The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-12 00:00:00

"I ask, who is really interested in the maintenance of
social order such as it exists at present? No one. No.
Nobody. For myself, I willingly persuade myself, that
the evils created by an imperfect civilization spread
themselves, in different forms, over the whole of society."
* * " Ah! Thanks be to God! there is not
:for society a partial progress or a partial retrogression.
The-whole of society is elevated, or the whole of society
falls. When the laws of justice are best understood, all
conditions profit by them. When the notions of justice -
are obscured, all conditions in society suffer. A nation,
in which one class is oppressed, resembles a man who
has a wound in his leg; the lame leg prevents the free
exercise of the healthy limb. Thus, however paradoxi•
cal such a proposition may appear, oppressors and op-
pressed gain equally by the destruction of the oppres-
sion; They lose equally by its continuance."—(Orga-
nization du Travail, sth edition, page 26.)
You perceive, Sir, the principle that governs my idea.
It is that of human solidaria. It is not only in the in-
terest of the people that I have criticised the economical
system followed in France; it is also in the interest of
the middle classes, as you may easily conceive yourself,
by throwing your eyes over my little book on the ()rya-
nization du Travail; and if I- have required that to the
principle of individualism was substitu,ed progressively
that of association, based upon the sentiment of frater-
nity,it is precisely because the principle of individualism
has appeared to me an endless source of hatred, of jea-
lousy, of diiitions, of tyrannies emanating from above,
of revolts proceeding from beneath.
Now, Sir, when you say that my ideas have the ten-
dency to legitimate insurrection under all circum-
stances, you hurl against me an accusation which is con-
tradicted, most undoubtedly, by every page of my books,.

by each line of my speeches. here, again, ft is by'
quotations that I must answer you. --
Open L' Hfitoire des Dix Ails—you will read a pas-
sage relating to a celebrated insurrection It would
be to hold in too slight estimation reason and equity, to
make their triumph dependent on the chances of a coup
de main. Wisdom and time are necessary, and patience
is arso a republican virtue. Assuredly it is the property
and the glory of choice spirits to be in advance of their
epocle, but to do violence to society is permitted to no
one."—(L'Histoire des Dix Ail; tome 5, page 428 )
I have written likewise in the Organization du Tra-
vail:--" Violence is to be feared only when discussion
is forbidden. Order has not better shields than study.
If anger sometimes chastises evil, it is impotent for the
production of good. A blind and savage impatience can
only heap up ruins under which the seeds of justice and
love would be smothered. It is not the question as to
the displacing of wealth, but as to its universal expansion
and multiplication. For the happiness of all—of all
without exception—it behoves us to elevate the level of
humanity."--(Organization du Travail, page 21.)
I could, Sir, if I did not fear to make this letter too
long: multiply my quotations. I could produce .here
numerous passages extracted from my speeches at the '
Luxembourg, and you would perceive that I have every-
where condemned, as equally puerile and fearful; the ex-
travagances of force, and that IhaVe always placed the
victory of justice in the calm and regular development
of public reason by the liberty of the• tribune, by the
liberty of the press, by the right of discussion. In
twelve years I have written much. Well, if there ex-
ists'in my books, in my speeches, one word, one single
word, which is an appeal to violence, to brute force—let
it be shown to me! I affirm that it is impossible to
produce such a word.
For, the rest, Sir, there is a fact which cannot be
contested, which now belongs to histery, and which
speaks more loudly in my favour than all reasonings.
Whilst I remained at the Luxembourg, and when I had
kwoerptioacaec?t upown,atsheopeereepliep, dartihse
thele
slightestast
Did not the people—who, it has since been
pditgrisei in
pretended,
miry
:were excited by my speeches—did they not
aoiedoeus!
exhibit an admirable exaimuvirbmpllieoecn?ot,i moderation, of resig-
nation? Was it not • then that they
But •
passage
• threees
msyaagipemnrttooaroinotuhosnrcde d
during
rsnetgno t
thetehn
ec sentence—"
we
imt nh misery to
sublimedoffu re power,oe rf
what force had lat my disposal? Speech—nothing but
speech. For you are not ignorant, Sir, that there was
not at that period a single soldier in the capital. What
can possibly be opposed to so demonstrative a fact?
What! the popular agitations only commenced to date
from the day when I ceased to have the power of effi-
cient action upon the people, and it is I whom they would
hold responsible for these agitations. In truth, this
would be more than injustice—it would be folly.
I do not stop at the word "pillage," which has found
itself, I know not how, under your pen, in an article re-
lating to me. I cannot believe that you have wished to
carry calumnies against both my heart and my intellect
to such a point. For he who should perceive in pillage a •
means of destroying misery, or even of avenging if,
would be the worst of madmen as well as the most de-
prawd of wretches.
You recal, in relation to me, the affairs of May and
of June. As to the insurrection of June, it was so
manifest that, far from having taken part in it in any
that the hatred of even my most cruel enemies has not
manner wbatever, I was struck with consternation at it,
been able to find here any subject of accusation against
me. In what relates to the manifestation of the 15th of
May. I reckon upon proving, by undeniable facts, that•
they have sought in it only a pretext to place me at
distance from the National Assembly at the moment
when the constitution was about to be discussed.
In a recital upon which I tun at preseut engaged, and
which I
civil war
of .Tune,ofllhavetleofhothneousrtate of
add, sireesgsien,ga
ntod you,
the.
ol
shall speak of the true causes of the troubles of May, f
the
evils which overwhelm- my beloved country. In the
t* a t
meantime I limit myself to the declar on, with the*
authority of a conscience without reproach that I have
never had a hand in any plot, in any
attempt of violence,
iu any disorder—and that to spare the pain of such to
my country, I would with j
in my veins. oy have given all the blood
I am, Sir, your veryhumble and devoted servant.
Sept. 8.
LOUIS BLANC.

.DIOCESE or BATH AND `YELLS.---The Lord Bishop
of Bath and Wells has licensed the following gentlemen
to curacies within his diocese:—The Rev. T. W. Boyce,
M.A., to the curacy of St. Mary's, Taunton; the Bev.
Alexander Burroughes Campbell, M.A., to the curacy of
St. Saviour's, Bath; the Rev. A. F. Carey, 8.A., to the
curacy of Badgworth, Somerset; the Rev. John Evani,
8.A., to the curacy of Portland Chapel, Bath; the Rev.
Richard Quarrell, M.A., to the curacy of Emmanuel
Church, Weston-super-Mare; the Rev. John Arthur
Jeaffreson Roberts, 8.A., to, the curacy of Tickenham,
near Bristol; the Rev. R. A. IL Stroud, M.A., to the
curacy of Saltford, Somerset; the Rev. Richard "Wart),
AI.A., to the curacy of Wells, Sor-.iert,A; the Rev. 4.
Whitehead, M.A., to one of the curatiFs in the Abbey
...
Church of Bath. •