: Victor Hugo
: Napoleon the Little and Napoleon le Petit
: Seltzer Books
: 9781455425778
: 1
: CHF 0.10
:
: Erzählende Literatur
: English
: 720
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

Bilingual, English and French. According to Wikipedia: 'Napoleon le Petit was an influential political pamphlet by Victor Hugo which condemned the reign of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. Hugo lived in exile in Guernsey for most of Napoleon III's reign, and his criticism of the monarch was significant as he was one of the most prominent Frenchmen of the time, and was revered by many. It includes the concept of two and two make five as a denial of truth by authority, a notion later used by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Volumes were smuggled into France (eg. in bales of hay, and between metal sheets as a tin of sardines), read at secret meetings, and hand-copied.'


Bilingue, anglais et français. Selon Wikipédia: «Napoléon le Petit était un pamphlet politique influent de Victor Hugo qui condamnait le règne de Napoléon III, empereur des Français, qui vécut en exil à Guernesey pendant la plus grande partie du règne de Napoléon III, et sa critique du monarque fut significative. Comme il était l'un des Français les plus éminents de l'époque, il a été vénéré par beaucoup de gens et inclut le concept de deux et de deux comme un déni de la vérité par l'autorité, une notion utilisée plus tard par George Orwell dans Nineteen Quatre-vingt-quatre. Les volumes étaient introduits clandestinement en France (par exemple dans des ballots de foin et entre des tôles comme une boîte de sardines), lus lors de réunions secrètes et copiés à la main.

I  SINISTER QUESTIONS


 

 What was the number of the dead?

 

Louis Bonaparte, conscious of the advent of history, and imagining that a Charles IX can extenuate a Saint Bartholomew, has published as a piece justificative, a so-called"official list of the deceased persons." In this"Alphabetical List,"[1] you will meet with such items as these:"Adde, bookseller, 17 Boulevard Poissonniere, killed in his house; Boursier, a child seven years and a-half old, killed on Rue Tiquetonne; Belval, cabinetmaker, 10 Rue de la Lune, killed in his house; Coquard, house-holder at Vire (Calvados), killed on Boulevard Montmartre; Debaecque, tradesman, 45 Rue de Sentier, killed in his house; De Couvercelle, florist, 257 Rue Saint-Denis, killed in his house; Labilte, jeweller, 63 Boulevard Saint-Martin, killed in his house; Monpelas, perfumer, 181 Rue Saint-Martin, killed in his house; Demoiselle Grellier, housekeeper, 209 Faubourg Saint-Martin, killed on Boulevard Montmartre; Femme Guillard, cashier, 77 Faubourg Saint-Denis, killed on Boulevard Saint-Denis; Femme Garnier, confidential servant, 6 Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, killed on Boulevard Saint-Denis; Femme Ledaust, housekeeper, 76 Passage du Caire, at the Morgue; Francoise Noel, waistcoat-maker, 20 Rue des Fosses-Montmartre, died at La Charite; Count Poninski, annuitant, 32 Rue de la Paix, killed on Boulevard Montmartre; Femme Raboisson, dressmaker, died at the National Hospital; Femme Vidal, 97 Rue de Temple, died at the Hotel-Dieu; Femme Seguin, embroideress, 240 Rue Saint-Martin, died at the hospital Beaujon; Demoiselle Seniac, shop-woman, 196 Rue du Temple, died at the hospital Beaujon; Thirion de Montauban, house-holder, 10 Rue de Lancry, killed at his own door," etc., etc.

 

      [1] The functionary who drew up this list, is, we know, a learned

and accurate statistician; he prepared this statement honestly,

we have no doubt. He has stated what was shown to him, and what

he was permitted to see, but what was concealed from him was

beyond his reach. The field for conjecture is left open.

 

To abridge: Louis Bonaparte confesses, in this state paper, one hundred and ninety-one murders.

 

This document being cited for what it is worth, the question is, what is the true total? What is the exact figure of his victims? How many corpses bestrew the coup d'etat of December? Who can tell? Who knows? Who will ever know? As we have already seen, one witness deposed:"I counted in that place thirty-three bodies;" another, at a different part of the boulevard, said:"We counted eighteen bodies within a space of twenty or twenty-five yards." A third person, speaking of another spot, said:"There were upwards of sixty bodies within a distance of sixty yards." The writer so long threatened with death told ourselves:"I saw with my eyes upwards of eight hundred dead bodies lying along the boulevard."

 

Now think, compute how many it requires of battered brains, of breasts shattered by grape-shot, to cover with blood,"literally," half a mile of boulevards. Go you, as did the wives, the sisters, the daughters, the wailing mothers, take a torch, plunge into the dark night, feel on the ground, feel along the pave