DOI issue:
July to December, 1848
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16547#0270
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
263
THE FRENCH FEMALE SOCIALISTS.
It may bs expected that in the. next French Revolution—come when
it will—the women will be in the first rank, and the washerwomen, if
we may believe the Semaphore da Sud, will be ready to plunge into hot
water with ai alacrity characteristic of their calling. The next
barricades of Paris will be formed of the washing-tubs and mangles of
Ihose whose feelings have been already mangled by a refusal to recog-
nise their claims, and they will show themselves impatient of their
irons by throwing them—fiat as well as Italian—upon the soldiery. We
shall find the blanchisseuse opposing the approach of cavalry by drawing
up a detachment of clothes-horse, and she wiil show herself no less
expert in getting up a fine row than in getting up fine linen. The
authorities must, not be soporific in presence of these viragos of the
soap-suds, who are eager to form a lather for the purpose of lathering
the authorises.
INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE.
It was natural that, at, a juncture like that of the Presidential Elec-
tion, L-u-s N-f-l-n should seek for counsel from his friends on this
side of the Channel. We are enabled, by the kindness of certain parties,
to lay before the nublic some extracts from the very interesting corre-
spondence of the P—e and his English advisers :—
L—From P—e L—s N—p—£—n to the C—u—t D'Ors—y.
(Translation.)
" Cher Comte,
" It is very embarrassing. The accounts, as they come in,
swell my majority more and more. I shall certainly be returned, and
by the absolute majority. Then, you see, I am President at once, and
the Assembly will not be called in to decide between me and my rival,
this excellent Cavaign'ac. It is too much honour for me. My dear friend,
I have been too calm, too prudent. They have found out, they say, that
I am a man of vast capacity. They discover ideas in my bulletins, of
which I had no conception. The Invalides insist upon it, that I am to
restore the armies, wars, and glories of the Empire; the Legitimists,
that I am to overthrow the Republic; the Orleanists, that I am to rule
through a Dynastic Ministry, and so pave the way for the amiable Pr-n-e
de Jo-nv-ll-e; the epiciers, that I am to restore trade ; the rentiers
that I am i,o raise the 5 p«r cents" to par; the Red Men, that I am to
open the career for the talents, remodel society, substitute the sense of
duty for the sense of self-interest, set up association for competition,
and extirpate vice and misery.
" All this is a vast mission for a single man; and I begin to feel
unequal to the actual situation. What, is to be done ? I repeat, it is
embarrassing to sir, with the eyes of Europe upon one. Eurnish me,
my dear friend, with a programme. You have much experience of
society. Perhaps you migtit be willing to aid me here in person. At
least open to me your heart. I am indeed in an embarrassment,
"But still entirely yours,
" L—8 N—p—l—n."
II.—From C—u—t D'oks—Y to L—s N—p—l—n.
" Cher Prince,
" Your position reminds me of an anecdote told of the man
who won an Elephant in a raffle, and was much perplexed what to do
with his large prize. You have won your Elephant.
" It is indeed embarrassing. You cannot satisfy everybody. Pardon
me, if 1 say rather, I do not think you can satisfy anybody, for every
party expects of you something different from the other.
" Eor your obliging offer—I must answer no. The Arts engross me
wholly—I have taken to religious painting in the great style, and find it
attracts wonderfully. Apropos—if the port-folio of the Embassy to St.
James' be to dispose of, it might be well to have one who may,
without fatuity-But you will understand me, a demi-mot.
" I embrace you a thousand times. « Your devoted
" D'ors-y."
Ill,—From L—s N—r—l—n to Mr. Gomersal.
(Translation)
"Dear and Illustrious Artist,
" Standing on the pinnacle of success, on which thirty millions
contemplate me with astonishment, I fly to you, worthy repository of
hallowed recollections, illustrious successor of that mighty uncle who
in you has lived again on the boards of Astley, amidst the cruel and
haughty insulars (unworthy of a genius like yours)—I fly to you
for inspiration, as to a source of historic tradition, a living record of
the departed great.
" Prance has chosen me her chief, as forty-four years ago she chose
that hero to whose memory you and I have dedicated ourselves. At
such a moment I feel that the uncle should revive in the nephew.
"Come, then, to me—to the Tuileries. There I may place myself
once more under your tuition, to fir, myself for my great task of restor-
ing to France its Emperor. Come, and do not forget, I he properties.
Soon it may be necessary for me to make a tour of the Departments, to
present myself to the country that, in choosing me, does honour to a
recollection, which your lessons alone can assist me to call up before
them in living, moving majesty. Quit, then, Astley's, that scene of your
triumphs. Leave that modest, retreat in which you brood over the
recollection of Austerlitz and Marengo. Come to my palace and my
heart. Rooms shall be prepared for you, with trophies and memorials
of him- " With respect and affection,
" L-s N—p-l-n."
IV.—From Mr. Gomersal to L—8 N—P—l—n.
"My dear P-e,
"It does my heart good to find, at last, that the French are
soing in for the legitimate business, and choosing one from the acknow-
ledged stock to be their manager. I was delighted to find your election
had been a bumper—crowded houses—immense hit—and, in fact,
a blaze of triumph. Indeed, from your first appearance on the stage,
1 knew you would do it, and exclaimed—aside—with Hamlet, ' Oh, my
prophelic soul, his uncle ! '
" I need not say how your success comes home to my business and
my bosom. To think that the hat, boots, and grey surtout, that wil(
hardly draw a house at Astley's nnw, exceut on an 18th_of June, can
still pull 'em in, in your Circuits—I mean Departments—in millions, is
'a comfort to my age,' as Wolsey has it. I am glad to see you are
not like some other stars I could mention, jealous of all other talent,
and ready to forget former lessons.
"I shall have muci pleasure in doing anything I can for your benefit,
in the genuine Emperor line—and I think that between us, what
with your Napoleon ideas, and my Napoleon togs and props,
we may ' win golden opinions,' as Macbeth styles 'em, which are
the 'sovereign'st thing on earth' as Hotspur would say, for one whose
reputation, hitherto provincial, ought now i o aspire to become European.
As to my coming over to give lessons in the real thing, or to make
a tour of the Provinces with you, I shall be delighted ; but * Hal, an
thou lov'st me,' ' put money in my purse'—as in the distracted state
of your treasury I should'nt be surprised to find myself on half-salary—
' a thing most tolerable and not to be endured.'
" So no more from one, who, tho' now in ' his sear and yellow leaf,' is
still, in regard for your late uncle, " Sincerelv yours,
" Gomersal."
" P.S. Don't forget the magnanimous business. You remember that
scene with the Scotch Prisoner. Pitch in your clap-traps—' bits of
fat'we call'em.—I take it, your's is a gallery audience, and wants
something 'hot and strong.' "
AN unfeeling monster.
We know an Author (he writes long poems) who always gives his
own Books as Christmas Boxes. If this cruel practice is still inflicted
this year upon little children, we certainly shall publish his name.
263
THE FRENCH FEMALE SOCIALISTS.
It may bs expected that in the. next French Revolution—come when
it will—the women will be in the first rank, and the washerwomen, if
we may believe the Semaphore da Sud, will be ready to plunge into hot
water with ai alacrity characteristic of their calling. The next
barricades of Paris will be formed of the washing-tubs and mangles of
Ihose whose feelings have been already mangled by a refusal to recog-
nise their claims, and they will show themselves impatient of their
irons by throwing them—fiat as well as Italian—upon the soldiery. We
shall find the blanchisseuse opposing the approach of cavalry by drawing
up a detachment of clothes-horse, and she wiil show herself no less
expert in getting up a fine row than in getting up fine linen. The
authorities must, not be soporific in presence of these viragos of the
soap-suds, who are eager to form a lather for the purpose of lathering
the authorises.
INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE.
It was natural that, at, a juncture like that of the Presidential Elec-
tion, L-u-s N-f-l-n should seek for counsel from his friends on this
side of the Channel. We are enabled, by the kindness of certain parties,
to lay before the nublic some extracts from the very interesting corre-
spondence of the P—e and his English advisers :—
L—From P—e L—s N—p—£—n to the C—u—t D'Ors—y.
(Translation.)
" Cher Comte,
" It is very embarrassing. The accounts, as they come in,
swell my majority more and more. I shall certainly be returned, and
by the absolute majority. Then, you see, I am President at once, and
the Assembly will not be called in to decide between me and my rival,
this excellent Cavaign'ac. It is too much honour for me. My dear friend,
I have been too calm, too prudent. They have found out, they say, that
I am a man of vast capacity. They discover ideas in my bulletins, of
which I had no conception. The Invalides insist upon it, that I am to
restore the armies, wars, and glories of the Empire; the Legitimists,
that I am to overthrow the Republic; the Orleanists, that I am to rule
through a Dynastic Ministry, and so pave the way for the amiable Pr-n-e
de Jo-nv-ll-e; the epiciers, that I am to restore trade ; the rentiers
that I am i,o raise the 5 p«r cents" to par; the Red Men, that I am to
open the career for the talents, remodel society, substitute the sense of
duty for the sense of self-interest, set up association for competition,
and extirpate vice and misery.
" All this is a vast mission for a single man; and I begin to feel
unequal to the actual situation. What, is to be done ? I repeat, it is
embarrassing to sir, with the eyes of Europe upon one. Eurnish me,
my dear friend, with a programme. You have much experience of
society. Perhaps you migtit be willing to aid me here in person. At
least open to me your heart. I am indeed in an embarrassment,
"But still entirely yours,
" L—8 N—p—l—n."
II.—From C—u—t D'oks—Y to L—s N—p—l—n.
" Cher Prince,
" Your position reminds me of an anecdote told of the man
who won an Elephant in a raffle, and was much perplexed what to do
with his large prize. You have won your Elephant.
" It is indeed embarrassing. You cannot satisfy everybody. Pardon
me, if 1 say rather, I do not think you can satisfy anybody, for every
party expects of you something different from the other.
" Eor your obliging offer—I must answer no. The Arts engross me
wholly—I have taken to religious painting in the great style, and find it
attracts wonderfully. Apropos—if the port-folio of the Embassy to St.
James' be to dispose of, it might be well to have one who may,
without fatuity-But you will understand me, a demi-mot.
" I embrace you a thousand times. « Your devoted
" D'ors-y."
Ill,—From L—s N—r—l—n to Mr. Gomersal.
(Translation)
"Dear and Illustrious Artist,
" Standing on the pinnacle of success, on which thirty millions
contemplate me with astonishment, I fly to you, worthy repository of
hallowed recollections, illustrious successor of that mighty uncle who
in you has lived again on the boards of Astley, amidst the cruel and
haughty insulars (unworthy of a genius like yours)—I fly to you
for inspiration, as to a source of historic tradition, a living record of
the departed great.
" Prance has chosen me her chief, as forty-four years ago she chose
that hero to whose memory you and I have dedicated ourselves. At
such a moment I feel that the uncle should revive in the nephew.
"Come, then, to me—to the Tuileries. There I may place myself
once more under your tuition, to fir, myself for my great task of restor-
ing to France its Emperor. Come, and do not forget, I he properties.
Soon it may be necessary for me to make a tour of the Departments, to
present myself to the country that, in choosing me, does honour to a
recollection, which your lessons alone can assist me to call up before
them in living, moving majesty. Quit, then, Astley's, that scene of your
triumphs. Leave that modest, retreat in which you brood over the
recollection of Austerlitz and Marengo. Come to my palace and my
heart. Rooms shall be prepared for you, with trophies and memorials
of him- " With respect and affection,
" L-s N—p-l-n."
IV.—From Mr. Gomersal to L—8 N—P—l—n.
"My dear P-e,
"It does my heart good to find, at last, that the French are
soing in for the legitimate business, and choosing one from the acknow-
ledged stock to be their manager. I was delighted to find your election
had been a bumper—crowded houses—immense hit—and, in fact,
a blaze of triumph. Indeed, from your first appearance on the stage,
1 knew you would do it, and exclaimed—aside—with Hamlet, ' Oh, my
prophelic soul, his uncle ! '
" I need not say how your success comes home to my business and
my bosom. To think that the hat, boots, and grey surtout, that wil(
hardly draw a house at Astley's nnw, exceut on an 18th_of June, can
still pull 'em in, in your Circuits—I mean Departments—in millions, is
'a comfort to my age,' as Wolsey has it. I am glad to see you are
not like some other stars I could mention, jealous of all other talent,
and ready to forget former lessons.
"I shall have muci pleasure in doing anything I can for your benefit,
in the genuine Emperor line—and I think that between us, what
with your Napoleon ideas, and my Napoleon togs and props,
we may ' win golden opinions,' as Macbeth styles 'em, which are
the 'sovereign'st thing on earth' as Hotspur would say, for one whose
reputation, hitherto provincial, ought now i o aspire to become European.
As to my coming over to give lessons in the real thing, or to make
a tour of the Provinces with you, I shall be delighted ; but * Hal, an
thou lov'st me,' ' put money in my purse'—as in the distracted state
of your treasury I should'nt be surprised to find myself on half-salary—
' a thing most tolerable and not to be endured.'
" So no more from one, who, tho' now in ' his sear and yellow leaf,' is
still, in regard for your late uncle, " Sincerelv yours,
" Gomersal."
" P.S. Don't forget the magnanimous business. You remember that
scene with the Scotch Prisoner. Pitch in your clap-traps—' bits of
fat'we call'em.—I take it, your's is a gallery audience, and wants
something 'hot and strong.' "
AN unfeeling monster.
We know an Author (he writes long poems) who always gives his
own Books as Christmas Boxes. If this cruel practice is still inflicted
this year upon little children, we certainly shall publish his name.