The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY

the Assembly and the Government. For it was
surely not in character with the majestic and his-
torical career of this Parliament that it should retire
with the semblance of an ignominious expulsion
before the mandate of this obsequious Para-
' site of Parties ! The Assembly recognised,
with that exquisite susceptibility which may
be termed the conscience of a Senate, the insult
offered to its dignity ; and, at the very moment when it
was preparing to withdraw from power and to resign
that power again, unsullied and undiminished, into
the hands of the electors, it recoiled from the move-
ment which, instead of appearing in the light of a
voluntary dissolution seemed, under existing circum-
' stances, to partake of the disgrace of a compulsory
abdication. Hence it has been that the National
Assembly has defied the commands of the Cabinet,
and has thought to preserve its glory by prolonging
its existence.

Those among the popular representatives, however,
who looked beyond the dust and the din of the con-
tentions of to-day, perceived that this abrupt and (all
things considered) very natural step on the part of
the National Assembly, was dictated by an erroneous
sentiment. " Either," said M. DE LAMARTINE, more
than a fortnight ago, " Either you must destroy
_the
Ministry or you must retire : if you would act
bravely you would do the former; if you would serve
the country you would do the latter." Then it was that
in the name of Patriotism, he called upon his brother-
representatives to withdraw. The Hero of February
has since spoken more in detail upon the important
question of the dissolution. In the sitting of Tues-
day, M. DE LAMARTINE, impelled from his silence by
the unexpected and startling personalities of M. SA.R-
RANS, ascended the tribune, and hurled back upon his
assailant one of those dazzling orations which are
charged with the electric bolts of poetry and elo-
quence. He disclaimed the accusation that in Fe-
bruary he had taken up the Republic in his han Is
and, casting it into space, exclaimed Tea, et
tonzbe ou to pourra! He disclaimed this
accusation on the score that it was he who
had appealed to Universal Suffrage, and had resigned
the Republic, unstained by a single crime, into the
arms of the National Assembly. He explained the
meaning of his celebrated ejaculation, Alea jacta est!
He declared that he could never repent that
ejaculation so long as France had to throw
the die while the fate of the throw was in the
hand of GOD ! He concluded his oration by apos-
trophising the Assembly in the name of its glory, of
its dignity, and of its reputation, calling upon it by
the memory of its great days, by the remembrance
of that 4th of May on which it had first assembled,
by the recollection of that 15th of May on which it
had survived the assaults of an armed conspiracy,
and by the memorable solicitude of that 23d
of June, when it had conquered the barri-
cades at the head of the people—to FALL.
The last word articulated by the Orator has not yet
ceased to reverberate in the heart of the Assembly—
Tombons ! That simple but emphatic recommenda-
tion will have its fruit, and that fruit will be the dis-
solution. The National Assembly will retire in-
vested with the souvenirs of its renown, bequeathing
its opprobium as a fitting legacy to M. ODILON
BARROT and his colleagues, and leaving the destinies
of the country in the consciences of the people and in
the patriotism of the Prince•PRESIDENT.

We readily gave insertion to the letter of the lion.
EDMUND PHIPPS, in answer to that of Mr. RIGBY

WAsoN, which appeared in The Sun of Thursday
last. We should have commented thereon in the
same publication in which it appeared, but that we
deemed it fitting that Mr. IVAsox should have the
opportunity of defending his own propositions in the
first instance, which we felt convinced he was fully
prepared to do without a moment's unnecessary delay.
We have not been disappointed in that expectation.
Mr. WAsoN's answer appears in another part of this
day's impression ; and we confidently refer thereto
as a complete and satisfactory vindication of the
views and principles contained in " The Budget
for the Million." It is scarcely necessary to add
a single word to the unanswerable arguments
contained therein. There may be some apparent
hardship in saddling those of the "commercial, profes-
sional, and labouring classes," who, " during the 24
(34 ?) years that have elapsed since the war, have
applied their hard earnings in the purchase of pro-
perty," with a proportion of the debt charged on the
entire nation. There might be some weight in the
argument, if the:point at issue merely depended be-
tween those in the enjoyment of property held by
themselves or their ancestors (from whom they de-
rived it) at the time when the debt was con-
tracted, and others who subsequently acquired
property. It must, however, be placed on a
much wider basis. The question practically
lies between the persons now in the possession
of accumulated and realised property of every descrip-
tion, and the far more numerous class who earn their
daily bread by the sweat of their brows, and who
have received no inheritance whatsoever but the
birthright of every freeborn man—the liberty of toil-
ing for their own support—and who, under the present
system, are compelled to devote a considerable portion
of their time and labour to provide for liabilities in-
curred long before they were born, and from which
they obtained no benefit whatever. It is between
these parties that the relative equities are to be de-
cided. That is the true point, and there can be no
departure therefrom ; no riding off on collateral issues,
to divert the public attention from the real merits of
the case.

There is no principle better understood than that
every purchaser of property must take it subject to
every defect, and to every charge, legal or equitable,
,to which it may be subject. Caveat emptor is a
well-known maxim, which has never been contro-
verted or denied. The party about to invest his
money must institute the closest inquiries in every
particular, every point and circumstance of the case
must be fully investigated, every possible claim that
may arise must be taken into consideration. If he
disregards anything so obvious as the existence of an
enormous public debt, he alone is responsible for
the omission. He cannot hope that perfectly innocent
parties should be prejudiced by his negligence, or by
his confidence in the permanency of an unjust and
erroneous system,

Instances are of every day occurrence in which
the above principle is acted on and enforced. Mr.
WASON has adduced three clear and forcible illustra-
tions. Previously to the passing of the Reform Bill
many persons had invested their capital in the pur-
chase of rotten boroughs—in acquiring a supposed
right to the franchises of their fellow-subjects. Were
the rest of the nation to remain for ever unrepre-
sented because a few exhibited such fatuity
as to hope that the anomaly could be
perpetuated—that a seat in the Legislature
could be openly disposed of, with as little disguise or
concealment as an article of furniture, a house, or
garden ? Most assuredly not. The boroughs were
disfranchised with the full approbation of every honest
and right•minded man, and little sympathy was
s aexpressed o
Slavery
was
a s abolished. entertained
The
h he e
gloriousb o r oug hm
principleong e r s .
was
affirmed that, throughout the British dominions, man
should have no property in his fellow-man—that
human beings should not be sold or disposed of like
beasts of burden—that every social tie should
not be severed, and those sundered whom GOD had
joined together, at the mere will of an earthly master,
a fallible mortal like themselves. Were the innocent
victims of the atrocious system to be retained in per-
petual bondage, because many persons had expended
their savings in the purchase of unhallowed property,
on the full faith of a continuance of the existing sys-
tem, in the vain hope that the-whip would still remain
in their hands, to be applied at their mere will and
pleasure to their suffering fellow-creatures ? That
hope was also most signally and most justly disap-
pointed.

Again, properties were Nuanced in the experta-
tion that the food of the people would be permanently
taxed—that prices v, ould be artificially enhanced for
the benefit of a privileged class. The monopoly had
existed for many years. The principle of what was
termed protection to British industry (!)—meaning
thereby the right to tax the many for the exclusive
advantage of a small:minority—was over and over again
affirmed in the Legislature. Large majorities in both
Houses of Parliament supported the monopoly. The
voice of public opinion, however, prevailed. A spirit
of inquiry had gone abroad ; a few zealous and in-
defatigable men unceasingly exposed the injustice and j
e

impolicy of the system. Their constitutional agita-
tion was successful, and the iniquitous Corn-laws
were abolished and consigned to the tomb, amid the
hearty execrations of all except those who were in-
terested in their maintenance.

If a still more recent illustration be desired,
we might point to the recent enactments
for the relief of the poor in Ireland. For-
merly the poverty cf the country was not con-
sidered a charge upon its property. Millions had
been invested by those who supposed that they
would be permitted to retain the entire produce of
the lands for ,their own exclusive benefit—that the
pauper inhabitants might starve without their being
called upon to apply any portion of their
superfluities to the relief of the pressing
necessities of the sufferers. They have, however, been
deeply and bitterly disappointed. The paramount
claims, the superior equity, of the sick and needy
were taken into account, end enactments were framed,
in which their alleged rights as purchasers for valu-
able consideration were wholly disregarded.
So it ought to be, and so it will be, when the
natural rights of our industrious population are
taken into account, when the commercial, professional,
and labouring classes, who are toiling at the present
moment, require that they shall be freed from demands
which cannot for a moment be sustained, either
legally
.or equitably—which cannot be justified
under any code ever promulgated. The greater por-
tion of their hard earnings must be applied to the
necessary support of their families, before any part
thereof can be suffered to accumulate, or set aside to
be invested in the purchase of property at a future
period. They are but too happy if they can lay by a
small sum to guard against the contingencies of ill-
health or want of employment, when their exertions
can no longer be made available.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The National Assemblyihas signed its own death-
warrant, by adopting on Thursday the proposition of
M. LANJUINAIS by a majority of 187, the numbers
being—