The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-17 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 17, 1848.

If we were asked to designate the French character
in a single word, we should call them a nation of
konoclasts--peoPle raising up idols for themselves,
bowing down before them, grovelling into the dust
in the excess of their adoration, and the next moment
bounding to their feet and shivering these self-
created idols into fragments with the bludgeon of
insurrection. Such is France—such are the French.
men of to-day. Just before the outbreak of the
Third Revolution, ODILLON BARROT was the leader
of the multitude ; but hardly were the arrangements
made for the attendance of the great Reform banquet
in the Champs Elys6es, when ODILLON BAREOT was
tumbled down from his momentary elevation, and
splintered like a worthless image of crockery. On the
morning of the 23d of February, ADOLPHE THIERS
was recognised and cheered at the corner of a barri-
cade, while wending his way on foot towards the
Tuileries for the purpose of replacing the momentary
counsels of MOLE ; but scarcely was the afternoon of
that memorable day passed by when ADOLPHE
TMERS was flung back again into obscurity and
powerlessness. Then came the ovation of an hour in
the last sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, and the
object of that ephemeral ovation was the arrogant
and democratic LEDEn ROLLIN. Last of all, inaugu-
rative of the young Republic, and declaratory of the
policy of moderation, came the great statesman,
who seemed in the majestic calmness of
his career—a career of nearly four months of legis-
lative
put a term to this passion
supremacy—to
hero-worship among the Parisians. From
of February down to the 24th of June, ALPHONSE
DE LAMAETINE appeared to be the last in the series of
statesmen who bad been blown up to the dizzy raj.
•tudos• of Government by the breath of popularity_
be seemed to be the consummation of their visionA of
political enthusiasm. It is true that Socialism ap-
peared to cause his august authority to quiver in the
balance for an instant on the 17th of March ;
,that
Terrorism repeated the same blow on the 16th
of April; and that Communism aimed the
barbed and poisoned arrow of slander at the very
heart of the hero-poet on the 15th of May ;it is true
that during the paroxysm of a few turbulent hours
the idols of the dominant party in Paris were suc-
cessively Citizen BLANQUI, Citizen BARDB9, Citizen
ilumner,Citizen PROUDHON, Citizen ALBEnt, and Citi-
zen Loma Bum it is true that the progress of ad-

ministration under the Provisional Government and
under the Executive Commission was chequered by
intervals of hesitation and suspicion, directed at one
moment. against ARAGO, at another against MARIE,
at another against GARNIER PAGES, at another
against LEDRU RoLurt, but most frequently against
LAMARTINE himself—yet we do not exaggerate events
in saying that for nearly four months, four of the most
momentous months in the history of France, the
power of government was mainly concentrated in the
hands of LAMARTINE. We shall not now trouble our-
selves to indicate the manner in which M. DE LAMAR-
TINE employed that vast and almost irresponsible
power. History will record the acts of his adminis-
tration in golden characters. She will aver, and aver
truly, that liberty was never more secure to the
French population than then—and she will proclaim,
moreover, that LAMARTINE was never tempted into
proceedings of severity by any of those low personal
passions which had influenced his predecessors, but
which his noble heart felt at once to
be incompatible with the austere virtues
of statesmanship. Calumniated as he was, day after
day, in the journals of the French capital, LAMAR-
TINE never once put a sacrilegious finger on that
liberty of the Press which he knew to be one of the
palladiums of the Republic. It was only after the
dissolution of the Executive Commission, and on the
concentration of authority in the hands of a military
dictator, that the old lettres de cachets were revived
against the gerants and the redacteurs of the news-
papers—it was only then that M. EMILE DE GIRAR-
DIN was placed in the custody of M. HELvlzt,
and incarcerated for four or five days in
a subterranean dungeon. Of itself this circumstance
is sufficient to convince any rational Frenchman that
the recent exhibition of fickleness on the part of the
Parisians has proved, to say the least of it, impolitic.
We pray GOD they may be warned in time from
the continuance of their mad saturnalia of indiscri-
minate hero-raising, hero-worshipping, and hero-
breaking. They have distinguished themselve quite
long enough as political Iconoclasts—let them change
the forms of that political religion betimes, or the
consequences may prove disastrous. More precau-
tion should be evinced by them both in the selection
and in the destruction of their statesmen. There is
danger in abandoning the direction of the national
fortunes at one moment to BARROT, at the next
to TMIERS, at the next to Bomar', and so on—
but, above all, there is not only danger, but
disgrace and infamy in overthrowing a patriot like
LAMARTINE, in a sudden explosion of ingratitude.
In the hope of seeing an end put to this calamitous
system of building up merely for the sake, apparently,
of pulling down, the attention is naturally directed
to the nine hundred representatives of the National
Assembly. And that great legislative body we find
to be separated into three important divisions—the
Club of the Rue de Poictiers, the Club of the Palais
Royal, and the Club of the Rue des Pyramides.
The first club (that in the Rue Poictiers), in-
cluding every one of those ex-Deputies of
the gauche and the centre-gauche who have
been returned under the Republican regime,
is influenced by such men as TRIERS, ODILLON
BARROT, BERRYER, and• DUVERGIER D'HAURANNE.
The second club (that of the Palais Royal), com-
prising most of the ex-members of the Provisional
Government and their friends, is influenced by men
like MARRAST, ARAGO, DUPONT (de l'Eure), GAR-
NIER PAGES, PAGNEERE, CO RMENIN, and BIJCUEZ.

While the third club (that of the Rue des Pyramides),
consisting of the ultra- Republicans, Fourierists
Communists, and the like, is influenced by the
voices of PROUDHON, Louis BLANC, LEGRANGE,
PIERRE LEROUX, and CAUSIDIERRE.

Some idea may be formed of the relative
strength of these three remarkable divisions
of the National Assembly from the most prevalent
calculation, that somewhere about 600 representatives
attend the reunions in the Rue de Poictiers, about
200 those in the Palais Royal, and about 100 those
in the Rue des Pyramides. Such are the materials
out of which the Republican Constitution is being
fabricated—and that solemn act of fabrication is pro-
ceeding in the heart of the capital of a nation of
Iconoclasts.

Does not everything show that now, more than
ever, there is a necessity for the acceptance of a
Master-Mind—and for the strengthening of the au-
thority. of that Master-Mind by the implicit con-
fidence of the People ? Unless a statesman of un-
impeachable honesty, of confirmed courage, a true
Republican, and an unmistakable Moderate, be dis-
covered, and accepted, and obeyed—there will he
little chance of stability to the French Government.
It requires the exercise of a peculiar genius to weld
together into one compact and solid mass the incon-
gruous parties of the National Assembly. Where
shall France look for this genius, for this honesty, for
this courage, for this true Republicanism, for this con-
spicuous Moderation ? We are guided to the answer
by the brilliant oration, or, as it has been termed by
one writing from the thick of events in Paris, " the
grandly-worded discourse" delivered towards the end
of last week in the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
That discourse revealed the veritable statesman re-i
quired by France in the present crisis of her affairs
and the selection is enforced by a necessity which is
every day becoming more powerful—the necessity of
expiating a monster ingratitude to the patriotic
LAMARTINE.

The Public Works (Ireland, No. 2) Bill was on
Friday evening read a second time, the amendment
which had been moved by the Hon. Member for Nor-
thamptonshire, that it be read a second time that day
six months, having been negatived without a division.
The objects of the Bill are threefold—first, to enable
the Government to re-advance, for the purpose of
completing those works which at the end of last year
remained unfinished, such sums of money as had
been paid by different localities ; secondly, to post-
pone for six months the payment of the first instal-
ment; and, thirdly, to enable the Government, look-
ing to the different circumstances in different parts
of Ireland, to increase or diminish the number of in-
stalments by which the loans were to be repaid, and
which were spread over a period of ten years.

there had been a general failure of bread-stuffs
throughout three-quarters of the globe—through the
whole of the Eastern hemisphere. The granaries of
the world were ransacked, and corn was obtained for
the supply of Irish destitution at an expenditure of
English gold which afterwards occasioned deep dis-
tress to the generous donors themselves. The won-
derful sacrifices thus made, the tremendous exertions
thus rendered necessary, were not duly appreciated.
In place of the deepest devotion and unceasing grafi-
! tude, reproaches and vituperations were returned.
Extraordinary efforts were made to induce the Irish
nation to sever the ties by which they were con-
nected with their munificent benefactors; Eng-
land and the English were sneered at and
calumniated. The name of " Saxon," in place of be-
ing greeted with blessings, was used as a term of re-
proach and contumely, and money supplied from the
English Exchequer was too often expended in the pur-
chase of arms, to be pointed at the bosoms of English-
men. But, nevertheless, we are not without our re-
ward, nor do we repent of the manner in which we
then acted. The brightest page in our national history,
eclipsing the most brilliant achievements of our navies
or our armies—the most sanguinary triumphsby flood
and field—will be that on which is recorded the aid
and assistance afforded with such bounteous profusion
to our helpless brethren in the dark hour of their
misery and distress. It will more than counterbalance
the former records of misgovernment and oppression
which we would, if possible, rejoice to see blotted out
from the volume.

It might, perhaps, have been a wiser and more politic
course, as the Premier on Friday most justly remarked,
to have provided food by the cheapest mode, and
without exacting any return whatsoever therefor,
rather than to look to the mixed purpose of affording
food and at the same time of executing works of
public utility. The recent experience we have had,
perhaps, establishes the proposition, that it is more
economical to feed those who are in a state of starva-
tion, and, if public works are required, to have
them constructed by the most skilful labourers,
receiving an adequate remuneration for the work
they are called upon to perform. But such was not
the opinion generally entertained in 1846; and no
person can be found with sufficient hardihood to
assert that the Government were not fully justified
in the attempt which they made to combine the exe-
cution of such works with the object of affording
food to the people. Such was the purpose of the

Labour Rate Act," and no censure or reproach can
justly be cast upon the Ministry therefor. It was
not merely because such works were the
most beneficial that could be selected, or be-
cause they would yield an ample return for
the estimated outlay, that they were to be
undertaken, but because employment should be
provided at the very thresholds of those to whom re
lief was to be administered. The ratepayers in the
several districts were constituted the judges of the
wants and exigencies of the people in their respective

The circumstances under which these works were
, originally instituted, and the enormous advances made
from the national Exchequer on account thereof,
were of a very peculiar and most distressing character.
The ordinary financial rules applicable to the ad-
vances of public money for the construction of
works of public utility! could not, in almost any in-
stance, be rigidly adhered to. The greater portion of
the working population of the entire nation had, with
their families, and all those dependent upon them for
support and maintenance, been reduced to the last
extremity of misery and idestitution, in consequence
of the mysterious visitation by which the esculent,
which constituted their chief, if not their only article
of food, had become a tainted and putrefying mass,
unfit even for the consumption of swine. The wail
of agony resounded throughout the length and
breadth of the land, and was only raised
by the more frightful silence of hopeless despair.
Famine, with her twin-sister pestilence, reigned
supreme, and more than decimated the population.
Husbands and fathers beheld the partners of their
cares and miseries, the wives of their bosoms, and the
helpless pledges of their mutual affection perishing
for lack of the commonest necessaries of life, and in vain
appealing to their equally destitute parents for the
food and nourishment which they were unable to
supply. It became too painfully apparent, that un-
less gigantic exertions were made by this more fa-
voured nation, and assistance afforded with the most
liberal, aye the most lavish hand, that the work of
destruction would be completed, and that Ireland
would cease to be either a burden-Upon, or a contri-
butor to the Imperial resources.
In such a state of affaits t)tcy; vtfes of economical
science were necessarily infilliged'upon. The great
problem was in what manner and through what
agencies could food be supplied to the starving mul-

localities, and no work could be commenced until i

had been previously sanctioned by a presentment
passed at special sessions, duly convened in accordance
with the provisions of the statute. A veto wily was
permitted to the Board of Works, who were autho-
rised to select, from the projects thus sanctioned, the
undertakings which appeared best calculated to attain
the desired object of affording full employment to
every destitute person, by which he might be enabled

to support himself and family, and also (but as a
matter of very secondary importance) which should
iappear to be most likely to be of permanent advantage

to the country. The manner in which they dis-
charged the arduous duties thus imposed has been the
themeof universal admiration ; and, although abuses
sprung up which were inseparable from an un-
dertaking of such magnitude, these abuses
could not fairly be imputed either to the Go-
vernment or to the subordinate officers, under whose
inspection their intentions were carried into execu-
tion. All that was practicable was achieved. The
people were fed, and the difficulties in which the
nation was involved were surmounted, without any
greater suffering to individuals than was inevitable
under the circumstances.

Many of the works so commenced were unavoidably
abandoned before they were fully completed. Although
they might not now be undertaken if no portion had
been executed, it might nevertheless be a very unwise
economy to permit them to remain in their present
condition. Their completion might be productive of
advantages more than equivalent to the expenditure
that would still be required. The state of the na-
tional Exchequer, the deficiency of income to provide
for ,the national exigencies, however, forbad new
grants. But there was a fund from which it might
be provided without impropriety, and without any
new burden being imposed upon the people--
namely, the sums that might be obtained from
the more solvent districts in repayment of the
advances that had been made. These sums the
Government haVe decided on thus applying, and it ap-
pears to us to be a most fair and reasonable appropria-
tion. According to the present project, the parties
who have exhibited evidence of their probity by re-
paying the amounts with which they were chargeable
will most properly be considered entitled to a priority
of claim respecting the application of these funds,
although it is not rendered imperative that such
should be the case—and where it appears that there
are new works, such as drainage, which would be more
beneficial to the district, and which could be made
better available for the employment of the people
than the completion of the former works, the money
may be expended in such a manner. Such is the
first and principal object of the present Bill, and
believing it to be a prudent and judicious measure,
deserving of unqualified approbation, we yield it a
cordial support.

The remaining objects of the Bill are of less im-
portance. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in
his very able speech, adduced abundant and most
satisfactory reasons for their adoption. We, there-
fore trust that the measure may receive the Legisla-
tive sanction, and that it will pass through both
Houses of Parliament without any material alteration
by which its efficiency may be impeded or its utility
diminished.

titudes. Much time was not afforded for consideration.
The delay of even a single day could only be obtained
at the cost of thousands of human lives, and of the
protracted sufferings of millions. The means resorted
to could not therefore be regarded with too curious a
scrutiny, or criticised with too much rigour. The
English nation acted in a manner worthy of its
well-established reputation. It obeyed the di-
vine precepts of religion, by feeding the
hungry and clothing the naked. It :assumed
the enormous responsibility of providing food for
three millions of persons, and that at a period when

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY l7, Wilt

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

M. LAMARTINE'S DEFENCE OF HIS
FOREIGN POLICY.
We have received the Paris papers of Saturday
and yesterday, and we are consequently enabled to
present our readers with the speech on foreign affairs
delivered by M. LAMARTINE in the bureaux of the
Assembly, in reply to General OUDINOT, who re-
commended immediate intervention in Italy, and to
MM. BONAPARTE and MAUGUIN, who lauded the
foreign policy of NAPOLEON. It is the speech not
only of an eloquent and a good man but of a pro-
found statesman.
M. de LamartineGentlemen, there is 'nothing more
charming, and at the same time more difficult, than to
reply to a speech from M. Maugu'n en foreign affairs: he
has benevolent forms of controversy; he elevates and
enlarges the discussion to the height of his intelligence,
and to the horizon of the map of the world; but at the
same time he has points of view so eccentric and so per-
sonal, he makes assertions so hazardous that one fears, in
repelling an error, to oppose at the same time a truth.
He borrows, to use an expression of his own, my poetry
for his politics. I shall endeavour to borrow a little of his
good sense, his science, and his language to refute him.
Ho has frankly attacked the position taken by French
diplomacy, and my manifesto of the month of February.
It is, he says, a contradictory policy, comforting and
threatening at one and the same time tlei Courts of
foreign countries. Let M. Mauguin read once more that
political declaration of the 24th of February, and he
will acknowledge his error. Did that manifesto say that
France ought at all hazards to fan the flame of republi-
canism, and support all democratic tendencies through-
out the universe? Nothing of the kind; it said the con-
trary. It said that liberty, in order to be durable, ought
to be an indigenous plant of the soil; that before being
proclaimed in the institutions, which are only the last
expression of the manners of nations, it ought to exist,
in the first place, in their manners—that Fiance would
not make any incendiary or agitating, and far less a per-
fidious propagandism; of order, of peace, and of frater-
nity with nations. What was necessary to it? Time,
to make its nature be known to Europe, in order to pre-
vent the irritations and the misunderstandings of all
Cabinets against it, in its weakness and in its cradle—
Cabinets which would at once have recombined against
it, and in the name of the terror which it inspires, the
league of 1813. And is it true, as pretended by M.
Alauguin, who in that is. faithful to his recollections
of 1831, that that policy 'would have been a dupery for
France. That an armed propaganda would have been
more sure, and that we are more threatened with a coa-
lition against us to-day than we were the day after the
revolution of February. I shall go on with him, king-
dom by kingdom, the map that she recognised, the com-
patibility of all the advanced and backward Governments
of the world; that she would not advance the hour of
any one. It added only, that after nationalities or de-
mocracies had been produced, reconquered, or organized
around her, within the reach of her arm or her influe
ence, if these democracies, or these nationalities, made
an appeal to her support in virtue of the conformity of
their principles, she would consider herself entitled to
lend her assistance. This is what the manifesto said,
and this is what the Minister did for the last four
months. I sustain that the manifesto could not say, and
that the Government could not do, anything else in
the name of the Republic. In fact, was that Re-
public a republic of disorganization and conquest ?
No, it was a Republic of sea and the continent,
and showed to him by facts that that policy has
borne its fruits, has saved us from universal war, and
has placed the Republic in one of the freest and
most beautiful political situations that Frauco has ever
known. Ido not attribute this honour to my miserable
ability; I give the honour to that power to which it is
due, to events—and I repeat the word which I said yes-
terday—it is Providence that for the last four months
1 has been minister of the foreign attars of the Republic.
Let us commence with England, the powerful mover of
all wars, the knot of all continental coalitions. • Since
the last fifty-four years, what should the Republic de-
sire, if properly directed and enlightened ? A continued
good understanding with England, since it is upon such
a good understanding that the harmony of the continent
principally depends. France and England, were they
to separate, would inevitably entwine the world in
their divisions. Permit me then, gentlemen, to tell you
at what price an intelligent and honest'•policy on the
part of France may maintain, notwithstanding anti-
national prejudices, and by overcoming those
prejudices, concord between England and France,
It is as follows :—When it is desired to treat with Eng-
land, or to enter into some common undertaking with
her, it is not only, it is not, above all, with the English
Government that one must negotiate; there is some-
thing in England still more powerful than Govern-
ments and Ministers—it is public opinion. But there
are in England two organic, secular, traditional opinions
—the Whigs and the Tories ; the aristocratical opinion
exists in the Tories, and in the Whigs the dcmocratical
opinion, such at least as the institutions and customs of
England allow it's development. Each of these opinions
constantly counterbalances the other ; and according as
the one sinks and the other rises, the power falls into
the hands of the. Whigs or of the Tories. Now the great
good fortune of the revolution of February was to meet
with a Whig Ministry in .England. For the opinions
even which this Ministry represents would not have per-
mitted it, without proving false to its nature, to declare
itself hostile, ipso facto, to the French Republic, just as
in 1792 England-did not contest our first Republic. It
was the excesses of the Republic, after 1792, that forced
England to form a coalition against France. I hope
and I trust that the wisdom, the moderation, the loyalty
of the Republic of 1848, will not for long bring
about a like schism between these two great people
This inoffensive and even kindly attitude of Eng-
land towards the Republic of 'lB4B, dissolved from the
first all possibility of a continental coalition against us.
This gave time for reflection to Europe, it gave time for
reflection to France itself. Let us see how this time has
been employed, and whether it be true, as M. Mauguin
and M. Napoleon Bonaparte pretend, that the coalition
surrounds us, that we have no appreciable policy, and
that every day but adds to our dangers. I shall say no-
thing of Russia, our new relations with her not being as
yet defined; but nothing indicates the necessity of a
shock between these two powers, destined rather to act
as counterbalances than to contend with each other at
the two extremities of the continent. What is the
power which could more alarm us, after the revolution
of February, and serve as advanced guard to Russia,
and as expeditionary corps to Germany?—it was
Prussia. With her immense military power always on
foot, she could have undertaken an invasion, and
attacked our left flank, while Austria invaded us on the
right. Her 400,000 men, increased by Russian
auxiliary corps, were a terrible weight to resist in
case of a war. The generous conduct of the King of
Prussia did not long allow us to fear such a thing ; our
relations with him, instituted by a French agent, su-
premely clever and unjustly calumniated, M. de Cir-
court, re-assured us from the first moment ; the events
in Berlin, the first more. coup of the policy of the 24th
February, still more reassured us on that side. What
could a Prussian intervention effect to-day ? Let M.
Mauguin reply, if be can, to the dilemma which I am
going to put to him. ' The King of Prussia almost
obliged to exile himself from his capital to Potsdam in
the midst of his troops, is no longer, so to say, but the
King of his army. Well, one of two things ; either the
King of Prussia will again throw himself into the
bosom of his people, and will ally himself with the most
liberal and most democratic people of Germany, or he
will separate himself from his people, will remain sur-
rounded by his army, and will ally himself with Russia.'
Should the King of Prussia return to the bosom of his
people, the democratic sympathies of his subjects
will forcibly drag him towards us, and our
natural alliance is consummated. Or, should the
King of Prussia remain in the midst of his
army, he will be obliged to ally himself with the
Russians in order to reconquer his own country; and
then what can a sovereign do who is obliged to take the
Russians for aids, and to reconquer his throne and his
nation by the help of foreign arms? 'We have nothing
then to fear in either case on the side of Prussia. The
twelve or fifteen democratic revolutions which took
place in the centre and north of Germany everywhere
produced the same result. Everywhere, by a natural
attraction, and of which the pacific attitude of France
was the signal, nations detached themselves from the
absolute principles x)f, their Governments, to cast them-
selves, with all the weight of that attraction towards the
French people; and 'thence towards a natural alliance
with France. M. Gnizot 'took' as his formula peace at
all price. I took for mine, and would wish to give it to
my country, the union. of France and Germany at any
price.. But this is not all. Look to the very citadel of
the old absolutist principle in Europe—to Vienna, and
tell me what you have to hope or fear, relative to the
Rhine and relative to Italy, from the court of Austria.
What can a court do at. this moment whose Sove-
reign has been obliged to fly from his capital, and
to go and seek an asylum at Innspruck, in the fast-
nesses of the Tyrol? What can a Court do from whom
Italy detaches herself in repelling from Milan, from
Venice, from the whole Italian soil, the Austrigu army?
What can a Court do whose nominal sovereignty Hun-
gary scarcely recognises any longer, so much so as even
to create for itself a separate army and a Minister for
Foreign Affairs, in order the better to watch over its
interests distinct from those of Austria?—a Hungary
which, at the moment even when I am addressing you,
has !proclaimed a levy of 200,000 men, not to cast them
at the mercy of Austria, but to make them the rampart
of its own independence?—a Hungary which has de-
clared—it was this morning only that I learned it--that
not a single Hungarian soldier shall pass the frontier to
go ankserve against the Italians? Lastly, what can
that Court do whilst ' Bohemia is torn asunder into a
Sclavonian and Teutonic race, and whilst the general of
the empire is obliged to bombard: Prague, one of the
capitals of the empire? But I will go further, and say—
what can a Court do from whom the Diet of Frankfort
has just torn from the brow of the Emperor of Austria
the imperial crown, to place it on that of the Archduke
John as Emperor f Germany?"
That the foreign policy of France will still be con-
ducted according to the principles laid down by M.
DE LAMARTINE is evident from the reply of Al. BAS.
TIDE, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to M.
SARRANS, on the:subject of the Maronites of Syria,
who had petitioned for French protection. On the
presentation of the petition, M. SARRANS expatiated
on the necessity which devolved upon the Republic
of extending its influence in that country, in order
to prevent England, " the implacable enemy " of
France, from seizing upon that country, as it fully
intends some time to do. M. BASTIDE, in his reply ,
satisfied himself with declaring that he fully Ap.

proved of the policy followed out by M. GUIZOT in
Syria, and that he had no intention to change any-
thing in the relations between France and the Porte.

The Bien Public thus defends M. DE LAM'ARTINE
from the attacks which have been made on his foreign

policy :

"lle who contended with so much patriotic firmness
against anarchy at home, he who put down the red flag,
triumphantly raised over thousands of bayonets, has not
to reproach hinv.elf with having for a single moment
tolerated anarchy abroad. Are any proofs wanted from
other countries? Let reference be made to the impre-
cations of the German, the Behtian, the Polish demo-
cratic clubs in Paris, and to those placards issued by
these different assemblies with which the walls of Paris
were hung, dooming M. de Lamartine to the hatred and
vengeance of these foreign demago7_,,tie.r. If any other
proof were necessary, they would be found in the daily
correspondence of the Minister of Foreign _Affairs of the
Provisional Government with the Minister of the Inte-
rior, and in the correspondence of the Minister of the
Interior with the commissaries and prefects. Foreigners
are more just to M. de Lamartine than France. We
have been able to judge of this by the testimonies of con-
sideration and confidence which these Governments
incessantly lavished upon him while he was in power.
Wecan judge of this again by the daily appreciations of
the German, English, and Belgian press, and by the
striking homage rendered to him by all the Legislative
Assemblies fronallondon to Tulin. and from Turin to
Frankfurt and Berlin.
.Lat it not be said that ingrati-
tude is the indigenous fi4firsV-our soil, and that France,
preserved by M. de Lamartine from a general contligra-
tion, accuses him, while all Europe dCfends him."
In the sitting of the National ASseMbly on Satur-
day, the President read the following letter from the
Abb6, LAMENNAIS

" Citizen President,—A few clays before the journal
the Peuple Censtituant ceased to appear, the signature
of a responsible editor (garnet) being required, in virtue
of the laws on the press, one of the -persons employed
on that journal consented to sign it temporarily, in that
quality.
" Soon after, the last number of the Peuple Constituant
was seized, and the responsible editor is at present cited
to appear before the Juge d'lnstruction.
" As the incriminated article was written by me, and
signed by me, it would be sovereimily unjust that any
other person than I should answer for it.
" In consequence, I demand earnestly from the Na-
tional Assembly to authorise against me the prosecution
which could not ho directed against any other without
an evEent injustice. Health and prosperity.
" LA MENNAIS,
" Representative of the People."

This epistle gave rise to some discussion, but even-
tually the Assembly passel to the order of the day,
as it could not authorise' a'prosecution until a demand
to that effect had been made by the Law OfTh!ers of
the Republic.
In the course of the sitting M. GOUDCIIAUX intro-
duced a modified Bill with 'respect to the tax to be
laid. on mortgages. The tax is to be 5 per cent. on
the interest, and is to be paid by the creditor. The
remainder of the sitting was occupied with a discus-
sion on the project for the association of ouvriers for
the completion of public works, but it did not lead to
any result of interest.
M. BETIDIONT has resigned the office of Minister
of Justice on the ground of ill health. He will, it is
said, be succeeded by M. SENARD, whose present
office, that of Minister of the Interior, will be con-
ferred on M. DUCLERC. General I3EDEAu has defi-
nitively declined- to accept the office of Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and M. BASTIDE, therefore,
retains the portfolio of that office, but will be
succeeded as Minister of Marine by 11. VERNIN/lACL

The National announces that the indemnity claimed
for the losses sustained by the French residents at
Naples in the affair of May 15, has been paid in full,
and that Admiral BAUDIN and M. Bois LE COMTE
had orders not to leave their respective stations until,
by their efforts, they had obtained tho performance of
this act of justice.

The Moniteur publishes the following table of the
receipts of indirect taxation for the first six months
of the present year :

1848. 1847.
Registration dues, &c. 90,910,000f. 100,154,0001
Stamps
Customs 39,322,000 77,772,000
Navigation 1,094,000 1,316,000
Customs' Duties (Sundries) 912,000 1,387,000
Salt Dues
Potable Liquors
Salt Duties (without Cus-
toms' limits)
Indigenous Sugars
Various 14,584,000 19,055,000
Tobacco Sales
Gunpowder Sales 2,559,000 2,682,060
Letters and duty on send-
ing money 25,045,000 24,234,000
For Passengers by the
Malles-Postes
Ditto by Mails and Packets 595,000 548,000

Total
Showing a decrease of 61,818,000 f. Compared with
1846 there is a decrease of 67,662,000 f.
The Committee of Finance examined on Friday
the proposition of M. J. FreaE, to authorise the
State to seize on the private domain of Lours PHI-
LIPPE, 01140 e ground that the donation made by that
monarch, when on the point of ascending the throne,
was an act null and void. The author of the pro-
position maintained that, previously to 1789, it had
always been the custom in France for the property of
the reigning prince to.merge into that of the throne ;
he denied that the decree by which NAPOLEON had
constituted a private domain could have any value in
1830; he declared that LOUIS PHILIPPE, in making
over his property to his family, had done nothing else
than defraud the State. M. JULES PAYEE admitted
that a law had been passed in 1832, recognizing the
donation so made; but he argued that such law could
now be declared of no avail, since LOUIS PHILIPPE
had lost his crown by his own faults and crimes. M.
THIERS, on hearing this language, said :
"I am accustomed to' the language of victorious par-
ties, and, as far as I am personally concerned, I never
allow myself to be either astonished at what I hear, nor
do I ever reply. But there are things which I cannot
allow to be said without protesting against them. King
Louis Philippe, no doubt, committed faults, and grave
ones, which led to his downfel—faults which I de-
plored and opposed for eight years ; but he has never
committed crimes. He was in his own person often the
object of crimes; but it is false to say that any can be
laid to his charge. I appeal on this head to every
honest man. I appeal to history. As to the confisca-
tion of the privata property of the late royal family, I
shall oppose such an act as an odious injustice. I admit
the Republic, and desire to see it firmly and peace-
ably established; but I do not wish to see it dis-
honoured by such acts of iniquity as this. The
principles of the old monarchy cannot apply
here. It is true that before 1789 the property of
the King and that of the State were confounded together;
but at that time it was not the custom to dethrone kings;
they were sent neither to the scaffold nor into exile.
Napoleon laid down new principles with respect to the
monarchy, and he laid them down in the interest of the
state, allowing the occupier' of the throne to dispose of
a private property, in order to leave that of the state
in all cases intact. In 1830, Louis Philippe, before
ascending the throne, made 'over • his property to his
children. Nothing was more strictly legal and permis-
sible than such an act;
deuce, which some persons (and I was of the number)
regretted, thinking that be would have done better to
trust to the generosity of the nation for the future
his children.
position of it was a proof of paternal pru-
But this Prince was of opi-
nion that, in times of revolution like ours, he was
bound to assure the fortune of his children indepen.
dently of his station as King, which he might either
retain or lose. At present it must be allowed
that what has taken place has justified his fear;
thneottwtoo
Cbeherme:
and that his paternal solicitude was perfectly well
founded. At all events, the sentiment which
power to make
prompted him to that course was not in any way con-
demnable, or such as to merit insult or abuse. Since
then, a law was passed in 1832—was voted by the oppo-
,irelelrlsterdni
respect
tsd
plAeo
csiwtt-
laytwuhteeh notdowosheo laheeffax affecting
powerful;ccef
et
tsi
hpiptoni
teusgreargetc
represents
eerhr lawsageioentsapeltenlar
tsstsyys
re:etmmt
the
ebn
jaoeldaynecaic
retroactive
vno)se'
contracts
ci rates
snnopnvrocete
nroi
re-
spected; pi oenc
ti itself—confirming lf—confirm iabnnlgey allconstitutedto
c kh.paodwTdehor
The
eel.vp%
Cham-
bers it
ri is
wt rhuieca,hn advsoswteeiridyt eidt
not,ftuh fully
a invested
es s
tllevadwe
Were
Itglhoht ought
its base—we fall back into barbarism. All laws, and
spldaeaemwcrtesbi:cisyuolrialssrf,
property.crwae which
:d htoy i et vi eos rrlyei
trust
rhtupihsnoatgsnst,
with regard to laws which have regulated questions of
itself sufficiently not to commit an injustice. I trust that
it will act justly, and restore to the members of the de-
throned family the property which belongs to them. I
trust that the Republican form which is at present that
orPrance, will not have Weakened in her sentiments of
justice, delicacy, and honour."
Some of the Bureaux on Friday examined the Bills
relating to the press and to the clubs. On the former,
A sharp discussion arose, some Members seeming to
think that, in place of caution-money, the severity of
the punishment against the person should be aug-
mented, and that the responsibility of the printers
should be increased, in order to attain more certainly
the authors of incriminated articles. Other Mem-
bers suggested that every article should bear the sig-
nature of the writer. The supporters of the Bill
dwelt on the necessity, in present circumstances, of
strengthening the Government as much as possible,
arguing that it could never be consolidated in pre-
sence of the incessant appeals to anarchy, and to the
destruction of all social principles, which were now
unremittingly put forth. M.THlerts admitted the part
which he had taken in the laws of September, which
did not appear to him, he observed, to differ from
the measu-es now hreught forward. He denied Out
the journals had any light to discuss the principle of
the established GoVernment. As, under the monarchy,
it was not lawful to avow oneself a republican, so

now it was not permissible to declare oneself a roy-
alist. The caution-money for journals had the effect
of favouring a serious and more respectable prese, and
of killing, in their very commencement, all those in-
famous publications which, if permitted to exist, would
he a dishonour to French morals and literature. M.
Dueler, sen., M. LEON FAUCIIE, M. AVOaD, M.
ISAMBERT, and M. COMEAREL DE LET VAL, spoke
strongly on the same side; whilst M. Duceeec, M.
PASCAL DUPRAT, M. BERRYER, M. GEaMAN Six-
RUT, opposed the Bill. The committee is composed
pretty equally of Members of both parties. The Bill
relative to the clubs also called forth some discussion.
The most of the Members who expressed an opinion
admitted the principle of clubs being allowed to exist,
as such a state of things would, they in the end,
thought, take away all pretexts for secret societies ;
but they considered that they ought to be subjected
to certain regulations, and that the Government
should exercise over them an active surveillance.
Some Members, however, expressed strong doubts of
the possibility of clubs being ever implanted in
France without troubling society. M. DuPIN, sen.,
looking on the right of clubs, not as a simple right,
like that of the press, but a mode of organization
and government in opposition to the established Go-
vernment, came to the conclusion that such assem-
blages ought not to be permitted in any case. He
pointed to the share which the clubs had taken in the
affair of May 15 and in the late struggles, and thsn
asked, was what they did the exercise of a political
right? He would reply, certainly not—it was the
most shameful misuse of individual liberty, As to the
right of meeting for the purpose of deciding about pe-
titions, or for a determinate purpose, that was per-
fectly legal. M. ISAMBERT thought that clubs were
so dangerous in their tendencies, that the very name
ought to be banished from the code, and that provi-
sions should be made for the right of meeting only.
If, however, clubs were to be permitted, it ought
to be, he thought, under most severe police regula-
tions. M. DENJOY presented two principal obser-
vations—the first, on the proclamations which
might be made by the clubs, a faculty which he
would not grant them, and on which the Bill said
nothing; the second, relative to the presence of a
Government agent at each sitting. Thus constrained
by the presence of an agent, would not the clubs, he
asked, have two kinds of sittings, one public and the
other secret ? The authorities ought certainly to
have agents in the clubs, but would not theiz. action
be so much the more efficacious that it was the less
apparent ? The Members appointed to the Com-
mittee are MM. LIMLOND, COQUEEEL, POUJOLAT,
BECUARD, DENJOY, BOUSQUET, NOGLIE, BANE, J.
•DE LASTEYRIE, ISAMBERT, DUPIN, Sal), BIDAULT,
EVARISTE BABOUX, CRETON, and BELIE.
The discussion in the bureaux on the Constitution
is nearly closed. In many of them amendments have
been adopted to the effect that no member of any
• family which has ever reigned in France shall be
eligible to be elected President of the Republic ; in
others an amendment has been adopted to the effect
that po citizen who has not been resident in France
for ten years can be eligible even to become a candi-
date for the Presidentship. These two amendments
were aimed at Prince Louis NAPOLEON.
The 45th article of the project of the Constitution,
which sets forth that the President shall be elected by
direct and universal suffrage and by secret ballot, and
that an absolute majority of the whole of the votes
given must be in his favour, was originally pro-.
posed in the committee by M. DE CORMENIN, and has
been strenuously defended by that gentleman and
by M. GUSTAVE DE BEAUMONT in the bureaux
from the attacks make upon upon it. M. GUSTAVE DE
BEAUMONT contended that with a single legislative
Assembly the strength of the head of the Govern-
ment depended upon his having the Fame origin
with that body, and proceeding, like it, from the
direct and universal suffrage of his fsllow-citizens:
Some people appeared to think that the power of
the President would be too great, but M. G. DE
13.EAUMONT was apprehensive rather of an opposite
danger. As regarded the antagonism which some
people feared would be produced between the Presi-
dent of the Republic and the Assembly, if they were
both of one origin, he thought it a chimera at which
• it was ridiculous to be alarmed. It might indeed take
place if the President of the Republic • were invested
as the King formerly was, at the same time with
legislative and with executive power. It was evident
that in that case, in appointing two agents invested
with similar functions, the people would be organizing
the elements of en almost inevitable struggle. But
by the plan proposed by the constitution,-this strug-
gle could not exist, because the Assembly would
have itself the whole of' the legislative power, and
the President of the Republic would have abso-
lutely nothing but the executive power. This, he
Contended, put an end to the -argument of those
who maintained that it was necessary to establish an
equilibrium between these two powers, of which
the one, they said, was more powerful than the
other ; for there could be no point of ponderation
between two powers who had each a distinct mission
to fulfil. He further contended that the limits of
the powers of the Assembly being to legislate, and
those of the President being toexecute and administer,
according to the laws passed by the A33etribly, the
clearness of the line of demarcation laid down as to
the attributes of each did away with all danger that
might be apprehended from either of them. • M. DE
CORMENIN spoke at great length on the subject, con-
tending that unity was the only form which suited
the genius of France, and that, excepting by the
adoption of the system of an absolute majority, there
could be no unity.
Several Representatives (says the Democratic Pa-
cifigue) have received letters from their departments,
showing the prevalence of a wish there, as in Paris,
for the appointment of General CAVAIGNAC to be
President of the Republic far a limited period, as the
only means of restoring France to that degree of sta-
bility of which she stands so much in need.
It is expected that the four military commissions
appointed for the trial of the insurgents will com-
mence their labours this day.
Arrests still continue. It was rumoured on Friday
that M. DE PONTECOULANT had been arrested. We
find the following on this subject in the Constitution-
nel of Saturday :
" It was by mistake that we yesterday announced the
arrest of M. de Ponticoulant, ex-peer of France. M. de
Pont6coulant, his son, has alone been called on to give
information to M. Desnoyer, jug° d'instructien, with re-
spect to an interview which he hid in March last with
the Prince de Joinvillo in England. This interview,
quite honourable on his part, took place to enable him
to remit to the ex-Prince all thepapers, deeds, and do-
cuments relative to his property in Brazil. As soon as
these explanations were given, M. Adolphe de Ponte-
coulant was set at liberty. It is to M. de PontSoulant
that the Prince owes the preservation of his library, of
his numerous scientific collections, and of his large
charts, the estimated value of which exceeds 80,000 f.
An album belonging to the Princess do Joinville, stained
with mud and filth, and leaving traces of having been
trampled on, was given up to the Prince by M. de
Pont6eoulant, and has just been sold by her in London
for 25,0001."
In the same journal we find the following :
" We find in a journal of the Pas-de-Calais, the Li-
berte, the following fact, which is somewhat curious:—
On the 17th ult. the letter-carrier, deceived by a resem-
blance of name, remitted to M. Fays, a respectable
person of Lille, a letter giving precise details on the
&mute which broke out on the 23d ultimo. This
letter demanded that a contre-coup should be pre-
pared at Lille, and said—' My brother, in passing,
will remit you the funds which you will require.'
The letter was immediately carried to M. Durand
Saint-Amand, Prefect du Nord, who contented
himself with sending it to the Minister of the
Interior, without taking any precaution atLille, without
causing the person who was to have received the letter,
or the individual who brought the funds destined to such
a guilty use, to be arrested. We must' add that the per-
son for whom this strange letter was destined was a
functionary of the prefecture of Lille, placed in this pest
by the celebrated M. Delescluze, whose conduct in the
affair of liisquons-Tout was so inexplicable. We read
in the same journal a letter from M. Durand Saint-
Attend, who admits having had the letter referred to in
his hands, and having sent it to the Minister of the In-
terior. We regret that the Prifect du Nord had not ex-
plain why he took no measures at Lille which the state
of the public mind appeared to call for, and which might
have led to the discovery of the truth. However, that
may be, the letter of M. Durand Saint-Amand shows that
the Minister of the Interior received this instructive do-
cument in good time. We thus establish the arrival in
the hands of the Executive Commission of an additional
warning before the insurrection."

We read in the Droit
"On Lecomte, the second husband of the widow of
Pepin, whose arrest we have mentioned, was found a
sum of 5,6001., a card of the Barbes club, and a paper on
which is written—' We must have ammunition at any
price, to support our old doctrines.' On being asked how
he became possessed of this money, he said that it came
through his wife, who received it from a banker near
Saint Mitry, in the Quartier Saint Martin, Being ealled
upon to explain his motives for going from Paris into the
department of the Seine et Marne, he declared that ho
wished to avoid being compromised in the affair of June.
But the circumstances under which he was arrested
create a belief that his object was to raise the adjoining
departments. He will be tried before the second per-
manent court-martial."
We read in the onion :
,‘ The negotiation for the purchase by the Govern-
ment of the Lyons Railroad, which two days ago was so
advanced that we believed we might safely announce
was concluded, is for the moment entirely at a stop.
M. Goudchaux, after having lowered his offers to 7f. 60c.
of Routes in the Five per Centr. for each payment of
2501. already made, has almost fina:ly declared that the
purchase cannot be made on any terms."
By order of the Government the Prefect of the
Rhone has ordered the dissolution and disarmament
of the National Guards of Lyons and its ttubourgs,
with a view to a re-organization on principles more
consistent with order and public security.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAI T,WAYS AT TTIF.
LONDON STOCii-E:A.:6I A N JUL): 15.
Bout ,gne and Amiens, 71,i'3—Dutch Rhenish,
and Austrian, I—Northerti of France, 55A—Orleans and
Bourdeaux, 2..Yaris and Lyons, 4%;