The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-17 00:00:00

from the circumstance of the French moneys being
calculated not in pounds sterling, but in francs,
consequently not by millions, but by hundreds of

millions—that all kinds of preposterous rumours

got afloat among the lovers of canards, as they are
called by our Gallic neighbours, among the dis-
coverers of mare's nests, as they are familiarly de-

signated by ourselves ! Chief amongst these extra-
vagant on dits, or "flying whispers," as to the secret
of the ostensible financial prosperity of the French
Imperial Government was actually a statement
gravely advanced by one all-believing gobemouehe
—(incredible though it may seem to say so, we are
simply relating here what absolutely was written
and printed, and what,at the time of its bein g written
and printed actually, made the round of the European
newspapers !)—a statement running to the effect that
the Emperor NAPOLEON 111. had obtained posses-
sion secretly, and had long held possession securely
of a gold mine in Central Africa! And that hence
it was that his Majesty could, during this decade of
his empire, do so much for France wit hout laying any
corresponding burden upon France herself. Alas !
for the beautiful day-dream. But a brief interval
has at this time elapsed since the Imperial Govern-
ment of the reigning Sovereign of France was con-
strained at last, in spite of itself, by what has been
termed the "inexorable logic of events," to make
a clean breast of it. The hitherto concealed involv-
of the Imperial exchequer had gradually
and so deplorably, and
ments
p: resent moment become so seriong; so vast,- A
it would appear up to this
like-
wise so inextricably complicated ,`hat a tardy but
complete eclaircissement became the one thing
inevitable.
A new Minister of Finance was therefore fran::li
and boldly called to his Imperial councils
by the Emperor NAPOLEON. The blurred and
blotted, and jumbled accounts of the French
Treasury were placed in the hands of M. ACHILLE
FOULD. Trifling with one of the names of this new
finance minister of Imperial Gaul, it was punningly
whispered (aside) by some, that " FOULDS rushed
in where angels [might have] feared to tread !'
The sneer, however, was speedily enough shown, by
a few startling facts, to have been somewhat pre-
cipitately and inconsiderately directed against an
adutinistrator who, in his mode of dealing with the
fearful crowd of difficulties committed to him (if he
could) to conquer, soon enough proved himself to be at
any rate, not altogether unworthy of his other name,
that is of his heroic and classic prenomen. As yet
M. ACHILLE FOULD has only had time enough
barely to begin in regard to the Financial Diffi-
culties he has to deal with—the Augean labour of
the preliminary clearance. Afterwards—when that
may havebeen accomplished—will come by necessity
and in due sequence the task of reconstruction, the
task, in other words, of the complete and compre-
hensive rehabilitation of the Financial Edifice of
the French Imperial Government. Meanwhile,
the first and immediate results of the preliminary
exposure of the actual state of things there in
France, in regard to the Finances, have, it must be
admitted, been in various particulars sufficiently
alarming. Insomuch, that—latterly, within the
last few weeks, at Paris—incidents have taken
place that have not been witnessed there since (eight
or ten long years ago) the iron grasp of the revived
Empire of the BONAPARTES was last grappling with
those among the more zealous champions of the
Republique Rouge, who evidenced the greatest
tenacity to life, the most eager devotion to their
political creed, the most determined and uncon-
querable adherence to their principles, as the
chiefs of the Ultra Revolution. However the facts
here alluded to as of very recent occurrence indeed
at Paris, may have originated—those facts are alto-
gether incontrovertible in themselves.
Obscurely here and there in different parts of Paris,
in the "back slums" of that gay and gilded capital—
arrests have taken plaee, personal seizures have
been made, as in the days when renowned literati
like M. Louis BLANC and M. VICTOR HUGO were
driven into exile, when formidable enthusiasts like
BLANQUI and BARBES were constrained to cast a
blank look of terror suddenly—here, to the prospect
of the galleys—there, to the more dreadful prospect
still of possible toils for years to come in the
tropic hell of Cayenne ! That—after a long inter-
val of quiescence in this way—Paris should have
been thus again " startled from its propriety" by
tidings of these kind of secret arrests, has surely
its significance. Particularly, coming to Pass, as
the event does, almost at the same moment when
the financial embarrassments of the empire are
brought to light. Once more, there, has been heard
the muttering of those insurrectionary chants from
the Quartier .Latin, from the sky parlours of the
Isle de Paris, that have before now so often pre-
saged disaster. None wish here amongst us for
the disturbance—yonder upon the opposite shores
of the Channel—of the long-prevailing and still
continued tranquillity. But it is as well to be on
the alert, to be watchful, to exercise an unwink-
ing watchfulness as to what is occurring now, in
this new and momentous phase of the Second Em-
pire, under the vigorous but still enigmatical and
inscrutable regime of NAPOLEON 111.

There is what appears to us a very foolish affec-
tation of logic amongst the opponents of the Mar-
riage Bill. The truth is, logical consistency is
laughed at when it does not suit Conservative pur-
poses, and worshipped when it does. If Mr.
BRIGHT would bring the representation of the coun-
try to something like what logic demands, then no-
thing is so beautiful as the anomaly of Thetford
two representatives, and Manchester two. Logic
is loathed or laughed at as the case may be, if it
would compel the rectification of any abuse, or re-
quire the concession of any measure of popular
liberty. But, if login can be pleaded in favour of
any venerable imposture, or in lieu of any rightful
popular demand, then " great is logic !" and even a
practical bill must be weighed in the balances of

ARISTOTLE.
Amongst the notable prohibitions which interdict
to a man marriage with his grandmother, and to a
woman marriage with her grandfather, and many
other things equally sage, is found one interdiction
which is replete with practical evil. Amongst
civilised people no one thinks of marrying his
" grandfather's wife," " wife's grandmother," his
" mother," his " sister," or " his daughter," &c. &c.
—if we happen to open our prayer books, where the
parallel columns, containing thirty each of prohi-
bitions of this kind occur, we read a few, laugh at
canonical absurdity, and turn over. But amongst
these ludicrous prohibitions, which affect no man in
his senses, is one which thousands have broken, and
which assuredly thousands more will break. A
man is left a widower; among the maternal aunts
of his children, generally in this case very young
children, he finds one whose love to the children,
and whose character, known to him now by pre-
vious intimacy, combine to induce him to seek in her
a companion for himself and a certainly affectionate
mother for his offspring. But in this foolish list
he Buds No. -
~
sister." 17 a man may not marry his wife's
Who put that there, he asks ! Asceticism
and sup
did not ; she mat, him
marry. GOD did not ; for.in
the case of the only
people for whom He ever leg's•
lated, he explicitly limits the prohibition to
poloamoys Marriage, like JACOB'S, with
ACOE'S, a wife's