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— . —rz fiierato. ^^ ^ all a/*pa il»i.Xii.... •
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REVIEWS . Napoleos le Petit , Par Victor Hugo . London : Jeffs . The work of retribution has already begun . History is already affixing her indelible stigma upon the most atrocious crime that ever stained her pages . In the work before us , Victor Hugo pursues the assassin of his country ' s liberty , the betrayer of his country ' s honour , with all the implacable vengeance , all the fiery indignation , with which the treason , perjury , and assassination of the monster Bonaparte could inspire his poetic soul . Well may the 2 M ? J 2 S 2 ^^ « * " * ™* A-
r > « gna tion of the patriot . Filled with rage and ho ™ Z £ e atrocities of the coup d ' etat , with sorrow and shame at the present degradation of his native land , Victor Hugo has yet faith in the ultimate triumph of justice-he has faith m the future France , and in the Republic . He hopes and believes that France will speedily put a period to her shame ; and it is to goad his countrymen on to vengeance to open their eyes to the degrading position they now occupy , to display in their native hideousness , the atrocities of the coupdetat , and all the acts and the character of the
infamous bandit , who has betrayed and insulted the nation thathad adopted him , and who has extinguished their every liberty m the people ' s blood , that he has written Napoleon le Petit He has performed his task bravely it is for the future to say if lie has performed it successfully . It his eloquent denunciations of the blood-thirsty usurper and his burning appeals to all the higher and nobler senti- ' ments of men fail to arouse the French people from their inaction , then must France be indeed fallen , and European freedom nave nothing to hope from her .
The book begins by recalling the oath of Bonaparte , and his reiterated assertions that he would abide by the constitution and the law , would always look upon the legislative power as the superior , as the inviolable ; yet , on the morning of the 2 nd of December , Paris learnt that Louis Bonaparte had destroyed the Assembly , and that fifteen of these inviolable representatives had been arrested ! What was and is the duty of the representatives of the people , and what France is under Napoleon ' s rule , Victor Hugo shows in the following extracts : — MANDATE OS THE REPRESENTATIVES .
The men who , in their character of representatives , had received in trust for the people the oath of December 20 , 1848 , and who beheld its violation , had with their mandate assumed two duties : the first , whenever that oath should be violated , to rise up to oppose their breasts to the bullets of the usurper , regarding neither the number nor the strength of the enemy ; to shield with their bodies the sovereignty of the people , and with the resolve to combat and depose the usurper , to seize every arm , from the laws that may be found in the code , to the pavingstones up-tom in the streets . The second duty was , after having accepted the combat and all its hazards , to accept
proscription with all its miseries ; to stand up for ever in the face of tire traitor , his oath in their hands ; to forget their immediate sufferings , their private woes , their dispersed families , their destroyed fortunes , their bruised affections , their bleeding hearts ; to forget themselves , to have henceforth but one affliction—the affliction of France ; never to bend , never to relent ; to he implacable ; to seize the crowned perjurer , if not hj the arm of the law , by the grasp of truth ; to burn red in the blaze of history the words of his oath , and to brand with those hurning words his brow . The writer of these lines is one of those who recoiled from no endeavour to accomplish the first of these duties : in writing these pages he fulfils the second .
THE PRE 3 BST . Since the 2 nd December , 1851 , a successful ambush , an odious and disgraceful crime , triumphs and dominates , rises to the height of a theory of government , expands in the face of the sun , makes laws , renders decrees , takes society , religion , and domestic virtues under its protection ; gives the hand to the potentates of Europe , calling them ' brother , or cousin . ' This
crime no man denies , not even the men who won , and who live by it , and who only say , ' it was a necessary act ; ' not even the chief malefactor ; he only says that he has been ' absolved . ' This crime includes all other crimes : treason in the conception —perjury in the execution—murder and assassination in the assault—spoilation , swindling , robbery in the triumph . This crime bears within its bosom as integral parts of itself—the suppression of law , the violation of constitutionally inviolable
guarantees , arbitrary sequestration , confiscation of property , nocturnal massacres , secret butcheries , ' commissions' replacing tribunals , ten thousand citizens transported , forty thousand citizens proscribed , sixty thousand families ruined and driven to despair . These facts are patent \ Ah \ well , painful as it may be to confess , the assent of silence follows the crime : it is there , present , visible , sensible to the sight and touch : men let it pass , they go to their business ; the shops are open , the Exchange gambles ; trade , sitting on its bales , rubs its hands contentedly , STftfl " ! TT £ » O »» rt n «\« M * A <« «!¦ % ¦»* - » n * < £ f- « rt Z «* m * % . mU n *^ I 1 < rm 11 % in ^ -m .-n j »^* i"K / -J f % rt Will liLGOtUGU
** " ** —•*« . no aig <* JJJJl U £ HSlLLUg IUC tUUU VV 11 C 11 ijill . HO . c * O <* matter of course ! The man who sells a yard of cloth does not hear the very measure he holds in his hand say , 4 It is a false weight that governs . ' Singular Order is this , having disorder for its basis , in the negation of all rights , its stability founded oa iniquity . In these days let every man who wears a scarf , a robe , or a uniform , let all who serve that man know well , that when they deem themselves the agents of a Power , they are but the comrades of a pirate . Since the 2 nd of December there are ao more functionaries in France—they are only accomplices The moment has come for every man to declare what he has done , and what he is still doing . The gendarmes that arrested
the citizens , whom the man of Strasbourg and Boulogne calls insurgents , arrested the guardians of the Constitution : the judge who tried the combatants of Paris and the provinces , set 1 T i the dock the upholders of the law . The gaoler who turned the dungeon-bolt upon the condemned prisoners , held in durance the defenders of the Republic and of the State . The African general who imprisons at Lambessa the transported victims sinking tinder the burning heat , shuddering with fever , digging arrows which will be their graves—that General , I say , robs , tortures , murders men with whom is the right . All—generals , officers , gendarmes , judges—all are guilty of a henious crime : they are the persecutors—I do not sav of innocent men , but of
tieroes—not of victims , but of martyrs ! The present aspect of JOMigs , seemingly calm , is really troubled . Let none he mistaken : when public morality is eclipsed , a dreadful shadow creeps overthe whole order of society ; , eyery guarantee is lost—all pro-
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tection vanishes . Henceforth there exists no longer in France « ^ r " ' ' JUdge ^ ? administer $ K or pTo STw ? Ce Upon any man ' in any matter - Drag before juLe- ^ Th ^ f fff l ° Wil ! ' tWef wil 1 4 to the Bank ^ tw P ef -. ° f the S ** 6 Stole 25 , 000 , 000 fr . out of the jf nfc , the false witness will say to the judge— " The Chief of ; usedofaiwtrai ( uestratio ' j . !_•__ - *
« r £ nSS T 5 2 ' 'y se i nwinsayeverv law tl ? f ® Statf 5 ™*? and imPriso ^ d , in spite of every law , the representatives of the sovereign neome- " the S Ms T - " lh ? ° f the State - ^ S -Z oate , tas power swindled , swindled the Tuileries - " thefomr &l l ~ n TheCllief Ot the State MsMedt , Sdr , * er the P »* e 1 jtS ~ 7 ^ Chfef ° ft ? ? tete PU >«^ e , rtpuise me of
, princes the L house of Orloan V s " *!«» , ™ wu . ^ , ,., ; n savO' ThVpu- t 7 « tan 0 UB 6 Ot rleans ; " the murderei' shot saW oii ° f tlie 2 *? T d 0 WG b ? S ^ P 6 and muskat S ^^^ i 1 * 3 ? 118 1 * 84 ^ 6 Passers-ty ™ the streets ; » and wfflim « Tf > f ° ' f' witae 88 ' §> kr ' and a ^ sin , wS ^? i i - y ° l > J ^ geS ' y ° u wentt 0 sakte that man-you ^ ISIS , for lus P <* juiy-to compliment him for
havassSsSS f t 01 ' haVmg r ° bbed ~ t 0 thank hi - **** * ^ JZr ° 7 ^?\ - tme patriot and P ° om < » utoor conW 7 V v ^ Tntl ^ S horrlble ^ gradation ' can dr Z ^ - ^ Dutch bastard , with the aia of some anSol ^ " ^ ca \ f P ^ y overthrow civilization and piogress or keep the French people long subject to ^ Sf T ^ T 7 ' H ! S b 6 lief ^ the Woachmg tri-Sli 1- ? J llst i . i P ^ ses in language as beau - titul and admirable as his faith : — AN AWAKENING IN THE FUTURE
The sceptics smile and insist ; they say , " Have no hope This „ ac ? ordw fc 0 you > ig ' lh ^ Qf F ^ o lu ) p so , that shame is endorsed at the Bourse ; have no hope You " ribut t ? ° ^ fT " * y ° UhaV ^ Look around : the tha ^ ^ fr > T i ^ ™ L * T ^ i v ' ^ disaPP earcd - Yesterday these moved , agitated , and lived ; now all are petrified . Ah , well ! i eople are content , they accomoclate themselves to that petrification , they attend to their business , andlive under it in t ^ e i ual way . Society continues , and many honest people find things ! If a ey f ' Whflidto would / have the sitSn
H ^ yo change ? Wherefore would you have the ^ ta&iLTZ ? h ° Srf * . Wi tfa stable ; it is the present and the future . ' We are m Russm . The Neva is frozen ; houses are budt upon it ; heavy chariots role along its surface It is no longer water ; it is rock . The passengers come anTgo upoa that niarble which has been a stream . A town is improvised streets are traced , shops opened ; they sell , they buy , eat , drink and sleeps ; fires are made upon the . stream . Everythii ™ be permitted . Fear nothing ; do what you please ; K £ JffSA ? . SOlld as t he eai ! itoalfl TiW It sounds S the foot like Sn 0
granite . Long live winter I i&y ^ feTcS to all eternity W ! And looking at the sky , is it day h 'l ull " £ ^ N ^ " ^ T ! - ? ^ lt is ^ that tK u dead . No thou diest not , liberty ! One of these days , at the very moment when thou art expected the least , whe / thoTa t the most profoundly forgotten , thou wilt arise . 0 , cWing brightness I Suddenly thy star-like face will issue from the earth , and light up the horizon , on all that mow , on all tint ice on that hard white plain , on that water become a Wock on £ m J ftl ? . , Winter . *™ ™* <** % golden arrow K-den d ra i ng nt
^ uu uunuug y , warmth , and life . And then listen ' Do you understand that sullen ' sound ? Do Z S £ toSa ha formidable cracking noise ? It is the br ^^ ofSe Ite ou J t I T \ vJ ? - f 0 ard . is the SmTtlke its course ! lt is the living water , joyous and terrible wbioli behold , it is broken as a piece of glass . It is the broking up of the ice , I tell you It M truth that returns , it is process lm recommences , it is humanity that marches onwLCancl ! S , aw f ^' - CrUS H ' aild Wies in tlie wa ™ s , as the poor EmnSf ? ™^ ° . t ° ttexin S ruinnofc on V the new 5 ^ ° /^ ouls Bo ^ Pf ^ , but all the constructions ' and all the
works of the eternal despotism ! See all that float past . It disappears for ever . You will behold it no more That half Inn ' , t T tt , ^^ T That other trestle ' almost gone , iSthescaftold ! And what is needed for that mighty tiv iS o " ^ T ^ ictOl > y life ovei > ^ h ? oSe o f % ° b ? « L ? aeof % rays , 0 liberty ! Book the 2 nd is
an examination of the Bonapartist government , m the course of which the author gibbets in a masterly manner the bandit and his accomplices-the "great bodies" of the state . Before the coup cVetat m msewas more . had recourse to , to gain the support of the the Working Classes , than the assertion , that had he the power , Louis Napoleon would endeavour to ameliorate the social condition of the people . The following is a good appreciation of b b
THE SOCIALIST EMPEKOr ! ^ A man swims against a rapid current ; ' he struggles with unheard of efforts ; he strikes the waves with handld chest , withshoulder and knee You say : « he mounts . " A moment after , you look at him , he has descended . He is much farther down the stream than when he set out . Without knowing , or even doubting it , at each effort that he makes , he looses gromid . Heimagmesthathemounts , while he is always descending . He believes himself to advance , while he recedes . The debt , re duction of the rents , as you have saidM . Bonapartehas
, , issued many decrees , which you qualify as socialist , £ nd he will issue more . If M Changarnier had triumphed instead of M . Bonaparte , he would have done the same . So would Henry V were he to return to-morrow The Emperor of Austria does so in GaUicia , and the Emperor Nicholas , in Lithuania . After all , what does that prove ? That the current called Revolution , is stronger than the swimmer named Despotism ! But even the
Socialism ot Bonaparte , what is it ? That Socialism ? I deny it . Hatred of the bourgeoisie , it maybe ; Socialism it is not . See , the Socialist ministrypar-exdknee , the ministry of Agriculture and Commerce , he abolishes . What does he give . you in compensation ? The Ministry of Police ! The other Socialist Ministry is the ministry of Public Instruction . It is in danger . One of these mornings it will be suppressed . The first prinleof Socialism is ducation
cip , e ; gratuitous cand obligatory teaching is light . Take children and make them men ; take men and make them citizens ; make intelligent citizens honest , useful , and happy . Intellectual and moral progress first , material progress afterwards . The two first bring / irresistably and of themselves , the last . What does M . Bonaparte ? He everywhere stifles and persecutes teaching . Have you even reflected on the duties of a schoolmaster , that magistrature in which the
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giants of old took refuge , like criminals in a temple ? Have you ever thought what the man is who teaches children ? You go to the workshop of a wheelwright , he manufactures wheels and cart shafts ; you say : that is a useful man ; you enter the workshop of a weaver , he manufactures linen ; you say : that is a precious man ; you enter the forge of a smith , he manufactures matlocks and plough-shares ; you say : that is a necessary man ; you salute those men , those ' good workers . You enter the abode of a schoolmaster , bend lower ; do you know what he does > He manufactures minds . He is the wright , weaver , and smith , of that work , in which lie aids Gocli the future Ah well !
Now thanks to the reigning priestly party , as it is not necessary that the schoolmaster work at that future as it is necessary that the future consist of darkness and brutality , and not of intelligence and light , would you know hi what consists the duties of that grand and humble magistrate , the schoolmaster ? The schoolmaster counts the linen of the sacristy puts oil into the lamps , beats the cushions of the confessional teJ . ; if he pleases , he may employ his remaining time on condition that he pronounce none of these three demonkcal words country , Republic , Liberty , in teaching the A B C to little children . M . Bonaparte strikes a blow at teaching both high and low at once : below , to please the curate , above to please the bishops . At the same time that he seeks to close the
village school he mutilates the College of France- he over turns with one blow the chairs of Quinet and ' Michelet " One fine morning by decree , he will declare Greek and Latin letters suspected , and interdict as much as he can the old poets and historians of Greece and Rome , smelling in Eschylus and Tacitus a vague odour of democracy . The physicians for example , he can , by a stroke of his pen , deprive of literary teaching , letting Doctor Scrres say , " We see our knowledge of reading and writing dispensed with by a decree . The present work is not as we had expected , a history of the events accompanying the coup d ' etat . The author is
at present engaged in preparing such a history , which will speedily be published to the world , and which we will notice as soon as it appears . He has introduced into the present work a chapter from the unpublished one , in which he shows thc-it the horrible massacre of the people on the 4 th was planned , and distinctly ordered by Louis Bonaparte himself , with a view of awing the populace into submission , it succeeded in effecting this object . The author of Napoleon le Petit perfectly agrees with those who have said that on the evening of the 3 rd the feeling of hostility to Bonaparte was universal , and that everything promised for the next day the fall of the coup d ' etat , and a glorious triumph for the Republic ; but then came the indiscriminate
massacre and the people shrunk back motionless , and appalled . We conclude the present notice by taking from the extract above alluded to the following account of the
MASSACRE ON THE ROULEVAKDS . For nearly half an hour , shots had been exchanged between the troops and the barricade , without any one beino- wounded on either side , when all at once , as by an electric motion , an extraordinary and terrible movement took place , first in the infantry , and then in tha cavalry . The whole of the troops suddenly wheeled round . The historians of the coup d ' etathuve said that a shot directed against the soldiers had been fired from an open window at the comer of the Rue du Sentier . borne have said that it came from the house formin g the anrrlo
ot the Kue Notre Dame de Recouvrance and the Rue Poissonmere . According to others it was a pistol shot , and had been fived from the roof of a house at the corner of the Rue Mazagran . This shot is contested , but what is incontestible is , that for this problematical pistol shot , which might have been no more than the sudden shutting of a door , a dentist inhabitin g the neighbouring house was shot . In fact , was a pistol or gun * shot proceeding from one of the houses of the boulevard heard or not ? ^ A crowd of witnesses deny it . If it was fired , there remains to be answered this question : Was it a causeor was
, it a signal ? Whether or not , cavalry , infantry , and artillery instantly turned round upon the dense masses of people on the foot-paths , and , without the slightest motive , " without warning , " as the infamous placards of that morning had threatened from the Gymnasium to the Chinese Baths , that is to say , the whole length of the richest and gayest boulevard of Paris a butchery commenced . It was a sinister and indescribable moment ; the cries , the arms lifted in the air , the surprise the terrorthe wd fl
, cro ying m every direction , a shower of balls raining from the pavements to the roofs of the houses , the dead strewing the causeway , youug men falling , their cigars in their inouths , two booksellers shot at the doors of their shops without knowing what was desired of them , the Hotel Sallandrouze bombarded , the Maison d'Or riddled with grape shot , Iortoni taken by assault , hundreds of corpses on the boulevard / a stream of blood m he Rue de , Richcheu . In presence of these , nameless . i wiio write
woes , these lines declare it , I am a clerk , I register the crime I cite Louis Bonaparte , I cite Saint Arnaud , Mamas , Morny , Magnan , Camlet , Conrobert , and Reybell , his accom ' phces I cite the others also , whose names will be found elsewhere ; I cite the executioners , the murderers , the witnesses , the victims , the hot cannon , the smoking swords the aymg , the dead , honour , blood , and tears , to the bar of the civilized world . Next week we will return to Napoleon le Petit .
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The Duty of the Age . London : Shorter , 34 , Castlestreet East . This is a well-written pamphlet , by an earnest-hearted man , on the greatest question of the age , that k « bi" black universal Democracy" as Carlyle characterises it The author flunks the solution of this problem the imperative duty of the age and urges it upon the attention of all classes . S ^ . . r 5 oa l tliat D ™ cracy is the demand of the timeand that
, it will rush on to its fulfilment . The tide is ascending , and only recedes to gather strength , with which to sweep away the barriers of Tyranny , and to mock the commands of our modem Canutes . Democracy demands other logic than that of bullets and bayonets , and the giant of Evolution , that glared such terror across the barricades of bt ; . Antoine , is not extinct because Paris has been deluded w tli blood . It demands another solution than that . But what Democracy I Certainly not the democracy of ancient Greece and Rome , with their hereditary holota < vo for the
masses but the democracy of Socialism . Perhaps we could not better express our idea of this « Democracy , " than to call it realized Christianity . The ideal of Christianity made rea l ; its law of equality and brotherhood welded into the 8 ociaJ , maehmery ; and a practical realization of its promised redemption . \ y want the mass of men to help the indi-
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 21, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1692/page/13/
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