FRANCE.
The most important of all the foreign relations of Great Britain are those connected with France—the most powerful of all the allies or enemies of England. During 1852, peace and professions of friendship prevailed between the two nations, but there existed considerable apprehension in Great Britain that the designs of the French president were hostile to England, and that the country was inadequately defended. The Duke of Wellington, without giving any opinion as to the intentions of the president, made more powerful than ever by the coup d’état, declared that there was danger from the defenceless state of the country, and recommended the government to fortify and aim. His grace inspected the coasts, and by the opinions he pronounced increased the public apprehension of peril, while he also stimulated the confidence of the country in its great capacity for defence. Sir Howard Douglas, the distinguished engineer officer, accompanied the duke in his coast inspections, and in a work* published by him on the subject, he thus describes the duke’s impressions;—
* “Observations on Modern Systems of Fortification.” By General Sir Howard Douglas, Bart.
“When the late Duke of Wellington visited the coast defences—on the alarm of an invasion, soon after the accession of Louis Napoleon, the present Emperor of France, to the presidency—his grace, being at Seabrook, between Sandgate and Hythe, conversing with his staff and the other officers, the principles of permanent camps and other fixed defences became the subject of discussion, when the duke used the following expressions, ‘Look at those splendid heights all along this coast; give me communications which admit of rapid flank movement along those heights, and I might set anything at defiance.’”
The fears felt in England that a struggle with France would be speedily necessitated were intensified, when, at the close of the year, the president of the republic appealed to the universal suffrage of France, as to whether he should assume the name and power of emperor. This appeal was answered by 7,824,189 “ayes,” and 253,143 “noes.”
On the 1st of December, the senate and legislative corps met, and proceeded to St. Cloud, to announce to the president of the republic that he had been elected sovereign of France. He accepted the splendid boon, and declared himself Napoleon III. The British government recognised the title, declaring that whatever form of government the French people chose to adopt would be acknowledged and respected by England.