The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-20 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

At the free trade blnquet given by the Council
General of the ilerault at Morapolier" on Saturday
M. Michel ChevAlier made an interesting speech in
proposing the health of Queen Victoria. He said :

• "Few reigns, indeed, have bees 1113.1:id by acniet4-
inents so considerab'e and so happy. To rec,unt, even
in the most seminary manner, all the grear things that
have ben done undrr this reign wqu Id be the weft:, of lone
hours. Anroad, for example, -one would have to speak
,:f those conques,s in tar distant regions whiel-. had ag-
grandised the An to Indian empire—conqa,.sts which
numanity might applaud without reserve, for they had
had for their effect to'stihstitute for the inept, extortion-
ate, and cruel Government of the native princes the milti•
And equitable rule of a European nation distinguished
for it 4 intelligence find morality. Further 4iff still
than •India the Tartar hordes who bad comp, red China
had been forced by the power of the Engii.dl ..arins to

abandon that polrev of nieeilute isolatien by which they
had kept down 350,000,000 of iiipelligent and in-
dustrious men. After a reference to the rapid colo-
nisation of Australia and to the present peaceful state of
lielanO, where the pe late,. without having parch sed
the privilege by any social or political.sacrifice, r r u t sod
the religion of their fathers, which was not tint of the
State, M. Chevalier said be would not, for want of time,
continue further to enumerate the titles of Queen Vic-
toria to the respect and gratitude of the civilised world,
but Would come at once to the topic on which .they felt
more,particularly inteiested::7•Under qieen Victoria's
Government an entire ehaige had been erotitht in the
policy of England. The English p`o;icy w:th regard t
Fraiitee had been base] upon the aph,ristst that the pro-
,sperity and greatness of England were incomp ttible with
octal ; and in the-Cabinet of Versaille quite as much as
in the Cabinet of St. James's, it was a priemple, a maxim,
an article of faith, that for France to be gnat Eng:aiol
must be lowered. These narrow-Minded docti in s, which
had caused so much hlo',d and so many tears to b shed,
were, now repudiated. He thought v:ere had never
teen a political event which enlightened minds and
geneious.sotils could so heartily rejoice in 'having been
witnesses Of as this transformation in the ideas of Euro-
pean Cabinets, and mere especially the harmonious and
,ympathetic accord between England and France. Tile
nientiship of Fra-ce and England was, in th; words of
;he poet, `a'present frnni the gods,' not only to each
nation, but also to the world, for it was the innst solid
zuarantee for the repose of the universe, and the best
pledge of general peace. It was also a pledge of general
progress, for two peoples so great could Rot be associated
and united but for the accoc.plishineet of great design..,
and the _maintenance of justice upon the earth: The
Eawern war had written the proof of this in characters
of item and fire. Queen Victoria bad pursued Viis ac-
cord during many years With an unflinching constancy
which deserved all gratitude. But, whatever night
have been said or thought to he contrery, it was then ;ht
impossible that the alliance could be conSnein aced and
become truly cordial before the present day. It was
praiseworthy in tradesmen to wish for the alliance, JAIL
in France the national sympathy could not till now
r spond to the call of political men. We feat that we
were the vanquished of Waterloo, and that by the
treaties of 1815 we had been stripped of the rank which
we had held for nenturiee in Europe. Under these
circumstances the English alliance, whatever goodwill
there might hate been on the part of the two ,Govern-
inents, could never have been an alliance on a footing of

This the public confideuce. knew and tilt,
and yet it would never have accepted the al.iance on
any other terms. Now all was changed. We were
no lquger the var.quished of Europe. We had reco-
vered 0urw...1ve,,, and we had a right to h Id our heads

so high that no nation in the -world could consider
la tssif above us. The Emperor, to whom the ultional
will freely confided our destinies, belouged to that
family which the treaties of 1815 deposed and prc.
..cribed with multiplied threats and pre..amions to
tvair,tin their work. As to the disa,ter of Waterloo,
we bad effaced the rec dlection of it by the frat,rnity of
arms. He would say more—we had taken in the Valley
of Inkerman a brilliant revenge—a r:L.veege such as
became a chivalrous and Chri,,tian ration ; for, if in
France the people were de ighted to bear witness
that our brave allies where heroic on that glorious day
by their intrepidity and solidity, Eneand proclaims thLt
but for French impetuosity the valiant English Guards
had nothing for it but to wrap themselves in their co-
lours and die, like the Old Guard at Mont St. Jean.
Among the many considerable events which marked the
glorious reign of Queen Victoria he felt that he should
be repro ichtd for having so long abstained from alluding
to the repudiation of the superannuated ideas of the old
commercial policy and the inauguration of free trade.
„Whoa Queen Victoria ascended the throne the protec-
tionist sptern was an idol before which the civilised
world lay procerate in an u.ooude of co tur0.,;..... Duo
an idol with meet of c.y, fur there is no solid founda-

eon but in sound principles. At the period when Qaeen
Victoria attained lor majority there appeared on the
borizOn a pleiad of generous men, till the:, obseur,, but '
worthy of a glorious celebrity, and destined to obtain it
b) their undaunted courage, their patriotism, and their
perseverance —their perseverance, a great qn ,lity, with-
out which nothing could be done, and which was espe-
cially worthy of imitation in this matter. These new
men struggled resolutely against the protective system.
In 1846 a statesman was Lund s‘itla mind and heart
enough r.o!emirly ta,aljure the prote:tionist opinions
which he had profes-ed for 30 years, and with power
encugh to draw after him the majority of the party
whio had shared his belief. Obedient to his voice, the
English Parliament, with that admirable vigour which
characteii-ed the English nation, earried these opinions

i ego practice. The rsvolution• was made without asking
for reciprocity from any other nation, because frets trade,
even wi hoot reciprocity, was recognised to be a great
pubiic beoefit, and the advantages of the c'lange were so
manifest that at this hour a man calling himself a Pro-
tectionist was scarcely to be found in the united kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland. Most Governments had
a'ready begun to follow the example. At this moment
Europe and the world were in suspense. •They fixed their
e%es upon France, and waited for the signal. The con-
version of France to free trade would be immediately
followed by the conversion of all other peoples. Now the
signs of the times announced that France hesitated for
the moment, but this hesitation could not be of long du-
ration. The prohibitive system in France was au arm-
maly, for history attested that it was originally adopted
as a war measure against England. Now that the bitter
rivalry of the two peoples hal given plat: to a frank
and cordial friendship the system must in 1111 logic dis-
appear. If it wire Objected to him that it was riot for
France servilely to imitate England he would answer
first, that all true and generous ideas belonged to no
people in particular, but were the common patrimony of
humanity. But, in adopting free trade, France would
imitate no one, for it was the only system compatible
with the immoral principles of 1789 ; and thirty years
before Sir Robert Peel raised the en andarcl fit free trade
the Emperer Napoleon, in his exile on the reek of
St. Helena, protinunced these memorable and pr-.
iihetic words, recordel by the Memorial de Sx.nte He.
lene, of June 12, 1,816:--` We must for the iuture fad
baca upon free navigation and an entire liberty of nei-
versal exchange.' lie concluded by proposing 'The
Health of Queen Victoria ; the rerpetuity of the Anglo-
French Alliance ;' and, he added, under tht. auspices of
Napoleon 1., ' the universal adoption and gradual prat.
tics in all countries of the principles of free trade,'"
( The above speech was received with lou 1 cheers.

TEE CHURCH" DISPUT4. AT WEST
IiAtiTLEPOUL.

The following memorial, frArt the cor.gregation of
Christ Church, was presented to the Bishop of Durham,
at Auckland Castle, on Tuesday last :