The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-28 00:00:00

v)11 l'llllllll 511,11.

',ONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1848.

Well I—the Imperial bubble has burst ! The car
of glory which was to have wafted Prince Louis
NAPOLEON across the Channel, and to have conveyed
,n—the ENOCH of military renown !—to the resus-
' ated pomps of the Tuileries, has turned out to be

veriest gewgaw that ever rolled over the sawdust
Astley 's or Franconi's. We wanted only the
11,:st of GRIMALDI and the perpetual youth of Wm-
IcomnE to render the illusion complete. After the

I.;ident of Tuesday, the pop- guns at Boulogne
and the two carpet bags at Folkestone are
nothing--they sink into the insignificance of com-
parative sobriety—they soar, by contrast, into a
sort of heroism, at once sublime and classic. Cer-
tdioly the ex-prisoner of Ham, to say the very least
of him, has the happiest knack possible at rendering
himself ridiculous. He always, someh.ow, manages
to drop in at moments, of all others, the most miser-
Li,ly inopportune. Like the naughty little boy whose
biography is enshrined in the introduction to the
" Child's Spelling-book," he is invariably, upon every
occasion, and under all circumstances—a day after
the fair lle seems to emulate the conduct of Mister
NlcuoLAs TWILL—of whom our readers may learn
somewhat in one of the best farces that ever was
wsitten, thanks to the comic fancy of RICHARD Jorms,
the comedian—coming in, as he does in every instance,
eternally too late for dinner. Only glance at the
records of the past fortnight, in proof of this absurd
affection for contretemps. Here was Paris in a fever
of expectation— the .1\ ational Assembly throbbing in
its every pulse with terror—General CAVAIGNAC half
distracted with anxieties—the rad Republicans mut-
tering in their dens of conspiracy—regiments of the
Garde Mobile sent out of the capital, through
fear of their Bonapartist tendencies—rumours in
every quartier of the soldiers having risen in

their respective barracks to the old cry of,
Vive l'Empereur !—whispers on every lip of the
approaching doom of the Republic, and dreams of the
speedy proclamation of NAPOLEON 111., by the grace
of GOD, and the will of the people, Emperor of the
French. If there was little of the romance of 1815,
there was much of its forebodings. If there was an
equal dread of an imperial conspiracy, there was
hardly any tendency towards its accomplishment. If
the early flowers of spring could not, as of old, bloom
in the bosoms of the fair accomplices, if the eagles
and the tricolours were not secreted in the cavities of
the regimental drums, if Queen HORTENSE was no
longer there, in the radiance of her beauty, to cast v.
halo over the darkness of the preparations—it was
well-known that there was a live Princess in Paris,
who had sent to her upholsterer to have her
best bedroom re-furnished for the reception
of her cousin, the Adventurer. Well, all these tokens
of excitement are reiterated—day after day crowds of
the Parisians assemble in the neighbourhood of the
National Assembly—they have heard that the
Prince is about to make his appearance before
the representatives—they waylay every carriage,
they cluster round every horseman, they scrutinize
every foot-passenger in hopes of seeing the man whose
name is in every mouth, and who, if he had appeared
then, would have appeared at least invested with a
shadow of dignity such as might be compatiable with
the historical associations of his illustrious lineage.
He would have been greeted either with the awe of
silence or with the enthusiasm of acclamations. In
either case he would have saved himself from the
damning influences of the ridiculous. As it is, he
tarries, and tarries, and tarries, until expectation is
exhausted. very one has gone home Wards; the
city is humming with the routine of its daily occu-
pations, and suddenly Citizen Louis NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE (pruned of all his imperial
honours, and stripped of the prestige of so
many glorious souvenirs,) stalks through a side-door
of the National Assembly and sits down at the elbow
of his old schoolmaster. The effect is little less than
absolutely deplorable -- flatter than the flattest of
all flat- beer. "0, for an hour of old blind DAN-
DOLO !" said the bard, who was half a Venetian.
" 0, for an hour of any one else than Prince Louts
NAPOLEON !" say we, in the Fainful sense of his in-
significance. It is positively wonderful to us how a man
who can think so soundly, and write so nobly, as the
son of Louis, King of Holland, can act so fool-
ishly, so frivolously, so ridiculously, as he has done,
again and again. As the author of one of the finest
military works of the century, he has proved himself
worthy of his immortal name—but as a man who seems
to be destined to travesty all the glorious incidents of
the Empire, he is showing himself to be a mannikin
clad in the panoply :of a giant, an ass covered with
the skin of a lion, a dwarf armed with the helm, and
the greaves, and the breastplate of a GOLIATH. The
most charitable construction which can be put upon
his conduct is, that the intellectual disease which
rendered his father a King of virtuous inefficiency is
hereditary. Let France view these incidents correctly,
and she will never disgrace the records of her new
Constitution by electing the Citizen Louis NAPO-
LEON BONAPARTE as the first President of the Re-
public.

Preparation for war is the preservation of peace.
This is a truth which we beg to offer to the consider-
ation of Mr. COBDEN and Mr. STURGE, and the
members of the Peace Congress generally. It is a
sentiment which, had we been in the place of the
Hon. Member for the West Riding when the three
propositions for the Congress were submitted to his
consideration, we should have begged leave to substi-
tute for the startling announcement conveyed in pro-
sition 11—" To recommend, as a matter of primary
importance, general disarmament to the several Go-
vernments of Christendom." To recommend the
several Governments of Europe to lay aside their
arms, and this, too, as a matter of primary importance 1
This recommendation, gravely uttered and seriously
advocated though it be, falls upon our ears like some
fragment of the " Arabian Nights," or a paragraph of
the " Utopia," so extraordinary is it, and so entirely
unsuitable to present times and circumstances. Were
it not that we are well aware how marvellous
delusions haunt the brains and warp the judgments of
the enthusiasts in any cause, were it not for this con-
viction we should be inclined either to doubt the
sanity of those who put forth such a recommendation,
or else to believe that they themselves are incredulous
of the sanity of those whom they address. But, as it
is, we believe them to be enthusiasts—enthusiasts in a
good cause—and consequently we at once understand
the method of their madness, and make due allow-
ance for its vagaries. They are enthusiasts in a good
cause, in a most holy cause—the cause of universal
peace—a cause in which we beg to assure them they
are not one jot more interested than ourselves, only
we happen to differ from them in their mode of pro-
gression. We, too, are no less anxious than Mr.
COBDEN for the advent of the day—
" When angry lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end;"

or, according to the yet happier definition of a more
modern poet, for the day—

" When man to man the world o'er

Shall brothers be and a' that."
We are solicitous for the advent of such a day, and
what is more, we believe that such a day will arrive
—it will arrive when civilization shall have consum-
mated her yet but half-accomplished task. We will
even go a step further, hand-in-hand with Mr.
COBDEN, and admit that the Peace Society is ani-
mated with laudable motives, and may, perhaps, be
productive of beneficial results ; but here we must part
company. We cannot concur with the champion
of free trade, in approving the prepositions to be
submitted to the Peace Congress at their meeting at
Brussels. The third of these propositions, which we
have already quoted, excites our unmingled astonish.
ment, an astonishment which is considerably increased
by the " fact" that a man of Mr. COBDEN'S practical
sense should listen to it calmly and approvingly.
True, Mr. COBDEN brings to the support of his cause
the fundamental truths of Christianity. He may say
with justice, that he is "contending for a principle
based upon truth, and sanctioned by the law of Gob,"
but that fact in no wise enforces the "recommenda-
tion." Peace is enjoined in the Gospel, it is true, and
in the same way murder and stealing are positively
forbidden ; but, because an anathema is placed upon
those crimes, would Mr. STUBGE or Mr. COBDEN be
inclined to leave their doors without a fastening or
their money without a lock ? Not so ; they admit the
enormity of the crime, but they are also aware of the
depravity of human hearts, and therefore they deem
it right and necessary to take all possible precautions.
In the same way, say we, let us extol the blessings
and enforce the duty of peace, but at the same time
let us take measures to preserve it and ourselves. To
be prepared for war is the true way to maintain
peace, that is in present times and circumstances.
Not so ! exclaims the Peace Congress, and not so I
re-echoes Mr. COBDEN. Let us lay aside our arms.
Let the good and the peaceably-disposed (for only
such will obey the summons) lay aside their arms,
and put themselves and their cause in the hands of
the evil-disposed. Let the Governments of Christen-
dom lay aside their arms, and let anarchy and am-
bition triumph. But, impressed as we are with a
sense of the impracticable and pernicious nature of
this, their proposition, in arguing against it we seem
to be fulfilling an ungracious task. We seem
to be arguing against a cause of which we are our-
selves warm advocates. But we oppose not the cause
but its misjudging friends—its misjudging friends—
who, stepping across that indispensable boundary
which separates such wide extremes, plunge from
the sublime to the ridiculous, and enunciate maxims
of heavenly wisdom in a tone which excites for them
only scorn and derision. It is not in this way that
universal peace must be promoted. To our thinking
the Anti-Corn-law League, which abolished mono-
poly and extended commerce, did more, infinitely
more, towards the propagation of peace than will
ever be accomplished by the Peace Congress, and so
it will be to the end of the chapter. As Necessity
is the mother of Invention, so is Commerce the parent
of Peace. By international commerce, nations become,
as we have so often been tauntingly told, " dependent
upon foreigners." May commerce extend, say we,
until all nations be so dependent upon each other that
peace becomes not a golden dream, hut an absolute
essential.

At the time when Mr. ROWLAND HILL first pro-
posed his plan of penny postage, he intended it only

as one part of a great scheme of postal reform, which,
if adopted in its totality, would have increased the
revenue while it diminished the rate of postage.
That Prince of Bunglers, LOrd:MONTEAGLE (the most
miserably inefficient financier that ever mismanaged
the exchequer of a country, in comparison with whom
Sir CHARLES WOOD is a paragon of excellence, and
Lord BEXLEY an actual approach to perfection)
adopted one portion of the plan only, and that with
a very bad grace, and left the subject of reform in
the management of the Post-office quite untouched.
The subject was of course unpalatable to the Post-
office authorities, and was consequently tabooed, and
it was not until the Marquis of CLANRICARDE be-
came Postmaster-General, and re•instated Mr. Row-
LAND HILL in his former position, that the subject of
general Post office improvement stood any chance of
being regarded. Although not entertained by the
higher/ Post-office authorities, there were some in a
lower official position who felt convinced that the
consideration of the subject of Post-office improvement
could not be much longer delayed, and who devoted
themselves to the study of the subject. Amongst these
the most diligent and the most successful has been
Mr. WILLIAM JAMES, Messenger in the Inland Office,
whose recently published " Suggestions for the General
Improvement of the Post-office," should be attentively
studied by every postal reformer. The improvements
in management, which he therein suggests, would, if
carried out, not only give satisfaction to the public,
but would benefit many of the employes of
the Post-office, and injure none. Mr. JAMES
proposes to obtain his objects by a consolidation of
the General Post and the London District Post-offices,
and by a consolidation of the Foreign and Ship Letter
Post •offices, and fortunately Mr. JAMES is enabled,
from his position and his intimate acquaintance with
Post-office business, to meet his adversaries (if
adversaries he should have) upon details, which is
generally the strong ground of the opponents of
administrative reform. We hope, however, that
there is every reason for believing that the sugges-
tions of Mr. W. JAMES will be adopted. Mr. T. S.
DUNCOMBE, that indefatigable shower•up of Post-
office abuses, recommended the suggestions to the
Marquis of CLANRICARDE, as " well worthy" his Lord-
ship's attention. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE bears
his testimony to " the zeal with which Mr. JAMES
has devoted himself to the study of postal affairs, and
to the good character which he bears in his depart-
ment," and Mr. ROWLAND HILL considers that the
suggestions evince "great industry and considerable
talent and knowledge of the subject." Under these
circumstances we trust the day is not far distant
when the public will enjoy the advantages which
must accrue to them from the adoption of these sug-
gestions, and when Mr. JAMES will reap the well-
merited reward of his labours.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The Moniteur publishes the following official para-
graph :
`• Several journals have published the following para-
graph The French Government has sent orders to
our diplomatic agents at Naples, and to our navy, to put
a atop to the hostilities between Sicily and the Neapolitan
Government.' This note is incorrect, in so far as it
gives room for the supposition that the French Govern-
ment could have given, indirectly, orders as well to Sicily
as to the Neapolitan Government. The Republic could
not interfere in such a case, excepting in the name of
humanity." . . . _ _

The Presse gives the following as the substance of
the reply of the Austrian Government to the offer of
mediation by England and France in the affairs of
Italy
the note," says the Presse, " establishes three prin-
cipal points, viz.:—
" That the war undertaken by King Charles Albert
against Austria, not being justifiable by any principle of
international law, cannot establish in favour of the Crown
of Sardinia the least pretension over any part of the
Lombardo-Venetian kingdom.
"2. That Austria, in maintaing herself intact in
possession of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, is far
from pursuing territorial aggrandizement, and claims the
accomplishment of the guarantees established in her
favour by the seven Powers who signed the final act of
Vienna, guarantees which find a new support in the
right of conquest, since Marshal Radeutky, in driving the
Sardinian army beyond the Tessino, re-established, in
fact, the strict statu quo, such as it was before the war,
and such as it has been taken as the basis of the armis-
tice concluded at Milan, on the sth of August last, be-
tween the two belligerent powers.
" 3. That the mediation offered by France and Eng-
land cannot, in any case, have for its object to alter the
system of the political equilibrium of Europe without
the co-operation of the Powers which have founded and
guaranteed it.
" This being laid down, Austria, while she renews in
the most formal manner her reserves as regards the pos-
session of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, proposes
to convoke a general Congress, at which, by a common
accord between all the Powers of Europe, the most pro-
per measures shall be concerted on the one hand to in-
sure the national and independent administration of the
Lombardo-Venetian kingdom ; and, on the other hand,
to consolidate in a durable manner the tranquillity of the
Peninsula beyond the Appenines. Without laying down
in a precise manner her ideas on this point, Austria ap-
pears to wish to propose to the Congress to attach Lom-
bardy and Venice to the Imperial Crown, by bonds simi-
lar to those which, in the original intention of the Em-
peror Alexander, were to have united the Grand Duchy
of Warsaw to the sceptre of Russia—that is to say, by
the bonds of its own constitution."

The Presse adds that it is proposed that the Con-
gress should meet at Innspruck, and that this note
has been communicated not only to France and
England, but to Russia and all the other Powers
which were parties to the Treaty of Vienna.

The trial of Colonel CONSTANTINE was brought to
a conclusion on Tuesday. He was found guilty of
having taken part in the insurrection of June, and
sentenced to three months' imprisonment, to be
cashiered from the army, and to be declared incapable
of service in the State, either in a military or civil
capacity.
Among the few " Red Republicans " who, in the
National Assembly on Tuesday, voted against autho-
rizing the prosecution against RASPAIL for his
connexion with the affair of the 15th of May, was
M. LEDRU ROLLIN. He was saluted with cries of
" Oh, oh I" from all parts of the Assembly, and
seemed somewhat disconcerted at his reception.
The general debate on the 20th article of the Con-
stitution was brought to a conclusion on Tuesday by
a speech from M. DUPIN. The consideration of the
amendment of M. DUVERGIER DE IIAURANNE in
favour of two Chambers will be the next subject for
discussion.

The Prince and Princess of CAPIJA have arrived at
Marseilles.
In the National Assembly, yesterday, the discus-
sion was commenced on the amendment of M. ROUEN
to the 20th article of the Constitution. The object
of this amendment is to suppress the article as origi-
nally proposed, and to substitute for it another, esta-
blishing two Legislative Chambers. M. DE LAMAR-
TINE opposed the amendment, and eloquently con-
tended in favour of one Legislative Chamber. M.
ODILLON BARROT rose to reply to him, and was speak-
ing when the post left.
The Committee on the Constitution have deter-
mined to postpone the 9ath article, relative to the
mode in which the elections of representatives is to
be conducted, and to bring it forward as an organic
law.

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