The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-29 00:00:00

FRENCH PARLIAMENTARY STATISTICS.

The Revue des deux Mondes contains an interest-
ing article on French Parliamentary Statistics, by a
Peer of France, from which we extract the following
relative to the Chamber of Peers :

LEGITIMATIST PARTY.-1 divide, says the wri-
ter, this party into two shades : that which aims di-
rectly at the principle of the Government, attacks it in
its source, and denies the legality of its origin ; in a
word, the faction that is personified in the chamber by
Messrs. de Breze, de Noailles, and Dubouchage ; af-
terwards, that which may be styled Conservative-Tory,
and which attack things and not men. This party I
have endeavoured to portray in the persons of Messrs.
Mounier and Count Roy.
Viscount de Dreux-Breze is still a young man ; I
imagine he belongs to that philosophical sect—that
mysterious and religious party which had an eloquent
interpreter in the former journal, L' .Avenir. But M. de
Breze, who is devoted to the royal exiles of Prague,
knows very well that it is not by theories that results
are obtained : he therefore attached himself to posi-
tive opinions, to the discussion of material interests ; and
thence his fixed idea as to the invariable points on
which his parliamentary opposition rests, namely,
electoral and financial reform. The grand defect of
M. de Dreux Breze is not to bear sufficiently in
mind the nature of the assembly before which he is
speaking ; this produces that impetuosity of manner,
and that abrupt way of entering upon questions, which
is not in -harmony with the spirit of the House of
Peers. By falling in a little with the temperament of
his colleagues, his sympathies_ would be more re-
sponded to by others ; but loud tones and forcible
expressions are displeasing to those worn-out patricians.
M. de Breze's aim, and the devotedness of his family
to the elder branch, are also well known ; and this is
another reason why his opinions meet with so little
support. Although he is gifted with very remarkable
talent, and is a powerful logician, M. de Breze has
nothing in his voice or manner that bespeaks the orator.
Sometimes his utterance is embarrassed, and at others

he speaks with too much volubility. The theory of
reform, which is brilliant and popular before the
Chamber of Deputies, is so repugnant to the feelings
of most of the members of the Chamber of Peers, that,

its supporter in that House has no possible chance of
success. M. de Breze speaks too often ; he wears
himself out, and it is impossible not to commit faults
when an individual is every day on the bleach to de-
fend a system or an opinion. M. Royer Collard, who
acquired the highest reputation under the restoration
for eloquence and political probity, only spoke upon
important occasions, and when the vital interests of the
overnment were concerned.

The Duke de Noailles has a milder, more persuasive
manner of addressing the assembly ; consequently he
is listened to with more attention. The family of the
Noailles, like all the high families of the monarchy,
has always heen divided into shades, corresponding to
the different opinions by which society is governed.
Under every regime there has been a Noailles in every
party—during the revolution, under the empire, the
restoration, and in the Tuileries of Louis Philippe I
Is this the tactic of great families—a species of mutual
insurance ? I leave others to answer this question ;
but I observe the same circumstances in the houses of
Montmorency, De la Rochefocault, Mortemart, Tal-
leyrand, and Latour-Maubourg. The Duke de
Noailles has chosen the part of fidelity to misfortune ;
that path does not lead to fortune, and it is seldom fol-
lowed by political character ; but it is at all times ho-
nourable ; and when talent and a correct appreciation
of facts are united with a good conscience, an orator
will be listened to by a Chamber, however prejudiced
it may be. The most exaggerated opinions of the
Duke de Noailles, therefore, are favourably received ;
for his oratory, is distinguished by that aristocratic
brilliancy, and that air of high breeding which are so
attractive, even with the vulgar.
M. de Noailles has not spoken much ; but upon all
important questions, especially that of the hereditary
rights of the peerage, he produced a great effect ; and
it was upon that occasion that the Legitimatist
party became divided into two sections. Some of the
Legitimatist Peers conceived it to be their duty to

resign their seats, and to decline to take an oath
which wounded their affections and their recollections.
The Duke of Fitzjames, M. de Chateaubriand, &c.,
followed this course. This was one of the grand errors
of the party ; for those peers abandoned a most valu-
able
and powerful means of action ; and two years
afterwards they presented themselves to the electoral
colleges in the hope of being appointed deputies I
Would the voices of Messrs. de Noailles and de Breze
have remained isolated in important discussions, if 20
Legititnatist Peers -had not abandoned the upper
house ? M. de Talleyrand compared the conduct of
the seceders to that of men who killed themselves with
the hope ?f rising again at the day 9f judgment.
I am at a loss how to speak of M. Dubouchage,
and his shrill and powerless voice. He is far from in-
spiring the, high political consideration possessed by
his two colleagues. He has not been happy in all his
speculations ; his name has frequently resounded in
the Courts of Justice ; he was for a long time at St.
beenP
ela g
ie'and the Chamber of Peers has frequently
solicited to authorize the arrest of this Peer.
These are misfortunes, no doubt ; but M. Dubouchage
does notregain the consideration due to his rank by
real
talent
or high studies ; his opposition consists of a
Legitimist outcry upon all matters, and to the expres-
sion of an ill-disguised hatred of the established order
of things in France. Now, hatred is a mean, selfish
sentiment, which finds no echo either in the Chamber
or the country, because each word that the speaker
utters bears the stamp of the motive by which it is
dictated. The former career of M. Dubouchage
ought to have caused him to be more reserved ; for he
had grown old under the administration of M. de
Villele, and had voted for the most oppressive laws of
the restoration ; therefore it is with a very ill grace that
he talks of liberty and universal suffrage.
The pure Legitimatist opinion can never become
augmented in the Chamber of Peers. Unless some
decided crisis were to occur, in which a number of va-
cillating individuals, who have gone on with every Go-
vernment, but who, above all, support that of the day,
might think it safe to declare themselves, the Legiti-
matist oppositiorf in the House of Peers will never ex-
ceed ten or twelve voices.
With the Tory or, Conservative party the case is dif-t'
ferent ; for it is separated from the Ministerial opinion
merely by almost imperceptible shades. The part
Baron Mounier has assumed is necessary to be ex-
plained. This Peer is a man of the restoration,
although his public life commenced with the empire.
He was secretary—interpreter to Napoleon, and after-
wards, being still a young man, he became attached
to the political career of the Duke of Richelieu, whom
he assisted in the financial negotiations with the allies,
and he followed that Statesman to the Congress of
Aix-la-Chapelle.
The nature of M. Mounier's disposition leads him
to attach himself to every regular Administration. He
has talent and extensive information ; but he often
looks at political questions in a confined point of view.
This, perhaps, arises from an old souvenir of the post
of prefect of police, which he occupied for a year or
two.

M. Mounier is out of humour with the present
system ; but he never expresses his resentment other-
wise than in measured terms ; it is not in his nature to
constitute himself the chief of a violent and clearly-
defined opposition, that attacks in all directions, in
order to destroy every thing ; he seizes upon projects
of law, and on measures in detail ; and if he ventures
to put forth a principle, it has always reference to his
recollections of the restoration, of which he has be-
come, as it were, the living type. He speaks well,
but perhaps with too much volubility. M. Mounier
is not a political character ; he would make an ad-
mirable Secretary of State in the common routine of
a regular Government.
The high financial position of .Count Roy has de-
termined his place in the Chamber of Peers. It is
impossible that one of great landed proprietors of
France should not accept any Government that will
protect that property. However Count Roy does not
forget his former position as Finance Minister, and his
presence in
the Chamber is marked by a continual
struggle against what he calls destructive innovations.
Like Count St. Cricq—that grand inventor of the sys-

tern of prohibitions and protections, he has fixed opi-
nions as to the manufacturing interests. You will
never get Count Roy to consent to a modification of
our Customs' system : being a proprietor of large
forests and of important iron-works, he has constituted
himself the champion of the rights of the manufac-
turers against the tendency of the public mind to insist
upon free trade. He has quite a mania for accumu-
lating landed property, and he adds a thousand acres
every year to his forests, which already cover portions
of several departments. M. Roy is extremely clear on
financial points, but he confines himself to the circum-
scribed ground of duties, the manufacturing and com-
mercial balance, and is an enemy to every theory

that goes beyond what is already ascertained. He
never suffers his regrets for the fall of the elder branch
to appear in his speeches, but whenever an opportunity
offers, he defends the financial system of the restoration
as being his own work.
Thus far our notice has been confined to the chiefs
of the two shades of which the Legitimawist party in the
Chamber of Peers is composed ; the one hostile to the
principle of the Government ; the other, on the con-
trary, being willing to establish a government, withqut
any personal or elusive attachment to any particular
dynasty. In order to render this more completely un-
derstood, let us seek for a point of comparison in the
Chamber of Deputies, which is a political assembly
where men and opinions are more clearly defined.
By the side of M. Berryer, in that Chamber, a
shade of opinion has been formed, the representatives
of which refuse entirely to associate themselves with
his hostile votes, and who desire, above all, to consoli-
date a Government of some kind, reserving for a future
period the question of disputing as to the chief to be
called to preside over it. There is a perfect under-
standing between this portion of both Chambers.
There is another party in the Chamber of Peers which
imitates the Tiers-Parti Dupin. We shall give here-
after some details respecting this party.