The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-22 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 1849.

Efforts are at length being made by the supreme
Parliament of United Germany to consolidate the
nationality of Fatherland. It has been resolved, after
mature deliberation, to replace the present fugitive
Government by a permanent system of administra-
tion. And to accomplish this the more effectually the
Confederate Representatives are resolved to repose
the responsibility of the conservation of Germany in
the hands of an Imperial chieftain. The supplemental
problems remaining to be solved are two, and those
two are the following :—First, whether this para-
mount dignity shall be elective, or descend through a
single dynasty according to the principles of hereditary
succession ? And, secondly, who is to be chosen as the
new German Emperor ? A thousand rumours are of
course already afloat as to the ultimate decision upon
these two questions—questions involving the fortunes
not of one but of forty states, not of one but of in-
numerable generations.

While the members of the Arch-Diet are de-
bating upon the Supremacy Problem in the Ca-
thedral Church at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, the
Prussian orders Knights of the Red Eagle
and of the Black Eagle, of the Iron Cross, of the
Order of Merit, and of the Order of St. John—
have been feasting in the White Hall at Ber-
lin, below the Dais of their SOVEREIGN. On
the 18th instant, EISENSTUCK of Saxony,
BARTH of Kaufbeuern, and LAssAuLx of Munich;
were pleading from the tribune of the Imperial Par-
liament, the one in favour of an hereditary Emperor, the
other in favour of an elective Emperor, and the third
in favour of the project for investing FRANCIS Jo•
"" of Austria with the Imperial dignity rather
than of elevating to that illustrious office FREDERICK
WILLIAM of Prus-ia. On the 18th instant, simulta
neously with the utterance of these sentiments, the
latter SOVEREIGN Was being greeted with the acclarna
tions of the knights of the Prussian monarchy—that
day being the one hundred and fifty-eighth anniver-
sary of the occasion when the head of the house
of Hohenzollern was first crowned with
the regal diadem. To
instituted ptayrtitchipeatGe
reaitn theannual celebration
FRE-
DERICK, the Court, which had hitherto been slinking
in the seclusion of Sans Souci, hastened from Char-
lottenburg to the capital, where the MONARC:II pre-
sented himself before the assembled magnates and
celebrities of his dominion. Notwithstanding the
opposition which has already raised its head at Frank-
fort against the scheme of the creatures of King
FREDERICK WILLIAM to place within his grasp the
imperial sceptre, the latter are sanguine as to the
ulterior success of their machinations. They anti-
cipate the arrival of the moment when the Austrian
Arch,luke Tour; shall resign his perishable
authority into the clutches of the Prussian
King FREDERICK WILLIAM; and when not
only the living representative of the house
of Hohenzollern, but the entire ; dynasty
shall be proclaimed the recipients of the allegiance of
United Germany. Bearing in bitter recollection the
treacheries of their I.IIONARCII, we doubt not but that
the true Prussians, the Prussians who love the
common fatherland beyond the particular section of
it in which they may happen to have been born, will
yearn for the rejection of the auit of their lialic* and

for the preference of the claims of the Austrian
EMPEROR by the Constitutional Parliament.
Viewing this must difficult question dispassionately
we are satisfied that the safest course that could pos-
sibly be adopted, under existing circumstances, by the
national representatives would be the choice of FRANCIS
JOSEPH instead of FREDERICK WILLIAM, and by the
nomination of the former as the elective instead of the
hereditary Emperor of Germany. The Sovereign of
Prussia has so repeatedly, and so very recently, re-
, vealed his insincerity to the democratic cause—he has
disclosed his secret prejudice in favour of absolute
government—and has done this with such a flagrant
disregard to the aspirations of his people, as well as
to the general hopes of the forty independent princi-
palities—that we should profoundly regret to see the
destinies of Germany entrusted to his keeping.
With the Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH it is diffe-
rent. His youth and his intelligence are in a
great measure guarantees for his faithfulness, for
as yet he has not been hardened into a despot by the
reiterations of crime against the multitude. With
the inexperience of youth he must be presumed to
possess much of its ingenuousness ; and we cannot
but think that a sentiment of gratitude to the move-
ment which would invest him with imperial authority
over such vast and magnificent territories as the
whole of United Germany would dispose him to look
with complacency and even with encouragement
upon the glorious cause of Democracy. Unhappily,
there appears as yet to be no • alternative
beyond the rulers of Prussia and Austria, and
to secure the lesser peril we should certainly
prefer witnessing the election of the :youthful
descendant of RODOLPH.

It would be erroneous to imagine that the Supre-
macy Question now mooted in the Central Diet at
.Frankfort is the abrupt expression of a new and
hitherto unheard-of ambition on the part of the
German populace. It is directly otherwise. The
wish now articulated by the principal orators of the
Parliament has long been germinating in the hearts
of the million. In a German Emperor the multitude
recognise the best security for the maintenance of a
common nationality. To appoint a mere Vicegerent
or Vicar as Lord Paramount over Emperor,
Kings, and Princes, would be an anomaly so
strangely conspicuous as to render its ulti-
mate abandonment inevitable. To inaugu-
rate, on the other hand, a species of Republican
or Democratic Government as the power presiding
over these heterogeneous potentates would be a sheer
absurdity leading to perpetual embarrassment. No
Republican administration could be installed in the
once Imperial city of Frankfort until after the depo-
sition of the different chiefs of the respective German
principalities. An Emperor is consequently recog-
nised as the only resource of all the aspirants for the
consolidation of the nationality of Fatherland. And
to the judgment of an enormous mass of the popula-
tion an elective Emperor appears preferable to an
hereditary Emperor. The former, it must be
acknowledged, would be more in accordance
with the character of the age, and would for all
practical purposes appear to combine the respective
advantages of the Monarchical and the Republican
institution. As Emperor, the newly-appointed chief
of Germany would be enabled to preside with a cer-
tain grace and consistency over the heads of his
brother princes, while as the spontaneously elected
representative of the German population he would be
raised to power on as democratic a buckler as that
which elevated President BONAPARTE at Paris, or as
that which elevated President TAYLOR at Washing-
ton. With the fate of the posterity of forty princi-
palities dependent on their decision, the national re-
presentatives in the Central Parliament at Frankfort
cannot act with a caution too deliberate.

No persons can be found with sufficient hardihood
to defend directly the present extravagant expendi-
ture of the nation, or to.contend that our rulers are
justified in contracting new debts, and increasing the
public burdens, during a time of profound peace and
tranquillity. The advantages of economy and re-
trenchment are admitted on every side. The good
old times, when corruption and jobbery could be
practised without concealment, when the voice of
public opinion could be slighted and despised, have
long since passed away. The demand for practical
and efficient reforms is apparently universal. A
closer examination will, however, show that in too
many instances the cry is adopted rather as a
specious pretext than a sober reality. It is well
known that di ect opposition would only provoke the
indignation of the people, and excite the nation to
more determined efforts to abolish acknowledged
abuses. A more devious and subtle course becomes
expedient. Although reforms generally are advocated,
every practical effort to obtain them is encoun-
tered with the most determined resistance. The
weapons of obloquy and ridicule are unsparingly re-
sorted to. In place of fairly replying to the argu-
ments advanced by real practical reformers, some
collateral issue is selected, not going to the merits
of the case. The simple and straightforward assertion
that the expenditure on our naval, military, and
ordnance establishments is far beyond that required
for the national honour and the national safety, is
met with a denial that these establishments are so
kept up because their higher ranks afford places and
emoluments for men who have family connexions and
family interest. A similar course is pursued on
every other point. It is admitted that matters can •
not remain in their present condition, that great and
comprehensive reforms are essential ; but the mo-
ment any definite plan is submitted, any practical
suggestions offered, the propositions are sneered
at, and the parties by whom these pro-
positions are brought forward are held
up to public odium and contempt. Such was the
line of conduct adopted towards the Anti-Corn-law
League, when it first sprung into existence, and be-
fore the great majority of the people had arrayed
themselves under the free-trade banners, and pro-
claimed their hostility to every species of monopoly.
Such is the treatment which the Liverpool Financial
Reform Association is now receiving at the hands of
quasi Reformers.
The extraordinary success that has hitherto at-
tended the lab urn of the association, the popular feel-
ing evoked by the strange revelations that have been
made, have struck terror into the hearts of the supporters
of the present system. Something must be done, and
that speedily, to change the current, to divert the
public attention into another channel. The matters
brought forward cannot be disregarded. The pro-
ceedings of the association cannot be passed sub si-
lentio, without notice or comment. Accordingly, the
assertions of its members are distorted, and their mo-
tives misrepresented ; their statements are received
with doubt and mistrust. If a total silence had been
maintained on the subject of the National Debt we
could readily conceive how freely and unsparingly
the charge of intending to break faith with the public
creditor would be applied. Then, indeed, these gentle-
men would have been assailed with the most oppro-
brious epithets—swindlers and repudiators would,
perhaps, be the mildest terms. Unfortunately, how-
ever, they protest against its being supposed, even for a
single moment, that they harbour any such intention
Although fully sensible of the enormous burdens
im-
posed upon the nation by the folly, perhaps, something
worse, of those by whom the obligations were origi-
nally contracted, they still declare their willingness
to provide for the payments. Strange and incompre-
hensible as it may appear, exceptions are taken even '
to these statements. Their assertions are supposed to
afford reasonable grounds of suspicion that something
totally the reverse ofwha“suthperasbflueueonss vtateemehdisecnocne nteanid-
plated—we are told that
of asseveration do not
redundant copiousness
necessarily carry conviction," and it is asked
"might it not be in better taste for our Financial
Reformers to drop this subject altogether, and let
people judge of their intentions towards the public
creditor by the general tenor of their language, and
the obvious tendency of their act ?"
What do these critics expect or desire ? Is it that
the association should declare that Eight Hundred
Millions sterling is a mere bagatelle, which
should not be even casually alluded to, that
the burden which paralyses the industry of
the nation, and presses with fearful weight
on the labouring classes, is a matter to be
rejoiced at? Must it not even be hinted that our
predecessors were not exactly justified in transferring
the charges from their own shoulders to those of
their unfortunate descendants. Must it be kept
totally concealed from the people that the debt was

contracted in a depreciated currency, that only sixty
or seventy pounds sterling was actually advanced for
every one hundred pounds inscribed in the national
ledger, and that even these sums were paid in incon-
vertible notes, at a period when every golden
guinea commanded a premium of 7s. or Bs., it
not more. All those ugly facts must be suppressed,
or if alluded to, it is manifest that there must be
a desire to apply the sponge and wipe away the
liability.
There is something of a conscious feeling in all
this, as if the subject would not bear the light.
Why should it be supposed that the tendency of such
observations is to lead to the expunging of the debt
unless the debt ought to be expunged ? The Finan-
cial Reformers are sensible of the iniquities that have
been perpetrated ; but they still, through a feeling of
chivalrous honour, are satisfied to liquidate the liabili-
ties, however oppressive—and that is all that can be
alleged against them. _ _ _

The leaders of the association will not, however,
be deterred from persevering in the course on which
they have entered by such proceedings. A glorious path
lies before them from which they will not be diverted.
The masses are with them; they are sustained in
their efforts by the voice of public opinion, and they
will never slacken their exertions until their just de-
mands have been fully recognised and conceded by the
Legislature.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday and
yesterday.
M. BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE has been elected
Vice-President of the Republic. He was supported
by the club of the Beaux Arts, composed of the
friends of General CAVAIGNAC; by the club of the
Rue de Poitiers, and by that of the Palais National.
It was thought that M. VIVIEN would have been
elected; indeed, it is said, that the Ministers, in order
to force M. VIVIEN on the Assembly, had nominated
as his co-candidates, M. BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE and
General BARAGUAY D'IIILLIERS, because they were
considered the men the least likely to be agreeable to
the Assembly. General BARAGUAY D'HILLIERS is a
Legitimatist, and therefore he was from the
first clearly out of the question. M. VIVIEN
was, it is ;true, one of the Ministers of
General CAVAIGNAC, but M. VIVIEN is known to
be a rabid Orleanist, and is the friend of MM.
rrNIERS, MOLE, and the reactionary members of the
Rue de Poitiers' Club, who are intriguing to betray
the PRESIDENT and escamoter the Republic. M.
BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE although no Republican, is
a sincere Bonapartist, and is therefore the most un-
likely man in the world to intrigue for either an
Orleanist or a Legitimatist restoration. The As-
sembly has, therefore, done right in choosing the
most honest of the three men presented to it, and in
paying the PRESIDENT the compliment of electing the
first of the candidates on his list, who is moreover his
intimate personal friend. The election took place on
Saturday.

The numbers were—
M. Boulay de la Meurthe
M. Vivien..

General Baraguay d'Hilliers

„ .
The Journal des Debats is extremely severe on the
Government and on the PRESIDENT for having pre•
rented such a ridiculous list of candidates. ”We
do not like," says the Journal des Debats, " to trifle
with the institutions of our country, not even with
those of which we ourselves may not approve." In
speaking of the election itself, the Debats says that all
the candidates w ere so bad, that the selection of any
of them could not give it pleasure, and that the
choice of M. BOULAY DE LA MEURTIIE does not give
it pain.
The Siecle of Saturday gives vent to its indignation
against the Ministry for having proposed such an
absurd list of candidates ; and the Siecle of Sunday is
equally indignant with the Assembly for having
chosen M. BOULAY DE LA MEURTRE, and accounts for
his election after the following manner :
"Some," says the Siecle, " were influenced by party
calculations, and others by motives of spite or anger.
The Assembly only forgot one thing—that, for the sta-
bility of Republican institutions, as well as for its own
honour, the Assembly was bound to make the choice
which it considered the best. But, after the explosion
of murmurs and hilarity which, perhaps, unjustly marked
the sitting of Thursday, France will have some difficulty
in understanding the now irrevocable decision of the As-
sembly. The votes of spite, the little acts of chicanery
against the Government, the inadmissible conclusions
which M. Grevy has been employed to present, the im-
potence into which the majority has fallen, and which
prevents it from giving an imposing character to its acts
or real utility to its labours, all show that there is only
one thing to be done, and that is to hasten the period of
the dissolution."

The 1v ational Assembly on Saturday, having elected
the Vice President of the 12Pputtlio, prooooclorl to dig--
cuss the project of law which convokes the High
Court of the Nation at Bourges, for the trial of the
persons implicated in the affair of the 15th of May.
The debate was cotmnenced by M. EUGENE RASPAIL
(the nephew of the prisoner at Vincennes), who
denied that the Assembly had the right to send the
affair of the 15th of May before the High Court of
the Nation. The accused, he contended, could only
be sent before a jury, and that jury a Parisian one.
He thought that convoking the Court at Bourges
showed, at the same time, stupidity on the part of
the Government, enmity to the accused, and suspi-
cion of the population of Paris. M. RASPAIL con.
eluded by saying that he would be guarantee for the
tranquillity of Paris on the occasion of the trials ;
and he advanced, as the clearest proof that could be
given of the moderation of the Parisians, the patience
with which they bore the presence of the. present
Ministers in power.
M. BONJEAN reminded the House that, at the time
of the debate on the Constitution, one of the Montag-
nards had presented an amendment to the effect that
the High Court of Justice should not be called on to
judge in any cases in which the facts had not oc-
curred after the promulgation of the Constitution,
and that he had supported that amendment, on the
ground that the persons accused of the affair of the
15th of May should not be taken out of the jurisdic-
tion of the ordinary tribunals ; but the Assembly re-
jected the amendment, and thereby prejudged the
question now before it.
M. LEDRU ROLLIN contended that the jurisdiction
of a court, like crime itself, did not fall within 'elie
principle of retro activity, although he admitted that
the form of procedure in the court did.
J. DUPIN contended that when a tribunal took a
new form, or when one tribunal succeeded another,
the new tribunal took in every respect the place of its
predecessor.
After M. DUPIN'S speech, the debate was adjourned,
on the motion of M. J ULES FAYRE.

The election of Colonel of the Ist legion of the
National Guards of Paris was to have taken place on
Saturday, but as no candidate obtained the actual
majority, the ballot has to be renewed. The follow-
ing is the result of Saturday's ballot:—
Number of voters ... ... 6,425
Absolute majority ... ... 3,213
AIM. Lucien Murat ... 1,922
le General Gourgaud ... 1,637
le General de Fesensac ... 1,180
Vieyra ... 609
Clary ... ... 471
Ruvignier 350
le General Castellanne ... 162
Lost votes ... ... 394

VIEYRA, the Orleanist candidate, has retired in
favour of General DE FEZENSAC, the candidate of the
Legitimatists, and Colonel CLARY in favour of N.
LUCIEN MUBAT.

It is rumoured that the reactionaries have con-
cocted the following notable scheme for upsetting the
Republic, by uniting against it the Monarchists of all
shades. The plan laid down, or said to be laid down,
is to place the Crown on the head of the Duc DR
BORDEAUX, declaring the Comte DB PARIS to be his
heir, and in case the latter should not have children
the Crown to descend in the family of Louis nu-
meral, and from that family, in case of an extinction
of heirs in the male line, to the house of BONAPARTE.
In the meantime, the Princes of the NAPOLEON
house to be raised to the dignity of the Princes of the
blood royal, with suitable appanages, thus securing
them lofty rank, and the means of supporting it. This
is evidently an Orleanist proposal, proceeding from
that excessively cunning old gentleman, Mr. SMITH,
of Claremont. The word "appanage" alone is suffi-
cient to mark it as an emanation from the brain of
the liarpagon des Rois." But as neither HENRI
V. nor Louis IsTAPoLeost are quite idiots, we cannot
bring ourselves to believe that they have or that they
ever will consent to such an arrangement. Louis
hisin the
future
full possession
career
fer oa
nf power,appa
will
P surely
N w
neverho
issnelolw
nage, to be wrung from the hard earnings
of the people who have elected him to protect their
liierties and their property. HENRI V., who Would
poll 6 to 1 against any member of the Orleans
family, if their respective claims were submitted to
the choice of the French people—H",„ V. will
surely never betray the principles of Legitimacy, of
which he is the representative, by disinheriting his
own posterity in order to legalize the succession of
the lineage of an usurper (for such do all the Legiti-
matists consider Louis PHILIPPE). That the Orleans
family would willingly consent to some such plan we
have no doubt ; they give up nothing, but gain every-
thing about
by it. If a Bourbon restoration is to brought
in France, it is by the Legitimatists, and by the
Legi-
timatists alone, that it can be accomplished, and they
have a right to the full enjoyment of the fruits of