The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-27 00:00:00

FRANCE.

The distribution of medals the siwcessful French
exhibitors at the Great Exhibition took place on
Tuesday. Previous to the distribution, the President
of the Republic addressed those assembled in the fol-
lowing speech :
"Gentlemen,—There are certain ceremonies which,
from the sentiments they inspire, and the thoughts
they suggest, are not a vain spectacle. I cannot deny
that I feel affected, and proud as a Frenchman, et
seeing around me the honourable men who, at the cost
of so many efforts, and so many sacrifices, have main-
tained with distinction in a foreign land the reputa-
tion of our manufactures, of our arts, and our science.
This is not the first time I have rendered just
homage to the grand idea which originated the
universal Exhibition of London. But at the moment
of crowning your success with a national recompense,
can I forget that so many marvels of industry and of
art were commenced amidst the din of insurrection,
and completed while society is still incessantly agitated
by the fear of the present, and by the menaces
of the future ? And when pondering over the
obstacles you have had to overcome, I said to myself,
' How great this nation would become if she were
allowed to breathe at ease and to live with the life
that is in her !'—(Cheers.) Yes I It was when
public credit began to re-appear—it was when infer-
nal ideas incessantly urged the working classes to
destroy the sources of industry itself—it was when
madness, clothing itself with the mantle of philan-
thropy, was turning away men's minds from regular
occupations into Utopian speculations—it was at such
a time that you exhibited to the world those produc-
tions which seemed only possible in a condition of
durable tranquillity. With such unhoped-for results
I am justified in repeating how great the French
Republic would become if she were allowed to
follow her real interests, and to reform her
institutions, instead of being incessantly troubled,
on one side by demagogism, and on the other by
monarchical hallucinations.—(Loud and repeated
applause from every part of the amphitheatre.) Do
these demagogic ideas proclaim a truth ? No! They
circulate en every side error and falsehood. Disquie-
tude precedes, deception follows them ; and the means
employed for repression are but so much lost to the
pressing meliorations and the alleviation of misery.
—(Applause, and cries of " C'est vrai ! C'est vrai !")
With respect to monarchical hallucinations, though
not productive of the same dangers, they also impede
all progress and all kinds of serious industry. In
place of advancing, there is only a struggle. Men
are seen who, heretofore the most ardent supporters
of the prerogatives and the authority of Royalty, be-
come partisans of a convention for the purpose of
weakening that authority which is the issue of popu-
lar suffrage.—(Loud and repeated applause.) We
see those who have the most suffered from,
and who have deplored revolution the most, provoke a
new one, and that for the sole object of baffling the
will of the nation, and impeding the movement, which
changes society, in its peaceful course.—(Bravo
Bravo!) Yet those efforts are vain, All that time
renders necessary must be accomplished. That only
which is useless cannot be restored.
i The presentce-
remony is an additional proof that f certain institu-
tions disappear without return, those, on the contrary,
that are in conformity with the manners, the ideas,
the wants of the epoch, may brave the attack of envy
or of Puritanism. You all, children of the regene-
rated society that :abolished ancient privileges, and
that proclaimed as its fundamental principle civil and
political equality, you, I repeat, yet feel a just pride
in being named reemb?re of the Order of the Legion of
Honour. It is because that institution, as well as all
others created at that period, WAS in harmony with the
spirit of the age and the ideas of the nation. For from
serving, like others, to make distinctions more marked
and deeper, it effaces all such, and places on the same
line merit of all kinds, to whatsoever profession, to
whatsoever rank of society he b-longs.—(Cneers.) Ac-
cept, then, these crosses of the Legion of Honour,
which, in conformity with the grand idea of its
founder, are intended to confer equal honour on in-
dustry as on bravery, and on bravery as on scientific
excellence. Before we separate, gentlemen, permit
me to encourage you to renewed efforts. Undertake
new labours without fear—they will prevent idle-
ness duriog the present winter. Hive no fears for
the future. Tranquillity shall be maintained what-
ever may happen.—(Cheers.) A Government that
relies for its suppert on the entire mass of the nation,
that has no other motive than the public good, and
that is animated by the ardent faith that guides you
safely over the space where no path is traced, the
Government, I repeat, will know how to fulfil its
mission, because it has for it the right that pro-
ceeds from the people, and the strength that comes
from God !"