The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT.D.F THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE FRENCH EMPEROR'S MARRIAGE.
( From tile Times.)
The immediate effect of the announcement of
Louis Napoleon's marriage ;with Mademoiselle
Eugenie Montijo upon public opinion has been
rather favourable than otherwise in this country,
questionable in the French provinces, decidedly
unfavourable in Paris, and unwelcome to the
greater part of Europe. It is easy to account for
this difference of opinion by the difference of the
position or point of view from which we judge the
same event ; and there is nothing inconsistent in
the opposite conclusions at which our neighbours
and ourselves may have arrived. The, speech of
Louis Napoleon has been read in this country as a
blunt but true statement of his real position, and
we therefore prefer it to the hollow or unmeaning
style of more diplomatic language. We never
supposed or believed that the establishment of
the French Empire was an event at all similar to
the restoration of the French monarchy, for it has
neither its dignity, its liberties, nor its rights.
The Imperial declaration that " France has, by
her successive revolutions, always abruptly severed
herself from the rest of Europe," describes exactly
the principle on which foreign States have con-
tinued to act towards the Empire in a spirit of
' precaution and mutual forbearance. We entirely
agree that it adds nothing to the dignity of a Go-
vernment of popular origin, and alters nothing of
its true character, to contract a forced affiance '
with some royal house ; for, in fact, there is nothing
in common between an elective Empire based on
universal suffrage and the traditional rights of
hereditary monarchy, as they are recognised and
established in the rest of Europe. Although all
past experience has shown that the elective and
popular principle affords far less stability and se-
curity to the government of great States than the
law of hereditary monarchy, a man representing
the former principle only may take a pride in tell-
ing the elder Governments of Europe, on any suit-
able occasion, that he considers his rights as incon-
testable and his position as exalted as theirs.
But, though this is the language adopted by
Louis Napoleon in announcing his matrimonial
decision, and though we may not care to take
exception to it, the French themselves are struck
by the inconsistency of this attitude with much
of the • former and recent language of the Impe-
rial Government. The assumption of the title
of " Napoleon III." was as clear an intima-
tion as circumstances would permit of an here-
ditary claim to the throne, ratified by another po-
pular election. The enormous grants of money to
the Court—the revival of etiquette under everyform,
even to the usages which hardly escape ridicule in
countries where they have never been discontinued
—the triumphant restoration
eet andpa it
dhof e t bo
pretensionu
ac ks ho ov ue
rned si
knee-
breeches, a
highest marks
ot
fr arienssp,g
n' tok n,theaeree-
certainly not things to be expected of ." a Govern-
ment always mindful of its origin, preserving its
own characteristics, and boasting of the title of
parvenu." The principal object of the Imperial
marriage is to give Louis Naaoleon a direct heir,
who may succeed by hereditary right to all this
greatness ; and public opinion has been instinctively
a 1.901- - the
persiiniik ',
i„,.
: 4olitical position assumel by tip
chief personae in the State and the matrimo-
nial connexion he thinks fit to form. Nor can
we imagine any greater outrage on the regulations
of the army and the democratic habits of the coun-
try, than the arbitrary promotion of Napoleon
Jerome Bonaparte to the rank of General of
Division, ho being now in his 31st year, utterly
destitute of military qualifications, and justly dis-
qualified by his violent political opinions. It was
not so that the princes of the Orleans family won
their military rank, and no imperial or royal decree
abridged for them the path of honour by placing
them over tho heads of all the deserving officers in
the army.
On this, as on some former occasions, we notice
strong indications of a change which has happily
come over the French national character—we mean
the extreme aversion and alarm manifested by the
bulk of the people at any occurrence which seems
to augment the danger of war. France has been
so long considered the most warlike country in
Europe, that some time must elapse before foreign
nations form a correct estimate of her present re-
pugnance to any sort of enterprise which may
embroil her in hostilities ; but we are inclined to
believe that nothing short of violent and direct
provocation would render war popular or even
endurable by. the French ; and certainly the hold
of the.present Government on the nation is in a
direct ratio to the confidence placed in its assur-
ances of peace. The peasantry, on whom falls the
weight of the military conscription, and the middle
classes, which live by the interests of trade, are as
little disposed in France to find themselves en-
gaged in war as we are ourselves. As far as the
effect of this marriage, and the speech announcing
it, can already be ascertained, it has been the less
favourable on this account. Such a connexion
affords no ground for anticipating an improvement
in 'the relations of the empire with the rest of
Europe. On the contrary, it explictly severs
France from the institutions of other countries,
and it even alludes in language by no means cour-
teous to the former matrimonial connexion of
French Princes with the Courts of Germany. It
unnecessarily and unhandsomely stigmatises the
marriage of the late Duke of Orleans with
the niece of the late King of Prussia as an
alliance of secondary rank, and it applies to the
conduct of Austria, on the marriage of Maria
Louisa, a term which is both inaccurate and
offensive. The French word briguer signifies "to
manoeuvre in order to obtain a thing ;" and,
although the house of Austria was reduced by ter-
rible defeats to the painful necessity of surrender-
ing an archduchess to be the consort of a man
who had another wife still alive, the Emperor
Francis certainly never coveted or aspired to that
connection as an honour, nor did the advances come
from the side of his daughter. It remains to be
seen how these expressions will be received at
Vienna and Berlin ; but explanations have already
been required of M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and an
evasive answer given. The diplomatic formalities
of the recognition of the Empire are scarcely ter-
minated, not without difficulty, when fresh embar-
rassments of a similar nature may possibly occur,
which will not be diminished by the allusion to
" dynastic prejudices."
In the meantime the preparations for the solem-
nity are continued with incredible rapidity and
splendour, and in a single week the ancient
Cathedral of Notre Dame, which has witnessed so
tphaisssangeecass oinfnhwiumthanunhiesxtaoinryp,lwedillniabge-
nfogTrehe ladies of the household of the Em-
mndeifiacnoneyrnasteteerd.a
have been designated, and, though they will
comprise any of the first names of France, some
Odier and Madame Th&yer, have accepted posts in
ponfroettshse nobility of the former Empire, with Madame
it. Nothing, therefore, is wanting to fulfil the
wishes of the Emperor ; and even the impending
ministerial changes are suspended until after the
solemnisation of the nuptials. But at no distant
period, in spite of the contradiction of the
Moniteur, we have strong reason to believe that M.
Drouyn de Lhuys, M. de Persigny, and Marshal
St. Arnaud will vacate their present offices, partly
in consequence of the !opinions they have forcibly
expressed in opposition to this marriage.

(From the .?lerald.)
The French journalists aro undertaking a great
deal of trouble for very little purpose. In their
anxiety to justify the marriage of the Emperor with
one whose progenitors never wore a crown, they
have ransacked the annals of their nation from Me-
rovig to Louis, Philippe. To prove a proposition
which no one feels inclined to deny, they produce
a number of testimonies far more questionable than
the conclusion they wish to establish.; thus veiling
in a cloud of literary dust and lumber what of itself
is plain and obvious, and acceptable to common
sense. What is it to Franco whether her empire
has been consolidated or aggregated by a ntuuber of