The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-03 00:00:00

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE
BRADFORD REFORM ASSOCIATION.
Sir,—On Wednesday, the 28th, there was some
very close voting on the Catholic Relief Bill. A tye
is a rare occurrence ; but on Wednesday there would
have been two tyes, if it had not been for the accident
of a leading Member opposed to the Bill being shut
out when he had gone to look for a precedent con-
nected with the first. The chairman (Mr. Bernal)
gave his casting vote in favour of the original Bill.
On Thursday more debate on going into Commit-
tee on the Sugar Duties ; ending in carrying the
going into Committee by 260 against 245. The
Ministers spoke loudly of their hopes that slavery
and the slave trade would everywhere be abolished
by the better judgment of the concerned. An ounce of
action directed towards an end, is better than a pound
of hope. It is plain enough what is going to be done.
The squadron is to be removed from the coast of Africa,
on the plea of preventing the sufferings to the slaves
consequent on interfering with them in the passage,
but in reality from some indistinct expectation that a
transfer of negroes is to be established to the British
West Indies, in which the presence of the squadron
would make an awkward complication. And the
West Indians are at the same time told, that in six
years the market is to be opened to slave-grown
sugar ; after which, as the Cornish vicar said to his
parishioners when they went out of church to plunder
a wreck, " Let us all start fair."
A great deal of this is owing to the comparative
extinction of the Anti- slavery party, arising, as far as
I can trace it, out of the circulation of the opinion that
it is unchristian for a man-of-war to interfere with
a slave-ship, and to a great extent ont of a sort of
personal ill-humour conceived by a leading abolitionist
upon the failure of his Niger expedition, joined to
not seeing the depression of the slave trade on the
coast of Africa go on so rapidly as he could wish.
So now, to mend the matter, the squadron on the
coast of Africa is to be withdrawn, which the evidence
before the Slave Trade Committee demonstrates to
be equivalent to a general restoration of the slave
trade in the parts where it has been given up ; and
as a further bounty on its progress, the boon is held
out to Cuba and Brazil, of the opening of the British
market in six years, for which of course they will set
to work. Against which, on the other side, we are to
have the hope of Sir Abel Handy in the play, that
perhaps the fire will go out of itself.
While on this subject, I will mention two points
brought out by the evidence before the Slave Trade
Committee, which are at all events clues to grave
consideration. One is, that in some of our West
Indian colonies (and examination should be made how
far it is not the case in all) the wages of the free
colonial negro are already at that point, that if the
British Government were to throw negroes from
Africa on the shore gratis, by the expenditure of one
half million after another, they could not, by any de-
vice, be kept in working order for less expense than
the amount of wages now given to the free colonial
negro. And another is, that any sums given to the
African chiefs for assistance (or, as it is to be called,
permission) for their subjects to embark for the West
Indies, will have precisely the effects which would be
produced by buying up cocks and hens upon the
coast of France, with the interior open for filling up
the gap. All of which I could have told forty
years ago.
Oddly enough, the United States were named
among the countries in which slavery is to be ex-
tinguished 'by the good sense of the community.
And at the same time the Government of the
United States is casting off all pretension to pacific
or honest principle, in favour of chivalrous efforts to
extend slavery over the whole of tropical America,
combined with an understanding that the States in
which slavery is not allowed, are to preserve the
balance by extension in the North. Along with this,
the most furious feeling is exhibited towards Great
Britain, as the great origin of the opposition to
slavery, and consequently, as was once said of
negro freedom in St. ;Domingo, the " nuisance
to be put down ;" and an American army in
St. James's Park, is the form of popular
romance avowed on the occasion. If the
British Government had possessed the foresight
exercised by every man that makes a will for the
benefit of his posterity, instead of giving premiums
on. slave cultivation it would have endeavoured to
encourage and support the republics on the American
continent in which slavery was forbidden, as a
balance to that power which is already held out
in Parliament as what the influence of Britain is
likely to quail before. But on the contrary the
British Government has held the garments for the
conquest of Mexico with a view to the estab-
lishment of slave cultivation there, and will
wake up by and by in a bustle to the
discovery that the West Indies and Canada
are within the cupidity of the annexing giant. Not
so did our forefathers. With the exception of the
bad times of the Restoration when all English ob-
jects were in abeyance, they always looked to the
maintenance of independent countries having a natu-
ral jealousy of the power from which general en-
croachment was apprehended. The interest or the
right of England to support the Hollanders in the
time of Elizabeth, was never clearer than the case of
Mexico, whose independence altogether was the work
6f British statesmen. But simple men have got it
into their heads, that our forefathers were fools and
the world will take care of itself. Do ships, do
manufactories, do families ? Is there any instance of
people putting their heads under their wing, and
waking to find things going as they ought?
Mr. Hume's motion was put off till 6th July.
On Friday the debate on the Sugar Duties was
renewed, on Mr. Bright's amendment that "it is not
now expedient to make any alteration in the Sugar
Duties Act of 1846." Of course " now" means
" after seeing the Ministerial alternative." As the
Anti-Slavery party has as yet raised no banner, nor
in any substantial manner given sign of life except in
the wrong direction, there was no use in voting for
altering a bad thing to a worse, so I voted for the
amendment. Taking into account the half million
to be laid out in slave trade on the coast of Africa,
and the renewed promise to Brazil and Cuba to in-
troduce their produce if they will only apply them-
selves to get it up during an interval assigned, it may
be held a worse. The amendment was negatived by
302 against 36. It is not plain what the use of it
was, unless to demonstrate weakness, and hold up the
Free Trade party to misconstruction.
With the political economy of one argument urged
in support of the amendment, I cannot consent to
agree. It was stated that the stimulus to the Cuban
and Brazilian trade from opening the British market
must be merely temporary, and that the competition of
all the sugar-growing countries in the world must
bring down the rate of profits to their natural level,
and that there would be in a short time no greater
stimulus—if such at any time had existed—to the
slave trade than heretofore. Now imagine, when
Manchester merchants were agitating for the removal
of duties on their goods abroad, or which comes nearly
to the same the removal of duties at home on what
they wanted to bring back in return, that they had
been told the same things in the same words • and see
how quickly they would have replied, that What they
wanted was to see set up the hundred new factories at
Manchester which would be the immediate result, and
that if they only had that chance allowed them, they
would trust to the same causes for keeping them up
afterwards. I should like to hear yes or no to this
from the commercial world; and can never admit that
any speaker for the amendment " has satisfactorily
disposed of that point."
And now to resume on the French Constitution.
The National Assembly is permanent; that is to say,
is always sitting. It does not avow the absurdity of
going grouse-shooting, and giving Ministers the op-
portunity of doing what they like without the possi-
bility of being asked a question. It may not adjourn
for more than threel months. The members can al-
ways be re-elected. They represent all France, and
not the places which send them. They cannot re-
ceive any imperative commission from their constitu-
ents, but are responsible for acting on their own
judgment. They cannot be in any manner punished
nor called to account for what they say in the House,
nor arrested on a criminal charge without the previous
leave of the Assembly, unless taken in the act.
Holders of offices during pleasure, cannot sit; and
a Member cannot accept such office by vacating
_ fevie
seat. Exceptions to this, are the Ministers, mayaend.
e eceire.
other named individuals, with such as a h
toy h
after authorised by law. Membe
decline. Sit-
a payment, which they cannot rve
tings public, but with power to
go into secret
e mbeeer
com-
mittee on demand of a certain, nu
pi
The presence of half the
nary for voting a public übse ro
nofilse n
e
fiountie[ngTids wouid cause an
Bill.
out in the English
extraordinary quantity o
House of Commons. But it is to be presumed they
are only required to be there when question is put
That this Bill do pass."] Private Bills to be passed
by a number fixed by rule of the House. No public
or private Bill to be passed without being read three
times, with not less than ten days between each read-
ing. A motion represented to be of urgency, must
be introduced by a statement of the reasons, and
then go before a Committee who are to report to the
House. If reported urgent, and the House agrees,
the House to fix the time for discussion.
The President appears to be the great blot in the
Constitution ; and see if it does not so turn out.
Men might have learned by this time, that what a
free country wants is not a President for four years,;
but a responsible Minister who must resign
whenever he fails to carry with him a majority
of the representatives. The idea of a Presi-
dent, is a coarse copy from monarchical forms.
In countries where limited monarchy is interwoven
with the constitution of society, the monarch nomi-
nally exercises the office of dismissing and appointing
Ministers. But this is nominally, and nothing else ;
or if it is more, there is no point within human ex-
perience more satisfactorily established than that it
is for evil and not for good. A u active monarch, or

an active president may, once in a way, be useful in
a time of crisis, as a surgeon may. But men do not
live upon having their legs cut off, nor countries upon
times of crisis. The crisis is the exception and not
the rule, or woe to the country where it is not. The
last and crowning example of the evil of a four years'
king is in the United States, where a country in
which there was undeniably a large mass of peaceable
and honestly-disposed citizens, was hurried into the
disgrace and misery which ultimately attend the
trade of robbers, through the wretched invention of
giving a four years' lease of power to the chance off-
spring of a single popular vote. What the world has
found out it wants, is representative, or to make the
term more comprehensive, parliamentary govern-
ment. The appointment of a four years' king is a
retrograde movement towards the times when repre-
sentative government was not invented, and there
was no medium between the government of a Sultan
or of a mob. The case of a constitutional king
wrought into the habits of a community who have
been born to view him as a necessary of life, is quite
foreign to the question. If he is there, of course he
may as well be put to any use as not. But to make
a four years king for the purpose of intimating to
a minister or ministers that they have not a majority
in parliament, and; therefore must make way for
somebody that has, is like insisting on dressing up a
weather-cock with gills and feathers and all the para-
phernalia of a real animal, as if nobody
,could
tell which way the wind blowa without. Can
there be no contrivance for intimating to a Mi-
nistry that they have no longer majorities in the
Assembly, without making a four years' king to do
it ? Could it not, for instance, be done by the
Council of State ? Or could not the Assembly itself
pronounce a vote of want of confidence, which surely
is being intelligible ?
Take now the present experiment going on in
France. Why is an attempt to be made to subject
the policy of the next four years to decision by a po-
pular election, when it is plain that no decision can be
trusted to last for four months? If Louis Napoleon is
elected, then a start is to be made in the course of
Imperial conquest ; if General Cavaignac, in the
course of military repression ; and if Lamartine, in
the course of moderate republicanism, sorely damaged
by suspicions, just or unjust, of leaning towards some-
thing else. If the government is substantially to re-
side in the will of the community as expressed by its
representatives, was not an India-rubber Ministry
capable of going in and out in obedience to the various
forms this will may take, the very thing the country
wanted to prevent convulsion, and is not the other the
certain way to court convulsion and ensure violent
change ? The executive powers of the British empire
are wielded by half a dozen very quiet gentlemen in
plain clothes,who no more think of mountinglon horse-
back than of breaking windows at Charing Cross ; and
they are as well wielded as in any other country known.
Admit the necessity for military interference, and
what difference does that make ? If England had
presented a similar spectacle after the 10th of April,
and Lord Hardinge arriving from India had been
called to the military command, no man on earth
would have seen in that a necessity for appointing
Lord Hardinge to four years office independent of
parliamentary control. If wanted, make him Prime
Minister; what could he want more ? It will be found
there is a chapter still to read, before parliamentary
government establishes itself in France.
The President is to be French by birth, and not
less than thirty years of age. He is to be elected
by universal suffrage, with ballot, and have more
than half the votes. If no candidate has half the
votes, the National Assembly is to elect out of the
five highest candidates. He is elected for four years,
and not re-eligible within four years more. He is
to dispose of the armed force, but not to command it
in person. He cannot cede any territory, nor dis-
solve the Assembly, nor suspend in any manner the
rule of the constitution and the laws. He is to
present a yearly statement to the Assembly. He
negotiates treaties, but a treaty is not valid until rati-
fied by the Assembly. He has the right of pardoning,
but can only exercise it on the proposition of the
Minister of Justice, and with the advice of the
Council of State. He may demur to a public or
private Bill passed by the Assembly, and demand re-
consideration.; but the decision of the Assembly there-
after is final. He receives ambassadors, and presides at
national solemnities. He is to be provided with a'resi-
dence at the seat of government, and receive 24,0001.
sterling a year. He is to name and dismiss the Minis-
ters at pleasure, as also the diplomatic agents at foreign
Courts, commanders by land and sea, governors of
the colonies, Algeria, and the Bank of France, com-
mander of the National Guard of the department of
the Seine, Mayor of Paris, Procureurs-General, and
other superior functionaries. He can suspend mayors
and other elected office-bearers, for three months ;
but not dismiss them without the advice of the
Council of State. His acts are not effective without
being countersigned by a Minister. The President,
Ministers, and other functionaries, are responsible,
each in his own concern. The Ministers have seats
in the Assembly, and are to be heard whenever they
demand. There is to be a Vice-President elected for
four years by the Assembly on the presentation of
the President. If the Presidentship becomes vacant,
the Vice-President acts, and an election for new Pre-
sident must be proceeded with within a month. The
Council of State is a kind of Privy Council, but the
members are elected for three years by the Assembly,
and thereby vacate their seats. The Vice-President is
President of the Council of State. Passed Presidents
and Vice-Presidents are of right members of the
Council.
These seem the principal provisions relating to the
form of government. In the judicial branch, the
jury in criminal cases is continued,; a verdict of guilty
to be given by more than two-thirds. Justices of the
peace are elected by the district. The higher judges
are named for life; those of the Court of Appeal
(cassation) by the Assembly, the others by the Presi-
dent. All Frenchmen to be liable to serve in the
army and National Guard ; without allowing sub-
stitutes. The punishment of death is abolished in
political cases. Slavery cannot exist upon any
territory belonging to France. No taxes can be
levied without law. Direct taxes can only be laid
for one year; indirect may be for more. [Some
people may think this is just the wrong way.]
The essential guarantees of the right to labour, are
liberty itself of labour, voluntary association, equality
of relations between the employer and workman,
gratuitous instruction, professional education, institu-
tions for providence and credit [savings-banks, and
possibly public pawnbrokers], and the establishment
by the State of grand works of public utility,
destined in case of want of work, to employ the dis-
engaged hands. [This is not all very clear, and it
was thought safest to translate it literally. But there
appears a falling-off from the first enunciation of
" labour" [le travail] along with " liberty, equality,
security," as among the primary objects guaranteed
by the Constitution. It seems to dwindle into an
undertaking for the abolition of apprentice fees, and
for the Government's engaging in works of public
utility to the extent it may think useful ; which con-
tains nothing very new.] The public debt isgua-
ranteed; ranteed ; the Legion of Honour maintained; Al
AbnedgtohveerCnoeldonibeys a
pr e
articular d c l a r e d
laFwresn
[whichc h t rfr t
seoerjeym,
sb ug
tot
btoe
leaving them much where they were be
at
tighwth of
t
or .
aotri omn
di si
fytion hallg itvse aotn
sat
c h aTnhgei n Ng
[whichmonth
announces the desire that the Constitu
es
we should call the end of a parliament,t!oh: Ably
announces it uttiimo tlhfc
after three
be turned into a definitive resolutionree suc-
cessive deliberations,
remodelled either entirely or in part,this can only
from another and.by three- q
each
wuitahrtaernslonftethr veavlootef sa,
may be presumed to _ •
mean three-quarters of the
whole Assembly, or 675 votes though it seems ea-
,
ed
The to mean a simple majority
o
30 against 10]. A-
s-1 ca-
pable
to of
1, beingas constru
for instance
.
sembly for the purpose of revision is only to be named
• for two months [it has been stated before, that it is
to consist of 900 Members instead of 750, though it
has not been observed to be stated where the addi-
tional 150 are to be sent from] ; it is to go into no
business but the revision for which it was called to-
gether; but it may in case of urgency proceed to
such legislative measures as may be necessary [which
is something like saying it may do anything else or
not as it pleases].
The above does not profess to be an entire version,
but no important part has been intentionally omitted.
There may be some points after all, on which it
might, be difficult to arrive at accuracy, without a
lengthened comment on the original, and a French
,awyer to assist.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. PERRONET THOMPSON.
Blackheath, London, July 3, IS4B.

THE NEW DOCK AT MALTA.—The caisson which
has been constructed by Messrs. Fairbairn and Sons, of
London, for the new dock, and which was tried last year
and found defective, having had her alterations com-
pleted, had another trial made on the afternoon of the
24 ult., in the presence of Sir William Parker, Admiral
Ilarvey, the Governor, Captain Collier, and other naval
officers, and the officers of the yard, when she was found,
to the gratification of Sir William and those other officers
who had been witnesses of previous failures to answer
her purpose, by fitting well in her groove; but in order
to prove whether she fitted nicely on both sides, she was
again filled on the succeeding Monday, and after letting
in the proper quantity of water necessary fur the trial
into dock, in presence of very nearly the same officers,
she was tried on the other side with equal success. Mr.
Croll, the contracting agent, under whose superintend-
ence the alterations have been made was also present.—
United Service Gazette.
The nature of the alterations in the dress and ap-
pointments of infantry officers is gradually oozing out.
It appears now that black Spanish leather waistbelts and
stings are to be worn on all occasions, excepting when
the officers are ordered to appear in full dress. The
present blue cloaks worn by the officers are to be substi-
tuted by grey cloaks and sleeves—by no means a chop
for the better.—United Service Gazette.