The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-04 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 4, 1851.

EVENTS iN PARIS.

which he has done, and yet exculpate himself in the
eyes of liberal and impartial men. He might, in quash-
ing the plots and the power of Bourbon parties, and an-
nouncing his deternaieation to crush anti-social move-
ments, still have preserved the great republican liberties
of the country, or Le night even, in aspiring to be Em-
peror in his oven right, have secured, or at leas: pro-
mised, a full measure of constitutional freedom to the
French. He has done neither of these things. Bat in
cue of the most audacious and f3olieh sf proclamations
he promulgates his intention of restoring the old im-
perial constitution, consisting of a senate, of course to
be selected by, and to be the instrument of, the execu-
tive, which was to be completely independent of it;
which senate was endowed with the power of
completing or suspending the Constitution itself,
or even of reversing the decisions of the judica-
ture! As to a chamber or assembly of representatives
elected by universal, or indeed by any, suffrage, bitting,
discussing, and voting under the brows of an all-power-
ful senate, and amidst the acts of an administration to-
tally independent of it, any thing so impracticable and
absurd never issued from the brain of even the most
crazy politician that France has yet produced.
.Louis
Napoleon, when he uttered such nonsense, or sanctioned
its appearance in a proclamation, must have done so in
utter contempt of the public, whom he addressed, and in
sweeping disr, gird of principle, honesty, or common
Sense. To have conceived and considered as practicable
such a mode of government as this, was puerile and
fatuitous. To declare it at once, in the first hour of re-
volution, was perfectly insane. There is no party, no
class, no number of Frenchmen, beyond a few aide-de-
camps, who could in the present day put trust in such a
system of government as this. The bold attitude of the
President, with the intrigues and treacheries of
the monarchical leaders in the Assembly, which
provoked it, may for a moment incline the
people to applaud Louis Napoleon; but a few
hours' consideration, the spectacle of the Con-
stitution abrogated, the Assembly dissolved, and even
its best and most moderate members consigned with
their colleagues en masse to prisons, and this done avow-
edly for the establishment of an imperial senate and
regime—must produce a terrible revulsion of sentiment;
and that every intellect and every party in the country
will be forthwith leagued against the usurper, is as in-
evitable as it is fearful. That the clear perspicuity and
cool judgment of Napoleon, with the powerful influence
that he had the gift of exercising over the minds both
of individuals and of the masses, might triumph in such
a forlorn hope, we admit; but that Louis Napoleon, or
that those around him, are equal to the task of reducing
the thirty and odd millions or Frenchmen, with the con-
gregated intellect and numbers of their great towns,to the
state of inanimate and disgraceful pupillage which pre-
vailed under the Empire, that is not within the limits of
human probability. There is indeed one kind of policy and
one series of events which might uphold such a system for
a time. And that is, successful, triumphant, glorious, and
profitable war. The large French army can, we are
afraid, become attached to no new leader or new regime
that does not give it promotion, honour, profit, and as-
cendancy. But this can only be done at the risk of war,
while this against two millions of bristling ba-
yonets would require a degree of military talent and
fortune, of which France gives no promise, and to which
the cause of the Napoleon dynasty gives no claim. The
great military ascendancy of the French at the close of
the last century was due to the principle which animated
them, and the enthusiasm to which that principle ori-
ginally gave birth. It was in the campaigns of the
Republic that the superiority of the French army
was established, and the Emperor Napoleon merely
reaped the crop of military power which the
Jourdains, the Hoches, and the Moreaus had sown.
We doubt, therefore, that the campaigns of Napoleon
can be re-enacted, and without them the empire can
never be resuscitated. Amidst the fear and anxiety
which these events have created amongst us, we are glad
to hear it whispered that such a serious explosion so near
has had the good effect of silencing the petty differences
amongst our own statesmen, who have now graver mat-
ters to occupy them than examining the expediency or
decorum of a particular Minister receiving this or that
deputation. It is quite clear that we are bound to re-
cognise whatever chief masistrato the French nation may
elect or accept to govern them. However wo may disap-
prove of his rashness and dread kis unconstitutionalism,
it is clear that in these things the people of France are
the best ju tges. And provided that judgment be fully
consulted and fairly pronounced, we in our diplomatic
courtesies and relations have but to abide by it.
CHRONICLE.—It is just fifty-one years since Na-
poleon dissolved the quasi Republican Government of
the Directory, and, with the connivance of the Council
of Ancients, inaugurated the Consulate—so soon to be
merged in the Empire—by the expulsion of the Five
Hundred. Wielding, perhaps, less power than the Co.n-
queror of Italy, and aided by fewer men of talent, tne
measures of Louis Napoleon have been no less skilfully
prepared and boldly executed than those of his uncle;
whilst he has attained a not very dissimilar and without
either the personal danger, or the public scandal, of an
armed invasion of a legislative body in full deliberation.
Each phase of revolution, however eccentric may be its
orbit, is subject to periodical recurrences. There is a
sort of method in the instability of the French people,
and their political vicissitudes revolve in definite cycles.
Indeed, so numerous have been the experiments which
they have made, during the last sixty years, in the pos-
sible combinations of governmental systems, that it
would be hard to conceive a situation which should not
present a striking analogy to some former precedent.
Louis Napoleon places a confidence in his destiny,
which, with many other men who have played a conspi-
cuous part upon the stage of the world, has supplied the
place of principle and of policy; and we can readily
believe that he had destined the month of December—so
momentous in the annals of the house of Bonaparte—to
decide the issue of his own fortunes. It was the month
of December that saw the elevation of Napoleon to the
Consulate—and Tuesday last was the anniversary of the
foundation of the empire, which made him the Autocrat
of France, and of the victory of Austerlitz, which left
him the master of Europe. Whether the historical
" sun of Austerlitz" shone in Paris on the 2d instant,
we are not informed; but it is certain that the array of
Louis Napoleon's Parliamentary adversaries was
struck down by a disaster as complete and as unex-
pected as that which befel their prototypes, the Conti-
nental allies. History records few spectacles more
extraordinary and dramatic than the awakening of
the city of Paris to the consciousness that a revolution
was not only commenced, but, as it were, accom-
plished. We can fancy an honest bourgeois turning out
at his accustomed hour to take down his shutters, and
finding the handwriting of the President of the Re-
public upon his wall. We picture to ourselves his
amazement at.
.finding his newsman transformed into a
dragoon, and his feuilleton replaced by
a proclamation.
But there were others on whom the blow fell somewhat
earlier and far more heavily, M. Thiers was netting
the last meshes of the web which was to entrap the man
whom he had intended to govern, and whose greatest
crime, in his eyes, is that he has chosen to act for him-
self. The political Frankenstein was discussing with his
chosen friends, in the dead of the night, the means of
extinguishing the vitality of the monster whom he
had helped to create—when the gees d'arrnes
marched him off to the confinement which he
had destined for his antagonist on the morrow.
In conspiracy, ns
is
in military mining, suc-
cess ever a question of time; and the best-laid train
may always be prematurely exploded by a counter-blast.
It seems. sufficiently clear that, on Monday night, the
rdns layut Vincennes between a
were
ai Conventionred, andbut
itas us ye
tDictatorship—
theu
un-
certainesbt who were to be their occupants.
q
If M. Thiers
had gained the initiative, the ultimate issue might not
perhaps have been very different, but bloodshed would
have been inevitable in the first instance. Though, so
far as is yet known, there is every
reason to believe
that the greater part of the population of Paris look, on
the whole, with more of favour than of hostility on
the measures of the President, yet the profound and
remarkable tranquillity by which up to the present mo-
ment, so violent
.a change has been aceompanied and fol-
lowed, must be in great part ascribed to the decision and
vigour with which every individual, round whom resist-
ance might have rained, was removed from the scene of
action before even a snapicion of the intended proceeding
had transpired.
.Therecan be no better proof of the
profound secrecy in which the preparations had been
made than the fact that even M. Thiers had not time to
run away. So strict was the reserve which Leuis Na-
poleon had maintaineo, that the Ministers themselves
were not acqhainted with his plans till they had been
already executed—and the Constitutionnel, the organ of
the Et): 6‘, appeared on the same morning, after the
decrees had been issued, with an article ridiculing the
notion of any coup d'atat on the part of the President.
A portion of the Assembly attempted to act with as
much vigour as could be expected under such hopeless
circumstances. After a meeting et the house of Id. Darn,
a body of representatives proceeded to the Legislative
Palace and made a formal claim of admission; and when
one of their number
the National Guard, to the
bayonet, they retired, under
had so far asserted their right as to
c
Mairie of the 10th Arrondissement.
The Constitution,
rt
he eprotection
with singular siroplicity,.provid. es that, in the event of
l
the Assembly being forcibly di
e e punctureu;u uwuiltuhu ae
oissolved, all the executive
powers shall immediately revert to it; and, in con-
formity with this very practical provision, the Members
assembled at the Illairte—about 200 in number—de-
clared the decheance of the President, and convoked the
High Court of Justice for the trial of him and his Mi-
nisters, on a charge of treason against the Constitution.
M. Berryer, from a window, attempted to address the
populace, and to enlist their sympathies in the causo of
the Assembly; but he was unable
to obtain a hearing,
and his failure was the less surprising, inasmuch as the
only lure which he had to offer in opposition to the bait
of universal suffrage was the dictatorship of the invader
of Rome. At this point the
.chasseurs of Vincennes
forced their way into the apsranent, ordered its evacu-
ation, and arrested M. I)aru, who, with MM. de
Broglie, Mole, and Odilon Barrot, insisted on remaining.
The latter protested against the proceeding, and "de-
manded" to share the fate of his colleague; but
notwithstanding his urgent entreaties, no further
arrests were then made. Fresh instructions must,
however, have been issued subsequently, as it is
reported that in the course of the day almost
all the members who attonded.the meeting. at the. Maine
were, by a stroke of perhaps unintentional satire, placed
the efforts
under confinement in the Invalidos.. So ended
of the Legislative body; and at this moment M. Thiers
is perhaps recalling the account which he has given
in
his history of the fall of Bares, " who perceived that
he was lost, and that his game was played out. It was
time that he should receive the reward of his double•
faced intrigues, and his cowardly desertions. He was
alike distrusted by patriots and republicans; the re-
formers and politicians looked en him as a man of ruined
credit, and applied to him the name of pourri, which
Bonaparte hupon ad fixed him." In accordance with the
resolution of the extemporised Assembly, the Court of
Cessation met to pronounce the deposition of the Presi-
dent, but broke up in confusion on receiving a message

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—A country in a state of revolution is a coun-
try without law. The political compact is broken. The
limits of authority are effaced. The idea of right slle-
cumts to din ttrasp of force; and it signifies but little
in principle whether, such acts are done by the undisci-
plined hordes of a popular insurrectiun or by the regular
compression of military power. To those who seek
through all the vicissitudes of political life to maintain
inviolate the fixed principles of legal right, by which
alone society can be honestly and freely governed, it
matters comparatively little for what object or by what
forces these principles are violated. Governments
founded on such a basis are tainted from their birth, for
they are commonly the offspring of fraud as well as of
force, and they repudiate by their origin those sacred
obligations of respect for the law which it is the first
business of every Government to uphold. Such are in
few words the principles by. which the last revolution of
France will eventually be Judged by those who share
our opinions. It is possible that success may disguise
the glaring violence of this transaction. It is admitted
that the absurd Constitution of 1848 placed the Pre-
sident and the Assembly in permanent hostility, and
that the Assembly did not measure its conduct by
its real strength. It is probable that the organised force
of the army may prevail at this moment in a country
where no other positive force is organized, and where the
political leaders of every shade are caught like fishes in
a net, and removed by arbitrary arrest from the scene
of action. It rests with the French nation to determine
whether the supreme control of its government is to be
transferred by such measures and vested in such hands.
But we owe it to truth, to freedom, and to history to
declare that every pledge of political duty has been
broken—that the moving force in these events is per-
sonal ambition, supported by unscrupulous instruments
—and that it is scarcely possible to conceive the estab-
lishment of a permanent or honourable government on
such a basis. Having said thus much, retaining, as we
still do, the hope that this revolution will not necessarily
interfere with the pacific relations subsisting between
the French Government and our own country, we shall
abstain from such incriminatory remarks as the occa-
sion might suggest, but which the gravity cf the in-
terests concerned would render unseasonable, and per-
haps injurious to the public interests. We believe
that it is the fixed resolution of every Go-
vernment in Europe, including our own, to view
with perfect impartiality and absolute forbearance
every possible change that may occur in the Constitu-
tion and Government of Prance. It rests with the
French nation to resist or to submit, to establish or to
overthrow, to live as freemen or to croueh before the
iron or the leaden idols of despotic power. As long as
the rights of other nations are respected, and as long as
France shows more constancy to her treaties than she
does to her laws, it is due to her Government, whatever
it may be, to judge its actions rather with reference to
ourselves, than to a people whose fate it is to be the
spectacle and lesson of the world. Each successive con-
vulsion in this long series of events is but an incident
in one disjointed whole. Never having supposed that
the Republic of 1848 had any chance of permanent du-
ration, since it was imposed by force upon a reluctant
and astonished nation, we can can profess but little
concern at the humiliating mode of its extinction. But
at the same time we can augur nothing better or more
lasting for the power which seems destined to succeed
it; and even the present success—if such it should be--
of this desperate stroke would only increase our appre-
hensions of a fiercer contest at no very distant period. In
a word, if " stability" be the motto or the promise of
the new Government, that is precisely the quality
we are least prepared to find in it ; and in " closing the
era of revolutions," Louis Napoleon has very possibly
brought the country once more within the vortex of
anarchy. The proclamations of Louis Napoleon to the
people and to the army can hardly be relied upon for
the expression of any deliberate policy or any positive
engagement. But after the customary denunciations
heaped by every revolutionary power on the power it
has overthrown, we find in his address to the people
what we take to be a proposal for the resuscitation of
the Consular and Imperial Consitutions, framed on the
Abt a Sities' plan of the Constitution de I'An VIII.,
and terminated by the Imperial Senatus-consultum of
the 28th Floreal An XII. (18th May, 1804). These
Constitutions caused all legislation to originate with a
Council of State named by the Executive Power. The
Bills so prepared were discussed and voted by what was
termed the Legislative body; and this body was fur-
ther controlled by the Sena Consei vateur, named by
the Executive or self-elected. The Ministers under
such a system are, as it is expressly stated, to de-
pend on the Head of the Executive alone. We
scarcely require to be reminded of the mute and
inanimate assemblies of the Empire to discover that such
a Constitution is a system of absolute Government very
thinly disguised. The name of the Republic is merely
introduced as a blind into this address, and the only al-
lusion to public liberty is that which places it under the
protection of the Conservative Senate.,The address to the
army is a direct appeal to the only power on which the
Government actually rests. By one of those audacious
contradictions common at such times, the army is told, at
the very moment when every part of the capital is under
military occupation, that it is " to assist the country to
manifest its will in calmness and reflection," and that as
the army is " the elite of the nation," it will of course
save France. With' less dexterity, the army is reminded
that it has the popular humiliations of 1830 and 1848 to
efface, and that it it is united to the name of Napoleon
by common ties of glofy and misfortune. Tho effect
of these proclamations on the population of Paris
was doubtless less favourable than had been
anticipated. The cry of " Vivo la Rdpub-
lique,' which the President had dropped, greeted
his passage in the streets; and the aspect of the
capital has hitherto been that of hesitation, increased by
the compulsory silence of the press and the arrest of the
Parliamentary leaders. As to the assertion that an
armed conspiracy to depose the President, headed by
General Changarnier and M. Thiers, was on the eve of
exploding, we withhold our belief from it until further
proof; for the means of executing such a plot were
evidently wanting; and, on the other hand, the com-
plete and extensive preparations of the army and the
police, made under pretence of arresting a Socialist
movement, indicate a pre-existing determination on the
part of the Government. The wretched Ministers of
the Thorigny Cabinet were of course dismissed' when
the moment of action had arrived. But of that feeble
band one man ofosigour remained; we mean General St.
Arnaud, whom we bad pointed out from his first acces-
sion to office as the probable chief of a military revo-'
lution. Upon the occurrence of these events a por-
tion of the Assembly, exceeding 200 Members, pro-
ceeded to assert its legal rights, to outlaw the Pre-
sident, and convoke the High Court of Justice ;
but these last and feeble struggles of legal authority
were at once repressed by a detachment of light troops,
and the last protest of Parliamentary power was un-
supported by the people. This incident is chiefly of im•
portance at the present moment as showing that almost
every person of political eminence has not only with-
drawn from the 13onapartists, but has pledged himself to
the most active opposition of which the circumstances
admit. The names published as belonging to the new
Conseil d'Etat aro those of men designated by the Go-
vernment, but we have no evidence of their acceptance
of office. The question is not only how matters stand
under the direct military coercion of the present mement,
but what will happen when that coercion is taken off.
The press cannot always be gagged, generals and states-
men arrested, and their followers dispersed. But the
struggle on which Louis Napoleon has entered is
ono which can only terminate in his favour
by the immediate and total prostration of all
his adversaries, or by the chances of civil war.
Moreover, the effect of this coup d'itat on his own
character and prospects in the country has yet to be
determined. As long as he remained within the legal
bounds of his authority it was certainly the wish of the
country to see that authority legally extended, and, in
spite of the occurrences of his earlier life, he had gradu-
ally won upon the confidence of the Conservative party
in France and throughout Europe. But the claims he
may now put forward to popular support for an unli-
mited personal power, relying exclusively on military
force, arc totally distinct from his former claims to the
and it by no means follows that
successful chief of a military revolution as he might
rthenee:Ll ieor amounti'is o office;
of ee;
national support will be given to the
have received in the strict discharge of his constitutional
duties. Lastly, the services of Praetorians must be paid
for by imperial largesses, and the favour of the people
e
bought by not less costly concessions. Were sGovernment suddenly invested with omnipotence, it
would have to meet the present demands upon it at the
expense of its future resources. At present not a tax
can bo legally levied, and we have yet to learn by what
proportion of the nation the Government of Louis Napo-
leon is still identified with the Government of France.
DAILY NEWS.—It is one thing to cast up the ac-
count of right and wrong between Louis Napoleon and
the dominant parties in the National Assembly; and it
is another thing to pass judgment upon the conduct of
the President towards the nation that elected him as the
protector of its liberties and the executive agent of its
will. It Louis Napoleon regarded nothing in France
beyond the Assembly,and if be regarded in the Assembly
merely that knot of quondam statemen which dictated
its votes first for the nullification of the Republic, and
then of Louis Napoleon himself, we cannot say but that
his ire, and that even something more than constitu-
tional antagonism, might not have been justly called
forth against treacherous, selfish, and liberticido in-
triguers. They favoured the admission of Louis Na-
paleon into France at first,s merely that his name
might be a bugbear to the Republic ; they favoured
his election as President, in order to use him
as an iron rod to flagellate the Republicans.
Heaven knows, Louis Napoleon was obsequious
enough to them inj return ! He turned his back on
the people, whose votes had really raised him to the
chief place. He lent himself to the passing and to the
application of every law which castigated, which fettered,
which mortified and disfranchised the people. And he
not only served the people of France so, but he lent the
sword end the power of the country to crush all those
who struggled for liberty abroad. There was no ven-
geance, no reaction of the National Assembly, and of its
Conservative leaders, to which Louis Napoleon was not
ready to lend himself, until it became their good plea-
sure and their manifest aim to get rid of him, and to
oppose his re-election. Since then, indeed, he has
waged war against them with an effrontery and a success
which exasperated them beyond all prudence and self-
possession, and which has finally impelled him to the
rash attempt to crush the Assembly, by pulling down
the pillars and the edifice of the constitution
about their ears. We have little pity for the
Thierses and the Changarniers; but this does not
tesp:y either admiration or respect for Louis Napo-
teen, who is plating the part of his imperial uncle,
without his moans, his talents, or his excuses. It was
most possible for Louis Napoleon to effect the revolution

from the Minister of Justice that they were to proceed no and in their endeavours to accomplish that object they
further in the business. The resistance, therefore, of the , did not scruple as to the means to be employed. They
constitutional authorities to the usurpation of Louis Nn- were prepared to sly or do anything,
however unp i
pe!eon may bo said to be at an end; and, after the trail- cipled, which they eeeme. calculated toout their
' carry
quility of Tuesday night, and the favourable cc° aims plans. Be their doom, as prisoners shat it may, their
from the depertmente, it is possible that the dancer of a
career as legislatore, or 'as statesmen,
one has, in all probe-
popular outbreak is for the moment obviated. Tho firm- closed for eve,
'less of the Frcrch Funds—u hid: at no period wore so i weigh much in fevour. There
(
is thing which will
I Louis Napoleon. Not only did
much affected as our own, and which closed yesterday I he re eert to no unconstitutional
within per cent. of their qaotations before the coup I came a question with hi ;xpeeient until it be
d'etat—is a remarkable proot of public confidence in the lof official power, but al of personal liberty, as well as
stability of the President. And if the last news which matters to a greaterextremity
then he did not push
has reached us should be well founded—viz , that MM. circumstances of the case rheitthanhe thought the
has imperatively called for. Ho
Montalembert, Baroche, and Drouyn de l'lluys, have has not shed a drop or blood,lle has not even put
consented to take seats in the new Council of State—the Paris in a state of siege,
announcement to that
prospects of Louis Napoleon being able to maintain his effect by telegraph, which appeaired in yesterday's
position and to carry on the Government are materially papers, was incorrect. The
improved. What may be the ultimate success of an striction put upon their liberty. They
had no to
attempt the audacious lawlessness of which cannot be where they choosi—to meet as they. are free to go
defendsd, however it may be palliated by the factious press their opinions with all thefaPi
violence of the Parliamentary majority, it is impos- with which they were accustomed to fulness
ease—and to ex-
and freedom
as therefore
Bible at the present moment to predict; and it will be sentiments. The coup d' eat of Tuesday
bent' too
interchange
to ge their
time enough to discuss the policy of the President's pro- little of the character which usually baron
expe-
gramme, when wo shall have ascertained how much of it dients of that kind. A great mieconceptiogne
he intends to carry into effect. Meanwhile, we need existed as to what Louis Napoleon was, has
look no further for the source of its inspiration than the It was supposed, from the scanty informationn
hdwohia
speech of Napoleon to the Council of the Ancients:— reached us by electric telegraph on Tuesday, that
" The Constitution, say you—it is no more. It is your- resolved on being, at all hazards, re-elected President,
selves selves who have destroyed it, by attacking, ou the 18th He has given no grounds whatever for the assumption,
Fructidor, the national representation—by annulling, on He has, on the contrary, shown that ho never entertainend.
the 22d Florets!, the popular election—and by assaulting, any such idea. He hes put an end to the state of things
on the 13th Prairial, the independence of the Govern- which 'previously existed, because it was as muc
meat." Whatever be hie future intentions, the President at variance with the best interests of France,
does not propose to protract the possession of his present as it was personally annoying and insulting
abnormal power, but desires, as soon as possible, to for- to himself : but he does not seek to fetter
tify his position by the direct mandate of the country. the people's choice as to the election of a succea-
And should he succeed in being re-elected by a large sor. He leaves them, on that score, entirely free agents.
majority of the people his authority will be, for a time If the popular choice be adverse to him, ho will at once
at least, impregnable. The election will commence on acquiesce in the decision, and retire into the seclusion of ,
the 14th of the month, and the event will be known in private life. On this point he speaks in terms the most
the course of three week& explicit in his address to the people, which is a manly
HERALD.—By the latest intelligence from France, and generous document. After adverting to the hostile
Paris was tranquil yesterday; and from one-fifth of the de- conduct of the Assembly, Louis Napoleon says —" I,
partments accounts had been received which are deemed then, make a loyal appeal to the entire nation; and I
satisfactory by the supreme power. The more we re- say to you, if you wish to continue this state of dis-
fleet on the occurrences which we have recorded within quietude and malaisse that degrades you and endangers
forty-eight hours, the more striking appears to us the the future, choose another person in my place, for Ino
coincidence of past and present events. Names, as well longer wish for a place which is powerless for good, but
as dates, it cannot be forgotten, have great influence which makes me responsible for acts that I cannot
with so ardent, impulsive, and imaginative a people as hinder, and chains me to the helm when I see the
the French; and, having said so much, we may call to vessel rushing into the abyss. If, on the contrary,
the recollection of the reader that on the 2d of Decem- you have still confidence in me, give me the means of
ber, 1804, the coronation of the Emperor Napoleon and accomplishing the grand mission I hold from you.
of the Empress Josephine took place in Paris—a corn- That mission consists in closing the era of re•
nation which eclipsed in splendour even that of Louis volution, in satisfying the legimate wants of the
XIV. The Pontiff, who in December, 1797, exhorted people, and in protecting them against subversive pas-
the French people to walk in the paths of democratic SiORS. It consists especially to create institutions which
liberty, was the very same Pius VII. who seven years survive men, and which are the fouudation on which
later sanctified and blessed—to use his own words—the something durable is based. Persuaded that the insta-
elect of Heaven. The obsequiousness of the Pope and bility of power, that the preponderance of a single As-
clergy now to the President of 1851 is greater than it sembly, are the permanent causes of trouble and dis-
was seven-and-forty years ago to the Emperor, and can cord, I submit to your suffrages the fundamental bases
only be compared to that of Pope Zachary, who, being of a constitution which the Assemblies will develope
asked by Pepin who should govern, responded " Celui- hereafter." In his address to the army Louis Napo-
la est Rol: qui ea ala puissance." If we are to believe leon expresses himself to the same effect. " I make,"
the accounts received up to last night, this seems the he says, " an honest appeal to the people and the
opinion of most classes, with the exception of the leaders army, and I say to them, either give me the means of
of the Assembly, most of whom have been arrested, assuring your prosperity, or choose another in my
and some of whom have, after resisting vigorously, been place." Nor is this all. In the same appeal to the
sent to Vincennes. Had these gentlemen now in duress army, while calling on them in their capacity of
patriotically and sincerely fulfilled the great mission en- soldiers to obey their commanders, he enjoins them,
trusted to them by their constituents, instead of plot- as citizens, to exercise their free unfettered choice of
ting, intriguing, and caballing, there can be no doubt candidates at the coming elections. This assuredly is
that the people would have stood firmly and bravely by not the language of a despot. These are not the actions
them; but as it is, not a voice has been raised in their of one who aspires at a dictatorship. Nothing could be
favour, nor a hand outstretched to vindicate and protect more compatible with all our notions of liberty than the
them. The 2d of December is memorable in more re- words and deeds of Louis Napoleon, with the solitary
spects than one in Napoleonic reminiscences. On that exception of the coup d'Etat of Tuesday. And that
very day in December, 1805, a marvellous campaign of bold, uunconstitutional step was, it must always be re-
seven or eight weeks was brought to a close by the me- membered, forced upon him, as the only means of pre-
morablo battle of Austerlitz—one of the most resplendent venting a similar and still more extreme coup d'Etat, on
victories recorded in French annals, prolific as such the part of the hostile chiefs of the Assembly—a coup
annals have ever been of victory. The sun of Auster- d'Etat, as we have before stated, which contemplated
lite shone out as warmly on the nephew on the 2cl De- the annihilation of the Republic itself. The choice on
comber, 1851, as on the uncle on the 2.1 December, 1805, Tuesday lay between the re-election of Louis Na-
nor was there a need of nine hours' struggle, sustained poison, or a military despotism under the direction of
by the cuirrassiers and Soult, to gain the day, as nearly General Cbangarnier. France has already, from one
half a century previously. In fact, whether from the end of the country to the other, declared which of the
measures adroitly and energetically taken by the Exe- alternatives she would prefer. She makes her election
cutive, or from the apathy, indifference, and weariness in favour of Louis Nattoleor.
of the public, the first victory was an easy one; and in
France, above most countries, the individual who has
struck a first successful blow has the prestige
in his favour. It should be remembered that
sixty years of revolutions and struggles and abrupt
changes have, among our neighbours, obscured and
loosened, if not entirely blotted out all notions of
hierarchy and succession in regular order, and there
is in the genius and disposition of the people, irrespec-
tive of these things, something that induces them to give
a clear stage and every favour to a character daring and
enterprising, yet calm, taciturn, and self-possessed.
Such a character they have found in the President, and
if the majority of the people approve of his icourse of
action, the cause lies as much in the factious caballings
of his enemies in the Assembly as in his own peculiar
name, attributes, temperament, and endowments. So
tortuously, treacherously, and factiously, indeed, has the
Chamber acted, that for the last month its dissolution
was as ardently desired by the body.of electors whom it
spoliated and stripped of their franchises as was its first
birth, vitality, and commencement by its early ad-
mirers. In the same degree as the early days and pro-
ceedings of the Assembly were popular, in the
same degree were its later days and proceedings the
object of contempt, of aversion, and of hatred; so that
in shutting up the doors and closing the debates many
consider the act of the Executive at least as much a work
of prime necessity as a stroke of legitimate ambition;
and it may well be urged that Liberty has less to dread
from the proceedings of one man who tells his purposes
openly, than from the mauceuvres of two scores of Bur-
graves, who were ever dissembling, and always equally
insincere, indirect, and dishonest. The conduct of the
President is, at least, open and above board. In exceed-
ing the boundaries of the Constitution, he tells the coun-
try his ultimate meaning and purposes. A temporary
dictature we know saved the Republic of Rome, and
when the French President strains the power he undoubt-
edly possesses against half-a-dozen to increase the fran-
chises of as many millions, the people appreciate the
act as a national acquisition. No doubt the act of
the President is a coup d'Etat. But such coups
are the incidents and accompaniments in such a country
as France of factions, insurrections, and revolutions.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
WOLVERHAMPTON STEEPLECHASES.

Acceptances for the Handicap (Steeplechase) of 20 sovs.
_ _ .

each, 10 It, &c. Four miles.
Peter Simple, aged, 1 Ist 31b—Lucy Neal, aged, lOst
121b—Vain Hope, 6 yrs, lOst 101b—Columbus, aged,
lOst 71b—Half-and-Half, aged, 10st 41b—Thurgarton,
aged, lOst 21b—Victress, aged, 9st 101b—The Young'un,
aged, 9st 101 b—De Gickle, aged, 9st 81b—Mlon, aged,
9st 61b—Carrig, aged, 9st 61b—Hardwick, 6 yrs, 9st 51b
—Tallyho, aged, 9st 31b—Chatterbox, aged, 9st 21b—
The Screw, aged, Bst 101b—The Cripple, aged, Bst 71b.
The above are subject to any declarations of forfeit
received at Wolverhampton since post time on. Tuesday
night.

Free Handicap Hurdle Stakes of 5 sovs. each. &c. De-
clarations of forfeit up to post_ time on Tuesday

evening.

Bacchanalian, Fugitive, Ballet Girl, Maria Monk,
Maurice Daley, Hurricane, Bullfinch, Defaulter, Widow
Machree, Flirt, Combatant, Torn Boiling, New Forest
Dee, Barrister, Loddington.

The line of country will be the same as last year.
The Selling (Steeplechase) Stakes closes the evening
before running.

COURSING.
NEWMARKET CHAMPION MEETING.
TUESDAY.
The Puppy Stakes.
Mr. Richardson's Vidonia bt Mr. King's Redwing.
. _

Mr. Richardson's Vulcan bt Lord Strtidbroke's Moses.
Mr. Holmes na Bedlam Lass bt Mr. Etwall's World's

Fair.

Mr. Watson's Miller of Mansfield bt Mr. Miller's Waxy.
Mr. R. Bagge's Tendress bt Mr. Singleton's Rover Jess.
Mr. Mr. Inskip's Isis beat Holmes na bk b B. Lass.
_ _ _ _

Lord Strabroke's Merry bt Mr. Blenkiron's Sportsman.
Mr. Hill's Highland Lass bt Mr. Singleton's Drunken
Jack.

Mr. Inskip's Jewel bt Mr. Gillett's Golden Farmer (late
Farmer).
Mr. Minton's Windsor Lass bt Mr. Buckworth's Bayard.
Mr. Brooke's Young King Cobb bt Mr. Minton's Run-on.
Mr. Gurney's Abel bt Mr. East's Atalanta.
Mr. Hill's Holyoake bt Mr. Edwards's Anchises.
Capt. Wyndham's Woralia bt Mr. Dobede's Delight.
Mr. Round's Locksley bt Mr. Morant's Magic.
Mr. Holmes na Assn= bt Mr. Singleton's Voltigeur.

We must, however, say that this coup of the Execu-
tive appears to have arisen neither from a lust of tyranny,
nor from inordinate ambition. In going a step beyond
the law, Louis Napoleon has obeyed but the natural. in-
stinct of self-preservation. If he had remained within
the limits of strict legality, he would have given his op-
ponents and his enemies the mastery, and that they
would have used it speedily, mercilessly, and remorsely,
lawlff e
and
against his liberty, mayhap against his life, there can be
no doubt
Constitution, then,
rt.henl,nhgeoninaga
par setseepr preserved hisond ethe
own
y
liberty, and possibly prolonged his power; but in so
acting he has only yielded to a natural instinct common
to all men; and we sincerely trust that the ultimate re-
sults will give to France that internal peace which
should flow from a healthy constitution.
ADVERTISER.—The more ample details which
have reached us respecting the revolution in Paris, and
which we were only enabled to publish in a part of yes-
terday's impression, aro strikingly confirmatory of the
opinion we then expressed regarding the causes which
had induced Louis Napoleon to dissolve the Assembly,
and resort to those other energetic measures by which
that event was preceded and accompanied. It is now
an ascertained fact, that had the President hesitated a
few hours longer to have recourse to the coup d'etat
which our columns yesterday recorded, a coup d'Otat
would have been resorted to against him. had he not
ordered the chiefs of the hostile factions in the Assem-
bly, who were leagued against him, to bo consigned to
prison, he himself would, before the middle of Tuesday,
have been a prisoner in the dungeons of Vincennes. He
but anticipated by an hour or two, with regard to them,
what they had fully intended with respect to
him. Instead of being prisoners at his instance, ho
would have been a prisoner at the instance of Gene-
rals Cavaignac, Changarnier, Lamoricilrc, and Messrs.
Thiers, Base, Berryer, &c. And so with respect to the
other extreme measure to which the President of the
Republic has resorted, namely, the dissolution of the
National Assembly. It appears that that step, as well
as the arrest and imprisonment of Louis Napoleon, lied
been fully resolved on, on the previous night, at the
house of General Changarnier—a meeting which was
attended by M. Thiers, M. Berryer, M. Baze, and the
other chiefs of the hostile parties in the Assembly. But
if the information which has reached us be correct—and
we have no reason to doubt its accuracy—these persons
had not only entered into a carefully organized con-
spiracy against the person and powers of the President,
but against the Republic itself. Not only was ho des-
tined to incarceration in the dungeons of Vincennes,
and the Assembly to immediate dissolution, but the
Republic was to be annihilated. If the proofs of this
audacious conspiracy—a conspiracy against the Consti-
tution, as well as against the person and position of the
President—can be satisfactorily established, the men
who are now in custody may find matters go much
harder with them than they or their friends at first anti-
cipated. We are sorry to think that Cavaignac should
be mixed up with the Thicrses, the Changarniers,
and the Berryers, in this ugly business. Though not
concurring in all his political views, we always regarded
him as a high-minded, straightforward man,—one who
was incapable of associating himself with a junta of
plotters and schemers for their own selfish purposes.
That favourable opinion wo can entertain no longer.
Amidst the numerous representatives in prison—
amounting, it is stated, to upwards of 110—there is not
ono amongst them who has sunk so low in public esti-
mation as General Cavaignac—just as there was none
of their number that stood so high. He was one, re-
garding whom no person could have anticipated what
has happened. As respects Thiers, every one will re-
joice that one so hollow and so insincere as ho has
always shown himself to be, should at last have been
fairly caught in a trap of his own setting. He is the
very incarnation of mischief. It is an essential part
of his nature to Le engaged in unprincipled plots—
plots which invariably have in view the promotion
of his own selfish purposes. lie may thank h'l
that he has escaped so long. Never did man8 stars
richly deserve any punishment short of that more
which
would deprive him of existence--a kind of punish-
ment to which, as our readers know, we have
been opposed. At the latest hour down always
own to which our
intelligence from France has reached us Paris was
per-
fectly tranquil. This is of good augury tigury for the cause of
order. It is only, however, what we had prepared our
readers to expect. The people
ar
So are the army. The distill' „de with Louis Napoleon.
majority have no ad.
herents. There is not a mane :Le
in Faris or out of it who
would say a word in their favour, far less take up a
musket in their behalf
• Never did any body of men
sink so low in public esteem. They seemed actuated by
no other motive than that of destroying Louis Napoleon;

WEDNESDAY.
The All-Aged Stakes.
Blenkiron's Mutton bt Mr. Round's Leader.

Mr.

Mr. Reed's la;hiliht-it Mr. Miller's Cobra.
Mr. Dobede's Dot bt Mr. Morant's Merryman.
Mr. Holmes's Miss Kitty Brown bt Mr. Singleton's

N'Veloome.
Mr. Inskip's Jester bt Mr. Holmes's Medors.
Mr. Etwali's Exhibitor bt Mr. Hill's Hester.

Mr. Dpbede's Damson bt Mr. Watson's Resignation
Mr. Holmes's Movement bt Mr. Blenkiron's Saddle.
Mr. Gilctt's Floretto bt Captain Wyndham's Banshee.
Mr. Dobede's Dunkeld bt Mr. Inskip's Jeannette.
Mr. Singleton's The Nutman bt Mr. Hill's Henrietta.
Mr. Singleton's Bonny Scotland bt Mr. Moody's Regard,
Mr. Singleton's Heather Jack bt Mr.Fyson'aForerunncr

The Puppy Stakes.
FIRST TlES.—Highland Lacs bt Isis, Woralia bt Hol-
lyeake, Abel bt Jewel, Miller of Mansfield bt Merry,
Locksley bt Vidonia, Ancrum bt Vulcan, Tendresse bt
Windsor Lass, Bedlam Lass bt Young King Cob.