FOREIGN NEWS

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 88, 11 September 1852, Page 4

FOREIGN NEWS

FRANCE

The 10th May, on which day Louis Napoleon by law should have resumed the position of a private citizen, was selected by him to present the army with new standards, and has been called the " fete dcs Aigles." The spectacle was of the most magnificent description, 70,000 troops being under arms, and half a million of spectators from all quarters of the world being congregated to witness it. We copy from the Illustrated Neios, the more striking events of the day.

Between two lines of troops on either side of the field, and at the distance of about onethird its whole length from the President's tribune, stood the temporary chapel with its high altar. This magnificent structure was about 80 feet high from the ground to the top of the gold cross that surmounted the dome. Four pilasters supported the four arches, terminating in a dome, of light and elegant appearance, on the summit of which was a Latin cross. Four gilded eagles occupied the angles of the cornice above the arches. Against each pilaster there was a fluted Corinthian column, supporting a statute. Level with the architrave were four rich velvet canopies, composed of alternate broad stripes of crimson and gold. A flight of carpetted stairs, facing the Eeole Militaire, led up to the altar. About 300 priests, in soutane and surplice, with the Archbishop of Paris, M. Sibour, in gold embroidered cope and mitre, took up various positions beneath the dome and on the steps. The President set out from the Tuileries on horseback shortly before noon. He .was accompanied by his uncle, Prince Jerome, General de St. Arnaud, General Magnan, Marshals Reille, Havispe, Excelmanns, and Vaillant, with their aides-de-camp; and a numerous and brilliant staff of general officers, besides the Prince's own military household. About twenty bronzeface Arab sheiks, wearing scarlet scarfs over their white bernouses, and with long' guns slung behind them, caracolling upon fiery steeds of the Elysee, were not the least attractive feature in the Prince's suite, and excited the admiration of the multitude. Louis Napoleon rode a superb black horse, with gold housings. He looked uncommonly well, and admirably managed his steed, which chafed and pawed under him. The Prince reached the Pont de Jena punctually at noon. His entrance into the Champ de Mars.was announced by a salute of twentyone guns, and by acclamations which .were drowned in the peal of the artillery. When he reached the foot of the staircase leading.up to his tribune, he dismounted, and ascending, saluted, by taking off his cocked hat, the ministers and high dignitaries who came forward to meet him down to the first landing-place. He then took his seat in the arm-chair set for him. On his right stood the ex-King Jerome. On either, side and behind were ranged the ten Ministers, the Marshals and Admirals, the Foreign Ambassadors present in Paris, and the military household of the Prince. At the back of this platform, where Louis Napoleon was seated, were set the stands of colours to be distributed. The top of each flag-staff was surmounted by a gilt eagle, with wings displayed, about a foot in height. The model was exactly that of the Empire, but the three colours of the "flaw were not arranged as the tricolour was under Napoleon, for then the bands were perpendicular to the staff, (as in fact, the colours of the Lancers' flags are now,) whereas, the colours are now parallel to the staff, and come in the order of blue next the staff, white in the middle, and last red. On the white portion was inscribed the name and number of the regiment, and tliCy battles in which it had been distinguished. On the red and blue were four crowns, encircling' the cipher of Louis Napoleon. The ceremony was a close imitation of the Emperor's distribution of the eagles in his famous Champ de Mai before the battle of Waterloo. Jerome Bonaparte stood, beside his brother, the Emperor, on that occasion ; and singular must it have appeared to him, at an interval of nearly forty years, to assist at the restoration by l"3 nephew of the Imperial emblem which was shattered in that disastrous route. Louis ISll' poleon, then a child of six years old, was also present on that celebrated day. Immediately the Prince reached the platform the ceremony of the distribution of the colours began. The colonels of the regiments stood in ranks at the

foot of the platform on which the Prince was stationed. At a given signal, the first colonel on the right ascended the steps of the platform towards the Prince, followed in single file by all those of the first rank. The President, taking the colours from the hand of the Minister of°War, delivered to the colonels in turn the banners of their regiments. These officers, descending in the same order, on reaching the ground formed again at the bottom of the staircase. After the distribution of all the colours, the colonels of the regiments, at a given signal, reascended the staircase of the platform all together, and stood upon the steps while the Prince came forward and came down to the first landing-place. He took off his hat and held a paper in his hand, from which he read the following speech :— . " Soldiers !—The history of the people is in great part the history of armies. On their successes or on their reverses depends the lot of civilization and of the country. Conquered, they are followed by invasion or anarchy ; victorious, by glory and order. For this reason nations, like armies, bear a religious veneration towards those emblems of military honour which sum up in them a whole past of struggles and of triumphs. The Roman eagle, adopted by the Emperor Napoleon in the beginning of this century, was the most striking signification of the regeneration and grandeur of France. It disappeared in our misfortunes. It was destined to return when France, recovered from her defeats, mistress of herself should seem no longer to repudiate her own

glory. "Soldiers !—Resume, then, these eagles not as a menace against foreign nations, but as the symbols of our independence, as the souvenirs of an heroic epoch, as the badge of nobility of each regiment. " Resume, then, these eagles, which have so often led our sires to victory, and swear to die, if need there be, to defend them."

This speecli was no sooner uttered than all the colonels extended their right arms towards the Prince and exclaimed Nous le jtirons ! The President walked up again to his seat, -while the colonels, shouldering the standards, descended the steps together, and walked towards the altar.

At 1 o'clock the cannon announced that the religious ceremony had commenced. When the guns gave the signal, the Archbishop, arrayed in full canonicals, commenced the Mass of the Holy Ghost. At the close of the Gospel the Archbishop descended the steps from the high altar, attended by his Grand Vicar and clergy, while the colonels with their standards remained grouped at the foot of the steps. He then preached a discourse, the length and rhetoric of which accompanied by animated gesticulations, contrasted strongly with the brevity, and sedate gravity of the President's speech. At the close of this address, the Mass was resumed. At the moment of the elevation another salute was fired; the drums beat to arms; the trumpets sounded the advance; 60,000 men presented arms, the whole of the infantry kneeling, and the officers not in command bent on one knee to the earth, with heads uncovered. The multitude on the mounds took off their hats. When Mass was over, the Archbishop, surrounded by the officiating clergy, proceeded to where the eagles were arrayed round the altar.. He raised his voice to chant the prayer " Adjutorium nostrum Domine," and the clergy responded "Amen!" After the " Oresmus Omnipotens sempiterne Deus," the prelate ■ sprinkled the flags with holy water, and blessed • them, and then took his seat on a throne and assumed the mitre. The standard-bearers advanced separately, knelt on the ground, each the eagle in his hand, and the Archbishop spoke the following prayer:—■ • " Receive these standards sanctified by the blessing of Heaven ; may they be the terror of the enemies of the Christian world; and may ■God, for the honour of his name and glory, give you that grace that securely and un- . "scathed you may pierce the battalions of your enemies." When the prayer was ended, the Prelate . gave for the whole army the kiss of peace, with the words Pax tibi; and the: foremost staud-,/ard-bearer, rising from 'the ground, pressed to lips the Pontificial ring, arid then resumed • nhis place. One •.hundred salutes from the can- ' "non of the Bridge of Jena accompanied the ' ".blessing of the eagles. The Prelate then stood

erect, arrayed in mitre and cope, and holding the crosier, raised his hand aloft, and gave a universal blessing to the army and the people, and another salute announced that the religious ceremony was over.

The colonels, to whom the standards were delivered by the Archbishop, descended and defiled round the chapel. They then proceeded to their respective regiments, delivered the eagles to the ensigns, and had them recognised by the corps in the usual manner.

At this moment cries of Vive V Empereur ! and Vive Napoleon ! were uttered, the former with much enthusiasm by the cavalry.

At two o'clock, the President descended from his pavilion, mounted his horse, and took up his position in front. The defile commenced, and cries of Vive V Empheur I Vive Napoleon! were again heard.

A good deal of gossip prevails about projects of matrimony for the President. A fresh match is spoken of as not the least probable. A young lady, nearly related to the Prince de Beauvau, has just inherited a fortune of eighteen millions of francs, and although this sum is only equivalent to a single year of the President's present income, the dowry is considered handsome enough to tempt the Prince to solicit this alliance with one of the noblest families in France. Lamaktine and Napoi-eon Buonaparte.— Baron Jerzmanowski, a colonel of the Polish lancers of the old Imperial Guard, has written to M. Lamartine, to correct, on his own authority as an eye-witnEss, several inaccuracies contained in itf. Lamartine's recently published " History of the Restoration," relating to the return from Elba. This is M. Lamartine's re ply.—« I thank you for your rectifications, I will'make use of them as of an irrefutable testimony. With regard to my judgment upon the institutions and the policy'of Napoleon, it must necessarily differ from yours as widely as our points of view are different. I understand, and I honour the fidelity of enthusiasm of a brave lieutenant for his general. Gratitude wears a bandage over its eyes as well as justice. But I, a man of another religion, love the independence of all nations, that I may have the right to love the independence, of the nation of which I form a part. I desire morality even in glory ; in short, I abhor despotism, and I must logically and from my heart judge with severity the man who was the most formidable instrument of despotism. Receive, Monsieur, the assurance of my high consideration.— Lamartine. AUSTRIA. The death of Prince Schwarzenberg resulted from a stroke of apoplexy. Prince •Schwarzenberg found the Austrian Empire in ruins, and he leaves it entire. He found the authority of the Imperial Court at its lowest ebb—attacked in Italy, rejected in Hungary, derided in Vienna, and effaced at Frankfort— .insomuch that the Tyrol seemed the only possession which the House of Hapsburg could call its own. He left that authority absolute throughout the dominions of the Crown, and as influential as it has ever been in the councils of Europe. To have achieved that work in three years and a half was the part of no ordinary man. The Atlas remarks there was no casualty that could have happened among the sommites of other countries which would have excited so much interest in England as has followed the sudden death of the Prince. As the restorer of vigour and prestige to the old Austrian despotism ; as the successful opponent and cruel conqueror of the Hungarian patriots ; above all, as the Minister who among the whole corps of foreign diplomatists, has distinguished himself by a constant antagonism to the policy and discourtesy to the natives of England, the late Prime Minister of Austria was the object of comment aud remark with the English press and public. In this country he was little respected, and will be still less regretted. His loss may be felt for a time by his master the Emperor, who will probably find some difficulty in replacing so bold and unscrupulous a servant. But no change is likely to follow in the system of Austrian policy through the death of its chief. Military despotism has become the ideal of Viennese administration. Schwarzenberg himself did but follow in the steps of a routine established by Metternich; and his successor, whoever he may be, can hardly depart from tracks so deeply worn.