The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-27 00:00:00

by the souvenirs of the past, distrusts the future of every
government, shows itself preoccupied in manoeuvring every
eventuality, and is surprised, on each occasion of public emo-
tion, in the act of secretly stretching out its hand to the
enemies of the State. Hence, in order that the liberty of the
press may be a real benefit, it is necessary that in a country
newly constituted a new political generation, young, vigo-
rous, and independent, should spring up to replace those
spirits enervated by revolutions. Now, gentlemen, let us
look at the theory, pure and simple, of the liberty founded
by the Empire. As authority and liberty cannot be in the
hands of the same class as in England, in place of subordi-
nating them one to the other, it is natural to render them
independent ; and here is the fundamental principle of our
institutions. From the moment indeed that a vast admi-
nistration is with us in possession of all the instruments of
authority, and is alone charged with the duty of maintain-
ing order and public seourity—reason, good sense, and pa-
triotism, in accord with experience, said very emphatically
that it was necessary to assure before everything the bene-
fits of authority, and no longer make it the prize of the am-
bitions, of vanities, end of desires which liberty can set in
motion ; in other words, it was indispensable that the inde-
pendence of the executive power, intrusted by the will of the
whole people to the hands of the Sovereign, should be
henceforth a reality. It was necessary then that the chiefs
of the various branches of the administrative hierarchy, the
Ministers, being in the exclusive nomination of the chief of
the State, should no longer be responsible before the Chem•
bers—that is to say, removable by the Chambers; that the
Prince alone shoule. be responsible to the people, as the
father of a family to his children; and that, finally, the man
most interested in tke public order and security should be
invested with the fcrce necessary to secure this first of all
blessings to the nation. Such then is authority established
upon foundations scud, natural, and agreeable to the orga-
nisation of the country. Let us see how liberty, in its
turn, is organised, and especially if the function assigned
to the Executive Government, or the independence of au-
thority, is established at the expense of liberty. Universal
suffrage—that is to hay, the will of a whole people—which
constitutes public authority in the person of the
Emperor, produces in its turn every liberty—com-
munal liberty by the municipal council, at the side of the
mayor, the delegate of authority; departmental liberty by
the General Council, at the side of the prefect; and national
liberty by the Legislative Body, at the side of the Sovereign.
Now, if it is considered .that these public councils, which
all together form the hierarchy of liberty by the side of the
hierarchy of authority, are not only councils but delibera-
tive bodies ; that they exercise the enormous power of dis-
cussing and voting budgets, approving or prohibiting ex-
penses; that in consequence they are
possessed of all the
means of control and influence which really constitute
modern liberty; that, finally, it is in the hands of the prin-
cipal of these bodies that the veritable legislative power
resides, every man of sense and good faith will recognise
that, in assuring the reciprocal independence of authority
and liberty, the Napoleonic theory has virtually salved the
problem of liberty in France. Gentlemen, I have not the
simplicity to believe that thoBo who are interested in criti-
cising everything, in denying everything, in distorting
everything, that those who wish only to play with authority,
and not to submit to it, ever approve a liberty which takes
away from them the means of overturning Ministers and
usurping authority. But the country, which knows what
ambitious and vanities of this kind have cost it, will never
be of their opinion. It is besides ourious to listen to the
argument which is given to the public in place of the real
one as the reason for the presence of Ministers in the Cham-
bars. It is, said this year in the Corps Legislatif one of the
eminent chiefs of the so-called Liberal school, because
" there is always great benefit and great instruction in dis-
cussing affairs with those who transact them." What I
It is because it may be a little more advantageous, a little
more convenient for the orators to discuss with Ministers
rather than with intermediaries—it is for this reason that
the re-establishment of a regime which has been so fatal to
the country is demanded ! It is not then liberty itself which
claims the presence of Ministers in the Chambers. And, in-
deed, how should liberty be concerned ? What can the So-
vereign do with the exception of right of declaring peace
and war, and the right of pardon, which are not in question,
being in eeribed in the national charter as well as in the Im.
perial Constitution—what can he do without the concur-
rence of the public bodies and the will of the country ?
Nothing. What, on the =trail, with the country? Evers -
thing. Now, I demand or you, is not that liberty the true
liberty, the only liberty ? And not only is that liberty such
as it has been always understood—that is to say, the reign of
opinion ; but the particular form which it assumes with us
gives it an evident superiority to all the liberties of our time.
For, on the one hand; proceeding from universal suffrage, it
does not wound the dignity of a people like those privileged
liberties made for the profit of a class ; and, on the other, in
assuring to the country by the independence of authority
the invaluable benefit of a perfect security for all, it does not
reproduce, in spite of universal suffrage, the vice of Ameri-
can Constitutions, which, superb in appearance, magnificent
by the principles which they display, offer in reality the only
coarse domination, often violent and odious, of majorities
over minorities. And see, however, what men, considerable
by genius and talent, affect not to see! Those very persons
who should bless the hand which has drawn them from the
abyss, who enjoy the most the security and independence
which the liberty of the Empire assures them, are the first
to deny it. They forget that the greatest affirmation of this
liberty is the right which they use and abuse in protesting
against it. Like the atheists, who make use of the reason
God has given them in denying God, they blaspheme the
liberty which covers them with its shield. And now, gen-
tlemen, let me be allcwed to consider an important point in
the mechanism of our institutions. The principle of our
Constitution reposingupon the reciprocal independence of
authority and liberty, it was needful at once to assure that
independence, and establish in lieu of responsible Mi-
nisters new relations between the Government and the
Chambers. Now you are aware that the Constitution has
provided for this double object by the creation of two
great bodies—the Senate, guardian of the funda-
mental pact, and of the public liberties, alone charged
with the duty of applying to the Constitution the
modifications which time may render necessary, and the
Council of State formed, according to the text of the Con-
stitution, of distinguished men, in order to prepare laws,
and support the discussion of them in the Chambers. This
last body is one of the characteristic innovations of our.
Constitution, for it is to that belongs the duty of serving
as a link between the executive and legislative powers; it
is it which is placed to receive the observations of the
Chambers and the explanations of Ministers ; in a word, it
is in its bosom authority
and liberty ought to join hands.
If one is placed at the point of view of the preceding con-
siderations, I will be pardoned for believing that, in order
that such a body may fulfil its lofty mission in all its extent
it is not sufficient that it be composed of eloquent orators,
wise jurisconsults, and experienced administrators, but that
it shoulsl have, as regards both Ministers and the Chambers,
all the independence which the two other bodies of the State
enjoy. How, indeed, could such a body have authority in
the Chambers if it was at the discretion of Ministers, and
how could it inspire confidence in the Ministers, if it was
ruled by the Chambers? The independence of the Council
of State appears to me then indispensable to the free work-
ing of our insiitutions. Now, as there is no body indepen-
dent, if the right of speech is not accorded to each of its
members, it seems also there is also no independence for the
Councillor of State, if his office is not sufficient to give him
the right of speaking, or remaining silent in the Chambers.
But it is not in a day that the spirit of new institutions
penetrates into practice. We are, perhaps, in regard to the
like the generation which has
seen the decimal system established, and can only form an
Constitution and the Empire,
idea of the new mental reference to the old. Is
it not under the dominion b
of
this
preoccupation that we have
seen the Council of State absorbed little by little, and per-
measures
per-
sonified in a President, then in. the Ministers without port-
folios, then again in vice-presidents,waiting perhaps farther
incarnations ? But I understand well the spirit of our in-
stitutions. I am authorised to believe that after the inevit-
able trials during their period, experience will cause to be
renounced combinations which partly present the inconveni•
ences of the parliamentary regime Without having its
advantages. I am, then, convinced that, soon or late, the
Council of State, which, in the spirit as in the letter of the
Constitution, is charged with sustaining discussions before
the Chambers, will no longer be personified but by itself;
that restored to the independence, which alone gives wings
to talent, under a new regulation, easily introduced in prac-
tice, it will suffice for every exigency, and that then not only
will it be at the level of every discussion, but will be able to
redeem every responsibility. Whatever it may be with my
particular views upon this point, time, which is necessary
to found Governments, is also necessary to develope the
liberties of a country. But from the present moment we
can boldly say that our institutions rest upon the most prac-
tically liberal principle which ever was, that in separating
authority and liberty, that in rendering them inde-
pendent of each other, that in permitting the one to de-
velop° freely without checking the other, our Constitution
has realised the greatest benefit which a people can receive.
Already Europe, which has seen with astonishment all the
greatness of this reign—the glory of arms united to internal
prosperity—begins to contemplate with not loss astonish-
ment the spectacle of our liberty, and cannot prevent herself
admiring that order, as security at once so admirably
assured by our organisation and so brilliantly ennobled by
' our public discussions. As for the country, happy in having
at length found its natural path, proud of feeling that its
liberty is worth to it all the liberties of the world, it reposes
with confidence upon the strength of its institutions. It
comprehends, now that it is destined to see realised, that
beautiful thought of Montesquieu, that great men make
groat institutions, and in their turn great institutions make
groat men. I have then the honour to propose to you this
toast—" To the Emperor Napoleon to the founder of
jiberty iu Yrance."