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shopkeeping adherents . Nothing but a strong personal -impulse explains it in their eyes . The chief of a yreat nation like France who aspires to be the founder of a new dynasty , ought to have more serious thoughts and more elevated views than those of a caprice to satisfy , and of a homage to bestow upon the beauty of a young girl , more or less elegant . With regard to the working classes , perhaps their feelings on the matter is well hit off by this mot which one of them addressed to me not two hours since ; " Bonaparte's crown is getting very like a night-cap . " ( La couronne de Bonaparte tourne diablement au bonnet de colon . ) Indeed the situation could not be more happily expressed . An Empress of
Boyal Blood would have brought with her to the Tuilerics that majesty and sovereign dignity which are wanting in our Parvenu , as he now calls himself . But , as it is , by his marriage with a simple lady , Bonaparte does not marry an Empress , he simply takes a woman to wife . There will be the Emperor ' s wife , as we speak of the wife of a marshal , the wife of a general , the wife of a prefect . We shall hear of the Empress as we hear of the MarecJiale , the Generates , the Prefcte , and even the Mayoress . But , let me repeat , there will , strictly speaking , be no Empress , no Empress of her own ri ght and condition , Empress by her own blood , imposing by her right of birth on all , on the Emperor himself" first of all !
Such were the first impressions in Paris at the bare announcement of the marriage of Bonaparte -with Mdlle . de Montijo . But orr Saturday evening , when the speech appeared , the disapprobation grew darker , and the worst apprehensions seemed confirmed . The danger of the situation became patent to all ; it was felt by all that this marriage was an open rupture with the crowned heads , and the speech read like the preamble to a declaration of war . This speech , in which Bonaparte declares himself , in a tone so parched with bitterness , a parvenu—this speech , I say , was posted in the Chamber of the Stockholders at a quarter
before 2 p . m ., and at 2 2 ) . m . the Funds , which had just begun slowly to recover , . were in full decline again . The diplomatic body were not simply displeased , they were almost hostile . Seeing the disastrous impression produced by the speech , the knowing ones of the court have been immensely busy working their ground ever since Saturday . To amuse the weak-minded and the credulous , they have industriously circulated reports that tlie marriage of Bonaparte was to be the signal of a general and complete amnesty , and the beginning of
a return to a n ' f / ime of liberty . Many have believed this report , and are enticed into silence . As for Europe , to quiet all apprehensions about the hard words of the speech , all the trumpets of rumour have been set blowing a fresh reduction of the army to the extent of ( 50 , 000 men . These declarations are skilful ; no doubt their immediate effect is to suspend all' unfavourable comments . But this can only last a short time , aiul if the people wait in vain for the amnesty , and Europe for the reduction of the forces , the manoeuvre will only' render the isolation of our Parvenu more and
more complete . It wan on Tuesday last that the marriage contract between Bonaparte and Mdlle . tie Montijo was signed . This took place at the IOlysi ' e . Immediately after the eerefnouy , the bride elect entered into formal enjoyment of the palace which has been assigned to her as her private domain — probably in remembrance of the first meeting ! Since ( bat moment , at the domestic dinner-table , the lady sits in the place of honour opposite the Kmporor . The household of the Empress is already
completely ionued . IVrsigny , like a skilful and wary courtier , presented his wife to be one of the ladien-inwuitu \ £ . Hy thin menus , the husband anil the wile will hold the threads of the Umpire between them . The niim-inge was originally announced for Saturday , the 2 !) lh ilist .., but as ( lie interval of eleven days required by LheCodeCivil lo elapse between the declaration amd the act would not thus be satisfied , the Jlloiii / tutr announced on ( lie day after , thai , the ; marriage would take place on the : 50 th . Hut the ; i () l . h is a Sundiiy , and flic Catholic Church does not celebrate tlm
sacrament of marriage on Sundays . Bonaparte , whose religious fervour is of quite recent origin , had not had time to learn this circumstance . The Archbishop of Paris w : is obliged to connnuniente to him in person the impossibility of holding ( , 1 m marriage on the Sunday named , ( ireat was ( he embarrassment of tint Kmpcror . To return to Saturday would bo a violation of ( lie Civil Code , but to postpone the ceremony to the Monday—ah ! the impatience of our gallant wufrfiar CasMtdii revolted at the thought . A has done It ; Code Civil ! nn < l the poor Mouifrur has just announced to expectant , France that thin time at , least the inurrniKe would conic oil " , in spite of all law and custom , on Saturday , the li'Jth inH | ,., lit Noire Dame . En route , then , all England , if you dcaire to iwaint ut
the unparalleled splendours of this august marriage . The preparations are immense . It is to be an exact repetition of the ceremony of the coronation of the Emperor in 1804 . The unfortunate Princess Mathilde is condemned to bear the train of the Empress , as the sisters of the first Bonaparte had to submit to the humiliation of bearing the train of their sister Josephine . You know the scenes of passionate vexation which at that epoch afflicted the Tuileries . Those scenes are revived since last Saturday . The Princess Mathilde is capable of perishing of spite , if only to exempt herself from bearing that horrible train . Poor Mrs . Howard has been sent shamefully about her business with her two children . Sarah exacts
the dismissal of Hagar . All the other sultanas , more or less en titre , have been similarly repudiated * " You will adore me , and me only / ' says the lady Our unhappy Ariadnes are counted by scores , and in certain quarters of this city the voice of lamentation is heard . In other respects , nothing is changed in the regime . Do I say changed ? Quite the reverse . M . Ponsard ' s tragedy of Lucrece , which has kept the stage these ten
years , is forbidden by the censorship . It is not difficult to imagine why . Alexandre Dumas has not succeeded in getting his new colossal work , Isaac Laquedem ( a popular name given to the Wandering Jew ) , published en feuilleton . The Archbishop of Paris warned the Consiitutionnel that if it published that feuilleton , he would , in a special pastoral to the faithful , denounce the journal as infected with impiety . The Constitutionnel recoiled before this formidable threat of
excommunication . The priests are all in all just now in France . Bonaparte flatters and cajoles them assiduously . You must have remarked that abject piece of sycophancy in his recent speech , where he said that he would not marry any but a Catholic . Finally , in this blessed year . of grace , 1853 , after three revolutions , two centuries after Louis XIV ., we have advanced so far in freedom that Tartiife is banished from the stage ! As I write these words the pen falls from my hand . S .
P . S . —I take it up again for a single moment to announce the rumour of a republican insurrection at Cayenne . Report says that the town is in the hands of the insurgents—that the Ministry of the Marine is all on the alert—that armaments are being pressed at Rochefort , and that troops are embarked for the seat of the rebellion . *
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . The French Senate and Legislative Corps are convoked for the 14 th of February . By imperial decree the following household is appointed for the Empress . Tho names are worth giving if only to show the poverty of selection and the nullity of the names : —The Princess d'Essling , Chief Lady ; the Duchess do Bassano , Lady of Honour . Ladies of tho Palace : tho Countess Gustavo do Montebello , Madame Feray , tho Viscountess Lozay-Marnezia , tho Baroness de Pierres , tho Baroness dc Malaret , and the Marchioness de las Marismas . The senator , Count Tascher do la Pagerie , is appointed Lord Steward ; his relative , Count Charles , First Chamberlain ; ' Viscount Lozay-Marnezin , Grand Chamberlain ; and tho Baron de Pierres , Equerry to her Majesty . M . Berber , tlm Prefect of the Seine , displays his devotedness to tho Emperor in the most , practical form . i ) n Tuesday lie called an extraordinary meeting of the municipal council of Paris , and proponed that , as the ? city of Paris had made a marriage present to Napoleon T . on the occasion of his marriage with Maria Louisa , tho example should bo followed on the present occasion . He accordingly moved that ( i ()() , ()()() f . should be voted from tho funds of the city of I ' uris for the purchase of a diamond necklace for tho future Km press , arid , 'iOO , O () Of . to give tochers to a certain number of young Parisian givLs . Tho vote wan at onee carried .
Simple people , not , to say common councillors of the city of London , a corporation usually reported to bo wealthy , nniy reasonably inquire , where dors the money come from for all these teles mid gifts i' Imagine the city of London giving away ;<(> , ()()()/ . at , a vote , for a necklace to n princess , and " tochers to u certain number of young London girls . " They manage these ; things more easily in Paris . Napoleon Jerome , the son , is created General of ' Division in the I ' Yench army , by imperial decree , in consideration of his nearness to tho Throne . " Our well beloved cousin " has seen no military service except , us Colonel of the Second Legion of National Guards of the Kunlieuo these last , two years . With regard lo tho state carriages to bo used in tho wedding procession , the Mot-nitty ( Uiron . tr / ti bus tho following story : ¦
" Hie elilhe-iill . y about the State * cnrriages has beton got over . The ; old Koyal currii . gen of tho last dynasty are ) to be used , with a . change of decorations . By tho ' bye , a curious thing has occurred respiting them . When the work men removed the urms of Louis Philippe , to mako place * for those ; of Louis Napoleon , ( hoy found that the ) artiiH of Charles X . \ ve ; n ; bolow , and on going a little *
further , the arms of Napoleon lo Grand appeared . Whom ¦ will they serve next ?" A proposition is under consideration to take measures for getting into cultivation the landes of Brittany . If all these barren tracts in France were put in cultivation , seven million of acres would be reclaimed . M . Auber lias been appointed musical director and chapel master to the Emperor , thus uniting in himself the functions which were divided between Lesueur and Paer . The Belgian journals contain accounts of disastrous inundations from the overflows of the rivers . At Hal and Vivorde , and in the valley of the Senne , considerable loss lias been sustained . All foreign officers in the Belgian army are now placed on half-pay . . . From Lisbon we learn that a vigorous opposition to tne dictatorial , dishonest , and unconstitutional policy of the Ministers is expected in the Cortes . The Puc de Saldanha remains dangerously illhaving suffered a relapse .
, In Spain matters are reported to be returning to the critical state they Were in before Bravo Murillo gave place to the present Cabinet . The incessant press-prosecutions do not look like a leaning to more liberal measures . Considerable agitation exists in the electoral districts and anticipations of a violent demonstration and of a bloody resistance are still felt . Everything indicates the desire to make a coup d'Uat . It is reported at M adrid that the English government had notified that in the event of any attempt to deprive Spain of her constitution , England would consider herself . absolved from the quadruple treaties which assure the crown to the Queen Isabella II . The fall of the funds at Madrid continues . It is ascribed to the violent measures of the Government , and particularly to the strong dissatisfaction of the army at the treatment of Narvaez .
A telegraphic despatch from Madrid , of the-22 nd , announces that an arrangement had been concluded with some foreign capitalists for a loan of 57 , 000 , 000 , guaranteed on national property . The consequences of our one-sided policy of non-intervention , which means allowing all other powers to intervene while we look on and are insulted , are becoming commercially significant . We say commercially , as that is , in fact , the only sense in which Englishmen care for foreign politics . Thus writes the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle from Italy on the subject of the recent Austrian League : — " Before leaving Tuscany , I made some inquiries wifch respect to the present consequences of the annexation of Modena and Parma to the Austrian Customs League , and
found that its effects already have proved baneful to British commercial interests . Some British merchants at Leghorn having made considerable sales to parties at Modena some time before the new customs tariff was introduced , tho Modenese Government has now thought fit to search the warehouses of its subjects , and requires them to pay tho new duty ( the difference varying from fifteen to sixty per cent . ) on articles of commerce which were introduced prior to the amalgamation of Modena with the great empire of protection . The consequence * o £ tlsis cto E ^""^ hnen thn failure of some houses at Modena . Some
English houses at Leghorn are creditors to a considerable amount , and thus are victimised , together with the unfortunate inhabitants of the Duchy of ^ todena . The interference of her Britannic Majesty ' s minister at Florence has been invoked , and it is hoped that something may be done to guard the interests of British subjects . I am , however , not aware in how far tho acts oi Francis V . towards his own subjects can be interfered with by a foreign power , even though hurtful in their consequences to foreigners . Of course , now , the two Duchies of Modena and Parma are quite lost to British commerce . "
The following is an extract from a letter dated Florence , . Tan . 18 : — " Ono of those domiciliary visits by tho police , technically called ' perquisisione , ' which have of late years become no uncommon occurrence ; , though contrary to all existing treaties , was perpetrated the other day on tho houses of two persona living under British protection . Tho persons who have boon the objects of this outrage are Mr . Lawley and M . Be . 'rlolacci , a Corsiean by birth , but who served in the * British army during tho last war , and is still in receipt of a pension from our Government . They both live in country houses , in the ; neighbourhood of tho Poutadera station of tho Leghorn Railway . Mr . Lawley has a largo farm , and M . Mertolucci devotes himself , it
would appear , more to horticulture than agriculture , lor the most suspicious article found on tho premises of either , after a most , rigorous search , was a le ; ttor in the * pocke ; t of M . Mortolacci from a M . Hastiano , a friend of Inn at Loghorn , thanking him for bis present of a magnificent red cabbage , which , as the writer declared , had created quitoa 'fiintrt' at Leghorn , and was oage ; rly partaken of 'even by the AuHtriiiiiN . ' This mysterious allusion naturally excited suspicion in the * minds of tho astute ; police * , who can detect tho seeds of revolution <> ve ; n in a head of cabbage , and M . lie * rtolae : ci narrowly escaped incarceration as u cure for his love ; of vegetables . Sir Henry Bui weir left this on Saturday for Leghorn , and is expected to embark to-night for Marseille's *
A letter from Koine of Jan . 14 th , nays : —The . Sacred College has recently boon convoked for an extraordinary congregation , and important , matters have been brought under elise-usmon , which it has been attempted to conceal from the ) public . The ; current , report is , that a discussion took place on Liu * subject of the voyage of his Holiness to I'Yaiioo , and that ( lie , majority of " the oarrtinaltt decided in I Ik ; negative . It is also said that cortuin govormnontal roforiiiHjiave been mooted , and mores especially one with respect to the ; territorial elivisions established by the motn profirio of 1 'iun IX ., published in lHf >() , and which has not yet been put . in oxe'culion . The ; re ; is also a report that , tho Pope ; has submitted a plan for the ewssiem of the * principalities of Honovcnto and Pontoeorvo , both of which aro within t he * Neapolitan territory , to tho King of Naples ibr W , ( M ) , ( mi : It ia wuitl that the majority oi" tho cardinals
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TIuh rumour is not , confirmee ! . What , is true * is the ; one ; a pe * of certain prise > n rn , which wo have related in another part of our prejHont imprenoion .
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100 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1853, page 100, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1971/page/4/
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