The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-20 00:00:00

"'s/ { 0111114

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1848.

We await with some curiosity the result of the
coming Paris election. That election might indeed
be regarded as an event of great political importance,
if we could consider it as an evidence of public
feeling, if we could regard it as one of those straws
which show which way the wind blows. But under
present circumstances it would be to exaggerate the
importance of the election to view it in such a light.
Still, as an evidence of the feeling, for the time
being, of the majority of the Parisians, the names of
the new representatives of Paris will be looked for
with interest and curiosity. LOUIS NAPOLEON is
natuually the most conspicuous of the can-
didestee, and it is probable, although by
no means certain, that he may be the
favoured one. To forget is a most difficult and an
almost impossible task, and this it is which renders
the position of Prince Louis so peculiarly hazardous
and arduous. It is impossible for him to forget his
parentage and his once legitimate expectations. It is
impossible for him to forget that he is the nephew of
NAPOLEON. It is impossible for him to forget that
he might have been Emperor of France ! On the
other hand, it is impossible fur the French Govern-
ment to forget that Prince Louis is a pretender—it
is impossible for French citizens to forget that
he has been a disturber of the peace. All these
reminiscences stand in his way, and seem to
interdict his passage to the National Assembly. It
has been said, that in order to prevent any repetition
of the demonstrations which took place some time
since in favour of Prince Louis, the Government
will effectually pronounce his ostracism, without
seeming to make him individually the object of any
invidious interference, by passing a law to banish
from France all members of all families who have ever
reigned in France. We cannot think it likely that
any such harsh measure will be ever introduced, and
much less that it will be ever put in practice. Such a
law would virtually recognise the legality of the very
claims it would be intended to discountenance. A
temporary banishment of any individual family
whose presence might be productive of ge-
neral disturbance, as is the case at present with
the family of LOUIS PUILIPPE, is an act fully justi-
fied by the necessity which elicits it, but a general
law not called forth by an emergency, but (appa-
rently) based on principle, which should banish every
Bourbon and Bonaparte from France, solely be-
cause the sceptre of France had once been wielded
by members of those families, would be a direct vio-
lation of the principles of social justice and the rights
of citizenship. It is, however, quite unnecessary for
us at present to inveigh against such a law, because
we cannot believe it possible that such a law will be
introduced into the National Assembly. As regards
Prince Louis individually, if he be elected we can see
no reason why he should not be permitted to take his
seat. If General CAVAIGNAC and the other members of
the French Executive be resolved to maintain those prin-
ciples which led to the Revolution of February—if
they be resolved not only to preserve order in the
state, biet to promote liberty among the people,
they will have little cause to fear the presence of
Prince Louis—their popularity will be their surest
safeguard. But should it be otherwise, should they
entertain any hopes of establishing a new dictator-
ship, shoubil they be solicitous of repeating such acts
as their recent infringement of the liberties of the
press, then they will do well to pronounce
the exile of Prince Louis—they will do well to take
every possible precaution that they will only, ac-
cording to the vulgar idiom, hare their trouble for
their pains, for such precaution will avail them little,
Their domination will not be endangered by the
helpless members of once royal families, the danger
will in that case be nearer home. If the French
Government, therefore, be instigated by righteous
impulses they may safely endure the presence of all
the Bourbons and all the Bonapartes, even in-
cluding
Prince LOUIS NAPOLEON himself. As for
the
and admitted latter, if he be chosen representative of Paris,
_ in that character into the National As
sem
blYs we would fain hope that he will, by an heroic
effort, forget all those • ionary dreams which dazzled
his youth and deluded his manhood, and remember
only his one recent declaration
If the
perhaps, by
very different hentii4nts)
duties upon me, I shall know hew
the people impose
w
ow to fulfil them."
Let him remember this—let him remember that by
electing him as a Member of the National Assembly
w iwhich
h
the people will have imposed duties
upinocieal m
h
duties will be incompatible with personal ambition
and antagonistic to any attempt to disturb the
national peace.

Among the subjects to which Parliament should
devote its earliest attention immediately on its
re-
assembling, is the present state of the law for the
trial of election petitions. The country is put tto an
immense expense fur the revision of the registry of
si"tiliatnentary voters, voters themselves are put to
---\--4.rsbiti incovjgnience, and all, as it would appear, if
.4,2 ', we afirteJdiehfrora the results of the last Dublin
~„, election, without\ any avail, inasmuch as every voter,
r- named albeit. his naEE'appears upon the registry, may
•-• , , before a Parliamentary Committee, and called upon
dragged to "prove, at a distance of 500 miles

from home, his right to vote. At the last
general election for the city of Dublin it was
considered up not only to the eleventh hour,
but to the eleventh and a half hour, that the
Tory candidates, Mr. GROGAN and Mr. Quarter-Acre
GREGORY, would be permitted to walk over the
course. Not that they were by any means popular,
not that it was even pretended that of the 21,000
electors of Dublin even a fourth part would have
given them their support—but they were rich, they
were Tories, they were backed by the purse of the
Carlton Club—they knew that the expenses to
be paid to the sheriffs for: polling-booths and
officers would amount. to 2,4001., and, with all
the self-sufficiency of purse-proud arrogance, they
defied the Liberals to oppose their return. Their
defiance was taken up by Mr. Jour; REYNOLDS.
All Dublin turned out in his support, and he was re-
turned,while Mr. Quarter-Acre GREGORY was rejected.
Dublin, the House of Commons, the whole of the
United Kingdom, were gainers by the change. Mr.
Quarter-Acre GREGORY was a bad specimen of the
Irish landlord class, a gentleman only known in the
House of Commons by his pertinacity in insisting
upon the adoption of the quarter-acre clause in the
Irish Poor-law Bill, thus turning that which was
intended as a measure of relief for the destitute poor
into an efficient instrument of tyranny in the hands
of the landlords. Mr. REYNOLDS, on the contrary, is
the most favourable specimen of the middle class
Irishman, the man of talents, of wit, of tact,
and, above all, of business habits, that Ire-
land has yet sent to the House of Com-
mons. He has acquired for himself a position
and a standing in the House such as no other new
Member, English, Irish, or Scotch, who was returned
at the election of 1847, has yet attained. His first
speech was on the currency question, and was the
most lucid and understandable that has for a long
time been made within the walls of the House of
Commons on this most intricate subject. It was
listened to with attention by the House, and the
Honourable Member was highly complimented
by Sir ROBERT PEEL on his Parliamentary
debid. Since that time Mr. REYNOLDS has fre-
quently addressed the House, but ?lever except he
had scmething to say, and the consequence is that he
has always been listened to with respect and atten-
tion, and may now be considered one of the leading
Members of that House ; certainly he more entirely
possesses the ear of Parliament than does any
other Irish Member. The Plutocrats of Dublin were
galled to the quick to find that talent had
beaten gold. To use' the words of Mr. REYNOLDS,,
"My opponents could scarcely believe the evidence of
their own senses, and went about, like political mad-
men, saying, 'ls it possible that this man is re-
turned ? ' They met each other with long faces,
asking the question, and the answer was, Yes, he
is elected.' Well, they became desperate; they did
not content themselves with saying it is a terrible
thing, and we must bear it as well as we can, but
some of them said, No, we will not bear it ;we
will put him down by a petition.' But on what
are we to ground a petition ? There is no bribery.'
They said, 'No, we admit that.' Then how will
you put him out ?' Why, we will charge his voters
with non-payment of local taxes ; we will crush him
by expenses ; we will break him down." And,
accordingly, all the powers of gold were brought
into requisition to break down the man of the people's
choice, and to render freedom of election a mockery.
Not only did the Irish Toriesdraw their purse-strings,
but the Carlton Club entered the contest, and the
large funds of the entire Tory party were placed at
the disposal of those engaged in the prosecution of
the petition. This petition proceeded on two grounds—
first, it was alleged that Mr. REYNOLDS did not pos-
sess the requisite property qualification, and, secondly,
that his majority was only colourable, inasmuch as
the voters constituting that majority had not paid
their taxes. When the Committee met, Mr.
REYNOLDS, who had summoned witnesses at an
expense of 7001. or 8001. to support his
qualification, urged that the question of qualification
should be entered on the first, inasmuch as if that were
decided against him, there would be no necessity
to enter upon an expensive scrutiny ; but the Com-
mittee ruled that the petitioners might conduct their
case in their own manner, and the petitioners chose to
commence at once with the scrutiny, evidently with
the intention of endeavouring to ruin Mr. REYNOLDS
by the expense. He accordingly sent his witnesses
who were to prove his qualification back to their re-
spective homes, and prepared to enter on the scrutiny.
The history of that scrutiny we will give in Mr.
Reynolds's own words. At the dinner which was
given to him at Blackwall, to celebrate his triumph
he said—

" The scrutiny into my election lastcd thirteen weeks,
and at the end of the twelfth week they succeeded in
striking off ninety of my votes for non-payment of taxes.
The expense attendant upon the taking off of those votes
for non-payment of taxes was, upon my part, about
7,0001., while upon the part of my opponents it was pro-
bably 10,0001.; and, if my defence had not been managed
economically, as well as being conducted in a very
talented manner, it would have cost 20,0001. But it is
a singular fact in the statistics of elections, that in taking
off ninety votes for the non-paymeut of rates, 17,0001. of
money was required to be expended. To show the
grievous nature of that opposition, I need only state that
the amount of taxes due by those ninety voters was not
quite 501.—(Cries of Shame.') To strike off ninety
voters 17,0001. of hard money has been expended, and I
will not say what an enormous amount—l will not call it
perjury, but of hard swearing.' To aggravate the
calamity, the men who lost their votes by this hard
swearing had no opportunity of defending themselves.
for they resided in the city of Dublin, nearly 500 statute
miles from the place where the jury sat to determine
their case."

At the end of the thirteen weeks the petitioners
were beaten on the scrutiny, they had exhausted
their objections, and Mr. REYNOLDS sill maintained
a considerable majority, but when the scrutiny was
over, they revived their objection to his qualification
for the mere purpose of involving him in an addi-
tional expenditure of 7001. or 8001. to prove it. In
this also he succeeded, the Committee having unani-
mously decided, without clearing the room, and without
hearing all his witnesses, that he had succeeded in
proving his qualification. It is true that Mr. REY-
NOLDS is now Member for Dublin, but it is also true
that his opponents have inflicted on him a fine of
7,0001. without cause, and without pretence. Surely
this state of the law requires alteration. It is en-
couraging corruption, and corruption of the worst
sort, to give the monied man this tremendous
power over his less wealthy rival. Of what
use is the registry, if it is not to be final
and conclusive ? Of what use is it, under
the pretence of diminishing expense, to confine the
polling to one day, if after the polling is over it is in
the power of a Parliamentary Committee to go into
a scrutiny which may last thirteen weeks. As was
justly observed by the talented Member for Bodmin,
Mr. WYLD, at the Reynolds' dinner, "it would be
better to abolish all appeal to the House of Commons
than to permit it to continue subject to the gross and
grievous abuse of which it had been recently proved
capable."

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 14th have arrived.

There had been for some days a severe run on the
Bank of San Fernando, which continued unabated.
MADRID BOLSA, SEPT. 14.—The Three per Cents.
closed at 19i buyers, a sellers; Five per Cents., 10i
buyers, sellers; Coupons, 7 sellers; Passive Debt,
31 buyers, sellers ; Bank Shares, 50 buyers; Ex-
change on Lor.don, 48.

FIRE AT A RAILWAY STATION.—This morning
consider Ale excitement was created at the terminus of
the London and North-Western Railway, in consequence
of the destruction of a large quantity of luggage belong-
ing to a party of emigrants about to procred to
Australia on their own account. It appears that the
truck containing the property caught fire on the journey
and consumed the whole of it, worth more than 4001.
The company are making arrangements to compensate
the parties for their losser.
SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—The engage-
ments of Miss Rosina Collins and Mr. Henry Phillips
at the above-named popular place of amusement is
likely to prove highly advantageous to the enterprising
proprietors, 20,000 persons having visited the gardens
during the past two days, to hear Mr. Phillips sing
",Aly boy hood's home," and Miss Rosins Collins play
the Princess.
the vi,
variations to the "Carnival de Venise" upon
mansion inl:, Eaton-, tnodn -isa. qu'uitl, rye,
ilibs'lin, which are nightly applauded to the echo.
lighness Prince Metternich, accompanied by
has left
BlerfitgthhtoenE, aartl
which
c h Denbigh's
water-
the place the illust i '
t autumn and r_,,us Prince purposes to reside during
A StockholmaPProahing .
letter of the Bth
states that the works
for the formation of a railroad
Hulst, the first undertaking between Oerebro and
of the kind in Sweden, were
commenced on the 4th,

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The polling is over, but so neck and neck has been
the contest that no one ventures to give even a guess
at the results. A much greater number of electors
have voted than on any former occasion. Paris con-
tinues perfectly tranquil.

The members of the club of the Rue de Poitiers
have determined to offer no opposition to the re-elec-
tion of M. ARMAND MARRAST as President of the
Assembly.
According to the Reforme, Prince Louis NAPO-
LEON has been returned for the department of the
Moselle.

The sitting of the Assembly on Monday was only
remarkable for a singularly ineffective speech by the
Count MONTALEMBERT, in favour of what he calls
liberty of instruction, but which is in reality giving
to the priests the exclusive monopoly of the education
of the kingdom. It was a rechazffee of the common-
place laudations of the Jesuits, which the ex• Count
was in the habit of pronouncing once a year with great
eclat, for the edification of the ex• Chamber of Peers.
It, however, produced no effect on the Assembly, and
so chilling was the reception of this champion of the
parti pretre that he stopped in the middle of his speech
unable to continue, and requested permission to con-
clude it on the following day.

Since the above was written we have received in-
telligence from Paris to Tuesday evening. It appears
probable that Prince Louis NAPOLEON and Messrs.
RASPAIL and CABET, the Socialist candidates, have
been returned for Paris. The result, however, will
not be officially known until Thursday. From what
can be gathered from the partial returns already
made, the tricky EMILE DE GIRARDIN and the
crotchetty Abbe DE GENOUDE are the lowest on the
poll. LOUIS NAPOLEON has also been returned for
the department of the Orme and of Charente In-
ferieure.

M. MARRAST has been re-elected President of the
Assembly by a majority of 527 totes out of 670.
The National publishes a letter from Pesth, dated
Bth Sept., which announces that the Hungarians had
totally defeated the Croatians.