The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-08 00:00:00

LONDON,

TO CORRESPONDENTS
No communication can be attended to unless authen-
ticated by the name and address of the writer.
Rejected communications cannot be returned.

trielland
LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1851.

Bloodshed has, happily, ceased in Paris, and the
population of France will now have leisure to review
past occurrences with a certain degree of calmness,
so as to arrive at some deliberate and dispassionate

conclusion. Very fortunately for the people of that
country, they are enabled to express their sentiments
by means of Universal Suffrage, and under the pro-
tection of the Ballot—their votes, consequently,

announcing the real views of the nation upon the
question of their own government. Sunday, the
14th of this present December, will witness the
commencement of the balloting, and Sunday, the
21st instant, its termination. Until then it is hoped
that the community will await with patience the ut-
terance of the opinions entertained by the public as
to the settlement of existing difficulties. Whatever
may be the feelings with which mere spec-
tators have regarded the recent coup d'etat
of Louis NAPOLEON, those lookers-on should, at least,
suppress their vituperations upon the occurrence until
the ideas entertained by the French multitude itself
has been authoritatively pronounced. The question
at issue is one affecting the interests of the Republic
of France, and it is consequently to the citizens of
that Republic that we should turn for the judgment
to be passed upon the leader of the present Adminis-
tration. The justification or the condemnation of the

coup cr etat resolved upon by the PRESIDENT on
Tuesday, the 21:1 of December, will be the result of
the approaching election by the Ballot and
by Universal Suffrage. In that election the people
of France will themselves decide whether late events
_ _

were in their nature Criminal or Patriotic. Before
the decision announced by the entire country the
people of surrounding nations must bow their own
views in acknowledgment. It is not for England to
dictate to France what conclusion she has arrived at
in reference to her government. Neither is it for

Belgium, or for Spain, or for any other of the powers
and principalities of Christendom. It is to herself
alone that France must look for this final determina-
tion. She it is that must decide pro or con. in this
period of embarrassment. Whatever her children
may deem most advisable under existing circumstances
they can now declare—each adult citizen amongst
them speaking from the dictates of his own individual
judgment. Should France declare herself for this
policy or for that—the one sanctified by the selection
must be recognised by the rest of the world as en-
titled to the popular consideration.
Any anxiety that may hitherto have been
felt as to the question of secret voting has
now been entirely and satisfactorily dissipated. The
decree of the PRESIDENT announcing the complete
reestablishment of the Ballot has been followed by
a letter addressed to the Minister of War, in which
Louis NAPOLEON explains his personal sentiments
upon the matter to General ST. ARNAUD in very ex•
plicit and decisive language. Aware that the suf-
frages of the army had already been given openly by
means of the system of register authorized prior
to the revival of the Ballot, the PRESIDENT
observes—" As the soldiers who have given
in a negative vote might apprehend that it
would have the effect of exercising an untoward
influence on their career, it is of importance to set
their minds at rest. Be good enough, therefore,
without delay, to make known to the army that if the
mode in which it has voted is different from that
according to which the other citizens will vote, it
shall be the same for it; that is to say, I wish to be
ignorant of the names of those who have voted
against me. Consequently, the taking of the votes
once terminated and duly verified, I beg of you to
order that the registry may be burnt." A course
like this is honourable and straightforward.
Not satisfied, however, with even this candid
avowal of the wishes entertained by himself
in regard to the perfect freedom of suffrage to be ex-
ercised by the multitude, the PRESIDENT has caused
his decree and his letter to be endorsed, as it were, by
a proclamation to a similar effect, issued from the
office and under the signature of M. DE MOUNT, the
Minister of the Interior. At the close of this im-
portant document it is declared, " The PRESIDENT of
the Republic desires that all electors shall be com-
pletely at liberty in the expression of their votes,
whether they exercise public functions or not,
and whether they belong to the civil pro-
fessions or to the army. Absolute indepen-
dence, complete liberty of voting, is what LOUIS
NAPOLEON desires to see established." Fortunately for
the people of France these are not idle words, inas-
much as the country actually possesses the two ad-
vantages of the Ballot and Universal Suffrage.
Among the particulars comprised in the latest dis-
patches received from Paris, it will be seen that there
is a formal announcement of the liberation of M.
TRIERS. The fact of this remarkable man being set
at large once more, and this with such unexpected
promptitude, lets the public, we conceive, into
two rather important secrets, such as might
otherwise have remained concealed, or at least
doubtful, but for some such glaring revelation
It shows that the position of the PRESIDENT at this
moment must be strong indeed, to allow him thus
coolly to release from confinement one of the most
dangerous politicians in France. It shows, moreover,
that M. TRIERS is prepared to give in his adhesion to
the Government. The announcement will consequently
be viewed by the majority as very significant in its
character, and as one also promising largely as to the
maintenance of public tranquillity.
Recent events have not only been followed by the
perfect restoration of peace in Paris, but by the
continuance of order among the departments. The
journals of the French capital which have reviewed
these occurrences are the Patrie and the Constitutionnel,
and from the columns of each the truth is sufficiently
apparent that the quietude of the metropolis has been
thoroughly re-established. In reference to the position
of affairs immediately prior to the coup d'etat, the
last-mentioned organ records the following incident,
" The celebrated M. CHARLES LAGRANGE," it
says," now confined in the prison Mazes, saw General
LEFLO, who had been just arrested in full uniform,
brought in. He advanced towards him laughing, and
said, We wanted to get him into the snare, and he
has been beforehand with us. Faith, General, it is fa-
mously played.' These words,",says the Constitutionnel,
" completely sum up the question of the struggle be-
tween the two Powers," meaning the Assembly and the
PRESIDENT. In reality, it was, according to the
phrase of BURNS, "do or die," with Louis NAro-
LEON. The PRESIDENT has seleoted the former in
preference to the latter branch of the alternative
and the people of France will now have to decide
themselves as to the wisdom or the folly of that
selection.

The long-expected and anxiously looked-for trial
in the cause of " Birch v. Somerville" has come off.
The wonderful disclosures have been made—the full
value of the oracular hints and positive assertions
that were put forward has been ascertained—the
witnesses have been examined—the jury having
heard the evidence on either side, the speeches of the
eminent counsel for plaintiff and defendant, have re-
returned their verdict—and yet the:lrish Government
has not been annihilated. The Earl of CLARENDON
has not fled in dismay from the Castle. Sir WILLIAM
SOMERVILLE still ventures to hold up his head amongst
honest men, and his friends do not feel that anything
has transpired to retard his anticipated elevation to
the Upper House, so soon as the abolition of the
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will, on the contrary, have to satisfy the costs of the
Right Hon. Baronet whom he so recklessly dragged
before the public, and compelled to defend himself
from the grofs extortion attempted to be practised.
The plaintiff had nothing to complain of as to the

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