The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

It is in the 17th year of his own Imperial reign, says the
Times, that Napoleon 111. celebrates the centenary of his
uncle's birth. That is a fact of greater moment than
might be imagined, for what, it may be asked, are seven•
teen years in the life of a nation? Very little, certainly,
where the nation is as motionless as China or Japan, but
not so where it is ever fermenting, like France. What is
more, the present ferment, such as it is, is caused by mea
sures, not of coercion, but of relaxation. Charles X.
endeavoured to fetter the Press, and Louis Philippe to
suppress public meetings ; but Frenchmen are now talking
not of reactionary ordinances and proclamations, but of
broad political reforms. They are suddenly offered
greater freedom and larger Constitutional rights, and
the only question among themselves no less than
us—is whether they can turn the opportunity t(
good account and prove their fitners for the boon.
Nevertheless, with all this, and more that might be added,
it is a question whether the country will not use its
partially•recovered power to subvert the ruler who restores
it. It is not willingly that Napoleon has taken Liberal
politicians into partnership, and he was doubtless mortified
at the necessity which the elections put upon him. If,
however, the people did not like his Government, what
did they want in its place? The Red Spectre is still a
terror to France, and the Emperor alone is thought able
to lay the ghost. That, in short, makes Louis Napoleon
a necessity. It must be rather disheartening, at
the Emperor's time of life, and after all his achieve.
ments, to find that no more gratifying consideration than
this recommends him to the country, for he has brought
France to a grand position, and been unremitting in his
solicitude for the people, both peasantry and artisans. The
Emperor, however, will be justified in reflezting that even
if his original mission was merely to ward off a rule consi•
dered worse than his own, he has at least succeeded in
fulfilling it, and that the interval of security for which
France is thus indebted to him will hereafter represent an-
era of unprecedented progress in all but the political life
of the nation.

The 'Standard remarks that Annus Do2nini 1769 was a
great year. If the year 1769 could by any possibility be
blotted out of the annals of the world, so that the men
who were born in it had never been born, the whole face
of our modern earth would be changed. For this year
produced men of such mighty and transcendant genius
that their lives and labours left their imprint on the age,
and effected what amounted to a revolution in the history,
the laws, the progress, the arts, the sciences, of our
modern human race. We may mention here six out
of many to chew the stuff of which the progeny of this
anzzus mira7ilis were made. The year 1759 gave birth to
Schiller, Pitt, Burns, and Robespierre, but 1769 produced
Humboldt, Cuvier, Sir Walter Scott, Mehemet Mi of
Egypt, the Duke of Wellington, and Napoleon Buona-
parte. The centenary of the birth of Napoleon
was celebrated on Sunday throughout the French
Empire. It was but just that it should be.
The history of modern France centres in Napoleon,
who will take his place in history by the side of Charle-
magne and Louis Quatorze. Napoleon fought well for
France, but not always wisely. He ruled France despoti-
cally, but not always ill. Napoleon 111. owes much, if
not all, to his memory and to his name. He has achieved
a name and fame for himself, but, had it not been for his
uncle, it is certain that be would never have had the
chance of achieving it. We rejoice that in one respect he
has taken warning from the fate of his predecessor. The
reforms now promised in the French Constitution bear
a strong resemblance to those of the ccte additional pro-
mulgated by the £mt Napulecn at the instance of Benja-
min Constant. The repentance of Napoleon I. was too
late, the concessions of Napoleon 111. promise to come in
time.

The Times remarks that in the Ministerial cerabinations
the Emperor Napoleon may have to form in compliance
with the Senatus-Consultum one most able and devoted
servant will be wanting. Marshal Niel's career, both in
the camp and in the Council, has come to a close. He
was gifted in a very eminent degree with all the qualities
befitting a Minister as well as a G eneral, and it Was his good
fortune to be favoured by the best opportunities of achiev-
ing the very highest distinction in both capacities. Niel
at the Ministryof War, and Fould at that of the Finances,
were the only Ministers to whose firmness the equally
determined, but not indocile, mind of the Emperor Would
defer, and in this it only did homage to an admitted supe-
riority of knowledge and experience. Grievous as his loss
may be to the Emperor's Government, it is by no means
unlikely that the Minister's spirit may survive his ad-
ministration, and that the principle of keeping France's
armament up to its highest degree of efficiency may be
strictly adhered to. It is, however, far easier to adopt
such a man's plans than to carry them to maturity. The
bow of the dead warrior hangs on the wall, but how
many of his survivors will have the strength to bend it?
" The death of Marshal Niel," the French are already
saying, " leaves a gap in the Ministry of War which
neither any of his brother Marshals singly nor all of them
put together will be able to fill up."

The Daily Eras says that Marshal Niel is dead, and in
the Emperor Napoleon loses another of Lis ablest
servants. The deceased Marshal was not one of the poli-
tical supports of the Imperial I hrone, like Marshal St.
Arnaud, and so many who have been taken away since
his death ; but Le was one of its greatest military illustra-
tions. His career, if not brilliant, was entirely successful,
and it was rewarded not only with the highest military
rank, but, according to the usage of the Empire, with
civil and political distinction. The young student of the
Polytechnic in IE2I, after serving the Bourbons of the
Restoration and of the Revolution, has died Marshal of
France, senator, and President of a General Council.
The Standard says that though fully expected, the
death of Marshal Niel has caused a general feeling of
gloom, for, with all their scepticism, the French are very
superstitious, and the decease of the leading general and
the ablest administrator of the French army, on the very
eve of the Imperial Fete, is regarded as an ill omen by the
soi-disants esprits forts. The Emperor's run of ill-luck
does not seem exhausted yet. All his principal friends
and advisers seem to be predestined ; a premature death
removes them at the very time they were most wanted.
Mornv, Billault, Fould, Walewaki, have been cut off in
their Prime, and now Niel follows them at a time when his
powerful influence and indomitable energy were still
required to perfect and carryout the plan of reorganisa-
tion of the French army which will rank as the greatest
achievement of his brilliant career.

The Telegraph declares that the splendour of the Napo-
leon FC:tes has been clouded, and the satisfaction with
which the political amnesty has been received must have
been not a little damped, by the death of an illustrious
soldier, who ranked among the principal contributors to
the military glories of the Second Empire. In Marshal
Niel the Emperor has lost a faithful servant, France an
able general, and the world a gallant and loyal soldier.
St. Arnaud and Pelissier, Duke of Malakoff, were
men of greater native power ; but Niel, though not perhaps
so distinguished in his particularclass, belonged to a higher
class than either of those two Generals. With Niel, as we
said, has perished another of the small phalanx of energetic
and ambitious men who stood round Napoleon 111. when
he commenced his career as a ruler; and the time seems
not far distant when the Emperor of the French will be
surrounded by a new generation of public men, to whom
the coup cretat is matter of history rather than of personal
memory.

The Post thinks there are some notices of motions which
appear
.calculated to thwart the hope which her Majestyhas graciously expressed that the new Irish Church Act
will promote peace, and help to unite all classes in Eng-
land, Ireland, and Scotland in a fraternal concord. It
looks rather at present, it must be confessed, as if this
great Act would send a sword rather than peace through
the land. At any rate, it has already done good work as
a Spur. Mr. Wentworth Beaumont has given notice that
he will ask for leave to bring in a bill for relieving all
bishops who shall hereafter be consecrated from their
legislative and judicial duties in the House of Peers. Mr.
Thomas Chambers will call attention to the unsatisfactory
position of the Established Church in relation to the great
body of the people, and to the frequent absence of that
friendly co-operation between its clergy and their congre-
gations so essential to efficient ministration, and will invite
the House to a consideration of such changes, thoroughly
consistent with its doctrines and principles, as may bring
it more into harmony with the opinions and feelings of
the laity, and make it a more effective instrument for the
evangelisation and improvement of the whole community.
And Mr. Watkin Williams crowns this religious temple of
concord, of which the Royal Speech had a vision, by pro-
posing to call attention to the existing state of religious in-
equality in Wales, and to the anomalous position of the
Established Church in that Principality. Mr. Williams,
whether he is drawing his bow at a venture or not, will,
no doubt, be strongly supported by the population of the
Principality. In any event these shadows cannot be said
to indicate the advent of an epoch of fraternity or con-
cord.

The Herald thinks that Mr. Gladstone has two serious
dangers to apprehend. In the first place, he is in an
alarming minority in the House of Lords, and, what
mak ntatters worse, the preponderance of talent and
capacity
against him in that assembly is even greater
than the preponderance of numbers. Lord Cairns has
shewn in the debates on the Irish Church Bill with what
admirable skill and temper he can avail himself of his
own strength and of the blunders of his adversaries ;
and with such an opponent waiting for his every
measure at the head of an irresistible majority in
the Lords, and with Mr. Bright ever ready io
afford cccasion of censure, even a majority of 100 in the
House of Commons cannot put the Premier altogether at
his case. The second danger ar,se:; from the very great-
ness of that majority. Many a Minister has experienced
heretofore the misfortune of being too powerful ; and Mr.
Gladstone is nut likely to be c;:empt from the common
fate, even if he were less certain to provoke the political
Nemesis that ever waits qn excessive arrogance and abused
good fortune. Much is expected of him that he cannot
achieve ; much that he cannot attempt without breaking
up his party. He must disappoint the Radicals ;
he must quarrel either with the Irish Romanists,
or the Scotch Presbysterians, or both ; he must
either exasperate the Irish tenantry, or alienate the entire
landed interest. He has already made the Church his
enemy. The experience of 1566, and the pressure of con-
stituents, will for a time keep the party to its colours,
and it is well that it should do so. Let Mr. Gladstone
have ample time to spew his true character ; to lose
friends by his arrogance, to alienate support by his short-
comings, to forfeit confidence by his incalculable eceen•
tricities. The longer he remains in office now the more
assured will be his fall, and the smaller his dance of
retrieval.