The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-06 00:00:00

EVENTS IN PARIS.

(From the Times.)
It is worth while, oven in the midst of the catastrophe
now pending in France, to investigate one or two of the
lesser acts of Louis Napoleon's new Government, as a
test of its honesty, a pledge of its future intentions, and
a proof of the correctness of our own impression of its
character. One of his first met:sures was to announce
the formation of what ho termed a " Conailtative Com-
mission," wishing, as was stated by the preamble of the
decree, " to surround himself with men who justly enjoy
the esteem and confidence of the country, until the re-
organization of the legislative body and the Council of
State." Accordingly the decree named as members of
this commission about 80 persons, many of whom were
members of the majority in the late Assembly, and who
were thus represented as having consented so serve the
new Government. Among them were M. Barthe, Ad-
miral CLille, M. Dratlyn de Lhuys, M- do Muntalern-
bert, M. do Merode, M. Lion Faucher, the Marquis do
Lagrange, the Duo de Monchy, M. Lacrosse, and many
other gentlemen of character aed station. We observed at
Once, upon the appearance of this list, that we bad no evi-
dence ot the acceptance by those persons of the duties
thrust upon them, and in fact we discredited the assertion
of the Moniteur that any such acceptances had taken
place, remem leering the celebrated proclamation pub-
lished upon the landing of Louis Napoleon at Boulogne
in 1840, in which M. Thiess was constituted Prime Mi-
nister of the new empire. In truth, tee present object
was simply to mislead the public for twenty-four hours
into the belief that the President was actually sur-
rounded by men who deserve the esteem and confidence
of the nation. But the statement was entirely false, and
the use of these names was a political forgery, 'insane-
tinned by the great majority of the persons who bear
them. On the very next day a fresh decree was is-
sued, stating that the former edict contained " a few
inaccuracies," and substituting for it another list not
containing one of those men of character and eminence,
ho had protested, with more or less indignation, at
being thus pressed into the service of the new Govern-
mew. It is important to remark thas up to this time no
person of note has tendered his services to Louis Na-
poleon beyond the original author of the coup deal and
the military commanders, who had been selected
for their entire devotion to his service. As an-
other example of the character of this Go-
vernment we may notice the fact, that on Monday,
the let of December, the Minister of Finance in-
duced the Bank of France to lend him a million
sterling, alleging that it was a mere affair of terepsrary
accommodation to be provided for by the Treasury bills.
The use made of these tuuds is now sufficiently apparent,
for the coup d'etat took place next morning, and services
wore required and performed for which the most liberal
donations to the army and the police would hardly seem
disproportioned. We leave the means by which this
sum was obtained from the bank for such a purpose to
be appreciated by our readers. If anything could give
an appearance of legal necessity to the military opera-
tions in Paris, and to the tremendous severity of the
measures employed to crush the resistance of the people,
it is the part which the organized sections of the lied
Republic and the desperate combatants of that faction
are again taking in this struggle. " Non tali au.eilio
nec defensoribus istis," may well be the answer of the
people to a cry of independence and a promise of succour
conveyed to them in the sinister language of M. Louis
Blanc. Nothing can be more afflicting than the posi-
tion of the middle classes and the pacific part of the
population, between a host of fierce revolutionists who
can only be put down by an immense army, and an army
prepared to dispose absolutely of all political power as a
recompense for the protection it affords to property
and life. For the first time in these terrific street-
battles of Parisian history, we hear nothing of the
National Guard. It is remarkable that no proclamation
or appeal has been addressed to that body by the Go-
vernment. The civic forces have been expressly con-
signed to inaction, evidently because Louis Napoleon
was afraid to rely upon them, and nothing would have
been more inconvenient than the opposition of legions of
armed citizens. Even now it is not impossible that their
weight may be felt before the termination of this con-
flict, but felt against the executive power. The Go-
vernment has staked its whole success on the army alone,
and the strength of the regular forces engaged is im-
mensely greater than on any former occasion. But, be
the political opinions and ulterior views of the popular
leaders what they may, it is impossible not to feel for
the dauntless courage with which they have flung them-
selves into open resistance to an unexampled violation of
the rights of the nation. The middle classes, though pro-
bably most aggrieved by the menaces of military des-
potism, would have found neither the means nor the spirit
to defy such a power. But if the men of the faubourgs aro
as tenacious and as brave in the defence of the laws of
the Republic as they have more than once shown them-
selves to be when they rose against the laws of the mo-
narchy, victory has not even yet declared herself against
the liberties of France. These men are not, at least on
this occasion, insurgents, if by an insurgent is meant
the man who conspires against the legal order of the
country, and seeks to change by force the constitution
and the government. The barricades first thrown up on
Wednesday evening were speedily carried by the sol-
diers; but the night was spent in further preparations
for war. A large column of troops were silently moved
along the Boulevard towards the Faubourg St. Antoine,
and the positions between the Canal and the Porto St.
Martin were strongly occupied. Shots were occa-
sionally fired from houses on the line of march, but
these acts of hostility were instantly punished by the
summary seizure or slaughther of the inhabitants. A
permanent court-martial was sitting, by whose orders
some, and we are told a large number, of the prisoners
taken between the barricades were shot. Yet these
operations and this rigour did not prevent the popular
movement from increasing in extent and in violence.
An immense body of troops, or rather an entire army,
described to consist of 50,000 men, poured towards the
scene of action. Yet we find by the latest accounts that
barricades had been raised as far to the west as the Rue
Grange-Bateliare; the upper Boulevards were continually
swept by charges of Lancers; and the cannonade had
almost reached the fashionable quarter just beyond the
Rue Vivienne. It is, of course, impossible to answer
for the accuracy of intelligence dispatched under such
circumstances, but, if these facts are correct, the struggle
has extended far beyond the limits of the Marais and
the faubourgs, and the popular forces can hardly be
confined to the revolutionary sections of thoso districts.
Hitherto we had beheld in France contests between

Governments armed to defend the laws of society and
insurgents armed to overthrow them. But now, as if to
make this chaos of anarchy worse confounded, men
have to take a part between a Government attacking
the law and an insurrection to defend it; though it
is but too probable that the triumph of either fac-
tion will inflict a ghastly wound on the freedom and
welfare of the nation. Such are the results of those al-
ternations between an excessive impatience of legal au-
thority and a servile deference to arbitrary power, which
are so strangely united in the French character; and,
whatever be the deplorable condition of such a people,
its trials and its struggles are solely attributable to acts
depending on its own will. The decisive turn of events
will, however, bo given by the conduct of the army in
the provinces. It is in the power of any of the Generals
commanding in Lyons, Strasburg, or other head-quar-
ters of the military districts, to arrest, or at least to sus-
pend, the fate of the nation. The first blow has so tar
miscarried that it has not been followed by any popular
manifestation in favour of Louis Napoleon; and, though
supported by the army, it has inaugurated his power by
torrents of blood shed by that people to whose misplaced
confidence he owes whatever he possesses in the world.
The intelligence of the resistance in Paris, though
disguised by the Government as far as possible, will
kindle the same spirit in every important city in
Franco. Even tho army can hardly look forward with
nnshaken resolution to a war with the civil and popular

forces of the nation; and the undisguised militaiy abso-
lutism of Louis Napoleon's proclamations has at once
exasperated his enemies and alienated his friends. In
such an attempt not to gain strength rapidly and uni-
versally is to lose it. Surprise and skilful preparation
have, aided by overwhelming force, done their part to
perfection, but on the third day of the revolution Louis
Napoleon was disputing, step by step, the barricades of
Paris, and consigning hundreds of victims to death and
misery, instead of receiving the incense and the homage
of an enthusiastic people. Such are the facts, as far as
wo aro acquainted with them; and we must infer either
that this enterprise will meet with the fate it deserves,
or that, if it succeed, success will be obtained by means
which must widen the breach between the people and
Government.

(From the Morning Chronicle.)
Louis Napoleon maintains his position with his cha-
racteristic courage and coolness, but the news of another
day has not diminished its danger. He still seems to
stand on the verge of a precipice, with his feet planted
upon ground which in some parts is trembling under the
pressure. Although, for the moment, the insurrectionary
movement in Paris appears to have been suppressed,
events, and rumours little less pregnant with conse-
quenees than events, succeed each other with startling
rapidity. Tho President's first check was the refusal of
some of the most eminent persons named in the original
list of the Consultative Commission to servo 'on it.;That
document: has since appeared in a corrected shape,
though with a dimished number of names; and
M. Baroche—a man of no inconsiderable weight
—has consented to act as Vice-President. Ac-
cording to the general tenor of the private and pub-
lished correspondence received in this country, the
reports from some of the provinces are regarded as,
on the whole, unfavourable—although such is not the
character of the accounts circulated by the Government.
It has been rumoured, for example, not only that
General Magnan wavered in his fidelity to the President,
but that General Castellano, who commands an army of
40,000 or 50,000 men at Lyons, had declared for the
Assembly, the majority of whom might, in that case, re-
pair thither, and meet under his protection. Yet, as if
such a contingency had been overlooked or disregarded
—or, perhaps, for fear of the effect on public opinion of
se wholesale a detention, if prolonged—the greater
number of the representatives arrested on Tuesday last,
and confined at St. Valerien, have been set free. We
do not regard the erection of barricades, unless the work-
men en masse proceed to man them, as absolutely ad-
verse to Louis Napoleon's chances of success; because the
real party of order might, by so violent a proceeding, be
induced to rally round him, rather than allow the Red
Republicans to obtain the mastery; and we find that
several members of the Club of the Rue des Py
ramides have already resolved to aid him
agnin-s;
this section of his opponents. Whatever may b
the true elements for calculating its course
the e
invested more than ever with the deepest and crisismostpa iins-
ful interest. A few hours after Louis Napoleon had
struck his coup d'etat, an English gentleman asked a
French mschanie on the boulevard-
what
the state of things. " Mais, itionsie c
ur
chs te
an thought
ur ((f
i)c
fete, was the reply. There spoke the'
true spirit of the
people—"relebs' leekless) told thirsting for excitement;

and to that spirit France owes the melancholy position
which she now holds before the world. She has lost all
attachment to fixed institutions, all respect for principle,
all habits of obedience, all notions of legality. Forms
of government have ceased to command her reverence,
and constitutions are regarded as only a by word or a
bmytthe.xcp Politicalettbrt of the m
Socialists, i crecelsayiabicus, heysetdas rallying cries,
inspire no u, en-
thusiasm;Nie end, indeed, it would be strange if they
did, we see° how the most definite, and (so far
isiens
beenit extends) the most ecelareeted Legitimacy
utilitarian glosses of its chiefapreomfepsosre7s).'
refined away, for t
glory,st
pr ii gr au
so; or
whheitli has
whilst
become
notional
pbu,rtpatee,sem,
Statesmanship
ystiiipe
in France has been gradually degenerated into mere in-
trigue,
prevalentoena lva confoundednt3,feelingtor. withty:rh e l downrightove o f
m military
ict
ao
rie;
par-
tial observer can mistake for pcaiveillotism. The resuhtt is,e
that public men of all grades,
,1-,,eheennfawtealalyredtioscldretdhiatetd
independence in the ranks allin theot hf
ka French minds
nao:;11d-ict:oih?fmeit aghpinelrelestzto:lhicl3se*si;!bsaaenveodnr
pen, by thusP?Lmitliitury driven, like cattle, into a
marau-
ders," who hold supreme authority
grethaetneschsl
ow mar-
vellously that great nation, we are irresistibly reminded
or
smell an amount of true
independence really existed in
What, during the last eighteen mono:lc:pun try.
kept the eyes of Europe fixed upon Louis Napoleon
as the inevitable second President of the
Republic—assuming that it would last beyond Alacyh
1852? Simply the impossibility of finding a candidate'
who should be both legal and presentable. What, again,
has emboldened and enabled him to dissolve a repre-
sentative body, elected by universal suffrage, and to as-
sume dictatorial power? It is sheer nonsense to assert
that he has succeeded thus far by debauching the
soldiery. The troops now forming the army of
Paris bear a very feint analogy to the Praetorian
hands; and one marked effect of the conscript system is
that the French soldier, except at the end of a protracted
war, eae with difficulty forget that he is a citizen. The
only rational or plausible explaeatiun of the pending
crisis is to be found in the obvious discontent, or the un-
disguised disgust, of Vie people at the proceedings of
the loading parties in the Assembly. History teaches
us that even the most unscrupulous usurpers, instead of
making circumstances, are commonly made by them. In
the extraordinary instance under discussion, the oppors
tueity, was, indeed, grasped with wonderful decision Enid
sagacity, but the attempt would never have been made, or
it would have been baffled in an hour, had not the ground
been laid for it by the Parliamentary leaders, and by
that mode of treating established authorities with which
all classes, without exception, had been familiarised by
the example of the highest notabilities in the land.
Whatever posterity may think of Louis Napoleon,
nothing short of success in the first place, and such a
sequel afterwards as that to which he is pledged by his
first proclamations, will be admitted as a justification by
his contemporaries. Far be it from us to contend that
one great crime may be committed to prevent another.
Personal ambition may have been his real motive, and
the urgency of circumstances is but half an excuse for
indulging it. Still, we do not shrink from avowing our con-
viction that ho has simply precipitated a catastrophe
which, even if it had continued passive, would speedily
have been brought about by others. Whether M.
Thiers and his fellow-prisoners at Ham were maturing
a criminal conspiracy, when they were arrested at
General Changarnier's lodgings at four o'clock in
the morning, may be doubted ; but no one can deny
that MM. Thiers, Berryer, Dupin, Moth, Changarnier,
Bedeau, Base, &c., &c.—including most of the repre-
sentatives who met at the Maisie of the 10th Arron-
dissement—have been engaged in a succession of plots
to upset the Republic, and, it may be, to proclaim a
Convention, and to send the Elect of six millions to Vin-
cennes. They were fully resolved to set aside the Con-
stitution of 1848—that ridiculous production of M. Mar-
rast—without ceremony or compunction. Nay, they
might safely have taken credit for so doing, if they had
not assailed the President under the influence of wounded
self-love or pique; for the Revision clause is the imme-
diate cause of the civil war now raging, and to suppose
that the majority of one National Assembly can legally or
morally bind a future one from likewise deciding any
public question by a majority of votes, is absurd. Whether
they may not have an opportunity f trying their hands
at King or Constitution-making before the commence-
ment of the new year, is still dubious. The Monarchi-
cal party—Legitimist, Orleanist, and Fusionist—has
been reduced by them to a very low ebb as regards
public confidence, but everything or anything is possible
as we write. A Monarchy or an Empire may shine
forth when the storm-clouds clear away—or a Red Re-
public may glare out—or some new and nondescript form
of democracy may emerge from the surging and foam-
ing whirlpool of civil dissension. Our own opinion, if
we may venture to hazard one, is that France has least
to fear from the unequivocal recognition of the Presi-
dent's authority, and from that appeal to the wishes and
votes of the entire people to which he stands pledged.
In tho anxious interval, wo can only express an earnest
hope that whatever ruler, chief, leader, faction, or party
may gain the upper hand, he or they will, at least, have
learnt some sound and useful lesson from the past.
(From the Daily News.)
Never were the antagonist elements of brute force and
moral opinion more clearly and universally arrayed
against each other, than in the struggle which Louis
Napoleon has had the rashness to enter upon. Each
hour brings testimony of his bayonets prevailing in the
streets, and his cause being condemned and denounced
by every man of sense and character ; the citizens and
the masses, who were well inclined to side with him in
his first quarrel with the Assembly, all turning the morn
fiercely against him, since the selfish insolence and in-
sane ravings of his ambition have been promulgated.
There seems, indeed, to exist but ono anxiety in the
breasts of all, who have a name or a standing, and that
is, to purge themselves at once from all complicity in
the criminal acts of the President. Even the most timid
—those who would inevitably bo silent and hesitating in
the midst of a revolution, where issue was uncertain—
even these men come forth, each eager to east his de-
claimer in the face of Louis Napoleon. Count Mole
asks with indignation why ho was not arrested ?
And M. Leon Faucher, the only politician of heart
and principle who was attached to Louis Napoleon
whilst ho kept within constitutional limits, has
written to ask what crime he has committed, that
he should be thought worthy of being included in the
President's State Council and list of notables. Amidst
such a unanimity of sentiments prevailing through the
civic class, it is utterly impossible that the soldiers can
remain long unmoved and estranged from the rest of
their countrymen. The officers cannot close their breasts
against the suggestions and convictions of their rela-
tives and acquaintances amongst the middle classes. We
need not epeak of generals, since Louis Napoleon has
found it necessary to repress and seclude every one of
that rank who was of known political opinion. And we
may be certain that there are several in command who
fully partake either the opinions of Cavaignac or those
of Changarnier. The very soldiers themselves, however
animated against the Socialists of Paris, are still not
likely to perform contentedly the permanent task of act-
ing as the police and the executioners of their fellow-
citizens. It will, however, take some time for the
upper classes and influential men to recover the
stunning effect of the President's coup d'llat. These
men have neither the confidence of the people nor of
the soldiers. They destroyed their popularity by
their rigour and reaction in the Assembly, and
flung away all the natural supports of a constitutional
party. Such men as Changarnier disgusted even the
commercial classes by their evident intrigues in favour
of a legitimist restoration. Although the mad conduct
of Louis Napoleon has now flung right on the side of
his opponents, still these upper classes and notabilities
will probably require some time to concert and organise
either an opposition or a rebellion. The people alone
and any portion of the army can attempt this. And
what is to be feared, is that the Red Republicans will
attempt it alone, and give the soldiers an opportunity
of fleshing their sabres with victory. Any triumph of
the kind would bo vaunted as having been gained over
anarchy. And the generals of the successes might give
themselves the airs of having saved France and society,
—that old humbug, in which, unfortunately the Guizots
and the Thierses have traded. There is ono class by
whom the scheme of Louis Napoleon might be very
favourably received, provided they could have faith in
its stability. This is the functionary class. The new
imperial scheme is, in fact, an immense heirarchy of
placemen. There is a Council of State, a Senate, a
Lower Chamber, and, it would appear, an Upper
Chamber besides, every member of all and
each receiving salaries and fulfilling functions. The
number of civil employ& in France is already conside-
rable, but this would swell them to an army, and make
imperial politics a very thriving trade. But this plan of
taking a majority of the educated classes into government
pay, is a desperately expensive one. The military em-
ployes will expect a share even larger of emolument.
The Pretorians must have their gratuity, the generals
their batons of marshal. And who is to pay? M.
Fonld himself, all Bonapartist as ho may be, shrinks
from the task. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
of the new empire will be a bold man. One power-
ful mode of conciliating the French rural popula-
tion. They would understand that. And an imperial
senate that decreed it, in however arbitrary a manner,
would be far preferred to the most constitutional and
liberal assembly leaving the contribmtions,directes and in-
di
arocpc
opt
leeesro,sneig,itnhwye
irllatsh • n
ei
not
t f
do
beusentedi
on
mtehdea ma,
primer os u
lal uy g.mmi
nNe
insettieet dhr e
ro
fßb
Lue to
nuMoi
his master will edit a new edition of the (Economies
Royales. And the playing with the public purse, will
infallibly be one of the most favourite occupations of the
eSlosem.e will say that
scandal, evrceoump may be
powers that are to be.
was made for nothing
sure, will bo busy with the do in s °f the Treasury.
There is one other consideration more serious than all,.
and more menacing to Louis Na
fest fact that the entire of this Pc)
"Isl.lt is the mau.ln-
him, depends upon him personalliaew
ssh no
wo
ed. Bonapartist
All
s_ r
i system
u centres
ith
hinistlhiere.couTnhtrayt,tlhBerles principle or party
therefore, of military power and civil
plamciegrahatynsphyipraresidt;
upon the small apex of one head. Louis Napoleon has
no family, no successor. Ho has not even a friend of
station and respectability. What a premium this offers
to assassination plots, in case of the President's success,
may be conceived. And that the exasperated and reck-
less faction whom he has crushed would have recourse
to that criminal alternative there is but too much reasont
to expect. Napoleon himself escaped chancethis
sy the
short time he spent in Paris; by his military absences
and
surroundedievembyentws;hinahndbebywatshe prestige
to
a nd
capital.a

PRINTERS' PENSION SOCIETY.—We understand
that Mr. Douglas Jerrold will preside at the ensuing anni-
versary dinner of this valuable society; and that he will be
supported by the Sheriffs of
.London and Middlesex, and
niArty vi the principal master printers.