The battles of Victor Hugo and Victor Schoelcher against Napoleon III.

Victor HUGO (1802.1885)

Autographed letter signed to Victor Schoelcher.

Four pages in-12° on light green paper.

Jersey. September 26 [1852].

“Do not despair of our poor dear France […] let us therefore rejoice in suffering, we soldiers of progress and servants of the ideal.”

The struggles of two exiles. A few months after the coup d'état of Napoleon III, the two exiled men – one in Jersey, the other in London – work towards freedom through their pens: Victor Hugo has just published Napoleon the Little and Victor Schoelcher History of the Crimes of December 2nd.

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“I begin with your book ^* . I am reading it with pleasure. It is a sincere, useful, and powerful work. I find only one fault with it: its format. It makes for too large a volume, a luxury of type, a luxury of paper especially, hence too much weight and too much space—I fear it will have great difficulty entering France; small books already have a great deal of trouble slipping through the open clutches of Bonaparte , and I fear yours will have even more trouble. Yet, such a book should be in everyone’s hands; to the bourgeoisie it would bring clarity, to the people, anger.” 

I immediately gathered the information you requested. I am sending you a letter from one of Pierre Leroux's two sons-in-law ^, who are printers here. Read it and decide. I advise you to have your second volume printed here. The savings would be quite considerable, and by using less expensive paper (which is a useful thing), they would be even greater. I would be delighted if you would agree; you would come, and it would be a great joy for me to shake your hand.

It's impossible for you or me to write, even a few lines, in the newspapers here, open as they are to Bonapartism as to the Republic, and neutral in a way. — But I will try to get them to write about your work properly; I've already sounded out a few journalists. They are strangely indifferent and apathetic ^*** — I still believe they will talk.

I still hesitate to tell you that the  golden acorn  was created by St. Arnaud  ^**** . I wrote this page based on very detailed notes gathered from various sources, but they are authentic. I can no longer find these notes in my files. I fear I may have inadvertently left them with my books in Brussels. I wouldn't dare answer yes  from memory. Everything in our accusations must be true. I am writing from Brussels. If the notes are found, I will send you the answer immediately.

My dear friend, you are a noble spirit and a steadfast heart. Do not despair of our poor, dear France. The people, too easily flattered since 1848, and particularly by those who are now creating the fatal divisions of London, the people needed this lesson. It is good that they have learned it. As for us, it is also good that we are outlawed. Outlawry tests ideas, purifies parties, and elevates men. Now, the democratic party, more than any other, needed men. Before October 2nd ^, it was reduced to making banners with two or three highly questionable names. Now it has more choices. All this is good; let us therefore rejoice in suffering, we soldiers of progress and servants of the ideal. I shake both your hands. VH

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^* V. Schoelcher's work, Histoire des crimes du deux-décembre*, was published in London in a hardcover duodecimo edition before being reprinted in Brussels in a 32mo format. It was a copy of this latter edition, described as "considerably enlarged," that Schoelcher presented to Victor Hugo, with this inscription: "To my kind and charming friend Totor. Affectionate remembrance of exile. Jersey, March 23, 1853." It is preserved in the library of Hauteville House.

^** Pierre Leroux's brother, as well as his two sons-in-law, were employed at Zeno Swietowslaski's Universal Printing House, which would become, over the following years, the printing house for the entire Jersey exile. An edition of Schoelcher's second book (probably printed in Jersey) is known, published by Jeffs , London, in 1853, under the title: *The Government of the Second of December*, as a sequel to *History of the Crimes of the Second of December*. An English translation of this latter work was published by the Library and Agency of the Universal Printing Establishment in Jersey, Saint Helier, in 1853, under the title * History of the Crimes of the Second of December *.

^*** La Chronique de Jersey and Le Constitutionnel , the only two French-language newspapers in Jersey in 1852, showed very little interest in the situation of the exiles who, therefore, were led to found their own newspaper, L'Homme .

^**** In * Napoleon the Little* , in a passage about the generals of Napoleon III, Victor Hugo mentions one, without naming him, who, “being a bodyguard of Louis XVIII and on duty behind the king’s chair during Mass, cut a gold tassel from the throne and put it in his pocket; he was expelled from the guards for it” (* The Master’s Pettiness *, p. 137). The anecdote is recounted in a lengthy passage about Saint-Arnaud, “who died a Marshal of France. A sinister figure,” in the remainder of *History of a Crime* (Ollendorff, vol. II, p. 216). It was not included by Schoelcher in * History of the Crimes of December 2nd *, nor in *The Government of December 2nd*.

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Bibliography: Victor Hugo – Victor Schoelcher. Letters. J. Gaudon. Ed. Flohic. 2000.