The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-11 00:00:00

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE

:METROPOLITAN REFORM ASSOCIATION.

Sir,—On Wednesday the Gth, the Bankrupt and
Insolvent Members Bill, notwithstanding a consider-
able display of opposition, was read a second time by
a majority of 55 against 45. There seems a proba-
bility that in a larger House the opposition may yet
preponderate, and lead to the surrender, under com-
petent precautions, of the privilege against legal pro-
ceedings for debt now possessed by the Members, in-
stead of the present courting of unjust and crooked
interference, with nothing gained but the gratification
to individuals of declaring their opinion that they are
better and more prudent than their neighbours.
Surely if the House were to frame a method by
which any of its Members might be given up to the
operation of the ordinary law of debt upon due notice
given, it would be more for its independence
and credit than a pharisaic enactment capable of
acting as an inducement to the fabrication or disco-
very of debt with a view to the destruction of a poli-
tical opponent. There is hardly a Member in the
House against whom some claim for the debts of an
Association,—as, for example, in the well-known in-
statin3 of the Reform Club's claret,—might not be di-
rected as the means of either alarming him into pay-
ment, or shaking him in his seat. There is not a
sharp practitioner in London who does not know,
that if the proposed law passes, the Member of Parlia-
ment will always be the best bird in the covey to

aim at.

The Affirmation Bill, which is for extending the
permission of affirmation in lieu of oaths, was on
the same evening read the third time by 73 against
51. This process is generally held sufficient for
allowing a Bill to pass. But on the present occa-
sion the opponents of the Bill rose to speak on the
motion that the Bill do pass, while their friends to
the number of 22 (being the exact previous minority)
were brought up from the places whe-re they were
to be found ; and it was only by the other side
bringing up four new votes, that the Bill wes passed.
This may be slow process ; but nothing ever goes
backward.

On Thursday there was not a House; being Ascot
day.
On Friday, in one form or other, the House was
occupied with debates on Irish distress. The case
seems simply parallel to one where a ship's provisions
should have been found to have sunk unexpectedly
through the bottom. There is absolutely no remedy,
but that those whose provisions are thus gone down,
.
sh

ould be fed out of the stocks of those who have
any left. There is no use in complex speculation ;
the fact is short and terrible, that the support of the
people has vanished, and they must consequently die
unless something can be done towards supplying the
deficiency. If the food in the country was a fixed
quantity, as it is in a fleet at sea, there would be no
remedy but putting everybody, the lady passengers
included, upon short allowance of bread. But in a
commercial country there is the resource of buying
less claret and more Indian corn, importing fewer
opera singers and more macaroni. A good governor
of a fortress, or an admiral who had been at sea on
two-thirds allowance, would perhaps have a livelier
idea of the position of the case, than the majority of
the House of Commons.

In the course of the evening the former scene was
repeated, on the subject of the exclusion of strangers.
he reporters for the press were excluded, came back,
and were excluded again, and strangers of all kinds
continued excluded, or at all events none were
present, during the remainder of the sitting ; all to
the great discontent of Members who had various
operations in hand, the knowledge of which they
counted on coming to their constituents. It is pro-
bable this new experiment will lead to the House
taking some order for remedy.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
AN OLD REFORMER.
London, June 11, 1849.

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—In The Sun of the Ist June, 1841, you have
inserted the ex closed, wherein Louis Napoleon tells
Madame De Faverolles he was allied with Russia,
Austria, Sweden, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Baden, and
Portugal. Would not this alliance justify the fears
of the French Republicans, that he aims at a coup
d'etat? And is not the recognition of the Republic
by Nicholas a dust thrown in the eyes of the nation
preparatory to his recognising the empire ?
The re-printing of that article would be interesting
to the French Republican people.
May 28, 1849. A LIBERAL.
(From The Sun of June 1, 1841.)
The Commerce of Saturday contains the following letter
from Louis Napoleon, complaining of the undue severity
exercised towards him during his imprisonment at Ham.
The Commerce introduces the letter in the following
manner:—
" We, have received the following communications.
Our respect for misfortune, and our constant desire to
concur in alleviating all uncalled-for rigour, make it our
duty to give them the publicity of our journal. We
trust that the Government will appreciate the claims
thus made on its consideration and on its generosity•
We desire it for the sake of the prisoner who suffers, and
for those who think themselves compelled to guard him:-,
TO TUE EDITOR OF THE COMMERCE.
" Sir,—l have the honour to enclose you the copy of
a letter I have received from Prince Louis Napoleon, and
of a protest addressed by him to the Council of Minis-
ters. I trust to your impartiality for the insertion of
these two documents in the earliest number of your
journal.—Receive, Sir, the assurance of my perfec•
consideration.
d)
" May 28, 1841. "
" ' COPY OF A LETTER ADDRESSED DT PRINCE NAPOLEON
LOUIS BONAPARTE TO MADAME SALVAGE DE PAVE
BOLLES.

" ' SALVAGE DE FAVEROLLES.

" Ham, May 24, 1841.
" Madame,—l send you a copy of the protest which
have addressed to the President of the Council, which
I beg you to have inserted is the journals, and to send
a copy on my behalf to the Ambassadors of all the
Powers with whom I am allied—via., to the Ministers of
Russia, Austria, Sweden, Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Baden,
and Portugal.—Receive the renewed assurance of my
friendship.
(Signed)

" NAPOLEON Louis B."
" ' PROTEST.

" Citadel of Ham, May 22, Itt4l.
" ' For the nine months that I have been in the hands
of the French Government I have borne every outrage
patiently, but I can no longer refrain from speaking,
nor authorise oppression by my silence.
" My position ought to be considered in two dif-
ferent points of view—on its moral and on its legal side.
" Policy has rights which Ido not dispute. it would
be just for the Government to act towards me as towards
an enemy, and to remove from. me the means of injuring
it; but, on the other hand, it is inconsistent to treat me,
the son of a King, the nephew of an Emperor, allied to
all the Suvk reigns of Europe, as a common prisoner.
" In invoking foreign alliances, I am not ignorant
that the plea has never been of use to the conquered,
and tbat misfortune breaks all ties; but the French Go-
vernment ought to recognise the principle which has
made me what I am, for this principle is the cause of its
existence. The sovereignty of the people made my uncle
Emperor, my father King—and 1 am a French Prince
by bi:th. I have, therefore, a right to the respect and
regard of all those with whom the vote of a great people
royalty, glory, and misfortune are of any weight.
" If, for the first time in my life, I boast of the
chanee which presided at my birth, it is that pride be-
longs to my position, and that I have paid for tLe first
savours of fortune by twenty-seven years of trouble and

suffering.
" As to my legal position, the Court of Peers has
created for me an exceptional punishment.
" • In condemning me to perpetual imprisonment, it
has only legalised the decree of fate, which made me
prisoner of war; it has endeavoured to ally humanity to
policy by inflicting the mildest punishment for the long-
est possible time.
" Accustomed from my earliest infancy to a life of
hardship, I do not complain of the inconvenient simpli-
city of my dwelling; but I complain of being subject to
vexatious measures which are nut necessary to my safe-
keeping. During the first months of my captivity, all
kind of communication with the outside was denied me,
and in the inside I was kept perfectly aloof ; but since
several persons have been admitted to communicate
freely with me, the internal restrictions have no longer
Icy object.
" ' It is, however, since the time that these restrictions
became useless that they have been more rigorous. The
attendance of a faithful servant—who was permitted to
tollow me into captivity—meets with every annoying ob-
stacle.
"'So much terror has been instilled into the minds of

ciit the garrison and the employes of the citadel,
that they
scarcely dare to look towards me, and t is with great
danger to their interests that they Lnb
one who evinces any wish to soften thee polite. Every
captivity, even without deviating rigours of my
threatened to be denounced from their duty, are
to the authorities and dis-
charged from their posts.
" the midst of that France, which the chief of
my family has rendered so great, am like an ex-
communicated being of the thirteenth century; every
one flies :It my approach as if my very breath were
contagious.
" But this insulting inquisition, which pursues
me into my chamber, which attaches itself to my
steps when I go to breath the air of Heaven
in a retired corner of the fort, i not confined
to my person; it extends even to my thoughts. My
family letters, the outpourings of my heart, are submitted
to the must rigid censure, and if a letternd ex
is author
s
too much sympathy, it is sequestrated, a i
denounced to the Government. It app, era as if it were
wished to remind me every instant that I am a captive,
and to cry incessantly in my eats, Vce victis.
"` It is not unimportant here to mention that none of
the measures I have pointed .out were adopted against
the Ministers of Charles X. (whose chambers I now oc-
cupy), and yet those INlmisters were not born on the
steps of a 'Throne; they had not en cohdemned to
simple imprisonment, but to a punishment more severe—
banishment. Ia fine, they were not the representative,
of a cause which is the object of the veneration of France.
...The treatment to which I am s.ul,li-cted is neiilier
just, legal, nor humane. If those that order it think by
that means to vanquish me, they are deceived ; it is not
outrage, but kindness which softens the heart of those
who buffer.
(Signed) " lova liAr QUO 15."_,'