The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-08 00:00:00

CA Ttninix ''';'lX-11‘6

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1848.

Since the day when ROUSEAU penned his Contrat
Social, political Utopianism has been insensibly de-
veloping its resources, while it has scattered abroad
those dogmas of government which have proved as
sterile and repulsive as they have been fantastic and
disastrous. The first germ of this pernicious theory
was nurtured at once by the credulity and the fana-
ticism of its admirers. Born in the imaginative sen-
sibility of the author of the Nouvelle Heloise, it
gradually expanded from a dream into a system, im-
bibing nourishment from the most contrary sources
--from the ambition of ROBESPIERRE, as well as from
the philosophy of CONDORC ET. The names of this
system are almost as numberless as the evils which it
has produced, or the absurdities which it has
originated. By some it is called Socialism, by others
Communism; among one class its watchword is
sodalite, among another ideology; it gave rise at one
period to a spurious religion, half-Christian, half-
Mythological, the votaries of which, during the reign
of the Directory, were known by the title of Theo-
philanthropists; but in the majority of instances it
has only tended to promote the spread of infidelity, it
has endeavoured to subvert the very foundations of
society by pronouncing the illegality of competition
it has striven to paralyse industry by declaring pro-
perty to be a crime, it has justified conspiracy, autho-
rised spoliation, ridiculed morality, travestied the
nature of Man, and denied the existence
Of GoD. This is the system which has
latterly swelled into such extraordinary magnitude
under the shelter of the French Republic, and which,
after having raised the red hand of rebellion on the
barricades of June, has been recently vomiting forth
its indecencies and blasphemies from the tribune of
the National Assembly.
During the discussions which hare taken place
within the last few days among the nine hundred re•
presentatives, the advocates of Communism have at-
tacked the preamble of the New Republican Consti-
tution, asserting the frivolity of the abstract principles
embodied in that preamble, and declaring that the re-
volution of February has not earned for itself the
right of dictating upon such matters to the intellect of
posterity. In the sitting of Wednesday M. DE LA-
MARTINE ascended the tribune, for the first time since
the retirement of the Executive Commission, in order
to repel with all the scorn of his genius these exe-
crable and Atheistical doctrines. It cannot but be
remarked that he has abstained from presenting
himself before the Legislature of his country until
after his Justification had been published, and it
must be acknowledged that the occasion which he
selected for his re-appearance as a statesman was
worthy alike of the purity of his career and the great-
ness of his reputation. After reading his magnificent
oration—in some respects the most eloquent that has ever
fallen even from his lips—we observe with the less
surprise the statement recorded by the reporters on
the French newspapers, that " the orator descended
from the tribune in the midst of the most tumultuous
applause, and was surrounded by a crowd of Members, ,
who ofTered him their felicitations." The speech,
from its commencement to its close, was one prolonged
Inspiration. It appealed at one moment to the judg-
ments of its auditors, and at another carried their
imaginations away by the mere force of its splendid
and beautiful enthusiann.
Oared at once that around DE LAMARTINE de-
a question of such vital
consideration no doubt,
or obscurities whatever
should be allowed to
that ,all
"It is
necessary," he exclaimed,
the veils should
it is ne.c,e.ss, aritahat all the abysses
be rent asunder ;
end he himself has se-
should be sounded." To this
vered those veils with the sharpness of his attack, and
plummetill of his
has plumbed those abysses with the
ghtof
genius. After maintaining the ri
Republic to write upon the frontispiece of its ce
2/011ng
tution the sublime principles which, besides ackZti-
ledging the presence of the DIVINITY, proclaims
twhe-
necefsity of Liberty, Equality,'and Fraternity, M. DE
LAM kRTINE acknowledges the difficulty of marking
out the true limits of those glorious and humane
principles. From the doubts of this character which
exist in regard to the meaning of fraternity, he
maintains that Communism has originated ; and in
asserting the fact ha apostrophizes and repudiates that
infamous system. It is from this hesitation as to the
real limits of fraternity, says he, that is born that
popular Communism which is the most dangerous
because it is the most insinuating. "It is from this

measures being the same, it could make no difference
to the provinces, or to the great bulk of the inhabit-
ants of the country where they were carried,
and therefore the project could not be re-
ceived by them as a boon of any real importance.
The movement may be objected to, therefore, for
the following reasons:—
First—That the period at which it has been com-
menced has been most unhappily selected—that it
renews the agitation which had subsided, and will,
most probably, lead to a revival of the repeal mania
in its worst form.

Secondly—That, even if cotceded, it would not