The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-01 00:00:00

THURSDAY EVENING, JULY is 164 Y

without actual criminality on their part. These
claims have gradually been recognised, and a greatly
improved spirit is observable in the manner in which
the wants, the interests, and the wishes of the less
wealthy classes, of the hard-working artizans, by
whom the national wealth is created, are now dealt
with in the Legislature. The statements made by
their advocates are no longer sneered at and disre•
garded; they at least command the respect-
ful attention of the House, and although the
remedies may for awhile be withheld, they are
certain ultimately to be adopted. The Government
have evinced an anxiety to do justice to the people;
true it is, that an occasional stimulant must be ad-
ministered, their attention must be directed to the
grievance, and the manner in which it may success-
fully be encountered ; and, this can only be done by
the energy and zeal of private Members who, actuated
by the noblest ambition, desire to ameliorate the con-
dition of their fellow-men, and devote their labours
and anxious care to the subjects demanding reform.
The urgent and pressing demands upon the Ministerial
time prevent the leading members of the Cabinet
from originating investigations, and searching out
abuses which are not prominent and notorious. A
prima facie case must be made out in the first instance.
The public gratitude will be due to the ioinisters
who may bring to a successful termination the re-
quired measures of reform, but it will be due in a
still higher degree to the individual member by whose
perseverance and assiduity they have been forced
upon, and led to the consideration of the sub-
ject. In this respect the Hon. Member for
Finsbury has indeed deserved well of the
country. He has been indefatigable in the
exposure of abuses, and his statements, although per-
haps controverted when first brought forward, have
subsequently had their accuracy and justice admitted
.and acted upon. The Home Secretary, in the pre-
sent instance, has undertaken that the serious consi-
deration of the Government shall be given to the sub-
ject during the recess. He has expressed a hope that
they will receive much valuable assistance from the
laboursgentleman of
wAillr. l
; doubtless,i co
Ibe—ssismaost "hapPlywtohicaffilortbd—"
and he has expressed their readiness, if practicable,
to propose a satisfactory measure on the subject
during the course of next session. Under these cir-
cumstances Mr. DUNCOMBE could not do otherwise
,han consent to the present withdrawal of the measure,
n order to secure its ultimate and certain success.

Madrid papers of the 24th ult. have arrived.
The Infante Don FRANCISCO DI PAULO, the father of
the King Consort and the uncle of the QUEEN, was
summoned before the Cabinet on the 23d; and accused
of being a member of several treasonable societies,
among others of the " Carbonari," of the " Com-
munists," and of " the Avengers of Alibaud." The
objects of these societies are to destroy the monarchy
and to introduce a republic. Don FRANCISCO de-
clared that he was ignorant of the designs of the
members of these societies, and promised to cease to
have any intercourse with them for the future. All
was quiet in the Basque provinces, The QUEEN had
gained much popularity by pardoning three Carlists
who had been sentenced to death at Lerida.
The Bolsa was closed on the 24th in honour of the
feast of St. John.

We have received the Paris papers of Tuesday.
Every day brings to light some fresh instance of
corruption on the part of the French Conservative
Ministry, and these charges are made and proved, not
. .

by their political opponents, but the members of their
own party—by men who are to the full as corrupt as
those whom they charge with corruption. Who be-

lieves in the immaculate incorruptibility of such men
as M. EMILE DE GIE.AEDIN ? The letter read from
the tribune by M. GUIZOT, in the debate of the 18th
of June, as effectually settled the question of M.
EMILE DE GIRARDIN'S honesty as it did that of M.

GUIZOT'S honour. Nevertheless M. EMILE DE
GIRARDIN continues his edifying revelations, and
those revelations continue to gain credence
because, from the known character of all

parties concerned, it is considered much more
probable that they should be true than otherwise
It will be remembered that M. DUCUATEL acoused
M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN of railway jobbing, and the
proprietor of La Presse admitted the soft impeach-
ment. He held certain shares, but he had paid for
them, and hp started 1-krr n h, M.
DUCRATEL waxed wrath, and denounced as a ca-
lumny the accusation that any Cabinet Minister had
jobbed in railway shares—" Such a Minister would
be infamous." In the Presse of Monday, M. EMILE
DE GIRARDIN shows that the firm Of CUNIN GRIDAINE
and Sons had received .500 shares in a cer-;
thin railroad company, M. CUNIN GRIDAINE
being at that time Minister of Commerce,
of the Soult-Guizot Government. In the Moniteur

Parisien of Monday night appears a letter from M.
CUSIN GRIDAINE, stating that he had withdrawn
from the general business of his mercantile house at
Sedan as early as 1834, reserving to himself only a
share in the manufacture of cloth, and that he was a
stranger to the other transactions of the house. This
explanation is regarded as anything but satisfactory.
The Presse says very justly—

" M. Cunin Gridaine may have abandoned since 1831
the direction of his old commercial house ; but that does
not do away with this fact, that the signature to which
allusion has been made was presented to the Minister of
Public Works in these terms—Cunin Gridaine, pere
et fill."

The National thus comments on this very sus
picious proceeding :
"It will be remembered that the other day M. Du
chatel exclaimed in indignant accents, that a Minister
who should have taken shares in a railway, the Northern
or any other, would have committed a shameful action !'
An infamous action !' forcibly added M. Guizot, where-
upon the whole Chamber applauded, and 31. Dumon
gave very visible signs of cordial approbation. 'rho
Presse reproduced yesterday the text of the Moniteur, in
which this scene is described, and it added :--` Whit
would the Minister of the Interior say, if one were to
show him the name of one of his colleagues inscribed for
500 definitive shares (20 coupons of 25 shares, Nos.
6,301 to 6,320) on the register of one of the companies
admitted to the concession of the Northern railway,
as settled the 22d August, 1845. This does not concern
one of the dismissed Ministers.' The accusation this time
is precise; the number of shares subscribed, their re-
spective numbers, the period of the 'subscription, all is
set forth very clearly. 'W ho is the Minister not dismissed
who has committed the shameful action—the infamous
action ? The Moniteur Parisien of last evening informs
us officially. The note it publishes is as follows:—' The
journal the Presse insinuates this morning (insinuates is
charming) that a Minister is inscribed for 500 definitive
shares on the register of subscriptions of a company
admitted to the concession of a railway. If this journal
intended to allude to the subscription of the house of
Cunin Gridaine, pere et fils, of Sedan, we are authorised
to declare that M. Cunin Gridaine, Minister of Agricul-
ture and Commerce, is a complete stranger to this
subscription. Since 1834 he has abandoned the
direction of his old house of business, which has
since belonged to his two sons. He has only
preserved an interest of small importance in
the affairs relative to the manufacture of cloth,
and he has no interest whatever in any of the operations
not connected with the manufacture of cloth. The de-
claration made with honest energy by the Minister of
the Interior, in the sitting of the 25th, remains therefore
in all its force.' Undoubtedly this declaration is not
annulled; but though we read and re-read the authorised
note, we do not see in what respect it destroys the
accusation of the Presse ; it seems to us, on the contrary,
that this note confirms it from point to point. To whom
do the 500 definitive shares belong? Evidently the pro.
perty is determined by the name they bear. 'What is
that name? Cunin Gridaine, pere et fill, of Sedan. Is
M. Cunin Gridaine pere the same as the Minister of
Agriculture? There is no doubt in that respect. It is
therefore to Messrs. Cunin Gridaine, pere et fits, that
the shares subscribed for belong. By whom is
the operation made ? By the house in which
the Minister retains an interest : it is to the firm
Cunin Gridaine, pere et fits, that the shares are
accorded. If, by chance, they were not paid for,
Cunin Gridaine pere would be as much responsible as
Cunin Gridaine fits. And if the Minister were, as he
says, an entire stranger to this operation, the shares
ought to have been subscribed for by M. Cunin Gridaine
fits, without reference to the house, and under another
name than that of the firm. Whether the Minister de-
sires it or not, he is bound—legally bound—by the sub
scription ; the shares belong to him in proportion to the
interest which he has retained in the house. His own
name, Cunin Gridaine, pere,.figures as that of one of the
proprietors of those shares. Such is the commercial
side of the affair. And now look at the date of the
ci
inventory ny tl'arrys drawnjne
subscription—it was the 22d of August, 1845, that the
very
u ry
di
fftehrau that registertw was settled. There are, therefore, at least
e
uthpeinshtahreeshwouesree
edfemcaunudinedor Gridaine,ae..
years
sdw
without
the Alinister of Commerce been two
engaged
i inuta knowing
fnascatultioiniatso
pere et fits? tins he been • therethe
manufac-
ture o
t
?rant that this house was
of cloth? Is it possible
suppose that? And
if he knew it, how has h
to
he allowed his name, Cunin
Gridaine, pere, to figure as that of a person interested
in a railway? How is it that he has not applied the
theory of M. Duchlitel? Another reflection will cer•
tainly occur to every mind. The unbridled competition
of the persons who solicited shares will be remembered;