Except the venal gentry of the Ministerial press, nobody in
England seems to believe much in our Anglo-American difficulty.*"' Some people consider it a trick to withdraw attention from
the peace negotiations. Others pretend that Palmerston will push
on to a mutual recall of “ambassadors, when he will go out, as Pitt
did before the peace of Amiens,*” to return when a truly English
Minister is again wanted. From the manner in which the dispute is
maintained very clever people look upon the whole as a simple
election dodge of the President.* The Democratic press beholds
Bonaparte behind the scenes, delighted in fanning internecine war
between the Anglo-Saxons on either side of the Atlantic.
Everybody else is quietly convinced that there is not the least
chance of hostilities, however high official language may run. This
view, we observed, is entertained also by the French Government
paper, the Constitutionnel, which offers its master as pacificator for
the New as well as for the Old World.” .

The principal circumstance not to be lost sight of in estimating
this affair is the almost virtual extinction of the entente cordiale
between England and France,*'* more or less openly confessed by
the English press. Take, for instance, the London Times, the paper
which not long ago proclaimed this Bonaparte a much greater
man than the real Napoleon, and proposed to expel all the vicious
people who would not bow to that creed. In a leading article it
now suggests that the only obstacle to peace is Bonaparte’s

* Pierce.— Ed.
L. Boniface, “Une question intéressante...”, Le Constitutionnel, No. 37, February
6, 1856.— Ed.

over-eagerness for it. This is followed up by another article
hinting that the “chosen instrument of Providence” is, after all, a
mere pis-aller of French society, accepted “because there was not
to be found one single man in whom the nation could place its
confidence and esteem.” In a third article it denounces his whole
staff of generals, ministers, functionaries, &c., as a motley band of —
stockjobbing desperadoes.’ The language of the provincial press of
England is even less reserved. Observe, on the other hand, the
altered tone of the French journals—their fulsome adulation and
flattery to Russia; so singularly contrasting with their moderate
antipathy for England. Further, observe the very confident
menaces of a general Continental coalition held out by the
Austrian, Belgian and Prussian papers. Lastly, take the Russian
press which in its peace homilies ostentatiously addresses itself to
France alone, without as much as mentioning England.

>

“A rainbow of peace,” says the Nordische Biene, “has appeared in the horizon,
and has been joyfully hailed by all friends of civilization.... In these two years of
war with Four Powers, the Russian people has given a striking proof of its great
and noble character, and has earned the respect of its enemies. [...] As regards France,
it may be positively affirmed that the French nation loves and respects the
Russians, admires their courage and self-denial, and takes every opportunity of
expressing its sympathy, as it did when there was a short suspension of hostilities in
the Crimea, as also when Russian prisoners passed through France. The French
prisoners, on their part, have been treated by the Russians like brothers. a?

Le Nord of Brussels bluntly intimates that Bonaparte cultivated
the Austrian mediation from the beginning with the view to throw
off the English alliance at the first opportunity.‘

The alliance with France then being about to be supplanted by a
rupture with that country, England, still at war with Russia,
evidently cannot mean to embark in a war with America, and it is
plain that no importance, beyond what has been pointed out, can
attach to the present difficulty between the two Governments.

Peace in Europe itself is by no means certain. With regard to the
conditions presented by the Allies to Russia*'*: the fact is there is
hardly the appearance of a concession in their acceptance. The
cession of a problematic strip of land in Bessarabia, marked out by
a mysterious chain of mountains not to be discovered on any map,
is more than counterbalanced by the obdurate silence on the
Russian acquisition of Kars, suspiciously mentioned since in a

* The articles in question were published in The Times, Nos. 22277, 22278 and
22275, January 30, 31 and 28, 1856. Pis-aller means “last resort”.— Ed.
: Severnaya Pchela, No. 11, January 14, 1856.— Ed.
“ Le Nord, No. 19, January 19, 1856.— Ed.

Petersburg paper as a Russian province. Meanwhile, the advantages of an armistice, together with the other opportunities in the
course of turning up, do not make it improbable that Russia,
having had the time to concentrate her forces on all the decisive
points, may wish to continue the war. The great pledge of peace,
however, is the absolute necessity for Bonaparte to conclude it at
any price. On the one hand the means for car tying on the war are
failing him; on the other hand there is growing up a necessity of
repeating the Crimean expedition, as Montalembert said of the
expedition against Rome, in the interior of France.*”

Shortly before the acceptance of the preliminaries of peace by
Russia, it was generally current at Paris that Bonaparte contemplated a forced loan, to be borne proportionately to the amount of
direct taxes. The vacuum in his exchequer is forcibly demonstrated
by the condition of his army in the Crimea. For some time past
the lamentable state of the troops under Pélissier has been alluded
to by correspondents. The plain statement which follows is given
by a British non-commissioned officer writing to The Birmingham
Journal, under date of Sevastopol, January 5:

“To-day was very fine. About 3 o’clock a strong north wind blew, and it froze
very hard, which soon made us button up. Our men do not feel the cold; but you
would pity the poor French. They are eternally dragging fuel from Sevastopol.
They are miserably clad and, I think, are worse fed. Every hour of the day there
are some of them looking for biscuit. Our men pity them, and are very kind. Our
sentries have orders not to allow them in the camp, because some were in the habit
of selling cognac, which caused some of our men to get drunk. But the poor French
manage to elude the sentries occasionally, and introduce themselves with bono
Inglis. Of course, our men know what they want, and never send them away
empty-handed. The poor fellows have not so much as a glove to put on their
hands. The only article I see they have got more than they had in Summer is a
hood to their great-coat, and a pair of common, coarse cloth gaiters, which reach
the knee, and are buckled round the knee with a few straps. They do not wear
socks, and they generally have had boots. The fact is, they are the picture of misery,
and indeed they feel it when they see the British soldier with his fine seal-skin cap,
tweed coat, lined with fur, a fine, large comforter round his neck and one round
his waist, and a fine, strong pair of ox-hide boots which come to the knee.”

The state of Napoleon’s finances must be wretched enough,
when he leaves his army, his one and all, in the condition just
described; at the same time, an inference as to their administration
may be drawn from the fact that these two years of war have cost
already more than all his uncle’s* campaigns, from 1800 to 1815,
together. Even Bonapartist generals, returned from the Crimea,
are said to have commented indignantly on the impudent
robberies of Morny & Co., at the expense of the army. These

‘ Napoleon [.— Ed.

602 | Karl Marx

remonstrances have found publicity in a semi-official paper, which
has the following:

“If peace be concluded, the emperor will turn his whole attention to the
finances, and especially to certain abuses too inherent to great movements of
speculation, such as certain accumulations of incompatible offices, and certain
fortunes a little too rapidly acquired.”

Meanwhile revolutionary symptoms manifest themselves in the
youth of the universities, in the working-classes, in a portion of the
middle class, and what is the worst for Bonaparte, in the army.

On the affair of the Ecole Polytechnique, we are informed that
Bonaparte, although sufficiently exasperated at their taciturn
attitude on the 29th of December when he played the Roman
Senate with this army (as he likes to play the Roman Imperator
with his Senate), at first meditated a compromise with the Ecole.
The students were given to understand that the Emperor was
inclined to maintain that institution, if they consented, as an
opportunity would be given them to manifest sympathy for the
dynasty. To this the Ecole replied by their delegates that not only
they would not cry vive l’Empereur, but would drive any of their
comrades from school who should utter that cry. It was upon this
reply that the dissolution of the anarchical establishment was
determined. One-half, composed of the pupils destined for
military service, will be transferred to Vincennes, there to form a
simple school of artillery. The other half, destined to the civil
service, will be in the Ecole Normale.’ The building itself is to be
converted into barracks. Such is the end of the pet institute of
‘Napoleon the Great.

The prison of Mazas is filled with pupils of the University of
Paris, and with other young men who, at the funeral of David, the
sculptor, had raised the cry of Vive la liberté. There was a
circumstance connected with the demonstration against Nisard
peculiarly annoying to Bonaparte. The police having made their
razzia among the students for having hissed Nisard’s apotheosis of
Tiberius as the savior of Roman society, the rest formed in a body,
and, traversing all Paris, went to Nisard’s residence, Rue Courcelles,
and summoned him to put their comrades at liberty. A detachment of soldiers of the line dispatched after them arrived there
almost at the same time. Received with cries of Vive la ligne,” they
immediately stood at ease, and refused to act. To prevent a
further fraternization, they were at once withdrawn, and sup-

* Pedagogical higher school in Paris.— Ed.
P Long live the Army!— Ed.

planted by sergents de ville.* The students removed in a body to the
Odéon, where they invaded the pit, and kept singing the “Sire de
Franc Boissy,” #17 shouting the more offensive verses right into the
ears of Bonaparte and Eugénie, who were present in their box.

The Bonapartist press confess that the number of arrests
effected in the departments amount to 5,000; the figure given
elsewhere of 15,000 is therefore probably the whole truth. This
conspiracy of the laborers, it now appears, had its ramifications
in the midst of the army. It became necessary to break up the
whole school for non-commissioned officers at La Fléche, and to
change all the garrisons of the center of France. In order to
suppress this dangerous spirit in the army, Bonaparte is having
recourse to that most dangerous experiment of the Restoration,
setting up a complete system of espionage through all ranks of the
army. This new legion of honor has led to some very lively
altercations between Marshal Magnan and certain superior officers
who do not think it much to the taste of the troops.

The movement of the working classes of Paris, as in all times
preceding a crisis, is betokened by quod libets,” the greatest favorite
of which is the

“Voila qu'il part, voila qu'il part,
Le petit marchand de moutarde,
Voila qu’il part pour son pays
Avec tous ses outils,” etc“

To leave no doubt as to who is meant by the little mustardvendor, the police has prohibited the song.

The esteem in which Bonapartist institutions are held, is
illustrated by an anecdote related in the Nord. Some Senators did
not hesitate to approve of the act of M. Drouyn de Lhuys in
resigning his senatorship, but took good care not to imitate him.
Morny being asked if any of them were likely to follow the
example, replied that he had excellent reasons to believe the
contrary. “But what reasons have you?” asked his interlocutor. “I
have thirty thousand very good reasons, one franc a piece,” coolly
BUSWETCE, Morny.°

* Police.— Ed.
> Medleys.— Ed.
“He is leaving, he is leaving,
The litthe mustard-vendor.
He is leaving for his country
F With all his belongings,” etc.— Ed.
Le Nord, No. 37, February 6, 1856.— Ed.

One more circumstance may be mentioned of immense meaning
in the present condition of the French people. I don’t revert to the
stock-jobbers, for whom peace and war are equally convenient.
The first time in their history the mass of the French people have
shown themselves indifferent to their old hobby “la gloire.” This
ominous fruit of the revolution of 1848 proves in a manner not to
be mistaken, that the epoch of Bonapartism has passed its climax.

Written on February 8, 1856 Reproduced from the New-York

: ' ; Daily Tribune

Tribune, No. 4634, February 25, 1856,
reprinted in the New-York Semi-Weekly
Tribune, No. 1123; February 29, 1856 as
a leading article