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Leader (1850-1860), 7th February 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 124, Untitled Article

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      dition of the Exchequer , and the f ^ ? £ g ™** l forbid these largesses . A loan of 2 « 0 indlioMof francs ( £ 10 . , 000 ) is in serious contemplation . For some days past it ha s been talked f on the Bourse . All kinds of financial sc hemes are in the air . Among others a tax " surlerevenu : to be a specie ? of adaptation , of the English income tax , But if these officious advisers of the President had even a glimmering of experience in finance , they would not forget that the tax they want to establish is already established in Prance under the name of " impdt mobilier . " So that it would be to make us pay the same tax twice , under two names . * lhe organization of agriculture credit is also in discussion . A variety of important projects have been submitted to Louis Bonaparte ; one is said to have been

      sent in by the fatherr in-law of General Roquet ( aidede-camp to the President ) , who was formerly a notary ; another by M . Pommier . The latter pretends to realize a comprehensive series of reforms on a vast scale . He would establish a species of hypothecary credit by means of a paper currency , to have a forced circulation like Bank Notes . A third proposition is to convert the Five per Cents into Fours by a simple decree . This is strongly urged in the best informed circles . All these contradictory rumours , all these menacing projects , cause a disquiet , an indefinable uneasiness , in the financial world . M . Fould ' s financial report , indeed , is not reassuring . To the ignorant and superficial public he announces a deficit for 1852 , of only 45 million francs ( £ 1800 , 000 ) . But those who are ever so little versed in

      moneymatters , are surprised that this deficit should be only declared at 45 millions ( of francs ) note , when it had formerly been stated at 64 . They are surprised , too , that neither the subvention of 49 million francs accorded to the Avignon Railway figures on the ' Passive" side of the budget in this report , nor the 25 million francs borrowed of the Bank of France on the 4 th of December , on the security of the Emperor of Russia . Instead , then , of a deficit of 45 millions , the real deficit to be stated is 138 millions of francs ( £ 5 , 520 , 000 ) . Add to this the 700 millions of francs ( £ 28 , 000 , 0000 ) of floating debt , and you will understand how severely the need of a loan begins to be felt . The loan is to" be as I have stated , 250 millions of francs ( £ 10 , 000 , 000 ) .

      The Moniteur , of last Saturday , published the decree organizing the new Ministry of Police . The presiding idea of this new creation is unmistakeably the tendency to strengthen the central power , to make all lesser powers converge to the central executive , to restrain local authority , and to deliver into the hands of Government all the threads of the police of the whole empire , even to the smallest hamlet within its borders . Here , again , we find an inspiration of the imperial system . In virtue of the new decree , the Ministry of Police will be a continuous , permanent , systematic delegation of the powers of the state of siege , when the state of siege shall

      have ceased . Nothing , in fact , is more arbitrary than the powers conferred on these Inspectors-General . They are invested with the right of surveillance over all associations of every kind , even commercial companies : they can , at their good pleasure , inspect bank books , registers , ledgers—all papers , in short , which concern private fortunes . What would you , Englishmen , say to such an inquisition into the affairs of business ? The 14 th article of the decree confers upon the Inspectors-General authority to arrest and to search , without any formality , warrant , or order whatever . Since ' 89 no person in France could be arrested without a formal warrant from proper judicial authority . This was

      the only habeas corpus to which Frenchmen could appeal . Henceforth it will be so no longer . Only displease an Inspector-General by a look or a gesture which he may phooso to interpret as an offence , or forget to salute him , and you are immediately arrested . Such , according to the latest jargon of Government , are " regular institutions . " You may conceive how this menacing decree has been received by all classes of society . To attenuate the impression which it was foroseen the decree would inevitably create , Louis Bonaparte addressed a letter to the Minister of Police , in which he says : " It will not be a Ministry of provocation and of persecution seeking

      to disclose the secrets of families , seeing evil everywhero for tho pleasure of exposing it , interrupting the mutual rolutionn of citizens , spreading fear and suspicion everywhere ; it will , on tho contrary , be an essentially protootivo institution ; it will only intimidate tho ' onomioa of society . " ' For tho " enemios of Bociety ' read tho enemies of Bonaparte , " which ia as much as saying thut it will inthniduto everybody . Ahothor ** regular institution " of tho samo kind is on the ovo of entering upon its functions . I mean tho Legislative Corps , all whoso deliberations may bo cancelled by tho Council of Stato and tho Senate .

      A docreo which uppoarod in to-day ' Tuesday ' s ) Moniteur fixes tho elections for tho 21 > th of Fobruary . Tho Biuno Moniteur contains tho electoral law . Conformably with tho provisions of the Constitution of tho 14 th of January , tho elections will bo made by '¦ ' ~ " ¦¦'' - - '¦ ¦"'¦ ¦ '¦¦"' ' ¦ ¦ " ¦ " ¦ ' I I'm . I ¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦ m ¦• . ' ¦«> | i < | i i i ¦ ,-

      arrondissement , by ballot , and by universal suffrage . The ^ compatibilities which existed m . the former electoral law will be suppressed ^ The Government will have its own candidates , who will be openly proposed and recommended by the presets and sous-Drefets ' ¦ - The name of the Government candidate ^ will be placarded ( at the public expense ) in all the communes of the arrondissement . There will be 261 deputies , one to every 35 , 000 souls . Here are a few of the Government candidates : — First , the editors of the Constitutionnel , MM . Cauvain , Granier ( de Cassagnac ) Cucheval . Second , the

      , editors of La Patrie , Amfidee de Cerena and Delamarre ; the latter is proposed for Paris . M . Eyariste Bavoux offers himself in the Seine-et-Oise ; M . de Nieuwerkerke ( director of the Musee , a Dutch compatriot of the President , and the antant of the Princess Mathilde ) in the Aisne ; M . de Goulard in the Basses Pvrenees ; M . Abatucci ( the son ) in the Loiret ; M . Faucher at R eims '; M . Napoleon Daru in the Manche . Many ex-representatives start as candidates of the Opposition . I assured you a fortnight ago that such would infallibly be the tactics of the Legitimists . It is a general plan adopted by them in common . is candidate

      Accordingly M . le Due de Mouehy a at Beauvais , M . de Larcy in the Herault , M . de Vatimesnilinthe Eure , M . Berryer at Marseilles . The most curious history is that of M . de Montalembert , who was to have been a candidate of Government in the Douts , and who has just started for himself on the Opposition , inconsequence of the decrees of the 23 rd ultimo . M . Pepin Lehalleur , ex-President of the Tribunals of Commerce , presents himself in the Seine et Maine in competition with the candidate of the Government ; a letter from him leaves no doubt of his intentions . While the elections are getting ready , Louis Napoleon is establishing a military household ,

      as the Emperor Napoleon did before him . He has just created a Governor of the Palace of the Tuileries . Colonel Vaudrey , formerly Commandant of the 4 th Regiment of Artillery , is appointed to the office . Louis Napoleon , in defiance of all military regulations , and in spite of the opposition of the Minister of War , has restored Colonel Vaudrey to the army , to which he had ceased to belong , and has even promoted him to the rank of General of Brigade . Louis Bonaparte has also made a further change in the cross of the Legion of Honour . This cross is well martyrized it will no longer bear the effigy of the First Consul , but that of the Emperor with the Eagle , the Imperial Crown , and the thunder-bolt .

      There has been an earthquake at Bordeaux in the pa « t week . It caused no serious accident . I will tell you , however , one or two amusing episodes which the phenomenon occasioned . Many persons , feeling themselves shaken , fancied there were robbers under their beds , waiting a favourable moment for an assault . They rushed out of bed , and , seizing the first weapon within reach , struck out wildly in the

      dark at the supposed assailant . One joke is of a good woman , who was so indignant at being shaken about for a few moments , which seemed to her ages , that as early as six in the morning she knocked at the door of her landlord to give him notice that she would no longer occupy a house " unsafe to live in . " The sentry at the gate of the general-in-chief ' s house complained of some practical jokers , who made him jump in his box , and tried to upset it .

      An expedition against the Kabyles is still talked of , under the command of General St . Arnaud . It would seem that for the last few days the Government has recovered its senses , and that it has begun to feel that by its rigorous measures it disgusts and revolts everybody ; or , meeting with such a formidable opposition in the rich and lettered classes of society , it is determined to endeavour to regain the favour of the working classes , who have been more particularly decimated by death and exile , since the 2 nd of December . At any rate it is certain that the measures of rigour have been softened towards the

      insurgents and prisoners of the lower classes . A circular of the new Minister of the Interior , M . Fialin ( De Persigny ) invites the prefects to set at liberty all those prisoners who may appear to have been only •? misled . " An amnesty is also in contemplation , with the hope of regaining by clemency the lost popularity . This measure , it is said , was discussed in Council last Thursday . It is certain that since that day the Council of Revision has decided on the release of a certain number of persons destined for transportation , and already shipped qu board , of tho ship of the line Dugucsclin , at Brost , Now arrests , notwithstanding , have tukdn place at Paris ,

      especially in the Faubourg St . Antoine , and among Others that of M . Xebaturd , ex-Lieutenant-Colonoi of the 8 th Legion . In tho departments oven judges have been urrestod , without preliminary application to those courts ; M . N 6 mori Laboudio , judge at Confolens , tho President of tho Tribunal of Rhodez , and M . Martin , judge at Forcalquicr . In tho South tho arrests are more frequent thun ever . The Echo do Montpellier says that at B 6 darrioux alone the number of arrests is more than 200 . In tho Tou < lonnais wo read : " The Fort Lamalque being unable to contain all the prisoners already arrested , and those oxpeoted to be , 100 accused persona were on

      Monday on Generous . To-day ( Tuesday ) 100 others hay © been put on board her from other ships ; and We are assured 200 more will follow them to-morrow . Other measures of rigour still continue in force throughout France . The" Government is now beginning to strike the Legitimists . Several Legitimist clubs have been closed at Montpellier , at Toulouse , and In the south . The songs and * lyrics of Pierre Dupont , the popular poet , have been forbidden at Lyons , and throughout the sixth military division . At St . Etienne a circular of the Prefect of the Loire recommends the authorities to watch narrowly all commercial travellers , as bein g a most dangerous class of persons , engaged in the pronaeandism of democratic opinions . At Macon the

      Council-General of the Saone et Loire has been dissolved . The Councils of War go . on pronouncing condemnations . At Clamecy three persons have been sentenced to death . Yesterday appeared in the Corutitutionnel an article , by Granier de Cassagnac , on the forthcoming elections . It is an invitation , couched in coarse and brutal terms , to the candidates who present themselves to the suffrages of the country to " mind how they behave ; " for on their showing the least sign of opposition to Government ^ the imperial hero of the coup d ' etat of the 2 nd of December would make as short work with them again as he did on that occasion . The force of insolence can no farther go ! S .

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      CONTINENTAL NOTES . From Berlin we learn that the King has been honouring his Minister Manteuffel by attending his soiree , and remaining for two hours . An early visit of the Czar to the Court of Prussia is spoken of . The Empress of Russia is the sister of the King . The German fleet is quite broken up ; and it is not only disputed who did most to destroy it , but who shall pay for it . Prussia has been the chief sufferer by the delusion of 1848 . The inland states have never assented to the expense of what they could not deem an advantage . Tillthe 10 th of February the expenditure for the ships is provided ; the engagement of the crews expires in March . The officers will have a claim for compensation for loss of employment .

      The resolution affirming the commercial treaty with Prussia and the Zollvereih was read a second time in the Upper Hanoverian Chamber , on the 26 th , by a majority of 34 votes to 19 . In the Second Chamber the copy of a treaty with France for the protection . of literary property was laid on the table . In a late sitting of the Second Chamber at Munich , M . von Lassaulx , in giving his vote for the military estimates , stated he did so . the more readily as the States of Germany must be prepared for all eventualities , since the political power in France had been seized by a "buccanier" ( flibustier ) . The remonstrance to the

      French Minister made a formal President of the Ministry , M . von der Pfordten , against the use of such an expression by a Deputy of the Chambers in reference to the chief of the French Government . In the sitting of the 24 th M . von Pfordten expressed his regret that M . von Lassaulx should have used so injurious a term ; had he heard it , he should have requested that the honourable deputy be called to order . The President of the Chamber also stated that he had not heard the word—a declaration the Chamber received with considerable •« hilarity . " M . von Lassaulx did not withdraw the expression . .

      Woman-flogging is still in force under the paternal Government of Austria , as the Vienna Gazette publishes the following , among a list of sentences upon political offenders : — " Eva Deramelhart , for using inflammatory language , to receive twenty blows with a rod , and suffer eight d « iyB imprisonment , sharpened with two fasts upon bread and water . " The same publication contains sentences upon fourand-twenty journeymen tobacco makers , punished for agreeing among themselves not to work—for striking , in fact . They are to bo imprisoned in irons for various periods of from fourteen to twenty-fivo days , and fast

      twice a week . The Piedmontese Senate has adopted , by a largo majority , the treaty of commerce and navigation with Austria . The Chamber of Deputies is discussing tho project of law on public security . The tendencies ot the Court and governing class at Turin are becoming every day more decidedly reactionary and Austrian . It is true that allowances * may bb made for tho very delicate and difficult position of the constitutional monarchy in Piedmont since the defeat of CharloB Albert ; but if absolutist Austria and despotic Frances have to be appeased , there is also the future of Italy to bo remembered ; for Italy is not dead , nor even sloops . There is a proper mean between hostility ona

      . Accounts from Nice of the 25 th state that Italian labourors expelled from France daily arrived in that town . There has been an abrupt Ministerial dismissal as Nonlea . The Marquis Fortunato , Minister of Foroign Affairs and President of the Council , has been aiflmiBsed , ftnd . tho Private Secretary of the King fluper-

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      * Our correspondent is , wo think , deceived in his analogy . Tho impdt mobilier hits no English equivalent .

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      last removed board the ship of the line 124 gft * fHa&g ** CSatori w ^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1852, page 124, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1921/page/8/