Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1852-01-09
From the Illustrated London News.
E1,.eueI, Iccvo.utioR.

From Illustrated
rhe French Iscvo:ution.
%, cars that have elapsed since the mem
In the % If 1889, France has experienced ma
orable ovolntions and tried many different and
ny straIiSo forms of government Until the I'd
contra Ly 1851 it might have been said OF her
Of DeGe'b had suffered every kind of calamity, made
thar ,sible experiment in liberty and IN anarchy,
eg{ Keen subjected to every KIND OF deSpousm from
and &c tbo most sangunary of mobs to that OF the
tha u orciless of single tyrants. But strange and
noJ' rs her previous revolutions have been with
deP" xcention of the first, they all sink into ut
the ";on;fcance when compared with that astound-
@r noy9lution which has been operated by the cool
ma and iron hand of M. Louis Napoleon Bona
D5" History offers no example OF such audac1ty
5t with which the accepted heir and represen-
@.~o IF the BonaparteS planned his coup detot, or
tau,I b ferocitv cold. infexbe, comprehensive and
@.D;lyinc as that with which lie executed it, HAY
VT rcsoIred npOn the act, and calculated to Inc MI
u@2test fraction what it would cost, having MADE
I,,soIf sure of his instruments, and resolved that
r':,ro was impossible he never allowed himself to
i";,oto There were moments last week when one
to If fear or of mercy might have led to results
b;cb would have consigned him to the dungeon or
sof,Id: but lie remained stern and unyieldIng as
sto and did his work with as total an absence of
f.oInc as if he had been steam engine and not
IAN Compared with his deSpOtism, that OF his
;nerial uncle mldness itself. European histo-
~ Fofers no parallel to it. If we wish to find any
t;uc like it. we must look to Persia to Morocco,
boTo human heads may roll from the shoulders
.bot hear them. at the nod and caprice of ire
:nsihle autocrat, whose word is law, and whose
SLIGHTEST burst of anger of speech may be death
to myradS.
F1r the present, France is completely in his pow
or There is not particle OF liberty OF speech or
ocfion remaining and the press is mute under the
sg,oc of the bayonet if the art of printing were
~ invented Yet there can be no doubt or at least
there is none to minds, that the result Of the
onnpa1 to the people, which is to be made between
the Nth and DIST of this month. will be an acqui-
cscence in the dctatorial power which NJ Louis Ma
noIeon and his interruptions and obedient army
have assumed and that five six millions of votes
will be recorded in favor of the Presidents reten-
ton of Office for the ten years which he demands or
for life if he insists upon it. Indeed there is nc
choice left It is Louis Napoleon and comparative
repose on the one hand, the most fearful anarchy
and civil war and train of calamites which might
annal the bOdest Imagination on the other. If So.
and while adding our feeble voices to the general in
dignation that is heard throughout Europe we, If
common with others, may we'll ask, whether after
ALL the French nation not rightly served They
invited despotsm, and they have got it. They have
got it, and they fatter it. Already the symptom
Of adulatiOn abundant, and the bourgeoiSe, a.
we'll as other classes, prove that in the full blaze
his success they will not only strcw flowers in thu
halfway of the cOnqueror, but that they are read
to crouch beneath his hand, and to grOvel in tn
dust at his feet Their present subiugation woulC
almost seem BETTING retribuliOn, for the choic
which so many millions of people so bndly made 0
Louis Napoleon as their ruler. A man who haC
shown no wisdom, who had given no proofs of geniu
or patriotism, of talent who was only know
as the representative of great military conquero
and mighty civil despot, and one who had commit
ted two most reckless. and to all outward appearan
ces insane acts-was suddenly invested, for hi
names sake, with the chief power and authority i
country that believed itself to be free 1t
olvt ho dat thoft rIOc
" had talent, though nobody knew it-whO was sa
gaciOus and far-seeing, as we'll as daring and sell
cOnfdent-shOuld have interpreted the choice thu
made to amount to appreciation Of that military ty
ranny from which his derived its great
est if not only splendOr: and that he should hav
imagined that the French nation had wfullv put it
head into the moose, and asked better than to b
tethered he Wllled it, OF led whittier it please
him. When we reflect coolly upon the events
the week, inclined to believe that this a.
founding tyranny was but the necessary and inev
table result of all previous revolutions and an e2
periencC which France fated to undergo. TIL
French. as we all know, are e-eminently militia
ry people. Nothing fatters them so much as gil
ry' Their men of all classes strut for half the
lives as soldiers, leaving work and business
the women They are moreover trained to habi
which make them the veriest deSpots over the wea
ana the most abJect of slaves when they find the
have got master. Another deplorable circumstan,
in the recent history of France should be forgo
ten, and 1t is one for which that unhappy COUNT
must suffer long and keenv. 1t has no religion. ]
faith, no abiding principle of any kind. The tone
public opinion is low. Louis Philippe degraded II
people by the sordid selfshness of his system of 90
ernment He acted upon the principle that ever
man had his price; that no virtue or genius W
proof against q clever corruption that honesty w
atarce; that the people about him were all knave
and that the only mode of governing such knave
as ne imagined them and all other men to be, w
10 rule them by cunning more acute than their ow
and by knavery more subtle and calculating.
acted upon this principle and fell but the unha
ry seeds which he sOwed in the national mind pr
uuceu their fruit. There is scarcely a public m;
OF any note IN France who has not shown that
would intrigue and re-intrigue for his own Interest
OoNVouS OF the higher interest of the nation. Ev,
InoSe VINO nVeigh most loudly against the acts of \
RRI!aParte nave no sympathy for such
4HleIS ana those, under his unlucky guidance pr
VOked the aggression of the President Had the
peeh zen honest men in the Assembly the
9eeh tar and just public opinion in the country
had the French people understood what true liner
meanS-had they been a nation that could discuss
great principle without thinking it necessary
Knock down or murder conscientious opponent !
SSonaparte might have tried his coup d'eot in vain
Such success as his would have been impossible
mong sober minded and really free people
But France is not all rotten. The great ideas
10y, 1880 and 1913 not dead The Preside
mas FOUND 1t comparatively easy to make q conque
Of the Legitimist and Orleanst factions but
WORK has only begun. The youth of France are me
Hooie minded than their progentors, and there
heaven In the mass. which sooner or later will pC
raue 1t all. In the meantime there are the since
republicans yet to be dealt with-possibly minori
IN France. but the only minority that is likely to
0ohe majority, and to be thorn in the side al
poison IN the cup of the conqueror. Sincerity brec
u"uauclSm and it needs no mower of prOnhecv to