The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-28 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ALLIAN,'E AND THE
BIVGLISEI PRESS.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
In the communication from our Paris correspon-
dent, which appeared in our impression of yester-
day, it was stated that the English Government
had already demanded an explanation from the
French Government, relative to the menace held
out in its " warning to the English press"—that if
the journals of this country continue to discuss, in
a free and fearless manner,- the affairs of France,
the alliance between the two countries will be
broken off. The Times, in its second edition yes-
terday, confirms the correctness of our Paris cor-
respondent's statement. Our contemporary, under
its Paris head, and the date of Sunday evening,
says :—" I am informed that a despatch has been
received from an official quarter in London, an-
nouncing the very unpleasant effect produced also
in official quarters there by the note in the Moni-
teur of Friday, with reference to the statements in
'divers organs of the English press,' and adding
that explanations were, or would be, demanded of
that part of the note which refers to the possibility
of the alliance being endangered by them."
This is just what we should have expected from
Lord Palmerston. If the alliance between France
and England is to be dependent on what the
French Government consider the good behaviour
of the English press, the sooner that alliance is
brought to a termination the better. England
cannot consent to its continuance on any such
terms. Our Government have no control whatever
over the English press, and no one knows this bet-
ter than the head of the neighbouring State. Be-
sides, there can be no satisfaction to our Govern-
ment, and still less to the country, in an alliance
which, in any specified contingency, is threatened
to be dissolved by one- of the parties. The threat of
Louis Napoleon to put an end to it necessarily
implies that he regards that alliance as a favour
conferred on us. Now, that is precisely what wo
cannot admit. We are willing to own that it had its
advantagestousdpringthewar,butthen,ontheother
hand, France was quite as much benefited by it as we
Were. And since the close of the war the ruler of
France has derived much more advantage from the
alliance :-.than this country. Every Frenchman
admits treat the moral support which the intimate
relations subsisting between the two countries have
given to the present regime has been of very essen-
tial service to it. No one in England is hostile to
the alliance with the French people ; on the con-
trary, e very one is warmly in its favour, and, what
is more, that alliance will continue, whatever
changes of Government we witness either in France
or in oar own country: But we cannot consent to
the prolongation of the alliance being regarded in
the light' of a favour conferred on us by the Ruler
of the-French.
. Since the Moniteur sees fit to assume so haughty
and menacing a tone towards this country, it is
right to inform the French Government that the
alliance has been -to us a very costly affair. We
have lost seriously by it in our military prestige,
because our Government, in its anxiety to please
its Imperial Ally, consented to play a subordinate
part in the late war. We were willing to be nothing,
ihat he should be everything. And what was our
reward ? Why, that just at the time when we
were Ma state of perfect preparation, both by land
and sea, for recovering our lost reputation, and in-
flicting so terrible a punishment on the Czar as
would have deterred him, for at least half a cen-
tury to come; from resuming the game of aggression
--Louis, Napoleon refused to renew the campaign.
We were, consequently, left in the lurch, and
Russia was allowed to escape. That is the price
which we have paid for the much vaunted alliance.
The great error of Lord Palmerston was that he
did, not go on without our Ally ; and we are much
mistaken if the noble lord does not now regret that
he consented to a peace, which the event has already
shown •to be—what we affirmed at the time it
Would' prove—unsafe, and only temporary, as well
as dishonourable. Where is the peace at this mo-
ment ? Why, though not yet again in actual arms,
the complications of Europe are much more nume-
rous and grave than ever. For all this we have to
thank our ' August Ally," and nene but him.
But more than this, the French Government, in
tirling,its denunciations against the English press
because of the freedom with which we discuss its
conduct, is • condemning- us for the very thing of
which its own press, has been equally !guilty in
reference to our doeetitnerit. Who does not
remember that, a few naoriths ago, the whole of
those Parisian journals which act under the inspi-
ration and at the command of Imperialism, made,
for eight or ten successivet days, a ,series of most
vehement and virulent attacks on the English
Government, because, on discovering the bad faith
of . the Czar in the Island of Serpents affair, we
' ordered our fleet to proceed to the Mediterranean.
On that occasion the whole of the French Minis-
terial journals set out in full cry against the Go-
vernment of Lord Palmerston, and the old stereo-
typed phrases of " perfidious Albion" danced
about with an amazing agility in the columns of
the Parisian press. All this was not only with the
connivance of the French Government, but in
obedience to its command; for such journals as
• the Corgi titutionnel and the Pays dare not utter a
syllable en any great question without first receiv-
ing sp.: el instructions from the Tuileries. And
yet th ,overnment of our ally have now the
effrontcie to menace us with the loss of its alliance
fcr doing the very thing which it not only per-
mitted, but instructed its organs of the press to do.
But suppose that Louis Napoleon were actually
to carry out his threat of breaking up the alliance
with England, has it ever, we wonder, occurred to
- him which of the two Governments would suffer
'most from the disruption ? Not our Government,
certainly. The Imperial Government would be
the chief, if not the only sufferer. We could do
without the French Government, but the French
Government could not do without us. Sever the
alliance, and the present regime in France would
soon discover the fatal error it had committed. To
put an end to that alliance would, on the part of
the occupant of the Tuileries, be insanity. It
would be inevitable and immediate dynastic suicide.
We direct attention, with great pleasure, to the
very able and outspoken remarks which the Times
of yesterday makes on this point. "The )loni
tear," says our contemporary, " speaks of danger
to the alliance. Well !we will speak out of the
dangers to the alliance, but that danger proceeds
not from the just and honest strictures of the Eng-
lish press on public men, whose characters are pub-
• ,lic property, but from the conduct of soma who,
raised. suddenly to high office, seem inclined to
enter on a career at once fatal to France and false
to-England. Those are the worst enemies of the
French and English alliance who can . ee in Govern-
ment no higher aim than their own interest, and so
. become careless of the welfare of the nation and
the trust confided to them. Such men, for in-
stance, view in the negotiations for a treaty of
peace an excellent opportunity for reviling and
crushing the press of a small, but free State ; and,
as we are driven to it by the 3loniteur, we must
,confess that we saw with shame and disgust how
easily our own Plenipotentiaries were beguiled by
the snare spread for them before their very eyes.
. Again, we are not ignorant—we do not profess to
' be. ignorant—of the colossal fortunes that have
e- • been realised within the last few years by men who
' till then were plunged in the depths of indigence.
We have observed with dismay the riae•to-ttre
sur-
face of the financial pool of vast bubbles ; we have
witnessed the most reckless and gigantic private
speculation combined with the direction of public
affairs ; and we have seen with deep regret that,
, instead of doing everything in their power to check
the rising spirit of gambling, some high in office
and favour in France have lent the whole influence
of their position and their example to stimulate
and exaggerate the evil."
This is manly speaking, and cannot fail to make
those whose consciences tell them they are guilty
of the frightful corruption charged against them by
the Times—wince and writhe beneath the lash of
'oar contemporary. We are proud of the press of
England when it can speak out iaterms so explicit
aid energetic.
mes again, and then sawer
• But hear the Ti
that we have quoted, coupled with th yat whichethhwa
before our readers, is Not much
Are about to lay
. stronger than any language which the Morning.
Advertiser has ever employe speaking of the
" We have also," says
'present regime in France.
the Times, "observed with pain that the Govern..
inent of France has conducted its operations in
M ieany respects ostentatiously and
in d l
the aeeertained and recognised princofiance of
pes f politi-
cal economy, and thus
provokod a .
col lapse,which,
come when it ma)', cannot fail to be injurious to
the Government, and deeply
IV detest the restric-
calamitous to France,
- prejudicial to this country. • •
ti°ll3 on personal liberty in France. We abhor
her whole system of assortsp
and its attendant
annoyances. It is idle to tell us that the free
dis-
cussion of these things is inconsistent wallt 11e
alliance between France and England,
l
because we are allies—allies to an extent which no
is
merely political act can make ns—alliee iu coin-
fierce as well as in arms, because France cannot
suffer without inflicting corresponding sufferings
on England—that we now claim to exorcise the
right to discuss measures and men in which we as
well as she are deeply interested."
-The Times concludes with a severe rebuke to
ebeFrench Government for its extinction of the
liberty of its own press. "The Moniteur," says
our contemporary, " warns the English people
• instthe
aga dangers of asystem (freedom of the press)
by destroying the confidence between the
would tend to disunite the two
nations.' Goeuerillnalea
nations.' We answer that we are