The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-29 00:00:00

doubt, to accomplish this expression of M. Guizot on the
discussion of the laws of September, 1835—` We desire
not to punish, not to ameliorate, but to suppress, nay, to
annihilate, the 734 - press.'
"A politital %triter, ind'yith him a journal, have been
implicated in the process against the authors and accom-
plices of the attempt committed Sept. 13, 1841. Had M.
Dupoty conspired not one of the undersigned journals
would have raised a voice in his favour. Conspirators
against the laws deserve to be punished by the laws. M.
Dupoty has been accused by the Procurenr-General, not
of complicity direct and positive, but of a moral com-
plicity, and for a political tendency, rather than for a
crime or an offence. He has been condemned by the
Court of Peers as guilty of a provocation followed by an
effect (provocation suivie d'effet), although the Court had
not recognised any personal relation between M. Dupoty
and the authors of the attempt, and although•it is im-
possible to find any relation between the article published
the 12th of September, by the Journal du Peuple, and the
sinister event of the following day.
"We respect the principle or a thing judged. We
know that no right exists of protesting against the de-
crees of a tribunal, even when one is convinced of that
tribunal having. fallen into error. But it will be per-
mitted us to point out a result which rises into the pro-
portions of a public grievance. In a State in which the
citizens make a part of the Government, a judicial fact
like that which now afflicts and excites even the Minis-
terial press, ought to alarm society.
" The decree of the Court of Peers is not confined to
the striking down of a political .writer—it presses upon
the very liberty of discussion itself. The jurisprudence
that this Act tends to establish goes even far beyond the
laws of September ; it is still more menacing, and one
more arbitrary has never been so formally stamped
with legality.
" In order that the laws of September may be made
applicable to any writer, book, or Journal, it is essential
that the writer should have so directly excited to the
assassination of the person of the King, or to the over-
turning of the power of the laws, that such provocation,
even without having produced an effect, should consti-
tute in itself an actual offence. The writer thus knows
whit he did, and to what risks he exposed his honour
and his life. But by the interpretation given by the
Court of Peers of the law of 1819, every hostile word
contemporaneous with a political disturbance, a conspi-
racy, or an overt act, will be sufficient to constitute com-
plicity in such acts, and to bring upon the writer penal•
ties such as detention, transportation, hard labour, and
even death. The feeling Of the times in which we live
rises up in horror at the bare thought.
" The jurisprudence which flows from the decree of
the Court of Peers aggravates the already flagrant in-
conveniences of this jurisdiction. It is, moreover, a mo-
tive for demanding that the competence of the peerage
may be defined and limited in criminal matters and in
political offences; but until this shall have been done, it
is another danger created for the press and the country.
Public writers are deprived of those guarantees which
are a natural right in every civilised community, and
which the Revolution of July had promised, and the
Charter, had consecrated. The entire press is placed
in a permanent state of restraint.' The accusation of
moral complicity is suspended over the heads of all
writers. It is the law of suspicion that is established
against them.
" The press cannot accept this position. Writers who
take part in daily discussions owe to their country and
to themselves to resist, by every legal means, this new
system of intimidation. They will resist.
" Since the last elections every Ministry, with the ex-
ception of the existing one, have engaged to reform the
laws of September. The public wish calls for a change
proportioned to the extent of the evil. We shall pursue it.
" The Ministry may continue the desperate struggle in
which it is at present engaged with all the forces of
power—the press will not recoil before the chances of
the combat. whatever these may be. Right and modera-
tion are and will remain upon our side—we will fulfil a
mission, the severity as well us the greatness of which
we fully recognise—we will go to the uttermost limits,
for we have confidence in our cause as well as in the
energy of public spirit. Whenever power has declared
deadly war against, it is not the press which has perished.
"In circumstances so solemn and so critical, it has ap-
peared to us necessary to make known to the public,
whose suffrage sustains us, and whose sentiments we be-
lieve we represent, that oer faith in the great principles
we defend is not shaken.
" We declare then—

" With the Charter, that 'the French have the right
to publish and t 3 print their opinions, conforming them-
selves to the laws ;'
" With the Article 69 of the same Charter, that 'the
judging of offences of the press belongs exclusively to
the Jury ;'
" With the Constitution of 1791, that no man can be
pursued by reason of the writings which he has published,
unless he has designedly provoked disobedience to the laws.
" With the Article 202 of the Penal Code, that 4 pro-
vocation, to be made a crime or an offence, must be direct,'
and not the result of a connection, more or less arbitrary,
between a fact and the writings which have preceded or
accompanied this fact.
" With the Article 60 of the Penal Code, that there
cannot exist complicity where there is no -knowledge
of a plot.
" With MM. Royer Collard,'Odilon Barrot, Lamar-
tine, Berryer, Dufaure, and Dupin, that it is 40t wise
to give judicial attributes to a political body, and that, in
making the Chamber of Peers a Court for judging the
press, its sincerity has been compromised, as well as the
force of our opinions.
" With citizens of all opinions, that the degree of
liberty at which a people has arrived may_beSudged by
the degree of liberty which its press enjoys, and that in
this respect France, since 1830, has positively retrograded.
" In fine, that this is a point on which all can agree—
writers, electors, deputies, and citizens of every class.
It is a duty to refuse concurrence to the policy of any
Administration which will not repair the attempts made
against public rights by the laws of September, as well
as by the last decree of the Court of Peers.
"In presence of this situation, we appeal to the
Chamber of Deputies—we hope that it will rise to the
duty which circumstances impose upon it.
" And if, contrary to all expectation, it fails to do its
duty, we shall appeal to the electoral body which is in-
vested with political rights, well convinced that it will
not forget the 66th article of the same Charter which
which has confided the rights of the press, as well as all
other rights consecrated by the Charter to the patriotism
and courage of the National Guards and of all French
citizens.

(Signed)
The Commerce, The Echo Francais,
The Courrier Francais, The Journal du Peuple,
The France, The Revue Independente,
The National, The Revue du Progres,
The Patrie, The Mode,
The Quotidienne, The Charivari,
The Siecle, The Corsair.
The Temps,
" The delegates of the independent provincial press
have adhered to the present declaration."
It is remarkable that the foregoing is not signed by
M. Thiers' paper, the Constitutionnel.
DECLARATION OF THE SOCIETY OF LITE-
RARY ME N.

" The Committee of the Society-of Des Gens de Lettres,
considering that the fourth article of the social laws is
thus conceived :
" The object of the Society is to substitute the power
of association for the weakness of isolation, to defend
and support, by common power, the rights and interests,
whether moral or material, of all its members ; '

" Consequently, in all that concerns moral interests,
to assure literary men the rights and advantages which
belong to intelligence, labour, &c., has decided that the
following declaration be rendered public :
" The Committee of the Society of Men of Letters has
no right to mix itself in a political question. It is
therefore in the interest alone of the literary body it re-
presents that it thinks it right to mark the dangers of an
interpretation of the law which would assimilate to coin -
plicity,' a thought expressed in a public writing pub-
lished beforh the, act took place, especially when no re-
lation whatever existed between the writer and those
accused of the guilty act. Such interpretation would
take away all personal security from writers, and all
freedom from the expression of thought. The author is
answerable'fOr his work, as well for its expressed inten-
tion, as for its direct action ; but the moment it shall be
admitted that he is answerable before criminal jurisdic-
tions for the acts of others, by virtue of a pretended re-
lation between his work and a deed to which it v. as a
stranger, all security will have disappeared, the liberty,
and consequently the dignity, of letters will be compro-
mised, and one of the most sacred principles, as well as
the most civilising of our institutions, will be perilled.
" Paris, Dec. 23, 1841.
ARAGO, de l'lnstitute President.
CAUCHOES LEMAIRE,
} Vice Presidents.
FELIX PYAT,
LOUIS VIARDOT,
CLAUDON, Rapporteurs,
ALTAROCHE,
J. DAVID, Secretaries.
HENRI CELLIEZ. HENRI MARTIN. `.4. a
LOUIS DESOUYERS. PETRE CHEVALIER. •
CHARLES DIDIER. LOUIS REYBAUD.
HIPPOLYTE LUCAS. GEORGE SAND.
A, LUCHET. F. TimaE."
THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

The Presse is very jealous of the visit of the King of
Prussia to England, assuring its readers that a commer-
cial treaty with the German League, highly favourable to
England, will result from it.

REDUCTION OF WAGES.-EMPLOYERS AND
THE EMPLOYED.—One of the largest works in Ayrshire
has reduced the rate of wages to the workers within the
last week—others will imitate the example. We do not
wonder at the reduction in wages in any part of the
country ; the wonder is .that they are still so great.
When masters.suffer, the workmen feel the immediate
and insuperable consequence. ,When- profits are good,
the demand fur labour i 3 enhanced, and better and more
constant wages•follow,-as a' necessary consequence. We
are yet to learn that'cheap provisions would lower the
price of labour. What we do know' is; that emplver
and employed`sufter alike ; when the one is in difficulties,
he has no alterriative. but to fall back on a cheaper sys-
tem. Our upuratives have been long instructed to believe
that their masters have been their natural enemies ; but
times like these unravel mysteries. Who are the mas-
ters, as they are called ? Unprivileged workmen, who
have emerged, by their own industry and talent, from
their own rank, giving bread to thousands, the discon-
tinuance of which is the cause of so much argument.
Who are the masterk? Ask the Gazette.—Glasgow Argus.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.—On Sunday afternoon
the premises of Mr Catton, cheesemonger, of Lambeth-
walk, were robbed of the till, the cash-box, and every
moveable article which the thieves could lay their hands
on. Mr. and Mrs. Catton spent the day in the country,
and left the house unprotected. The shopman, who was
the first to give the alarm, has been taken into custody