in Algeria , always bearing worst reputation . M . L . Bonaparte had designed , him for the coup d'etat , as a man who had no character te > lose ; so he was sent on the recent expedition to Kabylie , for the sake of a little eclat ; und as you know , was recalled to Franco and made Minister ot War only a thw weeks since . He is a most lit instrument for the work he has to de ); hut how gre . u the degradation of the army to submit to such a
commanel ! . » lMHt Saturday you might have seen at the ^ unei ^ n Memtmartre , h > ng file's of corpses buried up to wl chest in order that friends and relatives might recognize' them . , 1 have seen V -, to whom C- ¦ had also f ? iv ( J me a letter , three times ; twice at his own house I ni he has just left my room . The first time 1 saw »' he was ' terribly depressed anel discouraged . We < a very hmg conversation , not emly em these (! V dition and prospects of the ^ Republican l ' . " ^' , " ' e > n the : immense injury that an alhaneu : witli partism and the idolatry e > f tho Umpire :, eneouia . l > y the Liberals since the Restoration anel sine" . haelelone to the . I >« inocrnti oel servie e , ¦ will have efleclually and dually divorced the- Kepu from the Umpire . Ne > more "imperial glories . Hemvenirs "I . .:..
,, It neemH that the army ilse : lf was taken by ""' P '' , (; Republican at heart , it funeied it was hf-h ¦'" t f-f hut tie : of tho Republic . The very troops sent « J » round the Assembly imagined they were , ih ' Ju ' ¦ it from the : Royalist coup d ' etat ; anel it wan no t t I piquet of J , uneers had been sent to the dd . ¦<¦ posts shoutiiiK " Vive Napoleon I" that tho truth «»•¦ luiown .
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1198 tRfye 3 L $ & $ iet + ' [ Saturday , _„ . i -1 — " - ¦ — — ¦ ¦ ' —i ^ a^— ¦ ¦ " ~"" ' m ' ' ¦¦!¦ " ¦ ***^^^^^^^^ ^^ , * W ^» M *»^~* - *——i .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1851, page 1198, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1914/page/2/
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