The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-02-17
RICHMOND, vA.s


Tuesday Morning. February ~, s32:
7aa.Coafiscatioa Of de Property belonging
to tse Orleans Family.
Tie decree Of Louis Napoleon, by which
the operation allsded to in the above head
ing was effected, issued without the sane.
ton of the Senate, is the most tyranncai
of all the acts which he has yet perpetrated'
There was no reason why he should moi
"A well have copfiscaa,ed the property OF
any other individual whatever, nor would s"ch
confsc alton have been more entirely at war;
not only with common JUSTICE out WIN .ae
law of the land over which he pres'des. Inc
v.Iuc of these estates, said to be $ou,ooo,ooo,
donh,,sss had a strong effect in producing
tho decree. In the meantime, we observe
that Messieurs Mon,alembert and Dupin,
un.ble 10 resist this high-handed tyranny,
have resigned their offices, and that, in
spi,c of the censorship Of the press, their
letters Of resignation have been published
They both bear very hard upon the President,
who, they say, has in no instance consulted the
consultative commission, of which they were
members NJ. Dupn was one of the testament
tary executors of Louis Philippe, and says that
the value of the property in question has oeen
greatly oyer.estimated. He saws, in his letter,
in lar, the decree violates, in its essence, the
very principle Of property In order that our
readers may judge Of the justice OF this con-
clusion. we have endeavored to state the case
as we understand il.
The Duke Of Orleans, before he was elc-
waited 10 the throne, was one of the richest men
in the world. By French law passed in 1874,
and relied on by Louis Napoleon in his decree,
all the private property of the Prince who comes
to the throne, is perpetualy united to the public
domain. On tbs 9th of August, 1880, the
Duke of Orleans was elevated to the throne,
by the tile OF" King of the French" Two
DAYS before this transaction, on the 9Th OF Au-
gust, 1890. while he was still private man, he
made donation of much the larger portion of
his private property to his children, expressly
excluding from the arrangement his eldest son
who was to succeed him as King Of the French.
Under any circumstances, it seems to US, that
he would have had a perfect right to make
this disposition, but it was subsequently
confirmed, after solemn discussion, by law,
and was acquiesced in. not only by the 60
vernnent of Louis Philippe himself, but also
by the acts of the revolution, by a decree
of the constituent assembly, and by a law
of the National Assembly promulgated on the
4th February, 1850, Louis Napoleon, himself,
being then at the head of the government. To
use the language of M. Dupin, ''pub bic right
will, special laws, contracts. all, recogni ed in
the Princes of the House of Orleans their right
90 this property"
Louis Napoleon in this decree, has not con-
fined himself to the property which was the
subject of the donation. He includes all that
descended from Madame Adelaide, the sister
of Louis Philippe, and the Duke of Bourbon,
both of whom died subsequent to the Revolu.
ton of 1880, which placed the 6rst-named in
dividual on the throne. AS the law of 1914
only embraces such property os the Prince may
have, when he comes to the throne, this, OF
course, would not come within its puryiew OF
the act, even though it had descended to Louis
Philippe himself. But il never did descend 10
him. On the contrary, it was the property of
his children, who had not come, and might
never come to the throne. By this decree,
however, Louis Napoleon has swept the whole,
under color of the law of 1914, alleging that
the donation of 9TH August, 1880, was fraudu-
lent. Even il it were, it did not affect the es-
tates of Madame Adelaide and the Duke of
Bourbon.
The law Of 1914 annexed to the public do
main, the private property of the prince coming
to the throne. AT the same time that he has
used that law as the instrument Of his tyranny,
Louis Napoleon seems to have selected the
occasion TO convince the world of his utter
contempt for it. Instead of annexing the con-
fscated property to the public domain, by the
same decree which confiscates it, he divides it
among particular recipients, thereby rendering
it OF no value to the public at large. WithaI,
he has not thought proper to consult the
courts of law, in whose hands, even by his own
constitution, rested the determination of the
matter. There could have been no cause what
ever for con6scating these estates, according
to the ideas of tonfsca,ion entertained by the
whole world. That measure is only resorted
to, as punishment for dangerous public ene-
mics. Louis Philippe, so far from being pub
lie enemy, has been dead for year, and his
heirs are most of them minors, and all of them
harmless. Taken as whole, this is the most
wanton act of tyranny, of which any modern
government, to the best of our recollection,
has been guilty. The French people, II has
been generally supposed, submitted to Louis
Napoleon, as a lesser evil than that anarchy
which was rapidly oyerspreading the country,
destroying private rights, and rendering pro-
perty insecure, and therefore of no value
When they shall have perceived that in these
partc ulars they have gained nothing, the re-
action must be immediate.
Changes in the Richmond Press.
The Times of Saturday morning contained
,t,e salutafofy of the new ed;toys xvbo ,,.,