Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-06-07
NAP0LE0NIC IDEAS.

poleonic book, and betrayS itself at first sigh
being bound in the imperial livery, green ar
gold with bees rert Ct orseme GaJeHye,. As f
the contents, it cannot but be airhi .Eapeleoni
just as in arithmetic number multiplied b
itself produces its own square. Napoleon til
first commented and cApoundcd by Napolco
the third, results into powerful concentrate
extract, the Nicotine, the Prussjc och Of Napc
lconism; let then, those who want to know
and dare, venture in it for it can be done safely
There is no banc without an ahtilotc. and Il
Cato says in his soliloquy:
Thus am LOUDLY armed Ny lie and lra,h.
Ny bane and antido:e are both before me-"
Our antidote is sovereign, it never fails
tits talisnanic and still real; it consists of fiv
letters. Il nice odd number, nWn,ero Mps imoo,-
gHdct; only five letters that are to rcplac
five others, put .r;'cts wherever You lind M,n
and the trick is over; You are safe from bcin
converted TO the Napoeonic creed and cal
walk ncombuStible as SalamanGer through
its flames.
! From the first lines We lind ourselves in III,
very heart of the country We intend to explore
! Decidedly, the present Emperor was twenty
years ago, when writing his book in Carlton
Terrace no less matter-oi-act man than now
when penning his DEGREES from the TuillcrcS
There is nothing more significant and strikin.
than those few dedicatory lines. The frs
noun that we find in them is destiny, the scconl
Jirth, the third crsais:: then comes THE nephew
Of the Emperor and that is Louis Napoleon
c"prpie-a perfect likeness Of the man, past
present and future. "lf the destiny which
my birth prcsagcd had hot been changed by
events, |, nephew Of the Emperor. should
have been one of the defenders of his throne,
and propagator of his ideas That is the
beginning Of a preface Of twenty lines, and
here is the end of the same: ENEMY Of all
absolute theories and Of all moral dependence.
(ala how tiuc.l have no engagement with
any party any sect, or an5 government Ny
voice is free, as my thought, AMI ! love free.
dom lJuly, ls3e.D
Louis Napoleon never forgot his origin nor
lost sight Of his prospects Being asked, lu-
ring his trial at the House Of Peers, what WAS
his right to wear the grand cross Of the Legion
OF Honor, which shoae on hi, breast, the re.
ply was. Il found it in my cradle in the Tuc.
re>." His attempt, Of Boulogne and Stras.
hourg have been "iicn ridiculcd: and well
they may be, if one choose, to look at them as
military expeditions. But how wisely devised,
if considered aS Il means to have himself Oil.
raly. and by the hands Of his own enemies.
criStcncd a> L nephew Of the Emperor, aud
uctcndcr to his succession
The first chapter treats of governments in
general, and the saying of the French phiosO-
phcr Pascal. "thc human race is a man who
never dies and always advances towards per
tcction," is the principle put forth and acted
upon. and consequence Of it is that govern.
overcome the obstacle, ~: y :..re ode its march
Progress never disappears, but it is often dis.
placed: it goes from the government to the
governed. At the day in which he was writ.
Ing. the Prince says he noticed but two govern.
monts fulfilling well their providential mission:
one at the extremity Of the New World. the
other at the extremity Of the Old Word, the
United States and Russia. We will not DENY
that that appreciation can bear the test of
closer examination, and il anybody "-"., 90
ascertain how far the policy Of the exile has
survived in the brain Of the Emperor, let him
compare with his late speech Of the opening of
the Chambers, the lines ending the chapter,
"soon will arrive the day, when in order to
reign over France, it will be understood that
her part is to cast into the scales of all treaties
her sword of Brennlls on the side Ofcivilzaton.'
The next chapter is devoted to general ideas
and we are told that Napoleon /, on arriving up
the stage OF the world, saw that he had to
make himself the documentary executor cf tic
reroi"tion, which part he altered sometimes
into that of the cxccutioncr thereof Never
theless we must recollect that even the present
Emperor prctends also to be the shield of the
ideas Of 1899, which. after having overturned
Europe, will end by securing its repose. An
other Napolconic axiom for governing is that
yo"r f5r shouM r,spond to th"t Of tie p'cpte.
\ contrary, and surely more laudable princi-
plc than that of NJ Guizot, who erected un-
popularity to the height of principle i'll mat
tiers OF government.
The third chapter is the most interesting,
though not the less Objectionable. 1t treats of
the home policy, the question Of the Interior,
and purports not only to palliate the faults OF
the Emperor, but even TO make all apotheosls
of his system; and let it he understood. that
Napoleon is credited for all the good work of
the three revolutionary assemblies. Cons;itu-
ante. Convention and Legislative, whilst those
same assemblies are sometimes made RESPONSE
bic for the mishaps Of later times when they
,t, 1,o1 .n,unl IN nyict With tbiS "A.
s,riction we will try sketch of the panegyric
Of the uncle by the nephew.
At the epoch when Napoleon arrived at pow
er the true genius Of legislation consisted in
Judging by a coup T"a. Of the relations which
existed between the past and the present, be-
tween the present and the future, and it was
necessary to solve the following questions:
What ideas hal passed away never to re
turn:
What IDEAS must ultimately triumph:
What ideas are susceptible Of immediate ap'
plication. and will hasten the reign Of those
which arc destined to prevail:
The Emperor made by rapid glance, tins
distinction, aud confined his action to the rcall'
zation of present possibilities. His ultimate
object however, waS-1.ibcrty. The Napolc'
onic spirit was neither exclusive nor intolcrant
The Emperor always protesscd this maxim
..that in politics evils should be remedied, not
rercnscd and consequently recalled thousands
Of cmigrants and scores Of prescribed Of the
highest mark, such a. Carnot, Portals, Simeon
Barrcrc, vadier. etc. He placed in the llotc
des Inyalides by the side Of llochc, Soubert
Marceau. Dugolnmicr and Dampierre, the sta
tue Of Conde, the ashes Of Turennc, and th'
ration Of a great citizen, Lafayette, an in1i>
pcnsabe condition Of a treaty. He granted
pension to the sister Of Robespierrc'
as he did to the mother of the Duke Of Orleans
We will remark, moreover, that Napoleon Iao
been acquainted and very friendly with kooe c
spierrc, Jr.. whose friendship proved very nse l
full to him in the beginning Of his career All a'''
saved him from death for not having acc"
ratcly obcyed the orders OF the ."ns" o"1. y" :,
The following passage Of the mf.av',t@ -. ~
Ill., i ,ycIl tnown lie saws Of RobcSpierre