The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-21 00:00:00

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The death of the Duke de Morny has been quickly
followed by the elevation of one of his friends and
colleagues to the dignified position of a Senator of
France. A time will come when history will pro-
nounce upon the merits of the men by whose hands
a second French Empire was founded, and it is not
impossible that this impartial sentence may contrast
with some of the presumptions conceived. In 1851
the world looked at the means employed ; posterity
will consider also the results produced. Half-a-
dozen names represent the coadjutors of the Em-
peror Napoleon in a successful stroke to a throne.
To the services of this small knot of men the
accomplishment of a great Revolution and the
re-establishment of an Imperial dynasty are un-
'doubtedly due. In estimating those services future
generations will look at the work of the dynasty
and the fruits of the Revolution, but it will be im-
possible to withhold admiration from the ability
with which success was improved. These few men
represent the characters which in analogous scenes
of history are seen in attendance on the hero. They
are the men who " came over with the Conqueror,"
and they have sustained their parts with more than
ordinary talent and power. From their master they
obtained steady recognition, and they justified his,/ ,
preference by their abilities no less than their fideiity.., ry
Not one of these names has been obscured or eclipsed. - -
St. Arnaud died on a battle-field at the head of an
army in alliance with the English. The Duke de
Morny discharged his civil duties with such signal
success that when he died it was thought the loss
could never be replaced. It was not only that the
Emperor and his friends were afflicted by the event
—the members of the Legislative body, feeling and
thinking only as public servants, were overwhelmed
with a dismay at the loss which is described as
" consternation." So.completely was he identified
with the Chamber that it seemed as if the two were
almost inseparable, and as if no successor could be
found. No mere Court favour could have enabled
a man to establish such a position as that. The
early friends of the Emperor must have possessed
real powers of mind and gifts of character to do as
they have done. They were favourites, no doubt,
but they have proved themselves worthy of favour.
Had it been otherwise, we should not have seen
them before the world at the present time.
If Mr. Kinglake's description of these men and
their measures was extravagantly hostile, it was
qualified at any rate by a practical refutation which
no direct defence could have surpassed. Their work
was performed in the year 1851, and when it was
historically characterised in 1863 it had, at any rate,
been vindicated by twelve years of success. Those
chapters of the "Invasion of the Crimea" should have
been published on the morrow of the Revolution
if they were to command belief. Then nobody
could tell how the coup d'ltat would end, or what
might be the result of substituting an Empire for a
Republic. But it is strange that even the author
himself should not have felt a misgiving in publish-
ing opinions to which events had given so plain a
contradiction. The Revolution of December might
be a work of violence or terror, but it was certainly
not the work of poltroons or men of straw if it had
been consolidated into a popular Government and
powerful Empire. Mr. Kinglake's views were be-
lied by facts before he gave them to the world.
M. Rouher, in his oration over the Duke de
Moray's grave, justified the coup d'etat by asserting
that it was required in the interests of the country,
which had been convulsed and depressed before it,
and had been prosperous and powerful after it. We
cannot deny that in both these allegations there is
a certain basis of truth. In 1851 France had no
effective Government at all. In 1861 it had one of
the strongest and most effective Governments in
the world. It is for Frenchmen, not for us, to
measure the cost at which this - Government has
been purchased. We can only see that either by its
strength or its popularity, or both combined, it has
been maintained with the greater security and less
disturbance than any of the Governments which
immediately preceded it. It is a Government with
which we have had little difficulty in preserving
amicable relations, and with which we have more
than once been in active alliance.

If the men who did all this were adventurers,
they must have been something more. It is one
thing to accomplish a revolution and another to
establish a throne, and yet the same men who
assisted in the first work have been consistently
and successfully employed in achieving the second.
Their services have never ceased to be valuable.
As far as mere gratitude goes, the Imperial re-
cognition of their fidelity might easily have found
expression in rewards which would have left them
in private life. There was no reason why they
should be the Emperor's Ministers as well as his
friends. It is by their aid, however, that Louis
Napoleon has governed France, and so governed it
that France is content. These facts speak for them-
selves. Morny was indeed a speculator, but unless
he had been something more also he could not have
filled in the eyes of France the position which he
occupied till his death ; Persigny may have had an
instinct for " service," but the service he could
render was effective service ; and Fleury, it is clear,
was something better than " a resolute Major," and
had more knowledge than a " knowledge about
horses."

Thirteen years ago these followers of the Em-
peror stood before the world unknown, and with a
presumption against them inseparable from the vio-
lence by which they had been elevated to power.
They had not only much to do, but much to undo,
and it is now impossible to deny that much has
been done. Of the revolution itself and its atten-
dant circumstances enough was said at the time.
At the present day we can but look upon it as
accomplished, and observe the results. Those re-
sults acquit its authors of pusillanimity or incom-
petence. They actually succeeded in transforming
the Government of one of the greatest and most
powerful nations of Europe according to their
scheme, and the work of their hands has survived
in unexpected efficiency and grandeur to this
hour. It is a work which France contemplates with
apparent satisfaction, and of which England has
no reason to complain. The Emperor's followers,
though they have been placed in prominent and re-
sponsible positions, have not discredited the prefer-
ence of their master. According to his system and
their own policy they have administered the State,
not indeed without errors, but with success enough
to maintain the stability, power, and influence of
the Empire. This would be fair praise for states-
men in any country, but if we remember what
France has been for nearly a century, and what it
was in 1851, we shall see how much it says for the
political abilities of the Emperor's friends.—Times.

NEW MANUSCRIPTS.—In a report addressed to the
Emperor, M. E. Miller, a member of the Institute
and Librarian to the Legislative Body, gives an account
of his :mission to the Greek convents for the purpose
of examining their manuscripts. M. Miller has returned
with a precious collection of works hitherto unkiown,
or considered as lost ; among which we may mention
the following :—Commentaries on the Psalms, with nume-
rous quotations from the versions of Aquila, Theodotius,
and Symmachus.—Fragments of the Ecclesiastical His-
tories of Theodorus Anagnostes and a certain John sur-
named Diakrinomenos. The latter was the author of a
Church history in ten books, of which Photius only men-
tions five.—The fragments now found belong to the first
eight books.—A history of the foundation of a Greek
monastery in Macedon at the end of the eleventh century.
It contains a catalogue of the MSS., pictures, and valuables
which were preserved there at that period.—Some unpub-
lished letters and brief treatises by Photius.-Isop's fables
put into modern Greek verse by one Georgios. This col-
lection is curious, inasmuch as it contains some new fables,
the author, it would seem, having been in possession of
Babrius's complete collection.—Unpublished fragments of
Elian, containing some names and historical facts which
are entirely now.—Extracts from the proverbs of Lucillus,
Tarrhnus, and Didymus. Among the new proverbs therein
contained, there are some unknown quotations from
Aristotle and some of the comic writers, also the titles of
some unknown comedies, besides certain new information
concerning history and mythology. Various
Photius and
brief treatises
by very ancient grammarians, and from which
Eustathius seems to have derived all their erudition. One
of them is entitled : "On the difficult expression to bo met
with in the Attic orators," by Claudius Casilo, an unknown
author. Another, by Didymus of Alexandra, treats of the
difficult words used by Plato ; the work was believed to be
lost. A third is an epitome of Zenodorus :—" On the lan-
guage of Homer," a work quoted by Eustathius. There
is, moreover, a Greek work by Suetonius (who is known
to have written in Greek) "On nicknames and insulting
epithets, and their origin."