The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-11 00:00:00

PRI I)A

affected we hare reached the acme of perfection, 'a
ne plus ultra beyond which we must not progress.
Other countries that had formerly lagged behind may
overtake and pass us in the race. They may drive
us from the different markets which it would other-
wise be our business to supply, and all that we can
console ourselves with is, that our Excise laws,
the necessity of raising large sums to defray
claims which should never have fallen upon us,
demands the sacrifice. Cases of hardship
arc met in the Legislature with assurances
that they cannot be remedied, because the Excise
authorities say the rules cannot be dispensed with.
How long will Englishmen be satisfied with such
flimsy pretexts, how long will they be satisfied to
surrender their national liberties, to give up the na-
tional prosperity that would await a sounder and
better system for such a cause ? The entire taxation
of the country must speedily be revised. • The repre-
sentatives cf the people must consider the question
in the very beginning of the next session. And it
will be the imperative duty of every elector to under-
stand the views of the claimants for his suffrage on
this most important question before he decides on
the manner in which he will exercise his greatest
privilege—the franchise.

We learn from Geneva that the new Council of
State of that canton has chosen M. FAZY for its Presi-
dent, and M. MOULINIE as Vice-President. M. FAZY,
it will be remembered, was the chief author of the late
revolution, and President of the Provisional Govern-
ment, but he is said, by the moderation of his conduct
in office, to have given great satisfaction to some of
the leaders of the Conservative party.

The Madrid Gazette, the only paper published in
that city on the 4th (the festival of Corpus Christi),
has arrived. Its contents are unimportant. The
'KING and all his officers had attended the procession
of Corpus Christi at the Prado.

We have received the Paris papers of Wednesday.
The intervention in Portugal, and the threatened
intervention in Spain, are subjects of comment in
almost all of them. On the subject of Portugal the
National says—

" England and France, abjuring in the face of the world
their tralti,ns and their principles, have united to consum-
mate this unpardonable attentat. Let the English call their
Ministers to account for it ; as for us, we have only one word
to say. Either our Cabinet has committed the most unjus-
tifiable and disgrac(ful act, or, consistent to the end, the
Government created by the Revolution of July has only to
sign its abdication. The cause of right has just fallen ; but
it carries with it in its ruins all the facts which triumphed in
London, in Paris, and in Madrid, in virtue of the principle
disregarded and betrayed at Oporto. There is no longer a
reason for the existence of governments founded on insurrec-
tion. The intervention in Portugal is their suicide."

The Constitutionnel has the following on the sub
led of the Swiss correspondence :

" The attitude assumed by M. de Bois-le-Comte toward•
the President of the Directory is almost hostile. Without
speaking of the impropriety of bringing forward again, with
a tone of menace unprovoked by any particular act, the
question of the Free Corps, a question which is in a measure
personal as it regards M. Ochsenbein, it is seen that M. de
Bois-le Comte, through the whole course of his note, evinces
an unwarranted and offensive disdain of the independence of
Switzerland. There is much to be said on the extent of the
right which the people possess to do themselves justice. But
whatever sympathy the Ministry may have with absolutism
and legitimacy in general, it forgets too much both in Swit-
zerland and Portugal that there is danger in being of the
same opinion with Austria on such a subject. As to the
question of cantonal sovereignty entered upon by M. de
Bois-le-Comte, giving to his advice the complexion of me-
nace, it is easy to see that the reserve made by the French
Ambassador of an ulterior examination is a mere formality.
It is a question already decided. M. Guizot, eager to gratify
absolute Governments, says clearly by his agent that he will
adopt the sentiments of Austria. Ho contents in Switzer-
land against the liberal principle out of which the dynasty
of July arose; he wishes to impos•: upon Switzerland the
Jesuits driven out of France; he will oppose with all his
strength, in the interest of Austria, the exercise by the
Helvetic Government of any energetic measures in any
part of the Republic ; he would keep up that division
between the Cantons which would open, in case of need, a
free passage into the country of the enemies of France.
The answer of M. Ochsenhein is firm and dignified. The
President makes a distinction between acts whieh are
personal to himself and those for which 112 has to be
responsible as one of the principal chiefs of the State. He
thus gives a lesson of propriety to our Ambassador. The re-
solution with which he announces his determination to de-
fend the independence of his country is the only answer he
could consistently give to the offensive language of a Govern-
ment as violent towards the beak, as it is humble towards
the strong."

The Presse states that the health of M. DUCHATEL,
the Minister of the Interior, is much improved, and
that he h expected to return to Paris on Monday cr
Tuesday next.

An address of the " Central Committee of the Con
stitutional Opposition " to its correspondents, signe(
by Messrs. ODILON BARROT, DIIVERGIER DE HAU
RANNE, GUSTAVE DE BEAUMONT, LEON DE MALE
VILLE, and CHAMBERON, has just been published. I

commences by stating, that in the month of August
last the Government obtained—by means known to
all—and by promises since violated, a considerable
majority from the electoral body, which for the first
time since 1834 appeared to prove that the Opposition
‘vas considered in the wrong; but that instead of im-
mortalising the Conservative policy by making use of
that majority to secure to the country all the progress
and all the good that it needs, the Ministry and the
Chamber have from the first appeared stricken with im-
puissance, and have not brought forward during the
session any useful, fruitful, really national, or liberal
measure, but have opposed an obstinate and systema-
tic resistance to all political, financial, and adininis.
trative reforms ; have passively abandoned the in-
fluence of France, even where, by a family alliance,
they had pretended to make it solid and durable ;
caused ever increasing disorder in the finances, and a
deficiency of 500,000,000 r., respecting the supply of
which they do not occupy themselves, and allowed
the most deplorable neglect and the most shameful
peculation in all the administrations ; and, finally,
public scandals have come one on the other to cause
sadness and alarm in the minds of all honest people.
The Committee says that it believes that nothing of
the kind has been seen since representative govern-
ment has existed, and that never did any Chamber
separate as the present one is about to do, without giving
the slightest satisfaction to any opinion or interest.
All this, continues the Committee, has led to dis-
cussions and dissatisfaction, even in the midst of the
majority, and has caused a Ministerial crisis, which,
in truth, still continues. The Opposition, on its part,
has, adds the Committee, not been discouraged, and
has not failed in any of its duties. It has signalised
the faults and vices of the present policy both at home
and abroad ; it has brought forward a proposition of
electoral reform as a completion of that on Parlia-
mentary reform ; it has endeavoured to re-establish
impartiality in the composition of the lists of the
jury, and to restore to it the attributions of which it
is unjustly deprived; and it has proposed economical
and financial reforms calculated to render taxation
more equal and more just. The Committee then
says, that it is happy to announce that it is the
intention of the Opposition to persevere in the
same spirit. But, as the Ministerial party recruits
itself in the dark by the daily distribution of places,
dignities, subventions, patronage and favours of all
kinds, the Opposition requires to be firmly and in-
ceisantly supported by public opinion, in order to
live, grow, and triumph. In France, where the
customs of a free country are not yet firmly planted,
many persons, it says, believe that the citizens have
nothing else to do between one election and another
than to act as spectators of the debates in Parliament
and of the events that occur. But that is a false
idea, dangerous to representative institutions. Con-
stant communication should be kept up between
the deputy and the electors, the latter should form
and express their opinion on every measure, and a
lively sentiment of great national interests should
always be maintained. The Committee says that it
does not pretend to point out the way in which this
should be accomplished, as it depends on local and
personal circumstances ; but it strongly recommends
that a committee shall be formed in every arrondisse
ment to watch over the electoral lists, and to cause
to be inserted names unjustly omitted, and to strike
out those wrongfully inserted. The necessary in-
formation should b 3 immediately collected, so as to
be brought to bear on the next lists, especially as
from the state of the Chamber, the i‘linistry, and the
country, it is not improbable that new elections may
take place at the beginning of next year. The Com-
mittee concludes by an earnest exhortation to the
Opposition to be united, zealous, and enterprising, to
have its eye constantly fixed on the example of 1827,
and, in case it does so, it says that it will not fail to
be eventually successful.
The Committee of the Chamber of Deputies
charged to examine the Bill which authorises the
city of Paris to raise a loan of 25,000,000 f., have
declared in favour of the project by a majority of one
vote. M. ARAGO, the reporter, will present his re-
port in the course of a few days.