The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-26 00:00:00

! and which best please the E'rench nation. His
Court and his attendance are,,as the French nation
I wish those of the Emperor to be, splendid and
.perial. But with this grandeur of display mingles
a true elevation of mind. It is an elevation which,
while it carrief him to the'greatest heights of State
affairs, -does not raise him above the ordinarydutiea
of humanity. If be be a great Emperor, he is at
the same time a tender hu.shand. If he be a keen
diplomatist, he is not the less a tenacious friend.
be carry nobly and well the high dignity which
wears,-he never 'forgets to whonihe owes it, by
whom he was chosen, and ah,se interests-are en-
trusted to him. In every answer to the ;natty ad!,
dresses which pour on him from all classes, and
from all parts of the country, he attributes to the
choice of the people, and to that entirely, the place
which his dynasty once more holds on the imperial
throne of France. He has filled that place better,
we believe, than any other man now living could -
have filled it. 11 • has vindicated his claim by the
strongest proofs. He has brought France, weak, tu-
multuous, discontented, and miserable, to a state of
order in which site is strong, at rest, prosperous, and
happy. Ho has plaCed her, whom her enemies
sneered at as a sinking Power, once more in the
first rank of nations. He gives her the prospect of
a calm and steady greatness. Such—so acute, so
firm, so honest, 'ana so steadfast—is the character
of the man who now stands, by the choice of the -
people and by his own deeds, at -the head of the
Imperial Dynasty of France.
No ruler of France could long hold his sway who
could not direct armies, who had no sympathy with
the soldier, who could not make the army feel that
he was the man- who should be at their head. This
Napoleon 111. has done. :He has joined us with
equal ability in the direction of a disinterested war,
and in the making of an honourable peace. That
peace once made, there comes his most difficult task
and his proudest achievement, the keeping France
rich, industricms;and peaceful, in content' andunity.
This will be the strongest test of that consummate
ability in the management of the State which he
has already shown. This will be the format:on of
the noblest legacy to his family. This will be the
continuance—in friendly- emulation and in inter-
change of commerce—of au alliance with England,
in which he has displayed an honesty and an un-
swerving frankness which no man has ever exceeded
The blaze of joy which the birth of the Prince ex-
cited in all Franco had none of the commonplace
character of regal or .imperial rejoicing about it. It
was, as we believe, a real, strong, and cordial feeling,
warranted by the fact that it gave permanence and
stability to the existing order of things. We hare
leen, not without regret, the grave yet eager sugges-
tions in which some of our contemporaries have in-
dulged for a change in the constitution of France. In
Heaven's name, what have we to do with the French
Constitution ? What business have we with the

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form of governMent under which a neighbouring
and allied country thinks it proper to fir it-elf,
after sixty yews of disastrous trials, from which it
escaped in a condition calling loudly fora strong
hand to set it in order ? The foolish prejudice
which clamoured against the Emperor aka tyrant
has passed away for ever. No man is more willing
than he to give the French nation all the liberty it
wants. No man is more determined to save the
good and deserving majority from the tyranny of
ths few clever and unscrupulous adventurers who
would willingly override all that is independent of
their influeuc3. No man, we should think, could
be less anxious to leave the Child 4 France, who
fills the Imperial cradle, and satisfies the hope of
that great .country, the dangerous monopoly of
power ; but no man will keep a stronger grasp •on
that power, so long as it is for the good of the
nation that he should do so. No man has au eye
more keen and more just for what is right—uone
has a judgment less liable to ho warped—none has
a courage more unfaltering than Napoleon 111.