XLVI. 1846. CHAP. action is neither the invasion of Cracow nor its incorporation with the Imperial dominions, but the manner in which it allowed its agents to rouse the passions of the peasantry, and the atrocious deeds of cruelty by which the suppression of the insurrection was disgraced. 28. ment of M. The Governments both of France and England were Embarrass much embarrassed with the Polish question, when interGuizot and rogated on the subject in Parliament. In answer to an Lord Pal- eloquent speech of M. de Montalembert, in the Chamber the Polish of Deputies, on the subject, M. Guizot observed: “I merston on question. am not called upon either to defend or condemn the acts of a foreign government. We are, and always shall be, ready to discuss our own affairs, our own acts, in reference to our connection with foreign countries; but we are under no similar obligation in regard to the internal affairs, the domestic acts, of these governments themselves. I should not know how to do so; I am not bound to do so. I only ask that you will draw no conclusion one way or other from my silence in this particular. It is no part of my duty either to admit or deny what M. de Montalembert has advanced on the subject. The discussion, the judgment concerning it, is going on before the whole of Europe. It is there that public opinion is to pronounce finally upon it. It is not in 1 Moniteur, France, or at this tribune, that anything of the kind can be done." 1 The answer of Lord Palmerston to similar questions in the British House of Commons was in substance the same, though a stronger leaning to an intervention in favour of Poland was apparent in his expressions.* There can be no doubt that the declinature to interfere thus expressed by the Ministers of the two Western Powers, July 3, 1846. * "The general treaty," said Lord Palmerston, "to which England and France are parties, does contain a stipulation with regard to the freedom of the city of Cracow; and this was arranged in the conferences to which England was a party, and at a period anterior to the conclusion of the separate treaty to carry out these arrangements. It is perfectly plain, therefore, that the arrangement as to Cracow was founded upon stipulations to which Great Britain was a party, and that the violation of that treaty is a violation of the arrange XLVI. 1846. was founded in wisdom and justified by necessity; for CHAP. neither the one nor the other could reach Poland, even if the ground for intervention had been much stronger than it really was. The Germanic Confederation, with its 300,000 armed men, backed by Russia with as many more, lay between. But it affords a striking proof of the ascendant which Liberal principles had now attained in Europe, and the extent to which they had shut out the light of reason, that neither the one government nor the other ventured, in their own defence, to state the real truth, which was, that the occupation of Cracow, and its incorporation with Austria, was a measure of self-defence fully justified by the attempts made in that republic to wrest all the provinces of Old Poland from the partitioning powers, and re-establish the ancient monarchy. The Poles were perfectly entitled to make such attempts, for their partition had been a scandalous act of injustice; the Austrians were as clearly entitled to resist them. But it may readily be conceived what a handle the declinature of France to interfere on such a question afforded to the Liberal orators and journals, and how largely it tended to aid their fixed policy of discrediting the Gov ernment. 29. attempt to assassinate Louis Phi The effect of the excitement produced by the events in Poland, appeared, as was too often the case in France at Renewed this time, in a fresh attempt upon the life of the sovereign. On the 16th of April, as Louis Philippe was returning lippe. from a hunt in the forest of Fontainebleau, seated in an April 16. open carriage, accompanied by M. de Montalivet, with the Queen and princesses in similar conveyances behind him, as he was entering the great park near the walls of ments to which Great Britain was one of the contracting parties. The ground which I take, therefore, is, not that it is not for this House to take into consideration the question of our foreign relations, but that, if the House should take such a resolution as is proposed on a question of such grave importance as the conduct of foreign powers, it is not fitting that such a resolution should pass without following up the resolution by further proceedings. I shall therefore move the previous question on the first resolution."-Parl. Deb., xci. 94, 95. XLVI. 1846. CHAP. the enclosures of Avon, two reports of firearms were suddenly heard from the top of the wall. No one was struck, but the wadding of one of the fusils fell still burning between the King and M. de Montalivet. The assassin was immediately seized by some of the foresters, and proved to be a man of the name of Lecomte, who had formerly been in the royal service as an officer in the forests, and even considerably promoted, but had been deprived of his situation in consequence of a serious delinquence. On being seized, he said only, "I was in too great a hurry.” It was fortunate he was so, for he was known to have been so expert a marksman that he scarcely ever missed a fawn at 150 paces distant. He admitted that he intended to have killed the King, and had come to Fontainebleau for that purpose. There was no evidence to connect him 1 Moniteur, with any of the secret societies, and his offence seems to 1816; Ann. have arisen from an exaggerated idea of private wrong, Chron., coupled with the excitement produced by the political Regnault, declamation of the period. He was found guilty, and underwent the extreme sentence of the law with unshaken resolution.1 April 17, Hist. 1846; April 16; iii. 105, 106. 30. Louis Na the Château of Ham. May 25. Shortly after this infamous attempt, and when the trial Escape of of Lecomte was going on, an event occurred fraught with poleon from the most important results in future times, and which, in a manner, links together the story of Louis Philippe with that of the Republic and Empire which succeeded his dethronement. This was the ESCAPE OF LOUIS NAPOLEON FROM THE CHATEAU OF HAM, which took place on the 25th May, at mid-day. During his prolonged captivity in this gloomy abode, where he had occupied the apartments formerly tenanted by Prince Polignac, the young Prince had been constantly occupied with grave and serious pursuits; and he had during this period, in an especial manner, made himself master of the general domestic policy and pacific designs of his uncle, the great Napoleon. This appears in the clearest manner from the very remarkable work Les Idées Napoléoniennes, composed by the Prince XLVI. 1846. to beguile the weary hours of his captivity, which had CHAP. now continued above five years. During this period his chief correspondence and intercourse was with the French Liberals and extreme democrats; and on more than one occasion he expressed himself in the most unequivocal manner an uncompromising adherent of their principles.* He had been engaged, in the spring of 1846, in a negotiation with the French Government for liberty to leave Ham on his parole to visit his aged father, who was dangerously iii. 106, ill. The Cabinet of the Tuileries were not disinclined to niteur, May make the concession; but they attached such conditions to Ann. Hist. the favour that the Prince refused to subscribe to them, May 25, 1846; and preferred the chance of making his escape an unfettered Chron. agent. This was a very difficult task, for the citadel of "Enfant de la Révolution, héritier de l'homme qui ne me semble grand que parcequ'il a tout fait pour le triomphe la Révolution, je ne connais d'autres principes que la souveraineté du Peuple, d'autre but que de s'efforcer à organiser la démocratie, et à améliorer le sort des classes pauvres, tout en relevant notre drapeau vis-à-vis de l'étranger."-LOUIS NAPOLEON à M. 22 Août, 1843. "Elévé dans des sentiments démocratiques dès que j'eus atteint l'âge où l'on réfléchit, j'admirai le chef de ma famille, non-seulement comme grand capitaine, mais surtout comme le représentant glorieux de la Révolution Française. Je ne vis alors que deux causes distinctes en Europe: celle qui avait vaincu le 14 Juillet 1789, et celle qui avait triomphé le 18 Juin 1815. Toutes les divisions intermédiaires me parurent des divisions puériles, alimentées souvent par des intérêts personnels. "Aujourd'hui la question est la même pour moi. Je ne vois en France que des vaincus et des vainqueurs à Waterloo. Les vainqueurs ont le pouvoir, ils avilissent et oppriment notre pays. Les vaincus souffrent et gémissent. Quels que soient les noms que ceux-ci se donnent, et le lieu qu'ils habitent, ils sont tous les enfants d'une même mère, la Révolution. Si jamais la lutte recommence, ils se réuniront sous le même drapeau, par la même raison qui depuis des siècles a toujours réuni les hommes-l'opposition à un ennemi commun. "Convaincu que le Gouvernement actuel faisait le malheur de la France, dans ce sens que la corruption et la lâcheté mettent une nation bien plus près de sa ruine que la tyrannie, je me suis résolu à tout entreprendre pour le renverser, bien décidé à laisser le peuple entier choisir la forme de gouvernement, qui lui conviendrait le mieux. Le rôle de libérateur suffit à mon ambition. Je n'étais pas assez fou pour avoir la prétention de fonder une dynastie sur un sol jonché de tous les débris des dynasties passées."-LOUIS NAPOLEON à Ham, March 9, 1844; REGNIER, i. 316, 317. So far did Louis Napoleon at this period carry his democratic principles, that he embraced and strenuously supported those of the Socialists, and wrote many articles in the journal Du Progrès du Pas de Calais, enforcing their views, which were afterwards collected in a pamphlet entitled Extinction du Paupérisme, ibid., i. 316. 1 Regnault, 107; Mo 27, 1846; XLVI. 1846. CHAP. Ham is of great strength, and deemed so secure a place of confinement that it had been purposely selected as a state prison for the most important political offenders for a long period. Nevertheless Louis Napoleon succeeded in making his escape from it, and got clear out of France. It was effected in the following manner. 31. Mode in which he effected his May 25. escape. Notwithstanding the length of his confinement, the vigilance and rigour with which Louis Napoleon was watched had undergone no diminution. Two sentinels were always stationed at the bottom of the stair leading to his apartment; its windows were strongly barred; at night the guards were doubled; and at all times the utmost precautions were taken to prevent approach to the fortress from the outside. Fortune, however, threw the means of escape within his reach, which, by the assistance of connivance within, was happily carried into execution. Some repairs required to be made on the stair; and during a quarter of an hour at noon, it was known that one of the sentinels on the stairs withdrew to read the papers, leaving the other alone on the post. It was this auspicious moment which was chosen to carry the escape into effect. The means of it were arranged with Dr Conneau, the medical attendant, and Charles Thelin, the valet of the Prince. Their period of imprisonment having expired, they were at liberty to go into the town, which they always did after obtaining leave from the governor of the prison. Advantage was taken of this facility to bring in by stealth various articles of dress, which might serve as a disguise in passing the sentries. The Prince then cut off his long mustaches, which made a great change in his appearance, put on a black wig, dyed his face and hands, and having equipped himself entirely in a workman's dress, with a blue smock-frock, he proceeded at noon with a plank on his shoulder to pass the guard. This was effected successfully, the sentinel either mistaking, or pretending to mistake him for one of the workmen. In passing him the Prince accidentally let the pipe fall which he was smoking. He |