The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-04 00:00:00

THE REVIEW AT 13OULOGNE.

The military exercises which will commence thri Week
at Boulogne derive an unusual degree of importance and
reality from the operations of actual war in which the
French army is now engaged, and they also afford an
opportunity, which has not been neglected, of strength-
ening the alliance now happily existing between the
States end armies of Western Europe. The Emperor
of the French has announced his intention of spending
the whole month of September at Boulogne, with the
exception of a short absence to enable him to fetch the
Empress from the south of France. The King of Bel-
gium has already arrived at Calais on his way to pay a
visit to his powerful neighbour ; and the Prince Consort
of England will at once proceed with a squadron of the
royal yachts to join the Court of France at Boulogne,
where he will remain during the greater part of the pre-
sent week. It will readily be understood that this act
of courtesy at the present crisis means that the Sove-
reigns, as well as the nations of France and England,
are resolved, every other consideration apart, to
join heart and hand in the military preparations neces-
sary to insure success to the enterprise in which they
are engaged ; that they look with a common interest on
the troops collected for that great object, and that the
camps formed in the north of Fiance, far from being a
subject of jealousy or apprehension to Belgium or to
England, are regarded by those countries as the arma-
ments of a near ally identified with their own cause. It
is true that the associations connected with an Imperial
camp at Boulogne heighten to a remarkable degree the
contrast between all former periods of history and the
present state of affairs. Fifty years ago the names of
Capecure, Pont de Brique, Arribleteuse, and Wimereux
were household words to our fathers, for they described
the places where the legions of Napoleon were assembled
for a descent on the English shores, but where they
remained, in spite of the genious and ambition of their
great captain, paralysed by the vigilance and naval
power of Britain, until by a sudden and gigantic
effort those same troops were thrown upon the line of
the Danube, and led to victory at Austerlitz. There,
too, upon the heights above Boulogne, when the first
distribution of the insignia of the Legion of Honour was
made to the army of Napoleon. from an amphitheatre
which commanded a prospect of the flotilla below, and
the cliffs of Albion beyond, the rivalry of the two na-
tions was at its height, and England seemed marked by
the French eagles for their prey. Since the lapse of
half a century has extinguished these passions—since the '
events of the present time and the aggressions of Russia
have turned in a totally different direction the martial
energy of the two countries—and since the proximity of
Franc:_‘ and EnOands which gave rise to so many cen-
turies of bitter enmity ana bloody conflict, is at last con-
verted into a bond of alliance becoming more social, as
well as political, every year—it is not unbefitting that
Boulogne and the adjacent coast, which were the fore-
most points of aggression and menace in former times,
should now receive the first visit of the allied Sovereigns
represented by two Princes of the Coburg family. We
have no doubt that in the popular applause
.which will
greet Louis Napoleon upon his visit to Boulogne, the
voices of our own countrymen will contribute at least
their full share to his ovation, and the visit of Prince
Albert will be the signal of a friendly invasion of the
Department of the Pas de Calais such as had not
been witnessed since English men-at-arms held a fortress
on the coast of Picardy. The military preparations of
the French army are upon the most extensive scale,
and it is said that 100,000 men are collected in the
several camps extending along the coast from Boulogne
to St. Omer. The temporary villages, as they may be
termed, into which the French soldiers form their can-
tonments, are not unskilfully constructed or ungrace-
fully decorated ; and it is supposed that they will be
occupied by this army until the return of spring enables
the troops to take part in the operations which may
.then be contemplated in the north of Europe.
The visit of Prince Albert to the Emperor of the
French has, however, unquestionably a political signifi-
cation of even greater interest than the review of troops
or the mimic warfare which prepares armies for the future
labours of the field. It implies on the part of the So-
vereign of this country, as well as of the Government,
an increasing confidence in the stability of that alliance
on which this nation relies at the present time, not only
for success in war, but for security at home ; and it
proceeds from a desire to mark by an act of courtesy to
the Ruler of France our sense of the frank and undevi-
ating part he has taken in support of our common in-
terests. Early in his reign he declared by every means
in his power that he conceived the alliance with this
country to be the connection on which he had most
reason to base his foreign policy ; and, although these
declarations were necessarily received with considerable
distrust from a Government founded on principles the
most opposite to the free institutions of England, it is
due to Louis Napoleon to acknowledge that he has acted
up to them in every particular. Indeed, no Sovereign
has ever sat upon the throne of France who has shown
a more strict regard for the engagements he has entered
into with this country, or a greater readiness to
promote English interests whenever he has thought
them to be consistent with those of the French
nation. He has not only entered heartily into the pre-
sent war and tried the great experiment of combining
the forces of France and England by sea and land, but
when others have been fainthearted or irresolute he has
never wavered in his resolution to carry through what
we have undertaken. Nor has he shown less disposition
to follow apd adopt the commercial policy which this
country has been the first to introduce with signal suc-
cess ; gradually but steadily the French prohibition tariff
is falling under the more liberal decrees of the Govern-
ment ; the sliding scale of duties on corn is not at pre-
sent to be re-imposed ; iron, cattle, salt provisions, and
wine are allowed to enter France at reduced duties ; and
the exhibition of the Industry of all Nations to be held
in Paris next year, at which all the articles exhibited
may be sold at a small' customs' percentage, is the
greatest blow ever given to the Protectionists of the
continent.

In considering these subjects, which are of such
momentous consequence ,to the peace and progress, of
those
mankind, it is the duty of those in authority,
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of whether
public and
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ewpeersaornes oraroesvtenantloiothues
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theme of politicalties
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scenes of political life t may truly be said, that the best
seldom realise our hopes, or the worst our fears. To
free institutions, indeed, we are wont to look with
greater confidence, because they are a barrier against
the caprices and the abuses of absolute authority, and
they give permanence to whatever is worth preserving
in the political structure of a nation ; but free institu-
tions, like every other portion of the mechanism of so-
ciety, must be judged of by the good they produce, and
it would be the height of pedantry and injustice to de-
preciate a positive benefit became it does not originate
in -a form of Government as popular as our own. As
Englismen, it is a matter of indifference to us by what
family of Princes France may be governed, and it is a
matter of secondary importance to us what may be her
internal form of Government ; at any rate, we h no-
thing to do with the choice of a French dynastyave or the
nature of a French Constitution, but we are immeasur-
ably concerned in the maintenance of eace and good-
will between ourselves and our nearest and most power-
ful neighbour. We know that this union is our
strength and our welfare ; and in these times the broad
national interests which have sprung up between the
most civilized communities of the world are the first
object to which we direct our policy and our hopes.
In this sense, the excursion of Prince Albert to
Boulogne has a national interest, though it has not the
character of a military or a political mission, and we
have no doubt that his reception in France will be as
cordial as the best friends of the two countries can
desire.— Timcs.

•
T —
HE MAIL PACKETS.—SOUTHAMPTON, Saturday.—
The Royal Mail Company's steam-ship La Plata, Capt.
G. Willis, left this afternoon with the usual monthly
West India and Mexican mails. She has on board 94
passengers, amongst whom is Sir 11, Runt.lo9/ 14690/.
il.ripticiO, 144 411 Avorap ono. -