Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-05-18
rxa.,sz AND raxrcn sArrRE.

HE0xlSR AND fREHc8 satire.
TN the occasion Of Louis Napoleon's late
visit to London. Victor Hugo. tbs somewhat
celebrated author. wrote him a congratula-
tory adi-css--of course, sa,iricaily conceiv-
Ell AMI expresssi--hat decidedly Ia fran
cats. We notice that seine OF our eotem-
sariea are praising Monsieur Hugo's pro-
tucs;c - something very remarkable in the
way Of s,rong sarcastic writing. To our
judgment it 10 too Frenchiied, and deals in
toe many misty hyperboles to have much
effect upon an English understanding
That is the way, however, tina, they manage
such things in France; but, for the purpose
of showing the difference between French
and English satire, we viii quote part of
Victor Hugo's diatribe, and contrast it nth
an extract from Iunius, who, next to Swift
was the mightlest master Of viiuperative
pen:
"But We are told to keep silent, and it is
added that unless We do 50. we, the exiles,
win be expelled from hence That would
be just. To be turned out of the place to
which You come, would. in fact. be strictly
in order. There would be something very
Ike glory for the exiles in such fact, which
would, moreover. be politically logical
The best welcome OF the proscriber is the
persecution of the prescribed. This is
written in Machiavel and in your eyes.
The sweetest caress TO traitor is insult to
bis victims. The splitting a, Jesus was
smile for judas. Let this, therefore, be
done a. they please. II we are TO be per-
secuted, 20 much the better. Whatever
form this persecution might take, we shall
be proud of il, and while you will have
Cheers" we will cheer it. There is no.
thing new in this. To the dR Cesar ., of
aduistion, the reply Of mankind's echo was
constantly an are dolor. In Whatever form
that persecution shows itself. il cannot cause
to disappear your hideous shadow from be-
fore the eyes Of history and our contempla-
ton. 1t win not make as forget your gov
eminent Of coup d'stdf-that catholic and
military banquet-that feast of the mitre
and the shako-that ront of the seminary
and the barrack-that orgy of disordery
uniforms and tipsy frocks-that bacchanalia
OF bishops and corporals, in which nobody
knows what he is about-in witch Sibour
swears while Magnan is at his pray ers-in
which the priest takes soup with sword
while the soldier drinks his wine from pyx
we EshaH never cease TO keep in sight the
fsundations OF your "destiny''-a grand ma
ton extinct-the light Ct world blown
ont-the desolation-the mourning-the
gigantic false oath - Montemartre - the
mountain on your sinister horizon, the i'm
movable cloud of your murders on the
enamP de Mars-that guillotine of 1854,
end the darkly rolling waves of the ocean
ted by the CO pses of Cayenne. Oh the
curse OF the future is an ocean, and rour
Eiemory-horrid corpse-will be eternally
tossed to and fro in its dark pillows. Oh !,
you man Of desolaton, have Won any idea of
the responsibility OF souls! What i. your
tomorrow here on earth and beyond in the I
grave! Who is waiting for you. Do you
believe in God. What are yoai
Sometimes, at nights, while swake-for I
she sleep Of the mother country is reason /
for the exiie's being sleeples.-I see gloomy
France on the horizon. ] gaze at the ster- /
nal 6rmament-that face OF eternal justice. |
] question the shadows Of the night about !
you. ask the darkness of God TO tell me
its opinion on the darkness Of your making,
and | pity you, sir, when in presenee Of
the formidable silence Of the Eternal"
So writes the Frenchman,-but contrast
what he says with the following address
which Junius made to George the Third,
and You can Immediately detect the differ
ence between the frippery Of French style,
and the home-,hrusts of Anglo-Saxon
earnestncs: addressing the king, this cele-
bra,ed writer says
sSr, you alone are the author of the
greatest wrong to your subjects and { your
self. Instead of reigning 10 the hearts Of
your people, instead of commanding their
lives and fortunes through the medium Of
their elections: has not the strength of the
crown, whether influence or prero -ative,
been uniformly exerted, for eleven years
together, to support narrow pitiful system
ofgorernment which defeats itself, and an
ssers no purpose of real power, profit, or
personal satisfaction to you. With the
greatest inappropriate revenue of any
prince in Europe, have we not seen you re-
duced to such vile and sordid distresses, as
would have conducted any other man to 4
prison. With gree military, and the
greatest naval power in the known world
have not foreign nations repeatedly insult
ed you with impunity. Is it not notorious
that the vast revenues, extorted from the
labor and industry Of your subjects, and
given you to do honor to yourself and 10 the
nation, are dissipated in eorrupting their
representatives. Are you prince Of the
house of Hanover, and do you exclude all
the leading Wing families from your coun-
cilsl Do you profess to govern according
to law, and is it consistent with that profes-
sion to impart your confidence and affection
20 those men only who, though now, per,
hap., detached from the desperate Cause OIL
the pretender, are marked in this country
by an hereditary attachment to high and a..
bitrary prin ciples Of government Are you
80 in'atuated a. TO take the sense of your
people from the representation Of ministers
or from the shouts OF a mob, VIGOROUSLY
hired 70 surround your coach, or stationed
At a theatre! And if you are, in reality
ths, public man, tina, king, that magistrate
which these questions suppose you to be, is
il any answer 70 your people, TO say, that
smon. 10 II domestics you are gotsd.'larnor.
Cd, that TO one lady you are faithful, that 10
your children you are indul9ent! Sir, the
man who addresses you ia these terms, il
your beat friend he would willingly hazard
Il