308 



FRANCE. 



Senate the following explanation of the policy 

 of his Cabinet : 



For the last five or six years there has existed, in 

 the country and in the political bodies which repre- 

 sent it, a very great divergency of opinion as to 

 whether the Emperor's government was consistent 

 with a n'gime more liberal than that of 1852. On the 

 one hand, it was said, the Government cannot and 

 should not abandon the institutions_ of that year j it 

 cannot depart with impunity from its origin, which 

 is the principle of authority. All preceding govern- 

 ments fell because they had the weakness to make 

 concessions when it would have been more wise and 

 politic to resist ; experience shows that all the gov- 

 ernments which abandon themselves to those chi- 

 merical fancies will meet the same fate. To that 

 thesis it was replied that the Imperial Government 

 might and could accord a wide extension of political 

 riglits, because it had its origin in a particular fact 

 unknown to any other government, and which was 

 universal suffrage. Moreover, history shows that 

 governments have never been saved by resistance ; 

 their strength and welfare are always due to timely 

 concessions. For twelve years we have always in 

 our counsels to the Emperor's government affirmed 

 that it could and should grant the widest extension 

 to the public liberties. That language was heard, 

 and the sovereign, showing that rare example of a 

 man who is sufficient for two tasks, after having ac- 

 corded every thing to authority, generously aban- 

 doned himself to liberal principles, and instituted a 

 constitutional government. ' That is why we are 

 here. We are the representatives of that idea. We 

 were asked, at a moment not critical, but serious, to 

 put it into practice by the union of the principle of 

 authority with the most complete liberty. The task 

 was difficult, we do not deny. The conflict continues, 

 but the -character of it has been changed. Liberty 

 now exists, but a second combat has commenced. A 

 new party, composed of audacious men, earnest and 

 respectable, have risen up to oppose that Empire 

 founded on liberty. " We do not accept you," they 



and bourgeois* liberty : we are the revolution, rad 

 indefatigable, and inflexible, and we open the 

 flict." We accept the challenge, and our mission. I 

 say to our honor, will be not only to maintain the 

 conflict, but to triumph. We will triumph while 

 continuing with jealous care to represent faithfully 

 the legitimate desires of public opinion. We will 

 triumph by employing, if necessary, resistance, but 

 never reaction. 



The replies made by the Emperor to the 

 usual IsTew-Year compliments presented no 

 points of importance. The President of the 

 Corps Le'gislatif was addressed by the Emperor 

 with the following words : 



The assurances of devotion which you address to 

 me in the name of the Corps Le'gislatif render me 

 happy. Never was our good understanding more 

 necessary. New circumstances have augmented 

 your prerogatives without diminishing the authority 

 given me by the nation. In sharing the responsi- 

 bility with the great bodies of state I feel more con- 

 fident of overcoming the difficulties in the future. 

 When a traveller has gone a long journey and lays 

 aside a portion of his burden, he is not weakened, 

 but gains new strength to continue Ms march. 



The strength of the new Cabinet was soon 

 to be put to a severe test. A member of the 

 imperial family, Prince Pierre Bonaparte, had 

 sent to Henri Rochefort, the editor of the 

 Marseillaise, a challenge, for a very violent at- 

 tack upon him in the columns of that journal. 

 In return, one of the writers of the Marseil- 



laise, Grousset, sent a challenge to the prince 

 through two of his friends, Victor E"oir and 

 M. de Fonvielle. Noir and Fonvielle went to 

 the house of the prince at Auteuil, and, in con- 

 sequence of an excited conversation which 

 followed the presentation of the challenge, 

 Noir, it is reported, gave Bonaparte a blow in 

 the face. The prince, who has long been 

 known to be a man of ungovernable temper, 

 drew a revolver and inflicted upon Noir a 

 wound which soon proved fatal. This act 

 threw Paris into the wildest excitement. The 

 leaders of the radical papers endeavored to 

 rouse the wrath of the masses, and, if possi- 

 ble, to raise the standard of revolt. Roche- 

 fort, in the Marseillaise, made a ferocious at- 

 tack upon the Emperor, and called on Paris to 

 rise and annihilate all the Bonapartes at once. 

 An immense concourse of people attended the 

 funeral of Noir, January 12th, at Neuilly; but 

 the advice of Flourens, to traverse Paris with 

 the coffin and to defy the Government, which 

 had put the garrison of Paris, 80,000 strong, 

 under arms, was not approved by Rochefort, 

 and not adopted by the people. The ministers 

 decided to bring Rochefort to immediate trial 

 for his seditious conduct, and, as he was a 

 member of the Corps Le'gislatif, asked the lat- 

 ter for permission to do so. The permission 

 was given January 17th, by 226 against 34 

 votes ; and, on January 22d, Rochefort was 

 sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a 

 fine of 3.000 francs. The arrest, on February 

 7th, of Rochefort, who refused to obey a notice 

 served upon him, and surrender himself, led to 

 revolutionary rioting in Paris, which was, 

 however, soon and easily suppressed. Of the 

 persons arrested during the riots, those con- 

 victed of carrying arms were condemned to 

 three and four months' imprisonment, and those 

 convicted of uttering seditious cries to fifteen 

 and thirty days' imprisonment. Gustave Flou- 

 rens was sentenced to six months' imprison- 

 ment and 100 francs fine, and M. Deveure, 

 publisher of La Marseillaise, to two months' 

 imprisonment and 500 francs fine for publish- 

 ing false news. 



The Chamber of Accusation of the High 

 Court of Justice, on February 18th, gave judg- 

 ment in the case of Prince Pierre Bonaparte. 

 The judgment decided that Prince Pierre Bo- 

 naparte be sent before the High Court on the 

 double charge 1. Of meurtre (homicide) on 

 the person of Victor Noir, with the aggravat- 

 ing circumstance that the crime was preceded, 

 accompanied, or followed, by the second of- 

 fence, viz. 2. An attempt to take the life of 

 M. Ulric de Fonvielle. Those crimes are pro- 

 vided for by article 304 of the Penal Code, 

 worded as follows : 



Meurtre is punished -by death when it shall have 

 preceded, accompanied, or followed any other crime ; 

 also when it shall have had for its object to prepare, 

 facilitate, or execute a misdemeanor, or to favor the 

 flight or assure impunity of the authors or accom- 

 plices of that offence. In all other cases the punish- 

 ment shall be hard labor for life. 



