The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-26 00:00:00

VIE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
In the course of the sitting of the National As-
sembly on Monday, M. FERDINAND BARIWT, the
Minister of the Interior, in reply to a question from
M. LAGRANGE, gave an explanation of the recent
unfortunate occurrence at Belle Isle.
The Minister of the Interior said that the army
was always faithful to its duty, and would always
oppose every attempt made against its orders. This
is what it had done at Belle Isle, where a very
serious attempt at revolt and incendiarism bad been
discovered, and which the army had been called on to
put down. It did so with the most extraordinary
forbearance, and it was only when absolutely forced
to repel violence that it had acted. As to the con-
duct of the Government towards the prisoners en-
gaged in the insurrection of June, he could affirm
that it had been marked with the greatest cle-
mency.—(Loud interruption on the Left.) Here had
been a most dreadful insurrection, in the course of
which many thousand men lost their lives; not less
than 15,000 prisoners had been made amongst the
insurgents; and notwithstanding the enormity of their
offence, they had been gradually set at liberty, with
the exception of 500. Was it possible that the
Government must not have drawn from absolute
treasures of clemency to arrive at such a result ?
(Loud disapprobation on the Left.) But who were
those who still were left in custody ? Men marked
by great offences of other kinds, and whom the Pre-
sident of the Republic, when he granted his amnesty,
found it impossible to pardon.—(Disapprobation on
the Left.) He (the Minister) had stated that fact in
express terms on Novemter 12, when he announced to
the Assembly the decisisn of the President. As to
the assertion that the men who still were held in
custody had not been tried, he had to observe, that
having been taken with arms in their hands, they had
been summarily disposed of by the Constituent
Assembly.—(lnterruption.) The number now at
Belle Isle amounted to 469 ; they were perfectly well
treated, and if on one occasion the military were
called on to act, the fault lay with the prisoners
themselves, who had revolted.
The Assembly deemed the explanation satisfactory,
and passed to the order of the day by a large ma-
jority.
The Law on Primary Teachers, presented by the
Ministry, has been withdrawn.
Considerable scandal has been created by the with-
drawal of the Bill for the completion of the monu-
ment of the Emperor NAPOLEON by the Government.
It appears that the Bill had been referred to a
Committee in the usual manner, and that the
Committee had reported on it, but the report
contained certain severe, but not more severe
than just, observations on the manner in
which the money previously voted had been
squandered by the last Ministry of Louts
Palmeri?, and suggested that a prosecution
should be commenced against M. DUCIIA.TEI„ Louis
PHILIPPIR'S last Minister of the Interior, for the
recovery of the funds alleged to have been misappro-
priated. The present Ministry withdrew the Bill, to
prevent the presentation of the report. We cannot
but admire the chivalrous conduct of M. FERDINAND
BARIKOT in thus taking upon himself, for the purpose
of screening M. DUCHATEL, the obloquy which must
necessarily attach to the withdrawal of the Bill. It
is the part of a noble nature to protect the fallen,
even when guilty, but when we remember the TESTE
affair, and the PETIT affair, and the affair of the
sale of the licence to the new lyric theatre, we cannot
Lut consider the conduct of M. FERDINAND BARROT
as almost approaching to romantic, for surely no new
discovery could damage much further the political
characters of the colleagues of M. TESTE.
The Journal du Havre states, on the authority of a
private letter from the United States, that the Cabinet
of Washington had just admitted the justice of the
demand for indemnities made by M. G. T. POUSSIN,
and which was the origin of his dispute with Mr.
CLAYTON.
The following appointments are announced :—M.
Bourie, Consul General at Beyrout, to replace M. de
Chasteau, holding the same rank at Tangiers ; M. de
Lesparada, Consul at Trieste, to proceed as Consul-
General to Beyrout; M. Leon Roches, Secretary of
Legation at Tangiers, and son-in-law of M. de
Chasteau, is appointed Consul at Trieste; M. Villamus,
Consul at Porto Rico, is appointed Consul at Venice ;
and M. Flory, Consular agent at Girgenti, is ap-
pointed Consul at Mogador.
The Five per Cents. were done in the Passage of
the Opera to day at 82f. 35c., being a rise of 40
centimes on the closing prices of yesterday.