The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-05 00:00:00

431ffi,

LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1852

M. BAUOCHE was right when, in addressing Louis
NAPOLEON on New Year's Eve in the Palace of the

Elysee, on the occasion of his announcing to the
PRINCE his election by a majority of 7,439,216, he
exclaimed, " Never, in any country, has the national
will been so solemnly manifested !" In that magni-

ficent vote in the affirmative, the French people have
- -

plainly declared their approbation of the coup cf itei
of the 2d of December. Their suffrages were given

under the sheltering secresy of the ballot—conse
quently they were the genuine expression of the
wishes of each individual, uninfluenced by bribery or
intimidation, by gold or the bayonet. Every male
adult in that immense country, moreover, was,
unless incapacitated by crime or idiotcy, em-
powered to raise his voice in pronouncing
the formal decision of the national judgment—con-
sequently the result is the expression of the will of
the entire population, and not of a mere section of it,
of the whole and not of a part. Elected originally
by six millions, the PRESIDENT is confirmed in his
august position by votes ranging from seven to eight
millions. The significance of this sentence, besides,
in something more than a declaration of confidence
in the patriotism of his views in regard to the Future.
It is the announcement of the popular approval of his
policyin reference to the Past. By bestowing upon
T
'4"la NA.ronnoN this overwhelming majority the
people of
three past
three
have avowed their satisfaction in the
have years of his administration, while
they
elected him for ten years longer as the
hea3 nf. their
the
Rpoublican government. The import,
therefore, of
hr, decision recently announcedounced by the
President of the "llsaltative Commission, and by the
cannon of the Hotel d„
Invait ,
an expression.of gratitude, an
character—it comes to Loins NAPOLEON at once as
'des is twofold in its
and encouragement. The
distinguished statesman
been quoted, was right, consequ
whose words have already
in allusion to these 7,439,216 en
given under the system of the votes having been
DisappointednGovernmentu sa
int
.odb i a
in
tly when he added,
suffrage, " Never didballot and universal
similar assent ; never had it a basis
more ex-
tensive, an origin more legitimate more
worthy of the respect of nations."
their hopes of the discomfiture of the P
Ttraducers in this country have, we observe, endea-
voured eai
voured to depreciate the value of his present success --
by a miserable sarcasm directed against the entir,
French community. They remark, with sarcastic
effrontery, that as the nation has accepted LOUIS
NAPOLEON'S, so it has accepted every preceding
Government. Not so, however, says history. Ap-
peal
to its records and hear their answer. You will
find that in no instance since the first and greatest
Revolution has any form of administration received
so marked or so unanimous an adhesion as that which
has recently greeted the Administration of Louis
NAPOLEON. You will find, indeed, that the vast
majority obtained no direct recognition at all by a
reference to the opinions of the departments. Among
the earlier revolutionists of the last century, the
Jacobins were the favourites of what was at first an
obscure and fanatic club ; they were never the re-
presentatives of the community. In like manner,
the Feuillants, and other petty distinctions, among
the then diversified throng of politicians. The Gi-
rondins, though, when it was too late, the lamented
favourites of the more susceptible and generous part
of the population, were during their lifetime only
the exponents of the ideas entertained by a small but
I important division of the Assembly. The