The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-16 00:00:00

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benevolently conceived, and ~leveloPeirwithAs9 otdina
skill. Under present circumstances, the
..eoziehidieg-7,-:
words of that tract may have a n interest which hitherto sel
they have ndt excited. The Prisice thus winds upliis
address upon the extinction of pateperisna;--e .
" Aujourd'hui le but de tout gonvernernent babile doit
etre de tendre par ses efforts a eke qu'on puisse dire --
bieetot: le triomphe du Christianiseee a d6truit f.e.scla-
vage, le triomphe de la revolution fraticaise a detruit les
servage; le triomphe des ideas democeatiquel a tittrial
le pauperisme!"
There cant be no question that while a prisoner in the
fortress of Ham the Prince devoted his time to the study
of the state of France, and of the means of improving
the condition of the masses of the people. There is not
only gracefulness of expression, but excellent feeling in
the closing words of the preface, which bears date "Fort
de Ham, Mai, 1844." They are as follow:
" Je livre mes reflexions au public 'lens l'espoir quo,
develepiCti et mises en pratique, elks pourront eeo
utiles au sottlagement de l'hunasisiA Il est natural dans
le malheur de conger a ceux qui souffrent."
As for those who seem to think that Louis Napoleon
will be inclined to make what are called " commercial
principles" the guiding principles of his political govern-
ment, we have to offer our condolence, for we think
they will be very considerably disappointed. If that
had been the sort of Government to satisfy France, Louis
Philippe would, still be planning and intriguing at the
Tuileries. If it had been the sort of Government to sa-
tisfy by itself, and without higher aims, even the mind
of England, Sir Robert Peel woald still be balancing
and casting about what interest be might next be-
tray in the effice of First Lord of the Treasury.
About foreign commerce, and the interest France
ought to take in it, the views a Louis Na-
poleon as published four years ago, ac e these—" Au
lieu d'aller chercher des consointeateurs en Chine,
qu'on augmente done la rich esse tern: op iale ; qu'on
emploie tousles bras oisifs au profit de touter les naliares
et de toutes les industries ; ou plutot qu'on lasse I'un
et I'autre si l'on peut, mais surtout, qu'on n'oublie pas
qu u ' n pays comme la France, qui a 6 e si richement do +6
du ciel, renferme en lui-nerne tousles 06mens de sa
prosperitsi, et qbe c'est une liente pour noire civilisation
de penser qu'au 19e saesle, le dixiZgle, au moins, de la
population, est en haillons, and meurt de faim en pre-
sence de millions de produits easnutactutes qu'on ne
peut vendre, et de millions de produits du sul qu'on ne
peut consommer. • " This is indeed the disgrace of civili-
sation in more countries than France. It is a disgrace
which " commercial principles" appear to aggravate, and
not to cure. Honour to the new President if, by he -
policy be shall pursue, that disgrace of Europe may be,
even in part removed !
lIERALD.--Though a Briton's first, best country
should ever be at home, yet is impossible for any pa-
triotic Englishman, however national, or however ex-
clusively insular, to look with any feelings other than
those of the liveliest concern at the contest now going on
in France—or more properly speaking, the contest con-
cluded, though nut yet thus officially announced, in re.
ference to the Presidency. On such an important ques-
tion, no well-judging Englishman can be indifferent. It
is a matter that concerns the world—Europe—and, in a
more especial sense, England. The condition of France,.
the most powerful, the most civilised, and the most en
terprising of continental kingdoms—inhabited by six-and-
thirty millions of the most active and energetic races
in Europe—excepting always the Anglo-Saxon—can
never be a matter of indifference to us, even though we
were not within a 150 minutes' sail of Calais or Bou-
logne. If France be quiet, prosperous, and contented,
her influence and her example must re-act on other con-
tinental kingdoms. If, on the contrary, she be restless.
feverish, and disturbed, not only must she be dangerous
as a neighbour, unsafe as an ally, but perilous—most pe-
rilous—to all the nations of the earth. If this were true
at any time within 180 years, or since our Revolution of
1688, how much more true must it be—in a season like
the present—when the ancient monarchy of France has
been 18 years extinguished, and the monarchy of the
barricades, the result of popular choice, with a re-
stricted electoral franchise and two Chambers, has
for ten months given place to an unmitigated detizocracy
and universal suffrage? It was under the pressuceof
such convictions, that every day for the last three monttes
we elevated our voices in favour of Cavaignac. Raised
to the Presidency in a time of the utmost peril, he re-
stored order—re-established confidence—put down in-
surrection, and gave hostages to the moderate and the
good, by his selection of two of the ablest of French po-
litioiaus to fill vacant portfolios in his Ministry. Thst
neither his services—his moderation—his ability as a
soldier—his judgment as a politician—or his tact, ad-
dress, and eloquence as a debater—have, it appears, stood
him in any stead with the fickle nation over which he
presides, and the man who by tongue and sword has done
as much to elevate the character of his countrymen as
any living Frenchman, is in Paris, and in many of the
provinces, considered to have less claims on his nation
than one who has nothing but a bygone name to recom-
mend him—a name which he has done as much as in
him lay to render ridiculous, if not worse than ridicte-
lous, to all sane and well-thinking men. This result
speaks little for the boasted advantages of universal suf-
frage—little for the intelligence, gratitude, or sense of
public duty appertaining to the majority of French
electors. It convinces us more than anything else could,
that the great mass of Frenchmen are unchangeable, or
at least unchanged; and that, instead of a wise, a peace-
loving, and a moderate man—instead of a Washington
or an Adams—they desire a Polk or a Cass in the person
of the most ridiculous, the most turbulent, the most
noisy, and the most notorious of the name of Bona-
parte. It cannot be for anything he has himself done
that the great mass of electors in Paris and in many
of the provinces have voted for Louis Napoleon, for
he has really done nothing but to provoke either
laughter or silent contempt. It must, thefore, be from
the recollections of the name or of the epoch of the
Consulate or of the Empire—in a word, from the me-
mory of the First Consul or Emperor Napoleon—that
they have polled in such overwhelming numbers for his
nephew. Now, what do these recollections suggest but
periods of aggression, conquest, and spoliation—periods
when all Continental Europe was invaded and overrun,
to gratify the mad ambition of one man, who, being the
sou of a provincial attorney, carved out for himself, by
the power of his sword and the blood of millions, a con-
sulate and an empire?—an empire found even too small
and puny for his insatiable ambition. Do Frenchmeg
wish to see such a reign restored again? Do French-
men again desire to disturb Europe, and destroy its ba-
lance? If so, we can understand the votes the Bona-
partist partisans have given—for such votes would be
the logical sequence of such principles of rapine and
disorder. But if this be the ripime sought to be
again established by the sword, the rest of Europe will
be confederated as one man against such desperate de-
signs, and there is not an individual—from the White
Sea to the Adriatic—from the Bay of Cadiz to the
mouths of the Scheldt and the Medway—that will not
desire, and, as far as in him lies, try to accomplish the
destruction of such an iniquitous and detestable do-
minion—a dominion subversive of the weak—threatening
even the strongest. It may be that the Bonapartists re-
pudiate such principles—it may be that Louis Napoleon
disavows such doctrines ; but if their vote mean not
this,, it means nothing at at all—it is foolish, nosen-
sical, and inexplicable; and we rather incline to think
they prefer to cloak and decently drape their hateful
purposes, than to avow them in all their nudity. As to
the candidate for whom these suffrages are given, though
he may disavow these purposes a hundred times,
he is not the less dangerous, thotraAh he may
be more despicable. He is but an instrument
in the hands of millions—and as he is driven
by them so must he go. Should he presume to have a
will of his own—should he disappoint them in the ex-
pectations of their vote, he will thee become as unpo-
pular as that good General, still chief of the Executive
power, who might have won their favour by marching
into Belgium, Germany, or Italy—but who preferred the
path of honesty and honour—the path of peace—to the
gratification of his personal ambition. Some there are,
no doubt, who have voted for Louis Napoleon, actuated
by no such feelings as these. Adherents of the elder
branch—monarchists quand meme, who played the same
game under the reign of Louis Philippe—in the hope--
the vain hope—of a restoration of the elder branch—
have repeated the trick under the Republic. But the game
is a" underhand, a false and tricky game," to use the words
-
of Lord Stanley, and it will not be more successful under
the Republic then under the Monarchy of the barricades.
Some of the Orleanists also have given into this worse
than folly—this wickedness—ha* Louis Napoleon is to
them as illegitimate as Louis Philippe was to Henry V.
But if tactics and shifts such as these did not succeed
with legitimacy to back them, how casothey succeed in
the case of a family chosen by the people l •
n 1830 and
dismissed by the people in 1848? Another
sheer disc liticians have vote
pp Napoleon from pure and
ointment. They have voted fur him, not
that they have faith in the man—that they love his per-
son—or respect his und t cl.
tee an ing—but they have voted
for him because his ' rival, General Cavaignac, has been
insensible to th •
himself their supposed merits and has not availed
of their services. Such characters are MM.
Theirs and Bugeaud. Anything mre thanetty—anything
more personal, false, and deceitiul the conduct of
M. Thiers in this business of the election it were im-
possible to conceive. But on this subject, as well as the
effect of Louis Napoleon's election on foreign nations,
we shall have more to say before the next week shall
have passed away.

__-
ACCIDENTS ON THE SHREWSBURY AND CHESTER
RAILWAY.— We regret to state that two accidents, in
both cases attended with fatal conteqtzences, have oc-
curred on this line of railway. On Tuesday last a guard
met his death at the Wrexham station, under the follow-
ing circumstances:—His name is William Stokes, and it
appears that he left the Chester station with a coal train
and on its arrival at Wrexham, soon after one o'clock,, he got down for the purpose of unhooking several of the
waggons, with the view of leaving them at the Wrexham
station. having effected his object he was in the act of
passing from between the waggons, when he was acci-
dentally caught between the buffers, and crushed in a
fearful manner. He was immediately extricated, and
carried to the infirmary, where, in a short time, he died.
The other accident occurred a few days previously to a
man named John Evans, a timekeeper on the Oswestry
branch, who, it appears, had been run over by a train
near the Rednal station. The dectased had been drink-
ing, and it is supposed had fallen down and gone to
sleep, as his body lay across the line. When the train
came up the engineer saw and immediately tried to stop
the train, but did not succeed until the whole bad passed
over the deceased. He was conveyed to the Salop Infir-
mary, where it was ascertained that he had sustained
two compound fractures of the legs, the limbs being
nearly separated from his body, a fracture of the right
aim, and a fracture of each of his bladebones. He died
in an hour and a half after hisadmission.
SOUTH AMERICA.—By the arrival of the Dyson
from Pernambuco at Liverpool we are in possession of
advises from that place to the 7th of November. Ex-
change on England, 25d. per milrca; money plentiful.
Cotton in good supply at 4 dolls. per arrobs. there is
no news of any importance by this arrival.