The Sun.
London, England, 1856-06-27 00:00:00

SECRET SOCIETIES IN FRANCE.

( From a Correspondent of the Daily News.)
PARIS, June 23.—1 have lately travelled through Franca
Ciotti north to south, from west to east. I have seen things
with my own eyes, and formed a judgment on them for
,nyself. I was present at the instructive trial of the
"Marianne" conspirators at Angers' and I afterwards saw
the "Commune Be volutionnaire" at the bar of the court
of Angouleme, and the "Militants" at that of Bordeaux.
In the course of my tour, I have conversed on politics
with many of the most eminent men in this country. The
result of what I have seen and heard is a decided conviL•
tion in my mind that France is at this moment sleeping,
in false confidence' on the brink of a volcano. Yes ;
parties are mute, discussion is interdicted both in the
rostrum and in the press • but poisonous ideas, which
would vanish before the light of freedom, are rapidly and
surely making their way under cover of the political dark-
ness that prevails. Yes ; the streets are quiet, but minds
are agitated. Secret societies increase and multiply in all
lirections. The Emperor is seriously uneasy at the irre-
fragable evidences of their progress which he receives daily
from the prefects. Within the space of a few months
there have been six or seven monster prosecutions, in the
course of waich truly alarming revelations have been
made. These societies are hydra-headed. No sooner does
the Government fancy it has crushed them at one point
than they start up at another, It is all in vain that a few
straggling disciples are made prisoners here and there ;
the immense majority of the ffialiated and almost all the
ringleaders baffle research and defy pursuit. The utmost
-that the most active surveillance and the most energetic
Measures can do is to repress insurrection for a time. The
Government is radically impotent to find out the living
heart of the conspiracy. It is within my knowledge that
a high personsge, who sees every morning the reports from
the gendarmerie, has been heard to confess that secret
societies have taken root in no less than 65 departments.
But what is more terrible still for the Government is the
certainty which it has acquired that " a very active pro-
psganda is going on in the ranks of the army." The "Hautes
Ventes," as the central committee are called, know per-
fectly well that they can do nothing against the army,
but they hope to do a great deal by and with it. In conse-
quence, their main efforts are now turned in that direc-
tion, and, as it would appear, not without success. Several
privates of the " Douane" force were among the members
of the " Militants" tried at Bordeaux. But a much more
serious fact is this :—lt'has been lately discovered that the
leaders of the Paris central committees have secret rela-
tions with parties high in Government offices, and learn
from them every movement of troops that is decided upon
at the Ministry of War. For many months past not a
regiment has left Paris for the provinces but the revo-
lutionary chiefs in the neighbourhood of its fresh quar-
ters knew that it was coming, and were furnished
with a list of the names of all the men with whom
:trey might communicate in safety for the purpose of con-
tinuing the work of propagandism. Since this discovery
was made the most severe orders have been issued to pre-
vent the secrets of the War-office being betrayed—with
what degree of success I am not at this moment able to
say,

It is impossible to state with anything like precision
how many secret societies there are in Franca. They are
continually changing their names, in order to thwart the
unremitting efforts of the police to track them. There
are, however, three well-known principal societies, which
are probably the parents of most of the others—l mean the
" Marianne," the " Militante," and the " Commune Revo-
lutionnaire." The most considerable and important of
these is beyond all question the "Marianne,"* which finds
its recruits principally among the operatives in large
towns. The " Marianne" professes those doctrines of com-
munism egalitairc which citizen Blanqui teaches, and
would carry into practice if he could. Blanqui is the
high priest, the recognised chief of this society of coupe-
tetes. All the old founders of oilTerent revolutionary sects
have seen themselves deserted by their disciples. The
" Phalansterians," the adherents of the "Atelier egali-
taire" of Louis Blanc, of the " Triade humanitaire," of
Pierre Leroux, of Proudhon, and the " Icaaians" of Father
Cabot, have all gone over with arms and baggage to follow
the standard of Blanqui. His name is the only one which
now carries authority among Socialists and Communists of
all shades and distinctions.
There are many reasons why Blanqui has attained this
supremacy over all his rivals. In the first place, his long
and hard captivity has enlisted sympathy in his favour.
alext—and this is a very cogent reason—he has never been
in power. But what more than anything else has contri-
buted to invest him with undivided authority over the
party which he now wields is the fact that he is the incar-
nation of the revolutionary tradition of 1791. Blanqui is,
so to speak, the apostolical successor of Babceuf, having
received imposition of hands from his pupil Buonarotti.
He is the direct heir of the master, the living depositary,
the ordained teacher of his doctrines.
The " Mariannistes" were the first who openly broke
with all those revolutionists of the school of the Xational,
who see in every popular movement nothing but an oppor-
tunity to get places for themselves. Whether the " Mari-
anne" people will be more virtuous when their day comes we
shall, perhaps, live to see. However, they can find no terms
strong enough to express their contempt fur those
gants jaunts, those talons rouges, those " rose-water
intriguers" who think everything is well as long as
they have power in their own hands. The " Ma-
riannistes" profess to desire power not as an end,
but as a means to establish their social system. As
to what these means would be they are very frank.
The poniard, the torch, pillage, and confiscation are
all lawful in their eyes, so far as may be necessary to
insure the triumph of the good and holy cause. The affili-
ated bind themselves by the most terrible oaths to shrink
from none of these means.
The form of the oath has varied frequently, according to
circumstances. In the beginning the novice swore to strike
with the poniard whoever he should be ordered to strike.
It was afterwards considered that this formula was too
vague, and a pledge in terms to " assassinate the chief of
the state" was substituted for it. At a still later period
the engagement taken yeas to "assassinate the governor"
--meaning that any ma ,no matter what his title; whe-
ther Emperor, KiPg, or'President of the Republic, was to
be devoted to death for the single reason that he personi-
fied supreme authority. The " Marianne" seems to have
borrowed many of its leading rules from the Jesuits. The
affiliated member ne longer belongs to himself. Perinde
ut cadaver is strictly the motto of the society. Join it,
and you swear to become a piece of mechanism, obeying
the hand that touches the spring. Think not to betray the
secrets of this. new Velune. If you do, the poignard on
which you have sworn will be surely pointed against your-
self. You are free to die, but not to betray the secret.
An example of the working of this cruel alternative occur-
red at Angers the other :lay, A young apprentice cited
as a witness by the President of the Tribunal appeared in
court during the first two days of the trial, but n the
third day, when he was to have been examined, he com-
mitted suicide. It was afterwards ascertained that he I
was a member of the " Marianne."
The " Militante" is a young swarm emanating from the
parent hive, the "Marianne." It was founded in 1853,
and in the sheet space of little more than two years it has
extended its ramifications into every principal point of
France. Its votaries are especially numerous in the west
at Bordeaux, Nantes, Angers, Niort, Chateauneuf, La
Rochelle, Angouleme, Cognac, &c. The very numerous
members of this society are all under the orders of one su-
preme central con- mittee, whose headquarters is always in
a large town. Subordinate to this directing committee
there are many minor ones, called decuries or centuries,
composed of either ten or a hundred original members of
the society. Bordeaux, where only a fortnight ago ono
of the many prosecutions lately instituted against suspected
members of the "Militants" came to a trial, is the resi-
dence of one of the directing committees, which corres-
ponds with the central committee of Paris, and also with
the decuries stationed in the country districts within a
certain distance around Bordeaux.

The correspondence is carried on either through trust-
worthy emissaries, or by letters couched in commercial
phraseology, according to a key agreed upon. It has been
discovered that the expressions "merchandise," "tra-
vellers," " shares," &c., mean " arms," " emissaries"
" subscriptions," and soon. Often on an emergency the
electric telegraph is used, and the unsuspecting wires
bring from Bordeaux and Paris an order for ribands or
jewellery which is never executed according to the letter,
but never fails to be understood according to the spirit.
The "Militants," like the " Marianne," works with a view
to the advent of " communism egelitaire." Its programme
is shost but significant. Here are some of the principal
articles :—Entire abolition of all existing laws; confisca-
tion of the property of every individual possessing 50,000 f.;
arrest and imprisonment of every individual possessing
more than 100,000 f.; dismissal of all public functionaries;
overthrow of all established institutions ; death to all Cae-
sars. It would be a great mistake to suppose that these
wild doctrines are professed by merely a few madmen.
There are thousands of people whose pulses "temperately
keep time," who hold them and are making converts to
them every day. Before making their final professions,
new members are subject to a noviciate, during which
they are frequently examined by the elders of the society,
to see that they hold fast the right faith without wavering.
When at length reported apt for full admission, the novice
is conducted blindfold to an isolated spot, and there an oath
much less concise than that of the 'Marianne" is adminis-
tered to him. He swears, amon„; other things, to "execute
unhesitatingly all commands that he may receive from the
committee, in order to accomplish the perfect eman cif ation
of the working classes." it is needless to add that the most
terrible imprecations are repeated by the new member
against himself in case be should break his oath.
I have little to say about the " Commune Revolution-
naire." It is much older than either the "Marianne" or
the " Militante." But its importance has greatly declined,
and it will probably merge in the two others.
I will merely mention in passing the " Jenne France
Socialiste," and " Les Enfants de la Terre," because I
have reason to think they are merely aliases for the "Ma.
rianne," adopted to deceive the police.
There are two other societies, the " Union," and the
"Bureaux de tour du France," with respect to which I
am altogether without details. . .

A. society which bad a certain celebrity in the time of
Louis Philippe, called "Les Droits de l'Homme," still
exists. It consists of revolutionists of the middle class
who do not "go the whole hog." Its influence is now in-
significant. Unfortunately at the present day there is no,
vigour in any party but those representing two extreme
principles. There is the despotism enthroned at the Tui-
leries, and the communism which conspires in the dark.
A struggle will come. Who shall tell the event ?

(From, the Daily News.)
The article on the Regency in France, which we cited
from the Constitutionnel on Thursday last, took everybody
by surprise, and yet the suggestion it throws out is already
more than half realised. The perversion of the lessons of
history, the misinterpretation of the present time, and the
very questionable kindness to the Empress, upon which
E
this project is based, are evident enough to
nglish eyes,
and need no explanation to Fronchmen. Everything is
done at the French Court to revive the traditions of the
ancient Monarchy, with a singularly absurd repudiation of
the existing state of public opinion and the balance of pro-
perty, and with an omission of all notice of the laps.) of
ages. If the Emperor and Empress were lineal descendants
of the oldest monarchs on record in France, it would be
abundantly foolish to argue from the one to the other—
from any Clovis, Clotaire, or Childeric, to Louis Napo.
leon ;or from Batilda or Blanche to Eugenie. But, con-
sidering what has taken place within the last seventy
years, and who the Bonapartes are, this project of a Re-
gency is singularly ill-advised. There is some tact, per•
haps, in the Constitutionnel's dwelling on the case of Ba-
tilda—the beautiful foreigner, of obscure origin, who ruled
so well during the minority of her sons, and submitted so du-
tifully afterwards as to be the.pet of the Church during life,
and canonised by it after her death. But when she is set up
as a precedent for making the Empress Eugenie Regent in
case of widowhood while her son is a Minor, there can be
no doubt that the French people will turn from the resem-
blances to the differences of the two instances. As the
case stood, with all the advantages of medivsl influences
about it—when hereditary monarchy was as much a mat-
.

* This word in Socialist slang weans tho guillotine,

inas
tor of course as the snprousaoy cf the Pope, and pat
were the property of their ruters—Batilda could not FO.
vein at all except through the bishops, and by ll
Pure a.°olll'
the support of the people against the nobles by the an
tion of slavery ; and it was only for ten years that
could keep up the struggle. The Church and the poore
adored her ; and their wot ship, sustained by her profession
' of lowliness, kept her on her precarious seat for ten years_
By that time the nobles would wait no longer, but forced
' her into a convent, where' it was her highest praise
that she forgot that she had ever been loyal and a niter.
It was avowedly for this humiiity, and not for her regal
function--as Abbess, and not as Regent of France—that
The most J.
she was canonised by Pope Nicholas I.
ventive imagination in all France can hardly make
such a parallel between Batilda and Eugenie as wi
servo as an apology for a serious political arrangement.
There was a very flattering speech of the Pope's recipe her
the Empress when the golden rose was presented tob
the other day. She is the "dear daughter, as her hue and
!,
is the " beloved eldest sou," of the Church ; bu"tre
Church cannot carve out the fortunes and appoint ,
destinies of its favourites as it could in the days of Cloys
11. and Batilda. As for Blanche of Castille, she Was
ruler by idiosyncracy ; and she did not wait for the re-
gency to exercise her genius. She shared the governinit
virtually with her father-in-law. When it came into h
r
hands as Regent she also (like every female regent PehrialPs
on record) governed by means of the clergy.
S
pet cardinal, like Anne of Austria, and was thus enabled
to make head against the opposition of the nobles. "`'
held the
and
dy thes
e n:
the hope 6aYnacil Tatrteaacshu
people • yet with all these she had to take the:field in poesr
sou, and to conduct a siege in the depth
mrye,nttheaffat
in peril of the loss of everything from the proud
and now distributing her sentences of death among them,
or procuring their excommunication from Rome. Flevind
ohoeurbaorfas
this a
a.
parallel can be established between a regency like
that of the Empress Eugenie in the present condition
n
Rome and France, we must leave it to the Constitution
of winter —Lev,
el
to show.
being "ruled by the distaff"—that is, of female se, es.
It is true that in the old times France had a horrorvof.
reigns ; and that yet France permitted' female regencleas
One reason was, the Constitutionnel states, that there vr
danger of usurpation when a man was regent, and none
when a woman filled the office. It is also tree, as alleged
that the maternal affection was considered a safer glib%
rantee of good government than any other that cowl
ordinarily ordinarily obtained. Bat the otaission to state why this
guarantee is not of the sort required in our day is a cu re
ous revelation of the existing Imperial view of the natu
of monarchy in France. A mother made the best regent
formerly, as mothers now make the best guardians a hoes
of estates, iu which the mother has no inheritance-
empire was in old days an estate, to be administere
d
wisely for the honour and profit of the heir. An auxiliary
to this aim, the poace and prosperity of the eole
landed
to to be considered, in the same way as true eeps opf
lee.,
property now promote the welfare of tenants and consiaerf
the state of the labourers. The Corzatitutionnet speaks
the difficulties and perils of women in the feudal and Inuit
' tary period of society, petting forward the picture]
quarrelsome nobles, but keeping back that of the don It's
armed Church—with its spit itnal thunder and fly
' lightning of the sword, and that of the trusssee,
always purchaseable by the fullest treasury, were especial
pleased to be protected by the Church, and the throne-
The lady Regent of those days—whether her sphere sese,ai
empire or Is baronial domain—was usually sufficient' la
informed of the few rule principles of government the
known. With these in her mind, the key of the treasurY
at her girdle, and the priest at her elbow with the law, °,ll
his tongue and the pen in his hand—with the people
eyes waiting upon her, and all they had being more hers
the
than their own—the lady of the castle or lady Avis
palace held an office, when the husband was in the
Land or in Paradise, which, however difficult, was entirely
practicable, and suited to the spirit and modes of thought
s
of the age. Whether such an example is any fair precedenst
for our time—and especially in France—is a very differe!3 in
matter, and we doubt whether a man could be found
all France who could sincerely declare his opinion that fla
precedent of a regency in all history is applicable to t
case of the Empress Eugenie, and the infant who was bar
tised the other day.
The hereditary quality is absent from the sovereignty
to be guar.ad here ; and so is the possession sal a:
istration of the empire as a property, and the oa‘,,,hia
acquiescence of the people in the sovereign rule.
child's great-uncle was a soldier of fortune, who raised
himself to power by corrupting and perverting ap
v.dution in which the ancient monarchy perished. Th
child's father pretends to have been seated en "
he
throne by universal suffrage. If the pretension 1"
true, the succession must be essentially a matter of tiell,ar:
sal suffrage also, and subject to the uncertainties of els'
tive monarchy—uncertainties which are hardly likely, to
weather the storms of a long minority If the pretenerin
is not a true one—if the suffrages of the ench nation
were not fairly taken- if there was (and who does not be'
lieve that there was ?) a manufacture of " Ouis," and
suppression of " None—if there is at this moment se/
considerable number of Frenchmen disaffected to the 14”
poleon of the day—where are the old securities of heredi•
tary monarchy? The truth is, monarchy is now in EarePe
the most insecure of all positions, except where it rests
on
the broad basis of constitutional Government. The!!
is no ruler so secure as the Queen of England, beesna
her rule is the simple expression of the national thong"'
and will : and there is no ruler in Europe so inseour.
as the Emperor of the French, because his position ie
the furthest from constitutional, while it is not graced. 151
any charms of ancient tradition. The function is hard
enough for him, even with his remarkable idiesynerasi.
He can deport men by hundreds without trial to Cayenne,
(" not sent there to live " as his agents say); he can V"
the Boulevards cleared by cannon when it suits his con'
venience ; he can stifle the press, put down thought with
the right hand, and lock up feeling behind his patent pad'
lock ; he can make and annul laws out of his own beat
drive his finance aslyssausos 5, sis.s descruus
Aso., aria race the prospect of years of difficulty and peril,
discontent and famine; he can hold on his march over
ground which he knows to be mined in all directions; but
can he assume, while bal acing himself by a tremendous
effort, on his footing of peril, that his posterity walk
safely over this insecure grounds, or that his de*
licate and beautiful wife can guard them on it ?
can do all this, but it cots him some efforts
If she can rule France without a constitution,
without a parliament, without hereditary prestige, or
popular support, or a foil treasuy, or the alliance of an
all-powerful priesthood, she will he such a woman as the
world never saw, and such an ono as the French nation
will assuredly not tolerate; and if she cannot govern ur
der such conditions, her son cannot retain the throne- In
any case, the function is not one for the Empress. French'
men cannot but how this. All possible pains are
taken to prevent the French people fiorn understanding
the politics of their day ; but their history is their owes
and the truths it records cannot be taken from them. J'
Passable gulfs of revolution lie open between the Batik'
of old and the Eugenie of to-day ; and mountains of diffi-
culty stand between the Empress of to-day and the future
when she may be the dowager of the last of the royal NO'
tives whose vicissitudes have made the Tuileries a lodging'
house, and the French crown a popinjay tobe
the boldest or most skilful archer in the political gamey ofthe nineteenth century.