The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, N6tEMBEIi, 27, 1848.

Ever since royalty was replaced by republicanism
in Paris, the reactionaires have been striving to
destroy the reputation, and, by destroying the repu-
tation, to annihilate the influence of.the distinguished
men who have succeeded each ether in the high
offices of the democratic Government. No calumny
has been too base, no conspiracy too atrocious, no
insinuation too extravagant, in the furtherance of a
counter-revolution. Nor has the glaring insignifi
canoe of each of the anti-republican parties been
sufficient to deter them from endeavouring to under-
mine the institutions established in February. Per-
ceiving
the disproportion of their respective forces,
they
have consented to abandon their old jealousies
for a time, to the end that by the combination of
their otherwise impotent
a
tjnnumbers
they and scattered
the
may be n
aatagonists to present to their
a front in some agree
fence have originated all
the
fiil32'nt
depre-
cation, all the serious accusationso the insinuations of ambition
tYvain-gloriousnessail
which have laen incessantly levelled
of the Republican Administration. against the chiefs
guise they have appeared, their attsbetegr whatever
ntwe been
identical in their motive, and anat:.Kous ir,
city. Whether they have presented tiwroLs;
ierivatro-
. o
the public gaze, in the splenetic slanders of M. Ems,it:
nE GIItARDIN, ur in the ridiculous conceits of m.
Ji-Gitosn; PATUILOT, or in the sardonic manifestoes of
the Abbe DE LAMENNAIS, they have been i :variably
the same—the same in purpose, he 5ar..,.; in ran-
cour, the same in subtlety, audacity, and
determination. They have banded together
the forces of Legitimatists, Socialists, and Bona-
psrtists, the parti of the lendemain, and th 3 parti
prctrcB, the adherents of LIEN.: Ging, and the
wonhipi,ers of ROBESPIERRE, the lovers the white '
cockade and the builders of the barricades, the for-
gets of June and the mouchards of November—every
faction likely to inflict an injury on republicanism,
and to fals.fy the aspirations which were born from
the days of February.
Whenever a man conspicuous for genius, or cou-
rage, or eloquence, or sirtue, or patriotism, has
emerged from the revolution, and a-surned by virtue
of his merits the reins of Government--that man has
instantly become the object against which all the
plots of the reactionary party have 'hen directed.
First of all the schemes of these unprincipled con-
s?ira:ors w ere levelled at the Provisimal Government
in the aggregate, then at the Executive Commission,
Rnil ultimately at the military Pic 'ntorship which
ititIEJACa • the , dowufal of 'those tw .;fugitive but
glorious Administration:: Because ARstio had

during the times of peace directed his great in-
tellect to the study of the stellar magnificence
of the universe, he was sneered at as a
philosopher whose steps were in the sky, not upon the
earth, whose capacities lay in the celestial regions of
astronomy, and not in the mundane regions of chi-
cane, hypocrisy, and resolution—the oxygen, hydro-
gen, and azote forming the atmosphere of statesman-
ship. And yet ARAGO, during two months and
upwards, held the portfolio both of War and Marine ;
and at the period of his retirement from his Minis-
terial duties left both those departments of the public
service in an astonishing state of discipline and effec-
tiveness. DUPONT (DR L'EuRE) was derided, because
of his age and simplicity, and yet for a considerable
time that venerable man preserved the dignity of his
office as President of the Provisional Government,
and instilled into the hearts of his colleagues those
sentiments of pure and unselfish devotion which had
throbbed in his own bosom before the first National
Assembly was dissolved. MARIE was scoffed at as
an incapable, as one of the embodied mediocrities of
the law, as a man unfitted for great emergencies, and
incapacitated from dedicating more than the
energies of an indifferent intellect to the
service of his fellow-citizens : and yet
MARIE was the man whose voice proclaimed
the horror with which the insurgent demagogues
were regarded by the lovers of order and moderation.
LAMARTINE, again, was, in spite of his heroic and il-
lustrious conduct throughout the most terrible • d
perio...s
of the revolution, rendered for a long while the prin-
cipal object of the calumnies of the counter-revolu-
tionists. Because he had already rendered his name
immortal as a poet, he was pronounced to be a mere
political visionary. Because he had revealed his
matchless powers of oratory in vindicating the glories
of classic literature, he was declared to be fitted only
for the rostrum of a pedagogue. Because he had written
History like TRUCTDIDRS, he was asserted to have
disqualified himself from acting History like EPAMI.
RONDA& He was accused of peculations in the
national treasury—although his fortunes had been
injured to the extent of five or six hundred thousand
francs, in consequence of the unexpected outburst of
the revolution. He was charged with the shedding
of the blood of the people—although his noble heart
was the first to conceive, his hand to subscribe, and
his life to proclaim, the famous decree abolishing for
ever the punishment of death for political offences. He
was taxed with a mal-administration of the foreign af-
fairs of the young Republic—although the skilful and
honourable policy adopted by him in the conduct of
that department had kept France in tranquillity and
preserved peace in Christendom. He was said to
have rendered his Government a mere talking Go-
vernment and not an acting Government—although,
in addition to the decree already mentioned, he had
himself created the Garde Mobile, he had himself
secured to the multitude the inestimable prerogative
of Universal Suffrage, he had himself convoked and
inaugurated the National Assembly of nine hundred
representatives. Beyond this, he was actually accused
of weakness—he whose daring eloquence had alone
preserved France from Terrorism, Paris from the
Guillotine, and Europe from an inundation of blood
and crime, and destruction in the terrible crisis of Fe-
bruary ! he whose band had hurled back the red flag
when offered to him with the menaces of an infuriated
rabble ! he who bad declared to the Socialist insur-
gents, as early as March, that he would never sign his
name to the words Organization du Travail, not if he
were standing before a whole park of artillery ! he
who had taken the Hotel de Ville in the days of May,
who had incarcerated the rebels in Vincennes, who
had fought on horseback in the rebellion of June, at
the head of the National Guard, the Garde Mobile,
and the Army, by the side of the Commander-in-
Chief and at the foot of the barricades ! One
by one these accusations emanated from the
conspiracies of . the reactionaires : one by one
they were disproved or dissipated. M. DE LA.
MARTINE condescended to reply to the charges of
his assailants, and that, too, in a volume which has
been unanimously declared, even by the exacting
judgment of the ex-Chancellor BROUGHAM, to be a
complete and almost sublime vindication.

Foiled in all their preceding attempts, the Anti-
Revolutionists have aimed one last and desperate
blow at the reputation of the Republic in the person
and character of General EUGENB CAvaioNec.
This adventure was the more formidable, inasmuch
as it was immediately prior to the election
of a President, and the more lamentable,
inasmuch as many of the oldest and most

patriotic of the republicans had been deluded
into a quarrel by the secret influence of their common
enemies. Elaborate, however, as were the precautions
taken to ensure the SUCCe3S of this last effort of ma►ice,
every one of those precautions has proved altogether
ineffectual. On Saturday the discussion took place
in the Palace of the National Assembly, and CA-
TAIGNAC was pronounced, by a majority of 469 in a
house of 537, to be not only free from blame in re-

gard to the insurrection of June, but to have deserved
well of his country through the patriotism displayed
by him on that occasion, as well as during the subse-
quent period of his dictatorship.

We are by no means desirous of underrating the
advantages that must be derived from the labours of
. _

the Financial Reform Association. The exposures
that have been made through the agency of that body
of the profuse and lavish expenditure in the various
departments of the State, the insight afforded to the
people of the manner in which the enormous sums
wrung from the scanty earnings of their industry are
wasted and squandered, mast be productive of the
most beneficial results. The unjust and im-
politic system of indirect taxation will also
be explained, and all its iniquity made mani
fest to the people ; a spirit will be excited which it
will be impossible for any Ministry to withstand ; the
representatives of the people must bow to the loudly
( xpressed wishes of their respective constituencies,
and these valuable reformations, will in due time be
accomplished. There i 3 another subject, however of
still more vital importance to the nation, from which
still greater happiness would fluw to the great body
of the people, which would properly come within the
sphere of the association's labours, which has not, as
yet, been noticed. What financial reform can be
more urgently required than a change in our mone-
tlry code, a repeal of those .statutes that crippled the
industry of the nation, that deprived our operatives
and artizans of employment—of wages—of the very
means of existence, that occasioned an artificial
famine in the midst of plenty, and produced all the
sufferings and distress—want of confidence and gene-
ral failure of credit—which the nation has witnessed
since the beginning of last year ? Economy is un-
questionably greatly to be desired; but it is
still more desirable that the country should
have the means of meeting every demand without
difficulty or inconvenience. The utmost frugality
can only effect a saving of a few millions. The in-
terest on the debt cannot be reduced, while money is
scarce and dear, and the payment of that interest
absorbs the greater portion of the national income.
We have been told that the nation is impoverished—
that we have expended our capital—incurred debts,
and that like every private individual placed in
similar circumstances, we must now suffer the conse-
quences of our former indiscretions ; that we must
yVfoeurlyre which weees havear le
sb eoern
existence accustomed,
withinand e
sacrificeh. our enjoyments, resign the comforts to
thev ecnl orseessttr
works must he abandonedmills , our and factories
closed, our artizans kept idle mt
thse.
signed to the tender merciesfatnhd unemployed, con-
eruhnoion workhouses,
in place of earning their own lir IC od by their own
exertions. If this were indeed thee
able a necessity existed, we doubt nuatset'hilt Salo deplor-
e people
would endure their sufferings with a
fortitude
and re-
signation. But it is quite the contrary. There
is no want of real capital. The country pos-
sesses an inexhaustible mine of wealth in her
labouring population, all she requires is the means
of bringing her dormant powers into activity. She
possesses the capital but has not a sufficient repre.
sentative thereof—she languishes for want of a
currency adequate to her wants and exigencies. The
circulating medium—the very life-blood of industry—
is deficient, and in consequence thereof employment
is withheld, production stopped, and these who might
justly be regarded as our most useful citizens become
burdens upon the resources of the country, instead of
the creators of national wealth.
To the working of our absurd and iniquitous
money laws all these evils may be ascribed. Measures •

have been adopted to render money artificially scarce.
Gold is the
.idol before which the nation pros-
trates itself. Nothing but gold will be tolerated.
The happiness of the people is sacrificed to the inte-
grity of the standard. The curse of MIDAS is upon
us, and unless we follow the example of the Lycian
monarch, and resign the fatal gift, starvation must
ensue. We shall perish in the midst of our golden
splendour.

If we review the history of the last thirty-two
years, since 1816, the period when preparations began
to be made for the re-establishment of a metallic
currency, we shall find that periodical fluctuations
took place—that the prosperity of the nation was
repeatedly sacrificed to force gold into our coffers.
Distress came upon us, and continued until the
stringency of our monetary regulations were relaxed.
A free issue of paper on the part of the Bank inva-
riably restored commercial and manufacturing acti-
vity, and afforded employment to the people, and
this went on until the screw was again put on, and
everything was again sacrificed in order to turn the
stream of gold. The Act of 1844, however, rendered
it impossible to resort to those remedial measures
that had previously proved so efficacious. And hence
the periodical calamity that visited the nation since
the introduction of the Act of 1819 was of much
greater intensity, and of a more aggravated charac.
ter in 1847, than on any former occasion.

We shall return to this subject on an early oc
casion.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday
and of yesterday.
The debate in the National Assembly on Saturday,
on the subject of the conduct of General CAVAIQNAC
during the days of June, has terminated in the
complete triumph of the Chief of the Executive
Power and the confUsion of his adversaries. After
having listened to the reading of the accusations
brought against General CAVAIGNAC, by M. BAR-
THELEMY ST. HILAIRE, to the: eloquent, manly, and
convincing vindication by General CAVAIGNAC of his
own conduct, to the querulous accusations of ingra-
titude brought against him by M. GARNIER PAGES,
and to the General's short explanation in reply, the
Assembly, on the motion of the venerable DUPONT
(de rEure)' by a majority of 503 to 34, resolved,
" that the Assembly persisting in its decree of the
28th of June, declaring that General CAvAIGNAc
had deserved well of his country," passes to the order
of the day. General CAVAIGNAC spoke for three
hours.
The following is a summary of this most interest-
ing discussion :

-SITTING -DP- SATURDAY, Nov. 25.
Outside the Chamber considerable crowds were col-
lected, both of workmen and well-dressed persons. Evt ry-
thing was perfectly quiet. The number of troops ap-
pointed to guard the Chamber was increased.
Inside, all the tribunes were occupied in five minutes
after the doors were opened. It is remarkable that, for
the first time since the opening of the National Assem-
bly, the first and second range of seats were occupied
with ladies. The Representatives, also, arrived earlier
than usual, and were collected in groups in different
parts of the House. General Cavaignac entered a few
minutes before one.
At one o'clock precisely U. Marrast, the President,
took the chair.
One of the secretaries read the proses verbal in the
usual manner.
The President—The tribune is to M. Flandin, for a
rectification of the proves verbal.
M. Flandin said that in the account given in the
Moniteur, he found some expressions attributed to Gen.
Cavaignac relative to the attention that ought to be paid
to the will of the majority. He had not heard any such
allusion made by the Hon. General.
General de Lamoriciere, Minister of War, declared
that the report alluded to was perfectly correct, He had
been heard by the Assembly.—(Hear, hear.)
General Cavaignac, President of the Council, ascended
the tribune, amidst the deepest silence, and said that
when he had demanded on Tuesday permission to ad-
dress the Assembly on the question of which he had
then spoken, he did so because impelled to that course
by the calumnious reports which had been circulated
concerning him. He had to declare that he had no in-
tention of bringing any accusation against the mem-
bers of the Executive Committee. He would wait
with patience to hear what could be alleged against
him. And, first, he would demand from the gentlemen
whom he bad nanied on Tuesday last if they had made
in conversation any charges against him; if they replied
in the negative, the question fell to the ground—it, on
the contrary, they had anything to allege, he called
on them to do so, and he promised to reply. He need
scarcely say that he spoke of the various circumstances
connected with the insurrection of June,,—(Hear, hear.)
M. Barthelemy lit. Hilaire—l commence by declaring
that we have not had anything to do with articles in
the public journals. The whole question relates simply
to the affistrs of .June. It is now five months since the
Executive Committee has ceased to exist, and since then
calumny has never discontinued its attacks on the mem-
bers who commenced it. The depositions which had
been given before the committee of enquet' e enable us to
reply with frankness and veracity as to the circum-
stances of the terrible days of June. We had no desire
whatever to speak of what then occurred. We have
kept up to the present time a strict neutrality; but once
that a provocation has been thrown out to us, we are
obliged to respond to it. We considered it our duty to
take no part in the election for President of the Republic.
This we considered our duty, with the opinions which
we entertained relative to one of the candidates. We
may be misunderstood by our contemporaries.—(Loud
interruption and laughter.)
A Voice—" Who is the we?"
M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire then went on to speak of
his own position with the Executive Committee. It was,
he said, not in any official position, but in one altogether
non-official, merely as a friend filling the place of secre-
tary-general of the committee. He would, ho said, read
to the Assembly a narrative of the circumstances con-
nected with the insurrection of June written some
months before, as was known to several members then
present. The Hon. Representative then commenced the
document, which began with the attemptof M. de Lamar-
tine to get the Bill of 1832 against the Bonaparte
family put in force against Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.
He showed how that step had been displeasing to the
Assembly, and how a check had been thus given to the
Executive Committee. The committee thought of
giving in their resignation ; but the vote of confidence
of the Assembly granting them 100,000 f. per month
for secret expenses, caused them to remain. The
document speaks of a sitting in council of
the committee ,and of the Ministers, and declares
that General Cavaignac was remarkable for the oppo-
sition which he made to the idea of any resignation. The
secret proceedings of the disaffected were all the time
going on, and the danger became each day more immi-
nent. The document then refers to the state of the na-
tional workshops, and shows how the Executive Com-
mittee had, en Ma} 27, given orders to General Ca-
vaignac to bring into the city of Paris 20,000 of the
line, 15,000 of the Guard Mobile, 2,500 of the Repub-
lican Guard, and other troops, making in all 40,000
men. It was rumoured that an outbreak was to take
place on July 14, and the Executive Committee had
looked to the execution of their orders relative to the
entry of the troops to ward off the danger that was to be
apprehended. The moment of the insurrection, however,
was hastened by the insurgent, and it was then found,
first, that the number of troops in Paris was far inferior
to that ordered by the Executive Committee, and al-
together unequal to the emergency; and next, that
the orders of the Executive Committee had not been
executed. The document then entered at great
length into an account of the insurrection, speaking of
the deputation of delegates of the national workshops
which had waited on M. Marie—the groups formed at
the Pantheon—the total absence of troops to dissipate
the assemblages, although the most incendiary language
was used—the formation of barricades without the
slightest hindrance,
_ notwithstanding that General
Cavaignac was at the head of the war department. , It
then referred to a letter sent to General Cavaignac by
the Executive Committee, ordering him to furnish
troops—two battalions, to defend the Pantheon. That
letter the General had afterwards denied having re-
ceived; but it being affirmed to him by General Fouchet,
that he (the latter general) had handed it to him, be ad-
mitted that it bad been received by him. It was to be
remarked that General Cavaignac at the time imposed
silence on General Fouchet on the subject, and that
soon after the insurrection he dismissed Genera
Fouchet from his place, as Commander of the Ist Mili
tary Division, and sent him away to a less importaul
post.—(Agitation.) The insurrection went on its course
and on the 23d of June it was found that decisive Inca.

sures must be adopted. But it was then found that this
was almost impossible, from the insufficiency of troops
in Paris. The plan devised by the Executive Committee
for the defence of the left bank of the Seine was to have

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dt htrhoeulgi
line
by
hadstrcfn
thatg p
Ipartiesan
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cavalry,l
there was no doubt the insurrection would have been put
down. But the plan failed from the want of troops. And
yet, from the 27th of May, the orders had been given to
the General for the purpose of properly defending Paris.
On the 23d of June, at twelve o'clock in the day, Gene-
ral Cavaignac sent to the Luxembourg to M. Gar-
nier. Pug* to send him forthwith the two bat-
talions placed a short time before for the defence of that
building. The General declared that he wanted those
troops for the defence of the National Assembly. M.
Gamier I'ag4s refused; but General Cavaignac insisted,
declaring that if the colonel in command ref used to obey,
he should hays him tried by court-martial. M. Gamier
Pages could not refuse further, and the Luxembourg
was left comparatively m protected. The document then
went on to narrate other facts of the insurrection, and in
speaking of some of the meetings of the Executive
Committee until they resigned. In the midst of the
events which followed, General Cavaignac, it said, did
not exhibit all that sangfroid which might have been ex-
pected from him.—(Tremendous uproar and loud marks
of disapprobation.) " I have to observe," said the Ho-
nourable Gentleman, " that this statement, was written
tnu months back, and Rut prepared for the present con-
juncture. I leave the language as it was then written."
The document then entered into an account of some in-