The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-27 00:00:00

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The question of an amnesty has not yet been de-
cided. The PRESIDENT himself is in favour of the
immediate publication of one which shall include
BARBES, BLANQUI, ALBERT, and the prisoners at
Vincennes, Louis BLANC, CAUSSIDIERE, and all the
insurgents of June, but he is opposed by some of his
Ministers.
It is thought that the new Government will obtain
a working majority in the present National Assembly.
A banquet of French, German, and other foreign
Soeialist democrats took place on Christmas-day, at
the Barriere du Maine. 450 persons were present,
and among them fifty ladies. No representative at-
tended. There were inscriptions to BARBES, BLANQUI,
MESSENIIAUSER, ALBERT, BLUM, RASI'AIL, LOUIS
BLANC, CAUSSIDIERE, and COURTAIS. Toasts and
speeches of the usual wild ultra character were deli-
vered, and among them one to ROBESPIERRE, COU.
THON, and ST. JUST. The banquet passed off with-
out any disturbance of order.
The Chamber of Commerce of Rouen his pre-
sented the following address to the PRESIDENT of the
Republic :
" Monsieur le President,—The Chamber of Commerce
of Rouen makes it a duty to address to you its congratu-
lation on the occasion of your election to the Presidency
of the Republic. Under the pre:tige of the name you
bear, M. le President, all parties have given you their
suffrages, seeing in you a pledge of conciliation and con-
cord. The hopes of the cone try will not be deceived,
we are confident; for you have sworn to direct the
affairs of state in the sole interest and by the will of the
law alone. After so many evils, the inevitable conse-
quences of our civil discords, which have so cruelly
affected our commerce and manufactures, we think it to
be the duty of every good citizen to lend a sincere and
loyal support to the Constitution, and we put up our
vows that, without departing from it, elections may
shortly call to Paris a new Assembly, which, by its
origin, being identical with that of the Chief of the
Executive Power, will give to the Government homo-
geneity and strength, without which there cannot be any
stability in our institutions- Such, Monsieur lo Presi-
dent, are the sentiments which the Chamber of Com-
merce of Rouen, in the name of the merchants and
manufacturers within its circle, has thought it to be its
duty to manifest on the occasion of your accession to
power; persuaded that, under your Government, we
shall see order restored, with that confidence and em-
ployment so necessary for the prosperity of our indus-
trious populations."
The attempt of the followers of M. CADET to
establish a Socialist Icaria in Texas has turned out a
disastrous failure. After performing a long and fa-
tiguing journey through forests, to their location, they
found the land uncultivated, and nothing prepared for
their reception. They determined unanimously on
the day after their arrival, to abandon Icaria, which
they did, and after walking 120 leagues through
forests, and losing all their effects, some of them
managed to reach New Orleans, and were received
into the hospitals and workhouses of that city.
At the sitting of the National Assembly yesterday,
M. ODILON BARROT, the President of the Council
of Ministers, read the long-looked-for programme of
the New Cabinet. This manifesto alludes generally
to the policy which the Ministry intends to pursue.
It declares that the Republican Government cannot
be considered as definitely established until the
period of revolutions shall have been closed.
It states that the State ought not to interfere
directly, but ought, in the first instance, to
leave the greatest latitude to individual
action. In regard to the Administration, it states
that the Government is determined to substitute the
strict observance of the law in place of the arbitrary
exercise of power. In regard to the relations of the
Republic with foreign States, it declares that diplo-
matic negotiations will be opened with extreme re-
serve. Nothing will be promised which cannot be
performed, and the word of France would not be
engaged rashly or lightly. The programme concludes
by stating that everything in the power of the Go-
vernment would be done to preserve the peace of the
country and to restore confidence.
This programme was received with marks of great
applause by the Assembly.
M. Ledru Rollin then rose to put some interpella-
tions to the Government with respect to the military
powers conferred upon General Changarnier, Com-
mander-in Chief of the National Guard of Paris, and
of the first military division. He was invested,
M. Ledru Rollin said, with power contrary to the
Constitution and to the law of 1832. By the powers
given to him, General Changarnier was irresponsible,
and could become dangerous to the liberties of the
State.
M. ODILON BARROT replied that the Minister of
War, and the whole Cabinet, took upon themselves
the responsibility of the granting of those powers.
As respected the question of legality, M. BARROT
made some lengthened remarks, which were fre-
quently interrupted by the party of the Mountain.
He defended the measure itself. He defended it on
the ground of the necessity of placing an efficient
power in the hands of one efficient person at a period
when an agitation existed which might still be dan-
gerous to society.
MINISTERIAL PROGRAMME.
The following is a full report of the important pro-
ceedings which took place yesterday in the National
Assembly :
At half-past two o'clock M. Marrast, Pi e.sident, took
the chair, and read a later from M. Lubbert, a repre-
sentative of the Gironde, who tendered the resignation
of his legislative functions.
The discussion next opened on the projcct of law re-
lative to the salt tax.
M. Avond, the first speaker, recapitulated all the pro-
positions made by Members of the Assembly for the
immediate abolition of that unpopular tax, which had
been rejected by the committee charged with examining
them, because of the deficit of 70 millions of francs it
would occasion in the receipts.
The Assembly, however, being preoccupied with other
questions, paid no attention to the speaker, who at last
returned to his seat.
appeared
red Odilonat
the
earr tribune, Barret,silence was immediately , President of the Council, having
a
. The Assembly, he said, had learned the decla-
ration of principles made by the President of the Repub-
lic, in which the new Cabinet fully concurred, and he
now came forward to repeat the same engagements, in
presence of France and Europe. lie did not intend
to lay before the Assembly an expose of the situation of
the country, but would give soma explanations relative
to the principle on which the Cabinet had been con-
stituted, and the political course it intended to pursue.
The Cabinet was composed of men belonging to the
different political shades that had united in the election
of the 10th or December. The nation had evinced such
an accord, such a spirit of union, that the Cabinet should
respond to it. It would neither be patriotic nor wise to
disregard such a manifestation. The country wished for
order, for material and morel order: order in the streets
as well us in the Administration and Government. That
order could only be firmly established on the day when
the period of revolutionary agitation should be closed.
In strongly constituting the national force it
had given the best guarantee of its determi-
nation to maintain order, and it had thereby put it out
of the question that it could be disturbed in future.
Security was tho first want of all. It was indispensiblo
that calmness and confidence in the future be restored,
as otherwise manufactures and trade would not revive.
Symptoms already perceptible showed that the resump-
tion of affairs was not a mere hope but a reality. Agri-
culture, trade, and manufactures had of late considerably
suffered, and cruel sacrifices had been required from the
first (the 45 centimes). The new Cabinet would exert

itself. to introduce the severest economy-in the public
expenditure, and to impart a salutary impulse to public
works, which was far preferable to their direct exe-
cut:on by the State. Its efforts would tend to en-
courage individual activity. M. Odilun Barrot then
added that be would not enter on any exposi of the
foreign affairs of France. Negotiations were pending
which imposed great reserve on the Government. All
he could say was, that the Cabinet would not rashly
engage the word of France, and that it would exert
itself to preserve peace as the interest of France end
Europe. In conclusion, he declared that he and his
colleagues would do everything in their power to restore
security, consolidate the Republic, and promote the de-
velopment of the political education of the Gauntry. The
election of the 10th December bad given the Govern•
ment an immense power, and it relied on the patriotic
co-operation of the Assembly to enable it to accomplish
its duties.
M. Ledru Rollin next rose and attacked the Ministry
for violating the Constitution by its first act, namely, the
delegation to General Changarnior of dictatorial powers,
which placed at his disposal 150,000 troops, and double
that number of National G uards, leaving him 24 hours
before he was called upon to account for his conduct to
the Minister of War, whose responsibility was not con-
sequently complete, but chimerical. The law on the
National Guard, he said, had also been violated, for it
expressly forbade the centering in one person the com-
mend of the troops and National Guards. He also con-
demned the appointment of Marshal Bugeaud to the
command of the army of the Alps, and the removal of
the head-quarters of that army to Bourges.
M. Odilon Barrot, who stood up to reply, said that
he approved the constitutional and legal scruples of
M. Ledru Rollin, but that they were not justified by
the acts he had denounced. The responsibility of
Ministers was complete, and the Minister of War
could delegate a portion of his authority to a General
the raoutent he recognised himself responsible for his
conduct. The measure was not dang,rous. It was
a measure of foresight, commanded by the situation
of the country. In ordinary circumstances the text
of the law might :be attended to; but the Govern-
ment had not even thought of consulting that law,
in presence of fhe difficuties accompanying the tran-
sition from one form of government to another. (Mur-
murs.) M. Odilon Barrot asked his interrupters if the
events which had occasioned so much bloodshed and de-
vastations were already obliterated from their minds, and
if events which had deeply shaken society might not be
repeated? It was not when hope was reviving that the
Government could neglect the most ordinary measures
of precaution. The army which had already saved France
was still quartered in and round Paris, and, until it was
dissolved, it was indispensable that its command should
be,centered in one hand. A cruel ezperiment taught
the Government how dearly the non-concentration of
that command had cost the country. The Ministry had
been happy to find at the head of the National Claud a