The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEIIBER 6, 1848.

M. LAMARTINE has spoken. Silent for a consi-
cLrable period under accumulated calumnies, he has
at length condescended to reply to them. The mo-
tive and the manner cf his reply are worthy of him-
self. He has not addressed an indignant, but merited
accusation against the public who have misunder-
stood and misrepresented him ; he has briefly endea-
voured to clear himself from those misrepresentations,
and to make the apparent enigmas of his conduct
understood. He has done this by a rapid detail of
facts, and this explanation he has addressed to the ten
departments who, in the general election, selected
him as their representative. " I have kept silence
long," he says, " and I should keep it always if it
only concerned myself, but you adopted me, under
grave circumstances, in sign of the conformity of our
opinions. I therefore belong to you. I therefore
owe you an account of myself. You shall not
have to blush when my name is mentioned in your
presence. You must be enabled to say with truth to
those who shall reproach you for having honoured my
name with two million votes, If the banner which
we had chosen be lowered, it at least is not tarnished.
If it no longer leads us, it has in no wise humbled us."'
This is the reason, simply expressed and nobly con-
ceived, which has induced M. LAMARTINE to break
silence. How his address may be received by his
ungrateful countrymen remains to be seen. In Eng-
land it will meet with cordial greeting, but in England
it is not required. In England we shall welcome it
not as an exposition of unknown facts, but only as a
corroboration of preconceived opinions. If the character
Of LAMARTINE be misconstrued at home, abroad it
has been and it is appreciated. "Foreigners," said
Madame DE STAEL, " are the posterity of our own
day." The remark is equally striking and truthful.
Contemplating the scene of action from a distance—.
from a distance too great for prejudice and passion
and self-interest to blind the vision and warp the
judgment—the foreigner, like posterity, takes a
generally unbiassed and accurate estimate of men
and circumstances. This estimate has been favour-
able to LAMARTINE. Every country, save his own,
considers him worthy of all honour and admiration.
To Europe and the world LAMABTINE appears, as
he will hereafter appear to future generations, when
the mists of prejudice and misrepresentation shall
have cleared away, and individual jealousy and ani-
mosity shall be no more. Everywhere, save in France,
therefore, LAMARTINE'S defence is scarcely needed.
In publishing this address, the Patrie prefixes to it
the following somewhat extraordinary observation :
" Many of the noble thoughts expressed in this letter
make us feel once more how mournful for France
was the fall of that archangel of the barricades, who
after having been LAMARTINE, might have been
WASHINGTON, and he would not !" The term
" archangel of the barricades" is, we presume,
in allusion to M. LAMARTINE'S poem, " La
Chute d'un Ave," the expression is at all events
sufficiently complimentary. But what shall we say
of the concluding sentence—" who, after having been
LAMARTINE, might have been WASHINGTON, and he
would. net!" Stripped of its oratorical flourishes,
we take the meaning of this sentence to be, that LP,
I,IARsTE Might, like WASHINGTON, have become
President of the Republic had he so willed it. The
essential difference between the public
WASHINGTON and •
suc-
ceeded and the LAMARTINE is, that the one
kotnhoer failed, and in the estimation of
men it is well
crime." Bny Success is virtue, and mis-
fortunethewhat have we said ?—That
L M AnTINE failed in object of his political career!
hat that object been 'perskoinsalwaggrandisement, he
ceinly has failed. But
was to maintain
the peace of Europe—and Europeject is still at peace.
his object was to repress tumult idopfrtekvent anarchy
y fureurwas
avoe
ided,
in France, and in the very
tumult was repressed and anarchy
from olj eat was to prevent the cause of liberty
, and sarave
again defiled with blood as in 1793
lei' unhappy interval that object was attained. Shallor
v, 3 then sfly that LAMARTINE'S mission failed ? Not
That mission has succeeded—he alone h sacri-
fe ed

The American Republican has been extolled for
ths want of personal ambition. lie has been hailed
" the CINCINNATUS of the West," who
" bequeathed the name of Washington,
To make man blush there was but one."
But in tbic respect, in the contempt of personal
aggrandisement, to our thinking LAMARTINB has, if
possible, surpassed WASHINGTON. The American