The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-20 00:00:00

THE SUIN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1865.

Death of M. Proudhon.

A telegraphic message from Paris states that M.
Pierre Joseph Proudhon, the once famous represen-
tative, socialist, and political writer, is now no more,
having died at the age of 56. His birthplace is
Besancon, where he first saw the light as the son of
a poor cooper, though descended from one of the
branches of the family of the celebrated jurisconsult
of the same name. By the benevolence of some
charitable persons he was enabled to attend the col-
lege of his native town, but, notwithstanding the
zeal he displayed, and his evident aptitude for
study, he was soon removed and apprenticed to a
printer. By determined labour and continued pri-
vation he was enabled-to assist his parents and re-
commence his education, so unfortunately inter-
rupted.
His literary talent was soon afterwards displayed
by the production of several works, amongst others
an essay on grammar, which met with but a poor
sale, though it was so highly esteemed by the
Besancon Academy that the conductors of the insti-
tution granted him the triennial pension of 1,500 f.
founded by Madame Suard. Finding himself thus
in possession of unhoped-for pecuniary resources M.
Proudhon proceeded to Paris, where he wrote some
articles for a Catholic Encyclopedia, among others
an essay on apostacy and one on the " Apocalypse,"
and addressed to the Besancon Academy his " De-
fence of the Celebration of Sunday," and also his
famous production entitled " Qu'est-ce que la Pro-
priete ?" which was printed in Paris, and passed
through numerous editions. None of his works met
with so much criticism as this, and none indeed chal-
lenged so much discussion. It is entirely devoted to
the development of the axiom enunciated by the writer,
and placed at the commencement of his pages, " La
Propriete, c'est le Vol," and of which the author
said later that two such words were not pronounced
in a century. For a time this production was un-
noticed except by the Academy, which, to mark its
sense of the iniquity of the principles sought to be
inculcated, severely censured the writer, and with-
drew the pension accorded to him. He was also
about to be prosecuted for the work, but M.
Blanqui having been delegated to examine the in-
criminated essay, declared that he found in it no-
thing reprehensible. This considerate judgment
was rewarded by M. Proudhon dedicating to M.
Blanqui a second essay on the same subject, and
in which the doctrine put forward in the first edi-
tion was sustained by new arguments.
In 1842 he was arraigned before the Court of
Assizes at Besancon to answer for having written
a third pamphlet, entitled a " Notice to Property-
holders," but he was acquitted ; and in the
same year, abandoning the- printing business,
with which he had hitherto been connected, he
undertook the direction of an enterprise for convey-
ing goods on the Saone and Rhone. He continued
thus engaged till 1847, pursuing at the same time
his philosophical studies and labours, the result of
which was the publication of two of his productions,
" The Creation of Order inHumanity" and " System
of Economical Contradictions," in which he vigo-
rously opposed the Utopian reformers as well as the
economists of the English school. A work relative
to the solution of the social problem, by the organi-
sation of credit and monetary circulation, appeared
in 1848, when the revolution broke out, and M.
Proudhon was suddenly throw into the midst of the
existing struggles and events which soon succeeded
each other, although at first he acted with great
to give his full confidence
prudence, and hesitated
to the leaders of the movement.

On April 1 of the eventful year M. Proudhon
undertook the editorship of the Reprisentant du
Peuple, a daily journal, which was suspended in the
succeeding August, but which during its brief career
undoubtedly contained articles written in a highly
vigorous if not prudent style. His popularity be-
came so great that, at the final election in June, he
was returned as representative of the Seine by 77,094
votes. At the Constituent Assembly he affected the
opportunity
ofthe
argu-
ments. to greatest disdain for political forms, and stood his
ground boldly as chief of a section, only taking part
inp
point
te
outdiscussionsthe
emptiness
pwthineens
sa n
orpuerility occurred
After having voted with the Right
against the abolition of the penalty of death on
July 31, he brought forward his famous proposition
relative to the imposts on the revenue, by which, in
the name of the proletariat, he sought the immediate
liquidation of property, which, according to his sys-
tem, he would have transformed into transitory and
individual possessions. This proposition was rejected
by 691voonteps,nbanlido
principles of morality, and an ap-
peal was stigmatised as "an odious
attempt
to the worst passions."
After having met with repeated failures in the
attempt to propagate his principles in the tribune,
M. Proudhon resumed the pen, and founded three
daily journals, which soon succumbed to the re-
peated condemnations which they met with, though
the fines imposed were paid by the subscriptions
of a large section of the French people, who
thought they saw in their champion the personifica-
tion of the revolution of February. His speeches.
and his pamphlets, calculated to subvert political
and social order, were sold by thousands, but his
specious arguments did not remain unanswered, for
among their opponents were MM. Thiers, Bastiat,
Alphonse Karr, and others, aided in their task by
the great caricaturist Cham, in the Charivari. Pass-
ing from theory to practice, M. Proudhon founded
in 1849 the People's Bank, a commercial society,
with a capital of 5,000,000 f., which was destined to
effect the abolition of interest, the gratuitous circu-
lation of securities, and, by consequence, the suppres-
sion of capital. Notwithstanding the palpable in-
security of the commercial basis on which this bank
was founded, and the repeated attacks of the jour-
nals, subscriptions were paid into the concern, but
it never came into extended operation, as its founder
was condemned to three years' imprisonment for an
offence against the press laws, and was compelled
to take to flight, and the doors were closed by offi-
cial authority. After having resided for some years
at Geneva with M. Fazy he returned and gave him-
self up, when he was incarcerated at St. Pelagie, and
where, singular enough, he married in 1850 the
danghter of a commission agent.
He continued his literary labours, and, on re-
gaining his liberty in 1852, he retired into private
life, amusing his leisure by writing a satirical work
against speculations and speculators, and also a
voluminous book dedicated to the Cardinal Arch
bishop of Besancon, and, in his person, to all the
French clergy, treating of " Justice in the Revolu-
tion and in the Church," and enunciating new
principles of practical philosophy. This work was
immediately seized, and the author was condemned
to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 4,000 fr.
He took refuge in Belgium, but at the end of 1860
the pains and penalties he had incurred were
remitted.

ARREST OF A NEW YORK REPORTER.—Mr. B. S.
Osbon, naval reporter, 2, Dey-street, New York, and cor-
respondent of the English Army and Navy Gazette, has been
arrested by order of the President, and ordered to be put
on trial for furnishing to the public press and requesting
the publication of the details of the Wilmington expedition,
thereby causing the enemy to reinforce the works at Fede-
ral Point. Mr. Osbon is now in tho Old Capitol rrison.—
.tYrto York Time.