Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography
Accounts were now brought to England that Napoleon was reigning in full
sovereignty at Elba, and all the corrupt writers in the Ministerial and
daily press were sneering at the idea of his fancied sovereignty. But by
the solemn treaty of Paris, Napoleon was as much an Emperor as he ever
had been as much a Sovereign as the Emperor of Russia; and, by the law
of nations, quite as much entitled to make war or peace with other
powers as was the King of England, the King of France, or any other
Sovereign. But these writers, as I have before said, were daily
ridiculing his sovereignty, and holding his power in derision. But it
will be seen hereafter, that it is a very dangerous thing to treat with
contempt the hostility of an enemy, however weak that enemy may be. In
the meantime Louis the Desired, the contemptible King of France, decreed
that the property of the Buonaparte family should be sequestred; the old
Bourbon tyranny was making the most rapid strides; the press was much
more enslaved than under the reign of Napoleon; disturbances had broken
out in many parts of France; yet such was the dreadful, enthralled state
of the press, that no one dared to mention them, nor were they ever
known but by the proclamations of the King, to restrain and repress
them. The finances of France were, nevertheless, in a flourishing state;
their trade was fast reviving, and every means that ingenuity could
devise were resorted to, to induce the people to feel for royalty; and,
amongst other things, a solemn funeral for the late King and Queen of
France took place, which was conducted with great pomp and ceremony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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