The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-09 00:00:00

Who would even dare to conceive the idea of a usur-
pation ? And, besides, do you not see that in giving to
each citizen the right to choose his head, you give him
at the same time the right to judge and to punish ?
I now stop, gentlemen, not because I have exhausted
the series of- considerations which I had to bring
forward in support of the opinion I defend, but
because the clock warns me to come to a close. .1
atop, therefore, declaring to you that for my part I
have confidence in our Republic, in the rights which
it has given to all citizens, and in the respect which
they will feel in exercising them. For my part, I
have thrown into this Repnblic my whole life—my
whole soul—all that I have of strength and will.—
(Rear, hear.) I firmly believe that all they who
had 'the unspeakable happiness of proclaiming with
me the republican era, will protect it with all their
powers. If there are dangers in consulting the
masses—if the multitude can be fascinated and led
away, we shall perhaps perish.—(Cries of " No, no.")
I say perhaps ; but should the Republic perish and
We with it, we shall exclaim, with the conquered hero
of Pharsalia, " Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa
Catoni,' and posterity shall be our judge.—(Loud
applause, which lasted for some time.)
It being now past six, the Assembly rose.
This speech is the subject of comment, of eulo-
gistic comment, in all the journals. The Bien Public
thus glories in the triumph which has been achieved
by its great leader—
"At this moment, when the whole Assembly, carried
(May in this torrent of eloquence, still vibrates with
admiration of one of the finest victories that logic, that
reason, inspiration and wisdom had ever achieved in any
tribune, we feel all the reserve which our old friendship
for M. de Lansartine imposes on us. Yes, we who have
remained faithful to him through all the vicissitudes of
his popularity, in his good and his adverse fortune, be-
cause we see in him the living idea of the Republic, we
cannot give expression to the personal emotion which we
felt at this speech, we can merely state the effect of it.
The effect was, and we do not fear a contradiction from
any one who was present, that that admirable discourse
produced in the Assembly not only admiration, but con-
viction."

The Debats says that the system of M. DE LAMAR-
TINE iS "undoubtedly the most in conformity with
logical reasoning and republican principles—it is
marked by a certain nobleness and grandeur. M. DE
LAMARTINE defended it with a marvellous eloquence;
and in particular was triumphant in his refutation of
the contrary systems."
The Presse thus describes the effect which the
eloquent outpourings of the Poet-Orator produced on
the Assembly :

" The Assembly allowed itself to be led away by the
eloquent language used, and when he said that the Pre-
sident, if elected by the Assembly, would only be the
hand of the dial to mark its will and caprices, applause
burst forth from every part of the ball. But M. de La-
martine went on to show how envy would attack the mo-
tives of the persons voting for the President—one, be-
cause he was a relative; another, a friend; and a third,
because he wanted an embassy! 1 At these words
shouts of approbation issued from every bench, and the
Assembly, rising by an electric movement, rushed round
the tribune, disputing with each other to grasp the hand
of the eloquent speaker; amongst the most foremost we
beheld MM. Duclerc, Garnier-Pages, and Pagnerre."
The National thus explains the reasons which in-
duce the Government to support the election of the
first President by the Assembly. It will be seen that
those who are opposed to M. DE LAMARTINE on the
present occasion only argue the question as one of
expediency, they admit that in principle M. DE LA-
MARTINE is right. The National says—
" Justly alarmed at the perils which may be caused
to the young Republic by the immediate election of the
President, we are disposed to accept a middle course, a
temporary measure, which, as we have already said, con-
jures away without any compromise of principle the
transitory dangers of the situation. We humbly admit
that the weakness of our mind does not go the length of
saying---' Perish the Republic rather than a principle!'
We do not, in fact, believe that respect for principles
should place in peril the Government which is the object
• of all our views, all our efforts; but it it were true that
such a circumstance should demand, in its application, the
postponement of a proclaimed truth, we should resign
ourselves to the case, as we have already done in other
occasions. We have no other thought but to pre-
serve the Republic, because it is the most perfect
form of government that we are acquainted with, be-
cause it alone appears to us to contain the safety of
France for the present, and its development and pro-
gress for the future. The general interest is our only
moving power, and if we are democrats, it is because
our instinct and our reason have shown us that out of
the pale of popular sovereignty, there is for nations only
disorder or usurpation. What, then, do we seek in the
difficult question of the presidence ? The conciliation
of principle and fact. But there is nothing to oppose
that conciliation. The Assembly decides that the Pre-
sident shall be nominated by direct universal suffrage,
but on account of present difficulties in the interest of
publio safety, it modifies, it temporarily adjourns the
exercise of the right. We are quite aware that absolute
minds reject these solutions de circonstance, but general
good sense accepts them, and we consent willingly to be
mistaken with it. It has been often said that reasoning
carried to excess may lead to absurdity. In metaphysics
an error is reparable—in politics it cannot be the
same. 'lumen societies live by compromises; they tend
to absolute good, but they are governed by relative roes is
bilities. Such is the infirmity of our mind that what
true in principle, from deduction to deduction,
when i
terminates
sometimes sometimes in the most dangerous falsehood
Applied in all its logical rigour."

If we may judge from the following, which appears
in the Union, the besotted Bourbons of the elder
branch are just where they were sixty years since—
they have learned nothing, they have forgotten
nothing :

" M. de Lamartine might have abstained from putting
into his inventory of pretenders, as candidates, the legi-
timate heir to the house of France. He might have
dispensed, he was bound to dispense, with naming him,
for all fear on this head is, to say the least, superfluous,
not to say absurd. What, the heir of Henry IV. and
Louis XIV. put forward as a competitor to M. Ca-
vaignac, or any other aspirant to the Republican Presi-
dency! The heir of Henry IV. and Louis XIV. de-
scending from the heights of monarchical principle, to
have his crown stamped with the stamp of the Republic!
There can be no serious fear of that. The Republic
has nothing to do with the Monarchy; the Monarchy,
in those who represent it, has nothing to do with the
Republic. It was, then, to say the least, useless to
place the representative of the true principle of monarchy
on the list of candidates for the Presidency of the
Republic."

There is something exceedingly rich in the indig-
nant outbreak about " the heir of HENRY
IV. and Louis XIV." being put forward
"as competitor to M. CATAIGNAC, or any
other aspirant to the Republican Presidency."
It almost equals in its absurdity the pathetic
complaint of the Queen of ETRURIA on the indignity
to which she, a Princess of the House of Bourbon,
had been compelled to submit, when, on one occasion
during her flight from the revolutionists, she had
been actually obliged to eat her dinner off a porcelain
plate.

. The Democratic Pacifique, while applauding the
principles laid down by M. DE LAMARTINE, doubts
the policy of carrying them out in their entirety at
the present moment. It says—
`.We applaud the deductions which M. de Lamartine
drew from that formula full of the future—popularity is
the entire power. Yes, the sympathy of a grateful and
enlightened people will be one day the only consecra-
tion, the sole force of the powers, and the Government
thus consecrated will be stronger than the best armed
ti rannies. But we separate ourselves from M. de
Lamartine when, Even without taking into conside-
ration the actual state of the country, he declares
in favour of the nomination of the President by
the electors. Citizens the most eminent, the most dis-
interested, and the most devoted to the country, may,
without knowing it, submit themselves to the influence
of personal situation. Did M. de Lamartine, in eulogis •
ing the understandings and the patriotism f
the whole
electoral body, think that he was himself one of the most
worthy candidates for the Presidentship, and that this
candidateship had less chance within the Assembly than
out of it ? In getting rid successively of all the preten-
ders to that post, or of all who were suspected of being
so, including M. Louis Napoleon, did he wish to clear
the road for himself ? We can scarcely dare to think
so, but there are many who will not hesitate to say it,
they will even add that Providence, in giving to M.
Thiers skilfulness and dexterity for strokes of political
address, and in endowing M. de Lamartine with frank-
ness, generosity, and poetry in his heart, and with an
honourable want of tact, has notwithstanding given to
the latter the better portion."
What the Democratic at the conclusion of this ar-
ticle hesitatingly insinuates the Republique "openly
and advisedly" says, viz., that the speech was intended
as an electioneering address. "M. de LAMARTINE,"
says the Republique, " was powerful, and rarely has
he ever reached and supported such a height of elo-
quence. It has been said of M. TEIERS that he made
ID:nisterial speeches; may it not be now said that
M. DE LAMARTINE made a presidential one. It is a
manifesto of candidateship hurled from the tribune.
Assuredly, if generosity of ideas, grandeur of forms,
and all the seductions of oratorical art were sufficient
to make a political man, no one would have more
legitimate right to our votes than the poet-orator.
Unfortunately these brilliant qualities are not enough
for the necessities of the present state of things. It
is necessary to have a man of idea and action, of
vigour
the and of self-denial, to place at the head
ot Republic ;_ it is a man of principle that is
!equired.
M. DE LAMARTINE cannot be that man ;
he is too easily acted on, too variable ; he is like the
-ar..olian harps, which send forth their sounds no matter
from which side the wind blows."
question.
This magnificent oration has finally settled the
Several blembers of the Assembly who
:aere waverer's, announced that, convinced by the
414
stquence and the logic of M, PE LAMARTINE they
°4. Vote With him,