DOI issue:
January to June, 1853
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16611#0161
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON
CHARIVARI.
153
LOUIS NAPOLEON CONDEMNED BY HIMSELF.
As we proceed, we grow more serious :—
" May my heart dry up (se drss&che) in my breast the day when I
shall forget what I owe to you all, what I owe to France!"
And that ever-gushing fountain is not dried up; but still
continues to play as joyfully as ever—and if, in its deep love
for France, it does overflow occasionally, it is always in
streams of champagne, and never with the least drop of
blood.
But we must not pause to admire too much, but continue
our pleasant journey of quotations :
" May my mouth be shut for eternity, if ever I pronounce a word,
a blasphemy, against the Republican Sovereignty of the French people I
" May I be cursed the day when I shall be weak enough to allow, under
the shelter of my name, the propagation of doctrines contrary to the
democratic principle which should direct the Government of the
Republic !
" May I be condemned to universal execra'ion the day when, guilty,
and a traitor, I should dare to lay a sacrilegious hand upon the rights
of the people, either with its sanction, by deceiving them, or against
their wishes, by means of force and violence !
" And now, believe in me as I believe in you, and let one cry escape
from all our breasts, like a common prayer addressed to Heaven:
" Long live for ever the Republic!
" Louis Buonapakte."
Never was there such a proclamation, so full of oaths,
and vows, and appeals to Heaven! How many of them
have been kept sacred ? Never mind! Let us learn a
lesson from the whole thing, and when M. Louis
— " ^^^^"^gE^^ ~-==*^S^dttl! i J.__- bring you all my life, all my
soul."
We dare say the "Trench People" wish by this time he had brought them
something better. However, if he was " penetrated with gratitude," the " French
People" were shortly afterwards penetrated with musket balls, which is a very
penetrating way certainly of testifying one's gratitude for "affection." If this
was the return Louis Napoleon made for affection, we wonder what graceful form
of acknowledgment he would make for hate ! Save us, we say, from either—but
more especially from his " affection I"
Further on, he says :—
" Brothers and citizens, it is not a Pretender you are receiving in the midst of you. It is not in
vain that I have meditated in exile. a Pretender is a curse; I will not be yours; I will never be
either ungrateful, or infamous."
These promises from one brother to another (such a brother as Cain was to
Abel) have all been strictly fulfilled. No one can say that Louis Napoleon
ever was a pretender. It was certainly not at Strasburg—nor at Boulogne—
nor again in December, 1851. They were not the acts of a pretender, but of one
who proved by the goodness and the self-abnegation that prompted him on those
occasions, that he had not in vain meditated in exile." As for his having been
a "curse" to France—or having shown himself in the least "ungrateful or
infamous "—no one would ever think of accusing the Emperor, of such a thing !
" It is as a sincere and ardent Democratic EepvMican (he tells us in the next paragraph) that I
present myself to you. I appeal to the Shade of the Great Man of this century to be a witness of
the promises which I here make solemnly."
The " solemnly " comes in beautifully from one, who, in the honorable fulfilment
of his promises, has always proved himself scrupulously " particular to a Shade,"
and no one can doubt his having been a most "ardent and sincere Democratic
Republican," when it is well known that the coup d'etat was resorted to rather to
support than put down that "dangerous class," which has always been patted
on the head with the greatest kindness by Louis Napoleon. Besides, as rather a
strong test, is there one Republican in exile at the present day ?
" In each Frenchman I shall always see a Brother.''
Yes—as the result has abundantly shown: a Brother that Louis Napoleon
would always be happy to see at the Elysee, at the Tuileries ; a Brother, who, if he
happened to be imprisoned at Doullens, at Cayenne, Cabessa, no matter where,
Louis Napoleon would instantly run all the way, and liberate him! And the
consequence is, that Louis Napoleon has not a single brother in Belgium, or in
England ! All his brothers are in France assembled (the very group of a Happy
Family) around him:
" The rights of every one shall be my rights."
And as no Frenchman has at present any rights, so Louis Napoleon has not any
rights either—no right to be on the throne—no right to stop the press—to put Paris
in a state of siege—nor rule France with a loaded cannon—no more right than
the commonest Frenchman alive has. Neither, you will see, will he have his full
rights until every Frenchman has his !
" The Democratic Republic shall he the object of my especial worship. I shall be its priest."
And like a good priest, he has followed the Republic to its grave, and buried it.
A few muskets, it is true, were fired over it, but then as the Republic had been in
the army—at Rome and elsewhere—these shots were simply discharged to do
honour to its memory.
"Never will I attempt to envelope myself in the Imperial Purple."
This is but too true! Look at Louis Napoleon now! Hasn't his dress,
like his conduct, been all throughout perfectly uniform ?—the uniform of a
General of the National Guard ? No! he never has made any attempt ! There
isn't a drop of purple about him !—not even on his hands !
tudePf"r6thetAffection which I Buonapaute denies all intention of invading England,
you have testified to me, i j and strikes his imperial breast in indignation at such an
idea, and cries " Vive a jamais VAngleterre ! " and meets
our doubts by wishing that his mouth may be sown up, and
bis heart turned into a paving-stone, if ever he dreams of
attacking us in any way, or even as much as touching a
hair of the British Lion, we can point to the above
document and tell him very politely that, with such a
pyramid of falsehoods staring us in the face, it is really
impossible to believe a single word he says. The more he
protested and wished he might be cursed, &c, if either his
own breast, or the sea-port of that name, harboured any
design of invasion against England, the more we should
believe to the contrary !
Watts's Income Tax Logic.
When Bishops, who in wealth abound,
Return their incomes wrong,
And pocket several thousand pound
To them that don't belong,
Oh how can Government expect
A struggling chap like me
Should put his earnings down correct,
To fill up Schedule D ?
" HOW TO WALK ON THE CEILING."
We notice in a work addressed to the youths of England,
an article with the above title. We really should be
frightened to let such a work enter into our house. We
should be afraid that the young gentlemen of our establish-
ment would be trying to put into practice the instructions
there laid down for them. It would not be pleasant to
have to send for the doctor at a moment's notice, because
Master Johnny had been converting himself into a
juvenile Sands, by endeavouring to walk—a la bluebottle
—across the nursery ceiling. It is too bad to attempt to
turn the head of Young England topsy-turvey in this
manner, just as if children were not sufficiently skilled in
tumbling and hurting themselves, without their being
taught how to tumble and hurt themselves still more.
Punch, as a parent, denounces such instructions as the
height of juvenile cruelty, and inveighs indignantly, in the
name of Judy and maternal fondness, against the folly of
trying to make a scientific impression on the infant mind
by the means of such ceiling-whacks !
Poetry of the Money Market.
They 're going to reduce the Three Per Cents:
Oh jolly news for those who live on rents,
For merchants and for speculative Cits,
For us who earn our venison by our wits;
But sad affair to many a widow poor,
To many a needy orphan what a bore !
The Best Agent for a Rotten Borough. — A
Disinfecting Agent.
CHARIVARI.
153
LOUIS NAPOLEON CONDEMNED BY HIMSELF.
As we proceed, we grow more serious :—
" May my heart dry up (se drss&che) in my breast the day when I
shall forget what I owe to you all, what I owe to France!"
And that ever-gushing fountain is not dried up; but still
continues to play as joyfully as ever—and if, in its deep love
for France, it does overflow occasionally, it is always in
streams of champagne, and never with the least drop of
blood.
But we must not pause to admire too much, but continue
our pleasant journey of quotations :
" May my mouth be shut for eternity, if ever I pronounce a word,
a blasphemy, against the Republican Sovereignty of the French people I
" May I be cursed the day when I shall be weak enough to allow, under
the shelter of my name, the propagation of doctrines contrary to the
democratic principle which should direct the Government of the
Republic !
" May I be condemned to universal execra'ion the day when, guilty,
and a traitor, I should dare to lay a sacrilegious hand upon the rights
of the people, either with its sanction, by deceiving them, or against
their wishes, by means of force and violence !
" And now, believe in me as I believe in you, and let one cry escape
from all our breasts, like a common prayer addressed to Heaven:
" Long live for ever the Republic!
" Louis Buonapakte."
Never was there such a proclamation, so full of oaths,
and vows, and appeals to Heaven! How many of them
have been kept sacred ? Never mind! Let us learn a
lesson from the whole thing, and when M. Louis
— " ^^^^"^gE^^ ~-==*^S^dttl! i J.__- bring you all my life, all my
soul."
We dare say the "Trench People" wish by this time he had brought them
something better. However, if he was " penetrated with gratitude," the " French
People" were shortly afterwards penetrated with musket balls, which is a very
penetrating way certainly of testifying one's gratitude for "affection." If this
was the return Louis Napoleon made for affection, we wonder what graceful form
of acknowledgment he would make for hate ! Save us, we say, from either—but
more especially from his " affection I"
Further on, he says :—
" Brothers and citizens, it is not a Pretender you are receiving in the midst of you. It is not in
vain that I have meditated in exile. a Pretender is a curse; I will not be yours; I will never be
either ungrateful, or infamous."
These promises from one brother to another (such a brother as Cain was to
Abel) have all been strictly fulfilled. No one can say that Louis Napoleon
ever was a pretender. It was certainly not at Strasburg—nor at Boulogne—
nor again in December, 1851. They were not the acts of a pretender, but of one
who proved by the goodness and the self-abnegation that prompted him on those
occasions, that he had not in vain meditated in exile." As for his having been
a "curse" to France—or having shown himself in the least "ungrateful or
infamous "—no one would ever think of accusing the Emperor, of such a thing !
" It is as a sincere and ardent Democratic EepvMican (he tells us in the next paragraph) that I
present myself to you. I appeal to the Shade of the Great Man of this century to be a witness of
the promises which I here make solemnly."
The " solemnly " comes in beautifully from one, who, in the honorable fulfilment
of his promises, has always proved himself scrupulously " particular to a Shade,"
and no one can doubt his having been a most "ardent and sincere Democratic
Republican," when it is well known that the coup d'etat was resorted to rather to
support than put down that "dangerous class," which has always been patted
on the head with the greatest kindness by Louis Napoleon. Besides, as rather a
strong test, is there one Republican in exile at the present day ?
" In each Frenchman I shall always see a Brother.''
Yes—as the result has abundantly shown: a Brother that Louis Napoleon
would always be happy to see at the Elysee, at the Tuileries ; a Brother, who, if he
happened to be imprisoned at Doullens, at Cayenne, Cabessa, no matter where,
Louis Napoleon would instantly run all the way, and liberate him! And the
consequence is, that Louis Napoleon has not a single brother in Belgium, or in
England ! All his brothers are in France assembled (the very group of a Happy
Family) around him:
" The rights of every one shall be my rights."
And as no Frenchman has at present any rights, so Louis Napoleon has not any
rights either—no right to be on the throne—no right to stop the press—to put Paris
in a state of siege—nor rule France with a loaded cannon—no more right than
the commonest Frenchman alive has. Neither, you will see, will he have his full
rights until every Frenchman has his !
" The Democratic Republic shall he the object of my especial worship. I shall be its priest."
And like a good priest, he has followed the Republic to its grave, and buried it.
A few muskets, it is true, were fired over it, but then as the Republic had been in
the army—at Rome and elsewhere—these shots were simply discharged to do
honour to its memory.
"Never will I attempt to envelope myself in the Imperial Purple."
This is but too true! Look at Louis Napoleon now! Hasn't his dress,
like his conduct, been all throughout perfectly uniform ?—the uniform of a
General of the National Guard ? No! he never has made any attempt ! There
isn't a drop of purple about him !—not even on his hands !
tudePf"r6thetAffection which I Buonapaute denies all intention of invading England,
you have testified to me, i j and strikes his imperial breast in indignation at such an
idea, and cries " Vive a jamais VAngleterre ! " and meets
our doubts by wishing that his mouth may be sown up, and
bis heart turned into a paving-stone, if ever he dreams of
attacking us in any way, or even as much as touching a
hair of the British Lion, we can point to the above
document and tell him very politely that, with such a
pyramid of falsehoods staring us in the face, it is really
impossible to believe a single word he says. The more he
protested and wished he might be cursed, &c, if either his
own breast, or the sea-port of that name, harboured any
design of invasion against England, the more we should
believe to the contrary !
Watts's Income Tax Logic.
When Bishops, who in wealth abound,
Return their incomes wrong,
And pocket several thousand pound
To them that don't belong,
Oh how can Government expect
A struggling chap like me
Should put his earnings down correct,
To fill up Schedule D ?
" HOW TO WALK ON THE CEILING."
We notice in a work addressed to the youths of England,
an article with the above title. We really should be
frightened to let such a work enter into our house. We
should be afraid that the young gentlemen of our establish-
ment would be trying to put into practice the instructions
there laid down for them. It would not be pleasant to
have to send for the doctor at a moment's notice, because
Master Johnny had been converting himself into a
juvenile Sands, by endeavouring to walk—a la bluebottle
—across the nursery ceiling. It is too bad to attempt to
turn the head of Young England topsy-turvey in this
manner, just as if children were not sufficiently skilled in
tumbling and hurting themselves, without their being
taught how to tumble and hurt themselves still more.
Punch, as a parent, denounces such instructions as the
height of juvenile cruelty, and inveighs indignantly, in the
name of Judy and maternal fondness, against the folly of
trying to make a scientific impression on the infant mind
by the means of such ceiling-whacks !
Poetry of the Money Market.
They 're going to reduce the Three Per Cents:
Oh jolly news for those who live on rents,
For merchants and for speculative Cits,
For us who earn our venison by our wits;
But sad affair to many a widow poor,
To many a needy orphan what a bore !
The Best Agent for a Rotten Borough. — A
Disinfecting Agent.