The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-11 00:00:00

CIA tutu Am

may,LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1851.

Republicanism in France, according to M. DE
LAMARTINE, is secure because of the multitude of its
enemies. There is a wisdom in the remark. If it
were opposed, says the Dictator of February, by
but a single antagonist, it might fall before his am-
bition. Instead of this, however, it has a variety of
foe 3 both within and without the walls of the As-
sembly, all of them abhorring each other more
thoroughly than any one of them abhors the Re-
public. Scarcely one conspirator against demo-
cracy, writes LAMARTINE, but says to another—" I
prefer my own principles to the Republic, but 1 prefer
the Republic to you !" Hence the safety of the present
institutions of France even in the midst of so much
virulent and fanatical opposition. It is in this wise
that the moderate Republicans can afford to regard
serenely and almost with indifference the
"Hopes and fears that kindle hope,
An unextingulshsble throng,"
with which vitality is preserved in the bosoms of
those long-expiring and all but defunct factions, the
Orleanists, the Bourbonists, and all the other sections
of the great party known collectively by the title of
Royalists or Legitimatists. Yet, while it must
be confessed that there are these guarantees of
safety for the French Republic, it nevertheless
behoves the supporters of it, and more especially
its principal originators, to keep a watchful and a
wary eye upon the movements of its antagonists, so as
to render any surprise by them a matter of absolute
impossibtlity. Before twelve months have elapsed the
destinies of the nation will have been definitively
revealed, the time rapidly drawing on wh;olh is to
witness the election for the Eresidency and the re-
vision of the Constitution.
" Measures not men" is an old cry, but little
apprehended in its true significance. Scarcely
better understood, we may say, than it was
on the occasion which first roused the

latent genius and dormant energies of Mr. CANNING.
According to the phrase used by the DIVINITY Him-
self, men can only be known by their fruits, and the
fruits of public men, men of politics, statesmen and
administrators, are their measures. Reasoning, as
logicians express it, in a circle, a system of argument
in some instances not only allowable but necessary,
we may observe, moreover, that as surely as men
may be known by their measures, measures may be
conjectured from the character borne by public
men, that is from their recognised reputa-
tions. It appears to us, therefore, always
preposterous to harp thus erroneously upon the old
and blundering distinction—" measures not men."
Rather say we, measures and men, or, reversing the
order of their position, men and measures. With
France particularly this precaution seems to be im•
peratively required, otherwise she may find herself,
under the most specious and illusory promises of im-
provement in the way of governance and legisla-
tion, handed over to the mercies of either designing
conspirators or visionaries. Within the three years
and upwards which have elapsed since the
date of their last Revolution, the citizens
of the French Republic have been afforded ample op-
portunities for estimating properly the value of their
principal politicians. Sifted continually through the
ballot-boxes of the Assembly, the names of the po
pular representatives have been tried by a thousand
tests, and long before this the world at large has per-
ceived which ainong,...t them has come forth deficient
in, or replete with, patriotism. From her Parliamen-
tary experiences, therefore, if from nothing else,

France may learn where it would be most and where
least advisable for her to look for the men wbo

are to aid her in developing her Democratic Govern-
ment. Admirably does M. DE LAMARTINE respond
to the factious cries of the enemies of Republicanism
in France by questions as terse as they are signifi-
cant. " Vive le Roi 1" exclaim the Legitimatists,
and LAMARTINE bellies them by the inquiry, "And
what King ?" " Vive l'Empereur !" cry the Bona-

partists ; and LAMARTINE replies in the same truly
Celtic fashion by the query, " And what Emperor ?',
Shall it be to the grandchild of a ruined schemer in
kingcraft, a bankrupt in repute as a ruler before he be•
came the outcast of an infuriated population : shall it be
to such a one as this that France is to bend the knee
in more than primitive abasement ? Shall it be to
the last barren and effeminated son of her ancient
dynasty, the dynasty which sank into insignificance,
though Propped up by a series of armed restorations,
Shall it be to an effete and enervated authority like
his that the Republic is to veil her glory in a peni-
tence so long procrastinated ? Shall it not rather
than either of these be to the
roepthreesresnta;
tive of that greater hero than all
modern times, who, as MINERVA, started in arms from
the head of Joys, sprang from the loins of the
Revolution ? Iu the discussion of those momentous
eirt
iims
pter
ruiea,i
sboeucvaernriiresd,
aawitaeyrnabtyivetsh,eFfraasneicneazoinil nooft
any
more than she will be vanquished by the influ-
ences
of a sentimental repentance, or induced to yield
to he force
of a long recognized and despised
superstition.
Nevertheless, she cannot but in grati-
ber the hand to which she owes so
many benefactions and
so much glory, the hand
that raised her from
t
tulle remember
the degradation of a
on the ons tbe
de-
tested and insulted rebel
mrter
qua of anati century,o the
their mistress for nearly a
hand that conferred upon. hero
the that wondrous code of
prototype and laws which hzs grown into
admi-
ration of Christendom, the hand that drew order
the hand that fostered the
t adorned the
from the abyss of Anarchy,
arts, that beautified the cities, that
palaces, that encouraged the manufactures, that che-
rished the commerce, that cut out the roads and ex-
cavated the docks of the whole land, and, in addi-
tion to all this, strangled the hydra of national
infidelity, ancrraisecl up anew the desecrated altars of
Religion. To these memories, if to any, France
will look back with affectionate enthusiasm, and the