The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-22 00:00:00

THE FRENCH EMPIRE.

It was said last Thursday that the journals had
been forbidden to say anything on the great subject
which at this moment above all others most deeply
interests the hearts of his Majesty's loyal subjects.
Certain it is, that with the exception of a few lines
in the Patrie, having for their object to name ex-
pressly the future Empress, the papers contain
nothing regarding the marriage, and, perhaps, even
thus much would not have been authorised only
for the rumour that had been got up yesterday by
the desperate bulls, that it was a Princess of
Bavaria who had accepted the hand of the Emperor.
The Patrie describes Mademoiselle de Montijo,
Duchess de Theba, the future Empress, to be the
daughter of a gallant officer, the Count de Montijo,
who defended the cause of the French Pmpire up to
the walls of Paris in 1814, and that her family had
for centuries past been allied to the greatest houses
in Europe. The Moniteur contains a long decree
regulating the mode of keeping the accounts of his
Majesty's household, and of all matters connected
with the civil list and revenues of the Crown, and
the disbursements of the same. The Government
papers, the Psys and the Constitutionnel, have—the
one, an article on emigration; and the other, on the
annexation of Pegu by the British ; tending both
to the same point, the consolidation of French
power in Algeria. If the Pays notices the emi-
gration of British, German, and other northern
nations towards the United States and the gold
countries, it is for sake of dissuading the French
from enterprises unsuited to their natural genius
and disposition, and of concentrating their atten-
tion upon the vast country which lies opposite their
own shores. Not only would families and indivi-
duals profit, it is said, by removal to Algeria, but
French power in the Mediterranean would be
extended and ,consolidated. If, on the other hand,
the Constitutionnel takes elaborate and extended
views of British conquests in the East, it is for sake
of showing that inroads being once made upon un-
civilised States by a civilised power, the latter
must, as by inevitable necessity, be carried on until
the former be thoroughly subdued. Such has been
the case with Britain in India, and such, it says,
will be the case with France in Algeria. Accord-
ing to this mode of treating the subject, we may
be prepared for steady advances towards Egypt,
until in due course of time Egypt itself be invaded
and absorbed as by inevitable necessity. Why
should not the Empire of Morocco, too, be included
in this vision of conquest ? Perhaps it is. At all
events we are led to perceive that there will be a
renewal before long of important military, and it
may be naval, operations in Africa, to which the
overbearing conduct of the French Ambassador at
Constantinople may, on the diplomatic side, be
considered a necessary preliminary.
The Union, makes the anniversary of the death of
Louis XVI. the subject of the following remarks :
" The 21st January is not only a day of tears, it is
one of meditation, where serious reason explains all de-
cadences and all modern calamities. To kill a king was
always more than an act of parricide, but to do so with
legal deliberation and with the calculated consciousness
of the consequences of such a murder, is a crime which
the human tongue cannot name. The will of the Con-
vention was not to kill a man, but to destroy in that
man everything that expressed an idea of authority, of
respect, and of tradition—that is to say, of society ; the
regicide of 1793 was the consummation of all the theories
of which the last end was chaos. Thus in regicide is
substantially found all revolutions, from those which
i ealise themselves by the orgies of the street, to those
which are organised by the reprisals of tyranny. At
other troubled periods of history kings were seen to
perish by the violence of poisoners or assassins. But
that king of regicide, however terrible it might be, left
royalty standing ; the usurpation of thrones itself al-
lowed to subsist that essential idea of command with-
out ?which there is no society possible, no security,
no liberty—in short, nothing except the exercise of
force. Modern regicide does not in any way re-
semble the historical assassinations of kings ; Louis
XVI. was killed in order to destroy royalty.
Thus the majority of the regicide votes affected
to declare that the capital crime of Louis XVI. was for
having been a king. This even sadly explains what
distinction ought always to be made between the virtues
of the private man and the duties of the social man in
Royalty. Louis XVI. as a Christian might devote him-
self to martyrdom ; as the King he could not do so ; for
as the King he expressed in his person that which makes
the life of the people, and principally authority, and it
was not in his power to consent to a sacrifice which
implied that of the people themselves. As to the regi-
cides, what did the private man and his innocence con-
cern them ? They had no need to be ferocious, and
friends of blood ; some among them, perhaps, were not
so ; they had no need to inquire into the virtues of
Louis XVI. ; all rendered him homage from the
bottom of their conscience. They wished to exter-
minate Royalty, and to do so they had only to
give free scope to their infernal logic. This was
the cause why many afterwards took credit to
themselves for having been consistent, and, in
their opinions, mild and •humane ; and who
knows whether society did not at times regard in
a serious light that pretension to honesty on the part of
the regicides ? We have seen some raised to great
honours--sad indication of the degradation of souls and
of the change in moral ideas ! But deliberate regicide
does not the less preserve its character. It is the con-
summation of the theories of right which are drawn up
beyond the ideas of divinity. So long as political so-
ciety reposes on conventions of force, regicide is the
sanction of it. Thus, while Christians weep in the
temples over the death of a king, politicians are inte-
rested in meditating in their palaces on the last end of
revolutions. May the tears on the one side, and the re-
flections on the other, be not sterile ! All of us have an
interest in knowing whether modern society remains
under the action of materialist principles, at the end of
which is found the death of kings and the servitude of
people."
The Union, in another article says :

" The anniversary of the death of King Louis XVI.,
which was a day of mourning under the Restoration,
had been a fete under the Directory. On the 21st Ja-
nuary, 1796, a pupil of the Polytechnic School pub-
lished, in one of the first journals of that day (the
Censeur des Journaux) a protest against such a fete, for
which he was a few days after dismissed from the
school."

There is an article in the Constitutionnel on the
war in India. The spirit of it is friendly to Eng-
land. We extract as follows the concluding por-
tion :

" England has set her foot on the shores of the Birman
Empire, and the occupation now more or less restricted
may be considered as definitive. This is a new and very
important conquest added to the already vast possessions
of Great Britain in the regions of the extreme East.
There is nothing in these successive extensions of Eng-
lish power in Asia which ought to surprise us. They are
in some measure imposed and even justified by the neces-
sities of policy ; and if the facts were examined in a more
elevated point of view, they cannot inspire in Europe
either jealousy or anger. Since France has renounced
the exercise in India of any preponderance, it is England
which in those distant countries represents the genius of
Europe, subjecting by turns to the laws of civilisation
and commerce the degenerate races of Eastern Asia.
The nationality of the Birmans, of the Siamese, &c., is
like that of the Hindoos, destined in a More or less
distant future to come under the demomination of
Europe. Why exclaim beforehand against these re-
sults which will benefit, not only Great Britain, but all
other civilised nations, which will see opened to them
immense markets for the exchange of their manufactured
productions against natural productions and raw mate-
rials ? Is it not besides known that the English them-
selves engaged in the path of conquests and annexations
of territory are no longer able to stop ? They are now
compelled to make war from an apparently futile motive ;
to compel reparation for an exaction which only amounts
to a small sum, but which must be immediately repressed,
for in Eastern countries the slightest injustice, or the
most trifling insult, can never be borne. Subsequently
they must again take up arms to support their first de-
monstration, and to preserve the territory which they have
occupied, and security will not be definitively attained
until the absolute submission of all the native princes or
governors has been obtained. All these consequences
prolong the struggle which soon becomes a war of na-
tionality. While we thus judge of the conduct of Eng-
land, not according to the inspirations of an illiberal
jealousy, but with the feeling of political necessities,
we at the same time explain by what succession of events
France has been led to undertake the entire conquest of
wasextant oimf time when, Algeria
at from the Mediterranean to the Desert. There
r,naswetewrsisobfedthteo coast,stop bayndooonffianincgertain
selves to our-
making the Arabs respect our frontiers ; the
Experience has since system of a restricted occupation was then extolled.
or keep noting. It is we
shown that such a system was
ainst thea
im-
practicable, and thatwere in some measure to take all
ways the same in wars entered on
not, therefore, seek t
by Europe ag •
African or Asiatic races. Let us
England in the Eck to dispute the right of conquest of
power rovto protest vainly against the ez-
tension of her
tcoluntries where we have in
arebasltiatiyn nfroopmrettbeensfrioongs; et England, on her side,
frequently ridiculous comments which
makeson throughthe
ssubject
theeet f organ
occupation of her most accredited
of Algeria ;
jsohuernals
let her allow us to act freely on
de-
volved to us by right of civilisation andand which has
let her judge with more equity the conquest, and
policy in the north of Africa. necessities of our
The Moniteur contains a decree signed by the
Emperor, and countersigned by M. Fould, Minis-
ter of State, regulating everything which concerns
the budget of the Imperial household. It declaresB
that the Minister of State is each year to dray up
a financial statement for the receipts and expenses
of the Imperial household for the ensuing twelve
months, which he is to lay before the Emperor for
approval. The various services included in the
budget extend from the Ist January to the 31st
December of each year, but supplementary credits
can be accorded by decree. The credits belonging
to one chapter cannot be transferred to another,
unless by a decision of the Minister. At the end
of each month the Minister is to receive from the
grand officers of the crown a statement of the pre-
sumed expenses for the ensuing month. The receipts
are composed of the dotatioli of the civil list,

of the revenues of the domains and forests, of
thinnings of plantations, concessions of
water-courses, produce of manufactories, sale
of catalogues at the museums, the produce of
the sheep-farm of Rambouillet, and sundry
other 'sources of revenue. The whole of these
revenues are collected by the Treasurer-General
of the Crown, and by his agents. All leases,
sales, and concessions are subject to the approval
of ie Minister of State ; all receipts are given
from a book set apart for the purpose, having a
counterfoil left to match each receipt, and bearing
the amount and nature of the payment. Articles,
when condemned as being unfit for the service of
the Crown, cannot be sold unless by the authorisa-
tion of the Minister of State ; he can, if he pleases,
present them to institutions of charity. The trea-
surer and the other agents under him are to trans-
mit every month an account of the money which
they had received to the Minister of State. No
new expense can take place except on the authorisa-
tion of the great officers of the Crown or of the Mi-
nister of State, but in no case can such authorisation
go beyond the credits opened for each service in the
budget. All expenses are to be incurred, as much
as possible, on contracts and agreements, but no
such contract or agreement, when over 10,000 fr.,
or going beyond one year, can be final until it has
received the approval of the Minister of State. All
salaries, remunerations, and wages are to be paid every
month, the month being reckoned for 30 days. The
sums to be deducted from all such payments in
order to form the pension fund are to be fixed by
the Minister of State. Monthly accounts are to be
sent to the Minister of State of all payments made
on account, as well as of the definitive falling in of
leases, contracts, and agreements. All accounts sent
in must be accompanied by documents to show how
and why the expenses were incurred—when the said
accounts and documents have been examined—the
Minister is to sign the permission to pay, on the
signature of which by the creditor the money is to
be paid. No payment can be authorised except for

services done, lunless in such cases as the Minister
. of State, by special contract, shall have agreed to
make advances to facilitate the service of the Im-
perial household. In no case can more than four-
fifths of any contract be advanced on account. All
warrants for payment are payable at Paris by the
treasurer-general of the Crown, and in the provinces
by the agents of the Crown. Oppositions to pay-
ments are received by the treasurer of the Crown,
and orders to pay instalments to creditors may be
marked on the warrant, authorising the settlement on
the account. Should it be found necessary to an-
nul any part of an account, the Minister is to issue
an order for the purpose, notification of such order
being given within the month to the creditor.
TheiTreasurer-General is to transmit every month
to the Minister a detailed account of the state of
the receipts and expenses for the preceding month,
both in Paris and the departments. Every agent
charged with the handling of any sum becomes at
once accountable for the employment of the same,
and falls at once under the immediate direction of
the Minister of the Household to whom that ser-
vice belongs. At the end of each budgetary year,
the Treasurer-General is to receive, after a proper
examination of the accounts, a quittance for the
operations of the preceding twelve months, with-
out prejudice, however, to the rights of creditors.
The said examination of accounts is to be effected
by a special commission nominated by the Em-
peror, and charged to send in a report on the same.
The accounts of the Imperial Household are to
be kept by double entry ; a general balance is to
be struck at the end of each month by the Minis-
ter, and submitted to the Emperor ; and a final
balance-sheet is to be laid before the Emperor at
the end of each year. The Minister of State is
charged with the execution of the decree.
A letter from Leghorn states that the Duke of
Parma has suddenly dismissed all the French
ladies and gentlemen belonging to his household
and to that of the duchess. Among them are the
Marquis de Nicolai, the son of a late French peer,
who has been conducted to the frontier by the gen-
darmes : and the Countess de Forest, of an illus-
trious family in Provence, who has been shut up in
a convent. The father of the latter, however, has
demanded her liberation in very strong terms.
The marriage of the Emperor is still the all-en-
grossing topic of conversation in the Paris salons.
It is said the marriage is positively fixed for this
day week, the 29th instant.
Other accounts, however, declare that the re-
ligious ceremony will not take place until the day
following Sunday, the 30th. The State carriages
are now building, and the cortege will start from
the Palace of the Tuileries at half-past 11 or 12
o'clock. The address of the Emperor to the Com-
mittee of the Senate, the Legislative Corps, and
the Council of State, announcing his marriage with
the Countess of Theba, will be, in substance, the
same as the explanation he has already given to the
Council of Ministers on the same subject. He
will allude to the foreign alliances made by
French Sovereigns, and to the inutility of such
for political objects ;—lie may refer in particular to
the cases of Marie Antoinette and the Empress
Mario Louise, and show that the alliance with the
daughter of the Emperor of Austria did not avail in
preventing the fall of the French empire, and the
ruin of its ruler. He will perhaps mention that, in
his opinion, the time had gone by when such
alliances brought advantage to dynasties or to
nations, and refer to the hardship of a Sovereign
being the only person who is not at liberty to make
a choice according to his tastes and his affections.
The marriage of Prince Napoleon, cousin of the
Emperor, with the daughter of the Prince of
Wagram, is, it is said, a matter of doubt.
The Minister of Police has forbidden the publi-
cation of a Protestant review, founded in the
month of July last, by the " The Society for the
Propagation of the History of Protestantism in
France." M. Guizot is the Honorary President
of this Society. The real President is Charles Read,
chief of the division of non-Catholic worship at the
Ministry of Public Instruction and Religious
Worship. The review suppressed confined itself
to the publication of historical documents relating
to the three last centuries.

The receipts of the Orleans Railway, during the
week ending on the 15th, inst., amounted to
519,5141., or 92,877 f. more than during the cor-
responding week of 1851. The receipts of the
two first weeks of 1852 are 1,117,361 f., being an
increase of 281,691 f. as compared with those of
last year. - -

Tile Bourse made a further recovery yesterday.
The Three per Cents., opened at 78f. 90c., fell to
78f. 75c., rose subsequently to 80f., and closed at
79f. 95c. for the end of the month ; the Four-
and-a-Half per Cents. closed at 105 f. ; Orleans
Railway Shares, I,ooof. ; Rouen, 985 f. ; Havre,
490 f ; Great Northern, 825 f. ; Basle, 340 f.; Paris
and Strasburg, 750 f.; Paris and Lyons, 860 f. ;
Lyons to the Mediterranean, 705 f .; Western of
France, 665 f. ; Bordeaux and Cette, 555 f. ; Caea
to Cherbourg, 600 f. ; Dijon to Besancon, 505 f.
Shares of the Bank of Credit Mobilier (issued
at 500 f.), 780 f.