The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-19 00:00:00

FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

When an Englishman judges of France, what it
desires, what it requires, it is necessary for him to
put aside entirely all his preconceived ideas of
" liberty, equality, and fraternity, derived from a
study of, or an experience of the constitution of his
own country. France has no antecedents, as Eng-
land has—no history of an infant Constitution
ripening into settled institutions—it has one antece-
dent alone, and that is the day of the Empire and
of Napoleon all other souvenirs are those of
change, of sudden and violent renversements. A
Frenchman has no constitution to worship or to
study, but he has a country and a capital ; and in the
two phrases "it n'y qu'une France," "it n'y a qu'un
Paris," (there is only one France, there is only one
Paris), are summed up his patriotism and his politics.
The Government, or the Governor, which gives
glory to the one and splendour to the other, is
his beau ideal of an Executive ; and his ex-
perience tells him that it is by a man and not a
" mixed form of government"—the Englishman's idol
—that the greatest éclat has been given to both. He
gladly, therefore, exchanged the mixed form, pre-
sented by an Assembly and an Executive always
at variance (a form nearly as grievous to him as the
plague of mixed monsters was to Egypt) for the
prospect of the revival of the Consulship, if not of
the Empire. This has been bought at the expense
of some bloodshed, and of many arrests and exile-
ments, but he finds himself still as much at liberty
as ever—the drives in the Champs Elysees are not
curtailed, the walks in the gardens of the Tuileries
and the Luxembourg are as free, the restaurants are
as
sg d
o odo, h
open, the chateaux des fleurs are lighted up--and
what e
st
ae
Frenchman boulevards as crowded, the theatres are
require more ? He requires
the prancing of the Lancers, the glancing of the
Cuirassiers, the stirring Sounds of the martial bands,
reviews on the Champ de Mars, and receptions in the
Tuileries. He has them all, and what cares he for
Constitutions f
Now it is much to be lamented that England and
its Press have not quietly, at the least, acquiesced in
all this, for it is a state of things which not only
flatters the failings and ministers to the prejudices
end tastes of a Frenchman, but it is in fact founded
on the only element of union left by the preceding
revolutions. There were elements enough of dis-
union ere Louis Napoleon took the reins so firmly
in his hand, materials enough for many potent
factions, but not one party which could successfully
have made an " APPeI au peuple." Anarchy
and strife would assuredly have made sad havoc if the
nephew of Napoleon had not made his appeal—an-
archy and strife will assuredly come again if he be
compelled to relax his grasp. Who will be to blame
if his hand be paralysed? England, from the protec-
tion it affords to the disaffected, from the currency it
gives to every report, however idle, calculated to de-
preciate his government and malign his motives, from
its forgetfulness of the personal respect due to a
Prince who has always spoken of it with respect, and
treated its countrymen with kindness and distinction.
But England is jealous of his large standing army,
and sees no employment for it but in fulfilling his
uncle's dreams of invasion. If the nephew, or the
army, or the people think of anything so visionary,
so opposed to their own interests, pray who has
suggested the thought ? Has the English Press
forgotten the stale but often too true tale, of the
groom and the priest—the groom who thought
not of greasing the mouths of the horses until
the priest asked if he were guilty of the sin.
The English papers indeed are circulated to a very
limited extent in France, and only amongst the
English ; but every Frenchman reads in his own
Patries and &ides replies to English accusations,
mockeries of English fears—be laughs at
first at the idea, but the thought is sown
in his mind, and the flour and the fruit
will appear in due season. The prohibition of all
English papers is seriously contemplated. Behold,
the English Press es ill say, another instance of des-
potism P Who provoked the exercise of it ? Is it
not sufficiently clear that it is totally incompatible
with the nature of the power committed by the
whole French people into the hands of Louie Na-
poleon, that it is totally opposed to the due exercise
of that power, to permit daily suggestions of policy,
of principles, and of motives which have no foun-
dation but in the fancies of newspaper editors or dis-
appointed partizans and refugees? The President
said to the Marquis of Hertford, at the late banquet
given to the English residents, and the Prime
Minister Cassabianca, said something to the same
effect to Lord Jerningham—" Attacks on myself per-
sonally, I disregard, but continued misrepresentations
of acts done in the name of a great nation will compel
the Government to take steps which personally I
would be most anxious to avoid."
That there are elements of war in Europe at this
moment, and materiel for war existing to a vast ex-
tent in France no one can escape the cognizance of ;
but we venture to:guess that break out when it may it
will not commence with an invasion of the English
shores. The elements of that war lie in the Protest-_
autism of the north, the Catholicism of the south of
Europe—elements the deepest and most deadly
when once the sword is unsheathed, which have ever
conducted conducted hostile troops to the battle-field.e;us suspect
England remain neutral in such a case ?
We filch
her Protestant feeling is too strong to be, under
circumstances, a passive one.
With such a prospect, or even the possibility of
such a warfare, what ought England to do ? Clearly,
Clearly,
what she is doing—increase her mans of defence,
her armaments, both on sea and land. But surely
without, at the Dame
she can do this quietly,