The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-25 00:00:00

• ‘s,

ful of any promises he can make. He has no
guarantees to give, which they can none,
we hope, which they will, accept. We await
therefore, with eagerness and with hope, the next
week or fortnight's news. We trust that the
Italians in Naples, as in the Duchies, will give
LOUIS NAPOLEON'S confederation scheme to the
winds—that Naples and the Roman States will
soon be united with the North of Italy—that the
Quadrangle will soon follow—that a united Italy
will laugh at all Dictators of the Tuileries—and
that the record of history for the year will be that
GARIBALDI, by his skill, single-mindedness, and
boldness, brought to nought the counsels of the
Imperial ACHITOPHEL.

Is the Empire weak or strong ? If " twenty
legions" are strength, the question is soon answered.
But if we ask what is the nature of the strength
which trembles before the fairest discussion, we
must hesitate for an answer. Perhaps we should
give two answers, according as the question referred
to foreign or domestic affairs. So long as France.
can be made to consider it her cal glory to win
battles against old empires, and to fix her own
natural boundaries in defiance of European
settlements, the Empire is strong. A loan of
£20,000,000 can be raised, and the national
debt increased to any extent, if it all shall bring
glory to France. The Empire is strong if it can
find a series of pretexts for displaying in any way
the continental supremacy of France. Already she
boasts, as a stalwart garotter could do, that take
any power singly, and she could beat it; that she
could only be beaten, as most rogues are beaten, by
a combinaticartf the honest. Of course with an
army and navy se powerful for attack on its neigh-
bours, the Empire is strong if attacked by them.
The sum is, the Empire is strong if its resources are
required for defence, or for " glorious aggression."

But in the other view of the question " The Em-
pire" seems to be weakness itself. It has no confi-
dence in its policy or its measures. It can tolerate
scurrilous abuse, even, perhaps, evoke it intention-.
ally, the effect being in France as elsewhere, that

the abused are the gainers in the sentiments, if
not in the deliberate judgment, of all respectable
persons. It can of course accept advocacy, the
only takeoff in Paris being that the flattery is apt

to be too transparent, and occasionally blundering.
What it cannot sustain is the criticism of inde-
pendent men, who respect themselves and their
cause too much to descend to scurrility, but who
are quite competent to pronounce a just judgment
on the general policy and the particular measures
of their Government. How can a Government be

called strong which dares not face the remarks of
such men, It way be able to fight the world, but
quails before its own subjects. It could laugh at,

could profit by threats from England or any Con-
tinental Power, but it cowers when an intelligent
man of reputation says--I propose, in a journal I
have purchased, to chew that you are right when
you are right, and that you are wrong when you

are wrong.
Our readers will at once see that we refer to the
remarkable affair which now forms the subject of
so much discussion in Paris, and which may yet
come before the French Courts of Law. There can
be no doubt that the French Minister of the In-
terior, M. BILLAULT, has committed the Empire to
a statement which will so little bear the light, that
the President of the Council has publicly denied it,
on the ground that it was too " stupid " to be made
by a person of such intelligence as the Minister !
It is, however, the stupidity of truth. Two galling
facts are incontrovertible ; that M. BILLAULT did
hold the language with which he is charged;
and that he did so because he had nothing
else to say. He could not face the
criticisms of the proposed journal, and yet he was
compelled to own that his fear was their moderate
and respectable character.
We may briefly recapitulate the principal facts.
The Courier de Paris was in the market. M.
GUERARD desired to sell it, for the very excellent
reason that he was losing money by it. M. LEY-
MARIE wished to purchase it, and did so, seemingly
thinking that by gathering together able writers
for it, he could make it pay. According to the law
of our enlightened neighbour country no one can
undertake the management or editorship of
a journal without the authorisation of the Go-
vernment. This M. LEYMARIE, in his simpli-
city, had taken to be a matter of course, as a
journal is valuable property, and he had in this
case paid a bona fide consideration for it. He
applied accordingly to the head of that depart-
ment. M. DE LA GUERONIERE, and, surprised at
the delay, sought a personal interview; but the
subordinate, after trying to evade by vague gene-
ralities, wished him to see the Minister of the

Interior.
He obtains an interview with his Excellency
M. BILLAULT. " SO, it is an Opposition paper you
wish to. establish ?" M. LEYMARIE—" No'; if by
opposition you mean a determination to—.l will
not say systematically—defame, but even to
criticise. Yes ;if opposition means examining
with independence the acts of Government,"
M. BILLAULT—" I will explain myself, nn_
mistakeably. Every citizen can legitimately express
through the press his thoughts on public affairs ;
but it is my business to see that the administration
is not disquieted, and that it is not embarrassed."
M. LEYMARIE—" The study of social and political
principles, carried on on principle, and without party
spirit, can by no means create any danger to the
State." M. BILLAULT—'INo, not danger, but an
embarrassment. In my opinion, an opposition
paper conducted by men of note and respectability,
who combined, without distinction of party, talents
acknowledged and sanctioned by public favour,
would by that very fact acquire a disquieting
influence. The more a paper so conducted
was constitutional—the more care it took not
to infringe the law—in a words the more
moderate it was the greater would be the
inconvenience !" Two days afterwards M. LEY,
MARIE received from M. BILLAIJLT a curt reply,
without any reasons assigned, that " his demand

could not be granted !"
Next, M. D'HAUSSONVILLE, a shareholder, calls on
M. DX LA GUERONIERE, and gives the public his

account of the interview in a pamphlet, in which
all the details of the whole affair were made public.
He drives the poor subordinate to very close quarters
on the question of tke power of the Minister of the
Interior to annihilate by two lines of writing without
a single reason, what, up to that time, was a valuable
property. Adopting the views of his chief, he was
compelled to maintain that " the Government must
have certain indispensable guarantees before allow-
ing persons whom the public would feel pleasure in
listening to, to discuss the general interests of the
country to address it." M. D'HAUSONVILLE could
not divine what securities were wanted. Modera-
tion was not doubted, but it was also the thing
feared ; as to " friendship" to the Government, the
official was reminded of fdets in 1852 which pre..

eluded the possibility of that ; and the conversation
closed with a promise that it should be communi-
cated by the subordinate to his chief, with an inti-
mation thatIVI.D'HAUSSONVILLE was at the service
of the latter at any time.
Some days passed over ; and the strange state-

ment of M. BILLAULT was then brought under the
notice of the Council of State by M. EMILE OLLI-
VIER, one of the deputies of Paris. It was on
this occasion that M. BAROCHE, the President,
deemed it self-contradictory on account of its

"stupidity." But M. DE. LA GUERONIERE, himself
a councillor, did not venture a denial. The Moni-I
teur published the debate. M. LEYMARIE then
availed himself of a press law, which requires any
journal which has "indicated" an individual, to
allow him fair space to defend himself, and sent
round a letter, in legal form, demanding its inser-
tion. The Ministers sent round an order to
the papers not to publish the letter, and now M.
LEYMARIE has no means of bringing the matter to
a public issue but that of prosecuting the news-
papers for not inserting the letter in accordance
with the law; when, of course, their plea will be
that they were ordered not to do it.
So now stands this precious business. And, any-

thing more humiliating to an " Empire," most of
our readers will think it is hardly possible to con-
ceive. It is an open confession that all genius and
talent must either enlist itself amongst the corps of
Imperial laureates, or be silent. France is fond of
classical examples; she will surely think of none so
appropriate as the brief description of the reign of
DOMITIAN by the inimitable historian of the deeds
of AGRICOLA. Can such repression last ? Is so
great a people—for a great people after all the
French are—so degraded that it will submit to the
compulsory silence of all its most able men, and see
none but flatterers or revilers allowed to write ? The
noblest instincts of our nature demand that the doc-

trine of M. BILLAULT should be to the empire the
handwriting on the wall. It is a confession that,
weighed in the balanced of talent and impar-
tiality, it is found wanting.