The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-12 00:00:00

Klr,; JULY 12, 451,-,

utpitteapnees of the muitigiatt, and to the chance of the.,
• can think, and mho would dare to say, that the
Natbreal 'Assembly--the guardian of the rights of the
country—would tranquilly suffer the nation to be led under
its very eyes into this career of revolution and of adven-
ettre#—Htetiationel holds ell itrpower from the
constitution; it is through it the first power of the state,
and it is nothing without it. Its duty, the teener of its
Mikity, its interest, and its own honour oblige it to
licitcnint. Could the Assembly tolerate that the agents of
the executive power, turning the forces which the constitu-
tion places in its bands to another use, should prepare and
favour uueonstitutional eandidateships ? And ff, unto',
tunately, they should attempt it, would not that inevitably
lead to an open and violent struggle between the two great
powers ?
In that struggle, which could not be legitimate unless
it were provoked and necessary, and which, under any
circumstance, would be fur ever to be deplored, the
National Assembly would, assuredly, Lind force and right
on its bide. It would undoubtedly triumph ; but at whet
a cost? Are we, then, so tlrm in our seats that we may
not be permitted to fear that, in the midst of this intes-
tine war of the government, the party which is the
natural and common enemy of ell government would remain
the master ?
Were order to be saved, should we be sure to preserve
the legality which we defend? Where is the man so cer-
tain of has judgment as to dare to predict to what the
chances of such a struggle might lead ? 1 knew that it is
easy to say that, in spite of the terrors of the moment, and
of the meth: iu which they are consulted, the electors will
remain masters of themselves; that they will know how to
appreciate the different candidates, to understand the consti-
tution and to obey it ; that the executive power will prac-
tise abnegation, that its agents will be discreet; that no ono
will yield to the excitement of the moment, and that the
factions will be kept in respect. All these things may easily
be said, and they cannot be well officially replied to; we
shall therefore refrain from doing so.
We do not speak either to phrase-makers or to children,
but to political men who are accustomed to worldly affairs,
and do not coeliac themselves to words. We appeal to their
intelligence, their experience, and their conscience.
These circumstances being admitted, the state of affairs,
and the character and interest of men known, the logic of
facts and of passions understood, let them ask themselves
calmly end sincerely whether auythiug but a great crisis
can revolt from the actual Oat u quo, and whether that crisis
must not end either in usurpation or in anarchy, anal under
any circumstances in the ruin of the republic, and perhaps
of iiberty ?
Straightforward men who will put these questions sin-
cerely to themselves, who will reflect on all that 9se have
said, will doubtless arrive at the conclusion that among all
the formidable perils of the future, the assembling of the
constituent is the least. Such has been the feeling of the
majority of your committee, which loss charged us to tell
you co.
Conviaced of the necessity of a revision, it has asked it-
self what kind of revision might be adopted. It proposes to
yon to express the wish that the constitution should. be I
totally revise,'.. It has been secu that the warmot and best
founded criticisms which have been made on it bear on
the mode according to which in the election of the As-
sembly, and particularly in that of the President
of the republic, the sovereignty of the people is exercised;
on its origin, and un the number and extent of the great
powers. These' gentlemen, arc the principal parts of the
machinery of the government; they cannot be remodelled
without interfering with all the others. The whole work
I must, therefore, be retouched more or less profoundly.
The revision cannot be made partially.
In what, however, does total revision consist ? Ilaeo we
any prescription to draw out on this point to the future con-
stituent, or an opinion to express to the country ? What is
the extent of our right in this matter ? What is our duty?
Is the revision to take plate within or without the question
of the republic ?
It has been Ili:attained in the committee that the repub-
lican form of government being the sole expression oi the
I principle of the sovereignty of the people, the only one
which is compatible with its complete exercise, the repub-
licun principle is therefore confounded with that of
the notional sovereignty, and was like it inalienable and
imprescriptible, and that no one could take away from the
citizens the natures right of governing themselves, nor en-
slave
future gene:ations by founding a system of govern-
ment which from its nature was or pretended to be im-
mortal.
These ideas, gentlemen, have been rejected by a very
large majority of the committee. We cannot furs moment
admit that out of the lade of the moral world, which is uo
more subject to the empire of the majority than to that of
kings, there can be anything which is not to be under the
sovereignty of the people, particularly in a country where
that sovereignty is the principle of the laws and their sanc-
tion; that a nation can be eternally held back, and as if
bound hands soul feet in spite of itself in the political forms
which it might deem contrary to its habits, its way of think-
ing, its grandeur, its happiness.
Without discussing this theory at any length, we have
examined whether in reality it was proper to put forward
fur decision the question of republic or monarchy.
We all agreca that we could not have the right, even if
we had the desire, to propose to the nation to quit the re-
public. We are a legislative assembly, elected in virtue
of a republican constitution, and holding our powers front
that constitution. The republic is the legal government
of our country, and constitutes part of that government,
consequently we have no right to attack its principle. The
majority of your committee has also been of opinion that
we Mild no right to impose the republic, as a general for-
mula of government, on the next constituent. la fact,
there wuuid be something puerile in attempting to enchain
beforehand the decisions of a sovereign assembly, which
absorbs within itself all the powers, and which exer-

the point of disappearing at the same time, without rises all; fur the constitution, foreseeing the two national
able to distinctly Bee what may come in their place, assemblies could not sit at the same time, took care to de-
fm composition and the spirit of the future Assembly dare that the constituent, independent of its naturallabours,
depend on the chances of the election, and the President should have the faculty of passing urgent laws. Row could
is sot re-eligible. Let us figure to ourselves the anxiety an assembly, which was not originally named to occupy R-
ead the terror which must seize every mind at one day self with the constitution, and which, besides, has already
lading empty that immense place which the government more than two years' existence, pretend to limit an m-
aw occupies amongst us. Is it not to be feared that in this sembly issuing from the people, and which ball just received
disturbance and in this agony the electors may feel them- the national will ?
selves impelled, not for enthusiasm fur a name or for entail, But does it follow that after baying stated our opinion
but from terror of the future, and from horror of anarchy, that the constitution ought to be revised, we have exhausted
to maintain illegally, and by u kind of popular act of our right and completely fulfilled our duty? Bare wo no
violence, the Executive Power in the hank which now effort to make amongst uurselres, no sacrifice to claim one
hold it ? from the other, to arrive in the Assembly at a constitutional
Let the mode of the presidential election established by majority, without which the ap2lication for the revision
the constitution itself be examined, and it will be seen that would be only a sterile and dangerous agitation ? Is it not
it facilitates as much as the law can do this revolutionary necessary ti indicate a common thought which may unite
and disastrous result. A great nation spread over a vast together honourably all those whom the peril of the cireuue
space, • nation the sphere of whose executive power is stances induces to desire a revision ?
almost without limit, and when the sole representative of We have not, undoubtedly, anything to prescribe to the
that power is elected by the universality
.of citizens voting constituent which may bo named ; but have we not some
directly, and separately, and without having any means of recommendation to give to the nation, in order to aid it to
enlightening themselves, and coming to an understanding traverse that crisis at the same time salutary and dangerous,
together—that, I do not hesitate to say, has never been in which the force of circumstances comets us to throw it
Well in any nation in the world. The only country iu the ourselves ? Have we no counsel which may help to guide
world which presents anything analogous is America. But it in its sombre path towards which we urge it ?
look at the prodigious difference. In America direct and And who are we then, if not its natural- advisers ? The
universal suffrage is the common law ; only ono exception only political men placed in such a position as to be able to
has been introduced to that great principle, and that applies judge of the CotBEllibl.l of affairs, the present wants of the
precisely to the election of the President. The President country, the state of parties, what may and what may not
of the ',lilted States of America also emanates from a uni- be done. It would not be either wise or honest, gentlemen,
venal Tote, but not directly ; and, nevertheless, the part of to refuse to the nation, in so critical a moment, our experi-
the executive power in the Union, compared to what it coca and our advice, and to abandon the electors at the mo-
is and always will be is France whatever may be done, 19 went when they are about to elect that sovereign assembly,
a trifling one; and notwithstanding, in that country, where to the agitation and uncertainty of their own nnaginatioas.
the republic may be said to have existed from its very It has been said, and no one has denied the assertiou,
origin, it has not been dared to confide the election of the that the greatest peril which the election of a constituent
representative and of the executive government to the assembly can entail is the anarchy which on this occasion
chance of a direct and universal vote. The power to be may be produced in the midst of the great conservative
elected has appeared to be too great, and particularly too majority of the country, an anarchy from which would
far removed from the elector, for his choice to be unlight- issue perhaps the triumph of the demagogical minorities in
cued and mature. The American nation only chooses do- the electoral colleges. That is true ; and it may be said
legates, who elect the president. These delegates doubt- that there has not perhaps ever been since February a sin-
len represent the general spirit of the country, its tenden. gle conjuncture at which it was more necessary that all the
cies, its tastes, and often its passions and its prejudices; fractions composing the great party, called the party of
but they have at least the advantage of • know- order, should come to an understanding together, and find
ledge which the general body of the people could not a common ground on which to unite together for the tuo-
have. They may form to themselves an exact idea of the went. But where is that spot to be found ?
general wants of the people, of its real dangers—they It is unfortunately nothing new to state to the world or
may know the candidates, compare them with one another, to ourselves, to admit that the country and the Assembly
and select, which each citizen in the midst of his ordinary are profoundly divided as ti the definitive form which it is
occupations is incapable of doing. Thus it has been seen proper to give to the government ; and that this is not cer.
during the last 60 years, that the Americans have fry- taiuly the point ea which a union can at present be effected.
quently set aside from the office of first magistrate of the But, if no understanding can be come to for the future, at
Republic citizens well known, and sometimes very il- least an accord may he arrived at for the present.
lustrious, and chosen those who are comparatively obecure, that party is there, out of the Republic, which can
but who better respond to the political want' of the mo- stippom that the moment of its triumph has arrived ; which
meat. does not admit, that in the absence of the solution which it
If the dangers of universal and direct suffrage in such a prefers, the wisest plan is to maintain for the present the in-
ease have struck the legisiators of the United States, how stitutions now existing, which, however defective they may
much more must they excite our attention ? We, who live be, have at least this advantage that they preserve the
in a country where the majority of the citizens arc not yet liberty of the future; which, in line, will not allow, that
acenstomed to occupy themselves with political affairs, and if they are maintained, they ought to be rendered less clan-
do not know, even by name, the majority of those who gerous ?
guide them, and who besides have already contracted That, gentlemen, is the common ground on which we
passions suggested by the spirit of democracy not to have been able to keep ourselves for the last three years with
wish to place any of their equals at the head of the truth and consequently with dignity, without doing violence
government, and have not yet acquired the intelligence to our convictions, without sacrificing our honour, which
and experience which democratic nations require in sacrifice is not even due to one's country. The point now is,
order to know how to solve it. Who, with the ex- not to desert that ground at the very moment when it la
ception, perhaps, of some famous demagogues who have most necessary for as to remain there firmly. A wording had
made themselves noticed by their interested and violent been proposed, the object of which was to express these
passions, or of some princes whose birth has made them ideas on the setting-forth of your resolution. It declared
seen from afar—who is the only personage whose name that the revision was applied for in order to ameliorate the
might easily arrive at the knowledge, and fix itself firmly institutions of the Republic. The majority of the committee
in the memory of those millions of rural electors who cover rejected that wording, fearing that it might seem to indi-
the surface of France, if not that of the man by whom the cate the pretension of commanding the votes of the future
public power has been exercised for some years, who has constituent, and of tramelling its liberty of action—and it
long personified the centralgovernment in the eyes of every preferred haviug the ideas, which I have just expressed, ex-
citizen, who is seen everywhere amongst us, and whose in- plained in the teport.
duence is felt in all things ? one point. holrever, for which the committee has been
And if in consequence of this, in the absence of any unanimous is this If, in spite of all the efforts sincerely
other known candidate, or perhaps from the illegitimate made to come to an understanding, by making mutual sun-
action of parties, or of the government itself, an tin. flees compatible with the sineenty of opinions and their dig-
constitutional election were ti take place, what would nity, the present attempt should fail—if there should not be
happen ? Is it believed that the only consequence of found in the Assembly the number of votes required for the
such an event would be the abolition o an article of the legal revision to Late place—if, in a word, the constitution
constitution. When a people has with its own hand, continues to exist as it is, it ought to be invariably and uni•
broken a part of its fundamental law, has it not virtually
versally obeyed. On this point, the committee, divided on
so many others, found itse I unanimous; and we arc abolished all the rest, and reduced to dust the entire
con-
fabric of its government ? The whole constitution would Timed that the same unanimity will be evinced by the
be overthrown, upset by a sudden impulse, without there Assembly. Every one ought to comprehend that a legal
remaining standing any legitimate power which would attempt made to reform a constitution gives to this latter,
have the right of re-erecting anything in its place. And should it fail, a new consecration. As long as it could be
legally thought that the constitution was to be revised, any
what, gentlemen, is the constitution, however imperfect
it may be supposed ? It is not necessary for us to say one could have thought of changing it,'or even of preparing
that it is legality and right. The constitution not legally to do what it does not as yet permit. But from the moment
changed, but violated and overthrown, everything might that such a hope is no longer admissible, there only remains
be teed, everything would become possible. Politica4ight , to submit to its prescriptions and to obey thorn. For the
would nowhere be found—the sole and last vests gff of it I constitution, as we have already said, is the only legality,
would have disappeared. France would be again delivered the only political right which we recognise at present Ul

France, and out of al pale there Is nothing but adventurous , the French peasant ? Is it the body of French pee-
wits oe'revolutions. smite, payiag millioas in quotas of less than
The.firm will of the National Assembly ought cense- five franes, who pasture flocks of sheep, and fat-
quentlytel be, not only itself to respect the constitution, ten herds of oxen; or is it the rich sheee-masters of
but to watch carefully that all others do so likewise. It is Normandy and hlorvan, and the farmers of Derry and
lin order to better express this idea, and to give you an oc- Demme The unfortunate peasant, who for want of pm-
. elision to associate in It, that your committee promisee to tura;e drives his cows to bonne the grass which fringes the
you to introduce into the resolution which it submits to way-side—is he a breeder? Does he ever eat meat? Is
you the text of Art. 111. of the constitution, in order to this the man whom the import duty protects? Moreover,
j cause it to be understood that it is only in virtue of the , did France ever want fur cattle when the duty was ten
constitution, and in view of the conditions which it has it- times less luau it is now ? On the other hand, do we not
self laid down, that we conceive that it ought to be revised. sec in England the breeding of cattle increasing in the face
We reckon on seeing the administration, and indeed every of large importations ? Dl. 'Elders could nut have been
one, conform to this idea, and on their Leering in mind that serious in speaking of the protection of our silks anal wines.
every attempt, having fur object to urge the people towards , Wines and sills need no protection, and the
unconstitutional candielateships, from the monieut that the ' wines of Malaga might be exchanged against
eontitution cannot be legally revised, would net only be im- those of the South of Franco to the hearty
proper and irregular, but culpable. (Movement.) I satisfaction of all parties. Who, then, speaks of making
Wo now approach, gentlemen, the termination of the wine at Rouen, at Lille, at Amiens? I will not stoop to
great tulle which you imposed on us, and which, in order to refute such übsurelities, and am tempted to ask whether
be properly accompiiehed, would have required more time they can have been put forth by a man like M. Thiers,
and ability. The task of your committee is about to cease :lunless he was willing to deride the assembly which lis.ened
yours is about to commence. You are at one of those solemn jto him. An assembly doubtless tolerates many things in a
periods, fortunately rare in the existence ofnations, when au man of wit, who knows how to amuse it; but when serious
I Assembly, which approaceee the term of its power, hut which , interests are concerned, it behove% even such an one to
is still master of itself mould the futute,holds in its hands the j speak seriously.
destinies of a whole nation, and can by a single word cause The fundamental idea of Thiere's address, es well
them to incline, perhaps irrevocably, to one side or the other. as of his eystemn, is, that out of regard for a pomeible war,
Whatever may be your resolution, we may be certain in a natiou should impose on itself, during peace, all the but-
advance that a great part of the blessings or the misfor- dens of war " Beware of a war ! You ,1 ill have no
tunes which will make their appearance, for a great length more iron to defend yourselves, no more wheat to nourish
of time in this country, will be attributed to that decision. you, if you accustom yourselves to buy cheaply of the fo-
We shall be approved of, gentlemen, or blamed, not only reiguer. But pray, sir, dues not your sulphur already
by those who at present await with anxiety what we are come from Sicily, your copper from Russia, mid your lead
about to do, but even by the generations which follow. In from Spain ? ou ought to hare known something of all
presence of so terrible and so long-enduring a responsi- this %lieu you made those formidable preparations for war
Inlay, each person will, without doubt, forget his party in 1810. And, to speak only of matters of industry, is not
interests, his passions of the moment, his rivalities' his our cotton taanufacture wholly dependent on the United
enmities, his friendshipi even, iu order to think only of the States for its material ? alcll not Csermuny furnish us with
country and of history. (Loud approbation on the Eight.) that electoral wool, without which Elbeuf 1111,1
Sesiau would
After having pointed out to the Assembly the spirit to unable to carry on the m.mufacture of cloth ?
which has directed the committee in its labours, and what It is this always, this dismal Utopia of eternal war,
are tho general conclusions to which it has come, it merely which is present in the councils of French policy. War,
remains for us to explain the reasons which led us to set always um, notwithstanding that all Europe is conspiring
aside all the propositions of revision whirls have been pre- to preserve the peace, by railroads mid COMIIICIVE3.I com-
seated, and to propose a new reading, which we shall pro- binations of all kinds. Truly it is very wise to te to-day
reed to make known to you. of the policy of Henry vlll. and of King William, as if
Four individual propositions have been presented, and the times were similar, as if science, art, policy, and the
the committee has successively heard the explauatioue of genius of man had nut changed from top to bottom the
the authors of them. The first was from IL Larahit. Your organieetion of societies, mid the wants which demand to be
committee regrets to say that it could ouly see in that satisfied.
proposition a means of revoking Art. 4.1 of the Constitution, The political economy of M. Mime is not only that of
or akindof incitement given to the people by the Aeserably war, it is also that of dearth. That lion. geutlunan seems
to violate that article. It, thereamre, unanimously proposes frightened but at one thing—clicapueas. lle woulal have us
to you to set it aside by the previous question. Since that buy everything at scarcity prices, arid this he calls "tho
resolution was conic to, Larabit basing declared that he intention" of God. 'the true design of God, so far as
would divide his original prupositiun, =I that without man may uudertake to interpret it without pre-
abaudoning the first part, he would make a separate auralatiou, is that every country sh ill bay with .he
proposition of the second part, the commission again took products of its natural and least distressing exertions
it into consideration. The second part of the proposition the products of the labour Mother nations. Navigation and
which consists in saying that the revision should only bear the spirit of commerce bare had no other end since the
on Art. 45 has nething unconstitutional in it. Your corn- beginning of the world than to place within the weans of
mittee, therefore,' dose not propose to set it aside by the the greatest number the gifts which Provides:cc has
previous question, like the lino part, but to reject it for the scattered over the surface of the globe, anal only those people
reasons already given, in favour of a total, and not a partial have ever been called barbarous who shut themselves out
revision. from intercourse with their neighbours, except to visit them
The second proposition emanates from M. Doubler de with the devastations of war.
l'Ecluse. It treats not only of the TS`Vistil)ll of the constitu- Here is the great error against which exerecnnists cannot
tiun, but of the mode in which the Constituent Assembly too strongly protest. They may console themselves for the
should be elected. These two questions are doubtless closely epigrams of M. Tillers by looking on the success of Sir It.
connected, but they cannot be included in the same Peel. 'riders used to say to us—" You are theorists,
tion or be decided -by the same vote; fur to decide the one your opinions will never bear the strain of experiment.'
there must be a majority of three-teurthe, while fur the Nene, a memorable experiment has been made, and he first
other a simple majority would be sufficient. It has =we- done s its results, and then declares that it is practicable
over appeared to your committee that this proposition had only in England. He regards the prohibitive system us an
for object to lead the National Assembly to place before the imprescriptible necensity, au eternal law, and he would not
cuuntry the question of a republic or of monarchy, which, so much as have it discussed. " Remain agricultural."
as we have already said, we do not think we have any right Well, now, which he it, the liberty of commerce or the pro-
to do. We thendere recommend the rejection of the pro- teetive system that has inundated our towns with lib ourers
position. from the country, and created social complications which
et
N. Craton, the author of the third proposition, called on you were the fin to bewail? What a tissue of contradic-
you to express a wish for the revision, the distinctive charac- done—what au abuse of language
ter of which would oblige the future constituent to declare Happily, while our Aesemlaies are yielding themselves to
between a republic and a monarchy. We bare already the seductive fascinations of these orators of the past, events
stated the reasons which induce us to think that the present march on, experience is developed, and the gnat
National .I.eembly has no right to do this; we have said facts of the ego hasten to their accomplishment.
why, as a republican body, acting in virtue of a republican The French nation will oat long ho satisfied wah
constitntion, and holding from it alone all our powers, we political intrigues and empty sonorous words about
cannot be permitted to call the republic in question. national industry, invasion of foreign products, and
the like. The people will learn that it is good steel that
To the people stone, of whom we arc the agents, does it
gorl toots n: made from, and that it is putty the retention of
belong to &tide a question of that kind. The committee,
uty of hft eel to seventeen. bemire:l names per ton on
by a very large majority, set aside the proposition of N.
certain steels that tools and implements are to he cheap-
Creton. easel : they will comprehend that a tuty of 130 per cent. on
The same reproaches cannot be addressed to the proposi- certain coffees is an odiuus abase, which compels it to con-
lion of Payer. The greatest objection made to it is that some chicory : they will understand that if Providence has
it aims at a partial revision only, which the committee, for given to one part of the earth to produce oleaginous grains
the reasons which it has assigned, residers to his scarcely so abundantly that they may be had there at seven sous per
practicable. If is opinion on this head had need of proofs, lb., while we are giving seventeen or nineteen for it, that is
they would he found io the examination of the hon. gentle- the place where oil is to be bought. No imatte of oratory
man's proposition. What in feet does he propose to re- will be able to prevail against the evidence of Uwe° consi-
form ? 1. The electoral system and the mode in which the derations.
sovereignty of the people ought to be exercised. 2. The
Iceislative power Mite very constitution. 3. The conditions'the universal Exhibition in London has had one decisive
result, in showing the various taroaucte of the world side by
of origin of the executive power. Aud 4. The side, awl in proving the superiority of France, mot in every
mystem of administration in the ministry. We ask, thing, but in numberless varieties of objects. It has shone
how it would lio possible to touch all these
vital parts of the constitution without meddling too, that the one thing wanting to our supremacy is lowness
of price, and that this is easy to at= by the removal of
inure or lees with all the others? After having introduced prohibitions or the reduction of taxes.
such changes is the fundamental law, it is evident that it
necessary to remodel the constitution comple But the reduction of taxes and the removal of prohibi-
would ha' Lions will have us their result the reduction of the profits
in order to establish anew connexion and harmony between of the few to the benefit of the salaries or consumption of
all its parts. There is scarcely any partial revision of any all. N. Thiers has constituted himself the defender of the
importance which does not draw with it a total revision. first; we have him, under all regimes, the advocate of the
Your committee, consequently, proposes to you, gentlemen, second. We still believe that the true policy of the present
to reject the proposition of M. l'ayer• day is that which will contribute to lower the price of
There remained the collective proposition presented from articles of consumption, mil of raw materials ; anti should
233 of our colleagues. Such of them as formed part of the our literature appear disastrous to the partisans of all mono-
committee having declared that the wording which they anal polies, we will, nevertheless, maintain this doctrine of cheap-
their political friends had adopted was agreed, to only neee which seems so impious to N. Thiers.
for the purpose of expressing a general idea, and could only It is time to break the yoke of men who have entangled
serve as an element, or at most as tho foundation of a deli- our country in a war of words, and wham, surprised by the
nitive resoluton, that wording was set aside, and our ho- storms which they have conjured, have nothing but con-
nourablc president proposed to us the following proposition eemptuous air', or the barren dogmas of protection for
as containing the principal objects of that presented from those who would heal our maladies. Sainte Beuve per-
-233 of our colleagues. " Taking into consideration Art formed a wise and patriotic duty when he invited the Ne-
ill. of the constitution, the Assembly decides that the con- tionnl Assembly to pronounce on this question. It is in
stitution shall be revised in totality." This wording sums vain for Pliers to say to him, " Young man,
up the opinious of the majority which we have already you arc a little too fast." The answer is easy, " And you
stated to you ; it was adopted by 9 votes to 6 ; and I have arc much too slow." Meanwhile, however, the question
been charged to ask you to consent to its adoptioa. itself does not advance one step. It is not with disdain that
these questions, big with the germs of revolution, should be
approached; nor yet with jests intended for the gallery. The
Assembly will, of course, do what it pleases in the matter,
and M. do Limairic'e report proves but too well that it has
resolved to lose itself in el. 'Hiders' barque. But, since the
days of Joshua, it has not been given to any man to stay
the sun in its course.
In vain does M. Thicrs tax the doctrines of commercial
freedom with folly and puerility. We can console ourselves
with Turgot, with Peel, and with all the first statesmen of
England, as we sec the great progress which this freedom is
making in the world. We sec it come like a rising tide, and
we can contemplate it in peace, for it will carry all
opinion with it. The reign of political intrigue, fatal to so
many characters, is in France drawing to a close. It will
terminate with the Assembly, which is to disappear in 1853.
With the new Assembly revolution may be its complexion,
the questions of political economy will no more be discussed
from the height of the donjons of Wesserling, or in the in-
terest of this or that manutacture, but iii the interest of the
whole French nation.
, I will only add, that a time when all events conspire to
' draw men closer together, to avert wars, to multiply great
public works, to ameliorate the lot of the greatest number,
it is not sophism that will succeed in persuading man that
the dearth of provisions anal other necessaries is the will of
God, or that cheapness and abundance is an inspiration of
the devil. BLANQUI (of the Institute).

BLINQ,UI ON TRIERS' PROTECTIONIST

SPEECH.

PARIS, Jcss 28.

Sin,—You must indeed permit me to protest in
the name of outraged common sense, and of betrayed truth
against the extraordinary discourse just delivered in the
Asseinblee National on the question brought forward by M.
Sainte Bettye. Besides the personal insult which the
honourable defender of the prohibitive system has offered
to the men who maintain as conscientious as he
doctrines opposed to his own, I have to avenge
science and justice so unworthily slighted, and to
reply with sober arguments to the b inter of au orator who
appears to have no other religion than that of success. I
might indeed easily excuse myself for keeping that silence
which a quiet disposition would suggest. Time would cer-
tainly not fail to do justice noun the antiquated sophisms
which have just been delivered to us from the tribune as
patriotic revelations ; but it is not possible to contain one's
opinion while experience is denied and facts are controverted
in the very face of day. Not even the tribune has the right
to pass off the false for the true, or dispose of grave questions
by pleasantry and slander. To a man of talent does this
right belong. less than to any other, especially if he has
taken a part in transactions after a manner far from suc-
cessful, the thought of which should seem to call for a
little more modesty. Such a man certainly should abuse
nothing, not even misfortune.
M. 'biers is on principle a partisan of the pro-
tective system : let me do him the justice to say
that he has never varied in his convictions. Ile
then should know how to respect the convictions of
men who differ from him and not accuse them of
creating a " disastrous literature," as if the most disastrous
of all literatures were not that which from the elevation of
the tribune bepraise eternal war and everlasting dearth.
But let us lay aside the personal question; we have to do
with something more important to-day ; we have to ask
whether the French nation is to remain isolated, while not
only in England, but even in Austria and Spain, the com-
mercial policy is removed from its Lase to the top stone ;
and whether Terminus, overthrown on political ground by
a useless revolution, shall rise up in the form of a
Chinese wall, for the profit of some manufacturers.
What most shocked me in M. Thiers's discourse—
.

HOS' TO TREAT FEIGNED SICKNESS.—A ctrious
scene occurred at an inn called " The Rummer," in a parish
about five miles from Norwich, where the magistrates hap-
pened at the time to be holding their periodical sitting. The
servant, a girl about 19 years of age, had, it appeared, on
the previous day, about noon, been detected by a nurse in
purloining some of her sick mistress's dresses and various
household articles, and soon afterwards was snail, nip
seized with a fit—her eyes became closed, her jaws firmly
locked, her limbs perfectly rigid, and all consciousness
seemingly at an end ; violent strivings occasionally super-
vened, requiring four er five persona to hold her, and to
prevent her injuring herself. Two medical gentlemen
were immediately summoned, who, finding her speechless,
her face crimson, her arms and legs very red, and other
indications of a plethoric temperament, had recourse to the
lancet, bat it proved of uo avail; and she lay in the state
described till 12 o'clock on the day mentioned, shout 24
hours, when Mr. Webber (who had come to visit her mis-
tress, labouring under pulmonary disease) was requested to
moo her. After separating the tightly-closed lids and eta-
sniping her eye*, which were extraordinarily inverted (and,
sit seemed to him, artfully kept so), looking to the state
tstf the pulse, the action of the chest, tic., he retired with the
other medical gentlemen into another apartment, where
he told them it was his firm conviction that the patient
was perfectly conscious, and her condition an assumed
one ; and suggested the plan which he recommended to be
pursued. This being agreed upon, they returned to the
bedside of the fitful feigner, when Mr. Webber gravely
announced, in the presence of the numerous bystanders,
that it would be necessary to put the poor creature into
boiling water up to her chin, in order to relax the stillborn
stiffness of the muscles, and that no time must be Thst in
doing so ; and, further, that an opening must be made in
the chest sufficiently large to admit his hand, for the pur-
pose of turning the heart, which had evidently got wroncr,
an operation which, though dangerous and painful in the
extreme, must nevertheless be performed with as little de-
lay as possible. Mr. Webber, who had closely watchedthe
• countenance of the girl, observing her lips quiver, betokening
the unpalatcableness of his prescription, took the opportu-
nity of putting a drop of tincture of opium into her eye, upon
which she gave a loud scream, and struggled violently ;
but, the momentary pinch being over, she relapsed into the
lame rigid state as before. Assured that he had rightly in-
terpreted his subject, Mr. Webber proceeded to describe to
the other surgeons, by tracing with his finger upon her
afloat and chest, the course of the deep incisions he must
"maks t• and at this moment the policeman announced that
several pails of water were nearly boiling hot—this consinn-
Illied the dismay of the impostresa, whose lost speech
readily came to her rescue, and she begged hard for guar-
' ter. She was then desired to dress herself immediately, and
in a few minutes more sho was transferred to the magi*
testes who were in the next room, and was shortly atter-
wa.rdi ccr.=-•,:tf:d to IVinlondhani bridcwell.—.Uar;

for the simple reason that were this mode of argument to
triumph all discussion would be impossible—was the assur-
ance with which he affirmed that the English commercial I
reform had done but little to ameliorate the coadition of the
working classes. Whom will he persuade that the suppres-
sion of custom duties, of whatever kind, on bread and meat,
with the increased consumption officially proved, which has
been its result, has been without influence on the condition 4
of workmen in that country? Is not the decrease In the
number of paupers measured in hundreds and thousands ?
Is it not matter of public notoriety that to these
bold and generous measures England owes the calm
which she has never ceased to enjoy in the midst
of the troubles which have agitated all Europe ? But,
Sir, I am not content to estimate the cons( quences of
reform Eng-
land's land's commercial by what can be seen and heard in
London. I have gone through the length and breadth of
the country, and in the agricultural and manufacturing
counties have studied the effects of that reform, of which
M. 'f biers strives iu vain to deny the results. Everywhere,
without exception, I have found English agriculture
making progress, accepting bravely its new conditions, and
seeking in the improvement of processes and rotations, a
compensation for lost protection. No, sir, wages have not
diminished. You know, moreover, that diminutions
of this kind, when they do occur, do not take place in a
general manner, so as to affect the entire population. They
come, like storms, upon some isolated departments of in-
dustry, but it is not true to say that there has been any
general reduction in wages in consequence of Peel and
Cobden's reforms. Tho limited and partial changes which
may have taken place in this sense, may have been
amply compensated by the fall in the price of provisions,
and no ono can pretend, without flying in the face
of evidence, that the general condition of .he peo-
ple has not been ameliorated to an unhoped•for extent by
the removal of the taxes on food. This is what all the
eloquence of M. Thiers cannot conceal, and all England
will protest against the temerity of his assertions.
is Thiers serious in pretending that a duty of d.
francs per head on oxen, and of 220 on wool., can protect