The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-08 00:00:00

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The discussion on the proposition of M. LANJUI-
NAIS for the dissolution of the Assembly was ad-
journed, amidst much confusion on Tuesday evening,
after a most eloquent speech from M. DE LAMARTINE
in favour of the motion. During the course of the
discussion, M. SARRANS, in pronouncing a warm eu-
logium on the Republic, declared that the " day on
which the wind of the counter-revolution blew on it,
M. DE LAMARTINE took it in his hand and flung it
into space, saying, Va oil to pourras.' " This ac-
cusation at once brought up M. DE LAMARTINE, who
ascended the tribune, and spoke as follows :
" The interpellation of the Hon. M. Sarrans has been
too direct for me to refrain from speaking. That gen-
tleman has at the same time praised and blamed me for
the part which I took in founding our glorious, and I
hope, eternal, Republic.—("Hear, hear," from the Left.)
I shall reply but briefly to the Hon. Gentleman. It
cannot be believed that the man who contributed to
found the Republic can wish, I will not say to sacrifice
it, ,but even to weaken it in the Assembly which has
proclaimed it, and which has rendered such services
to the country, No one so much as the mem.
bers of the Provisional Government have relied on
the National Assembly to strengthen the Republic ;
and yet it is wished that the man who has used such
exertions to hasten the moment when universal suffrage
should call together the representatives of the people
should now abandon that same Republic, and throw it
at hazard to the shame of new ideas and the confusion
of the country. No, such can never be the case.--(ln-
terruption). Permit me to give an explanation on a
reproach which has often been addressed to me relative
to an expression which I made use of when I examined
the great question of the nomination of the President.
I then said, " The die is cast, Alea jacta est" I said
so, and Ido not repent it. lam one of those who do
not fear, when France has to throw the die, whilst the
fate of the throw is in the hand of God. Never was
there anything, in my impartial and unbiassed
opinion, proceeded from the will of the na-
tion more energetic, more moderate, more pa-
triotic, or more disinterested, than the National As-
eembly; and yet it is me whom you will mix up with all
those petitions, with that kind of occult insurrection; it
is me whom you would suspect of wishing to lay a snare
for the National Assembly in order to make it stumble.
Oh, you do not know me. How many times have I not
said to my friends who thought of sending back to Pro-
vidence that precious gift which it had made to the Re-
public, to sound every day the mysteries of universal
suffrage, that it would be an act of rashness, and a
tempting of human wisdom. I believe, however, that it
might be useful to make a fresh appeal to the country.
I do not say that it is absolutely necessary; but if your
vote decides to the contrary the Republic will not perish,
it will have violent phases to go through, but you will
save it as you ,have done before. In constituting
order, we have proclaimed popular sovereignty. As
statesmen we ought to take account of petitions; to con-
sider them as symptoms of public feeling, but to accept
them as injunctions—never.—(Murmurs.) In a ques-
tion of such a delicate nature, when the subject is in a
measure to deliberate on the fate of my colleagues, I
hope that the Assembly will listen to me with favour.
and spare me those murmurs which only tend to disturb
my ideas. In order that the Assembly may produce
all the good which the country has a right to expect
from it, three things are necessary. In the first place,
it is necessary that the Assembly should be in accord

with itself ; in the next place, that the country should
set the Assembly in accord with the legislative power,
and, lastly, that the Assembly should be in accord
with the real sovereignty of the country. In the first
place, I will ask whether there is that accord in the
National Assembly itself to enable it to present to a
Ministry its assured co-operation, and without
which there can be no strong government? To this I
will reply, not in the negative, for the result of yester-
day has proved that in important circumstances that co-
operation will be again found.—(Hear, hear.) That
kind of good understanding between the National As-
sembly and a Ministry ought to be as resplendent as the
sun. Europe should see that the Ministry and the Na-
tional Assembly were in accord to accomplish the work
of France. The intention of that harmony exists in the
constitution, and, nevertheless, you have seen symptoms
of hostility between the legislative and the executive
powers, but lam convinced that when the partisans of
those opposite doctrines shall have reflected on what
might be too absolute in one or the other of those opi-
nions, they will readily find a solution of the difficulty.
—(Murmurs on the Left.) If I had been allowed to
have completed my idea, I should not have been inter-
rupted by those murmurs, tor no one can respect
the sovereignty of the legislative power more than
myself. The legislative power is the head which orders;
the executive power is only the arm which obeys;
such has always been my idea, and never have I had
reason to doubt its correctness. It is necessary to act
with prudence, in order nut to fatigue either one or the
other of those great springs of sovereignty. It is in this
prudence that will be found the solution of the difficulty.
If the legislative power could compel the executive, in
the person of the President of the Republic, to blindly
submit to all your wills, look at the situation in which
you would place him in the eyes of the country—you
would convert him into a being who would have no other
functions than to be continually disavowing himself.—
(Murmurs from the Left.) If such were the spirit of
the constitution it would be bad; but if it contained a '
contrary spirit, you would force the National Assembly
to give to itself that perpetual disavowal of which I have
just spoken, and to give itself a certificate of its
own weakness. But such is not the case neither
one nor the other of these two extremes can be
accepted. This accord between the legislative
power and public opinion is a thing worthy all oar
attention. Public optnion was consulted for the election
of the President of the Republic, but bad it the same
idea as we had? When I say we, citizens, I say it con-
sidered individually—there is no question of our collec-
tive opinion, for we have none. Public opinion has been
much bolder and wiser than we—it has ehosen the per-
son whom we would have set aside. Ido not blame it, I
should rather blame myself. The country has shown
more inspiration, more genius than statesmen them-
selves.—(Loud interruption.) Yes, the country and
universal suffrage has shown more sagacity and a better
inspiration than statesmen themselves. It has given a
proof of sovereign wisdom. For my own part, I admit
that there is a real happiness for the country to find
this ray of glory which universal suffrage has
pointed out.—(fienewed and loud interruption from
the Left. If those murmurs mean to imply that I
am giving way to an idea of adulation, I reject
it. I repeat that, as a sincere Republican, I find a
subject of congratulation in the result of an election
to which a few months before I had expressed my re-
pugnance. I have a lively and a logical faith in the
situation of the executive power, of the Republican
power which the nation has wished to, as it were incar-
nate amongst us. I have such a confidence in him that
Ido not hesitate to serve him, provided that he is and
remains the rounder of our democracy, of that idea of a
free people against which defiance has been so often
hurled. I now arrive at the reflections, sometimes ironi-
cal, presented by one of our must sprituel colleagues—
only I shall treat serious things seriously. I shall only
reply to one objection contained in the speech of the
Hon. M. Pyat. I respect not only the talent but the
sincerity of the opinions put forth by the Hon. Gentle-
man to whom I have alluded; it is that he and those of
his party do not set a proper value on universal suffrage;
and I :ask, if you do nut confide in the conscience of the
country, in what can, you place your reliance?—(Hear,
hear.) Where, I ask the Hon. M. Pyat, will be place
the principle of sovereignty, if he will not admit it in
universal suffrage?
A Voice on the Left—No one ever said that.
M. de Lamartine—Will you place that principle in
Divine right which has
whichdes w' destroyed?
you place it in that intermediate right eas?broWkeilnl
by the revolution of February?
A Voice from the Extreme Left—No one has ever
denied universal suffrsge.
M. de Lamartine—lf you do not admit this right of
universal conscience, you will admit no other, and you
would beeceforth have no other compass than anarchy.
I have another observation to make. It has been said,
.‘ We every day read in certain journals that France is
not Republican enough." My reply is, if it be true
that France, in the majesty and dignity of her manners,
is not enough or not at ail Republican, how will you
compel her to be so?—(Loud and long-continued ap-
plause.) I have heard it said, that the country is not
ripe for a Republic. that France isinnstoittuptrioos. France
vnidedwithth.e
manners of Republican men
Lecessaryoe
of
the
truth.t young
not Republican, but to render her so she
bend
tahave an
arbitrary governmE nt; it is
opinion which has not yet the sentiment
dhaayvewthreenqutehnntlaye
Sne must be constrained by a moral pressure, by a dic-
rbhbeiPfOre.T.as thel
tdoneate
opinions, manifested in your journals gad in your clubs
To this I
precisely, loudly reply,fro

became;known to the country—it is from the day when
you appeared to think of those acts of moral violence,
when you wished to intimidate liberty as you formerly
intimidated the monarchy—it is from that day that the
people were alienated from the Republic. Shall I give
you a proof of what I assert. Address yourselves to
all the citizens of France—to those who eppear the
most averse to our Rqublic. Ask any one of them,
" Are you the enemy of the Republic, such as we
gave it to you, such as we proclaimed it under the
peristyle of this building before proclaiming it in a
decree; of a Republic of right, of conservatism, of
popular interest, seriously understood and justly satis-
tied, without any attack on property; of a Republic
of peace abroad, of a Republic regularly and firmly go-
verned at home, and which closes the abyss of revolu-
tions? Is it to such a Republic that you are opposed, and
are opposed, and from which you alienate yourself?"
The general reply will be, " Such a Republic we accept,
such a Republic we wish for."—(Renewed cries of
" Hear, bear.") Do you, on the contrary, know what
kind of a Republic the country holds in such just horror?
(Hear, hear.) It is that Rt public which some incen-
diary clubs have desired so improperly to substitute for
the dogmas and tendencies of the Republic which we
have founded. It is that Republic which invoking the
remembrance, sometimes glorious, but sinister and sari-
gtaiary, of '93, intimidates commerce, and spreads alarm
in the country; it is the Republic of moral violence, the
Republic of arbitrary governors, the Republic of the
prce consulates of opinion.—(Hear, hear, on the Right.
and deep murmurs on the Left.) It is this Republic
which we unfortunately see endeavour to establish
itself in some departments at the moment when
it was most necessary to restore confidence in the coun-
try. It is the Republic of the promenades of two hun-
dred thousand men as on the 17th of March.—(Hear,
hear on the Right, and great agitation on the extreme
Left.) The country will not have the Republic of May
15, or that of June 24.—(Hear, hear.) But the Republic
of order and conservative tendencies which the National
Assembly has desired to found—the country is anxious
to have that; and on every occasion that it has inter-
vened in its own affairs—on April 27, by the elections;
on May 15, in protecting the Assembly; on June 23,
in saving satiety; it has always accepted and sanctioned
the Republic.—(Hear, hear.) I call on the Assembly to
bear in mind the state of things around us; and in the
name of commerce, now in a dying state, of the working
classes who suffer, and, in fine, of the safety of the
Republic, I ask it to come to a wise resolution. Trust
me, that my counsel is in conformity with good faith,
with the dignity of the Assembly, and with the safety of
the Republic; that counsel is "Let us fall?"—(Seesai ion.)
At the conclusion of this speech LEDRU ROLLIN,
who was labouring under tile most intense excite-
ment, rose to reply. The yells from the Mountain
were terrific ; they were answered with cries of defi-
ance from the reactionnaires, and the tumult at length
became so great that M. MARRAST, the President,
declared the sitting at an end, and the debate was
consequently adjourned.
At the sitting of the Assembly yesterday the dis-
cussion was resumed.
The first clause, which set forth that the delibera-
tion of the electoral law will be immediately pro-
ceeded with by the Assembly, was at once agreed
to, without a division.
Oa the second clause, which declares that the
new elections shall take place immediately after the
closing of the electoral lists,
M. SENARD presented an amendment, to the
effect that the convocation of the electoral colleges
should be determined by a special decree, and that
the elections should not take place for at least twenty
days after the closing of the electoral lists.
The effect of this amendment would be, as was re-
marked by M. LANJUINAIS in answer to M. SENARD,
to postpone the elections indefinitely, and to perpe-
tuate the duration of the present Assembly.
M. SENARD made a short reply ; alter which,
M. DUFAURE rose to support the proposition of
M. LANJUINAIS, and was left speaking.
M. H. DAMETH, the President of the club of the
Solidarite Populaire was arrested on Tuesday. The
club of which he is president is, says the Democratic
Pacifique, purely economic, has for its object to
organize exchanges between workmen, and has abso-
lutely nothing to do with politics He was set at
liberty yesterday, so that it is evident that the Go-
vernment arrests the presidents of all sorts of associa-
tions (Daiurru was president of an ordinary friendly
society) on speculation, in order to have an opportu-
nity of examining their papers. The underlings of
the Government, as might have been expected, follow
the example of illegality set them by their superiors.
In the house of DAMETH, the police agents who ar-
rested him, robbed a poor woman named Bitaziag of
80 francs.

The Moniteur announces officially the appointment
of M. LBNORMANT as professor of Archaiology at the
College de France, in the room of M. LRTRONNE,
deceased.

The Patrie says—" We have stated, on the autho-
rity of another journal, that the resignation of M.
LHERMINIER had not been accepted. That journal
was ill-icformed. The resignation of M. lA:llmm'
NIER is definitive, and the Minister of Public In-
struction immediately transmitted it to the adminis-
trator of the College of France.
The opening cf the conferences on the affairs of
Italy at Brussels is fixed for the sth of March.
Several battalions of Garden Mobiles have been
sent to Bordeaux.
The Prince DE LA MOSKOWA will be sent as am-
bassador to' Turin.
PARIS , BOURSE WEDNESDAY, FED. 7.

THREE O'CLOCK.—Tho French Funds opened to-day
at fully pr cent. above yeste.rday's closing prices, but
they afterwards gave way, and clo.ted only ten centimes
higher than yesterday. The business done was exceed-
ingly limited in all kinds of securities, with the exception
of the Five per Cents. The result of the debate on the
Rateau motion was looked forward to with great in-
terest, but no one doubted that the division would be in
favour of the Cabinet. Exchange on London (30 days),
25 37}; ditto (90 days), 25 25.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

ON STOCK-EXCHANGE, FEE. 7.
Boulogne and Amiens, Bth—Dutch Rhenish, l lA—Namur
and Liege, 8!4 Northern of France, 8 Orleans and
Bordeaux, 3—Paris and Rouen, 185/B—Rouen and Ilene,
934 Sambre and Meuse, 334 —Tours and Nantes, 1%.