The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-03 00:00:00

[THE PUBLIC LEDGER.]

We have received the Paris Papers of Friday;
but they are very barren of political news; and
there will be nothing of importance in that capi-
tal till the Minister brings forward one of kis
projects for the present Session. He has post-
poned, it is said, his scheme of reducing the
rentes; but this report, we think, should be re-
ceived with caution, particularly as no corre-
sponding statement has appeared in any Paris
Journal ; and, besides, it would be premature
to renounce a measure of such importance,
till the pulse of the Legislature had been
felt. The present King, when he was Monsieur,
had been represented as decidedly favourable
to the scheme ; and, if this account be correct,
only the moral certainty of a failure, one would
think, could induce him to oppose it at this mo-
ment. It is true there has been no allusion to it

in the Speech ; but this omission may be inter-
preted in either sense ; whilst it is clear, from the
languid state of the Rentes, that some apprehen-
sions are still entertained on tl►e subject. More-
over, Villele pledged himself last Session to bring
forward the project again ; and, besides thinking
that he is bound in honour to redeem it, he must
burn with impatience to be revenged on his poli-
tical rivals, for the defeat which their intrigues
had occasioned him last year. In the meantime
his influence with the present King seems to be
fully as great as it was with the last ; and, if he
sees but a fair prospect of securing a majority in
the Peers, it is very probable that he will renew
the attempt this Session. There is but one objec-
tion, and that is the dislike in which it is held by
the nation in general ; and the question therefore
is whether Villele is honest enough to serve the
Public at the risk of his popularity. The ques-
tion of an indemnity to the Emigrants, though of
far greater importance, is not likely to meet the.
same degree of opposition, as the plan for con-
verting the rentes ; and, beyond these two
measures, we can discover nothing, likely to
excite public feeling, or embarrass the Cabi-
net. Villele, as we have already said, seems
to exercise the same undisputed ascendancy in
the present as he did in the last reign ; and,
if he had at any time dangerous rivals in the
confidence of the Monarch, they exist no longer.
M. de Chateaubriand has nearly vanished from
the Arena; and at Court he appears to have sunk
into the character of a mere cypher. The Prince
de Polignac too, if there ever was any foundation
for the report, which made his Highness a pro-
mising candidate for ministerial honours, has
clearly renounced the prize for the present,
as we find, by the Paris Papers, that he has
left that capital to resume his diplomatic la-
bours in this country. In the foreign rela-
tions of France, her political sky is as serene,
as in her domestic transactions. This calm,
in both instances, is the effect of temper and
prudence ; and, if it had not been for her
interference in the affairs of Spain, French di-
plomacy would present a perfectly unclouded as-
pect. This security abroad is not, however, the
effect of commanding influence ; for the French
Government does not entertain such lofty views ;
and, if it did, its means would not correspond
with its ambition. The secret of its diplomacy
is to evade rather than provoke collision ; and to
keep on good terms, if possible, with the other
great Powers, particularly with Russia and
England, is the very acme at this time of French
ambition.