The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-31 00:00:00

Ctllling 'alllt

LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1848.

The summary of the events of the present session
with which the eloquent and witty Member for
Buckinghamshire so agreeably diversified the pro..
ceedings of the House of Commons yesterday, may
afford matter for serious consideration to its Members
during the leisure of the long vacation, and, we trust,
will lead to the adoption of some alterations in the
forms of the House, alterations which may easily
be brought into operation without that perfect free-
dom of discussion, which is its most important, in-
deed, its indispensable privilege, being in any degree
impaired. We have seen magnificent promises suc-
ceeded by scanty performance, and well-founded hopes
of the attainment of comprehensive and much required
measures of reform completely dissipated. There is,
there must be, a fault somewhere, but with whom?
Can the legislative defects of the session :be fairly
ascribed to Ministers ? Is the House itself, as an
aggregate body, in any and what degree responsible
for the blighted prospects of the Parliamentary cam-
paign ? Or, finally, should individual Members be
censured for the impediments they have interposed in
the way of the general business of the country ?
These are questions that will be responded to
by the parties interrogated, according to their re-
spective predilections. Some will feel disposed
to exonerate one or more of the classes
to which we have above alluded, and to fling the full
measure of their indignation on the devoted heads of
others, who in turn will be pronounced free from
blame by their own associates or followers. Pro-
bably faults may be found on every side, and these
faults should be considered, not merely for the pur-
poses of censure, but of applying fitting remedies, so
far as may be practicable.
We are now at the close of a session of almost
unparalleled duration. Parliament has been as-
sembled for more than nine months, with but brief in-
tervals of relaxation, and yet the most important mea-
sures have been either wholly postponed, or materially
curtailed of their fair proportions, and these not mea-
sures of a trivial or insignificant character, but even
some that had been alluded to in the opening Speech
from the Throne, and the principles
,of which had
been affirmed, after prolonged discussions, by con-
siderable majorities. Need we allude to the proposi-
tion for a change in the Navigation-laws, a proposi-
tion which has on every side been admitted to be of
the moat vital importance to the national welfare,
and a necessary supplement to the great free-trade
measures of 1846 ? That was to have been pre-em

neatly the Bill of the session. It was looked for as a
:natter of justice to our colonies, who have an un-
undoubted right to complain of its postponement. They
were most properly deprived of the protection they

bad formerly enjoyed, and were they not, ea debiio
justitie, entitled to demand that the restrictions to

which they were also subjected, and which prevented
them from entering into free competition with other
nations, and selecting such markets for the disposal
of their produce, as they might think most bane-

&jai, should be abolished ? This, however, has not

been effected. Their exclusive privileges have been
taken away, but the price which they formerly paid
as more than an equivalent therefor, is still most

rigorously exacted. This is contrary to the first
principles of equity and justice, and should not be
tolerated by an upright and an honest nation.
Ministers, however, are not altogether responsible
for this untoward result. It should not be
forgotten that there are but two nights in
the week, eight in the month, and thirty-two placed

at their disposal even in a prolonged session, and
this brief period is too often invaded by the

practice so frequently resorted to by private Members
getting up discussions which consume the greater
portion, if not the whole, of evenings that should be
applied to the "voting of the necessary supplies. If,
then, eight or ten of these evenings are spent in pro-
longed discussions, and repeated adjournments take
place before the preliminary resolutions are affirmed
de the .tiouse, or the Speaker is permitted to leave
chair, how can Ministers be expected
to carry throut
which
t heir several stages all the measures
the necessity f
Witness the siz amay be most fully recognized?
eb
tardy debates on the Navigation-laws,
days' d
which would be
absolutely worthless, but that it
affords the assurance that t... justice will be done
and that ultimately there will
be no reasonable cause
of complaint in that behalf to our colonies, or to the
advocates of free and unrestricted trade, in its widest
and most comprehensive point t
the ten days' debate on the sugar. duties,
Witnesses, before
even the Bill was introduced to theiouse,
. ut
three of which were absolutely wasted by i-:lthe
"missing dispatch episode," so facetiously brought
fore
ward and pertinaciously adhered to, after any reason.r
able man would have been convinced of his error:
by the noble associate of the Honourable Member ,

for Buckinghamshire.
Under these circumstances, we should be inclined
to make every reasonable allowance for the Minis-
terial fallings off. The Premiegra so, most ably im.
dicated himself and his i.e es from the charges

Is the liberty of the Press to be abolished in France?
This is a question which just now agitates the public
mind at Paris, and it is a question which interests
Europe. Yes, insignificant as it may be considered
by the members of the Assembly, it is a question of
European interest. Should that momentous question
be answered in the affirmative— should it be decided
that the liberty of the press is to be abolished, as
surely as France has just been shaken by one revolu-
tion will she, ere long, be agitated by another. Is it
likely—is it within the limits of possibility—that a
nation who, to acquire a full exercise of their
national liberties, have exposed themselves to all the
horrors of tumult and insurrection, who have deposed
their King—their own chosen King, because he
attempted to play the tyrant—who have changed
their form of government, and disorganized their
whole political system, because it imposed too many
fetters on their freedom—is it possible that that nation
will, on the field of victory, surrender all the fruits
of their labours, and give up the prize so hardly
struggled for, and so dearly purchased ? Can any sane
man credit such a preposterous idea for a moment ?
When the revolution commenced in Paris, spread
.over Europe, and kings shook on their thrones, and
nations clamoured for their national rights, what was
the first evidence of the triumph of the Revolution—
what was the first boon voluntarily conceded by pru-
dent monarchs as the best token of their liberation—
what was first and most imperatively demanded by
every people inspired with a new-born independence
—what gloriously signalised the progress of liberalism
as it established itself in the strongholds of despotism ?
The emancipation of the press ! Throughout the
continent, wherever a whisper of national rights was
heard, wherever a breath of freedom found its way,
there the liberty of the press was established forthwith,
and its establishment was a significant, a
gloriously significant—fact. We hailed it as
such at the time. At the time when our
columns were daily filled with some new
tidings of revolution, and when those tidings,
from whatever quarter they arrived, never failed to
declare, among the first and most important intelli-
gence, "the liberty of the press has been established in
such a state"—we hailed it with sentiments of the
most profound exultation, as a conclusive evidence of
the triumph of the popular cause. When the liberty
of the press was conceded to the Italians—when the
land of GIITTEMBERG for the first time obtained the
free enjoyment of his glorious invention—when in
Austria—even in Austria—such a recognition
of the popular existence was tolerated, we felt, indeed
that we had cause to rejoice. We rejoiced over the
new life infused into hitherto dormant members of

the family of nations ; for the press is, as we have
continually repeated, the Voice of the People. If that
be silenced, the voiceless nation almost ceases to exist.

It can no longer declare its wants and wishes—it can
no longer expose its grievances or denounce its
wrongs. Unable to care for itself, it ceases to
be cared for. Unable to protect itself, it is
trampled on and bound down in fetters, and,
being dumb, it cannot cry for succour.
Knowing as we did, and appreciating as we did, the
power and the privileges of those people who were
enabled to make themselves heard, we rejoiced in
witnessing the great extensions of that national
faculty occasioned by the recent revolution. But
now, now, when the triumph is so far complete, we
are told, and we can scarcely credit the evidence of
our ears, that in France—in France /—the liberty of
the press is to be virtually abolished ! In France
—in the very theatre of the triumphs of
liberty—in Republican France ! That such a thing
should ever really come to pass we do not for a mo-

ment entertain the slightest fear, but the bare enun

ciation of such a project fills us with astonishmen

Abolish the liberty of the press in France, when
Italy, and Germany, and Austria are possessed of it
To bring back in 1848 a tyranny which was intole-
rable in 1830—to establish under the auspices of a Re-
public a system so iniquitous that crowned despots
have abandoned it I— the bare idea fills us with
overwhelming astonishment, and moreover with un-
utterable indignation.

" Francais pour vows, ah quel outrage! Quel transport
cela doit exciter,
C'est vous, qu'on ose rnediter de rendre I l'antique es-
clavage."
Notwithstanding the ominous proceedings of the
Legislature, proceedings which have called forth the
indignant remonstrances of the Parisian j ournalisti,
we cannot believe that the project will ever really be
put in practice. If it be, it can be only for a very
brief period. The people will not long sub-
mit, if they submit at all, to such an in-
fringement of their rights. No Provisional
Government, no National Assembly, no General
CAVAIGNAC even can enforce such an act of tyranny.
We again repeat it seriously and solemnly. If the
liberty of the press be abrogated in France—if the
object of the revolution be thus originally defeated—.
if the Republic be thus disgraced, and the name of
Liberty thus insulted, the Republic, or at all events
the Republic as at present constituted, will not endure
another revolution, or it will speedily efface the traces

of the (in that case) fruitless Revolution of February,

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

The Paris journals of yesterday have arrived.
General CAVAIGNAC has returned a peremptory
refusal to the request of the King of SARDINIA, that
Marshal BUGEAUD should take command of the army
of Piedmont.

As yet no definite reply has been received from
the Austrian Government in reference to the joint
mediation of France and England, at which silence
the newspapers- of Paris are beginning to evince
annoyance.

Later intelligence from Paris brings the following
important announcement :

The answer to the offer of their mediation made to
Austria by England and France reached the Marquis of
Normanby yesterday by a courier of Lord Ponsonby,
who subsequently went on to London. Austria does not
refuse the profaned mediation. She merely expresses
a hope that, through the intervention of the Central
German Power at Frankfort, peace may be directly
concluded between Marshal Radetzky and King Charles
Albert."

The Moniteur du h'oir says it was not the Prince
DE BEAUVEAU who was killed by a deplorable acci.
dent near the chateau, but M. DE SAINTE ALDE.
SONDE.

The lifoniteur publishes the usual returns of the
importations and exportations of France for the
month of July, and also for the first seven months
of 1848, with a comparative table for the corre-
sponding periods of 1846 and 1847. From this table
it appears that the exports, though considerably
greater than in June, are still deplorably low. The
duties received on importations for July, 1846, were
to the amount of 12,957,914 f. ; for July, 1847,
11,507,483 f.; and for July, 1848, only 7,285,570 f. For
the first seven months of 1846 the duties received
amounted to 87,634,664 f.; for the same period of
1847 to 77,464,158 f. ; and of 1848 to 45,446,424 f.
The exportations, especially French manufactured
articles, show a similar falling off. The entrepots
are still gorged with merchandise, for which there is
no outlet.

In addition to the intelligence already given in
The Sus respecting the escape of Louis 13ww, we
may transcribe the following paragraph from the
Spectateur Republicain of yesterday :
" After the sitting of the National Assembly on
Saturda morning, M. Louis Blanc, accompanied by a
friend, . t into a hackney carriage, and went direct to
St.. Den , where he arrived at half-past seven. The ;
i
had topissels had just passed, and M. Louis Blanc
arrivalß" {lg
i lh, ,ewiitehptai
separates
t 4daoisole hours
fromo bec forht ttfh
friend,
avoidingn ez t a
nttrhdaei nr.igo started u
rigours
On iotforsf
imprisonmeat before 3'
sFial•

that were brought forward in the brilliant oration of
the talented reviewer of the session. Seeing the un-
exampled difficulties that have been encountered, we
may well rejoice that, although we have not to congra-
tulate ourselves upon any great progress that has
been made, we have not to deplore any serious
or formidable retrogression.

The forms of the House that compel a large and
overwhelming majority to yield to the opposition of a
turbulent and factious minority should be modified,
and means should be taken to prevent licensed bores
from unduly trespassing on the patience of the
House, so that we should not at the end of the session
hear of two Members having consumed no less than
five weeks of the session—a statistical fact, which
was put forward by the Honourable Member for
Middlesex amid the applauding cheers of the wearied
Members who had such painful experience of the
loquacious powers of the gentlemen in question.
Let, this be effected early in the ensuing session,
and we shall then have less discussion, and more per-
formance, and not again have to complain of a
wasted session, ne4lected opportunities, and mis-
spent time.