DOI issue:
January to June, 1848
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16546#0179
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
171
FRENCH SYMPATHISERS.
he French gentleman who, on the
evening of Monday, the 10th ol
April, was shouting out that all the
English were cowards, and that the
French would show them how to
fight, and w ho was knocked down
by a butcher boy, is requested to
send to our office for the papers
which fell out of his hat, and winch
will be restored 'o their owner.
The Citizen Cornichon appears
to have come to this country as one
of Mr. Smith O'Bkien's fifty
_ thousand friends, having a strong
~ - sympathy with the cause of insur-
=== rection ail over the world. He has
not been heard of since the even's
of the 10th : perhaps he has gone
to Dublin.
Extracts from his papers, literally translated, are given ; the originals
lie for his inspection, and the butcher-boy has left his card.
Lester Squarr. A brorze image of the infamous Pitt on horseback
decorates the steen and smiling garden of the Squarr. I promised
myself to level Miat superb bronze on the day of the national de-
liverance.
"The principles of our glorious Revolution I saw were everywhere
progressing: in almost all the shops in the neighbourhood of the Squarr
pancarts announced that French was spoken by these commercials.
They are evidently prepared to declare themselves after the great day;
when the nation si all be ours, and the stain of Waterloo wiped away.
" 1 tendered a hundred-franc note at one of these establishments in
a beautiful gallery called the Quadrant, and for a white paletot, doubled
of rose-coloured silk which attracted my regards. With disgusting
indifference t he infamous proprietor of the magazine refused the paper
of ihe Republic. The Republic will remember him in the day of ven-
geance. I will wear that rose-doubled paletot under the scarf of the
Commissioner of France.
"On the day of my arrival, one infamous nad the odious insignia of
a fallen and corrupt dynasty gilt, over his door. I have pointed it out
to the attention of patriots: and bid Citizen Grosjacques remember
that there are such things as Vengeance and Retribution.
" This, the fashionable quarter, is entirely in the possession of French-
wen. In those superb but smoky arcades, in those crowded streets
round my Squarr, I rencountered none but compatriots, and many
friends. The Citizen Cimux and myself made a careful survey
round the Squarr, and arranged where the barricades of the glorious
10th of April are to be erected An estimable artist has erected here a
The Representative of France, Cornichon, to the President of the j temple to the Goddess of Reason, under the name of Walhalla. The
Citizen Ciiiitard conducted me to its halls.
" I have consulted with the Citizens who are to blow up the Bridge
of Wateiloo. A select band is appointed who is to take possession of
the Lor Maire. With him in our hands, the Town is ours.
"The Queen has fled.
" The Chartist Citizens are to be invited to join in the demonstration.
We shall lead them against the troops. They are clamorous for the
day when this island shall become a French department.
Tyrannicide Cluh
"Liberty! Equality! Fraternity ! Death to Despotism!
" London, 8 February.
" I have the honour to announce my arrival in the modern Carthage,
and to report as to t he measures taken by us for conferring liberty upon
an island whose treachery has passed into a proverb, and who groans
under a hideous aristocratic despotism.
"The traject from Boulogne was made in two hours ; a strong wind
agitated the waters of the Sleeve (la Manche); unaccustomed to mari-
time motion, I suffered frightful anguishes. More dead than alive, I
was supported to shore at Folkestone, by a couple of English opera-
tives who, (with many more of their nation) found themselves on board.
" These miserables and their families are quitting our country, where
they have been enrichiug themselves for many years at the expense of
France. I cannot but, applaud the decree which banishes them from mon8te, whicb the" millions of Ihe people have prepared. Tt wi
our soil. % Are there not frenchmen enough to till it,J\ Are; ^em-erior require a carria?e of the force of twenty horses to carry it to the
Chamber. It is signed by five millions seven hundred-and-sixty-three
thousand nine hundred-and-sevenly-nine persons. This L swear to you.
" Sunday, 9 April.
" The shops are closed, as if the Citizens dreaded the morrow's
combat. They are flocking to their churches, where they grovel in
abject superstitions. I have made myself known to several of the
Chartist Club. Their respect, for the grand name of E rance is universal.
They sing the Marseillaise generally, but, grievously out of tune.
A friend of the great Feargoose has just showed me the petition
in art, in bravery, in science, to these insularies? Let them be flun;
out of a nation which has need of all its wealth for the support, of its
ownchildren. _______ \ £ count ed"e7ery one.
" 1 protest against the manner in which the fugitive artisans were
received upon the brumous shores of Albion, Hypocritical means of
sin Iter have been provided for the fugitives. The Lord Mayor of
Folkestone received them with expressions of condolence, and with
offers of bread and the national beer. These expressions, this food,
this svmpathv that Albion flings into the figure of France, is an insult
to the Republic. She will wash herself of it, as of Pritchard indem-
nities and other outrages, with which she has been for a long time
beveraged.
"The Citizen Superintendent of the baggage of this port is an
Irishman. ' Are you and your nation prepared to act, ? ' I asked him.
It is a good sign to find this harbour in the hands of our allies.
"My sack-of-night was passed without difficulty at the Douane. My
commissary-scarf was not remarked by the supervisors, or if so, treated
with insular scorn. Glorious emblem ! In three days, in the midst of
bayonets and battles, it shall gird the heart of the patriot! Welling-
ton shall see that signal, and Palmerston kiss the foot of the wearer.
I proceeded to London uncomfortably in the third-class wagon.
" An omnibus transports the voyagers from the s* ation across the
foggv Thames and the hridge of Vest'mains' erre, by the Vite Hall built by
the'Norman William, and where a traitorous monarch justly met his
doom, to the place of the Gallery of the Nation,* as the Chambers are
here called. Fountains bubble before it, endlessly, dirty and frothing
emblems of the deliberations within. Hideous equestrian statues
offend the eyes of the visitor. The palace of the Queen,called Nortbom-
berland Ouse, is opposite the Chamber: surmounted by a stupid British
Lion, which shall not long remain on those' pinnacles. A column of
stone, called the Column of Trafalgar, of which I do not understand the
meaning, for history makes no mention of such a man or place, is in
the centre of this Squarr, as the places of London are called.
" My lodgings were selected in this neighbourhood. Descending from
the omnibus with my sack-of-night, and showing the card on which the
address of my hotel was engraved, 1 had little difficulty m reaching
that place of refuge.
" 1 have an apartment in a lofty and wholesome situation- at the
Hotel de l'Aih in the most fashionable quarter of the town, called
* It would appear that CSlTlZKM Cornichon mistook the National Gallery for the Parlia-
ment House.
Names are in that parchment that I trembled to behold. Ah !
Citizen Minister, how shall I describe to you my sentiments, when I
saw on the list of petitioners the name of the Queen Victoria, and
the miserable Wellington !
" With these eyes I s.w their writing! With a coward eagerness
they have signed the document, not once, but many times. So, you
train \ ourselves before the popular car, do you ? So, by devancing the
ranks of the nation, armed for liberty, you think to hide your own
liberticide projects ? Miserable hypocrites ! I unmasked at once their
intentions to the agent of the Citizen Feargoose, who showed me the
parchments. He was much struck by what, I said.
" Other names were mentioned in the inscribed, which will astonish
the Statesman. Sir Peel has signed it!—What principles has he not,
already professed? Prtnce Albert, husband of the Queen, has
signed it. Even the infamous Palmerston has written that name
which has insulted France at the end of so many protocols.
" ' Who are t hese, Snooks's,' asked the Citizen Commissary, whose
names I read so many times ? It must be a numbrous family of patriots
that of Snooks : and merits well of the country. 1 should think there
must be five hundred Snooks's at least on the parchment.
" My informant, smiling archly, said, 'he thought there were.'
" ' And will they all be in the field of honour to-morrow?' I asked.
"'Behind the "barricades, my brother Citizen,'responded Brown,
giving me a grasp of a hand, dirty, but friendly. And putting his other
hand to his nose, he playfully extended its fingers.
"Cheeks the Marine also has signed: his corps of red-coats is w:th
the people to a man. They garrison Portsmouth and Plymouth, and
form the fighting force of all the ships of the fleet. After to-morrow
the brave Cheeks and his brethren will pull down the accursed old flag
of the Union, and the tricolor shall float at every fort and mast-head in
the harbours of Albion.
"The miserable coward Punch has also signed the petition: that
tardy conversion shall not save him. Since he knew how to speak, this
hunchhack Thersites of the press has prodigated insults to our country.
A band of my followers shall avenge them to-morrow. " Cornichon."
"Monday, 10 April"
**********
171
FRENCH SYMPATHISERS.
he French gentleman who, on the
evening of Monday, the 10th ol
April, was shouting out that all the
English were cowards, and that the
French would show them how to
fight, and w ho was knocked down
by a butcher boy, is requested to
send to our office for the papers
which fell out of his hat, and winch
will be restored 'o their owner.
The Citizen Cornichon appears
to have come to this country as one
of Mr. Smith O'Bkien's fifty
_ thousand friends, having a strong
~ - sympathy with the cause of insur-
=== rection ail over the world. He has
not been heard of since the even's
of the 10th : perhaps he has gone
to Dublin.
Extracts from his papers, literally translated, are given ; the originals
lie for his inspection, and the butcher-boy has left his card.
Lester Squarr. A brorze image of the infamous Pitt on horseback
decorates the steen and smiling garden of the Squarr. I promised
myself to level Miat superb bronze on the day of the national de-
liverance.
"The principles of our glorious Revolution I saw were everywhere
progressing: in almost all the shops in the neighbourhood of the Squarr
pancarts announced that French was spoken by these commercials.
They are evidently prepared to declare themselves after the great day;
when the nation si all be ours, and the stain of Waterloo wiped away.
" 1 tendered a hundred-franc note at one of these establishments in
a beautiful gallery called the Quadrant, and for a white paletot, doubled
of rose-coloured silk which attracted my regards. With disgusting
indifference t he infamous proprietor of the magazine refused the paper
of ihe Republic. The Republic will remember him in the day of ven-
geance. I will wear that rose-doubled paletot under the scarf of the
Commissioner of France.
"On the day of my arrival, one infamous nad the odious insignia of
a fallen and corrupt dynasty gilt, over his door. I have pointed it out
to the attention of patriots: and bid Citizen Grosjacques remember
that there are such things as Vengeance and Retribution.
" This, the fashionable quarter, is entirely in the possession of French-
wen. In those superb but smoky arcades, in those crowded streets
round my Squarr, I rencountered none but compatriots, and many
friends. The Citizen Cimux and myself made a careful survey
round the Squarr, and arranged where the barricades of the glorious
10th of April are to be erected An estimable artist has erected here a
The Representative of France, Cornichon, to the President of the j temple to the Goddess of Reason, under the name of Walhalla. The
Citizen Ciiiitard conducted me to its halls.
" I have consulted with the Citizens who are to blow up the Bridge
of Wateiloo. A select band is appointed who is to take possession of
the Lor Maire. With him in our hands, the Town is ours.
"The Queen has fled.
" The Chartist Citizens are to be invited to join in the demonstration.
We shall lead them against the troops. They are clamorous for the
day when this island shall become a French department.
Tyrannicide Cluh
"Liberty! Equality! Fraternity ! Death to Despotism!
" London, 8 February.
" I have the honour to announce my arrival in the modern Carthage,
and to report as to t he measures taken by us for conferring liberty upon
an island whose treachery has passed into a proverb, and who groans
under a hideous aristocratic despotism.
"The traject from Boulogne was made in two hours ; a strong wind
agitated the waters of the Sleeve (la Manche); unaccustomed to mari-
time motion, I suffered frightful anguishes. More dead than alive, I
was supported to shore at Folkestone, by a couple of English opera-
tives who, (with many more of their nation) found themselves on board.
" These miserables and their families are quitting our country, where
they have been enrichiug themselves for many years at the expense of
France. I cannot but, applaud the decree which banishes them from mon8te, whicb the" millions of Ihe people have prepared. Tt wi
our soil. % Are there not frenchmen enough to till it,J\ Are; ^em-erior require a carria?e of the force of twenty horses to carry it to the
Chamber. It is signed by five millions seven hundred-and-sixty-three
thousand nine hundred-and-sevenly-nine persons. This L swear to you.
" Sunday, 9 April.
" The shops are closed, as if the Citizens dreaded the morrow's
combat. They are flocking to their churches, where they grovel in
abject superstitions. I have made myself known to several of the
Chartist Club. Their respect, for the grand name of E rance is universal.
They sing the Marseillaise generally, but, grievously out of tune.
A friend of the great Feargoose has just showed me the petition
in art, in bravery, in science, to these insularies? Let them be flun;
out of a nation which has need of all its wealth for the support, of its
ownchildren. _______ \ £ count ed"e7ery one.
" 1 protest against the manner in which the fugitive artisans were
received upon the brumous shores of Albion, Hypocritical means of
sin Iter have been provided for the fugitives. The Lord Mayor of
Folkestone received them with expressions of condolence, and with
offers of bread and the national beer. These expressions, this food,
this svmpathv that Albion flings into the figure of France, is an insult
to the Republic. She will wash herself of it, as of Pritchard indem-
nities and other outrages, with which she has been for a long time
beveraged.
"The Citizen Superintendent of the baggage of this port is an
Irishman. ' Are you and your nation prepared to act, ? ' I asked him.
It is a good sign to find this harbour in the hands of our allies.
"My sack-of-night was passed without difficulty at the Douane. My
commissary-scarf was not remarked by the supervisors, or if so, treated
with insular scorn. Glorious emblem ! In three days, in the midst of
bayonets and battles, it shall gird the heart of the patriot! Welling-
ton shall see that signal, and Palmerston kiss the foot of the wearer.
I proceeded to London uncomfortably in the third-class wagon.
" An omnibus transports the voyagers from the s* ation across the
foggv Thames and the hridge of Vest'mains' erre, by the Vite Hall built by
the'Norman William, and where a traitorous monarch justly met his
doom, to the place of the Gallery of the Nation,* as the Chambers are
here called. Fountains bubble before it, endlessly, dirty and frothing
emblems of the deliberations within. Hideous equestrian statues
offend the eyes of the visitor. The palace of the Queen,called Nortbom-
berland Ouse, is opposite the Chamber: surmounted by a stupid British
Lion, which shall not long remain on those' pinnacles. A column of
stone, called the Column of Trafalgar, of which I do not understand the
meaning, for history makes no mention of such a man or place, is in
the centre of this Squarr, as the places of London are called.
" My lodgings were selected in this neighbourhood. Descending from
the omnibus with my sack-of-night, and showing the card on which the
address of my hotel was engraved, 1 had little difficulty m reaching
that place of refuge.
" 1 have an apartment in a lofty and wholesome situation- at the
Hotel de l'Aih in the most fashionable quarter of the town, called
* It would appear that CSlTlZKM Cornichon mistook the National Gallery for the Parlia-
ment House.
Names are in that parchment that I trembled to behold. Ah !
Citizen Minister, how shall I describe to you my sentiments, when I
saw on the list of petitioners the name of the Queen Victoria, and
the miserable Wellington !
" With these eyes I s.w their writing! With a coward eagerness
they have signed the document, not once, but many times. So, you
train \ ourselves before the popular car, do you ? So, by devancing the
ranks of the nation, armed for liberty, you think to hide your own
liberticide projects ? Miserable hypocrites ! I unmasked at once their
intentions to the agent of the Citizen Feargoose, who showed me the
parchments. He was much struck by what, I said.
" Other names were mentioned in the inscribed, which will astonish
the Statesman. Sir Peel has signed it!—What principles has he not,
already professed? Prtnce Albert, husband of the Queen, has
signed it. Even the infamous Palmerston has written that name
which has insulted France at the end of so many protocols.
" ' Who are t hese, Snooks's,' asked the Citizen Commissary, whose
names I read so many times ? It must be a numbrous family of patriots
that of Snooks : and merits well of the country. 1 should think there
must be five hundred Snooks's at least on the parchment.
" My informant, smiling archly, said, 'he thought there were.'
" ' And will they all be in the field of honour to-morrow?' I asked.
"'Behind the "barricades, my brother Citizen,'responded Brown,
giving me a grasp of a hand, dirty, but friendly. And putting his other
hand to his nose, he playfully extended its fingers.
"Cheeks the Marine also has signed: his corps of red-coats is w:th
the people to a man. They garrison Portsmouth and Plymouth, and
form the fighting force of all the ships of the fleet. After to-morrow
the brave Cheeks and his brethren will pull down the accursed old flag
of the Union, and the tricolor shall float at every fort and mast-head in
the harbours of Albion.
"The miserable coward Punch has also signed the petition: that
tardy conversion shall not save him. Since he knew how to speak, this
hunchhack Thersites of the press has prodigated insults to our country.
A band of my followers shall avenge them to-morrow. " Cornichon."
"Monday, 10 April"
**********