The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-12 00:00:00

THE PRE S S, DECEMBER 12, 1857.

of the French in 1818. Let it not be forgotten
that tbo giver of this testimony is a Whig of
the first water, that he separated himself in
early life from his hereditary Tory connec-
tions, and that for many years he was a pro-
minent champion of the Liberal party, and
that on more than one occasion he seconded
the early motions of Lord J. Russell for Par-
liamentary Reform.
After mentioning the election of Louis
Napoleon for Paris to the Assembly, the Mar-
quis of Normanby records " the general un-
" popularity and discredit of the present Go-
" vernment" June 10th, 1848). Lord Nor-
manby proceeds to narrate the blunders com-
mitted by Lamartine in his foolish and un-
patriotic attempt to exclude Louis Napoleon
from the Assembly, and even to vote his exile
from France! Lord Normanby observed
shrewdly :

There is no doubt that general discontent, which per-
vades many classes in Paris, has caused much excitement
in favour of a well-remembered name ; but I am convinced,
unless the Government are in possession of secret infor-
mation of a serious character, that the making a martyr
of Louis Napoleon, by attempting to exclude him from the
Assembly, is as imprudent as it is unjust.

After Louis Napoleon resigned his seat for
Paris, and wrote from London his masterly
letter stating the causes of his resignation,
Lord Normanby thus recorded the feelings
towards the Prince (as he was then called) :
I suppose this resignation will give us a temporary calm
in the streets, butit is not likely to diminish the feeling
in his favour. There are numerous groups reading his
address to the electors, wherever it is affiche. It is per-
fectly unobjectionable in its tone, and has pleased the
smaller shopkeepers much by his reference in it to peace-
ful relations with foreign countries ; for, with them, an
immediate war was dreaded as the that consequence of
his accession to the Government, under whatever title it
might be.
But the real strength of the cry for him, or for any other
new name that may any day arise, is the odium with
which the present men are regarded. I have watched the
conduct of those who are now in power, for the last few
months. Whatever may be the exceptional qualities and
personal distinctions of certain individuals, as a body of
public men, I believe that they do not possess any one
redeeming quality; nor, if they remain, could I foresee
any other check or limit to the mischief they are capable
of doing, except their official incaracity or parliamentary
weakness.

Here we have the English Ambassador's tes-
timony as to the utter incapacity of the leaders
of the Assembly, and we see how events are
likely to shape themselves.
Then, under date of September 20th, Lord
Normanby relates how Louis Napoleon was
returned at the head of the poll for Paris, and
he tells us " the reason why ":

He was rinlently opposed by the Reforme newspaper
anti most of the clubs, and, as the three socialist candidates
are not far separated in their relative numbers, it would
appear he has been atbpted by various parties as the most
obnoxious to the Government and an incarnation of the
general discontent felt at the existing state of things.

Here we have " the general discontent " tes-
tified to, and also the important fact that
" various parties" had adopted Louis Napoleon.
The Marquis tSept. tIllth) says that the first
speech of Louis Napoleon was " well received."
Subsequently, when Citoyen Antony Thouret
made a coarse remark on Louis Napoleon and
endeavoured to insult him, Lord Nurtnanby
says :
Rut whatever defects the refined taste of Citizen Thouret
might find in the expressions, Louis Napoleon certainly
showed the possession of some qualities which may be of
more general application,—[ mean the self-possession and
sangfroid with which he bore this ungenerous usage. He
appeared neither irritated nor disconcerted.

Tbat self-possession was wanted to many of
the chief leaders in the Assembly. Under
date of October 29th, Lord Normanby wrote
the following most important entry :

One cannot but feel that the position of the moderate
and anti-republican party is at this moment most difficult.
Many of them have within the last few days spoken to me
of their embarrassments, and it is almost impossible to
select any course which presents other than a choice of
dangers. One must start with the conviction, which
nothing short of some unforeseen and extraordinary turn
of events can shake, that Louis Napoleon will be retnrned
by a large majority of votes. The sort of persecution to
which he has been subjected by thesuccessive Governments
of the Republic since February has diffused an ilea that
his success is identified with the overthrow of that of which
the mass of the people have become so weary; and this,
even more than the pr.stige of his name, has procured him
support in many quarters where no personal sympathy can
be felt. It is too late, however, for the moderate party to
succeed in uniting the anti republican feeling of the
countr► in favour of any candidate they might now pat
forward.

Surely this is a most striking passage. The
mass of the people are represented by the
English Ambassador as " having become
" weary of the Republic," "a large majority"
for the Presidency is predicted for Louis
Napoleon, and in " quarters" where " no per-
" sonal sympathy " had been felt for him, the
treatment that he had received (Lord Nor-
manby calls it " the sort of persecution ")
from the Republican leaders had increased the
Prince's supporters. It Lord Normanby had
been a professed Bonapartist, his lordship
could not have more strongly shaped a case
for the present dynasty. Let our readers
observe the following passage, under date of
November the 9th :

came to me the day before yesterday, in great
anxiety, saying that all was going to ruin here; that there
was only one chance of safety, which was that Cavaignao
should at once make terms with the moderate party, and
give them satisfactory assurances as to his future govern-
ment of the country. He added, that I was the only
person at all likely to Influence him to take that course,
and he entreated me therefore to speak to him again on
the subject. I told him that I quite agreed with him that
the result, if attainable, was the beat we could look to, but
that I had never yet obtruded my advice upon the general
upon any of his internal affairs, unless either specially in.
vited or encouraged by something he had said. Now, as
he had distinctly announced, both to me and others, that
he considered his success certain as soon as the people
understood that his election was synonymous with the
maintenance of the Republic, this was certainly not an
encouragement to advise him to make friends with those
whom his intimate associates (such as llegousie) hal
just been denouncing as f►lse to the Republic. I might
differ from Cavaignac as to the opinion of the country
upon those points, but his information ought to be much
better, and after all it was his affair and not mine.

was evidently rather disappointed that I would not stir in
the matter. There was a report yesterday that Cavaig,nac
had made some advances to that party, and the funds rose
in consequence ; bnt I do not believe it, as Degonsee,
whom I met at one of the Minister's last night, told me
that forty members of the Reunion de la Rue (le Poitiers
had followed his example, and quitted the club, because
they believed them not to be Republicans. This of course
will increase the bitterness on both sides. Mold told me,
on the other hand, that Larcy, a Legitimist from the
south, who had been much opposed to the Bonaparte
" candidature," and who had said a few days ago that that
fancy hal made no progress in the south, had been heard
since to say that all the peasants had caught the infection,
that they believed it was the only way to get rid of the Red
Republic, which was the only one they knew of, and unless
Cavaiguac immediately joined himself frankly with the
m►derate party, they would all vote for Louis Napoleon.
This letter was shown to Dafaure, who said, " We receive
such from all quarters; but "—and shrugged his soldiers,
as much as to say, " it is too late." This was an additional
reason to decline meddling in the matter.

There is a mass of evidence in that passage
from which any philosophic historian, writing
fifty years hence, might induct the inference
that a Napoleon dynasty was the best dispen-
sation for France in 18-18 50. " All was going
"to ruin," was confessed by a chief of the
moderates, and in the south of France the
peasantry are represented as espousing the
cause of Louis Napoleon. Page after page
from Lord Normanby's pen record the gradual
but certain manner in which the coming event
was shaping itself. Under date of December
12 the Marquis describes the universality of
support given to Louis Napoleon :
History affords no parallel to this spectacle of all the
eminent men of all former political parties uniting in sup-
port of a man whom no one of them would personally have
selected. They, in fact, follow, whilst they assume to
direct, a popular impulse which they could not resist.
The memory of the Emperor Napoleon is no doubt a
master spell in this impulse ; but the hatred to the Re—
public gives another signification to the name of Bona-
parte, and the traditional recollection that it was lo) his
means the last Republic was destroyed in France gives
doable force to this mode of protestation.

And of the consummate skill with which
Louis Napoleon made himself master of the
event, we receive the following description
under the same date :

The decision of the Assembly once taken, the moderate
party had no other resource than to endeavour, whilst
associating themselves with the popular enthusiasm, to
make a useful instrument of its idol. This plan has been
followed up with much success. Louis Napoleon has
placed himself entirely in their hands, and, except in one
instance, has acted uniformly by the►r advice. His address
was evidently entirely his own, but the sentiments it ex-
pressed were generally approved. He separated himself
from all doubtful connections, and has, upon the few occa•
sions in which he has been called upon in society to take
any part, acquitted himself with sound discretion. His
great anxiety seems to be to remove from foreign conutries
that uneasiness ns to international relations which his
name is calculated to excite, by repeated declarations of a
firm determination to preserve peace.

These are remarkable admissions. The result
of the election was, for Louis Napoleou

5,534,520 votes, and for Cavaignac 1,448,302
votes. But under the circumstances of those
times, under the pressure of the crisis, any one
might see that it was a mere question of years,
possibly of months, when the Empire would
be erected. A variety of passages through the
two volumes appear to justify this conclusion;
and though Lord Normanby makes no ease
for any side, the noble author's statements,
without distortion, supply abundant materials
for the justification of the course followed by
his Imperial Majesty.
The following contrast between the tempers
of Louis Napoleon and Cavaignac is curious.
Alluding to the ceremony of the installation
of Lo Napoleon as Emperor, Lord Nor-
mauby writes :
I may as well add that Cavaignac got very well through
all the first part of the ceremony, but when Louis Napo eon,
after descending from the tribune, walked up to the back
bench, where the general had retired, and, in the most
becoming manner, held out his hand to him, Cavaignac
took it, but never got up, and turned away his head to his
next neighbour. It was one of those momenta when a
bad temper is a man's worst enemy, for all remarked and
regretted it. Certainly the Prince's whole deportment
has at all times been as good as possible, and there is a
calm, quiet " impass!bilite " about him which is very
rare in a Frenchman. There was much gentle kindness
and no ostentation iu the manner in which he approached
Cavaignac, which contrasted favourably with the rudeness
of the other. However, one must make allowance for the
difference of the position of the two men. It is easier to
be generous in success than to be complaisant tinder ex-
tinction ; sod the result has been nothing less to Cavaig-
nac and all his party. Tocqueville, rather quaintly, said
to me yesterday, " There only remains now one question,
whether it is the Republicans or the Republic itself
which the country cannot abide."
The concluding remark of De Tocqueville is a
good mot.
The following anecdote has been told in
various ways. It is very interesting :
I recorded, during the last days of December, that one
of the first guests at a breakfast at the Elysee was the
curt': of the fortress at Ham, who had been the Prince's
spiritual director as well as one of his principal social
resources during his imprisonment; and at the same
breakfast was likewise present the faithful dog who had
been his more constant companion, and, most unwittingly,
had nearly destroyed his master's chance of escape. I
premise that I never was at Ham, and have no personal
acquaintance with the locality, but repeat the story as it
was told, at the time, to me :—" The Prince, disguised as
one of the tile of workmen going forth to their dinner,
had passed the drawbridge, when the director, whose duty
it was to examine them in parsing, caught bis eye, and
turned to interrogate the foreman as to his identity, when
his attention was diverted by some defect in a work then
in progress. Whilst his inquiries in reference to this
were going on, the line of workmen passed out and the
Prince amongst them. He then took a separate direction,
which bad been before arranged, to the summit of a bare
acclivity. Casting hie eye around, he saw that his dog,
which had been shut up to prevent the chance of betrayal,
had made his escape, had caught sight of him, known him
in spite of his disguise, and was bounding and careering
after him at full speed, little aware how fatal, at such a
moment, would be any habitual demonstration of his
affection. Had the Prince hurried his pace whilst yet in
sight, that very act would probably have caused instant
suspicion. With what intense anxiety had he therefore to
calculate the possibility of passing the brow of the bill
before this unconscious cause of danger reached him.
The intermediate summit of the undulating ground was
already behind him, and just concealed him from the
fortress, when the delightel animal jumped upon his
shoulder and was welcomed in safety, and I understand
has never since left him." How much of future political
destiny, perhaps, bung upon the comparative speed at
which the dog and his master had passed the intervening
distance.
We have cited enough to show the great im-
portance of these volumes to the future histo•
rian of the year 1848. We may return to
them on another occasion in order to examine
some of the statements on Lamartine and
others. In the meantime we must record our
opinion, that although Lord Normanby cannot
be said to have gained great success as a
writer, these volumes are of decided value,
and we have felt much interest in perusing
them.

BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA. Edited by George
Long, M.A , and the Rev. A. J. Macleane,
M.A. London : Whittaker and Co.
1. D. J. Jurenalis et Persii Satirm With a
Commentary by the Rev. A. J. Ma-
eleane.
2. Euripides. With an English Com-
mentary by F. A Paley, M.A.
3. Publii Terentii Coniadhe Se.v. With a
Commentary b the Rev. Edward S.
John Parry, M.A.
THESE three volumes form the last instalment
of the " Dibliotheca Chtisica "—a series of