The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-02 00:00:00

•
S tY 141
-)-
tp,en -4—_--
.. ~...,nl
.
i-s-ch„.,
/ •
...4.,,
4,.v. entl , a 1.
3 P.,,,
tttri....r;)e, ,
~,,t,
_,
.htl
~6st,t irsl:,-k. 1,:_i.,",:t.:r.,...L,:,
q.
:.,
-,...:,
-.k,4- 1 '2._L''_ . .1
i''' *.' ''4
\' / -
I*./....* :11\k,
~ /41 19 1
‘`olll-iLI ire.r.c,, ...,ca ,
Oki.ir.,-71-
-hrmn ;., ~.1.... —
. _.
,
IcZaT7ZMiI-.41 114" i !;.c,„ 1
7/--- .-//''
• . :4 I
..
~‘., . 7,,,,,.
„,....,-yr: ~.)c,:_„:,,.,;,...„,..„.iE.,-„,,,,,,„.,..
—/- -t ~ .-IX,-,.' ,cg
-- • •
~c)ti-.1%.4.,- '.•
A_
, ..Av ut.
,c..,,i: ~ - ~,,,,,„' ,„ ----- ,-- --- .., . .., ,:.., ''-,
4 "(... , .___ ~ "ir? r , -,f r 0 . 7
._---,- ; 1 ,i 4 -
,
'-,4z.--1 -,;-----:
i.
,----4r17: , 4, \.,k. .... ~. '—'..,' ''-_-,-. -..---,'.4:%,),,1,
~.o,c-,, 21.i4-'..A.Y.,',.:. ,
._.'s___._ r.. ' •••••1 A9z,... .t-
-, .-A''`'4;- ,c,,- _..zZ ,_.'.
r"l7:t"'4'3;:-,6
'''''-'4'' '''''-----il'i ---, 4L ;..,3'-*.x-- , ,''',4.-', ~,,4.:, ~.:-'A, „,,,;,--,.:,,,,,,,.,_,_ ,;cz
,--,-_--,?, ;,—.t ,-.-:AA,,-e -<SII:7Z. " `‘: :' - 4,Z ,:4:--'). 7-- .". ei'‘,.2 -''
'N .11c ; ''s---- -
ts.
.. .
,44
.., 7c , , ll-- _--, ✓r......i. _ Al. on --
..,
1' -, / ‘-----I_'-li,/,,,--ii. 4'E,441::"-Liia'---",'e;---r---
~
..-,- si

es change, we place in ti first rank
-e;`,lkltly applies to all and ,aeh of t,
factions-in Fre.r.ce, which e, for diffe,
of their own,sconn • 6 ee hours of the
vernment. Prorn the ultra-Legitimist, a.
of restoring Henry V. to the throne of hialkieteldfia
down to the Red Republican eager for the day which
is once more to consign Prance to a horde of savages,
there is not one of these political bands which does
not regard Louis Napoleon as the transition to some-
thing else—there is not one of them which does not
perceive that by assuming the chief personal respon-
sibility of the administration at such a moment, Louis
Napoleon has placed himself between absolute success,
crowned by absolute power, and destruction. A great
man, such as his uncle, might achieve the former ; a
lesser man, such as the nephew, has at least not
flinched from the latter. His address is imprudent,
but it is spirited ; and though it may not be easy to
stand above the warring hosts of French politicians,
Louis Napoleon has little cause to pay any of thine
the homage of gratitude or fear.
C lIRONICL E.—The Duf.mre Cabinet has foun-
dered in a calm. Neither the henry artillery of a
Parliamentary Opposition, nor the storms and a hint-
winds of popular excitement, have been the instru-
ments of its destruction- The Ministers are turned
oue not because they have failed to commend the
support of the Assembly, but became they have not
satalisd the President ; their places are supplied by
men, the majority of whom are mere cyphers in the
political woi Id, all selected from the little circle of
persomil friends end adherents who enjoy the entree
of the Elysee ; and the message by which the fact is
announced to the Legislature is couched in language
such as has very seldom flowed from the pen of a
constitutional sovereign. Louis Napoleon pur-
poses to assume- the Government of France.
" For nearly a twelvemonth" he has allowed
the free play of the constitutional machine
to elevate to power the men who had sufficient talents
and popularity to be uppermost. Ile has lett party-
organization to do its work, and exercised his power
of selection only by choosing the individuals whom
circumstances pointed out as representing most truly
the predominant shades of public opinion. In shone
he has played the part of a constitutional monarch.
But this way of reigning has not satisfied him, nor
has it, as he believes, satisfied the nation. He is de•
termined to take a different course hereafter. He is
the elect of six million Frenchmen. The six millions
in choosing the heir of Napoleon, meant to choose a
Napoleon policy, and a Napoleon Government. Hence-
forth they shall have both the one and the other. He
will impress the bent of his own will on the policy of
the country ; the ministers whom he will choose shall
be the men best fitted to realize, not the views of others,
but bis own. His Cabinet shall be the exponent and
instrument of a Napoleon policy—the reflex of
himself. In a word, he will be his own Prime Mi-
nister. "Gentlemen," says the missive, in language
which has at least the merit of being tolerably plain,
"I have sat by long enough ; you have had it all your
own way—and a pretty mess you have made of it. I
intend now to take my share in the game." Having
said thus much, we need scarcely go on to observe,
that a communication more injudicious, both in form
and substance, has seldom been laid before the Legis-
lature of a free country. Louis Napoleon has suffered
himself to be misled by the false position in which he
is placed as the elected President of a great Republic.
Like General Taylor, indeed, he owes his elevation to
the suffrages of the people ; but he forgets that in
one very material respect his position is far more
nearly akin to that of the hereditary Monarchs of the
old world—viz., that those suffrages have placed him
at the head of a single highly centraliied common-
wealth, not at the summit of the loose fabric of a
federal state. He confounds the legal responsibility,
wherein his position differs from that of Leopold of
Belgium, with the moral responsibility of a Minister,
who is the servant of a Parliament, and holds office
during the good pleasure of a Parliamentary majo-
ri y. Louis Philippe, himself virtually an elected
monarch, made the same mistake, although he never
went so far as to tell the Chambers so. He was his
own Prime Minister, and the consequence is, that he
bears amongst his former subjects the blame of every
false step made by each of the Cabinets in which he
successively presided. The popularity of Louis Na-
poleon is still considerable; for the ten months which
have passed since his election have witnessed a great
and progressive improvement in the condition of the
country. But let him once commit the imprudence
of thoroughly identifying himself with an adminis-
tration, be it good, bad, or indifferent, and be will
find, to his cost, that it is the Presidency of which the
nation is enamoured, rather than the President him-
self. Let him try to govern, instead of simply reign-
ing, and he will be " used up" before his second year
has well begun. It is not, we fear, too much to say
that the Conservative majority is broken up—that the
President and tl.e Assembly are :gain at war—und
that France has made a long stride towards her next
Revolution.
BERALD.—If the Barrot Cabinet survived the
dangerous support of the 1\1016.; and the Thiers, the
Berryers and the Montelemberts, it was sure to fall
either from inherent weakness—domestic dissension
—or the disrelish of the President or of the nation
at large. In the discussion on Roman affairs a fort-
night ago, it exhibited a base subserviency, unre-
deemed by one spark of gratitude or courage. The
Minister for Foreign Affairs completely threw tie
letter of the President overboard, and sacrificed him
to the wishes of the exigent majority. Though the
conduct of Odilon 13arrot was a degree less cowardly,
yet the tone of his speech was tame, spiritless, and
deprecatory in the extreme. Exhibiting the &mous
letter to Edgar Ney in his hand, and professing to
act on the principle of that letter, he yet had not the
courage to read it, and is said to have replaced it in his
portfolio at the suggestion of little M. Thiers. Conduct
SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. such as this was neither likely to conciliate opponents
FROM TIIE MORN ISO PAPERS OF THIS DAY, nor to please friends, and accordingly, ever since that
TIMES.—If any clear and definite signification . memorable debate of this day fortnight, M. Barrot
can be attached to the sweeping measure by which the has been sinking, not merely in public estimation, but
President of the French Republic has changed his possibly in the political estimation of the tenant of
whole Administration, and to the resolute message in i the Elysee, for we find in the message of the Presi-
which he announced this species of coup d'etat to the dent, delivered as late as half-past three o'clock on
National Assembly, we must suppose that Louis Na- , Wednesday, that M. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte an-
poleon intends to convey to France and to the world nounces to the President of the Chamber that men
his peremptory intention to assume in his own person are now needed—" who, animated by a patriotic de-
the supreme direction of the affairs of the Republic. votedness, comprehend the necessity of the single
It is the repetition or the parody of Louis XlV.'s direction of a firm character, and of a clearly-defined
declaration—"l'Etat, c'est rnoi 1" If Louis Napoleon I policy, which does not compromise p ewer by any
has been crossed and thwarted by the presence of irresolution—of men, in short, whose minds are as
statesmen in his Cabinet, whose duty and whose de- much filled with the conviction of the President's
sire it was to give to his authority as much stability peculiar responsibility as of their own, and of the
and success as it could acquire, how has he relieved necessity of action as well as of words." One might
himself from their criticism and their opposition by I fancy that these words were personally levelled at the
thrusting them back into the ranks of an Assembly, late President of the French Council, so epigrammati-
already disposed to regard his pretensions with cally do they portray his irresolute character, if one
jealousy and his acts with derision ? It was the did not know that, individually, M. Odilon Barrot
general opinion of France, that for the present the stands high in the esteem of the Chief Magistrate of
public interest of the nation required the mainte- I France, and that his brother, M. Ferdinand Barrot,
nand e of the authority of Louis Napoleon, and a i the private secretary of the President, is actually
gradual return to the habits of regular government. named Minister of the Interior in the neat Cabinet.
As the case stands at this moment, the late passage in I Though, however, the personnel of a generally weak
Spanish history or comedy, which we dressed up Cabinet has been just changed, and the support of
yesterday for a fancied stage, is hardly more extrava- men more ardently devoted So the President obtained,
gent than the change which Louis Napoleon has yet it may be more than doubted w hether this new
undertaken to effect. Something else must be yet in Cabinet just formed contains within itself the seeds
store for us. The mere wind of an irritated popular of stability. Of Parliamentary or administrative
Assembly would sweep away such a Cabinet as this. ability in the highest sense it contains no portion;
The languid popularity of Louis Napoleon, without for though the new Minister of Justice is known
the dignity of regality, the lustre of martial glory, to be an advocate of great celebrity at Riorn, and
or the protection of Constitutional irresposibility, not wanting fluency or force, it remains to be
would sink under the obscurity of those he calls upon proved whether he is equal to the exigencies of public
to govern France. He can no more make: them life—whether he possesses that knowledge, readiness,
statesmen than they can make him an emperor; and tact, and high courage so indespensably necessary
whilst he talks of national dignity he exhibits the in the present condition of France. M. Parien, the
Administration of France at the lowest pitch of de- new Minister of Public Works, now in the flower
gradation and incompetency. As far, then, as we of his age, is perhaps a still better and readier speaker
can venture to form any opinion on a transaction at than Rouher ; but though a person of esprit,
once so sudden in its execution and so vast •
umkness, and a graceful fluency, something more
in its consequences, it would seem that Louis than these gifts is necessary in Parliamentary and
Napoleon has made a false and dangerous move, official life. Are either M. Rouher or M. Parieu
and has entered on a course which will prove able to enter the lists with Berryer, Falloux, or
fatal to him if he pursues it. The composition of Montalembert? Are they able even to tear to tatters
the new Ministry, as far as it is at present known, the specious sophistries of M. Thiers—or to answer
would seem to denote the entire absence of an under- I those sharp, clear sentences, half-bitter, half-banter-
standing with any important section of the National I ing, in which the sarcastic ex .Minister is so prone to
Assembly, for the nature of the support it may receive • indulge ? The vigorous dialectics—the plain, sound
from the Conservative chiefs is at least problematical. sense—the stubborn self-reliance and a plomb, as well
" The hand and the will of the elected of the 10th !
as the great official and administrative talent, and the
December," are very different things from the hand i
sterling honesty and straightforwardness of M.
and the will of M. Mole and M. Thiers. In a word, j Dufaure, rendered him peculiarly valuable in any
the Constitution itself which called into existence two' Cabinet as a weapon to be used against self-seekers
supreme and independent powers, legislated for their and intriguers, yet to our great regret and sur-
mutual destruction, and whenever their natural prise M. Dufaure is not numbered among the
opposition breaks out into open hostility no issue I new Ministers, no more than his able and solid-
canbeaded friend M. Prissy. M. Ferdinand Barrot, a tenth
be found to such a contest but in some change
—perhaps a violent change—in the fundamental
or twentieth rate advocate, and a fifth-rate journal-
conditions of the State. The questicn would then ist, but ill supplies the place of so seasoned and able
eventually rest on the disposition of the army; a man as Dufaure; and as to Pansy, can his place be
said to be supplied by the Jew Foal ?
and the conduct of the military chiefs, Changarniletr
Casimir Eerier is a considerable name, indicating
The name of
or Cavaignac, might be decisive as to
confidencethe result.
energy of will, firmness of purpose, and boundless
But whilst we can look forward with no
to
to the future, and the present seems every hour self-devotion. But qualities such as these are not
back on
become more unteeable, we cannott lock always inherited, and we have yet to learn that the
mere fact of a man having served in a diplomatic ca-
slightestthe cVssolution of the late
President Administration rtaltion with the
regret. As the
parties"
observes, in
! pacity at Petersburgh, London, and the Hague,
seeking to effect "a fusion of he had only
qualifies him for a French Minister for Foreign
obtained " neutralization of force. M. Odilon
Barrot's Ministerial career was one continued rvcan-
Affairs. Against the Minister of Marine we have no
tation of all he had said and done in the course of his
ward to utter. lie may be an able and estimable man
po I l'tscal existence; and lie has expiated a life of in •
•
his own profession, but is wholly unke non as poli-
tician or administrator. As to the new Minister of
reckless opposition, which ended in the overthrow of
a Monarchy and the destruction of Government, by War, he is not we believe wholly without merit eithc r
as an officer or administrator, and he is unquestionably
a tenure of office, short indeed in comparison with his
the nephew of a very distinguished soldier, and is a
previous performances, but replete with every contra-
soldier of some note himself: But no man supposes
diction which can humiliate a statesman. M.
that he possesses the administrative and pro-
Dufaure and M. de Tocqueville, being less compro-
fessional ability of Bedeau, the probity,
mised in the Roman expedition, have not suffered in 'moral honesty, and resolute coolness of eCavaignac,
their reputations, and will, we trust, hereafter render
or the dash and showy qualities of Larnoriciere. His
further services to their country; but curiously .
name weighs more with the Fe.ubourg St. Germain
enough it seems that M. de Falloux's resignation
and the Chaussee d'Antin than with the army, an
from ill health was one of the circumstances which
though he has seen service, yet it has been in the
most powerfully contributed to the dissolution of
olden time, and under a different system, and it may
the Cabinet, for the man most trusted by the Pre-
be well doubted whether he possesses hat low par-
; tender was the most energetic Minister of the Pre- be
talent which renders Changarnier, the Mina of
sident. Amongst the more immediate consequences of

S

[PRICE op.