GENERAL FEELING OF THE PEOPLE — THE CAUSES OF DICTATOR'S MAJORITY. [From the Weekly News, December 27.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 710, 22 May 1852, Page 4

GENERAL FEELING OF THE PEOPLE — THE CAUSES OF DICTATOR'S MAJORITY. [From the Weekly News, December 27.]

P-or -the time, the new Dictator has the devo* tion of the army, the cowardice of the bourge" oisie, the rapacity of public placemen, the obsequiency of a few of the papers, and the resuscitated ambition of the Romish Church, to back him. But how long eta all these be depended on ? " When his purse is empty (writes si correspondent of the J^mes) he must point the way to spoilage, the frontier of the stranger must be crossed, glory and victory must be his watchwords, and money, decorations, and advancement, bis instruments. The bourgeoisie, especially in Paris, cannot, be reckoned on for an hour. They are as mean as they «r& timorous. ■JRemove from their minds £he_ immediate dread of imprisonment and death', «nd their tongues begin to wage war again. They will clamour for their press: The bourgeois, as. much requirei hisrjournari's hiff'dinher. Thei state* of utter darkuess in which he is at present kept is horribly irksome to him, and the fear of unknown conseqUences alone 1 deters him from complaining. Moreover, the bourgedisie in the progress of the late events, have suffered in their nearest and dearest ties. They have lost friends and relations by the sword, and they miss others who languish in prison, or are banished to Cayenne. Although mean and timorous, the bourgeoisie are not the less revengeful. They neither forget nor forgive; and it is scircely to be wondered at that among this very influential class are to be found some of the bitterest and most deadly enemies of the reigning power— enemies made dumb alone by fear, inactive and seemingly supine from the force of circumstances, but who bide their cfay, nevertheless. It is scarcely requisite to say that placemen remain attached so long as the booty is plentiful and jobbing easy. When the storm comes, like rats they leave the ship. To satisfy and feed iiich greedy adherents, whose cry, like that of the daughters of the horse-leech, is "give, give," Louis Napoleon must continue to create new berths, and invent new offices. Meanwhile the people must be burdened with extra taxes ; they must be sucked dry, and the moral of the fable of Menesius leversed. Failing this, what rests but war upon the stranger? The" most, powerful supporter, after the army, and probably "the one - most likely to slick to the fortunes of Louis Napoleon with untiring constancy 1 , is the Church 61 Rome. The bishops have voted for him with open bulletins. They would dub him Saint Napoleon, at once, if they dared, and build him a shrine in the Pantheon. But, alas ! religion in France is but a broken reed. Its root, which should be in the heart of the people, is dead, and its sap departed. It has been ttarapled under foot by the literati and the philosophers. If Louis Napoleon can bring it to life again he will have achieved little less tfiin a miracle. The members of the press, with scarcely an exception, must be looked upon as hostile to Louis Napoleon. They cannot love their ruin, and he has done his worst to ruin

hem. . Thremost celebrated have ceased to writej< many have sent in their resignations to the journals to which they were attached; others have left the country ; all are dissatisfied. It may be asserted, with little fear of contradiction, that all which the country could boast — of eminence; of genius, of learning and accomplishments, in* letters, in philosophy, in oratory,, in statesmanship — is openly opposed to Louis Napoleon; The silence of thereal'great men in France isthe moral condemnation of his actions iv the' eyes of the' civilized' world." There are still many differing opinions as to the ouvriers. The general mode of reasoning amongst the working classes of the faubourgs is given by the correspondent of the Times as something after this fashion — " Up to the present mcment," some say, "each time we have made a revolution, at the cost of our blood and our industry, it is always the bourgeoisie who have profited' by it. In 1789, 1830, and 1848, the bourgeoisie, on the very morrow of the victory, obtained the spoil of the conquest of the people,. and kept it. They have profited by our labour —we have been exploites by them in 1 the most unworthy manner. We do not wish such to be the case' any more.- This is the reason why we have not supported the ■ Assembly against the President, in spite of the appeals mix armes made to us on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, December. What we wish now is to see if the Government of a man who will owe his authority to us will do something for us. He began by attacking the bourgeoisie ; and for us that is satisfactory ; and perhaps he will continue in the same course for our advantage ; such is the experiment we want to make by naming him. If he deceives us, as the others have done ; if our hopes are some day baffled by his acts — eh Men! nous aviserons .< We shall always have time to make a revolution, and when we do so, it shall be once for all — for ourselves, and not for the bourgeoisie" Others appear to have more confidence in the future power of the President, as prolonged forten years', from an apparent conviction that'he is anxious to ameliorate their social condition, and to make up for time lost in Parliamentary squabbles on abstract questions. It is stated that active agents have for the last eight days been tra--versing the faubourgs, and zealously propagating these ideas. These last say — " The reign of the bourgeoisie has passed away ; ours commences. Louis Napoleon is a Socialist, in the proper sense of the word ; he' will apply the doctrines that have our sympathies, and the theories^ that will give us material well-being and a cheap existence. He is already contemplating, and will soon execute decrees, testifying all his solicitude for the" working classes. He imprisoned Cavaig- ■ nac, Lamoricifcre, Changarnier, who mowed us down with-grape in June,<.LB4B; he has 1 driven from France M. Thiers, who termed us the vile multitude; he has destroyed the power of men who took from us the universal suffrage given- to us by the Revolution of February. He has chastised the Burgraves — disarmed the bourgeois National Guards, who shot us down after the days of June in the cellars of the Tuileiies. He has crushed the projects of the Royalists, who desired to bring back France beneath the rule of kings drives from it by us in 1830 and 1848 ; and he has thereby consolidated the' Republic which we have founded. All this is 'Very good : but it is not all. We are promised that we shall have work, and he has already commenced operations in favour of the workmen employed in buildings, by decrees for the construction of the connecting railroad of Paris, and the completion of the Hotel of the Minister of Fortign Affairs. We are also told that before long the tax on liquors and on salt shall be suppressed, as well as the octroi duties. It such be the case, we* shall then indeed have that cheap living which' others never gave us except in words (bavardage). We shall no longer be dependent on the. bourgeoisie as we now are, and the making the two ends meet will no longer be for us a difficulty without solution. Such are the reasons why we vote for Louis Napoleon. We are tojd he will deceive us, as others have done. It is possible, but we will not believe it until we have proof positive. And then, if our expectations are vain and our hopes baffled, nous, aviserons — we shall always be in lime to make a new revolution." A writer of the Daily News, who has paid a ' visit to the most populous quarters of Paris, says: — "Anarchists, no- property men, worshippers of the red flag- I—men1 — men- opposed to law, order, and family — I saw none of. The race was never very numerous, and is now about' extinct. This fact cannot, under present' circumstances, be stated too often or too strongly. What the English understand by socialism, I have as little' sympathy with as any one ; and the idea of the State tampering with trade, and undertaking to 'organize labour,' seems to me, as to you, like foolishness itself. The French, too, are coming round to this opinion. The cause of labour was never more injured- than by Ibe national' workshops: The workman was wounded in the house of his friends. All that the mechanics of; France ask now is, to be let-alone. They wishneither charter nor privilege. Their one demand is for free trade and and fair play. Their associations (of which there are over a hundred in Paris,) are, at worst, but little corporations ofstockholders. The wages and profits, instead of being equal,, as .at first,, are graduated accordingto the labour and skill of the operatives* Their, rules are simple, and their morals seyere. Politics are left as a thing apart. The chief government they trouble themselves about is self-go-vernment. The responsible managers .are respected throughout Paris for their integrity. Their competition with the old system is conducted in a manner above reproach. They are respected above all in their immediate neighbour-, hood. I know this from personal inspection and inquiry, and recotd it as an act of simple justice. In the political world the members of these association's are all liberals. It is safe to say that not one of them voted for Louis Napoleon ; and it is probable that many of them had the good sense not to vote nt all. During all these troubles they have kept at work, and -set an ex--ample of that moderation and .good sense which alone can save France from the abyss- towards which she now totters."