The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-02-10
Correspondence of the London Chronicle.

TARls, InurSOny evening, Jan. 10, 1907.
| The new constitution of France is now before
the world, aud it will be seen that it is precisely
what might be expected in the circumstances
The people of France have entrusted Louis Ma.
poleon with the division of power, and he has
kept the lions share for himself. They have
allowed him to fix the precise amount of liberty
that ought to be administered to them, and he
has determined that it shall be given in homno.
pathic doses. They have abdicated all their &C.
quired rights--the social conquests for which
! they have undergone sixty years of revolution
in his favor, and left him as completely and alb
solutely master of France as ever the Emperor
was when at the highest pinnacle of his glory
And for what has all this been done? Louis
NapoeOn's excuse for the revolution of the I'd
of December was, that he wished to restore uni
versal suffrage. He has done SO; but he has,
at the same time, annihilated the power of the
representatives whom the people have to elect
The new legislative assembly will be utterly
poweress The Senate has some appearance
of power but it is a mere semblance, for the
President is allowed the privilege of swapping
the Senate with his own creatures every time
that it exhibit any appearance ofndependencc.
have already informed you that the constitu-
ton may be considered the work of Louis Ma
poleon alone, and the labor was not great, for
it is almost literal copy of the constitution of
the year VIII. The five juris-consuts whose
assistance was called in, were not allowed to
say word on the fundamental principles of the
document; they were merely allowed to make
some observations on details. 1t was by their
advice that the powers Gf powers they can be
called conferred upon the Senate were made so
extensive, especially as regards the right of OPP
posing the PRONUNCIATION of laws contrary to the
constitution, and incompatible with individual
liberty; and also the part with respect to the
immortality of magistrates Cart. 2O); but even
in their most extensive powers the senators are
entirely subjected to the will of the President,
who alone proposes, sanctions, and promuI gates
laws. senatus.consulta, &c But it appears that
even to the slight extent of making magistrates
immovable, Louis Napoleon did not give way
till it was made clear to him that his power over
the magstracy would be as great as if they were
movable, because, although he could not dismiss
them from the BENCH he could remove them
from one court to another; and if they should
oppose the government be could send the mag
strates of the courts of Paris to the departments,
or even to Algeria or the colonies.
There is but one opinion here as to the merits
of the constitution. All the leaders of the par
Elementary and constitutional parties, and even
MANY Of those who had rallied to the cause of
the President, are in state of CONSERVATION,
and declare that they will not offer themselves
rs candidates for the new Assembly on any &C
count All of them consider the constitution
az the complete humiliation of representative
institutions, and speak of the whole system in
augurated by Louis Napoleon as disguised, and
very thinly disguised, despotism In point of
fact, not one of the so-called constituted bodies
will enjoy shadow of independence, and any
Of them may at any given moment be DESTROYED
by the executive power, which overtops all of
them. Thus the Senate may have the number
OF its members nearly doubled at the will of the
President, and the more necessitous of the mem
bers of the Senate may be gained over by
promises of salaries, which is means of bribery
that the President retains in his own hands
There will be only ten or twelve fcally indie
pendent, because er oDfcio, senators--tbe card-
nails and the admiras. At present there are
three cardinals, the Archbishop of Lyons, the
Bishop of Bourges, and the Archbishop of Tou-
louise; six marshas, namely Jerome Bonaparte,
Gerard Excelmas, Relic, Valiant, and Harispe !;
and two admrals, de Mnckau ana Roussin. The
rest can all be chosen by Louis Napoleon when
ever he pleases. The power of the legislative
corps is completely annulled. 1t is not even
stated in the constitution that the election by
universal suffrage is to be direct, so that Louis
Napoleon may still make il (by organic law by
two degrees. Besides this, the sttings are vir-
tually to DO secret for they will open to the
public only when they are of no interest and
as five memters can always declare the sitting
secret one, there will never be any difficulty in
arriving at that result Another part shows how
little real power is to be given to the Assembly
The president of the Assembly and the vice
president are to nominated by Louis Napoleon
They will be, in reality, public functonaries de-
pendent upon the crown--I mean upon the