28 JANUARY 1865, Page 2

The Reds of France are unlucky this week. Colonel Charms'

death was followed almost immediately by that of M. Proudhon, so well known as the author of La Propriete c'est le Vol and other revolutionary works. He was regarded by many Parisian work- men and almost all Tories as the very embodiment of the Revolu- tion of 1848, but the probability is that he was less violent than he appeared to be, that he was morbidly fond of paradox, and that his only real idea was that the principle of association was appli- cable to many social as well as financial questions. The Emperor, who has in his heart a quaint sympathy for all ultra-socialist ideas, though he very seldom obeys them, has granted a pension to Madame Proudhon. The deceased Red was, like most eminent Frenchmen, a man of terribly bitter tongue, and made enemies on all sides by sentences such as one about a well-known Legitimist. He "is the only man," said Proudhon, "uglier than his caricatures." Remember they were French caricatures.