The Express.
London, England, 1852-09-01 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUESDAY ETINIIIIO.
The Mu:deur, after two rounds of journalistic pu-
gilism with the Times, has retreated to the secondary
position of bottleholder, handing over the rude con-
tinuation of the combat to the Pays. If the latter
paper were better deserving of its title, that is, if it
represented more nearly the natiossib:dalea of
of Frame, the tomethis article *said net
a pre/sand esneaties ea the saw die etthe etinaer
=nay ease, ee
me easing ken what say be now
die dist ministetiel asps, it twits
the Whet attention. It is Weed new plain that the
French government is heat mew using =done' inti-
midation u an instrement tie compressieg the We.
pendenoe of the Eogßsl prem. "The French pelvis;
says the Pays,"hasneverenihned, nor wilieTersolie,
other =fiats to intervene inibisternalaffiti.raby their
newspapers." What is the winsidag of this? How is it
possible to prescribe to an inispleident nation the
limits of its sphere of discomissP Where is the
line to be drawn between theme topics which
foreigners are to be allowed to handle in their public
journals, and those which are tabooed. The truth is
that the internal affair, of Franco can never cease
deeply to concern England, and to involve moral,
political, and material interest which can never be
matters of indifference to Englishmen, but must in-
evitably react upon our own relations. At this
moment, if there had not been an independent
English press to domain the coup data of Decem-
ber 2 and its coasequeness; if two or three tory
organs had been suffered, without contrudictioc, to
paint the now government installed in France in the
brightest colours of the Youiteur, millions of British
capital more than have ventured into the volcanic
region of French speculation might have been now
contributing to form railways, which may be at no
distant day torn up by the wild soldiers of &acute.
If only the fair side of the consequences of substitut-
ing a despotic for a constitutional government had
been represented ; if the abolition of parliaments, of
public discussion, had appeared to Englishmen at-
tended by the unqualified blessings ascribed by. M.
Granicr de Cassagnac to those bold innovations,
might not the faith of our countrymen have been
shaken in those institutions which they have so long
regarded as the foundations of their prosperity, mo-
rality, and national strength. The least relaxation
of a faith in principles, which have led to satisfactory
results, is thu first step towards decadence. What
is now passing in France, so long as it is truly repre-
sented to the-English people, will tend to confirm
them in the old Articles of their political religion,
and make them spurn the quackery at home which
promises miraculous miults from new and mysterious
elements. The French fox has lost his brush,
and would fain persuade him neighbours to
cut off theirs. Not succeeding to his heart's
content, he becomes quite envy, as the Pays
and Moniteur by their indignant contortion show.
A crusade against conscience is uphill work; and
its conquests require too many bad men to garrison
them long with effect. But the rage which demands
that a foreign nation should witness with respectful'