The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-28 00:00:00

Willff ::.111L

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1848.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, on Friday
• evening, attempted to justify the new loan for
2,000,000/. sterling, ,ahich he asked the House to
sanction, principally upon the ground that he had
in the early part of the session proposed a temporary
: increase of the income-tax from three to five per
cent. fur a limited period of two years, which, if con-
ceded, would have realised 3,500,000/. or thereabouts
per annum, but that the proposal had not been re-
ceived with any favour by the House, and was
consequently abandoned. The result of this refusal
has been, that he is now obliged to create a perma-
nent addition to our national debt, to grant a new
mortgage upon the labour and the industry of our
children. We shall readily concede to Sir CHARLET.
WOOD, that the only species of taxation which could
have been resorted to without occasioning a degree of
public excitement, that would have been highly pre-
judicial to the best interests of the country, was a direct
impost, and that it was not advisable to have recourse
to a permanent tax for the purpose of defraying a
temporary excess of expenditure. We must, however,
most emphatically deny the assertion of the Right
Hon. Bart., "that the House and the country were
nut prepared to submit to increased taxation for a
short period."
There was undoubtedly the strongest objection,
both in and out of the Legislature, to provide
fur estimates which it was believed were framed
upon extravagant calculations, and which might have
been very materially reduced without in any degree
diminishing the efficiency of our establishments,
or decreasing the national strength below that
which the ominous and lowering aspects of
the political horizon, both at home and
abroad rendered essential to the honour and
safety of the empire. That such an optnion was
well founded has been established on the clearest and
most unanswerable evidence, namely, that no less than
p')d,0001. has been struck of the various estimates
in consequence of the economy thus rendered neces•
nary.

It was not, however, a desire to enforce a strict
attention to that salutary economy which was so
urgently required by the country, that constituted
the sole or even the principal objection to the con-
templated increase of the income-tax. The country
would, we believe, have been prepared to make any
reasonable sacrifice that could have been demanded, and
to have. raised the national income, at least, to an
equality with the national expenditure ; so that if the
enormous weight of our debt was not mitigated, it
should not have been increased without the most ur-
gent necessity. But the Minister of Finance refused
to make any concession to the universal feeling of
the community ; he peremptorily declined to listen to
any modification of the unjust and iniquitous prin-
ciple of the Act. He insisted that the tax
should be equally levied upon every de-
scription of income, however obtained; that
the professional man, the merchant or the trader,
should contribute es largely upon the amount of his
precarious and hardly-earned profits as the lordly in-
heritor of wide-spread domains, or the wealthy fund-
holder—that income which was not worth four years'
purchase, end out of which a considerable portion
should be set aside to make provisions for a future
day, when shattered health or failing energies might
no longer permit unremitting toi', or when death
might snatch away the solo provider from his
helpless and almost destitute family, should contri-
bute as largely as realised property. This perti-
nacious and obstinate adherence to an impost
so unequal in operation, and so unjust in principle,
excited the strongest indignation. It the tax hau
been granted it was too ridiculous to suppose
that it would have been remitted at the
end of two • years aye, or of ten years.
It was of too convenient a character to be easily
given up when once it had been in operation, and
there were too many indirect taxes unduly pressing
upon the energies and paralyzing the industry of the
nation, which should be got rid of the moment there
was any appearance of a surplus. If there was to be
any attempt to obtain a more equitable adjustment of
the tax it should have taken place at the moment.
The people felt this, and they spoke out boldly and
manfully. They did not, we again assert, object to
have an amount levied sufficient to defray all the
necessary expenditure of the country, but they most
properly refused to perpetuate a system founded on
the grossest injustice, the most unequal and partial
assessment.

Sir CHARLES WOOD =lSt not suppose that he can
dictate to the House and country, or that he can, in a
fit of ille humour, because the Legislature refuses
to sanction the particular mode in which he desires
that the tax should be levied, abdicate the duties
of his office, and refuse to provide a substitute for the
rejeetedimpost. So long as he continues in office he is
the public servant, and he must obey the wishes of
those by whom he is retained. We trust that he will
feel it to be his duty to bow to the general wishes of
the community, and that if his present demand be
toeomplied with he may, at the very least, pledge himself
bring forward at the very commencement of next
session a proposition for a more equitable apportion-
ment
of the income-tax with reference to
the actual
value of the property in respect of which it is
made.

Since the general election of 1847 there have been
severalin of the
a succession of supplemental contests
boroughs and counties of the United Kingdom. And
these contests have, without one exception,been in-
variably preceded by prolonged and laborious
tigations before Committees of the House of ICon es.
mons. Indeed we cannot but regard the legislatial,e.
emptiness of the present session of Parliament as very
easily explicable—first, on account of these tedious
electioneering inquiries—secondly, in consequence of
tke loquacity of the representatives and the heavy
discussions into which they have been seduced, by a
Billy Ambition to have their eloquence paraded in the
colgrar4 co! the newspapers—thirdly, by reason of the

distracting and reiterated interruptions of such men
as Mr. ANSTEY and Mr. URQUHART--4011Ythly, from
the extraordinary occurrences which have agitated
the nations of the continent, and which have induced
our senators to pause and observe their progress in
astonishment-s-and fifthly, from the embarrassing
position of affairs in the monetary world in general,
and in the political atmosphere in Ireland
in particular, a position so remarkable and
unprecedented as to account in some measure
for the delay of the Executive, and for the bewilder-
ment of the Legislature. That, we take it, is the only
rational explanation of the causes which have rendered
the Parliamentary session of 1848 so barren in bene-
ficial enactments. Were we to speak otherwise we
should be doing an injustice to the Lower House and
to the members of the Administration. In review-
ing the recent history of the Russell Government,
the journalist is compelled, in all fairness of con-
science, to take into accqunt the wonderful nature of
the events in the midst of which that Government has
latterly been acting. If the political councils of Eng-
land have been comparatively fruitless in measures of
an ameliorative character, they have been most fruit-
ful in precautionary and conservative proceedings—
proceedings precautionary against danger, and conser-
vative of the constitution. If the ruling Cabinet has
done little towards the diminution of the evils which
still remain in existence, it has accomplished much
towards the preservation of the many blessings
which appertain to the citizens of the British
empire—it has vindicated the majesty of the
law and the glory of order, it has proclaimed the in-
violability of the constitution, it has tended materially
towards the permanent consolidation of our na-
tionality. Let not all this be forgotton ; and let it
not be forgotten that the Russell Administration has
earned for itself the right to this eulogium when
other Governments have been hurled into ruin, when
monarchies have reeled to their foundations, when
some of the most profound and wily statesmen of the
age have been driven into exile after having goaded
their respective countries into the majestic agonies of
revolution, when the streets of Paris, of Berlin, of
Vienna, of Milan, and of Naples have been soddened
with the blood of their inhabitants, and when panic,
destitution, and carnage have ravaged, from one ex-
tremity to the other, the fairest kingdoms of conti-
nental Europe. If the merit of having maintained
law, and]order, and constitutional liberty inviolate,
within the boundaries of these islands be considered
insufficient by posterity, even when it is remem-
bered that all this has been done simultaneously
with the• convulsion of a whole continent the
historian may shed an additional lustre upon
the memory of our present administrators by
recording that those administrators have secured the
peace of the world, notwithstanding the violent
passions excited among the insurgent races of the
Europeans. We are aware that it has of late become
the fashion to rail against the Russell Cabinet as a
do-nothing Administration, and we are perfectly con-
scious that in pronouncing this deserved eulogium on
its career, we may be assailed ourselves as grievously
out of the mode, if we be not actually vituperated
against as sycophantic. Nothing whatever of this
nature—neither the dread of derision, nor the fears of
slander—can affect in any manner the angle in which
the index-finger of our opinion is pointed. There-
fore it is that we speak thus deliberately of the merits
and the demerits of the ruling Government. Had its
members been statesmen of surpassing genius, they
might have accompanied this conservation of
order, peace, and liberty, with acts such
as would have enrolled their names among
those of the most illustrious reformers of their
country. As they were, however, altogether devoid
of those almost miraculous powers of administration,
as they possessed merely intelligence, courage,
patriotism, and a conscientious integrity, they have
only prevented evils which would have been fraught
with disasters, without daring to adventure upon
measures which, while they would have covered
them with the national gratitude, were in reality
altogether beyond the limits of their capabilities.
We have been induced to take this retrospective
glance at the career of Lord Jour; RUSSELL'S Admi-
nistration, because we observe that the conduct of
that Administration (and inferentially the entire cause
of Liberalism) has been traduced in the course of
those supplemental elections to which we have
already alluded. To mention an instance in point,
there is the pending election at Derby, throughout
the arrangements for which we perceive the most
insidious allusions to the cause of Liberalism, and
the most unjust and unjustifiable misrepresentations
of the conduct of the present Government.
By these means it is hoped that the Con-
servative candidate, Mr. JAMES LORD, the
barrister, and Mr. FRESUFIELD, the chairman
of the 4.3urrey Quarter Sessions, may be forced
into the representation, while the Liberal
candidates, Mr. MICHAEL THOMAS BASS and Mr.
LAWRENCE HEYWOUTII are signally rejected. We
cannot for a moment imagine that the electors of
Derby will . permit such a decision, a decision
which would be derogatory to their character
whether in regard to its consistency, its energy, or its
judgment. It is surely not in the autumn of 1848 that
Derby is to witness the local triumph of Toryism--
that Derby which in 1833 returned STRUTT and CA-%
VENDIEH ; in 1835, STRUTT and PONSONBY; in 1841,
STRUTT and PONSONBY again; and in 1847, STRUTT
and GOWER. Until a final majority on the close of
the poll has pronounced in favour of Messrs. LORD
and FRESUFIELD we will not entertain any doubt as
to the consistency, the energy, or the judgment of
the Derby constituency.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday arid
yesterday.
The debate in the National Assembly on the re-
port of the Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of
May and June, the commencement of which we
published in The Sun of Saturday, lasted until six
o'clock on Saturday morning. The Assembly, on
the motion of General CAVAIGNAC, passed to the
order of the day immediately after the parties incul-
pated by the report of the Committee had been heard
in their defence. The political part of the discussion
having been thus disposed of; the law officers of the
Republic made format application to the Chamber
for permission to prosecute CAUSSIDIERE and Lours
BLANC as accompl;xes in the affair of the 15th of May.
This permissirni was granted by an immense ma-
jority, and an order issued for their arrest. A de-
mand for permission to prosecute CAUSSIDIERE for
his connexion with the insurrection of June, which
would have the effect of delivering him over to the
Council of War, was refused by a majority of 88. '
The following is the report of the conclusion of the
debate, continued from The Sun of Saturday :
M. Louis Blanc—Placed for some time under the
falsest and most outrageous accusations, it is with diffi-
culty that I can maintain the calm which self-respect im-
poses. There is one circumstance which particularly
strikes me in this debate, and that is, that the men who
accuse us were avowed partisans of the monarchy, and
always combated the Republic ; whilst we, who are
accused, are, on the contrary, Republicans, are the men
who have shed our blood, who have suffered for the Re-
public, who have fifty times risked our lives for it. The
Republicans were made over by the last Governments
to public execration—they were branded as men
of blood and the scaffold. But when they obtained
power they proclaimed the abolition of the penalty of death
for political offences—they did not pronounce a single
word of hatred, of vengeance, or of ill-will—they
did not suspend a single journal, and they loudly
proclaimed in the Government respect for the sacred
principles which they had previously defended. "Of
'what, continued M. Louis Blanc, "am I accused ?
Of the speeches I delivered I Then, it is, in fact, a
veritable proces de tendance, which is brought forward
against me !" M. Louis Blanc then proceeded to exa-
mine the charges made against him, and especially the
idea of the creation of a Ministry of Labour and Pro-
gress. On the latter point he stated that it was with
repugnance he had consented, on the representations of
M. Arago, to accept the mission of the Luxembourg,
and he detailed under what circumstances the decree
reducing the number of working hours was issued. He
declared that his acts might be attacked, but that he
would always defend the doctrines on which they were
based. He next energetically denounced the principle
of free competition, and presented an apology of so-
cialism, explaining its objects and tendencies.
(The murmurs of the Assembly interrupted this part of
M. 'Louis Blatic's discourse.) He afterwards proceeded
to notice the facts set forth in the report of the Com-
mittee of Investigation ; and declared that all the
speeches he had delivered at the Luxembourg had been
publishedon,riFiis,tpee rceszet ite tnn in the Meet. If the speech brought for-
ward by the Committee had not been reported like the
wast
the because it was delivered on an occasion
onectead with the meetings of the Luxembourg.
o
,elheectsioainds:
andha it d demanded
thathis
advice w
occasion
he had delivered the speech in question, into which, in
the warmth of improvisation, some expressions, which
perhaps were
exaggerated, had sliped
would certainly, and which he
have struck out (asp was done every day
_ . .

in speeches delivered at the national tribune, and re-
ported in the Moniker), if he had intended to have had
it published in the official journal of the Republic. M.
Louis Blanc then defended or excused the terms of the
speech ; and, after proceeding for some time, stated that
he was extremely fatigued, and requested the Assembly
to allow him a few moments' repose.
The sitting was accordingly suspended., and after some
minutes, the President announced that M. Louis Blanc,
in consequence of his great fatigue, had requested that
the sitting might not be resumed until half-past seven.
This was agreed to, and the Assembly adjourned.
The sitting was resumed at a quarter to eight o'clock.
M. Louis Blanc again occupied the tribune. He pro-
ceeded to defend himself from the charges brought
against him in the documents connected with the report.
Referring to the affair of March 11", he stated that he
had gone to his colleagues to inform them of the intention
of the people to put back the elections. He went so far
even as to offer his resignation, but it was not accepted.
He then went to the workmen, and employed all his in.
fluence to induce them to preserve order; the conse-
quence was, that 200,000 workmen paraded the streets
without uttering a cry of hatred. In fact, the attitude
of the people was so admirable, that the next day the
Provisional Government published a proclamation thank-
ing them for their devotedness. As to April 16, far
from its being a manifestation directed by :he work-
men against the Government, as had been stated.
it was precisely the contrary. lie looked on
M. de Lamartine's opinions as likely to win
over to the Republic certain parties, as his (M.
L. Blanc's) were calculated to keep the working classes
in order.—(Rumours.) That opinion he had sometimes
expressed thus, " You are the guarantee of progress,
and lam of order."--(Loud denial.) He denied that he
had in any way contributed to the t creation of the na-
tional workshops. They had been established, not by,
but against him. He had never placed his foot within
the doors of one of these establishments. He denied
that he had influence over the workmen found in them,
and quoted two documents emanating from the national
workshops, declaring that neither he nor. the delegates
of the Luxembourg were to be listened to in those es-
tablishments. Arriving at the affair of May 15, the
Hon. Representative gave the same account of his share
in the proceedings as he had previously laid before the
Chamber. He again declared that he deeply regretted
that manifestation. He stated that Barb& had the day
before promised him to prevent his club from taking part
in the affair; it was quite incomprehensible what could
have induced him to change his mind. He denied having
been at the Hotel de Ville on May 15, though he ac•
knowledgeti that his heart was there, because he was
anxious about his two friends whom he knew to be there.
He then alluded to the deposition of M. Trelat, who
had spoken of offers made to M. Emile Thomas by him
(M. Louis), and said that M. Emile Thomas had said to
hial=" The deposition of M. Trelat is a lie."—(Move-
merit.) . "I, on my side," said M. Louis Blanc, "deny
that my visit to the workshop of Clichy was of a poli-
tical, neture, it merely referred to their association." He
defied any one to connect him in any way. with the
insurrection of June, as he had never quitted the As-
sembly. He declared that on June 23, so far was he
from having any thought of organizing an insurrec-
tion, that he had brought with him notes in reply to a
speech of M. de Montalemberes. Any person who could
urge his fellow men to civil war, was, he said, an in-
famous wretch, and such a character could not be given
to him. Ho concluded by declaring that his address was
intended altogether for those who were not personally
acquainted with him ; for those who knew him well it
was not necessary.—(Approbation on the Left.)
M. Trelat repelled with indignation the insinuation
that his deposition contained a falsehood. He declared
that this was the first time be had ever been accused of
telling an untruth, and he cOuldaffirm solemnly that his
deposition was correct.

M. Louis Blanc said that the lie lay between M. Trelat
and M. Emile Thomas ; it must be either one or the
other.—(Disapprobation.)
M. Caussidi4re then ascended the tribune with an im-
mense roll of papers, and read a written defence. He
announced that he should divide his statement into three
parts—consisting of general facts, the affair of May 15,
and the insurrection of June. By the first point ho
meant the acts of his administration, and he must ex-
press his astonishment that the great services which
he had rendered to the country could be unadmitted
by the Assembly. However, his return as represen-
tative by 154,000 votes of the burgesses of Paris
was a proof of how the public, looked on them.
—(Marks of denial.) He dwelt on the order which, he
stated, he had preserved in Paris—a matter of such dif •
ficulty in times of resolution. Referring to the address
mentioned in the report us having been made by him to
the Commissaries of Police, he maintained that his sole
object was to set aside everything that could excite dis-
cord amongst the various classes of the population, and
hence the strong expressions of that document. He
quoted, as a proof of his anxiety to avoid everything
that might offend, his own polite language in his reply
to the drivers of hackney coaches.—(Loud laughter.)
Speaking of the intention attributed to him of burning
Paris, lie denied the truth of the assertion, and said
that he had unceasingly demanded the creation of a now
company of firemen. Coming to the affair of the 15th
of May, the Honourable Representative repeated the
same explanations that he had previously given to the
Assembly, and handed in to the President several docu-
ments in proof of his assertions. Alluding to the insur-
rection of June, the Honourable Representative denied
in the strongest manner that he had been in any way
whatever mixed up in the matter. He adduced argu-
ments to prove that it was impossible that he could have
been at the barricades at the time alleged, and endea-
voured to prove an alibi for himself in the case. Allud-
ing to Chenu's evidence, he affirmed that the bad cha-
racter of that person rendered his assertions quite un-
worthy of credit. The Hon. Representative then alluded
to the manner in which his private character had been
calumniated, and asked who could allege any dishonour,
able act against him? Ile called in question the evi-
dence of M. Trouve-Chauvel relative to him, and in-
sisted on it that the Hon. Representative had been mis-
taken. M. Trouve Chauvel's opinion that he (Caussi-
diere) had been implicated in the affairs of May and
June was of little value, being after all only an opinion.
After alluding at great length to other testimonies
against him, the Hon. Representative concluded by pro.
testing his devotedness to the Republic.
M. Trouve-Chauvel observed that nothing that had
been said in the course of the discussion was of a nature
to induce him to change his opinion.
M. Flocon would call on M. Heckeren to relate to the
Assemble the declaration which he had just now stated
in the lobby.
M. Heckeren (who is a tall stout man like M. Caussi-
diere)—What I said was, that some National Guards
had taken me for M. Caussidiare.
The President—l have now to communicate to the
Assembly a requisitory from the Procureur-General of
the Court of Appeal at Paris.—(The Hon. Gentleman
read the document which demands authorization from
the Assembly to allow judicial proceedings to be insti-
tuted against Louis Blanc and Marc Caussidiere, as par-
ticipators in the affairs of .May 15 and June 23, in con-
sequence of new charges brought forward in the judicial
investigation and the parliamentary inquiry.)
M. Laurent (de l'Ardeehe) should propose that the
Assembly, before taking that demand into consideration,
ought first to close the discussion on the report, which
I was altogether political.
M. Bac observed that the present demand for autho-
rization to prosecute was to be expected, as the journals
had been speaking for some time back ageism the re-
publicans of the veille. He complained of the manner in
which the demand had been made—so late at night, and
in a Chamber worn out with fatigue. He then entered
into an examination of the charges alleged against M.
Louis Blanc and M. Caussidiere, and came to the conclu-
sion that there was no good reason to proceed against
ee"aTt
questionr oe:- m o r r oowl ! a T
po -oms
top rornoewmi
e"n ht e
wasr e a r
put
them. He designated the present course of the proceed-
ings
aeu Loud
eofut.p cries
de
Teo ghth.
ofrnolinho the Chair, and rejected.
M. Lagrange attacked the manner in which the Com-
mittee had performed its duty. In place of reaching the
true culprits, it was striking the republicans.—(Cries of
" Enough! Enough!" " Divide!")
beforebene
it be known why these documents were not published.
M. Ledru Rollin—Do you intend before you close the
discussion on the political inquiry to pronounce at once
on the judicial investigation? I declare that you cannot
close the political discussion. The honour of several
discussion'ncl
members of the Committee is at stake.—(Tumult.)
printed. B-
esides,
s impossible
importantdcolcousemetnhtes
have
There was amongst the rest a Legitimist proclamation,
M. De Larcy could affirm such a document had not
come before the Committee.
A Member—A colonel of gendarmerie arrested a man
with a Legitimist proclamation, and it was sent to the
proper authorities. That man declared that he had
fought at the barricades for Henry V. The document
ought to have been placed before the Committee; it was
given to the Prefect of Police, and in the three volumes
that had been printed it did not appear.
The President of the Council—l demand permission
of the Chamber to return to a previous incident. One
of the Hon. Deputies spoke of a coup -de theatre which
had been long prepared ; it is therefore essential that the
true state of things should be pointed out. While the

innriinryitswdausti
proceed-
ing at the same time. The demand which we have just
proceeding,e
s ; the
jud itchi
ael Gi
novveesrtizaet
inotnwwa sa
snot want
made is not at all the result of the political inquiry but
of the judicial one.--(Sensation.) The Government is
desirous that the discnssion should be promptly brought
to a conclusion. We have not wished, neither ought we
to wish, that this demand for authorization should lead
to a fresh discussion. The Government did not inter-
fere until after the political debate. If we had in a few
days hence raised a fresh discussion we should have
failed in our duties ; we desired that the Assembly
should be prepared to decide in one single discussion.
A Voice from the Left—ln that case why show such
inveteracy against those men ?
M. Louis Blanc.--I demand that the political and the
judicial facts sheuld remain united in the same discus-
sion. Proceedings have been already demanded against
me; the Chamber has rejected them, and it cannot go
back on its decision.

A Voice.—But if there aro fresh charges? •
M. Louis Blanc.—There is not an honest man in the
country who dues not in his conscience proclaim me
innocent.—(" Oh, oh," and laughter.) What it is
wished to strike in me is not a guilty man, but a poli-
*cal opponent.
M. Conic, the Procureur-General, said that three
things had gone on concurrently to enlighten the law
officers—the judicial instruction on affairs of May 14;
the military instruction on the insurrection of June;
and the judicial investigation on the same. Therefore
the facts were well known. M. Louis Blanc ought to
bear in mind that since the last demand for authoriza-
tion new facts bad come to light.
M. Louis Blanc again protested against the course

ad d.
The President of the Council--We certainly wish to