The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-01 00:00:00

TILE LEGITIMIST CONGRESS.

A letter from Lucerne, dated the 24th ult., gives
the following details respecting the Legitimist meet-
ing at Lucerne :
" The number of Legitimists that arrive at Lu-
cerne is more considerable than at the last meeting.
Up to the present about 4,000 have arrived, chiefly
from the provinces of the South, from Britanny,
and from Normandy. The Count de Chambord had
engaged the salons of the Schweizer-Hof, but they
were much too small. As no room large enough
could be found, the chief cabin of one of the steamers
anchored at the quay was hired, where daily meet-
ings have been held. The Prince has his table laid
for 1.50 guests. The evening is spent in his apart-
ments. He converses with every guest. Each
evening the invited guests are different. The prince
attends mass every day. It was his wish to have at-
tended the Capuchin church which commands a
view of the lake and town, but the crowd was so
great that he was obliged to give up the idea.
He has had a chapel erected in one of the out-
buildings of the Schweizer-Hol, where his almoner
performs mass. Those who cannot find place remain
in the courtyard. I send you some curious details
respecting this gathering, as also copy of a letter
addressed by the Count de Chambord at the close of
1861 to many of his political adherents. It is the
more interesting, as the principles therein developed
are those which still serve as a guide to the conduct
of the Prince and of his party. The following is the
text of this curious document :
"' I have received, gentlemen, the memorandum
which you have transmitted to me, and which con-
cerns the line of conduct to be followed at the elec-
tions. I have read it with that interest and atten-
tion which the gravity of the subject commands, and
which will always be given by me to the communi-
cation of devoted friends. At the last elections you
continued to follow my advice by abstaining from
voting ; but you obeyed less, you say, a reasonable
conviction than a sentiment of deep attachment and
respectful deference. You have always, I am aware,
obeyed a great, useful, and political idea of unity.
lam grateful for this to you and to those of our
friends who have rallied, whatever might have
been their personal opinion, round a common line
of action. Defenders of the most noble cause, we,
whose first mission is to preserve the principles of
society, and to be in some measure their living re-
presentatives, remain united that we may be strong
—any separation, any partial action would be
weakening the cause itself. This is why I deem it
of the highest importance that my friends should
follow a common line of conduct ; this is also why I
blame differences, although they may be occasioned
by conscientious appreciations, and may result from
a freedom which I should not like to restrict, could
Ido so ; finally, it is this self-same interest, it is
this necessity of unity, which determines me in
grave circumstances to make known to my friends
my ideas and my views when they have been ma-
tured by reflection, and the information and the
advices which I have received.
"' I thank you, gentlemen, for having expressed
to me your objections. They had already been
made to me, and had not escaped my own observa-
tion. But there are circumstances under which it
is advisable to submit with resignation to some
slight inconveniences so as to avoid greater ones,
and to sacrifice what may appear the utility of the
moment for a permanent and true utility.
" ' Thus, whenever I have been called upon to
give counsel and direction to the Royalists, my
chief care has always been to shield the sincerity
and the dignity of our attitude. Revolutionary
factions, who have no basis or fixed rules, are not
compromised by precedents. As for us, let us put
faith in our doctrines and in our traditions. The moral
sentiment is our condition of existence and our
strength ; let us not abdicate it; it is that which
gives value in the eyes of the country, and it is that
which will bring back the country towards us, when
it shall have been restored to liberty and to itself.
" Could there be sincerity and dignity for the
Royalists to take part in public affairs under a
rule which for 10 years has been imposed upon
France ? Some have thought so. They were of
opinion that even under the present system, with
its arbitrary sway and shackles upon liberty,
there was still an opening for them to render them-
selves useful, and.to contribute to the public welfare.
A vain illusion, which experience soon dispelled.
" In the Corps Legislatiff complete impotency ;
in the municipal body, where the executive dele-
gates to the mayors a portion of its powers, abso-
lute dependence. The Conseils Generaux seemed to
offer a better ground. But here again the spirit of
the actual rule, a spirit of arbitrary administrative
absolutism, is to be found. The man who has not
given himself up completely will not attain any-
thing, not even justice, for the populations he re-
presents. The province will be punished for the want
of compliance of the elect of the Prefecture. Hence
a perpetual conflict which will not always end to
the advantage of independence of character. Ido
not allude to moral subserviences of another nature,
of homage commanded, of addresses, Moreover,
are the elections free? With the aid of monstrous,
abuses, does not the administration dispose of them
with sovereign will nearly everywhere P Is not the
defeat of a candidate who will not consent to be its
toot certain beforehand ? To put these questions is
to answer them. I shall not dwell upon the oath of
allegiance which is exacted as the pledge of univer-
sal support, without arrier pensee, from all persons
invested with elective functions, and even from
every candidate for the Corps Legislatif. As an in-
dividual act, the oath concerns exclusively the con-
science of each. But I shall abstain from weaken-
ing the public conscience by declaring it a vain for-
mality, without any value.
" Under the regime founded in 1830, better still
under the Republic, we were able to proclaim our
doctrines openly from the tribune—publicly before
the electoral colleges, to which free action had been
left. It was then possible to take a part in public
affairs, remaining ostensibly what we are, without
disguising our principles, opinions, or wishes.
" Is this the case now ? Can a Royalist who
maintains his proper character and colours be
returned No. It would be necessary for him
to conceal his views under some false or vague
designation, and if he succeeded in being
elected his secret convictions would only be for-
given him on the condition never to display them ;
consequently, to renounce them. He would be
placed in office as a faithful adherent of the empire.
" You regret in your memorandum that the
Royalists should have lost the position they held in
1849 at the head of what was called the party of
order, and of the part allotted to them at the elec-
tions. The regret is natural ; but for it to become
a just blame of the line of conduct followed it would
be necessary for the circumstances to be the same as

in 1849—that is to say, that the actual regime
should not be in existence.

" In presence of this regime I have not found
for my friends those conditions of good faith and
dignity which an active participation in public
affairs ought always to give them. It therefore
appeared to me that abstention ought to be coun-
selled and practised in the interest of the future of
our cause.

"'As I understand it, abstention is not a with-
drawal ; it is, on the contrary, an affirmation and
striking protestation. It is a public protest to
say to the ruling power, The Royalists will not
lend themselves to your falsehoods ; they will not,
by accepting too unequal a struggle, add the sem-
blance of a vanquished opposition to your easy
triumph.'
" ' I did not come to a conclusion upon a doubt
which had been expressed to me, although I am, as
much as my friends themselves, concerned about
the legitimate influence they are called upon to
exercise. Their influence has a hold upon
something more true, more profound, more durable
than the shallow and passing credit borrowed, for
example, from an appointment as mayor. It is
due to the consideration they command, to the
esteem w hich their conduct engenders, to the noble
sentiments which guide their actions. It resists
time, abstention from public life, because it is
founded on the bases of morality and of honour,
and my friends can but increase it by the invariable
constancy of their principles.
6" You give the best proof of this when you
state that in many localities the populations came
spontaneously to testify to Royalists who for ten