NEWS OF THE WEEK.
IMMENSE exertions have been made in Paris, not without success, to strengthen the position of the Emperor matrimonially and finan- cially. Events confirm an impression suggested to us by the earliest overt appearances of Louis Napoleon's new project, that it was not without calculation. It does not follow that there was no impulse, or no sudden change of councils ; but we are not left to Wes that he was as much surprised as other people. He is both a man of design and a man of passion. His attentions to Mademoi- selle de Montijo had long been noted ; and as the imperative cha- racter of his positive conclusion seems to have been matched by the peremptoriness of her negative conclusion respecting the po- sition of a La Valliere, he has bravely made her his Empress. Why not ? The Powers of Europe had thwarted his design of a royal alliance, and it was a natural impulse to indulge the resent- ment which that thwarting must have occasioned. Accordingly, love and contemptuous defiance, the high birth and qualities of Mademoiselle de Montijo, and the futility of royal alliances for a "parvenu" Emperor, are the themes of the address in which he announces his marriage to the Senate, the Stock Exchange, and the public in generaL In both the immediate objects he has sue- seeded : the sting rankles in the minds of Austrian and Russian diplomatists, and Paris rings with interesting conversation about the fair Empress-elect. Louis Napoleon's address is skilfully com- posed, glowing with generous feeling on the surface, and nutting in i the sarcasm beneath—a cruel Indian dagger of many blades, in a gorgeous sheath. The effect of this address politically is disputed : some say that the French people do not take kindly to it, as im- plying a relinquishment of dignity ; but we await clearer accounts as to the sentiments of the gagged nation. In this country, on the whole, the impression is favourable : we never thought Louis Na- poleon an Emperor selon les regles, but in this last effusion there is a savour of reality which we English suppose ourselves to prefer. For once "the man of the moveless face" seems to lift the mask ; and he is almost disguised by the unwonted display of the real human countenance beneath.
Great pains have been taken to rehabilitate the reputation of the fair lady, which, it seems, labours under the disadvantage of her having frequented the El see as it has been. Calumnious tales are suppressed by force of police : Paris is ordered not to believe that there was any " Juanesque invasion of the Donna Anna," stainless even of others' crime; it is explained that if friends in Madrid have called her " Eugenia," such familiar address is a Spanish custom among friends ; and even the freedom of her enchanting smile is attested as genuine innocence. We believe it : real goodness is inextinguishable, and genuine qualities are past counterfeit. Thus, shielding it against the laden atmosphere and sullying stains of his usurped palace, Louis Napoleon is planting the lily of the valley that is to redeem the purity of the Imperial court. His Bourse has somehow bettered itself by other means ; partly, no doubt, through the reaction of panic ; probably helped by a little "judicious bottle-holding." Amongst other restora- tives, there is the formal announcement that the Duke de Bassano was not a stockjobber or defaulter; for he is one of the bright exceptions.
