The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-13 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1851.

CLIANGARNIEM is already devoted to political ex.
tinction. After all the boastings of his more vain-
glorious adherents, after all his own arrogance of de-
meanour, after predictions of his ultimate supremacy,
and aspirations for his advancement to a Dictatorship
--CLIANGARNIER is dedicated to a position of the most
impotent insignificance. The event has only realised
our expectations, as may be conjectured by those who
have observed our lucubrations on the Commander-in-
Chief of the armies of the Republic. Very recently
we t" occasion to insist upon the folly of that ex-
aggerated adulation which a certain class of politi-
cians in France has latterly offered to General
CHANGARNIER. We insisted that the soldier
their flatteries were exalting into a hero in his
own estimation was, in reality, a mere charlatan
and a nobody—a person at any moment removable by
the stroke of a pen in the hand of the Prince Louis
NAPOLEON. The assertion has within thelastf'w
li
days been strikingly verified. The resolute co
pursued by the PRESIDENT with reference to thisres
vaunted paladin of the Orleanist-Legitimatist-Social-
ist conspiracy has dissipated once and for ever those
dreams of domination which have hitherto been
cherished in the heart of CHANGARNIER. Having
summoned to his palaceof the Elysiie the priocipal
leaders of the majority in the Legislature, it will
have been observed that LOUI3 NAPOLEON
announced to them his irrevocable determina-
tion to exercise the powers entrusted to him by the
Constitution, and among those to dismiss at
his pleasure any subaltern officer whose removal
might appear to him desirable. Withstanding
the blandishments of their rhetoric, resolutely main-
taining his position against the arguments (in them-
selves at once specious and persuasive) of some of the
most prominent orators in the country, upholding his
own views, in defiance of the mingled sophistries and
cajoleries of the most subtle di,putants in the de-
mocracy, the PRESIDENT announced his unalterable
resolve to adhere to his originally expressed determi-
,,— nation. Insomuch did he impress the minds of his
auditors with a conviction that- his intentions upon
this trlbj2ct were altogether irrevocable, that, though
themielves reluctant to accept the declaration,
they were, perforce, compelled to declare their

opinion that they despaired of its being abandoned.
This significant acknowledgment was made imme-
diately after their return from the ElyEi 3 to the
Legislative Assembly, and made, moreover, ex-
plicitly, in the presence of their brother represen-
tatives.

Tnroughout the whole of the recent contention
between the French Legislature and the bead of the
French Government, it must be confessed even by the
antagonists of the latter that he has acted in every
particular in the strictest conformity with the prin-
ciples embodied in the Constitution. His proceed-
ings in every instance have been characterized by
their entire legality. No one has dared to insinuate
from the commencement of the misunderstanding that
the Chief Magistrate of the Republic is exercising any
other than the most legitimate authority. He is avail-
ing himself of the constitutional privilege entrusted
to him as PRESIDENT of discarding at his option
a subordinate official. Such a proceeding is in every
way consonant with his peculiar prerogatives, and
those prerogatives he has declared himself ready to
maintain intact against all the contrivances of in-
trigue and all the assaults of opposition. Dismay,
and not only dismay bat irritation, has followed the
announcement of this very bold but reasonable re-
solve, and the bitterest among the antagonists of the
policy thus adventured upon by Louis NAPOLEON are
the very last individuals who should in decency have
revealed sentiments inimical to the design, namely,
the leaders of the majority in the Legislature. To
those identical men, the PRESIDENT has himself over
and over again proffered the glorious responsibility
of forming an Administration. Each in turn, actu-
ated by a miserable feeling of pusillanimity, has re-
fused the boon placed at his disposal—unwilling to
commit himself and his fortunes to the perils of a
crisis in the Republican Government.
Availing himself of the courage and ability of those
able and conscientious statesmen who have consented
at all hazards to, assume the dangers of administration,
Louis NAPOLEON, on the 9th of this present January,
formed a Cabinet which promises to release him from
his hitherto anomalous position. Several mem-
bers of the last Ministry, distinguished by
their skill as much as by their valour,
have been retained in office, and other ad-
ministrators remarkable by their many splendid ante-
cedents have been chosen as their colleagues. As
chief in the Foreign Department, for example, M.
DROUTN DE Luurs has been with admirable tact
selected out of the whole mass of diplomatists as per-
haps the ablest Minister that could by possibility have
been nominated. Over the administration of the
affairs of the War Department, again, has been placed
an officer of the most high and unimpeachable cha-
racter. Added to all which the new Cabinet
possesses a merit latterly unknown to the
successive Governments of the French Democracy,
It enters upon its career with a distinct and explicit
policy—a policy clearly defined and boldly enun-
ciated—a policy based upon lofty and chivalric
principles, conceived in magnanimity and inaugurated
with decision. Immediately upon the formation of
the Government the vigour of its character became
manifest in the damp copy of the Moniteur, , which
came upon the Parisian multitude simultaneously
with the announcement of the newly-constituted
' Cabinet. In that official organ the first act of the
Ministry appeared in legible characters—an act
neither partial nor timorous, like so many

of its predecessors, but, on the contrary, distinguished
by its vigour and determination. With that stroke
of a pen which we ourselves several weeks since
spoke of as possible, and not merely as possible, but
as probable— the military and almost dictatorial
power of General CHATIGARMBR was annihilated.
The staff of authority wielded of late by that soldier
with such consummate arrogance has been broken

asunder. His power, so long hanging like a night-
mare over the diseased imagination of certain classes
of the people, has been wholly and entirely dissipated.
And this, after all the fanfarronades indulged
in by the adherents of the discarded Commander-in-
Chief! This, forsooth, is the man who was to have
shivered to atoms the wand of popularity hitherto
grasped in the hand of the PRINCE-PRESIDENT !
Nothing could have been more admirable throughout
than the conduct of that illustrious personage under
the late perilous crisis in which he was recently placed
—the imperturbable calmness of his demeanour, the ir-
resistible decision of his proceedings, and the un-
fl4gging confidence evinced by him in his own energies
having effectually crushed down every obstruction
in his pathway. Hitherto he has presided over the
destinies of the Republic under the pressure of the
most anomalous circumstances. From these he bas
at length entirely emancipated himself, and we may
therefore now look with some degree of hope to the
future phases of bis Presidency.

The Annus Mirabilis, the year of the great Ex-
hibition, has commenced. We have sent out cards
of invitation to the inhabitants of all nations to pay
us a friendly visit. We have intimated that we shall
be " at home " to all corners, and it behoves us " to
set our house i❑ order," and so to arrange matters
that we may not excite the contempt and ridicule of
our guests. We have already indicated several nui-
sances sufficiently annoying at any time, and under
any circumstances, but which (if suffered to con-
tinue in unabated virulence) will be absolutely in-
tolerable when we become " the observed of all ob-
servers," and myriads of strangers are looking
to every thing that can reflect either credit or
shame on Old England. If we would merit the repu-
tation of attentive and' hospitable hosts ; if we would
gain the good will and respect of our visitants, we
must not only provide Er their comforts to the best of
our abilities, and enable them to inspect our great
national monuments without being stopped at the
very threshola until some paltry fee has been ex-
tracted from their pockets, but we must exercise the
utmost vigilance to guard them against the numerous
petty impositions to which the inhabitants of the
metropolis and its vicinity are every day exposed.
The tricks and evasions of the " omnibus
conductors," who now form a numerous and well-
organized body, must be sternly repressed, and any
attempt at extortion or deception, or any insolence or
impertinence must be closely watched and stringently
punished. It is said that there is a large fund from
which all fines that may be inflicted are defrayed, and
that the parties, therefore, regard any pecuniary fine
as a matter of perfect indifference, not to be thought
of for a single moment. If they indulge in such
practices with respect to persons well acquainted with
all the rules and regulations relating to omnibus
traffic, and able to come forward before magistrates
to ensure their convictions, what may we not look
for at their hands, when the victims are foreigners,
not understanding our language, and every moment
of whose time will be too fully occupied in sight-
seeing to devote a day to dancing attendance at the
metropolitan police-offices ?

A case heard before Mr. BURNELL at the West-
minster Police-court, on Thursday, in which the
delinquent altogether evaded the consequences of his
most improper conduct, affords a powerful illustra-
tion of the evils of the system recently introduced
among the fraternity, and the mode by which they
continue to defeat those who have sufficient
energy to follow up the matter, by summoning the
offender before a magistrate. It appeared that a
gentleman, named FENTON, residing at Chelsea, had
on the evening of the Ist instant hailed a Chelsea
omnibus in St. Paul's Churchyard. Before taking a
seat, he inquired of the conductor whether it went to
Battersea-bridge or Beaufort-street, and was answered
in the affirmative. Knowing, however, that several
of his friends had been recently duped by being set
down witheut being carried to their place of destina-
tion, and in order to make assurance doubly sure,

he looked to the omnibus itself, and found the words
" Battersea•brigge" exhibited on the centre panel.
He therefore entered the vehicle, but, to his astonish-
ment, when he arrived at Church-street it stopped'
and the conduetcr opened the door, saying, " Here
you are, sir, this is it," and immediately afterwards
" Battersea-bridge, sir." Mr. FENTON was
not, however, to be token in ; he told the conductor
that he knew the locality too well to be persuaded that
that was Battersea-bridge, when the other observed,
that " he was close to it," and that " the omnibus
stopped there." Mr. FENTON was accord-
ingly obliged to get out; but, with a
laudable anxiety to punish so great :and
unwarrantable an imposition, he took out a sum-
mons against the party, which, according to the usual
course, was served upon the proprietor of the vehicle,
who was thereby required
.to produce the conductor

who on the night in question was the wearer of the
badge No. 227.
On the hearing the worthy magistrate stopped
the case, considering that the deception had been
practised in the City, which was out of his jurisdic-
tion. He, therefore, dismissed:the charge, and inti-
mated that a new summons must be taken
out in the City. As, however, the seven
days, which, it appears, constitutes the " statute
of limitations" in the cab and omnibus code bad ex-
pired, the charge was dismissed, and the complainant
left without remedy. Now, with the greatest respect
for Mr. BUERELL, we would say that the offence was
not complete until the omnibus stopped, and the con-
ductor had refused to take him forward to his desti-
nation. Battersea-bridge was painted on the panel
as one of the stages of the journey. The conductor,
it being probably his last trip for the evening, was
anxious to abridge his own trouble, and therefore com-
pelled him to get out at Church-street. It therefore ap-
pears to follow, we say, that it was at that point the of-
fence was committed. He'stated at St. Paul's Church yard
that he would go to Battersea-bridge—that was the
regular journey—but he chose to shorten it, and to
stop at Church-street, and it was at that point that
the offence was committed, and the case was therefore
within the jurisdiction of the magistrate.
The other point was, however, of far greater im-
portance. It was stated that it could be shown that
the party " produced by the proprietor" as the wearer
of the badge on the night in question, was at
a considerable distance at the time sworn to by the
complainant, or, in other words, that a clear aliki
could be established. Mr. FENTON at once declared
that the actual offender had been in court listening to

the case a few minutes previously, but that the badge
227 was unquestionably that worn by him, and not by
BAITER, the man who appeared to answer the sum-
mons. Now this is a deception of a more serious
character, and if it can be practised with impunity, and
badges interchanged at pleasure, the worthy fraternity
can set the law at defiance, and defraud their passengers
with impunity. The party who had once been guilty
of such an offence should for ever be disqualified

from acting as a conductor. We trust, therefore,
that measures may be adopted to prevent such a de-
fence from being again set up. If the existing laws
are not sufficient for that purpose, we are quite con-
vinced that the Legislature will readily afford any
further powers that may be required to put an end to
such nefarious transactions.