The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-18 00:00:00

of social order. Intelligence and acquirement:have two inap-
preciable advantages; the one is to open to mankind a source
of enjoyment, which nature, a niggard of her gifts, has ac-
corded only to labour and talent—and the other is to make the
working classes of society understand that their well-being,
their happiness, even, are intimately connected with the order
and preservation of society. Thus, they would teach the savage
that it is better to cultivate the earth than wander in the
forests; and prove to the protetaires of all classes and all na-
tions, to the end of time, that if at first-sight it appears more
simple and more rational to appropriate the wealth of others to
themselves, such an aggression brings with it convulsions,
of which, sooner, or later, they will evidetitlY be them-
selves the victims; and that labour and industry alone can
afford them more sweet, more solid, and, above all, more
uncontested enjoyments.—(Great applause.)—Here, then,
principles are evidently in accordance with the interests of
mankind, and such will always be the case among all those
whose simple and natural wishes are confined to being well
lodged, well fed, and well clothed, and to transmitting the
same comforts to their family; but where these, the only true
advantages, are not sufficient—when for these real enjoyments
a more advanced state of civilization has substituted those of
the imagination—when, in fine, the natural man is lost in the
factious man—then the scene changes its character; the pre-
servation of existing society is no longer necessary or desirable
for him who finds that his place in it is inferior to his desires,
and until he has satisfied those desires he will be always ready
to reform, or, if necessary, overthrow the social order of which
he forms a part. The wants of men have their limits, but their
imagination has no bounds. Understanding is a means, an in-
strument, a letter, a faculty ; but it is not a moral virtue, nor,
consequently, a guarantee; and to believe that men will always
use it for the benefit of their fellow-creatures, we must close
our eyes against our own experience of the past, and the lessons
of history. lam not acquainted with any political catechism
which could engage the Catilines, the Gracchi, the Cmsars, the
Cromwells, or the Napoleons to remain in private life, and by
acting as good fathers contribute to the general welfare.
When civilized man deluged peaceable America with blood, do
you conceive that he furnished a convincing proof that the
possession of talent and education leads to the promotion of hu.
manity and happiness ? When the most talented man of his time
wrote to the Academy at Dijon that the first man who cultivated
land, enclosed it around, and said—" This is mine," was a
monster worthy of being pointed out to the execration of
future races : do you think that with all his genius he uttered
a doctrine worthy of being called conservative ? The sophist
was crowned, It is true ; but would you, in your conscience, be
pleased to see your electoral colleges compssed of men hold.
ing such doctrines ?—(Long and loud cheers.) Does not even
public opinion itself, that regent of the world, which represses
with so much severity all attacks against social order, appear
to become an accomplice in them when they are of a nature to
flatter the imagination, or are made legitimate by success ?
The minor disturbers are sent to the scaffold, but the greater
go down to posterity crowned with honour. Is not all that re-
nown by which antiquity was rendered so brilliant, and with
which it still shines so resplendently in our eyes, all that per.
fection in the arts and sciences, which, according to our no-
tions, ought to lead to an undefined perfectibility,—is it not,
I say, based on the contrary, upon an oblivion of all the genuine
principles and the real interests of mankind ? At Rome, it was
composed of conquest, slavery, and the power of life and death
over children. In Greece, every moral vritue was sacrificed
to the glory and aggrandisement of the country. In the eyes
of the true philanthropist, Lycurgus was little better than one
of our most notorious brigands; these at least confined them.
selves to the committal of crimes, while he reduced them by
laws into systematic principles. Adultery, robbery, murder,
and family destruction, formed the foundation of his legisla-
tion, and yet he was the most enlightened man of his
times. A fine guarantee, truly, for the welfare of mankind!
But without going to far back for examples, do we not
daily feel an instinctive feeling of self.preservation, warning
us even in matters of minor importance to take numerous
precautions ?—(Silence and marked attention.) When our
money is in question, do we not multiply guarantees, and
take securities from our lowest agents ? You would in all
probability laugh at a collector who tendered you his
intelligence as a security. You take all these precautions
for your money, but when the safety of the State and its
institutions are at stake, they all appear superfluous.
It is impossible for me to account for such indifference.
But I shall be accused of striking with ostracism the most com-
mendable and honourable of my fellow-citizens. No, Gentlemen,
it is you on the contrary who wish to place them out of the rule
of common right. It is one of the conditions of our nature,
that every good must be purchased by some exertion, some
preliminary difficulties. We have all gone through the same
ordeal. Why would you wish them to reach this point at a
single bound, and save them from a noviciate to which we have
all been subjected ? There is no country in which intelligence
leads more easily to fortune than in France. Let them gain
this first step,—let them give us this guarantee,—otherwise, if
they are so little able to manage their own affairs well, what
claim can they possibly have to assume the direction of ours ?
I will add, that nearly all the liberal professions are cosmopo-
litan ; the man of genius belongs to the universe; while com-
merce sees its country wherever its profits are the best and
most secure ; whence I conclude that the true guarantees are
to be found in the private virtues which are founded on the
possession of property. Our country is our love for our native
soil—it is that which in all ages has given birth to heroes and
produced the brightest actions, and which makes those who are
exiled from the spot which gave them birth pine to death with
grief. This sentiment survives all others—it alone is true, it
alone is lasting, it alone is independent of all the aberrations of
the human mind, and it is upon this basis alone that a solid
foundation can be laid. For these reasons I call for the rejec.
tion of the amendment."—(Loud applause followed this speech
which was listened to with profound attention.

M. DE SADE supported the amendment, urging that the
tranquillity and good order of the country proved that it
could bear without danger the extension of municipal rights
proposed by M. Comte.
M. DE RA MBUTEAU said a few words in a low !tone on
the difficulty of arranging questions of this nature, and on the
necessity, on the one hand, of electors having sufficient capa-
city to exercise their trust, and, on the other, of the door
being open to all citizens to acquire that capacity; but we
could not gather whether the Hon. Deputy approved of or op-
posed the proposition of M. Comte.
Gen. LAFAYETTE—" The subject of the present debate,
and, indeed, all electoral questions, attach themselves to two
principles, upon which the world is divided, and which rule the
system of elections, from that of the legislative body to those of
the most insignificant communes. Under one system it is the
supreme power of the state, either vested in one man, or in
" ' '

several branches, under the omnipotent name of a Parliament,

which grants to certain privileged persons the exercise of a
certain portion of the electoral franchise. Under the other sys_
tem, that of the national sovereignty, perpetually existing, all
the citizens without exception have a right to interfere in the
management of their affairs. There can be no exceptions but
for certain incapacities, unfortunately acknowledged, which,
however, are sought to be put an end to as quickly as possible.
This is the ground on which my Hon. Friend (M. Comte) sup-
poses that a sufficient capacity is to be found in men who have
been elected by their follow-citizens, either into the municipali.
' • " " "

ties or into the National Guards, to enable them to become elec-
tors of an arondissement or department, and consequently that
they have a right to be allowed to give their suffrages. I have
no pretensions to convert those who hold a positive doctrine
on the subject of these two systems. I believe there are many
well-intentioned and enlightened persons in this Chamber as
well as in the kingdom at large, who, for example, at the epoch
of the Restoration, thought the Charter the perfection of legis-
lative order, particularly when its democratic excesses were
tempered by the introduction of the double vote.—(A laugh.)
This opinion has become rooted in some minds—for you know
with what care was preserved the idea of him who has been

called the august author of the Charter—(A laugh)—of reduc-
ing, after the reduction of the taxes, the 300 ft. to 240 fr. Such

was the original idea.—(A laugh.) It is not these persons
that I shall attempt to convert. I should perhaps be more suc.
cessfkil were I to make the attempt upon those who entertain
exaggerated apprehensions, from the employment of a large
mass of citizens in the electoral system. In the most elevated
societies, Gentlemen, there may be certain contagious impres-
sions, certain impressions of alarm, which are communicated
from one to another, and which are to be found in the most

considerable societies as well as in the coteries of a simple vil.
lage. I find amongst the other motives which may be given
for confidence in this respect, as to the Departmental Councils,
. _

an example which I beg leave to recite. In 1792, the consti-
tutional order was violently threatened, and in the end was

entirely destroyed. Well ! Gentlemen, when a citizen wished
to defend this constitutional order by addressing a letter to the
National Assembly, seventy-five Directors of departments who

were thorough democrats, and truly elected by the people, sup-
ported this letter, which some others thought too monarchical,
too aristocratical. I did not think so—and lam still far from

disavowing a word of it. This, however, proves that there was
not then so great a tendency to the adoption of the principles
of demagogues and anarchists, for these seventy-five depart.
ments would have been followed by all the rest, had it not
been for the events of the 10th of August. Another class
of persons is alarmed at the democracy which, they say, over_
flows in our system: but these persons were equally frightened
when it was proposed to add a very small number to the

electors enfranchised by the old law. Let us, Gentlemen,
compare our electoral system with those of other countries.
I will not speak of that of the United States, although I
am one amongst many who consider it as a Model for
Governments. But it is argued that in order to have

what I will call Republican Institutions, we must live in a

vast Continent, bounded on one side by the Ocean, and on
the other by extensive forests; as formerly it was argued

we must necessarily be shut up in an island in order to

have a representative Government.—(Renewed laughter.) 1

. .
will speak only of England, where to be qualified for an elector
—for a county-man must possess a freehold worth 50 fr. per
annum. From this you will be able to judge of the amount of

taxes he must necessarily pay, or else he must possess a house
and pay a rent of 250 fr. per annum. In England there are
1,200,000 electors.—(Murmurs.) Yes, Gentlemen. there will be
1,2:30,000 electors in England as soon as a few electors who are
in arrears have paid up their taxes, while in France there are

only 160,000. All this obligation England owes to the revolu-

tion of July, since it was the electric stroke of that revolution
which contributed to defeat the Tory party, and gave birth to
the Reform in Parliament. But, has this revolution produced
the same effect in France, though it has in a small proportion
increased the number of electors 2 Let us seek an example

nearer home. In Belgium, the medium qualification for an
elector is 10 fr. The inhabitants of Philipville are, consequently,
held to have now four times the intelligence, discernment, and
probity that they had before they were separated rom France.