The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-30 00:00:00

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THE SUN: LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1864.

judicial temperament when he paints this Mussul-
man knighterrant going on crescentade in a post-
chaise, and eagerly availing himself on his journey
of all the protection and advantages afforded by that very
Nazarene Government which he was bent on a mission to
destroy. Bat the rank and file of the crescentaders travelled
in a much less comfortable manner, and were kept flora
attracting suspicion in the towns where they stopped, by
being dispersed in twos and threes among the serail and
mudjids—to which they were conducted by local agents,
who seem to have been employed for th,, purpose by the
Patna Moulvecs, and who usually succeeded in recognising
the pilgrims through a rough process of freemasonry.
Arrived at Rawul Pindee, they were met by emiesaries from
Mulkali Sittana, who at once conducted them to their
destination.

How the Bengalees fared at Mulkah, some of the wit,
nesses are at pains to tell us. Almost immediately on their
arrival swords and muskets were served out to them, and
they were ordered on drill. To some of them—especially to
those who had gone to feast their eyes on the great Imam
who had been preached to them in the plains—drill seems
to have been anything but a delight; but hard knocks, were
the inevitable portion of all who refused it. Many were the
deserters who escaped back into British territory, some of
whom, we are told, the Indian Government, with question-
able liberality, forwarded to their homes at:its own expense.
But enough. How the Sitanees fared at the hands of
British troops is already matter of Indian history; and we
have merely endeavoured to indicate here the means by
which for a long time they were recruited with men and
money out of the heart of British territory, unknown to the
Indian Government. " One of the strangest features in the
correspondence laid before the court in this trial is the
widespread diffusion through the Mohammedan villages of
Bengal, not only of the knowledge of this treason and
of the machinery at Patna by which it was carried on, but
also of the feeling of a religious duty to aid it either with
men or money—all this taking effect in a small but
constant stream of sons, brothers, nephews, and cousins
leaving home as recruits to the west—flowing into
Patna, trickling through the North-west Provinces and
the Punjab, in small, but noticeable detachments, putting
up in the public serais and musjids, being ferried over the
rivers, reaching the Afghan hills, and thence correspond-
ing with their Bengal homes through the British Post-
office; not without caution nor concealment certainly, but
with long-continued secresy and impunity—till one honest
native, and he from the Afghan border, tells an English
magistrate; and then has hard work to get believed I"
The above commentary of Sir Herbert Edwardes may aptly
conclude this sketch of the last Mohammedan conspiracy ;
but we cannot resist the temptation of directing attention
to the Sikh policeman, Ghuzzhun Khan, who has proved
himself " faithful to his salt," and deserving of considera-
tion from those by whom he is employed.

Railway and Other Companies.

EXETER AND EXMOUTH.

The half-yearly meeting was held on Friday at
Exeter; Major Brent in the chair.
The report stated that, as compared with the cor-
responding half-year of 1868, there would be found
a decrease in passenger receipts, but an increase in
goods traffic. The former might be attributed to
the meeting of the Bath and West of England Agri-
cultural Society in 1863, and be considered as casual,
while the goods traffic appeared to be gradually in-
creasing. The directors had every reason to be-
lieve, through the favourable season for pleasure
traffic, the dividend payable on the entire year would
be at least equal, and probably exceed the dividend
paid to the preference shareholders last year.
The adoption of the report was proposed by the
Chairman, seconded by Mr. Smith, and carried neon.
con.

is free—the despot. In an aristc Y..ratic S' fate seve-
ral or a great many, but ail are n, so al together.
In a democratic State all ought to 1)a free , and en-
joy the same liberty as the goven king classes in
England.

PRICF .4d.
STAMPED

being acquired the works would be commenced.
Application would be made to Parliament next ses-
sion to abandon the proposed bridge and embank-
ment across the River Dovey, and to substitute a
railway on the north side of the river, so as to con-
nect Aberdovey and A berystwith by a better line,
and more direct communication with the Cambrian
railways. The balance-sheet showesi a total receipt
of 1',647,494, and a balance of £2,303,

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, congratulated the shareholders on the im-
proved f.e,rning of the lire, which, without those
derived from minerals, amounted to £lB 10s. per
mile per week.
After Borne conversation, in which Mr PENSON,
Mr PIERCY, Mr BANKS, and others took part, the
report was adopted, and a dividend of 5 per cent.
declared on the preference shares.

M. de Persigny's Speech.

The Article which led to the Si ispei lsion of
the " Courrier du Diman :the."

The whole town is talking of nothing mores ear.
nestly than about the famous article from tht i pen
of Alfred Assolant in the Courrter du Dina wile,
which has brought down suspension on that w eekly
organ of independence, and has so enhanced f ;he sell.
ing price of the last issued number that it cttnnot
be now procured. A brief summary of what thus
alarms our authorities may be acceptable
es, this reign is a great one. We have planted
our tricolour at the four corners of the map . We
have rescued the circumcised and turbaned Turk
from the schismatic Muscovite ; snatched the Ma.
ronite daughters of Lebanon from Turk and Druse
founded in Mexico an empire destined to Itlst e s
long as that in France ; we mount. guard round Vara
Pope against his will and that of Italy ; we hav e
built a cathedral at Pekin, where your Chinamf
will be baptised some of these days; we have p ut
our foot in all quarters—and, as far as that goes,
we are a great nation !

Don't talk to me of what all this has cost in cash
or conscripts; you say 200,000 Frenchmen fell in
the field or died in hospital. I'm sorry for it--
there is chiar'oscuro in all great pictures. Whi.ct
about expense? Are we not rich enough, as
mayrac tells us, to pay for our glory ! Can't a
body borrow on the security of the 88 departments,
besides the 89th (celui de la Seine), though that be.
longs to Prefect Haussman ?
Hence both I and nine millions of my fellove
electors believe firmly that France has but to lift
her little finger to overawe Europe as far as Ka-30
skatka, and that von Bismark thinks so too.
_ _

,(From the Debate.)
We were not surprised to find again in this new
speech that philosophic and historical theory BO dear
to the speaker, and on which he establishes the
conclusion which is set forth both at the beginning
and the end of the address, that the present consti-
tution has founded liberty in France. Aa for our-
selves, we have no interest in denying the fact
attested by history, and asserted so emphatically
by the duke, that liberty, like power, varies in its
development in a thousand ways, and that each free
people presents a character and a physiognomy
which are personal to it. Yes, we are aware that
there are diversities everywhere; but everywhere
also beneath those diversities history shows us
something common to all fixed and essential, which
M. de Persigny does not or will not see. Among all
free nations we find what an illustrious speaker
called in the last discussion on the address the strict
necessary—the minimum of liberty. Can the asser-
tion be made that this minimum, as it has been
practised for the last twelve years, is enjoyed at
present in France under the constitution of 1852 ?
Here we will not speak in our own names; nor
should we venture to shield ourselves behind the
opinion of M. Thiers, but we may be permitted to op-
pose to Duke de Persigny an authority less suspected,
and one which he cannot completely disavow him-
self. M. Rouher, who is also strongly devoted to
the present constitution, has explained the essential
condition which he thinks suits the Government of
France. Whilst M. Rouher proclaims the great
principle of administrative decentralization, Duke
de Persigny, if we have rightly understood him,
sees nothing to be changed and nothing to be re-
formed in what exists ; his ideal is the present
organisation of the country ; the regime, in which
a spirit Hof centralisation prevails, in which society
has moved for centuries under the guidance of a
skilfully-devised series of places which protects all
interests'and presides over all the operations of life ;
in which, in fine, all the instruments of authority
are in the hands of a vast administration exclusively
charged with the maintenance of public order and
security. Between those two theories, which as
may be seen have but little in common, we have no
need to say our choice is made; we prefer by far
that of M. Rouher to that of Duke de Persigny.
(Prom the Nation.)
Duke de Persigny, who is one of the most faithful
friends and one of the firmest supporters of the
empire, considers that the people of France may be
very happy in their own country,end very proud of
being Frenchmen, without adopting the parliamen.
tart' as in and without having responsible ministers
regime England, or having a restricted electoral suf.
frage as in tha` country. We are of opinion, and do
not cease to repeat that the not ion of making liberty
subordinate to determined forms is not a philoso-
phic idea. Our masters in that doctrine are Mira-
beau and Benjamin Constant. To think thus is to
think wisely, and, moreover, is to employ a lan-
gip/go very encouraging to nil patriots. The day on
which there shall be no longer in France any other
party than that la favour of liberty, liberty will be
obtained, and the Government will be sure to live.
We also admit with the ex-Minister of the Interior
that, among those men who attack the Government
under the pretext of demanding liberty, a great
number do so from animosity towards the Geiverne
meat. On that point no one is deceived ; their in-
tentions may be detected through their doubtful
attitude—they even pierce through the most solemn
declarations, and from beneath the most sacred
formulae. Revolutions have, indeed, greatly ener-
vated the nation; with respect to civic courage and
freedom of opinion Frenchmen are rapidly declining.
Duke de Persigny says so in his speech, and he is
right. He is, however, wrong when he draws from
that state of things the conclusion that certain in-
dispensable liberties should beadjourned. To remedy
the evil those liberties should, on the contrary, be
accorded as early as possible. Perhaps, in restoring
to certain people the liberty of saying what
they think, they would be cured of the
ugly fault of saying what they do not think.
A nation is never elevated by an excess of authority,
but by the exercise of liberty it is restored and purl.
fled. Liberty is healthgiving. If the liberty which
is inherent in the Napoleonic idea, so well under^
stood and so well defined by Duke de Persigny, is
of a better quality than that of the Government
of July or the Republican liberty of 1848, that is a
reason for not holding it back any longer. It must
be applied to us quickly as the infallible remedy for
all our weakness. This is the reason why, after
having adhered to the premises of the speech at St.
Etienne, we are led to reject the conclusions, and
substitute for them others entirely contrary.
(From the Temps.) Yesterday a great combined, fete took place, which
The duke, in his new parallel between France and drew to this charming place a very large number
England, has gone back beyond the origin of the of our friends from across the Channel. Excur-
Hanoverian dynasty, at which he has np to the pree sions from various parts of France were arranged,
sent time liked to stop. He went as far back as the the destination of the excursionists being the Cry-
Conquest, and he appears to think that the Anglo- stal Palace. Large numbers availed themselves of
Saxon race is still at present subjected to the yoke the opportunity of visiting our shores, and seemed
of the Norman conquerors, the only depositaries of heartily to enjoy themselves. The numbers at the
English authority and liberty. We exaggerate palace were considerably swelled by the Foresters.
nothing There we see, scattered over the surface As some thousands of that body, owing to the ili-
a the country, a whole electoral body, a whole poll. clemency of the weather, did not use their tickets
tical class who, as the traditional inheritors of the on the occasion of the Foresters'fete last week, the
Conquest, have held all the means ofTinfluenee ever directors of the company, with great liberality,
since William the Conqueror, administer the coon-
announced that these tickets would give admission
ties, dispense justice, levy taxes, maintain public yesterday, when the London Gymnastic Society's
order, and, in short, enjoy all the principal at- fete also took place.
tributes which belong in France to the adminis. It is satisfactory to find that the various gymnas-
is erroneous. tic societies in London are progressing, and the
trative hierarchy." That view
Long since the mixture of races, not less than
competition yesterday showed that the numbers of
the reciprocal penetration of institutions, is a
this and other similar societies have attained a very
fait aceompli in England. Among the most
considerable degree of proficiency. The chief prizes
illustrious houses, there are very few which date competed for were a challenge cup and several
back to the Conquest, and th© immense majority of silver medals, the cup having to be won two years
the English electoral body has nothing, absolutely in succession to enable the holder to retain it. The
nothing, to do with William the Conqueror.
i Whats
that conditions on which the prizes were competed for
is exact in the Duke de Persigny 's parallel
were that the winner of the first prize should make
universal suffrage exists in France and does not in the greatest number of points in running a quarter
England. What is false is tirie consequences which of a mile, high jumping, long jumping, and climb.
he draws from that fact. "In England the prin- ing ropes, the mede Is being awarded to those mak-
ciples of authority and liberty cannot be in conflict,
ing the next best scores. Certificates and
and are not sacrificed ono to the other ; for liberty prizes were also given to the fastest other
runner, the
is in the hands of those who directly exercise autho- highest jumper, the longest jumper, and the highest
rity in all things." The Duke de Persigny appears, climber. There wero also rewards for the- best
therefore, to think that the electors alone are free performer on the horizontal bar. The prizes were
in England. That is a grave error, and everyone Presented to the successful competitors in the even•
well knows that, without speaking of the right of lr'Cf: _
four o'clock Mr. Coxwell made an ascent in
meeting and other rights from which no one is ex- his balloon. Ttin Coldv
• eam Guards performed
chided, individual liberty is guaranteed in England during tho vYmnasitic es(7.tr7nnetition, and a concert
to every one, and consequently to the non-electors look place front of the Mandel orchestra by the
as in Franco to the electors. But how is it that the hand of the Saneure Pornp;ers de Is •I" °
N' 11 do Si.,
d one, and the
duke has not seen that his principle turns against Pierre. Tieir selection was
;bog orchestraloo band of
his thesis? Let us admit that liberty is in England musicth admirably executed.
in the day, and the
the comnany performed twice
the monopoly of the governing classes ; the nonce- whole of the fountains played.
queues is that in France, where there ars no classes, Oar French neighbours, as
the
eell as the Foresters
picture galleries,
liberty—and be it well understood, English liberty, and others, visited laerdgemiYuseum the pneumatic
for there is no other--ought to be the appanage of Shakspere's house gi • • indeed,
railway, hippodrome and, .
everyone, and that universal suffrage has nothing to railway, Mrt.hey
spent a very busy gay in availing
do with that " skilfully-tlevieed hierarchy, which twhevuam:eyivsea,yee the numerous amusements provided
protects nil in*:_r este n.:1,1, preeides over all the opt. r
Jot- their igratificatioi-1, auk: went hiceiq P104"1, if
rations of life." In a despotic State one ni;',n alone i tired.

It is true that since Feb. 17,1852, our prin't.;.ng
press is in the grip of Government
; that editors. and
managers are nominees of the Home Office as much
as the keepers of every tobacco shop ; that 500,000
paid functionaries vote as ono man for official can•
didates; that primary schools cost:but one-twentieth
of the sum wanted for soldiery ; that every year a
crop of 800,000 conscripts must be had to be drilled
in idleness or worse—all this is perhaps wanted that
we may be a great people. Aye, there's the rub ;
but let us see.

Frcm 1792 to 1852 we have had five distinct
forms of rule—twice a republic, once an empire,
and two successive kingships. Let us take each of
those at its acme, and pit each with what we now•
witness, also at its probably highest pinnacle at tt'si
present hour.
In 1797, after Campo Formio, France had ea -
larged its old boundary with Belgium, all the /12ft
bank of the Rhine, comprised Holland, freed Itrily,
founded the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics, a ,nd
would have swept it clean from " Alp to Adria' ic."
had not General Bonaparte, violating the ordta s of
the Directory, handed over Venice to Austria. Our
nation had, after five years of civil war and foreign
aggression, become the true arbiter of the Conti-
nent. Our armies were commanded by Bonaparte,
Kleber, Massena, Desaix, Hoche, and Joubert ; Car-.
not was our War, Talleyrand our Foreign Minister:,.
Monge, Cuvier, Laplace, Lagrange, Volney, Ca -
banis, were at the Institute ; Chateaubriand earrie
back from emigration with his genie du Chris.
t ianisine : Benjamin Constant and de Steel ade.ed
impulse to the mental movement; art kept p ace
with science ; nor was it to the Directory that this
wondrous development was due (they were a l.ot of
nobodies), it was to the native energies of F ranee
freely allowed to expand. 'Twas that the press mud
the rostrum were equally unshackled, and every
citizen felt himself a component part and active pax.
ticipator in the general grandeur,
What was the case after a lapse of 15 year,
In 1810 there was a single man erect amid the
general prostration ; he had genius, a prodigious
army, a budget thrice as heavy as that of the Itt.
pubic; he held garrison at Hamburg and at Sevilir-3„
shook hands with a Russian Cz.:.r, was son-in-lis w
to an Austrian Kaiser, put his brothers on thrc tles
in Spain, 'Holland, and Westphalia, gave Nape .; to
his brother-in-law, made his adopted son Viceroy of
Italy, his son 1?oi de Tome. Except the Bri.vish
Press and Pardainent, all was dumb before him.
His voice alone resounded through the Continen.va
desert. When he sneezed twenty Irialza were at
hand to cry," God bless him !" Was France gmat
all the while 9—not a bit of it.

The conscript crop was cut twice in each year ;
two thirds of all French families were in mourning ;
taxation crushed the country in spite of war con-
tributions levied remorselessly elsewhere ; our,
young men were tracked by gendarmes in tite forest a
in an effort to escape from the ranks; alt coloniril
produce was denied our homesteads ; every prefect
was a sovereign satrap, every journalist had a police
inspector at his elbow ; folks interchanged thrir
thoughts in a whisper ; the Corps Legislatif was
mute ; the Senate servile ; in a few years the whole
structure crumbled to earth ; all was hollow, all
was rotten.

With these memories before them, our State
oracles denounce parliamentism—that is to say they
want to revive the old danger and degradation of
France. They don't want their acts discussed :we
are to learn what has been done in the name of the
country when our control can be of no avail ; hence
the distrust felt as much at home as abroad. Hence
England, in ironsclad panoply, rests on her ritio
within her island ; hence Prussia and the North
stand on the qui vire.
Is oar Government even feared? Is the French
Empire even a hobgoblin (croque-mitaine), as of
old ? Not in the least. Gortschakoff, deals with
Poland; von Bismark demolishes Denmark, in de.
fiance and disregard of what is thought in Paris ;
while we 'get King visitors from Madrid, with
embassies from Siam and the Tycoon.

CRYSTAL PALACE.