The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-01 00:00:00

Count Persigny on the French Empire,

Count de Persigny has just pronounced at the
Cercle des Arts et du Commerce at St Etienne an
address (published in the Moniteur), in which he
gave an account of the progress of the empire and of
the development of its institutions. As in former
years, the hon. speaker dwelt on the necessity of all
parties forgetting their differences in order to con-
solidate the present Government, under which the
country has arrived at so high a point of prosperity,
pointing cut forcibly that the Emperor when he
arrived at power was quite alone, not having round
him even the old servants of his family, so that he
was under the fortunate necessity of constituting
his Government by employing men of all classes.
The Count considers it a great error on the part of
the Liberal party in France to endeavour to copy
in a servile manner the institutions of England,
forgetting that the parliamentary system is only
possible in an aristocratic country, where the exe-
cutive power can pass without inconvenience from
the hands of the Sovereign into those of the great
speakers of the Parliament, as the representatives
of a powerful aristocracy. He says :
" It is certainly a singular aberration of a political school I
Forgetting that the indirect nomination of Ministers in
England by the Parliament is only a result of the civil and
political state of that country, men wished to make it a con-
dition of liberty in France I There, where in consequence of
a long existing state of universaldecentralisation, the Crown
interferes in nothing, and the aristocracy has a hand in
everything, it is natural that the latter should choose its
instruments. Here, on the contrary, in a democratic coun-
try, where the Sovereign, who is the delegate of the people,
has the mission to do what is effected by the aristocracy in
England, how is it to be imagined that his agents should
be in any other hands than his own? That under another
regime any speaker whose sympathetic and impassioned
voice had excited the applause of his auditory, h
sould
imagine that it belonged to him to govern Franca ; that
he should think himself fitted, not only to charm, captivate,
and overrule an assembly, but also to direct a whole vast
political hierarchy, and even to handle our land and sea
forces, there was nothing in that which exceeded the limits
of human. vanity. But bow could pretensions of that kind
interest liberty F IVhat I if the most elcquent speaker of
the Chamber is not at the same time Minister, there is no
liberty in Franca ? In truth, one is confounded when it is
remembered with what seriousness such doctrines were
affirmed. Eat liberty, which is of all times and of all coun-
tries; is susceptible of all forms, and those forms vary with
the social state, manners, history, and a thousand circum-
stances of climate, race, and locality. In antiquity, the
liberty of Athens did not more resemble that of Sparta than
did the liberty of Rome that of Carthage ; or, in the middle
ages, the liberty of Venice resemble that of Florence. IVItY'
then, should liberty in France be copied after the model of
England? In the place of a great aristocracy
covering the
soil with vast domains rendered immovable V the law of
entail, and disposing of eno,mous means of influence, wo
have an administrative hierarchy which
alone constitutes
all the political organism of our democracy, and outside of
which there are only grains of sand, without cohesion and
without adherence. And it is that same hierarchy—that
instrument of authority, order, and public peace—this
essential organ of the every-day life of the country, that
certain minds would wish to see again abandoned to the
mercy of the agitations of the tribune, to be tossed about
between the triumphant speaker of one day and the vic-
torious orator of the morrow! Thus, gentlemen, by restor-
ing in our institutions the fundamental principle of 1
au-
thority as well as liberty, the Emperor has re-established
order in the State, as in creating a
a ...overnment party re-
moved from all antagonism of classes, he, has reestablished
order in society."
In conclusion, Count de Persigny urged that to
assure the destinies of the Empire - nothing more
was required, and he trusted posterity would ap-
preciate the patriotism of those who had sacrificed
their party to the country :
"We have," he said, "a high and noble mission to per.
form, for the country expects from us the greatest service
which the present generation can render to it—that of com-
pleting the foundation of its Government. 'We have faith in
that mission. Yes, all, such as we are, from the dignitaries
of State to the inhabitants of the moat humble villages we
shall be honoured in our posterity for the work which we
shall have accemplished. A day will come in which, under
the reign of a prince named Napoleon IV. or Napoleon V.,
our grandsons will say with pride of each of us—' He be-
longed to that faithful and devoted party which, in found-
ing the Empire, put an end to our revolutions, and ensured
the greatness, prosperity, and liberty of France.' "

Mr. GOUGU is telling his American audience
what he considers a good joke at the Cockney dia-
lect; but he must remember (it has been suggested with
sly good humour) that there is many a true word spoken
in jest. He says—" Once while on a lecturing tour through
England I was introduced to a village audience in these
terms :—' Ladies and gentlemen, I 'ave the honour to in-
troduce to you the distinguished lecturer, Mr. John B.
Gough, who will address us on the subject of temperance•
You know that temperance is thought to be rather a dry
subject; but to-night as we listen to our friend the horator
from hover the ocean we may 'ope to 'ave the miracle of
Sampson repeated, and to be refreshed with water from the
jaw-hone of a base I'"