The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-22
CARL soHURz,s TURNING POINT,
IT Was Louis Napoleen's Coup d !, Etat That
Sent Him to America.

IT Was Louis Napoleen's Coup d. Etat That
Sent Him to America.
Now an event occurred which gave to
my fate an, unexpected and decisive turn,
says the late Carl Sohurs In his reminis-
cences, now appearing In McCtGres Mdoa-
The reports which We 1.-THE German revo
~lutionary refugees In Londonl had received
from our friends In Paris made US believe
that Louis Napoleon, tho President Of the
French Republic, was an object Of general
| contempt, that he played q really ridiculous
figure with his manifest ambition to restore
the empire in France and to mount the
throne. 'i
All Of q sudden on December 2, 1851, the
news arrived in London that Louis Napoleon
had actually undertaken the long expeoted
coup d'etef. = 81
Enating reports arrived In rapid sue
ceasion. Members Of the National Assembly
had tried to organize resistance, but were
soon dispersed by military force. At lest
the news came that the people too, were
beginning to build barricades.
It 10 impossible to describe The state OF
mind produced among the edles by these
reports. We Germans ran to tbs meeting
places Of the French clubs becauss We ex-
pected to receive there the dearest and most
reliable tidings.
In these clubs We found q feverish ex-
element bordering upon madness. Our
French friends shouted and shrieked and
gasticulated and hurled op~probrious names
at Louis Napoleon and cursed his helpers,
and danced the Carmagnole and sang
sCa ira.'
The most glorious bulletins Of the progress
OF the street fight went from mouth to
mouth. Some of them were proclaimed
by wild looking revolutionary exiles who
had jumped upon tables, and frantic Screams
Of ~applause welcomed them. So 1t went
on a night, a day, and again a night. Sleep
was out Of the question. There was hardly
time for the necessary meals.
The reports Of victory wore followed by
others that sounded less favorable. They
could not and would not be believed. They
were sthe dispatches Of the usurper and
his slaves: "thsy lied: they could not
do otherwise than lie.'
The messages became n, % n more
gloomy. The bsrricades which the people
had erected had bean taken BY the army
without much trouble. On tho fourth, Q
serious battle occurred on the streets, but
there, too, the troops had remained masters
Of the field
y Then the soldiery rushsd into the houses
and murdered without discrimination or
compassion. At last there was the quiet
of tn 9 graveyard tn the great city. The
popular rising had been comparatively
insignificant and powerless.
The usurper, who had but recently been
represented az q weak minded ~sdvsnturer,
the mere nephew Of his uncle, had succeeded
in subjecting Paris. The Departments did
not move; there was no doubt the Republic
was at an end, and with Ito downfall van
ished also the prospect Of the new revolu-
ton ary upheaval which, on the impulse
coming from France, was expected to
spread over the whole European continent.
Stunned by all these terrible reports,
We quietly returned to our quarters. After
I had recuperated by q long sleep I tried to
become clear In my mind about the changed
stu alton Of things. It was q foggy day
and I went out because I found II impoa-
sible to ait still within my four walls. =,
Absorbed IN my thought, / wandered on
without any definite aim and found myself
at last In Hyde Park, whore. t Fits Of
the chilly air, I sat down on q bench. One
thing seemed to me certain. All the efforts
connected with the revolution OF is48 were
now hopeless; o period Of decided and gen.
eral reaction was bound to come.
with this conviction my own situation
became equally clear to me. It would have
been childish to give myself UP to further
illusory hopes Of q speedy return to the
fa~therfand. To continue our plottings and
thereby bring still more mischief upon 9th.
ers appeared to me Q reckless and wicked
game. I had long recognized the exile's
ne 10 be empty and enervating. Itfelt an
Irresistible impulse not only to lind for my
self a we'll regulated activity, but also TO
do somsthing really and truly valuable for
the general good.
BIt where and howl The fatherland
was closed : O me. England was TO me o
foreign country and would always remain
so. Where, them .To America 7 said to
myself. THE ideala Of which / have
dreamed and for which I have fought I
shall find tbereSH not fully realised,
hopefully struggling for full realization.
In that struggle I shall perhaps DO able
TO take eome part. It IL q new world, q
free world, q world OF great ideas and ains.
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