The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-03 00:00:00

TIMES.—The French Revolution has once more re-
sumed its eccentric and irresistible course; and this in-
effectual cempromiso Letwcen the institutions of a
Democratic Republic and the representative of Imperial
Government is already overthrown. The step just taken
by Louis Napoleou Bonaparte, whatever may be it,
ulterior conscqueeces, at once overleaps the barrier
between law and revolution. The future government of
the country, and even the exist( tee of is constituted
authorities, rest altogether on the fortune of the mom( nt
and the fidelity of the army. The electric spark which
transmitted to us yesterday morning the intelligence of
events not yet consummated upon th r theatre of actice,
is not mire swift than their changes; and even at the
hour at which wo write we are still in ignorance of the
forces brought to bear on this revolution and of the re-
sistance it may have to encounter in the nation. This
much is, however, already certain, that Louis Napoleon
had burst the legal conditions of his power, that the
laws and limitations by which he held the highest office
in the State are either annihilated by this blow or turned
against himself, as the chief enemy of the constitution,
and that he stands, either amenable, by failure, to the
supreme judicature of the country, or becomes by sue-
cesa the popular candidate for unlimited personal power.
There is no other alternative, and the events of yester•
day must either consign France, for the present, to a
Bonapartist dictatorship, or send Bonaparte to
Vincennes. The Government, however, seems prepared
to make its act decisive and complete. The military
chief of the Assembly, Generals Changarnier, Cavaignac,
Lamoriciere, and Charras, are reported to have been
arrested at the outset of the revolution, and transferred
to the fortress in which they would willingly have im-
mured Louis Napoleon himself; and after the part which
M. Thiors has played for the last few years in the revo-
lutions of France, it will excite no regret to learn
that he too has been committed to this new Bastile.
This measure was doubtless taken to prevent the effect
which might have been produced by an appeal from
these leaders to the army or the members of the Assem-
bly, and to strike terror into those who might otherwise
have turned their arms against the President, or rallied
the scattered forces of the Assembly. We learn fur-
ther, that upon the closing of the Legislature a consi-
derable body of members, belonging chiefly to the Le-
gitimist party, assembled at the adjoining Mail le, where
they were surrounded by troops, and conveyed under
arrest to the neighbouring barracks. A more sweeping
extinction of legislative authority, and a more utter con-
tempt for the representatives of a great people, has not
been witnessed since the dissolution of the Long Parlia-
ment or the expulsion of the Council of 500 from the
Orangery of St. Cloud. From the first announcement cf
the President's intention to demand the abrogation of
the Electoral Law, accompanied by the summary
dismissal of the Faucher Cabinet, and followed by
the appointment of so significant a Minister as General
St. Arnaud with his most insignificant colleagues, we
have anticipated the occurrence of events and the re-
newal of adventures which would probably change the
provisional condition of France. These apprehensions
have been greatly increased by the factious conduct of
the Assembly, by the unprincipled coalitions formed
between the President's personal enemies and his Re-
publican opponents, and by the attitude assumed by the
Government under the increasing encouragement of the
populace of Paris. The very last time we had occasion
to discuss the condition of France we observed, " That
if the law itself affords no relief to a nation in such a
predicament, the course of events will be arrested by
some violent suspension of the law, that is, by a revolu-
tion;" and we added that, "if such a measure be dic-
tated by an imperative necessity, it would claim an in-
demnity from the suffrages of the nation." That sentence,
published 48 hours before the event, appears accurately
to describe the present emergency; for, whether any
such " imperative necessity" existed or not, it had be-
come evident that the impatience of the executive power
was increased by the cabals of its Parliamentary anta-
gonists, and inflamed by the favour of the people. But,
though we have long deplored the factious spirit of the
Assembly, and the ascendancy almost involuntarily con-
ceded in that body to the most mischievous of its
members, the circumstances at present known to us are
not such as to account for and justify a coup detat
which tramples underfoot the whole legal system of the
country. The constitution of 1848, however, contained
from the first the germ of such a revolution; for it had
placed the highest political authority in the Assembly,
while it conferred upon an independent executive Go-
vernment, stimulated by perpetual rivalry and frequent
eollisitrn, the p'nysieal-and- palitieaLlaeaas *destroying
an obstacle it could not otherwise remove. The laistory
of the last three ars has been the history of this con•
test, and as the time drew mar at which the legal
powers or the contending parties were to expire the
danger of an explosion became imminent. We conclude
from the political elements which have alone sur-
vived the protracted convulsions of Franco—the throne
being overturned, the aristocracy destroyed, the
country central sad, and the army paramJunt—that
the French people must either be governed by a dicta-
torial power nut seriously controlled by any representa-
tive Ass, mhly, or by an Assembly disposing absolutely
of the executive authority; and en imperial despotism
is at least preferable to anarchy or to the government of
a Committee of Public Safety. The measures of the
Government have been taken with that boldness which
tells most in revolutions. The military authorities had
for some days past held the army in immediate prepara-
tion and on the verge of action. General Perrot, the
Commandant of the National Guard of Paris, bad just
been removed in consequence of an attempt to place on
his staff a man obnoxious to himself, and 'mown by the
violence he had displayed on former occasions. The
command of the civic troops was thereupon transferred
to M. do Turgot, late Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose
presence in that post might at least have the effect of
paralyzing the hostile activity of the legions. M. de
Morny, well known as a member of what was termed
the progressive party under M. Guis at's administration,
and nearly connected with Louts Napoleon by blood,
is introduced into the Cabinet as Minister of the Inte-
rior, and M. Fould has resumed his place as Minister of
Finance. But the issue of the crisis depends
altogether on the army, and the army on General
St. Arnaud. There is every reason to believe that the
army will act in perfect unison, and without the
fromsligh oistst
regulardeference
chiefs,to
especially commands
of the ablest of its other leaders. The French
any not emanating
y a
people arc so apt to obey a given impsuliste hasin anbyeende-
direc-
tion, that we are surprised to find this revolution ac-
complished thus far without any serious resistance, and
hailed, as usual, by popular acclamation. The Assem-
bly, which was so ardently discussing but yesterday the
measures to be taken for its defence and the rights of
Parliamentary resistance, was deserted by public opinion
before it was assailed by the Executive Power; and the
catastrophe at which it has now arrived is no more than
the result of the destructive and contemptible line of
policy adopted by the majority at the commencement of
the year now hurrying to its close. But the Assembly
has done more than annihilate its own influence and
authority. It has injured and disgraced the cause
of constitutional and representative government in
France. It has put the seal of doom on that experi-
ment of representative government which has been
wi
th
soof 6140ayneya r sv; andci ssi
tiutdhe as s al
en fdt ths (le
he the spoil of these ltiairtinteldde
its ui npc
oelfri
est
safsnoe crd to rule to e upwards
myrmi-
dons of military power. The appeal made by Louis Na-
poleon to universal suffrage can only be interpreted to
mean an appeal to the people in his own favour, and no
reliance will be placed on the existence of Chambers
depending on his pleasure, when the National Assembly
of the Republic has just been overthrown by his will.
It is not improbable, indeed, that this change will be ac-
cepted by a people attached to no traditions of the past,
despising the present, and incredulous of the future.
But it will be accepted, if it be so accepted, without
genuine enthusiasm or confidence. If the entire party
once known as that of the Conservative majority be
annihilated by this revolution, including as it does what-
ever has hitherto been most eminent in the couvoils or
the armies of France, it is not the less certain that
the revolutionary and republican elements to which
Louis Napoleon is most strongly opposed still exist
in full organization and vigour. They may be
stunned by this blow; they will be coerced by the army,
and prosecuted by the laws; but they consist of men not
likely to desist from a cantest in which they have now
but one opponent, even though that opponent be desig-
nated by universal suffrage. The fortunes of Louis
Napoleon are therefore by no means decided by the
occurrences of yesterday; for his Government, if esta-
blished, enters upon a new and more violent field of con-
flict, to which it is imposaible to assign a limit or any
ace
newrtain
poebrieocdt The i
step
now irretrievably taken opens
revolutionary annals of France and
of Europe, of the most momentous interest to the cause
of civilization and the peace of the world; but, whatever
may be the results of these events, it is but too certain
government are already sacrified.
The humiliation of February,
prin-
ciples of constitutional
1848 is avengedb the
humiliation of December, 1851; a France
and
that the true interests of freedom and the nobler prin.
by step, from the horrors and
is doomed
to the stern bondage of mili-
tary rule.
we had to remark on the
foonl el
ye moreof
p o
pt
uo da
re srceevnodl ,u st
oe
np
lIERALD.—If yesterday
which we were left by the results
s o state
admirableof
and
in
wonderful
working of the submarine and electric telegraphs—in
w in some respects of the
reference to the death of a celebrated individual—how
shall we express to-day the state of surprise and am Z 3.•
ment into which we have been thrown by intelligence
which concerns, not merely the interest and welfare of
a nation—intelligence which may have a positive and
direct influence on the greater portion of Europe. Fur
the last month, indeed, during which the leaders of par-
ties in the French Chamber have exhibited all the worst
vices of intriguers and plotters under the lower Empire
—during which time we have seen them false and faith-
less to every principle, and working only for paltry per-