The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-02 00:00:00

E SYMP

FRANCE.

WARLI

The following are some of the statements made by
the Correspondent of a Morning Paper relative to
militia feeling in the south of France. We are in-
ane(' to think the warlike symptoms are much exag-
gerated :
You are aware that Perpignan is the capital town o
the 21st military division, which includes within its
circle the departments of the Eastern Pyrenees, of the
Aude, and of the Arriege. The ancient fortifications
of the place were augmented by Vauban, and the citadel
commenced under Charles IX. defends the town. The
ramparts, which are of brick, are lofty and flanked
with bastions, raveling, cannon-proof parapets, and a
deep fosse. The Place d'Arnzes forms an immense
square, the left side of which is composed of very
handsome barracks.
This department is now garrisoned by four regiments
of infantry, of three battalions each—namely, the 13th
and 47th Infantry of the Line, and the lath and 16th
Light Infantry. There arc, besides, the Ist and 16th
Regiments of Chasseurs and an establishment of the ar-
tillery attached to Perpignan, Pratz de Mello, Belle-
garde, Mont Louis Coliiure, Port Vendres, Fort des
Bains, Villefranche, and Salces, all in the department
of the Eastern Pyrenees. The whole Effective force of
the army now spread over this department alone is
little short of 12,000 men. The Lieutenant-General
commanding is the Count de Castellene. The troops
are for the most part in good order, and have been for
the last four months incessantly exercised ; but the offi-
cers complain much, that notwithstanding the frais de
representation allowed to General Castellene, few or
any of them are invited to his inhospitable boord.
This produces a want of cordial social feel-
ing between the parties ; but if any emer-
gency were to arise requiring the co-operation of
the superior and subordinate officers, it would not in
tiro least interfere with the exigencies of the service.
I allude to this circumstance because an opinion pre-
vails in Eng4ind that there is not that good feeling and
intimate social union between the officers of the French
army which prevails in England. This is, I think, in
some degree a mistake. There certainly is not that
tone of quiet gentlemanly feeling among the officers of
the line in France which obtains in our own country,
(for ttia Freirch officers in ais branch of the service
are neither so well born, nor so well bred, as in Dig-
land,) but the mere fact of the officers not messing to-
gether in common, as in England, but according to
rank, operates not in any degree to produce cold-
ness, reserve, or absence of intercommunication. To
any one acquahited with the constitution and the pay
of the French army a general mess of all the officers
together would appear ilipossibie. The temper ant.
frame of mind of soldiers and citiz ns at Perpignan are
decidedly warlike. Much allowance must be undoubt-
edly made for the vehement and vivacious temperaments
of the people of the south, and I am not disposed to
visit occasional ebullitions of wounded vanity too se-
verely ; but it seems to me, with every disposition to
make allowances for heated and exacerbated feeling, that
the settled purpose of this people is to insult and wound
us by every means possible. In the affair of mere
external winners and conventional delicacy the French-
man of the present day, if he be not a Carlist and
bred up in the traditions of a bygone school, is behind
the most savage people in or out of Europe. Delicacy
of sentiment, respect for the feelings of others, he has
none. Though it were easy for me on any occasion to
pass in any part of France as a Frenchman, though the
language of conversation is as familiar to me as my own,
and the language of style still more familiar, yet I have
never attempted to conceal that I am in heart and
soul a thorough Englishman. One would think that
under these circumstances, prokssing, at the same
time, to like the language, literature, and social system
of France, and desirous of pleasing and being pleased,
I might be permitted to pass through the south without
offensive remark ; but no—far, very far, from it.
Though I have never in French society breathed a
word against France or Frenchmen, I have been more
than twice, between Carcassonne and Perpignan, ab-
ruptly addrtss:d in the following fashion :
" Nous allons bientot vous voir a Londres. Nous
allons bruler la Tour de Londres.
" Messieurs, Jo ne doute nullement de votre bonne
volante I Je ne desire mieux qua vous venessiez nous
voir la bas. Eh, mon Dieu! vous aye: etc si bier
rcuisi depuis Crecy. jusq' Waterloo, que vous devez
bientot vous autres prendre encore l'initiatif."
This is the universal pitch-plaister which straight-
way silences those boasting braggarts, on whom soft
speeches would be thrown away. But, though silenced
for a season, they are neither tranquil nor resigned ;
on the contrary, the memory of defeat maddens and
galls them, and, as far as my observation extends, 1
think they will never rest quiet till they have an oppor-
tunity of wiping out from the public law of Europe
what they call the accursed treaties of 1815. On
this subject, as on the frontiers of the Rhine, all
Frenchmen are unanimous. The Carlist, the Bona-
partist, and the Repuhlican meet here on a common
ground. Nay, in secret conclave, the Louis Philippist
professes his sympathy and confidence, but prudential
copsiderations induce him to hold his tongue and" bide
his time." Judge, therefore, for yourself whether these
are elements of peace, and whether in such a season
and in such a Laver of the public mind a spark
emitted may not produce an universal conflagration.
I: is not for inn te speculate, much less to prophesy,
but, notwithstanding a temporary lull, it str;kes me that
the chances of a prolonged peace are every day dimi-
nishing. All the activity and energy, all the young and
vigorous Wood of France, vehemently longs for war.
Toe monied interests, the bankers, the capitalists, and
some of the Icrge shopkeepers, desire peace, but the
great mass of the proprietors are neutral, and look on
with calm indifference, for " le sol (according to the ex-
pression of Napoleon) lie tremble pas." Many there
are, no doubt, among this class, who look to war for
the realization of their hopes of a return of the old
dynasty—some, but very few, for a restoration of the
Imperial sway ; but, I repeat, the great mass, with a few
exceptions, is indifferent, while the schools, the uni-
versities, the clerks, the workmen, and 30,000 sous-1
ryfleiers, forming the bone and sinew of the army, the
stuff, in a word, of which future Hoches, Neys,
and Murats will be made, are one and all for prompt
and immediate war. For the present month, or the

„ - teat three months, or even year, these turbulent spirits
may be kept under ; but I tell you, in their own lan-

guage, ravenir est a eu.v, and that the man, or the dy-
nasty who seeks to curb them, will ultimately fail in
the attempt. These men are impelled by two of the
strongest passions—selfishness, and a sense of wrong,
however imaginary and unfounded. Uniting to the
suggestions of a calculating self-interest the ferocity of
the military spirit, and the hoarded venom Dia "lodged
hate," all the stronger for being repressed for a season,
they long for the moment when the lust of rapine and
the thirst for revenge may be simultaneously gratified.
This, you will say, is but a gloomy picture ; but what
I have observed for the last four months affords me

proof that the colours are not overcharged.

Sir Robert Peel is reported to have written a
very strong letter to his brother-in-law, the Right Hon.
Robert George Dawson, whom you no doubt remember
as his Chief Secretary of Admiralty during his short
occupation of the Treasury in the latter days of the
good King William, Sir Robert is alleged to have
"scolded" this Mr. Dawson for letting the cat on•. of
the bag at the Ultra-Orange meeting on Fr: •
in Belfast; on which occasion "my ..ray last,
in-law" threatened the Irish Papists—•*nat
R'ght 'don brother..is,eight out o the nine millions of the people of Ireland, with " making every river in that country a P ne " ifitrhiey
dare
fnot quiet.
..far against This declaration of civil
ernbaraesed Peel Ireland—for
is it tantamount—has
uoerht to that
e
. Dawson is a hot.headedyunmealeulaere.
The truth is, Mr.
Irishman, and -,emarkable more for zeal than discretion.mg
As great a. fool on the other side, Mr. Charles O'Connell,
one of '.ne small party who accompanied his great name-
mks en his Belfast visit the other day, when he gets on
ots own repeal ground in Dublin, threatens to meet and
44 lick" (as the phrase in such cases is) all the Orange-
men of Ireland in the Curragh of Kildare, with a handful
of the Tipperary boys alone, And these are the people on
both sides to be allowed to govern themselves I—Corre-
spondent of the Hampshire Telegraph.
FREE 'TRADE.—Society has cut away, one
sifter another, all its imaginary safeguards, and has row
tothirsg left but Free Trade. Free Trade is our last
sheet anchor, which we must put our trust in or go to
pi2cea. If the condition of the lower classes be not
rendered more co4rfortable than it is at present by means
of Free Trade, a great democratic struggle may ulti-
suitely come ; in which, after the loss of millions of
lives, it will be admitted as a great truth fogp evermore
that " Property has its duties as well as its rights,"
which are not perfectly fulfilled by yielding to human
beings, reduced to mere money-making machines, a pit.
'anes on which they cannot by any possibility exist. Capi-
tal, in return for the security which society guarantees to
ti, owes more to Society than this. The moral and phy-
sical condition of the masses cannot be so totally overlooked
as it has hitherto been without the greatest risks. Quid
Lege.. sine Moribus? What are laws without morals ?
Se long as riches are the only deity that we worship, we
fear that the masses must c3ntinue to be the slaves of the
capitalists were the constituency of the kingdom ten thou.
land or ten millions. —Merlin.
THE SULTAN AND THE QUEEN,--The young
Sultan Abdul Medjid has addressed a " letter of fe-
licitation" to her Majesty the Queen, on the occasion of
the birth of the Princess Royal. The letter is about
three feet in length by four or five inches. in width. It is
written in very beautiful characters, small, but extremely
distinct, and evidently done with great care. In the mar.
gin is the autograph of the Sultan, with an enumeration
of all the titles of " the Most High and very Powerful
Seigneur" which have appertained to his Highness's pre-
decessors from time immemorial. The paper is of fine
quality, resembling hut superior to vellum, and with a fine
enamel on its surface. The letter was enclosed in an en.
%elope, and sealed with the armorial bearings of the Sul-
tan. The whole was enclosed in a rich sachet (or small
bag, similar to a lady's reticule) of crimson satin, elabo-
rately embroidered with silk and gold, and to which were
attached a cord and tassel of bullion of the mort recherche
manufacture.

Another Member of the National Convention,
M. Bouchereau, died on the 26th ult., at Chattny, in the
85th year of his age.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
The letter from Gainsborough, Yorkshire, has been re-
ceived. Our Correspondent is partly right and partly
wrong, for the Chilian affair has been attended to,
though it may have escaped his notice.