The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-01 00:00:00

ebentrui,

lOND.)N. WEDNESDAY:SI2.- PTEMBER 1, lig'

Extremes meet. So says the proverb, and so
thinks Louis PHILIPPE. His MAJESTY seems to be
resolved to illustrate this venerable adage at all
hazards, but whether from a superstitious deference
to the oracular wisdom of antiquity, or from an over-
weening solicitude to advance his own dynastic in-
terests, History will decide. It is quite certain, how-
ever, that the KING of the FRENCH is using ever
endeavour to render the close of his very chequered
career as troubled, if not as romantic, as its corn-

men,.tement.
31. LAMARTINE tells us, in his most eloquent his
tory of the Girondists, that when a child Louis
PHILIPPE was placed upon the knee of VOLTAIRE,
and a blessing was invoked upon his head by the
Philosopher of Infidelity. It was in a superb salon
of the Pal.sis Royale that that blessing was pro-
nounced in the hearing of EGALITE and Madame DE
GENLIS. What an audience ! what a child! what a
sage! what a hollow aspiration, crying aloud, as if in
mockery, into the abyss in which the speaker
scarcely recog.aissd a GOD Was that blessing pro-
phetical of the destiny of Lours PHILIPPE ?
Have the words of VOLTAIRE been his wgis or his
curse ? Posterity will explain the enigmas of tht
Present; and no more bewildering enigma will it
have to unravel than that of the life and principles oi
the present Sovereign of the French. Nursed in the
bosom of republicanism, cradled upon the lap of a
revolutionary philosophy, he has, in bis old age, in-
sulted the Ge thus of Liberty—in his dotage he has
revived the spirit of Absolutism in those very halls
of the Tuileries where the Pnrygian cap was first
worn by a Bourbon Prince, and from the balconies o,
which he himself once sung with his people the sub
lime hymn t the Marseillaise. Does not his hear.
thrill with fear or compunction when he calls to mint,
that noble poetry of ROUGET DE LISLE ?
" Q ue veut cette horde d'esclaves,
Die truitres,de roi.e conjures?
Pour qui ces ignobles entraves
Ces fers des longtemps prepares ?
.Francais, pour V 011.9 alt ! quel outrage,
Quel transports it doit exciter !
(jest vous qu'on ose mediter
De rendre a l'antique esclavage."
If there is any discernment among 35,000,000 01
souls, some, at least, of the French population will havE
discerned the re-fulfilment of this picture in these
our days—they will have perceived that " lee complices
de Bougie" might with perfect accuracy be nov
rendered " lee comPlices de Guizot." Are we exag-
gerating the odioss machinations of the Cabinet ca
Paris? Look at Switzerland, where religious differ-
ences have been fomented into a phrenzy perilous I.
to the political independence of the cantons!
Look at Italy, where French intrigue has en-
hanced the difficulties in the way of the emancipa-
tion and regeneration of its inhabitants ! Look as
Greece, where a new-born constitution has beet
• plunged into premature decrepitude, through tht
insidious friendship of a French plenipotentiary !
Look at Portugal, where the rights of a free people
have been trifled with, for the furtherance of tht
malign policy of Gurzor and his colleagues ! Above
all, look -at Spain, where the heart and hand of
Princess scarcely emerged from her childhood, have
been 'auckstered with as little regard to decency as an
African maiden in the slave market or a courtezan
the mall!
ISABELLA. is goaded on to her abdication. She
must choose between a continuance of her present un-
happiness or a resignation of her present cares,
between the pleasures of retirement and the retention
of an irksome diadem. There is no other alternative.
Yes! there is one, but it cannot originate from her-
self ; it can arise only within the walls of the Vatican.
-Pius the NINTU has the sword in his hand which,
with a single blow, would cut this Gordian knot in
twain—a divorce. Let his HOLINESS wield this
weapon with promptitude and decision, and he him•
self will have no reason to unfurl the labarum and
march against the Austrians.
Should the schemes of M. GUIZOT and his Royal
Master prove successful in the Peninsula, in as far as
the abdication of Queen 'Luanne. is concerned, we
dare not anticipate the consequences. The Spaniard'
are, no doubt, a degenerate race; they are not
animated by that heroic spirit of patriotism which
fired the bosoms of their ancestors in the days of
chivalry and the first ISABELLA. Nevertheless they
mus
t :ot be tried too severely. The Duchess DE
/*EIMER will never be allowed to reign as the
puppet of King Lows PHILIPPE without the most
terrible imeutes ensuing. If the Spanish
and citizens were not awed into quiescence by peasantry
t h
imperial puissance of NAPOLEON, squru'eletbnofey cannot
be expected to cringe before the throne
n
pigmy in comparison, or to lick the due whost
is a at
the footstool of a faithless Orleans!
The drama of events is, however, approaching
its denouement. Another thrilling incident is pre-
paring for the Prince of Feuillstonists and the
Marquis de la Pailletere —M. ALEXANDRE
DUMAS. The last scene has commenced with an
ominous circumstance—the return of NARVAEz to
Madrid. There can be no doubt but that this is the pre-
lude to a catastrophe in accordance with the atrocious
plots of the Tuileries. Her Most Catholic MAJESTY
rand be prepared for the most appalling emergency
that has yet transpired. She must be prepared
either to sacrifice for the time being her own indi-
nal comfort, or to sacrifice for an indefinite period
the
peace and happiness of her subjects_either to
retain the sceptre in spite ofherow n domestic miseries,
and in defiance of the wishes
of
or to deliver her people over to the
woes
sisand i
dangers
of a revolution. The cup which l reservedl for herE.
nOntAifitelkone, but let her drink—and
fctohne -r
rtt will strengthen her against further
1:47(1:pr.
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