The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-04 00:00:00

Varrnina

LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1851.

Republicanism becomes more consolidated in pro-
portion as the plot thickens about the originator of
the last French Revolution. It would be idle, of
course, to expect that the accounts received from Paris
should be rose-coloured throughout. Unhappily, such
is altogether impossible among a people as exciteable
as our neighbours. Nobody, therefore, can experi-
ence surprise on learning that the recent movements
in the French capital have, in one or two instances,
provoked a conflict, leading to the erection of at least
one barricade, to the effusion of blood in the streets,
and to the death of two of the ex-representatives.
Nevertheless, while episodes of this sanguinary
kind have enhanced the general excitement in
some quarters, the masses have welcomed the
daring acts of Louis NAPOLEON with ma-
nifest exultation. They have seen those acts
accompanied by the re.establishment of Uni-
versal Suffrage, and in the recognition of that
magnificent concession to the wishes of the country
the multitude have decided favourable to the pro-
ceedings of the PRESIDENT. How far this feeling of
satisfaction has extended through society may be per-
ceived from the intelligence received already at head-
quarters from nearly every one of the departments.
That intelligence announces the almost unanimous
praises expressed in regard to the late events by
the population. Louis NAPOLEON stands exonerated
before his fellow-countrymen for the resolution which
decided him upon what is literally a flagrant viola-
tion of the Constitution. Everyone knows well
enough that a different course was out of the ques-

tion under the circumstances. Either the PRESIDE/CT
must have acted against the Assembly, or the Assembly
against the PRESIDENT. A trifle less promptitude
and Louis NAPOLEON himself, instead of the traitors,

who were not merely his personal enemies, but the
enemies of the liberties of France, would have been
lodged in Vincennes. That is to say, of course, if a
party of conspirators, so hateful to all classes, as the
men he has now made prisoners, could have in-
duced the army to side against the elected of
six millions, that elected a BoNAPARTE, and
that BONAPARTE the representative at once of the
glories of a past, and of the suffrages of the present
generation. If by nothing else, Louis NAPOLEON
would find his justification for having acted thus
daringly and rigorously in the fact of TRIERS and
his very dangerous and despieable accomplices being
captured by the soldiers, at four o'clock on Tuesday
morning, in the private residence of General COIN-
OARNIER. The presence of those conspirators at such
a suspicious rendezvous and at such a suspicious hour
out of the twenty-four—too late for mere conviviality
and too early for anything else but treason—indicates
the truth of the accusation thrown out against the
Right by the upholders of the national sovereignty.
Having once decided upon taking the initiative in

this momentous struggle between the conflicting
powers of the State, LOUIS NAPOLEON has done the
work marked out for himself thoroughly. Not satis-

fled with dissolving the Assembly, he has caused the
very building in which it was accustomed to meet to
be rased to the ground forthwith. Neither has he
contented himself with one or two arrests of the lead-
ing men amongst his antagonists, he has directed his
army to take the whole of them prisoners, no matter
how formidable soever their reputation. It is in this
dauntless manner he has acted towards his very pre-
decessor in the administration of the affairs of France
—the Dictator CAVAIGNAC. It is thus also that he
has grappled with the influence supposed to be exer-
cised by a distinguished officer like General 13N-
DEAU, by a captain as renowned among the con-
querors of Algeria as General LAMORICIERE, by
a statesman as vindictive as M. TRIERS, by nearly
all the principal men of note, in fact, in the entire
community. Wherever there has been the slightest
evidence of resistance to his decision, there
Louts NAPOLEON has at once exerted his
supreme authority in its repression. Has a
barricade been thrown up in any direction, it
has been instantly stormed and taken by his soldiers.
Has any legislator of importance called down upon
I
himself the faintest suspicion from the Executive, he
has been immediately seized and carried off to Vin-
cennes. Has the obscurest person in Paris raised a
cry in the streets calculated to disturb public tran-
quillity, he has been promptly locked up within the
walls of one of the prisons, or of one of the barracks.
And the people have everywhere responded to
this resolution on the part of the PRE-
SIDENT'S Government. They have expressed
their contempt for the late conspirators against
the Republic by jeers and derisions. They have
welcomed the officers of Louts NAPOLEON, on the
contrary, with shouts of enthusiasm. While the
Chief of the State himself, on descending into the
streets and traversing some of the most public places
of the capital on horseback, has been greeted with a
cordiality and fervour sufficiently indicative that his
audacity has met with the national approbation.
Meanwhile active preparations are already making
for the settlement of affairs now thrown into consi-
derable confusion by these occurrences. A remarkable
decree has already been issued under the signature of
the PRESIDENT of the Republic, and countersigned
by M. DE MORNY, his Minister of the Interior, no-
minating eighty of the ex-representatives members of
the new Council of State—for the supervision of the
labours of Administration. Among the parties se-
lected to this honourable post of responsibility are
the Governor of the Bank of France, M. D'ARGOUT ;
the General BARAGUAY D'HILLIERS, formerly in
command of the army of Rome ; M. BAROCHE, the
eminent Minister ; M. FERDINAND BAIRROT, once
leader of the Cabinet under the
PRESIDENT
; M.
BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE, the Vice-President of the
Republic ; Admiral CECILLE, formerly Ambassador
to the Court of St. James's; M. DROUYN
DE L'HuYs, once also Minister Plenipoten-
tiary to England; the Marshal EXCELMANS,
the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour,
General D'HAUTPOITL, General DE FLAHAULT,
General D'ORNANO, General RANDON, General DE
SAINT ARNAUD, M. ACIIILLE FOULD, M. MEYNARD,
President of the Court of Cessation ; M. LUCIEN
MURAT, M. TaorLoNG, President of the Court of
Appeal ; and M. DE MONTALEMBRRT. An amusing
circumstance, originated by this creation of the new
C ouncil of State, was the nomination of M. LEON
FAUCHER as one of the members, and his petulant
rejection of the honour (considered by him to be
rather questionable, because, we presume, of
its being also some hat perilous) in a
ridiculous little note addressed to the PRESI-
DENT. Whatever may be the ultimate result of
these very extraordinary proceedings, there cannot be
a moment's doubt that LOUIS NAPOLEON has acted
throughout not merely with a Courage worthy.
Of a BONAPARTE, but with
. consummate adroit-
ness, astonishing' r ptuu.tde, and
resolution. Furthermore,Pominflexible
a atrokceanonfothis be e veryb
soon forgotten that with
re-established Universal Suffrage, and by hispmnan'e
Appeal to the People demanded their settlement manly
existing difficulties by elections (within this present
December) such as must lead to the permanent con-
solidation of the National Sovereignty.

Mr. CHARLES PEARSON'S admirable plan for com..
bining extensive street improvements in the City and
Finsbury with a central terminus for all the railways
at the north side of the river, has been received with
general approbation by all disinterested persons com-
petent to judge of the general merits of the under-
taking. A. model of the contemplated improvements
was exhibited on several occasions lost week to gen-
tlemen of high scientific attainments, many of them
civil engineers of great eminence, and also to the
Fellows
and th
fullest explanations afforded by the spirited
projector, whose
ability, perseverance, and zeal were
fully
appreciated and unanimously recognised w
by the
assembled audiences. The vast importance of reliev-