The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-25 00:00:00

FRANCE.

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday on
yesterday.
The strongest assurance. of certainty prevails that
all stock will be converted into one uniform Three
per Cent. The Moniteur of yesterday does not,
however, contain the looked-for decree to that effect.
The Canstitutionuel announces that great additions
are to be made to the port of Havre. The Barbour
is to be increased, docks are to be established, and
new works are to be constructed for the defence of
the roads and ports.
The Manittur contains a decree forbidding all lease-
hold
nr sa t ofu r
em, itnoe su
n(
ictoen et
toe s shi lose
oa irr
tehs
edi ers
cmoninecess)si on nf what-
everot h e
concessions of the like nature, either by
partnership
or purchase, unless with the authority of Government.
The Chamber of Commerce at Brest has voted an
address to the Prince President, thanking him for
having
chamber they
possess, and while calling on him to assume the crown
echo the words of the speech at Bordeaux—the Em-
pire is peace. The M • onzteur records the honourable
testimony of the British Board of Admiralty towards
Captain Bellot, the trench marine officer who has
just returned from the Arctic Regions. The gallant
captain's own report of the endeavours made to find
Sir John Franklin is also given, confirming the par-
ticulars of Captain Kennedy's recital.
The same official journals contains a decree by
which an extraordinary credit of 200,000 f. is appro-
priated to the church of St. Genevieve, formerly the
Pantheon ; a second decree nominates the presidents
of different mutual aid societies; a third gives formal
authorization to the Crystal Palace Company, or
Palace of National Industry ; and a fourth promul-
gates the convention with the duchy of Brunswick
relative to literary property.
The Pays has the following remarks on the subject
of the course to be followed with regard to the
Empire
if the empire is to proceed from the suffrages of the
cation freely consulted, it is to the Legislative Body that
the right is reserved to proclaim this great event. We
have already said that this was not a vain formality, but a
fresh homage paid to the principle of national sovereignty.
The Legislative Body will not be a simple bureau for
counting the votes, it will be the authorized agent of the
people, to verify the correctness of the electoral operations
and to proclaim the votes of the ballot. In this point,
of view we repeat, the intervention of the Legislative
Body acquires a considerable political importance. This
intervention has a character the more serious, as what
sow takes place is not accomplished under the irresistible
pressure of any of those social dangers which load people
beyond their own convictions. Violent revolution is
vanquished, anarchy is repressed, and order is re-estab-
lished; the government which presents itself to the
judgment of the people has not terror for its auxiliary.
It is in the midst of peace and of general prosperity
that it consults France, whose wishes echo in its ears
from the thousand voices of the enthusiastic crowd. The
nation acts in all its spontaneousness, and it also acts in
all its liberty. It is, perhaps, the first time in the history
of a nation which will have to declare itself on the na-
ture of its definitive institutions without having been
constrained to it by the troubles of a revolution. In
1814, France bent her head under the defeat of our
sOldiers; invaded by foreign armies, she accepted
the government re-established by the allied powers;
but her choice had to be made between obedience
and devastation. In 1830, France was subjected to a
new dynasty, but the Kings of the elder branch
had fled •, the throne was vacant, and her choice was be-
tween adhesion and anarchy. In 1848 a triumphant
emeute drove Louis Phillippe from the Tuileries, but the
red flag and socialism arose with the terrible souvenirs
of 1793 ; the choice of France was then between the
Republic or terror. Now let us suppose, which is a thing
impossible—for it is the people who wish for the empire,
and the Government adheres to tho national wish—let
us suppose that the majority of citizens declare them-
selves against, the re-establishment of the Imperial
throne, there would be neither danger for society, nor
fat individuals. Order would not be compromised, and
the government with its actual power and form would
watch as energetically and as effectually over the general
safety. It is, therefore, in the strength of her liberty
and in the plenitude of her reason, that Franco is about
to decide whether she will retain the present form of
government, or re-establish Imperial hereditary rights.
The government does not put this grave and solemn
question ; it proceeds from the wishes of all the repre-
sentative of the people, from the acclamation of citizens,
from the interests of all classes of society. In presence
of this unanimous declaration, the government could
not remain indifferent and insensible ; it has on this
point made a fresh appeal to the people, the only legiti-
mate dispenser of Sovereign power. But, we repeat,
whilst so many other powers have been raised and con-
solidated by the fear of an evil which they might ward
against, the present one is founded and strengthened by
the conviction of the good which it is to produce. In
this solemn act of national sovereignty each of the great
bodies of the State is to have its part. The Senate, the
guardian of the fundamental principles of public right,
has a situation defined by the Constitution itself • it de-
clares the necessity of modifications of which the Con-
stitution is susceptible. The legislative power, the organ
and authorised agent of the nation, verifies the votes of
the people, and proclaims its sovereign decision. In our
eyes it is a nue andnotilo mission that has devolved on
it. If, cn the one hand, it guarantees the sincerity of
the vote, it is, on the other hand, a striking proof of the
confidence of tho Government towards the deputies. Is
not the best government that which realizes the greatest
amount of good?—and in this point of view, what pre-
ceding Government has done more, or done it more
rapidly, than the Government of Louis Napoleon?"

BUSINkSS DONE IN FOR.EItiN SAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Oar. 23.
Charleroi and Erquelines, 14--laijon and Basanfon, 8i
Grand Junction of France, 6I—Luxembourg, 7I—ditto
(Railway), li—ditto (Canal), I%—Namur and Leige (with
interest), 8% —Paris and Rouen, 38—Paris and Strasbourg,
31I—Paris, Caen, and Cherbourg, 7%—Rouen and Havre,
17i—Sambre and Meuse, Di—Western of France, 181.