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

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JA

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fortunate matches, each bringing their contingent to
her territory? Is she ambitious of resembl lug Aus-
tria, to whom Hymen has been more munific cut than
war or policy? Or does she suppose that ifOlch has
ti. resu
lt
now, the result in former days, it must be tl e
now, and that kingdoms are to be won and we like a
lady's trousseau; as if there were no greitter,' -sposer
of their destinies, or as if history even withi a, very
late period had not proved. the futility of ill such
fond imaginations ? This is the shall owtri; of all
views. If the French monarchy has gro* to its
present extent of territory from such allia he 3s ;. if,
from the time when it scarcely extended so uth of
the Seine until the accession of the Valais or the
Bourbons, it has been indebted to the mar. pi; iges of
its princes for its gradual incorporation ,i Pt° one
great empire, does it follow that such in 'po rpora-
tion would not have taken place withdut the inter-
vention of such causes, or that such resril is will
happen again by again putting such caw les into
operation ? Generally speakingi what has a; foreign
alliance done for nations on either side of thjei Chan-
nel ? It has driven them off from the pi iri mit of
their true and direct interests to the purs.u)t of a
shadow ; instead of developing their real strength,
it has wasted that strength by attempting, t 1 trough
force or cajolery, to preserve a union unna,tur al and
impolitic. There are certain limits to all Idingdoms 1
which they cannot transgress, attempt it ha often
as they may ; war, marriage, policy, fail alike,_
and defeat their purposes. All countries. furnish 1
instances enough of this truth. What ha ye we
gained, in the time of Henry 11., by the u nion of
the South ,of France with England ? WI Hit Aill
later by the marriage of Henry V. to the Ikkriss of
. l T.

NOAH COLLIER, Secretary.

45, Cheapside.

PATRON—H R. H. PRINCE AlAlb.:ll.T.
ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.
NEW EXHIBITION. —An OPTICAL and MUSICAL IL-
LUSTRATION of SIIAKSPEEE'S " MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S
DREAM," with an ENTIRE CHANGE of MUSIC, introducing the
ORIGINAL MUSIC by Sir Henry Bishop, Morning and Evening.—
LECTURES by J. H. Pepper, Esq., on the endless AMUSEMENTS
of CHEMISTRY, adapted to a Juvenile Audience; by Dr.
liachhoffner, on the PHILOSOPHY or SCIENTIFIC RECREA-
TION; by Mr. Crlspe, on BALLOONING.—DISSOLYING
including Day and Night Views of WALMER CASTLE, WALMER
CHURCH, &c., &c.
Admission, is. ; Schools and Children under ten years of age,
half-price.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE FRENCH EMPEROR'S MARRIAGE.
(From the Times.)

The immediate effect of the announcement of
Louis Napoleon's marriage twith 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

periods of her monarchy May not bo king-
doms trace a vast amount of their misfortunes to
this phantom of aggrandisement ? Have not the
hopes of uniting kingdoms, by language, by insti-
tutions, by geographical limits intended to. remain
distinct, been fraught with consequences in ost fatal
to those kings and that people who ventured to
entertain them ?

Aus'i

4"
- 67t1NA i£;` there is nothiriL
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 alliance
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 every form,
even to the usages which hardly escape ridicule in
countries where they have never been discontinued
—the triumphant restoration of buckhounds, knee-
breeches, and. trains, and the pretension to the
highest marks of respect paid to a Sovereign, are
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
shocked in France by the disparity between the
personal and political position assumed by the
chief personage in the State and 'the matrimo-
nial connexion he thinks fit to form. Nor can
weimagine 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, he 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 the heads of all the deserving officers in
the army.
On this, as on some former occasions, we notice
strongindications 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
affiance 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
manceuvre 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
pas. sages 9f human history, will be
manyd
co r a strangete c f for
hteh
as
doccasione s o f
the
withe
household
unexampled
ofthe mag-
nificence.
tignheafirstedt, and, though they will
names of France, some
Em-
pressoon ltt he comprisenobilityaeaedni loayfmdtoehef designated,
formerThayer,haveEm Empire, i e ,
acceptedwith
iin
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.

We need not, therefore, this laboured justifica-
tion of the marriage of the Emperor Napole on 111.
with a lady who has no kingdom for her dowry,
either in reversion or even in expectati, on. So
painful a demonstration rather argues a Cloubt in
those who attempt it. For ourselves, we 1( .)ok upon
it as a strange hankering in the writers. that use
it, not altogether unworthy of notdee. A species
of judgment is fallen upon them. for the ridicule
which they have heretofore thrown upon the
older Governments of Europe, arLd upon that spirit
of feudalism which not long since they scouted
as gross and unworthy. They have returned
to that which they professed to reject. What
is this appeal to the ancient line of their Monarchs,
and this attempt to derive from the actions of those
monarchs, but a justification of the marriage of the
Emperor, and a wish to identify him with • them ?
They compare him, who is the newly-elected of the
people, with their ancient and hereditary sove-
reigns ; theyinscribe him in the list ; they appeal to
those times of the ancient monarchy as authorita-
tive, thus acknowledging that those times carry
with them a dignity and a sanction which they
would gladly derive to their present ruler. If so,
what a strange testimony is here to the value of an
established line of princes, and to the excellence of
hereditary descent ! They prophesy undesignedly;
and the men who were once the foremost in con-
demning royalty, with all its forms, are now among
the 'unconscious, unsuspected, and foremost adhe-
rents to its necessity and its use.

Whether in this matter they speak only for them-
selves, or express the sentiments of others--of
those perhaps who are higher than themselves, is of
little use to determine. Whether they wish to
find a sanction for this marriage, as if they enter-
tained any doubt about it, or wished to remove the
doubts of others, is of little consequence either way.
The mode of justification adopted by them is not
the wisest. It is neither so frank as that which the
Emperor has himself put forward, nor by any
means so convincing. Why should they not at
once affirm, as he does, that he is a parvenu--a royal
one, it is true, and the ruler of many millions of
active, industrious, and intelligent subjects ? Why
not at once take the bull by the horns, and declare
that the novelty of his position is a novelty not to
be ashamed but to be proud of, and justifies a de-
parture from ancient rules and ancient policy ; and
that he_who is not prepared to break through such
trammels according to the necessities and demands
of his position is unfit to hold it. No acces-
sion of dignity, nor of legitimacy, nor of strength,
can accrue to Napoleon 111. by following the
maxims of the ancient monarchy. No one would
respect bim the more for attempting to blind the
world to the real origin of his exaltation, and
placing his bust, alive or dead, with the crowd of
the ancient Legitimates. This was the one great
weakness of his uncle. Emperor of the French he
might have been, and he was ; but, not content
with this, he would be an Emperor of old tradi-
tions and of the ancient stamp : he would adopt
some worn-out image which men had read of in
books ; as if he dreaded the reality of his power
and his title, or as if men would be blinded into
the belief that a gentleman from Corsica was the
descendant and heir of the Holy Roman empire.
Really great, he aspired to be greater, after a
theory, and lost the reality for the shadow. Into
the same weakness do the French journalists now
run, of themselves, we suspect, and not because
they are interpreters of the mind of Napoleon 111.
Such language can certainly gain them no credit
in this country. England, at least, is indifferent
whether the descendants of Merovig carried them-
selves in such delicate matters " with an eye to the
main chance ;" whether they followed in their con-
nubial designs " the impulsion of their hearts or
their personal interests ;" and if they were guided
solely by such motives, we cannot see that they are
to be exempted from the rebuke which attaches to
private people, as well as to kings, who violate the
sanctity of marriage for selfish and unworthy pur-
poses. But we are interested in the question
whether all this research into history is intended
to exculpate what these writers condemn, or secretly
feel liable to condemnation—whether they are at-
tempting to glorify an act in their Sovereign of
which they feel secretly ashamed—whether, pro-
fessing to stand in a position in which no kingdom
ever as yet stood, and boasting of that position,
they are in heart disowning it ? The language of
their Emperor is plain and intelligible enough.
We can respect it, whether we agree in it or not.
He claims the inalienable right of all men to marry
where he has fixed his affections, and where the in-
terests of his own people, and the past and present
life of the lady herself offer no obstacle to the just
fulfilment of his wishes. What other kings may
have done or may do hereafter concerns not him,
for he stands in a position in which no other King
or Emperor ever stood before. When his apolo-
gists can find Monarchs of the same genus, then
may they refer to precedents to countenance the
marriage of their Emperor. Till then he stands
and rules alone, himself the only precedent and
the only law to himself. Maxims of ancient dy-
nasties cannot reach him, and perhaps it is well
they should not. He has a great and mighty
work to accomplish, only possible to him who can
rise superior to mere formalisms, who can discern
what the emergencies of his position require, and
has energy and resolution enough to accomplish it.

POSITION OF THE PLANETS DURING
THE PAST AUTUMN QUARTER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Equator.—Mercury,
SIR,—In reference to the long-prevailing
through
n
ggales
blowing from the Equator, with heavy falls of rain
the piblaran,etonh
Venuste
Mars, and Jupiter, all of them in the southern he-
misphere, causing a pressure from the south of a
strong current of air, and at times accompanied
with an electrical discharge rather unusual at that
period of the year. The late hurricane which swept
over the
damageßriti and
soss of from
life
on vheS*Sa.rWiou" s parts of causing
j
the coast, the Moon being at the full, and the Sun
in perigee with the Earth, the former in the tropic
of Cancer, the latter in Capricorn, when the Moon
is on the Equator, whether in Aries or Libra ; she
will be in Aries on the 15th and 16th of January,
and Libra 29th and 30th ; in Aries on the 11th and
12th of February, and Libra 25th and 26th • in
Aries on the 10th and 11th of March, and Libra
24th and 25th. During those days strong winds
will prevail, with rain or snow, according to the
temperature. From observations for many years
past, I do not expect a permanent change of wind
until the 2d of February, when a hyperborean
wind, with showers of snow at times, the air acting
with inclement action for some nights following, the
Lent winds being from the north-east. I hope I
shall not be intruding on your columns for the in-
sertion of this, for the benefit of our English
sailors and others.—l am, Alc.,
W. SALTER.

(From the Herald.)
The French journalists are undertaking a great
deal of trouble for very little purpose. In their
anxietylto justify the marriage of the Emperor with
one whose progenitors never wore a crown, they
have ransacked the annals of their nation fromNle-
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 France whether her empire
has been consolidated or aggregated by a number of

The New York Herald contains the following, in
relation to the island of Cuba and the flourishing
condition of the slave trade there :
"In the district of Cienfuegos, in the island of Cuba,
the sugar crop of 1846 was 12,673 tons, with 1,667,000
gallons of molasses. The crop of 1852 has been 27,243
tons, with 2,300,000 gallons of molasses. Will it be
said that there was no increase to the slave population
of the district during the intervening seven years ? If
there was, whence was it derived, as we are well assured
it was not from natural increase ? The actual net rea-
lised profits of one estate in Cienfuegos, owned by an
American (absentee) gentleman, last year (crop of 1852),
was upwards of 116,000 dole., about 24,0001. sterling,
drawn from the labour of 420 people, young and old.
Will any man show us how to make free labour as pro-
ductive ?"
From Kingston, Jamaica, we have advices to the
7th inst. There is no news of importance to com-
municate. The House of Assembly was to meet
on the 26th.
The news received from England, to the 4th of
December, has been very discouraging, especially
about the budget of the British Government and
the sugar duties. The Jamaica markets were in-
active, consequent upon the Christmas holidays.
From Ecuador we learn that the ship of war Seis
de Marzo, with 14 political offenders under sentence
of transportation, was lost on the Bank of Guas-
cama, which projects about six miles from the coast,
and 68 persons altogether are supposed to have
perished. Among the number are two officers—
Valverde and 011arvide.
The steamers Northern Light and Illinois had
arrived at New York from California, with dates to
the 16th of December, and 2,015,543 doll. in gold
dust on freight.
The news from California is interesting. Pro-
visions were very scarce and dear generally through-
out California. The roads between the mines and
the river towns, where supplies are generally pro-
cured, were in a wretched condition, and transit
necessarily slow. The consequence is that freight
has risen, and with it the price of provisions in
the mines. Common articles of subsistence are
nearly as high as in the winter of '49, though
the chances of rich returns to the miner are
not so general as then. A person writing from
Moquelumne-hill says that provisions are very
high, and the stocks in the stores of the
traders not sufficient to supply the wants of
the town a fortnight. Flour was selling
at Sonora at 65 dole. to 70 dole. a barrel. He also
states that, owing to the rains, the yield of gold in
Calaveras county will be immense this winter. The
mining interest in and around Jamestown, at Kin-
caid Flats, French Gulch, Sullivan's Creek, and
generally. around Columbia, is in a prosperous con-
dition. The miners about Nevada begin to com-
plain of too much water ; the streams and ditches
are surfeited, and all they now desire is fair wea-
ther, when they expect a rich gold harvest. In
Tuolumne county the miners are all doing well.
The late rains have, in fact, given an impetus to
the workmen in dry diggings all over the country.
Miss Catherine Hayes was singing in San Fran-
cisco. Her concerts were giving great satisfaction,
and she was nightly realising large sums of money.
The auction system was adopted for the disposal of
tickets. The first choice of a seat at her third con-
cert in San Francisco was bid off at 1,100 dole., by
Empire Engine Company No. 1, and was occupied
by the foreman of the company. The second choice
was knocked down to California Engine Company,
for 25 dole. A diamond cross, valued at 1,300 dole.,
which was to be raffled for in San Francisco, it was
designed should be given by the winner to Miss
Catherine Hayes.
A Spaniard, named Jose Forner y Brugada, had
been hung in San Francisco for a murder a short
time previous. After admitting that he killed the
man, but only in self-defence, he made the following
confession :
" I was born in Valencia, Spain, in the month of May,
1820, of highly respectable parents. My uncle is Alcalde
of Valencia ; and all my family, with but few exceptions,
hold office under the Spanish Government. I am worth,
in Valencia, from 4,000 to 5,000 doll. in real estate. At
the age of 16 years I went to learn the trade of confec-
tioner with my uncle • served with himlwowne
nfiao
rtv;kewte yhdilteehantrhlseae.
trgteFae
srntowmot
two
there I went to Barcealetaonnn,ncaeah;T;owhceal3nsucabertahcle;ree years in the ser-
trivfeeuprlmaceo,ntVhsa:einnctihae;
house
vijthuceanereoftcDooosmtan
ad,Juaratidni:Catohys
introduction to the brother of my last employer, Don
yHeaavrsan;
ntahietn;
wwaesntthetroe
three
yreenao
Junian.ca3ti,
olnBsw3.as
omitted by accident,
or it would have appeared earlier.—ED. SuN.] lof Dorainicas ; thence to Vera Cruz, M •
exice ; thence to
Luokiswestcooftmin,