Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. IX.—February, 1851.—Vol. II.Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. IX.—February, 1851.—Vol. II.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Some months since a committee at the head of which was LEVERRIER, the
astronomer, reported to the French Chambers in favor of a telegraphic
apparatus submitted by Mr. Bain. Messages were transmitted between Paris
and Lille, at the rate of 1500 letters per minute. In accordance with
the report an apparatus was placed upon the line between Paris and
Calais. The dispatch of the Paris correspondent of the _Times_ of Dec.
5, was transmitted by this apparatus at the rate of 1200 letters a
minute, in a character perfectly legible. On the first of March the
French telegraphs are to be opened to the public. By the proposed tariff
a message of 300 words from Paris to Calais, 235 miles, will cost about
nine dollars.
GUIZOT, has prefixed to the republications of his treatises on Monk and
Washington two characteristic prefaces, in which the opinion is more
than hinted that what France wants at present is Monk, the restorer of
Monarchy, rather than Washington, the founder of a Republic.
A LIFE OF TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE, by M. St. Remy, a native of Hayti, has
been published at Paris, of which _La Semaine_ says: "Toussaint
Louverture, the heroic personification of the black race, was one of the
most extraordinary men of modern times. A son of a race hitherto
oppressed, filled with a noble emulation, and desirous of sculpturing
the figure of some of those great men who have fixed the destiny of
their country, has commenced the pious task with the history of this old
slave, whose genius raised him to the rank of general of the French army
in St. Domingo. The sophisms of the partisans of negro slavery have too
long held up to ridicule the efforts made by a people of African origin
to take rank among civilized nations; and it belonged to a man of color
to prove by an illustrious example that the Deity wished but to vary his
works, not to establish a hierarchy of subjection, by giving to the skin
a color black or white. The great crime of Toussaint was that of having
bravely resisted Leclerc, who came to reduce again to slavery a country
which had been made free. On the 8th of October, 1801, Bonaparte said,
in a proclamation addressed to the inhabitants of St. Domingo: 'The
Government has sent to you General Leclerc. He brings with him a large
force to protect you against your enemies, and the enemies of the
Republic. If you are told, these forces are destined to deprive you of
your liberties, do you reply, The Republic will not suffer them to be
taken from us.' On the 2d of May, 1802, slavery was re-established by a
decree under the same signature. When he was embarking aboard the vessel
which was to convey him to Europe, Toussaint uttered these words: 'In
overthrowing me, they have only overthrown the trunk of the tree of the
liberty of the blacks. It will spring up again, for the roots are many
and deep.' He was a true prophet; for of 50,000 soldiers successively
embarked for St. Domingo, not a fourth part ever returned to France. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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