The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-20 00:00:00

buffoon play out his play without pelting him with epi-
grams and syllogisms and interpellations of every variety.
The spaces between his sentences which in an English re-
port would be filled by " laughter" and " roars of laughter"
are devoted, in France, to lively remonstrances and the
clearest demonstration of what nobody doubts—namely,
that the orator is talking intolerable nonsense. They do
not seem to understand that his object is to talk nonsense,
and that the more effectually he talks it the more reason-
able men should be grateful to hint. The Marquis de Boissy
has lately been giving a most brilliant specimen of his
powers in this direction. He has been treating the French
Senate to a speech which fills two or three very closely"
printed newspaper columns, ranging over a great variety
of topics, and touching nothing that he does not make su-
premely ridiculous. He has a happy faculty for bringing
together ideas which are incongruous enough to be absurd,
and which at the same time, like the sayings of an Wang
terrible, raise very delicate questions. In his erratic coin,
he blundered against every object that can well come with"
in the scope of a French address--that is, pretty well ever,
object in heaven or earth—and every new contact struck
fresh flashes of folly out of him. The merit of his ab-
surdity was, that he generally contrived to put his points
into pretty sharp language, and that there was a grain
of distorted sense at the bottom of most of his re"
marks which saved them from absolute insipidity. In-
deed, there was frequently sufficient semblance of sense
to excite • his audience to the temperature Led,;:-
cated by "murmurs" and "lively sensation."
e
started with an interesting and appropriate anecdote of
Marshal Bugeaud, who, it seems, used to be the object of
general insult till he had the misfortune to kill one of his
insulters, after which his speeches were listened to with
profound respect. The warning seems to have been thrall'
away upon the Senate. He immediately plunged int°Ei
discussion of considerable delicacy. He expressed hie
intense admiration of the Emperor. He professed to be a
Bonapartist of the most devoted type. He blessed his
Sovereign all day long, and, not content with that, 11°
blessed him whenever he lay awake at night. But he el-
plained his affection on the singular ground that he he"
lieved in parliamentary government. Of 14 forms of g°-
vernment which had been tried since the Revolution
broke out, 33 years had been passed under a parliamentaq
regime, whilst the existence of the others had average;
only four years apiece. This fact, and the greatness of
England, which has no other element of greatness than its
form of government, were a sufficient demonstration that
it was the best form possible. It required a still more
amazing logical leap to connect this theorem with the
praises of the Emperor. The feat, however, was per-
formed by remarking that the Emperor had solerarat
promised to "ameliorate" the existing Constitution ; tha
the Emperor always keeps his solemn promises, as 'EI
notoriously the case ; and that he was too wise not to
agree in M. de Boissy's belief that the only Poestie
amelioration of the Constitution was to be found in PI"
ad"
government. This line of argument was
mirably adapted to bring M. de Boissy into collision with
every one in turn. It was like proposing success to Be;
form, and coupling it with the name of Lord Derby fie
treading at every step upon his neighbours' most sensitag;
toes. We are not surprised that the President interferes
to fire at him one of those party speeches coinPres6e,s
into a couple of epigrams which are a French President
ordinary weapons for preserving order. The marquis
dis-
dogmatically informed, notwithstanding his eager
avowals, that he was sapping the base of the Constituaoili_
under pretence of praising its author. He accordiagiL
settled down, after various irrelevant gyrations nPen,he
two pet aversions. M. de Boissy hates nine-tenths of
Italian, and all the English, nation. As he lives in °
I f
most of the year, he says with authority that it is ~ f
brigands, murderers, villains, and every other species
the vile Mazzinian ganus. After an irrelevant but cu'll
criminating eulogy of Nana Sahib, he fell vigorously
Mazzini. Whenever he thinks of Mazzini and Engi'/e,
gold he is irresistibly reminded of Charlotte CordaY•
of coure, cannot account for the laws of association
de Boissy's mind. What makes his connexion of idea:
more puzzling is that the Corday of the future is to ass;
sinate, not a Marat, but the object of M. de Boi°o
nightly blessings—Napoleon himself.