Having granted an amnesty to some thousands of political pri-
soners or refugees, distinguished by their humble position or ob- scurity, the Emperor of the French follows up his clemency by a sudden razzia on a particular class not very actively offending him. The correspondents of foreign journals have been treated like the Republican Generals on the 2d of December—abruptly visited, seized, and imprisoned. It is one of -Louis Napoleon's surprises and one which occasions the utmost curiosity as to its motive or bearing. Some have supposed that his purpose was to aid the Imperial powers whom he had so recently defied, by helping them to out off the channels of communication between the malcontents of different countries. Another supposition is, that Louis Napo- leon had no real malice against those unfortunate newspaper- writers, but that, having left the French people for a long time without a blow, and imagining that safety, like familiarity, might breed contempt, he has simply east about for something to hit, and has selected the poor newspaper-writers, perhaps because they had no friends. A more probable conjecture is, that thelmperial lover resents somewhat too free criticisms of the Empress's attractions. Inverting the story of Candaules, he deprecates even written ob- servation on the lady to whom he is wedded. This last conjecture derives coloar from the fad, that certain engraved portraits of the Empress have been seized and confiscated, because they were " bad likenesses " ; a term liable to divers interpretations. The por- traits in Punch, for example, may be called " bad likenesses, to eyes prejudiced by affection. This seizure of news-writers after an amnesty, is one of those political sallies which characterize the inscrutable Emperor ; supplying piquant materials for our own journals, and making the French people feel the bit in their mouths.
