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opposition from Mr . Wingrove Coofce . Lord John Manners does not violate the D erby 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 he 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 " pledgedto anything ! " " more than that , he is pledged to obey the will of the people , as announced by the next general election ! J >
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 " no principle" in accepting office . Mr . Frederick Peel makes the upholding of " free trade" the main point of his address to Leominster , where , at tlie next election , he will be opposed by a Protectionist .
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LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter X . Paris , Tuesday , March 2 , 1852 . I nAYEbut 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 , 7 th , 8 fch , 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 inst .
Only the Bonapartists have made anv ^ considerable stir this . time . The Royalists have sliown but little movement ; the Republicans have remained indifferent ; and the Socialists have abstained altogether . The electoral movement has been purposeless and without 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 maiority 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 , Carnot , and Cavaignae , were able to 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 . Tlie nominees had the additional advantage of the Prefect of the Seine ' s countersign , or of the locul mayor ' s ; and what is oven 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 tho independent candidates . At Paris , one opposition circular , only , was officially tolerated : that of M . Mortimer Ternaux . This gentleman , af ter he had received duo authorization , proposed to have 40 , 000 copies struck oil ' , being tho number of his opponent ' s placards . The latter ' wore stamped , and distributed gratis by tho post . M . Mortimer Ternaux hoped for tho same privilege . Ho counted
without his host : for ho was officially warned by tho Government , that if ho allowed any unstamped copies of hit * circular to bo distributed , they would bo instantly seized , and proceedingH commenced against him . Now the fine incurred , in such a cage , falls not on tho collective improsHion , but on each several copy , in , contravention ; so that 10 , 000 cop ies , at 100 franca fine bach , would amount to a million of" francs , ( 4 O , 00 OA ) M . Mortimer Ternaux founddrimsolf compelled to got his copies stamped ; but instead of 40 , 001 ) ho restricted the number to 4000 .
So minuto and incessant were tho obstacles thrown in tho way of opposition candidate , whether by potty annoyances or by throats , that many who nt first proposed to start , withdrew at last . Many highly honourable nivmoB , both in the Republican and in tho
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 openly enjoined the electors to vote for the nominees of Power . As \ models of prefectoral
style ,,, the circulars of the Prefect of Lyons , and of M . Berger , the Prefect of the Seine , are specially mentioned . In every mairie 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 b a nished by tlie Decree of January 10 , would be sanctioned . Authorization to print the name of
Lamoricikre 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 preTets , 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 autho rity 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 under * stood that M . Bonaparte will not hear of independence ra . the legislative body . What was it the Consiitu '
tionnel said a few Tiays since , when it exclaimed in pompous phrase , JL * All thajb the French people reserved to itself in the disposalrof its rights was the nomination of the legislative body ! " 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 has 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 lay 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 tho crowns as fast as they were deposited ; but later in the day , when tho crowd had become considerable , tho demonstration was forcibly dispersed by a piquet of lancers preceded by a mass of sergents-de-ville . Forty persons , according to tho official journals , wore arrested .
All is falsehood in tho present regime under which Franco is labouring . The law itself is a lie . You have remarked how tho stamp law is applied to tho candidates of the Opposition , and to Government nominees . Let mo tell you how tho new law on the press is brought into operation . According to this new law , tho censorship is abolished : but as in tho acts of this infamous Government falsehood is paramount , the Echo du Midi has been seized by order of tho Prefect do l'HeYault , for having dared to disponso with tho necessity of submitting tfie proofs to the censorship , after tho publication of tho Decree on tho Press .
Au reste , journals and journalists aro throughout Franco exposed to tho severest rigour . I informed you in January , that it was tho intention of Government to decree tho banishment of about ono hundred journalists . Tho bitter hostility with which tho first decrees of proscription of tho 10 th of January were received by public opinion ^ caused tho measure to bo deferred ; at present , tho Government , wanting
boldnesH enough to tako openly tho initiative , oxeoutes its vindictive purposes stealthily and in detail . A certain number of clandestine expulsions of journalists have boon effected within tho last few days . Among others are mentioned M . I . Murtinot ( do I'Ordre ) ; M . Camillo Berru ( do VJSvfinement ) ; M . Fauvoty , formerly editor of the Jleprhentant du JPeuple / M . J . Viard , of tho Courrier de Dijon , and many other writers of distinction . Another hypocrisy I have to record is , tho fuluo
announcement in the government journals that Guinard , ( formerly colonel of the Artillery of the National Guard and condemned for the ichauffowie of June 13 , 1849 ) had been pardoned . Guinard has written to the Constitutionnel the following reply to the fabrication . Citadel of Doullens , 26 th February , 1 S 52 . Sib , —I am informed that the number of your journal which reached Doullcnjs this morning , stages , that the President of the Republic has granted a pardon to the detenuGuinard , sentenced by the High Court of
Versailles , in consequence of the affair of June 13 , 1849 . You have been incorrectly informed : what is granted is to those who beg : 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 princi pal editors of your journal , should remember , that on June 14 , 1849 , I presented myself more than once in the offices of the Constitutionnel 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 to know how to resign myself to ill-fortune , and to suffer with constancy when I suffer for i ; ruth and for the rights of the people . May I trust to your loyalty . Sir , to insert this letter . A . Guinaed ,
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 Tnany quarters prisoners have been dis * charged : their places are filled by new arrests . Letters reeeivedfrom unfortunate cifcizen&transpOTted without form of trial , and confined on board the 2 )« # - guesclin , 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 . ) Theinstitution 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 b ®
paid by means of annuities subscribed by the borrowing proprietors . These annuities , b esides the interest on the " letters of pledge , " are to include two per cent , as a sinking fund on the borrower ' s capital , and onp per cent ., at least , for charges of administration . By tins system , proprietors of land or houses will be able to find money on mortgage at eight pet cent ., redemption included , which they could not do before . It was by no means rare to see mortgage loan ** returning twelve , fifteen , and twenty-two per cent . per annum . Tho rural population were tlie chief victimsof this monstrous usury This decree had been in contemplation for three years . Before the end of this week the decrco will appear
which fixes tho Budget of 1852 , without tho intervention of the legislative corps . It is a sum of fifteen hundred millions of francs ( £ 60 , 000 , 000 ) that Low * Bpnnparto is about to dispose of at his good p leasure , without any control whatever . It will bo tho most monstrous act in tho entire financial history of emlizea nations . Another decrco , anxiously looked for , is to sup press tho University , and to hand over tho monopoly ot instruction to tho Catholic clergy . From what no * transpired of tho dispositions of this decree , there is to bo only ono public collcgo to each department : an School
present thoro oro five or six . Tho Normal , that prolific nursery of distinguished professors , tt » J fountain-head of profound studios , is to bo sacrincea to tho yengcanco of tho clergy . Tho College <> i Franco will bo ' closed . Tho professorships , mam illuHtriouH by' such mon m Guizot , Cousin , v'Hiomain , Michclet , Michel Chovalior , and so nifty other celebrated mon of science and learning , historians , publicists , and economists , will bo destroys-Tho faculty of letters itself , boforo which all tho iMfi ^ examinations wore carried on , will ho supp ress ' What is moro ; in horror of a p hilosophy which migi teach mon their rights , as it teaches thorn their auw «»/
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218 THE LEADER , {" Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 218, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1925/page/6/
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