The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-09-16


,torn now. "monarch Of all he surveys" II is true
- ht,,sn,f literary man, and has some know
-. 18th theoretically and practically, OF tho
.T,s..-. A., Int craftsmanship is his vocation
-. ..,,~.cis,ipg the Importance of literary men
..t.H;,s,iop and the benefits which they nave
,..u, man IN. world, compared with "hlch
II a.. ,,1 Thousand Nspoeons can 40 hahAihu
,.,,,d nroye but drop in the bucket IL IN no less
.n~,a;n that in the Of the French iiterah uPo"
r;s xanoleou the tact and energy OF 'he s'"'"S-
r,on have proved toe potent iof III t"e "."F0"o "
81, EMORY. and driven them completely 10 ths
wall.
.t..nusjuc enough now, when Louis Napoleon
-;r.ca the world that he IL the first OF modern
,,.,s and made himself virtually master oil Eu-
,e 10 recall the views expressed Of him upon MS
.r,t accession to power. Never was man the OBJECT
# sncb vigorous and varied assaults, especially
teem the lterati. who at last succeeded IN popu-
,arizing the idea that Louis Napoleon WAS C'ih-
b;ncd knave and idiot, the only question oelDe
,,hetber he was more knave than fool or more iooi
.hao knaye one of the most notable atta'hs' III
hoax form. of which Louis Napoleon WAS lie SUI
ject was n volume entitled Napoleon inc hit'Ie'
- victor lingo, one of the greatest dramatists and
meets of France At the time OF Its appearance IL
rr,snunounced as a book which would disturb the
hon Fifty thousand copies of the book were sold
fo,tbwjts. and eagerly deycured 1t was orna
,o,rc1 ty likeness of Napoleon. the most villain
ms f,re that was ever outside or inside pen
;,oo,;,rv Such countenance as that portrait,
y,l;us from, the bars Of jail. would make timid
mortal shrek with terror. But the portrait was
nothing 10 the text. Victor Hugo gave sketch
Of his life which in its grotesque and horrible fea
t,rcs no uaiater's pencil could approach. lie be-
Gins with the Italian instructions, touches upon the
faiure at Strasbourg. and thus describes the land
ing at Eouioenc;
AIN the 9TH Of August. 1870 rarodying the
Landing ht Cannes he dsenfbarkcd at Boulogne in
a Little cuckcd hat bringing with him a gilt eagle
At the tin Of q flag, aud live eagle in a cage.
,lcnfy Of pruClamations, and sixty lacqnays cooks
Hud crounls. disguised in uniforms bought in the
old clothes shops Of the Temple, and adorned with
Iutt0ns Of the AID regiment of the line made Mt
Brurmnren lie threw money TO the passers by in
the streets Of Rouogue. waved his hat on the point
i his sword. himself cried Long live the Emperor,
fired pistol shot at an officer. which broke three
Of tho teeth of soldier behind him, aud ran away.
lie was taken and Slooo00 III gold ana banR notes
found upon him.
Then follows Il sketch of his career In 1S4S In
that wear. on the 2lst of September, he assembled
the tribune and said: My whole life shall be CON
secrted to strengthening the Republic on the 10th
December. az the President elect, he swore solemn
~ to support the Constitution year and
eighteen DAYS afterwards, he destroyed it, annihi-
lated the legislature and the judiciary, took five
millions Of dollars out of the Bank of France
gorced the army with gold, massacred the citizens
Of Paris transported ten thousand persons to Afr
ca and CAYENNE, and exiled forty thousand Repnb-
licans Such is the sum of the offences charged
by Victor Hugo upon Louis Napoleon upon his first
DAYS accession to power, winding up the whole
tSrl.. 4
poieon Bonapartv thinks lie is mounting towards
the throne and does not the scaffod that he is
ascending"
Victor Hugo thus describes his first appearance,
when he first took the oath as member of the Ma
tional Assembly, oath the immense significance
Of which was increased by the fact that it the
only one exactcd or taken throughout the extent
If the Republic!
"a man. still young dressed in black and wearing
the star aud ribbon of the grand of the Legion
of Honor, seen hurredly to ascend the tribune.
All ewes were turned towards him. pale ysage,
of which the shaded lamps rendered prominent the
angular and bony ontlincs-a nose long and heavy,
uustachios. an eye small and Opaque, a restless
tmdity of department; such-showng resen-
blance whatever to the Emperor-wGs the citizen
Charles Louis Napoleon B0naparte."
In another portion of the work he refers again
10 the repulsve physiognomy of Louis Napoleon,
plexion, dead-fsh looking eye, and the general 'air
Of a person not quite awake" which Napoleon is
said to have Inherited from the Dutch Admiral
VerhueI, his mothers Queen IIortense, daughter
IF Josephine.) chamberlain, of whom everybody
about the French Court understands that Napoleon
is the son. Victor Hugo proceeds:
Judging of him, apart from what he calls his
necessary acts his grand acts, he is a vulgar
commonplace parsonage. puerile. theatrical, AMI
h. I'D
the summer, receive with tbs invitation an order
to bring morning toilette, and evening toll
cite. He loves fnery, fuss, feathers, embroidery
spangies grand words, high ti>iAs,-the sound, the
glitter. the tnsel and pOmp of power. In his
quality Of blood relation to the battle of Austen
litz. he dresses himself up in Generals uniform.
This man would tarnish the back ground of his
tory; he suliies its foreground. Europe, smiled
when. thinking of iayti, she saw this white Sou
Tongue appear. But there is now in Europe in
every understanding mind abroad at home
profound stupor. feeling as it were, of personal
INSULT for the European continent, whether it will
not, is Identified with France, and that which
abuses France humiliates Europe.
before the ID December, the leaders of the
Right used habitually TO say of Louis Bonaparte
he is G}iot They mistaken. Question
less, his brain s perturbed and has gaps in it. but
You discern here and there in it, thoughts con-
secutiye and concatenate. 1t is book whence
Iages have been torn Louis Napoleon has fixed
li' a; but n fixed idea is not idiotcy: he knows
what he wants, aud he goes straight on to it:
through justice, through law, through reason,
through honesty, through humanity, no doubt,
but, still. straight OH.
The constitution which Louis Napoleon swore,
on becoming President, TO support declared the in
volatility of the representatives of the people
an oath which, in less than three years after, he
outraged in the most monstrous manner. Victor
Hugo proceeds to describe, in his mastery
style the horrible massacres by which this whole
3. 4 9.
predicts that the splendid fabric of his power
strong and permanent "a it seems, will prove like
Russian river, over which heavy chariots roll.
aud npon which houses are built, but which the
suh will scatter and break mp with It's golden shafts.
1t is instructive to look back upon such remi
nisconces of Louis Napoleon, and admitting them
10 he all true what can be the power of the lite
rRti of France, when, with a magazine crowded
with such materials, they have been unable to
make the slightest impression upon the public
mind. At every new election the peasantry march
mp in solid mass 10 the support of this inlros-
ter, murderer, and tyrant! lie appeals to the
people and seven millions and half of French
mn utter a voice of thunder at the polls which
makes men forget that Victor Hugo ever wrote a
book called Napoleon the Little" lie Turns his
lace to Europe, and hereditary monarchs are
f'unocap IN hand eager to know and to do his will
Napoleon the Great never elevated France ia surh
pitch Oh continental grandeur as Napoleon the
Iht'te. 1t Is possible that he may be q monster
OF depravity-he certainly is, If Victor Hugo tells
the truth-but it is useless to deny his claims IL
intellectual pre-eminence, and that he has done
more for the prosperity, power and renown of
France, than any of the legitin,Ist monarchs, ard
all her iit.rati
Union Sentiment.
The Richmond correspondent of the New York
Herald notices rs a striking feature of the late
Presbyterian Convention held in this city, the
strong Union sentiment which peryaded it. 1t Is