The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-01 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1863.

The Ministerial crisis in France, it will be per.
calved through our latest telegrams, has ended in
all respects satisfactorily. The EMPEROR has dis-
tinctly declined, or rather, we might even say,
refused to accept, the resignation of the portfolio of
Finance, which it appears this time was positively
tendered by M. FOULD. His Majesty has displayed
a wise reluctance to allow himself to be deprived of
the valuable, almost we had said invaluable, assis-
tance of the ablest living Financier of France.
Rather than consent to M. FOULD'S retire-
ment from office, the EMPEROR has pre-
ferred to give his exiquatur from the Cabinet to
M. MAGNE, the immediate predecessor of M. FOULD
as Finance Minister, and latterly M. FOULD'S im-
practicable ministerial colleague. The dismissal
(for it 'Telly amounts to that, and to nothing less
than that, if we adept a well-known law stationer's
habit of not putting too fine a point upon it !) the
dismissal of M. MAGNE from the Cabinet, his
banishment to the otiuna cum diynitate of the
Privy Council in the politest way possible by his
imperial master, has been a political trans-
position all the more easy of accomplishment
seeing that M. MAGNE has, ever since he gave way
to M. FOULD, as Financier, occupied a seat in the
Cabinet, in that anomalous position for a Minister
known in France as a Minister without Portfolio.
How politely the EMPEROR has given this notice to
quit to M. MAGNE, in consequence of his new im-
broglio with M. FOULD res Minister, this latter,
with a Portfolio, and that Portfolio as impor-
tant as the Portfolio of Finance), may be here
perhaps most accurately indicated by repeating
the very words of the imperial " My dear M.
MeGelE," writes the EMPEROR, in that curiously
familiar style of correspondence somehow become
habitull on the other side of the Channel in
these cfficial communications between Statesmen
and Sovereigns. A familiarity of:style that would
be utterly bewilderi.3g here in England if we had
occasion some fine day to insert an epistle after this
fashion from her MAJESTY, b-ginning, let us say,
My dear Mr. GLADSTON-E," and ending
with a Royal benediction, authenticated with
the sign manual of " VICTORIA R.,, Here,
however, as the judicious close to the late
Ministerial juncture in Paris, we read
on, quite as a matter of course, an imperial letter
addressed to the Minister whose resignation
has
been accepted, a letter beginning "My dear 'M.
MAGNE," and continuing in these wonderful cm-
teens terms—" An incident, the responsibility of
which does not rest with you, has rendered more ap-
parent the difference of opinion which exists between
M. FOULD and you on several financial questions.
Under these circumstances you have considered
yourself bound to tender your resignation. In tem-
porarily relinquishing your services, I wish it to be
known that I have never had but to congratulate
myself on your zeal and devotion. I have therefore
resolved to give you a striking proof of my confi-
dence by creating you a member of the Privy
Council. I hope that you will never entertain any
doubt of my sentiments of sincere friendahip.—

NAPOLEON."
The meaning of all which—taking the
gloss or varnish of the EMPEROR'S exceeding
politeness off these princely phrases—the real
meaning of all which, quite manifestly, is—that the
EMPEROR has, by this time, had quite enough,
and more than enough, of M. NIAGNE as one of his
Administrators, and that he is heartily glad to be
rid of him—as such! That he transfers him mean-
while from the Cabinet to the Privy Council is merely
that there is a luxuriously embroidered cushion, as
it were, generously placed there for the falling

Minister ! An imperial and courtly cushion upon

which the said Minister (when his sudden
bonleversement is completed) may find himself
eventually and rather comfortably tumbled.
That is all. At any rate, that is really- all—
now,—so far as these recent occurrences affect M.
MAGNE As to the manner in which
they affect France herself, M. FOULD himself, the
EMPEROR himself—it can only be described
as in all essential particulars in the highest
degree satisfactory. The Finance Minister, for the
first time since he Las held the portfolio of his
heavily responsible office, is disembarassed ! For
the first time he can act to the fall, as he had a
perfect right to do, in the office over which he has
been all along supreme in point of right, in point of
fact, but hitherto, strange to say, not in point
of action Viz., upon his own, sole, undivided,
unembarrassed responsibility. M. MAGNE has
hitherto been there—"without a portfolio" observe !
—but with a seat still allowed him in the Cabinet,
without any distinct duties of any kind entrusted
to him—he has been there simply, as it would seem,
upon the mere strength of having been formerly
Minister of Finance, before M. FOULD'S instal-
lation in that office, before M. FOULD'S assumption
of that most responsible portfolio! The nominal
continuance of M. MAGNE in the Cabinet at all has
been from first to last a flagrant anomaly. That
impracticable retention of his predecessor in office—
even though it has been from first to last merely an
arrangement continued by courtesy and just
barely tolerated—the EMPEROR has now
most wisely and discreetly terminated ! As,
if he had been well advised, he ought (probably he
sees this himself now) to have terminated it long ago.
The situation of affairs in the French Cabinet, as
those affairs have hitherto stood under that pre-
posterous arrangement merely de convenance,
had latterly become simply intolerable. Either M.
FOULD must have resigned his portfolio as actual
Minister of Finance altogether, or the anomalous
position of M. MAGNE, still in the Cabinet,
though without, we repeat, any portfolio at
at all, must cease. The EMPEROR has
now caused it to cease. Probably if M. FM:MD
had had to intimate to M. MAGNE the fact that his
nominal withdrawal now, as well as his actual
withdrawal long since, from the post of Financial
Minister must close, the intimation would of neces-
sity have been made rather differently !

It appears from the letter of Sic GEORGE GREY,
which was read to the Common Council, at their
meeting yesterday, that an alteration in the manage-
ment of our city police may very shortly be looked
for. The evil has been of long standing, and
a change for the better would very probably have
been postponed for an indefinite period had it not
been for the recent disasters on the occasion of
the public entry of her Royal Highness the
Princess of WALES. As a grievance of the last
generation could net hope to be redressed, accord-
ing to SIDNEY SMITH, until a Bishop was
sacrificed, so it was not until a catastrophe that
came immediately under the notice of the Court
and the Government that the very inefficient and
unsuitable arrangements for keeping order in one
of the busiest end most crowded districts in any
capital were likely to be amended. The Home
Office has, at the instance of the House of Com-
mons, ordered a return of the deaths and accidents
which occurred on the night of the 10th, and Sir
G. GREY added a communication to the Lord Mayor
to the effect that a proposed alteration in the law
with reference to the City Police would be very
shortly laid before Parliament, and that therefore
any appointment in the room of the late Mr. HARVEY
should be distinctly understood to be merely tempo-
rary. The letter was by common consent referred to
the police committee for their consideration. It was
stated that the police committee had already passed
some important resolutions on the subject, being
probably sensible of the urgent necessity for a
change. The question of privilege was not raised,
end we hope that citizens will have too
much good sense and discretion to raise
difficulties on that ground. They must be aware
that a state of things that involves in considerable
risk the lives and limbs of her Majesty's subjects
can hardly be suffered to continue. We are in the
habit of boasting loudly of the order kept in
our streets on the occasions of great national
excitement, but the character we have hitherto
maintained in this respect is likely to suffer if we
take no reasonable or efficient means to preserve
that order which the sightseers themselves deaire.
All great shows and public processions
pass through the narrow and crowded
thoroughfares in the City and it is unfair
to blame the populace for not preserving order,
when they receive so little help from the autho-
rities. The best army in the world cannot fight
without commanders, and the best disposed and
most peaceable mob cannot possibly preserve
order unassisted by the regular authorities. It is
high time this matter was looked to, and we hope,
for the credit of our citizens, they will not attempt
to preserve a useless privilege in defiance of the
public interests,

The affairs of Poland seem as far as ever from
being settled, and we are doubtless destined for
some time yet to come to witness the alternation of
this fitful strife. The debate in the Prussian
Chambers a gain brings the subject before us, and
it is a very interesting one to consider. Herr
VON BIsMARK, as usual, pursued his in-
felicitous course. He stated at the outset
of the debate that " The Polish question was not
originated by the convention, but had existed since
1830. It had repeatedly exercised a great influence
on Prussian interests. The Government has no-
thing to add to its former declarations in reference
to the existence and contents of the convention.
Agents of the Polish revolution have sent telegrams
from Cracow to the French papers in order to in-
fluence the French public."

The unfairness of this statement is manifest.
Why had not the Polish refugees the right to make
their cause heard and their wrongs known ? It is
the same all over the world with those who have
not justice on their side; they are always ready to
be indignant with those who have the spirit or the
energy to stand up for themselves. Harr VON
SYBEL, with his customary vigour, repudiated the
assertions of the Minister. HE truly said
that the Government had shown great hesitation,
such as might be feltby one who, engaged in an un-
successful enterprise, feels the ground slipping from
beneath his feet. He also added that " all Europe
was then in error if we are to believe Herr VON
BISMARCK- SCIIONHAUSEN. But considering the
declarations of the English and French
Ministers, enough rema;ns of the Convention to
make Europf.,, uneasy and to compromise Prussia."
Surely this remark was strictly in accordance with
truth, and as such, ought to have silenced the wily
statesman to whom it was addressed. But some
people can never hear reason or see the fallacy of
their own arguments. Hence it is not surprising
that we find the altercation continued. Herr
von BIS3IARK said that after all the false reports
that had been circulated, the real terms of the con-
vention would surprise people if once known. It
was quite positively false that, according to the
convention, the Russians are allowed to pursue the
insurgents on Prussian territory until they meet