The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-20 00:00:00

kr Wiling

LONDON. MONDAY. MARCH 20, 1848

This evening is the anniversary of the death—
the premature and suspicious death—of the son of
NAPOLEON. Born as no other mortal was ever born,
either before or since, a KING—a KING too, like
TARQUIN, of the eternal city, Rome—proclaimed an
Emperor during 1815 in the crisis of a grand poli-
tical catastrophe —an exile amidst the imperial
splendours of Schoenbrunn : living in a perpetual
antithesis of circumstance in the gloom and the glory
of his name, in the depths of misfortune and on the
Pinnacle of prosperity—the Duc DE REIC lISTA DT
existed in an accidental agony of events, and perished
as the expiation of greatness.
Since the period of his dissolution—what occur-
rences have illustrated the history of France !—what
strides, liberty has made from Paris throughout
Vsit:dt:etinent what a diffusion:of liberal ideas there
-&-#5434:en radiating from the Place de la Bastille to
the fa:rt/I, rmost extremities of Christendom ! To
• e facts which have transpired within the
~dzties,bf France in the compass of a paragraph,
:iikira,:say that Royalty has sacrificed the last 4

„ ~~

aegis of its authority, the aegis of the popular
affections, and that it has sacrificed this through the
pride, the cupidity, and the duplicity of a single
man ; we should say that the sins of a Revolutionary
dynasty—the younger dynasty of the Bourbons—
have suffused with the same dismal hue the
rather incongrous deeds of its representatives, the
diseased demagoguism of Egalite, and the depraved
despotism of his son, the diabolical cruelty of the one
Due D'ORLEANS in the vote against Louis XVI.,
and the equally diabolical, because more deliberate,
hypocrisy of the other, in appropriating to himself
the crown of his kinsman, and driving CuAithes X.
from the Tuileries to establish in that same place a
more stringent, a more formidable, and a more
dangerous, because a more subtle and a more
concealed system of Absolute Government.
To-day is the anniversary of the death
of NAPOLEON'S son, and to-day France
is a Republic—a Republic one and indivisible—a
Republic not established by the bourgeoisie, but by
the ouvriers,—a Republic established not by a Re-
volution of Terror and Bloodshed, but by one of
Reason and Magnanimity—the consummation of the
preceding victories of the people—the final triumph
of Democracy, and the permanent assertion of the three
great dogmas of civilization, the dogmas of Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity.
`What was commenced on the 23d of February
was completed on the 17th of March. The
people have proved victorious—with moderation,
without slaughter, without terrorism, without
the sacrifice of the glory of the three days
of 1848, they have proved victorious over
every obstacle. They have by their wisdom, their
calmness, and their unanimity, rendered this not a
revolution of a class, but of an entire race. Ever
since the flight of Royalty through Neuilly, the ex-
pulsion of the Count DE PARIS from the Chambre
des Deputes, and the installation of a Provisional
Republic in the Hotel de Ville, the people have
been accumulating authority in their own
hands. " This time," said they, "we will make
sure this time we will not be deceived."
Hence it is that the revolutionary outbreak of 1848
has thrust power not into the hands of the bourgeoisie
but of the ouvriers. The workers are the masters of
France as well as the employers, the men in blouses
as well as the more decently clad civilians, the men
whose palms are hardened by the pressure of the
spade and mattock as well as those which are softened
by the delicacy of idleness. The members of the
Provisional Administration recognised the ne-
cessity of all this they saw that the rapid
development of real democratic power was
essential to the age, to Paris, and to the Revolution,
and for this reason they caused acts in extension
of the national prineiple of Equality to follow one
another with the utmost possible celerity, with such
a celerity, at least, as was consistent with the dignity
of republican legislation. With this intention the
National Guard was increased by the addition of
twenty battalions of volunteers—clothed, not with
the customary uniform, but with the loose blouse,
indicative of their industrial avocations. Out
of the same feeling originated that decree
of the Provisional Government breaking up
the Grenadiers and Light Infantry companies—
placing them, indeed, upon a similar footing with the
main body, by which arrangement their aristocratic
tendencies would be effectually nullified. Thirteen
thousand men of these aggrieved companies marched
(unarmed), it will Ise remembered, to the Hotel de
Ville on Thursday—sent a deputation to the Pro-
visional Ministers demanding the withdrawal of this
unpalateable but strictly democratic decree—re-
ceived by way of reply the declaration that the
Government were resolved to stand by their ori-
ginal.determinatien under all circumstances, and
declared in a momentary paroxysm of rage that cn
the following day the Compagnies d'Elite would re-
assemble with arms in their hands, and compel the
Administration to retract. Such a retraction would
have been a retrograde step on the part of the Revo-
lution—it would have been the transference of a
portion of the newly acquired sovereignty from the
people themselves back to the bourgeoisie. The
People perceived this. There was no time for
hesitation. It will be remembered that during
one night of February barricades were
erected in all parts of the capital, every
class uniting in the work of patriotism. A similar
enthusiasm animated the populace on the night of the
16th of March. The Clubs communicated with
each other, and before noon on the 17th seventy
thousand Parisians debouched from all quarters
of the metropolis into the Place of the Hotel de
Ville. A deputation proceeded to the Provisional
Government, requiring from the Ministers-1. The
removal of the troops of the line-2. The postpone-
ment to the sth of April the election of the officers
of the National Guard; and 3. The postponement
to the 31st of May the elections for the Na-
tional Assembly. In the presence of this vast
multitude, the Provisional Ministers reasoned with
the deputation, and M. Ds LAMARTINS, for himself
and for his colleagues, declared his determination to
act in a spirit of profound allegiance to the cause of
freedom and the Republic, but at the same time re
fused to allow any concession whatever to be extorted
by the awe inspired by these gigantic demonstrations
of armed citizens. Shall it be said after this that
the Republican Ministers are without moral or
physical bravery ? Was not M. Louis BLANC
sustained with a true civic daring when he rejected
the arguments of the deputation from a mob of
seventy thousand men ? Was not M. ALPHONSE DE
LAMARTINE inspired with the Genius of Courage, of
Eloquence, of Statesmanship, and of Exalted He-
roism when he peremptorily refused the wishes of
these seventy thousand men ? and yet, doing so, he,
an unarmed civilian, without a rampart of guards to
protect him, with only his oratory as his breast-
plate, poured into their ears those words of
fire, with which he can so readily inflame
the imaginations of men, and sent them homewards
with acclamations, and with a renewed confidence in
the abilities of the Provisional Government.

Meanwhile, the Compagnies d'Elite endeavoured
to proceed in an armed mass towards the Hall of
Legislation, but found their way obstructed by the
vastness of the assembled concourse. Here occurred
the last and most memorable of the victories of de-
mocracy. Not a blow was struck, not a sword
was drawn, not a gun was fired, but the
insolence of these arrogant divisions of the National
Guard bowed down before the calm and awful majesty
of the people. The Compagnies d'Elite dispersed. By
this occurrence the Revolution has been completed—
the Republic has been securely rooted in France—
and the Provisional Government has acquired an ac-
cession of popularity—a popularity which must
henceforth defy opposition.

At the Stafford Assizes last week, three persons
were placed upon their trial, charged upon the
Coroner's inquisition with the crime of manslaughter.
The grand jury had previously ignored the bill that had
been preferred against the same parties for the alleged
homicide—the verdict of the coroner's jury, however,
required that an investigation should take place before
the Court itself. No counsel appeared either for the
prosecution or defence, and the presiding Judge, Mr.
JusticeCßESS WELL, stated that he had looked into the
depositions,
and found that there was no case whatever
against the prisoners, and it is said " that he severely
censured the coroner for putting the county to expense
b y sending such cases for trial." Nothing, however,
was said as to the expense and annoyance to which
these innocent men had been so wantonly and im-
properly exposed. It is impossible to calculate the
amount of mischief and injury that may bt inflicted
upon any person by being compelled to appear in a
court of justice to answer a criminal charge. lie
may lose a situation, the duties of which he had
faithfully and efficiently discharged up to the period
of his arrest, he may be exposed to the demoralization
consequent upon being placed in contact with the most
depraved and abandoned characters. Although presumed
by law to be innocent until a jury shall have returned
an unfavourable verdict, he is practically treated as
if his guilt were undoubted. Every indulgence is
denied. lie is not Merely detained in gaol for safe
custody, but he is subjected to the most stringent
prison regulations, and no relaxation is allowed,
however manifest his innccence may be. Ile is com-
mitted for trial by a competent authority, whether
a coroner or a magistrate, and it is essential that he
should have a foretaste of the punishment due to un-
doubted guilt. He may be compelled to un-