A NARRATIVE BY A MEMBER OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 624, 7 April 1852, Page 3

A NARRATIVE BY A MEMBER OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

From the Evening Mail, December 12. The following narrative of the events which accompanied the dissolution of the National Assem bly of France is from the pen of a member of that body, whose name, in. the present state of that country, it is of course impossible to disclose. But we submit this important document to the judgment of the world with entire reliance on the strict accuracy of every detail which it contains. These particulars are now first published by us in an authentic form, as no means any longer exist in France of bringing the truth to the knowledge of the public. The opinions are those of the writer ; the facts belong to the history of these times : — To the Editor of the Evening Mail. " Sir, — The opinion expressed by certain organs of the English press on the events which have just occurred in France has caused a painful surprise to men who, lilce myself, preserve a steadfast attachment to the principles of regulated liberty and a fixed respect for legality. We are grieved to remark the purpose to which these observations of a portion of the English press are turned by the new Government, find that any English writers should seem to applaud what all honest French-

men condemn. It is for this reason that as a witness of these events, I wish to make them known to you in all sincerity, convinced as 1 am that when Englishmen approve violence and oppression, it is only because the truth is not ) et before them. "Permit me to offer some general reflections before entering into details. "Louis Napoleon, in order to endeavour to palliate in France and abroad the audacious violation of the laws which he has just committed, has caused a report to be circulated that lie only anticipated the hostile measures of the Assembly, which was conspiring against himself, and that if he had not struck that body would have struck him. This sort of defence is no novelty to us in France. All our revolutionists have used it these CO years. The members of the Convention, who sent each other to the scaffold, invariably treated, their adversaries as conspii'ators. But in the pi*esent instance this accusation, as far as the majority of the Assembly is concerned, is without a pretext, and can only pass cuirent amongst strangers ignorant of the true course of events. "No doubt history will have weighty charges to bring against the Legislative Assembly, which has just been illegally and violently dissolved. The parties of which that Assembly was composed failed to come to an understanding ; this gave to the whole body an uncertain and sometimes conti'adictory policy, and finally discredited the Assembly, and rendered it incapable of defending either liberty or its own existence. History will record thus much ; but history will reject with contempt the accusation which Louis Napoleon has preferred against us. If you do not believe my assurances, judge at least by the facts — not the secret facts which T could disclose to you, but the public facts printed in the Moniteur. " In the month of August last the Assembly voted the revision of the Constitution by an immense majority. Why was the revision of the Constitution desired ? Simply to legalize the reelection of Louis Napoleon. Was that an act of conspiracy against him? " The Assembly prorogued itself soon after this vote; the Conseils Generaiiz, convoked immediately afterwards, and pricipally consisting of representatives, also expressed an almost unanimous desire for the revision of the Constitution. Was that an act of conspiracy against Louis Napoleon ? "The Assembly met again on the 4th November. There was an Electoral Law — that of the 31st of May — which the great majority of the Assembly had voted. This law was unpopular, and to catch the favour of the people Louis Napoleon, who had been the first to propose and sanction the law of the 31st of May the year before, demands its abrogation, and proposes another law in a message insulting to the Assembly. The new electoral law proposed by him was, indeed, rejected, but by a majority of only two votes ; and immediately afterwards the Chamber proceeded, in order to comply with the President's policy, to adopt in another form most of the changes he had proposed. Was that an act of conspiracy against Louis Napoleon ? " Shortly afterwards a proposition was made by the Questors to unable us to place the Parliament in state of defence, if attacked, and to call troops directly to our assistance. This proposition, was as nobody can deny, in strict conformity with the Constitution, and all that the proposed resolution did was to define the means of exercising a power which the Assembly incontestably possessed. Nevertheless, from fear of a collision with the Executive Power, the Legislature dared not assert this incontestable right. The proposition of the Questors was rejected by a large majority. Was that an act of conspiracy against Napoleon ? What ! the Assembly was conspiring, and it renounced the command of the troops which might "have defended it, and made them over to the man who was compassing its ruin ! And when did these things happen ? A fortnight ago. - •' Lastly, a bill on the responsibility of the President and the different officers of State was bent up to the Assembly by the Conscil d'Etal. Observe, that this proposition did not emanate from the Assembly, that the Assembly had no right, by law, to refuse to entertain it. The bill was, therefore, brought up, but the committee to which it was referred showed at once that its disposition was conciliatory. The provisions of the bill were rendered more mild, and the discussion was to be deferred, in order to avoid the displeasure of the Executive Power. Were these the actions of enemies and conspirators ? And what was happening in the meanwhile? All the journals notoriously paid by the President insulted the Assembly day by day in the coarsest manner, threatened it, and tried by every means to cover it with unpopularity. "This is history — the truth of history. The acts of which I speak are the last of the National Assembly of J France, and I defy our adversaries to find any other facts to oppose to them. That an Assembly of 750 members may have included in that number certain conspirators, it would be absurd to deny. But the manifest truth, proved by its acts, is that the majority of this Assembly, instead of conspiring against Louis Napoleon, sought for nothing so much as to avoid a quarrel j with him ; that it carried its moderation towards him to the verge of weakness, and its desire of conciliation to a degree of pusillanimity. That is the truth. You may believe my assertions, for I participated in none of the passions of its parties, and I have no reason either to flatter or to hate them. " Let us now proceed to examine what the Assembly did on the 2nd of December : and here I cease to express any opinion, I merely relate, as an actual witness, the things I saw with my eyes and heard with my ears." " When the representatives of the people learned, on waking that morning, that several of their colleagues were arrested, they ran to the Assembly. The doors were guarded by the Chasseurs de Vincenncs, a corps of troops recently returned from Africa, and long accustomed to the voilcnce of Algerine dominion, who, moreover, were stimulated by a donation of sf. distributed to every soldier who was in Paris that day. The representatives nevertheless presented themselves to go in, having at their head one of their VicoPresidents, IVL Darn. This gentleman was violently struck hy the soldiers, and the representatives who accompanied him were driven back at the point of the bayonet. Throe of them, M. de Talhouet, Etienne, and Duparc, were slightly wounded. Several others had their clothes pierced. Such was the commencement. " Driven from the doors of the Assembly , the deputies retired to the Maine of the tenth arrondisscment. They were already assembled to the number of about three hundred when the troops arrived, blocked up the approaches, and prevented a greater number of representatives from entering the appartment, though no one was at that time prevented from leaving it. Who, then, were these representatives assembled at the Mairic of the tenth arrondisscment, and what did they do there 1 Every shade of opinion was represented in this extemporaneous Assembly. But eighttenths of its members belonged to the different Conservative parties which had constituted the majority. This Assembly was presided over by two of its Vice-Presidents, M. Vitet and M. Benoist d'Azy, M. Darn was arrested in his own house ; the fourth Vice-President, the illustrious General Bcdcau, had been seized that morning in his bed and handcuffed like a robber. As for the President, M. Dupin, he was absent, which surprised no one, as his cowardice was known. Besides its Vice-Pivsidents, the Assembly was nccompaniod by its secretaries, its ushers, and even its shorthand writer, who will preserve for posterity the records of this last and memorable .sitting. The Assembly, thus constituted, began by voting a dccieo in the following tovms. '" In pursuance on" Aiticle (>3 of the Consl.lution — viz , the l ] ieM(](>nt of the Republic, the !\lni".t"is, the agent*, and depo-itaiies of public •lullioiity are n spunMble, each, in what ccmcetUb iln-mat'lYei* ivupoelivelv,

for all the acts of the Government and the AdminiMiation—any measure by whuh tho Piesidtnt of tie .Republic dissolves Ihe National Assembly, prorogues it, 0) phces obstacle-, in tht- ixeici&e of Us povveib, is a ci line of (j]^h tieason, '•'By {his act merely t lie Piesident is dopiived of all nuthoiity, the citizen* aie bound to wilhhokl their obedience, the Expcutive power p:i«ses in full nsjht to tho National Assembly. The Judges of the llip;h Com t ol Justice will meet immediately under pain of foifeitmc ; they will com oke the junoa in the place which they will select to piocwil to the judgment of tho President and his nccomplicps ; they will nominate the maoisliates chained to fulfil the duues ol public Ministets. '"And seeing that the National Assembly is prevented by violence fiom exercising its powers.it deciees as follows, viz. : — " ' Loim Napoleon Bonapmte is deprived of all authority as President of the Republic, 'I he eitiz"ns are enjoined to withhold their obedience. The Executive power has passed in full right to the National Assembly. The Judges of the High Couit of Justice are enjoined to meet immediately under pain of forfeiture, to proceed to the judgment of the President and his accomplices ; consequently all the officers and functionaries of power and of public authoilty are bound to obey all requisitions made in the name of the National Assembly, under pain of forfeiture and of high -treason, '•' Done and decreed unanimously in public sitting, this 2nd December, 1851. (Signed) " ' Bcvoist D'Azy, President. " ' Virci, Vice- President. " ' Moulin, "1 o . , <<<CHAi.or;j Wtflries ' (and 226 members, whose names are given.) " All the members whose names I have here given were arrested. Several others, having- left the room after having signed, could not be taken. Among these the best known are M. de Tracy, M. de Malleville, Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, and General Rulhiere. " After having voted this first decree, another was unanimously passed naming General Oudinot commander of the public forces, and M. Tamisier was joined with him as chief of the staff. The choice of the^e two officers from distinct shades of political opinion showed that the Assembly Avas animated by one common spirit. " The decrees had scarcely been signed by all the members present, and deposited in a place of safety, when a band of soldiers, headed by their officers, sword in hand, appeared at the door, without, however, daring to enter the appartment. The Assembly awaited them in perfect silence. The President alone raised his voice, read the decrees which had just been passed to the soldiers, and ordered them to retire. The poor fellows, ashamed of the part they were compelled to play, hesitated. The officers, pile and undecided, declared that they slionLl t>o for further orders. They retired, contenting themselves with blockading the passages leading to the apartment. The Assembly, not being- able to get out, ordered tho windows to be opened, and caused the decrees to be read to the people and the troops in the street below, especially that decree which, in pursuance of the sixty-third article of the constitution, pronounced the deposition and impeachment of Louis Napoleon. " Soon, however, the soldiers reappeared at the door, preceded this time by two Commissaircs de Police. These men entered the room, and, amid the unbroken silence and total immobility of the Assembly, summoned the representatives to disperse. The President ordered them to retire themselves. One of the Commissaries was agitated and faltered — the other broke out in invectives. The President said to them, ' Sir, we are here the lawful authority, and sole representatives of law and of right. We that know we cannot oppose to you material force ; but we will only leave this chamber under constraint. We will disperse. Sei/;o us, and convoy u.s to piison.' ' All, all,' exclaimed the members of the Assembly. After much hesitation, the Cowmissiares de Police decided to act. They caused the two Presidents to be seized by the collar. The whole body then rose, and, arm-in-arm, two-and-two, the}'- followed the Presidents, who were led oft". In tills order we readied the street, and were marched d cross the city without knowing whither we were going. " Care had been taken to circulate a report among the crowd and troops that a meeting of Socialists and lied Republican deputies had been arrested. But when the people beheld among those who were thus dragged through, the mud of Paris on foot like a gang of malefactors, men the most illustrious by their talents and their virtues, ex-ministers, ex-ambassadors, generals, admirals, great orators, great writers, surrounded by the bayonets of the lino, a shout was raised, ' Vive V Assemblce Nationah? The representatives were attended by these shouts until they reached the , barracks of the Q,uai d'Orsay where they were shut up. Right was coming on and it was wet and cold ; yet the Assembly was left two hours in the open air, as if the Government did not deign to remember its existence. The representatives here made their last roll-call in presence of their shorthand writer, who had followed them. The number present was two hundred and eighteen, to whom were added about twenty more in the couise of the evening, consisting of members who had voluntarily caused themselves to be arrested. i Almost all the men known to France and to Europe who formed the majority of the Legislative Assembly were gathered together in this place. Few a\ ere w anting, except those who, like M. Mole, had not been suffered to reach their colleagues. There were present, among others, tho Duke de liroglie, who had come though ill ; the father of the house, the venerable Keratry, whose physical strength was inferior to his moral courage, and whom it was necessary to seat on a straw chair in the barrack yJrd ; Odilon Barrot, Dufaure, Berryer, Remusat, Duvcrgier de Haurannc, Gustave de Beaumont, dc Tocquevillc, de Fdlloux, Lanjuinais, Admiral Lame and Admiral Cc'cillc, Generals Oudinot and Lauriston ; the Duke <le Luynes, the Duke de Montebello ; twelve ex-ministers, nine of Avhom had served under Louis Napoleon himself ; eight members of the Institute ; all men who had struggled for three years to defend society and to resist the demagogic faction. " When two hours had elapsed this assemblage was driven into barrack-rooms upstairs, where most of them spent the night, without fire, and almost without food, stretched upon the boards. It only remained to carry off to prison these honourable men, guilty of no crime but the defence of tho laws of their country. For this purpose the most distressing and ignominious means were selected. The cellular vans in which forgats arc conveyed to the bagne were brought up. In these vehicles where shut up the men who had served and honoured their country, and they Mere conveyed like three bands of criminals, some to the fortress of Mont Valerion, some to the Prison Mazas in Paris, and the remainder to Vinccncs. The indignation of the public compelled the Governmenttwo days afterwai ds to release thegreater number of them ; some are still in confinement unable to obtain either their liberty or their trial. " The treatment inflicted on tho Generals arrested in the mom'ng of the 2nl December was still more disgraceful. Cavaignac, Lamoriciere, Bede<Mu, Changarnier, the conquerors of Africa, were shut up in these infamous cellular vans, which .'ire always inconvenient, and become almost intolerable on a lengthened journey. In this manner they were conveyed to Hani — that is, they were made to perform upwards of a day's journey. Cavaignac, \\\\o had saved Paris and Fr.v.'ce in the days of June — Cavaignac, the competitor of Louis Napoleon at the last election — shut up for a day and a night in the cell of a felon ! I leave it to every honest man and every generous heart to comment on such fact^s. Can it bo that indignities which surpass the actions of the King of Naples find a defender in England ? No ; Engluul knows but a small portion of what ib taking place. I appeal to her better judgment when those facts are known to the world,

" Such arc the indignities offered to persons. Let me now review the series of general crimes. The liberty of the press is destroyed to an extent unheard o*f even in the time of the Empire. Most of the journals are suppressed : those which appear cannot say a word on politics or oven publish any news. But this is by no means] all. The Government have stuck up a list of persons who are formed into a ' Consultative Commission.' Its object is to induce France to believe that the Executive is not abandoned by every man of respectability and consideration among us. More than half the persons on this list have refused to belong to this commission : most of them regard the insertion of their names as dishonour. 1 may quote among others M. Leon Faucher, M. Portalis, First President of the Court of Cassation, and the Duke of Albufera as those best known. Not only does the Government decline to publish the letters in which those gentlemen refuse their consent, but even their names are not withdrawn from a list which dishonours them. The names are still retained in spite of their repeated remonstrances. A day or two ago one of them, M. Joseph Perier, 'driven to desperation by this excess of tyranny, rushed into the street to strike out his. own name with his own hands from the public placards, taking the passers-by to witness ihrit it had been placed there by a lie. Such is the state of the public journals. Let us nowsecthecondition ofpersonal liberty. I sayagain that person il liberty is more trampled on than ever it was in the time of the Empire. A decree of the new power gives the prefects the right to arrest, in their respe -five departments, Avhomsoever they please ; and the prefects, in their turn, send blank warrants of arrest, which are literally httrcs de cac/ief, to the sous-prefects under their orders. The Provisional Government of the Republic never went so far. Human life is as little re&pectcd as human liberty. I know that war has its dreadful necessities ; but the disturbances which have recently occurred in Paris have been put down with a barbarity unprecedented in our civil contests ; and when we remember that this torrent of blood has been shed to consummate the violation of all laws, we cannot but think that sooner or later it will fall back upon the heads of those who shed it. As for the appeal to the people, to v> hich Louis Napoleon affects to submit his claims, never was a more odious mockery offered to a nation. The people is called upon to express its opinion ; yet not only is public discussion suppressed, but even the knowledge of facts. The people is asked its opinion, but the first measure taken to obtain it is to establish military terrorism throughout the country, and to threaten with deprivation every public agent who dors not approve in writing what has been done. " Such, sir, is the condition in which we stand. Force overturning law, trampling on the liberty of the press and of the person, deriding the popular will, in whose name the Government pretends to act — France torn from the alliance of free nations to be yoked to the despotic Monarchies of the Continent — such is the result of this coup d'etat. If the judgment of the people of England could approve these military saturnalia, and if the facts I have related, and which I pledge myself arc accurately true, did not rou«e its censures, I should mourn for you and for ourselves, and for the sacred cause of legal liberty throughout the world ; for the public opinion of England is the grand jury of mankind in the cause of freedom, and if its verdict were to acquit the oppressor the oppressed would have no other resource but in Gorl. " One word more, to record a fact which does honour to the magistracy of France, and which will be remembered in its annals. The ar.ny refused to submit to the decree of the captive Assembly impeaching the President of the Republic; but the High Court of Justice obeyed it. These five judges, sitting in the midst of Paris enslaved and in the face of martial law, dared to assemble at the Palace of Justice and to issue proress commencing criminal proceedings against Louis Napoleon, charged with high treason by the law, though already triumphant in the streets." I subjoin the text of this memorable edict: — " 'The High Court or Jusiici, "' Considering i he 68th aiticle of the constitution, considering thiit printed plaiaids commencing with the words ' the President of the Rppublic,' nnd heating at the end tlie signatures of Louis Napoleon Ronapaite nnd De Morny, Minister of the Intel ior, which placards announce, among other things, the dissolution of the National Assembly, have tins day been affixed to the walls of Pans ; that this fact of the dissolution of the Assembly by the President of the Republic would fall under the ca3e provided for by the CBth article of the constitution, and render the convocation of the High Court of Justice impeiative, by the terms of that article declares, that the High Couit is constituted nnd names I\l. Renouard, counsellor of the Court of Cassation, to fill the duties of public accuser, and to fi.l those of Grefficr M. Bernaid, Grefficr m Chief of the Court of Cassation ; and, to proceed furtlier in pursuance of the teims of the said 68tb aiticle of the constitution, adjourns until to-morrow, the 3rd of December, at the hour of neon. u ' Done and deliberated in the Council Chambpr. Present, M, Hardouin, president, M. P<ttnille, M. Moreau, M. de la Palme, and M. Cauchy, judges, this 2nd day of December, 1851.' After this textual extract from the Minutps of the High Court of Justice tbeie is tbe following pntry — *' * 1. A proch-ierbul stating the arrival of a Commissaire de Police, who called upon the High Court to separate. " ' '2. A procis-reihal of n spcond silting held on tlie morrow, the 3rd day of Deccmhnr (when the Assembly was in piison), at which M. Renouard accepts the functions of public prosecutor, charged to proceed against Louis Napoleon, alter which tlie High Court being no longer able to sit, adjourned to a day to be fixed hereafter.' " V\ nh these extracts from the judical recoids I terminate this communication.