The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-29 00:00:00

Vieninix altAt

LONDON. WEDNESDAY. MARCH 29, 1848.

The detection of a snug system of corruption by
the Derby Election Committee has led to an econo-
mic determination on the part of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer. Mr. STRUTT has failed in endea-
vouring to re-enter Parliament, and his failure is the
immediate consequence of a very hospitable predilec-
tion for " treating." By losing the suffrages of an
obsequious constituency, he has been driven to the
resignation of a lucrative office—an office producing
an annual income of two thousand pounds sterling—
as Chief Commissioner of Railways. Mr. STRUTT'S
election for the city of Derby is pronounced invalid
by a Parliamentary Committee, and forthwith the
Honourable Gentleman in his official capacity
delivers in his resignation. Upon this it
would appear that Sir CHARLES WOOD has made
a most amazing discovery. The fishy exudation
which cured the blindness of Tomas was not more
miraculous than the decision of the Derby Election
Committee has been in its illumination of the hitherto
obscured judgment of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. "My Noble Friend at the head of the
Government," said Sir CHARLES yesterday evening—
" My. Noble Friend;_ ahthe head of the Government
has accepted Mr. STaurr's resignation, and, under
existing circumstances', we (her MAJESTY'S advisers)

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have thought it advisable not to fill up the appointment
vacated by that gentleman." 0, wonderful prevari-
cation—" under existing circumstances !" 0, won-
derful delinquency of ➢Tr. STRUTT—which has puri-
fied the scheme of a Cabinet Councillor ! 0, won-
derful verdict of a Committee—which has abolished
the Chief Commissionership of Railways and saved
the country two thousand per annum ! Henceforth,
it would appear that the duties of the vacated office
are to be performed by a member of the Board of
Trade, acting as an unpaid Commissioner, and thus
fulfilling all the necessities of that department with-
out any increase of expenditure.
Now, it becomes a rather interesting matter of dis-
cussion—a problem not unworthy of a definitive
solution—whether the same opportunity of economiz-
ing the public monies did not exist as fully before
the ousting of Mr. STRUTT from the re-
presentation of Derby as immediately after his
resignation—whether, in short, two thousand pounds
per annum could not have been saved as readily, and
with as little detriment to the general interests of the
country, before as after this accidental vacation of the
office of Chief Commissioner of Railways ? Suppos-
ing, for example, that Mr. STRUTT had never been
denied the purchased votes of his constituents, sup-
posing his return as Member for Derby had been
unquestioned, supposing that the world had remained
in profound ignorance of his ever " treating " his
unfranchised supporters, and that, in consequence of his
impunity from Parliamentary chastisement, he himself
had never been induced to tender his resignation as
Railway Commissioner. What then ? Would the
Chancellor of the Exchequer ha►e discovered that
2,0001. sterling were being annually squandered
without any adequate necessity ? Would the Go-
vernment have found out that the duties of that re-
sponsible Commissionership could be very readily
performed by an officer of the Board of Trade, with-
out any additional salary whatever ? We doubt it.
An accident has led to the almost compulsory with-
drawal of Mr. STRUTT and—presto! hocus pocus !
abracadabra I—the Government perceives on the in-
stant the uselessness of this disbursement of 2,000/.
per annum!
Shall we not take the hint forced upon us by this
very suggestive circumstance ? Shall not some other
recipients of snug two thousands be politely given
their conge? Can there not be a judicious extension
of these economic aspirations ? Is Sir CHARLES
Wool) patented as the exclusive discoverer of sine-
cures ? Surely not. There is a wide field and a rich
field to glean in. There are plenty of Mr. STRUTTS
to impel to their resignations gentlemen who
are unnecessarily assuming to themselves gaudy
grounds of responsibility amidst the really meritorious
subordinates of the Executive, just as there are an
abundance of poppies flaunting their scarlet barren-
ness in the grass crops and the standing corn. Away
with them ! Let us have some political hoe and
Parliamentary pruning-hook for the purpose of eradi-
cating these pernicious weeds from the soil in which
they have hitherto flourished. The growing excess
of the national expenditure over the national receipts
would he of itself a sufficient justification of such a
method of economising, even supposing that reason
and justice did not themselves demand this circum-
spect employment of our revenues.

During the temporary quietude intervening be-
tween the difficulties attending on their first installa-
tion in office and the agitation likely to accompany
the forthcoming elections, the Provisional Government
may permit themselves some triiiing relaxation.
Accordingly we find that on Friday last, they at-
tended a representation at the Theatre de la RiTub-
lique. The scene is described as having been one of
peculiar interest and animation—not the scene on the
stage alone, but in the whole interior of the house.
It furnished a striking commentary upon passing
events. The royal loge of former times, which Louis
PHILIPPE occasionally honoured with his presence,
was occupied by a group of ordinary citoyens, while
the Ministerial box, containing the members of the
Government, was the centre of attraction and the ob-
ject of all regards. The play was Luerace, in which is
commemorated the expulsion of TARqUIN and the final
overthrow of the regal authority in Rome—a subject
singularly apposite to the present position of France,
and peculiarly in accordance with the present
temperament of the Parisians. Under these cir-
cumstances the piece was listened to with eager
and interested attention, every sentence that
seemed to bear allusion to the events
of the day was heard with breathless interest and
marked by especial applause. As one of the person-
ages of the drama observed that it WAS far easier
" to destroy than to restore," LEDRU ROLLIN is said
to have glanced significantly at his colleagues—the
warning, however, was more especially appropriate
to himself. 'With a people so vivacious and observant
as the French, so quick in seizing their impressions,
and so impetuous in giving vent to their emotions,
it is not surprising that the representations of the
stage " holding a mirror up to nature" should in•
variably prove a most effectual mode of eliciting some
vehement demonstration of their sentiments. Hence
it is that many of the most striking phases of the
national temperament have been most forcibly exem•
plified by some scene similar to that which took place
at the Theatre de la Republique on Friday last.
Such a reflection as the close connexion between
French politics and the French stage—recals to us many
striking alternations of fortune. For example, it reminds
us of the last days of power and splendour enjoyed
by the old French monarchy—of that evening when
%lAuiE ANTOINETTE, in the pride of her youth and
beauty, in the prestige of power and popularity, en-
tered the royal box of one of the Parisian theatres,
during the performance of Esther, just as the chorus
were pronouncing a moat appropriate line occurring
in the piece—" Chantons, celebrons, wire Reine r
The loyal chorus was hailed by the impressionable
Parisians with one spontaneous and universal burst
of enthusiasm and exultation. So hearty were their
acclamations, so earnest were the expressions of their
loyalty and devotion, that the Emperor Josurß, sho
accompanied his sister, involuntarily exclaitneri,
" What happiness to reign over such a people !"
What happiness to reign over such a people. Un-
happy ANTOINETTE! That happiness was dearly
purchased upon her part. Perhaps her recep
tion at the theatre that evening, and her
brother's consequent ejaculation, when contrasted
with the terrible tragedy enacted in that same Paris
a brief time afterwards, forms one of the most appal-
ling vicissitudes of fortune that truth has ever chro-
nicled or fiction ever fabricated. These histories of
theatrical reminiscences recal to us another equally
memorable performance—the performance of the
tragedy of Edipus before a whole audience of peers
and princes, and potentates, kings, and emperors.
When surrounded by the elite of European royalty
and genius, NAPOLEON and ALEXANDER side by side
witnessed the performances of the Theatre Francais
transported from Paris to enliven the festivities at
Erfurt ; there it was that on one of the actors ex-
claiming that the friendship of a great man was a
blessing from Heaven—" ramitie d'un grand homme
est an bienfait des Dieux"— ALEXANDER, turning
towards his companion, seemed to appropriate
the application of the sentence to himself,
and a conscious thrill of approbation elec-
trified the entire assembly. These are, with-
out doubt, two of the most remarkable in-
stances of the startling effect produced upon an
audience, when the words pronounced by the actors
come home to themselves—like the influence of the
mimic drama in Hamlet upon the conscience-stricken
King. But viewed in another light, those scenes, to
which we have just alluded, are peculiarly interest-
ing when brought into comparison with that of
Friday last. For those three scenes, taken together,
compose a drama more marvellous than was ever
enacted on any stage—a series of vicissitudes more
incredible than ever entered into the imagination of
poet to conceive—a more forcible illustration of the
vanity of human wishes, than the eloquent inspira-
tions of JOHNSON have afforded us—a better sermon
on the mutability of human fortune than the most
earnest of preachers ever pronounced, for those three
scenes bring before us, the old Monarchy, in the last
hours of its existence, the Empire in the full meridian
of its glory, and the young Republic at the com-
mencement of its being. What a theme for the in-
vestigation of the historian, what a theme for the
speculations of the philosopher ! The two former of
these episodes, glorious and brilliant though they be,
were followed in each instance by a terrible and
lamentable catastrophe, as the scaffold in the Place do

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la Revolution, and the rocky grave at St. Helena, can
testify. Nevertheless, we are fain to anticipate for
this third scene in the great drama a more
auspicious consummation. For though greatly
inferior to its predecessors in the glory of
its external adjuncts, it immeasurably exceeds them in
the majesty of the principle which it has impersonated.
For here it was no individual that was magnified
and celebrated, but something more, something greater
than any individual, whether exalted by the highest
rank or most amazing genius—it was the majesty of
the people that was celebrated here. It was a feeling
of exultation in the acknowledgment of that majesty
that called forth the bursts of honest enthusiasm from
the audience of the Theatre de la Republique—an
enthusiasm more beauty, more sincere, and more en-
nobling than that (on a similar occasion) elicited by the
beauty and royalty of ANTOINETTE, or the genius and
glory of NAPOLEON. This comparison is suggested
to us by a striking similarity existing in many in-
stances between the three scenes we have referred to ;
scenes in which a casual line in a drama has elicited
some vehement expression of feeling on the part of
the spectators ; scenes, again, which resemble each
other—serving as types of the phase of society in
which they each occurred ; scenes which are (in these
instances at least) invested with an historic celebrity,
and may serve as eternal mementoes of the evanescence of
human greatness, and of the vanity of human pride. As
to:the last example, its historic importance must depend
upon the conclusion of the momentous drama of
which it is but an episode ; an episode, however,
sufficiently interesting, as evincing that the former
enthusiasm and ardour of the French is in no wise
diminished by the moderation which has latterly ac-
companied it. Throughout the whole tragedy which
describes the overthrow of Roman tyranny: and the
establishment of the Roman Republic—the glorious
Senatus Populusque Roolanu9—the audience, as we
have already said, hung in breathless interest upon
every word; but when, at the conclusion, RACHEL ap-
peared before them to sing the " liarseillaise," the
effect of that heart-stirring hymn, as uttered
in her earnest and impassioned accents,
was overpowering, and elicited an enthusiasm
similar to that which greeted it as it fell for
the first time from the lips of ROUGET DE
LISLE, when, as LAMARTINE beautifully describes it,
," at the first verse all countenances turned pale, at
the second tears flowed, at the last enthusiasm burst
forth. The song of the country was found."
_ _ _

The scene on the whole was one that could only
have been enacted in France., We have a calmer and
severer mode of testifying our national emotion ;
nevertheless, we cannot but sympathise with the
tumultuous joy now agitating the hearts of a people
only just possessed of those rights and privileges from
which they have been so long and unjustly debarred.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

PROCEEDINGS AT PARIS.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The illoniteur publishes a decree of the Provisional
Government authorising the city of Lyons and the
department of the Rhone to levy an extraordinary
contribution of 55 centimes, which, with the 45 pre-
viously laid on, amounts to a franc on the direct taxes
—in other words, it doubles the actual imposts.
The intelligence from Lyons is important. The
Courrier de Lyons says that the workmen in that city
were in revolt. They had demanded and took
forcible possession of the powder magazine, and
seized on a quantity of arms, and at the time the
paper was going to press orders had been given that
no public carriage should be allowed to leave the city.
M. ARAGo, the Commissary of the Government, had
sent to Paris for orders, and had expressed his de-
termination to carry them into execution to the last
extremity.
The financial vagaries of some of the Provincial
Commissioners has attracted the attention of the Pro-
visional Government, who referred the matter to the
Minister of Finance. The following is his report on
the subject : .

" Citizens,—Unity is at once the principle and the
object of the Government of the Republic. What hap-
pily distinguishes France from other countries of
Europe is, that already unity has prevailed in all the
elements of her social, political, and administrative
organization. This precious conquest must be pre-
served; the care of our grandeur imperiously commands
it, the safety even of the Republic requires it.
" Some acts have nevertheless taken place which tend
to compromise this sovereign principle. Surrounded
with considerable difficulties, some Commissioners of the
Provisional Government found themselves under the
painful necessity of taking measures which are in formal
contradiction to the decisions and the acts of the
Central Government. Tnus, while with a painful and
salutary energy, you refuse to the commerce of Paris
the postponement of the maturity of their bills, which
they claim of you, your Commissioners in some depart-
ments have granted delays of fifteen days, and even of
three months. Other analogous facts aro well know❑
to you, and it is therefore needless for me to recapitulate
them.

" In this state of things it appears to me to be indis-
pensable to set all ideas right on the true principles of
the Government, and to assimilate the conduct of all to
them. The more we render homage to the ardour, the
zeal, and the courage of the men who devote themselves
on all points of our territory to the great work of the
establishment of the Republic, the more are we bound to
repress all federalist tendencies, and to adopt vigi-
lance in the consecration of the ideas which constitute
the Republican Government.
" I, in consequence, propose to you, citizens, to decide
that all financial measures adopted by the Commissioners
of the Provisionai Government shall be made null and
void until they have been ratified by the Central Go-
vernment. In that sense I propose for your adoption
the followin: decree.
(Signed) " GARNIER PAGES."
On the above report the Provisional Government
has decreed as follows :

" Considering that the French law is alike throughout
the whole extent of the territory of the Republic;

"Considering that the unity of the Government would
be in danger if the local authorities had the power of
acting in a sense contrary to the directions of the central
power;
" Decrees—

" Art. 1. All the measures adopted by the Commis-
sioners of the Provisional Government with regard to
commercial or financial legislation are provisionally re.
pealed.
" Art. 2. For the future all the financial or com-
mercial measures of the said authorities are to be sub-
mitted for the previous consent of the Central Govern-
ment.

" Art. 3. The Ministers of Finance, Commerce, and
the Interior are charged, each in his respective province,
with the execution of the above decree."

(Signed by the Members of the Provisional Govern-
ment.)

The idea which Government entertained of taking
all the railways, finished and unfinished, into its own
possession, and purchasing up the interests of the
present shareholders on what might be considered
equitable terms, has not been carried into execution.
On Saturday the Minister of the Finances had an in-
terview with a deputation, consisting of directors from
several of the principal lines ; and after hearing their
opinions and proposals, the Minister said he would
take forty-eight hours to consider them, but he inti-
mated, at the same time, that he would give notice to
the deputation when he was prepared to state his de-
cision. The forty-eight hours elapsed yesterday, but
no notice has yet been given to the deputation, from
which it is concluded that for the present the
Minister does not consider it prudent to enter into the
transaction.

A deputation of Italians, headed by M. MAZZINI,
had an interview with M. LAMARTINE yesterday. In
the course of his reply to them, M. LAMARTINE
observed :—" France desires no other conquests than
the pacific conquests of the normal mind, no ambition
but for idea. We are now reasonable and generous
enough to correct even our vain idea of glory."
An address had been received by M. Louis BLANC
from the Executive Committee of Great Britain, for
the protection of industry, and for the Division of
Agricultural and Manufacturing Labour, of which T.
S. DUNCOMRE, M.P., is the President, congratulating
the French people on their late victory, and express-
ing a desire to have a league formed between the
working classes of the two countries to forward their
mutual interests. It declares that the present is
the hour for action ; that the organization of labour
is essential to the well-being of the working man in
both countries; and concludes by calling on the
French, now that they have the opportunity, to
maintain that principle firmly, as being the death-
warrant of the system of oppression which has
hitherto existed.

The following account of a meeting of the credi-
tors of Messrs. CHARLES LATTITE, BLOUNT and Co., is
taken from Galignani's 21Iessenger:—

" A numerous meeting of the creditors of MM. C.
Laffitte, Blount, and Co., was held last evening in the
Rue Basso du Rempart, to receive a statement of the
Affairs of the firm. From an Account read by M. E.

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