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To give you an idea of the continual alarm in which the Ministers left in Paris live ; they have had placarded anew all over Paris the ordonnance which forhids the retention of any arms , and commands their instant delivery into the hands of the police under the severest penalties . I have already told you that the Ministers hang upon the wires of the telegraph : hut this is not all : they also compose and arrange the news . Being , by
means of the telegraph , some thirty-six hours in advance of the post , they publish incredible accounts . Never did monarch triumphant , or hero crowned with spoils of victory , achieve ovations so magnificent ! There is no voice to qualify or contradict ; no journalist is allowed to follow the " progress ; " no version is permitted save the Moniteur's , so with the Moniteur we must needs be content . It is a singular comedy enough : it is no longer history that supplies the Moniteur , but the Moniteur that makes history .
At Bourges , where the President arrived in the evening , he was received ( I quote the telegraph ) " with the greatest enthusiasm . " The municipal council of every commune in the department had , as you know , been summoned to meet on the Place Sercmcourt . Bonaparte showed himself to the crowd from a distance , standing on the terrace of the Prefecture , by torchlight . The Monilenr relates that he was greeted with the acclamations of an idolizing popxilation . It also relates that the town was resplendent with illuminations ; in other words , the lampions despatched from Paris had been duly lighted . The Moniteur , edited by Persigpy , goes on to say that the cries of Vive I'IZmpei-eurwcYQ unceasing : but it forgets to add , that one citizen who cried Vive la RepiiMique was
arrested . For this item of intelligence we are indebted to "the Journal des Debuts . At Bourges Bonaparte lost no time ( s ' est empresse ) in proceeding on foot from the Prefecture to the Archbishop ' s palace to receive the benediction of the church . Starting- from Eourges at eight o'clock in the morning , he reached Nevers at 2 p . m . There the mayors and their deputies , of every commune , had been summoned to ralute him , together with the 1200 workmen of the National Marine Foundries . The telegraph beard these workmen cry Vive VJZmpereur . There , too , Bonaparte " repaired" to the cathedral to
receive the Bishop ' s blessing . All the clergy of th ; j department had been convened to this touching ceremony . The Momleur ( edited by Persigny ) recorded , in six telegraphic despatches on the same day , tli . it the Prince President was saluted everywhere with that single acclamation , ' /'/)' . ' ? V Kmperenr . Persigny himself edited every successive despatch on the first day of the " progress , " to give nn impulsion to the enthusiasm , and after giving the Jlloiiiletir Hie key-note , snid even working it up to concert pitch , be surrendered bis pen to his secretary , and set oil' in hoi , basic for Lyons . On the ] (> th , BoniipaHft started from Nevers at ten o ' clock in the morning , and arrived at Monlins at two in the afl . enio .-m , in i Jit ? midst of a pelting rain .
Notwithstanding the rain , says the Moniteur , ( should it not have snid iril / i . siandintj , ) the Prince ! was the object of this liveliest entlnisia . sni . New cries of Vine Vlimpcrcur ! another vNit 1 <> the cathedral : another Archbishop ' s speech : another reply from the President . To-day , that we have our private ; letters , we find that , there was scarcely a soul in the streets of JMouliiis ; the rain was so violent that there was neither any crowd nor any enthusiasm . Perhaps a few of the regular agents and ( outers may have been stationed to shout , Vine V Kitiperenr : but it must have required a deal of courage to do it even professionally , in such a drenrhintr rain !
llomipai-fe left Moiilins on the morning of the 17 th , Knelling lloaune at I I ' . M . The Moniteur assurer us ( bat . at ll . oimue the Prince w . is welcomed by a : i inimense and niadlv enthusiastic concourse of people , and by shout .- ; ,: ! , thousand times repeated , of Vine / ' I ^ njierenr . Private letters say thnt be was received by a r < tn \ cold rain . There , however , as everywhere else , the mayors ( with their deputies ) from every commune in the department , bad been summoned , and on / rretl to . shunt Vine f Kinperenr . Itonaparte arrived at St . Kl . ieiiiie on the I . Stb , at 4 r . iU .: there he was received by . > O ( K )
miners , headed by their employers , says' t lie u / mi / trnr . What the Mosiileur Jon / els to say is , that , there are CO OOO workmen at , St . Kfionne in dillerent employs , besides the miners , ai . d that , not one of Ibis number ligured in the oiliciu . 1 ceremony . As to ( he miners , they did ju . st what the working-men of Alsace had done before , them headed />// their ein /> lu // ers , ( bey figured in the show , nuila lout ! At length , on the l !> th instant , Louis Honaparlr mode bis triumphal entry into Lyons , in ( he mid . ( , ol an enthusiastic crowd , according to tho Moniteur . Here , mi elsewhere , all the communed wero olliciuHy
convoked . Bonaparte , who has decidedly become a devot , did not forget his religious duties , and went to the cathedral to hear mass . Can you inform us whether he was a regular church-goer in his London days ? We fancy not . JEn resume , a new step has been taken towards the Empire . We are now witnessing the fourth act of the grand imperial comedy . The Moniteur presides as chef d ' ordiestre , and does what it had never done before—cries Vive V Empereur !
The change of key is abrupt and strongly marked . Even in the recital of the Strasburg " progress , " the Moniteur never heard any cries but Vive Napoleon , Vive le Preddent , with the single exception of a " still small" cry of Vive I'Umpereur at Nancy . Now , the scene is wholly changed . On the very first day of the journey the Moniteur records one only cry—Vive I'Mnpereur . On the second day six times , in six successive telegraphic despatches , the same cry , and so on , day after day , crescendo .
There is one point , however , on which we don t get at a certainty ; namely , as to what class of the population it is that cries Vive I'JSmpereur . On this point all is vague hesitation . First , it is the peasantry ; presently , the operatives . Now , as it was precisely these peasants who were charged with having committed such horrible excesses in December , and who were then denounced as rouges , there is a singular contradiction in all this . So , when the Moniteur asserts that the workmen at St . Etienne had but one cry—Vive I'JSmpei'eur—it adds , " we only wish all Europe could have witnessed this singular transformation
of public feeling . " " Singular transformation / ' indeed . It is all mise en scene , it is all a comedy rehearsed beforehand . France is to be taught tp believe that she is imperialist , that she wants an Emperor ; and as it is difficult to persuade her into the belief , enthusiastic manifestations are got up , and frantic cries of Vive I'JEmpereur elaborately invented . It is now declared aloud in the official report , that after his return Bonaparte will no longer delay to proclaim himself Emperor . It is even affirmed ( but I should doubt the statement , as there is no necessity for the President to precipitate events made ready to bis hand ) that the Senate will not even be convoked , and that Bonaparte will declare the unanimous will of the people to be that be be Emperor , and so , with his own hands , he
will place the crown upon his head . Others go so far as to say that he will not even appeal to universal suffrage , but that having reached the goal of his ambition , ha will throw oil'the mask ; the few journals that still subsist will be suppressed , and the thing will be done . There are certain indications , indeed , which give a colour of probability to this report . We may persist in saying that all France is hostile to the man ; that the majority of the communal elections abundantly attest this hostility ; that every provincial journal is full of municipal councils dissolved , and mayors suspended or dismissed by the Prefects ; that the population has in many places voted against the candidates of ( Jovennnent . Wo may ask , how consult the country under such conditions ? We are no longer at the 20 th of December , under the terror that then laid all men ' s
minds prostrate . We may believe that if Bonaparte were fairly lo appeal to universal suffrage , universal . sufln'ge would reply with one voice , Von are an impostor , you stand apart from the nation , get you gone ! Why , then , . should ( he Elysee confront such a probability ? Why not carry tins game in military fashion , by assault ? Certain it is that Bonaparte has quite screwed up bis mind . His reply to M . Dupin at Never . is proof enough . The latter fold him ( bat the desire of the population was to see him Finperor . Bonaparte replied , modest I // , that , " when the general interests were at stake he always anticipated public opinion ; but that when his personal interest . s were concerned he only followed it . "
At Lyons , in bis address on the inauguration of the Kinpcror ' s statue , lionaparte pretended to be still undecided . " It , is still difficult for me to know , " lie said , " under what name I can c < 'nder the greatest services < o I'Yance : if the modes ! title of President , might facilitate fbe mission confided to me , and from which 1 have not swerved , it , is not , myself that would desire tochange it , for thiil , of ' Kmperor . ' At all events , " he added ,
" both , prudence and patriot ijan demand ( bat the nation take counsel before lixiug its destinies . " / Now , while be is speaking so modestly , bis Prefects and agents of all sorts are hymning dithyrumbie odes to bin glory . M . Chapuis Moiitluville , Prefect , of Toulouse , in a proclamation to bis department of the 1 laute ( iaronne , invites the population to be present nt Toulouse on the 4 tli of October , lo mIiou ! . in the presence of the . second heir <>/ ' a jhitrlh . race , the cry of I'ine I' Kmpereur :
" that national cry , which , after having shaken foreign nations with u hundred victories , now covers them with it , s protection . Yea | with ity protection , mid with itu
power ; for the hand of Louis Napoleon , which hpreserved France , has also been the salvation of + if continent of Europe . " the In the midst of these elaborate triumphs , I have t mention one serious rebuff . Persigny , after ha broken down in his negotiation with the English Q vernment for a reduction of the duties on Bordeaux wines , a " nd anxious that- Bonaparte should enter tl city with a treaty of commerce , fell back on Belghiin only three days before the departure of the President for the south . He gave notice to the Belgian Cabinet that he should increase the duties on Belgian produc ten per cent , unless Belgium immediatel y consented to reduce the duties on the silks of Lyons and the wine of Bordeaux .
This threat of the " touter" had not , it seems , the desired eflect , and failed to intimidate Belgium . Whereupon appears a decree in the Moniteur , imposing a duty of ten per cent , on Belgian coal and iron . The Moniteur has published the names of the Government candidates in the approaching election for Paris : they are MM . Germain Thibaut , manufacturer and Monin-Japy , Mayor of the sixth arrondissement . The Republican candidates are MM . Goudchaux bankcr ; JProudhon , the writer ; and Michelet , the historian . S
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . The following speech , delivered by Louis Napoleon at the inauguration of the Emperor ' s statue at Lyons , is conclusive enough as to the coining Empire . Our readers will not fail to remark the craftiness which suggests , while seeming to deprecate , the crown , as though it were rather proffered than seized . It has been acutely remarked that , in alluding to the humble title of President , the speaker appeals to the vanity of the vainest of nations : — " Lyonnese ,- —Your city has always been associated by remarkable incidents with the * different phases of the life of the Emperor . You hailed him Consul previous to his crossing the Alps to gather fresh laurels . You hailed him in his omnipotence Emperor , and when Europe had confined him on an island you wero again among the first , in 1845 , to salute him as Emperor . To-day your city is the first to erect a statue to him . This fact is significant . Equestrian statues are only erected to Sovereigns who have reigned , and it was on that account the Governments who preceded me have ever denied that homage to a power of which they would not admit the legitimacy . And yet who was more legitimate than the Emperor , thrice elected by the people , consecrated by the chief of religion , and recognised by all the continental powers of Europe , who were united to him by bonds of policy and by ties of blood ? The Emperor was the mediator between two hostile epochs . He destroyed tho old regime by
reestablishing all that was good " in it . Ho destroyed the revolutionary spirit by causing the blessings of the revolution everywhere to triumph . This is the reason why those who overturned him soon deplored their triumph . As for those who defended him , I need not call to mind how profoundly they lamented his downfall . On that account , when tlio people found themselves free to make a choice , they directed their eyes to the heir of Napoleon , and it is for " the same motive that , from Paris to Lyons , everywhere on my passage ) the unanimous cry of Vive VEmpereur lias been raised . But that cry is much more , in my eyes , a recollection that affects my heart than a hope that excites 1 shall cvei
my pride . A faithful servant , of my country , have but one object—that of reconstituting in this grout country , convulsed by so many revolution and Utopian schemes , a peace founded on conciliation ot persons , the inflexibility of ilie principles of authority , inorainy , and affection for the labouring and suffering classes , n of national dignity . Wo aro only just emerging | those critical times when , tho notions ot good and » i being confounded , the best minds wero pervcr" ¦ " x , dence and patriotism require that at such periods in nation should pause and consider before it iixos ii ¦ nieH , audit instill difficult for mo to know und cr i name I can render the greatest , services . Jf ""> , titled President could Facilitate , tho mission cond < « mo , and before which I did not recede , I H j l !< . 1 ' Hw , till .. , ..,-. « rt 1 ; ,-. * , > i ., > t , f , l ,. t . ; wt */» ^ wlinrurA that tltlo 101
of Kmperor . Let , uh , then , dt . po . il on th . H sto * o ¦ o ^ niago to a great man . We thus honour both tho U » J ^ ,, Kranee and the generous gratitudo of th « 1 >< < l _ >¦ . y U'titUy likewwo the fidelity ol" tho Lyoniicne wm recollections . " . ,. , i , speech The truthfulness of the historical portion ol u ^^ , equals the honesty of tins personal alliiHioiiH . , , i () nlir y hear Unit the Ku . peror " oxtinguinhed the rev \ |[ npiril , we n . Nk whether 1 KM ) mid 1 HW are to l »« < - «» 91 uh proofn of thin filaleincnt . . w ] l 0 dc-Whatever may have been the regrets ol m »< >¦ ] tyiort , , fended the Kn . peror , or , in other wonls , <> I | ^ , wo do not , remember that bin departure tor | j' ) ia , ^ la . id LM-ctlcd by tho population , or I iih return 1 |(> I ' , by III . bailed with joy by the nation he had d .-poi » d"U'l ¦ >
COIIKCripi . KIUH . . ¦ i : ()| iH t-ll" I " Ah ii favourable specimen of oHirml »« l «» " » | lirt , | ,-chwnalion of the Prefect , of Him H '"» te < la «>»»» pailment in worth Hpccial record : — - , , , iriiifl' " "At , thin moment the south niwes ' « "'' , wliu ; l « m . stai . i with the rost of l'Yuneo the Htjin « J ,, ) ,,.. r ,, , ,,,, d in p . wonco of f ho world , si . ind « ' J , , rV ,, lor of a fourth race . The reception which you | tt i ,,, n your elected will ho pre-eminent , iw > o « oi « » « I ^ alllllH , fiko yours . To the incense winch will hm ' < 4 ) 1 to the chanting of tho holy priest * , and t > ' ^^„„ ,,, , ¦ tho faithful , will ho joined the oxpansivo jo . V lv 0 H « il ¦ JVoparo , ! . ho .., your holiday doll . oH , ad < » y <^ d ^ i ribaudo uud llowuw , tuko luurol m yoiu bow *
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912 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1852, page 912, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1953/page/4/
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