Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-08-24

Edwnrd About ON the Liberty ofthe French
Il Press-Adroit Aranment in ito fiehaIG
! Edward About, the well-known author OF
! the Question Romaine and La Carte de Eit-
rope has recently begun, or renued rather,
aseries, as he styles them, Of 'Tetters from
agood young man to his cousin Madeleine
viz: The Opinion Nadoaale. In late letter
he speaks of the Liberty of the Press, from
which we make one or two extracts: q
The Emperor Napoleon III, who has been
chosen to reign over France, is assuredly OF
my opinion concerning the liberty Of the
Press. Although born in the Palace of Tuil.
cries, he was writer long before he was
! Emperor. He has had his hands full of new
and adventurous truths, and he opened his
hands widely. Like ourselves he has felt the
cbafng Of the legal fetters on thought; his
writings have been stopped at the Custom
house and seizedby the police; he has in his
time cursed these obstacles and dreamed of
the liberty Of the Press. When he reperuses
his complete works, which, thank God have
not yet seen their last Nume, he must feel
Just like the least of us professional men, a
noble and liberal pleasure in reading his
thoughts unmutilated.
He is, then, like ourselves, for the liberty
Of the press, and will never believe that
his rapid advancement can have made him
forget the legitimate aspirations and the
sacred rights of the author. He will GER
tainly restore to us that freedom of speech
of which he himself makes so noble a use
when he writes to NJ. de Persigny. He will
restore it. for he has promised to do so. Per-
haps the thing would have been done al
ready, were it not for certain objections
which the Emperor hears from those about
him. He is told that the liberty of the press
can only be the crowniug of the imperial
edi6cc, and that several stories are yet to be
built. There is much to be done, say they.
An cdiice of military grandeur, frank diplo-
macy, of equality and prosperity, of peace at
home and abroad, can not be finished in a
day; and they who press for the crowning,
without giving us time to consolidate the
base; are those who would like to see the
edifce come down altogether.
Let the French name be respected in Eu-
rope; let religion neither persecute nor be
rersecuted, and let every one be able to get
living by his labor; and they will always
vote and fight for Napoleon III, and his pos
terity. 1t would take vast number, in
deed, of leading articles, paragraphs, ON dts
and temttctons, to shake the fidelity of these
honest people-who, by the way, seldom
read any thing but the almanac.
Workmen, peasants and soldiers are, and
long will be, strangers to those details of
daily politics which are discussed in journals
l except the Paris workmen, who. both as
regards education and circumstances, are in
reality burghens. As to the 5ourgeoisie, that
lettered minority, they are no doubt sincerely
attached to the liberty of the press. What
man having wherewithal to live but rubs bis
hands with glee when he reads in his news |
paper good spicy attack upon this or that |
act of government? Where is the good-easy,
peaceably man Of property who has not felt |
a thrill of admiration at seeing well-execu- |
ted charge by serted column of journalists |
against some crying abuse2 He reads the
article over again to his family, sends the
paper to his friends, asks particularly to have
it back again, puts it ON one side for future
perusal, and Oips Ia H5erte de Ia pressel
Childishness, this? Perhaps so. But this
mind.