ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE FROM FRANCE.
Pari.r, December 21.
It • appears we must get accustomed to be "taken by surprise." The Revolu- tion of February itself was a surprise; the proclamation of the Constitution, which startled Paris with an unexpected cannonade, was another surprise; and yesterday Paris was again surprised by the proclamation of the President, which was as mach unexpected. Our great public acts are performed like surgical ope- rations upon a child, without giving notice, and even ceremonies which ought to be festivities are gone through as it it were the extraction of a tooth. The great difficulty of the President was to escape from a triumph and to get quietly into place: every kind of precaution was taken to that effect. The other day, for in- stance, the anniversary of the day on which the mortal remains of the Emperor were brought in procession to the Invalides, a funeral service was performed, at which the Bonaparte family were to be present. It was advertised for eleven o'clock; but it took place at eight; and the crowd, arriving at eleven, learned with surprise that the ceremony was over. So it was yesterday for the proclama- tion. It appears that Government had received tidings of some plot to break out on the day of the installation of the new President. In order to avoid all manifes- tations, the report was industriously spread that the proclamation would not take place before Saturday, or even next week; and Paris yesterday evening knew only by the cannon of the Invalidea that the whole ceremony had been gone through. These fears, however, seem to be somewhat exaggerated, considering the extra- ordinary quietness which attended the late election. Certainly, the calmness and dignity with which that immense experiment of universal suffrage took place are highly honourable to the French people. Never in history was so enormous a mass of people put at once in motion with such perfect order. Seven millions and a half of men going to the poll at the same moment without the least disturbance, that is assuredly a grand sight and a great fact. It is still more admirable, allow me to say so, with the French than it would be with the English people. You have been, in your own country, for years and for ages accustomed to these pub- lic demonstrations, and to meetings on a large scale. But consider, that in France we have been suddenly jumping from a very limited to an extreme freedom, and from less than 300,000 to more than seven millions of voters. Of these seven millions and a half, Bonaparte has more than five; Cavaignac has about 1,500,000; the fallen angel, Liunartme, something like 20,000 ; Ledru-Rol lin and Raspail do not number more than 400,000. Irrespectively of mere political differences, the whole may be divided in two parts; for we must consider the voters for Cavaignac and Lamartine as being from the same party as the voters for Bonaparte, that is, what we call the party of Order. Well, draw- ing that broad hne, you have on one side seven millions of people, on the other only 400,000. It certainly goes far to restore confidence; and it is not won- derful that, under this impression, the Rinds should rise as they have done and trade should revive. How long will it last? That is another question; but the mere fact that for the first time these ten months we are to have a Government, is already a great benefit. What will that Government be? Human foresight cannot tell. Will it be something by itself; or merely "a bridge" to something else? Perhaps, as I be- fore suggested, it will prove stronger than its own creators expected it to be. The name was still more powerful than they had thought; it raised the peasant with irresistible strength. There was something like superstition in the usanimous impulse of the country-people. These who could not read numbered with their fingers the twenty-two letters of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte printed on their tick- ets. Some of them had been told that the votes for Bonaparte would be, by some secret chemical process, converted into votes for Cavaignac when once in the bal- lot-box: they came in whole bodies with their muskets to watch over the boxes, day and night; and as a distinctive sign, they had folded their tickets in a trian- gular shape, meaning the petit chapeau of the Great Emperor. There is some- thing awful and portentous in that entirely new power which has so revealed it- self: that savage giant, the Peasant, who appears for the first time on the stage, is as yet a mystery.
The immense majority of Bonaparte, while it is an element of strength, is at the same time a danger for him. The more that has been given to him, the more he is expected to give back. What most exasperated the country-people, was the famous tax called the 45 centimes, imposed daring the first week of the Re- public: many of the peannts fully expect that they will have no more taxes to pay. What will the new Government do in this direction? Tax the rich? But where find the rich ? that is a very rare animal at present. Lucky people you are—yon have a Peel for your budget: we have not
I told you last week, that Bonaparte might possibly find a majority in that very same Assembly which had so strongly declared itself against him. So he does. There is no longer any apprehension of a conflict between the President and the Assembly. But the apprehension is only displaced, and the conflict might very well take place between the Assembly and the People. The great question now will be the dissolution, or more properly speaking, the resignation of the Con- stituent Assembly. A strong majority has pledged itself to vote about a dozen organic laws as a complement to the Constitution: that would take, with the or- dinary business, some eight or ten months. Be assured, the country will not bear it. It is undeniable that there is a wide breach between France in April and France in December; the Howe elected eight months ago no longer responds to the feelings of the nation. The astounding majority given to Bonaparte is a most unmistakeable protest, if not against the Republic in principle, at least against the Republic as it was. The pressure without will be too strong; the Assembly must yield; and if no other " surprise" come over us before that time, we shall most likely have general elections in March.
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