The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-27 00:00:00

THIS DAI'S SHIPPING.

LONDON, NOV. 27.—Wind this day at noon, S.E. ;
strong breeze, and weather mild, with rain.
SOUTHAMPTON, Nov. 26.—Wind E.—Arrived—Alham-
bra (steamer), from Gibraltar.
PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 26.—Wind S.S.W.—Arrived--
Her Majesty's steamer Curlew, from Gibraltar; her Ma-
jesty's steamer Argus, from the westward.
PLYMOUTH, Nov. 26.—Wind • S.S.W.—Arrived—
Azof, from Mogadore.
OFF DUNGENESS, Nov. 26.—Arrived--Scotia, from Cal-
cutta,

(ET ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Saturday Morning.
Iliad S. ; heavy rains.
Arrived—Moslem, from Newport ; Wonder, steamer,
from Jersey ; Alhambra, steamer, from Gibraltar ; Argyll,
steamer, from Carentan; Alliance, steamer, from Havre.
Sailed—Le Coq, for Cherbourg; Havre, steamer, for
Havre; L'Etoile, for Carentan; Dispatch, and Atalanta,
steamers, for jersey.

Wind S.

LIVERPOOL, Saturday Morning.

Arrived, No. 26.—Ann Buckle, from Bombay ; City of
Palaces, from Manilla ; Anglesey Lass, from Xabea.
Sailed, Nov. 26.—Matilda, for Naples ; Revenue, for
New Orleans ; Geppina, for Rotterdam.

(BY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.).
GRAVESEND, Saturday Morning.
Wind, S.W. by W. tide three-quarters ebb, cloudy.
Arrived, Nov. 27.—Deux Cousins, from Granville;
Wheatsheaf, from St. Malo ; Isabell, from Rouen ;
Mentor, from Worcum; Jane Pringle, from Genoa ; Scotia,
from Calcutta.
Sailed, Nov. 27.—Mowe, for Bremen; Triton, steamer,
for Calais.

DEA.L, Saturday Morning.

Wind S., moderate.
Passed.—Ardberg, and Winterthur, both from Calcutta ;
Paris and London, screw steamer, from Faris; Leda, from
Nantes—all for London.

QUEEN'S COUNTY PROCLAIMED.—The Dublin
Gazette notifies that the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Coun-
cil have issued a proclamation to the effect that the Peace
Preservation Act shall apply to, and be in force in and for,
the barony of Clandonnagh, in the Queen's County,

THE TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF
211. DE MONTALEMBERT.

(From the Times.)
The proceedings on the trial of Montalembert
will go abroad throughout the world like the news
of some sad symptom of a distant epidemic. To-day
they occupy the public mind of England ; they will
pass from us to the free States of the Continent,
they will be read far and wide through the cities
of the Atlantic, they will be repeated among the
populations of the Southern Ocean; but wherever
they pass they will produce a prevailing sentiment
of deep commiseration. It is not Montalembert,
but France, that will be pitied. Every one will
ask himself, " What can be the condition of a
country where such things can be, and where no one
cries aloud ?" It is as if we saw a rat gnawing a
human form which did not start. It may be
trance, it may be death, but it is not active vitality.
Perhaps it is the silence and inaction of abject
terror, but there is scarcely an instance of a great
nation so silently prostrate. Men must now re-
member what Frenchmen were before they can feel
an interest in what they yet may be. Montalem-
bert goes forth to prison, and no voice is raised, no
patriot leaders come together to protest, no flying-
sheet tells the story of his trial—the very mob are
afraid to shout.
But the same fear hangs upon the oppressor as
upon the oppressed. The description of this judicial
proceeding reads more like a meeting of conspira-
tors than like a State trial. When Power mas-
querades as Justice it has been usual to borrow
robes of dignity, and exhibit the majesty of law in
some great hall, where crowds might assemble and
the scene and the example might be imposing and
impressive. But the Montalembert trial takes
place in a room like a London police-office; the
audience are carefully admitted by tickets and
passwords. There is a deed to be done which, so
far as is possible, shall be done privily. No man
may take notes. A scrap of paper and a pencil
are signs of disaffection and endanger instant
expulsion. The seats of honour by the bench are
occupied by those who have distinguished them-
selves only under the Imperial regime. We may
be sure that the ticket-holders in the small area
of the court are, so far as may be, stanch Im-
perialists. It is well imagined. Berryer and Du-
faure must be heard, and it will be inconvenient to
deny them a :reasonable license ; but their voices
will not be allowed to penetrate beyond that room.
Outside, the Imperial will has laid an interdict
upon France. " You may tell, them that the Judges
are seated, and you may tell them again that the
prisoners have been condemned. This is enough
for France to know." Yet with all these precau-
tions, there was a demeanour about the Bench
which was not that of security. The President
evidently doubted from the beginning that France
could supply even a small roomful of partisans
zealous against the accused. He saw in every face
an enemy, and commenced by a warning of pains
and penalties against all who should dare to ap-
plaud. Soon after his nervous ear had caught a
sound which no one else had noted; and again,
when Berryer Thad concluded his oration, the irre-
pressible instinct to applaud fora moment over-
came an apprehension of the President's wrath.
The Judge was right in llis suspicion that it was
impossible to pack an audience which would sym-
pathise with this prosecution. It was quite im-
possible that any one could hear even the statement
of the case as it came from the prosecuting counsel
without being convinced that the incriminated
passages were but an eloquent repetition of the
commonplaces of poetry and history. They con-
tain only a passing allusion to the corruption of
Cults ; e gentle sneer at the progressive spirits
who believe in universal suffrage ; an assertion of
the undoubted truth, that Canada now has political
and municipal institutions which France once had,
but which France retains no longer ; and an asser-
tion of the fact, which, if it wanted any confirma-
tion, is made notorious by this prosecution, that in
France " no one speaks but by permission." These
phrases picked out of an article of 70 pages form
the counts of his indictment and the justification
for his imprisonment.
No tyranny that the world has seen ever as-
sumed this form. The most absolute and unscru-
pulous rulers have never yet proscribed history.
Livy, at the Court of Augustus, could write of the
expulsion of the Tarquins and celebrate the deeds
of the Republic, and Tacitus could compose an
eulogy on the free institutions of the Germans, and
circulate it under the patronage of Vespasian and
Domitian ; but a French nobleman at Paris may
not say that he speaks only by permission, and
must not write it in a periodical that France once
had constitutional institutions, and another nation
hard by still retains them. ,The doctrines under
which Montalembert has been; condemned proceed
upon assumption that, the Government of France
being a despotism, any mention of freedom is an
attack upon its existence ; that the laws are so bad
that to state them is to expose them to contempt;
and that the Court of the Emperor is So corrupt
that general expressions against corruption need
no application to wound the great officers of the
Empire. Under such doctrines life and pro-
perty can never be safe. No man can guard his
common conversation against these remote con-
structions. Montalembert's article might be very
disagreeable to the Emperor, and doubtless was so,
but if it is a libel the Bibliotheque Imperiale is
full of libels; and it will be only fair to tell people
who desire to keep far from Lambessa and Cayenne
to make over its contents to the Bains Chinois.
Under the present regime such books as " Plu.-
tarch's Lives," " St. Thomas Aquinas, " Maritani,"
" De Rege," all the histories of France and all the
Greek Classics, can be of no use but to keep Paris
in hot water. We would be bound to open any
one of these books at random, and find a passage
ten times more insulting to the Emperor of the
French than .any incriminated phrase of Monta-
lembert's pamphlet.
Does Napoleon the Third think that this is an
interlude of little moment, or does he realise the
importance of • his enterprise and lament the inex-
orable necessity which drives a despot on against
his will ? So shrewd a man cannot suppose that
this is a small matter. Henceforward he has
afforded to France at least one topic Toon which all
her factions will be agreed—he hal- shut up one
man to whom every one will look as a martyr. He
has made a silence that may be felt ;—is he sure
that it is the silence of peace ? There are successes
which grow so ripe that they bend with the seed
of future failures. He who has so strong a dislike
of historical parallels will doubtless remember those
words of M. 'niers in his retrospective chapter
upon the First Napoleon—" La nation s'est retiree
de lui. Il a succombe en prouvant combien de nos
jours le despotisme est impossible." We cannot
but see in these extreme measures to destroy even
the freedom of thought a 'despotism that is dan-
gerous to itself, and in these tours de force a con-
sciousness of weakness. It is, of course, nothing
to us what sort of government France chooses to
adopt. Beyond that sort of sentiment which made
even rude Sparta wish to see Athens flourish in
equal power, lest one of the eyes of Greece should
be put out, we can have no other interest in this
matter than that of lookers-on who speculate and
philosophise. At this moment there is one topic
which is absent from no Frenchman's thoughts, but
which passes from no Frenchman's lips, and may
not be touched by his pen. This is strong govern-
ment, We have seen fortresses with open doors
and perhaps rather lax discipline, and we have
heard roaring choruses coming from the barracks,
and thought it was lucky there was no enemy near,
and that the surrounding populations dwelt like
brothers with the garrison. But we have also seen
a fortress close fastened, silent, and solitary, sleep-
ing like an image of strength in the cold winter's
sunshine. " L'armee s'etait retiree de lui." It was
to be dismantled for the general convenience. It
was only the attentive distant spectator, who could
see that the pale portfires were slowly burning
towards the mines, and that the appointed moment
approached when the silence would be broken and
the firm masonry would be hurled aloft in air. We
do not prophesy—we only illustrate a warning,
that noise is not always danger, and silence not
always safety.

(Pram the Daily Netes.)

It is reported that M. de Montalembert has been
prevailed upon by his friends and advisers to appeal
from the sentence of the Correctional Police to the
Imperial Court. We had ventured to hint a doubt
whether such an appeal to the superior jurisdiction
would not be deemed superfluous in a case where it
was, and is, a question of striking down an obnoxi-
ous opponent, not of trying him by the forms of
law or the rules of justice. The noble defendant
was, perhaps, not unwilling to submit in protesting
silence to the act of violence which the meaner in-
struments of unrighteous power registered on Wed-
nesday, and to renounce a right which could only
result in the perpetration of a greater wrong. It
is possible, however, that unexceptionable counsels
may have persuaded him, that even a desperate
legal resistance to flagrant illegality is a duty he
owes, not to his own person, for to such a man
stone walls do not a prison make," but to the
most sacred cause on earth—to the cause of out-
raged liberty and violated justice.
The Procureur Imperial permits the Correspon-
dant "to live," if life it can be called which is only
not an instant death ; such a life as a liberal in the
ancient days of the great prototype of Imperialism
was permitted to enjoy when he received permissic
to open his veins with a stylus, and to faint into
forgetfulness, drop by drop, amidst the vapours of
a bath. M. de Montalembert, we know, might
shake the dust of despotism off his feet, and fly to

freer shores from the tender mercies of his venal
persecutors; but we question if he would deem it
consistent with the high moral dignity of his pre-
, sent position to exchange the only favour he can
accept of the Empire without dishonour, for a
voluntary expatriation en contumace. Should he,
indeed, be advised to present himself once more in
person before an Imperial Tribunal, and to give
the higher Court an opportunity of proving to the
world that the last spark of independence on the
judgment-seat is not yet trampled out by the master
of an insolent soldiery, he will doubtless be pre-
pared to accept the alternative of a second and
final condemnation.

The cause for which M. de Montelambert is
ready to offer up his personal liberty a willing sa-
crificelcan only gain, it is true, by a renewed pro-
test in the face of Europe ; for all Europe was
present in the spirit in that sorry Chamber of Cor-
rectional Police; all Europe hung upon the eloquent
lips of Berryer and Dufaure, when the one was
pouring forth a burning torrent of indignant scorn,
and the other was cleaving through the web of
shameless sophistries with a logic that pierced
like an icebrook-tempered sword. All Europe
now knows, and will never again forget, that
the Empire of December is an accident, an
expedient, an adventure—not a rule of justice
and of law. A Government that fears the truth
is self-condemned, and it would puzzle the
purchased apologists of the Empire to explain
how it is that a Government based upon
the national will, cannot for a moment en-
dure the trial of free discussion ; how it is
that a Government founded upon universal suffrage
starts at the mere shadow of a phrase. The scene
enacted in the Palais de Justice on Wednesday
was but a representation on a petty stage of the
straggle against the domination of force, which the
collective thought and intellect of France, driven
from the tribune and silenced in the press are sus-
taining daily, without concerted action, but with a
common purpose. In the person of Montalembert,
be it remembered, English freedom and English
opinion are struck on the back by a hand that dare
not strike in the face. Belgium, :Sardinia, and
Switzerland have been taught good manners, but
England is incorrigible, and a good word for Eng-
land is treason to Imperial France. There is a
profound significance in that passage of M. Du-
faure's speech for the defence, in which he insisted
that the regret expressed by M. de Montalembert
at the dissimilarity of French and English institu-
tions only showed that the writer wished to see the
alliance established on a lasting basis. We have
said, over and over again, that the only firm foun-
dation for such an alliance is, we do not say abso- •
lutely the idem velle atque idem nolle, but an iden-
tity of political sympathies and public principles.
Tenth-rate diplomatic dancing-masters and poco-
curantists of easy public virtue point to Austria.
and to Russia, and glibly ask whether an alliance
with either of these Powers is impracticable be-
cause neither Vienna nor St. Petersburg is blessed
with a limited 'Monarchy and a free Parliament.
These jaunty cynics forget that what is natural in
Russia and normal in Austria, is an arrested de-
-1 velopment, a deformity in France. After pouring
forth the blood of her children like water on a
hundred battle-fields of freedom, France, as M.
Berryer finely said, cannot " confiscate her history,"
and relapse into silence and darkness, without a.
throe of disquietude or despair. Louis Napoleon
can no more endure in patience the liberties of
England than we can tolerate without a pang the
persecution of thought and the perversion of justice
among a people with whom, in spite of hereditary
antagonisms, we are inseparably associated in the
destinies of civilisation, whether for better or for
worse. England and France are the natural co-
heiresses of Freedom--twin competitors in the
generous race of Progress. How can one of these
sisters be stricken, and the other not mourn?

OPENINGi OF T. PAUL'S cATITEDRAL
ON ADVENT SUNDAY EVENING.

The Special Committee appointed to assist in
seating the congregation met the Dean in the
Cathedral on Thursday evening at 4 o'clock in order
to inspect the progress of the works, which will be
all completed by 3 o'clock on Saturday. The:l)ean
was supported by Archdeacon Hale, the Rev. Mr.
Moore, one of the Canons, Alderman Wilson, Messrs.
Baker, Scott, Cazenove, Butterworth, and a few'
other gentlemen.
The superintendent of police attended by order
of the Commissioner to receive the committee's in-
structions. It was arranged to open the two side
doors of the west entrance facing Ludgate-hill at
6 o'clock, and the service is to commence precisely
at 7. The three gates leading into the courtyard
are to be opened at 4, and should this yard become
at any time before 6 inconveniently crowded the
people will be admitted. Barriers will be placed
on the steps leading to each entrance, with sliding
bars, which will be closed from time to time to
prevent confusion or annoyance within the edifice,
and the three gates of the courtyard will be shut if
any necessity present itself.
There are 2,500 chairs provided, and when they
are occupied all the. gates and doors will be closed
and notice will be given that no more persons can
be accommodated. No one who has not a seat will
be allowed to remain in the church, and particular
care will be taken to prevent any persons from
standing on the chairs or moving from place to
place, serious inconvenience having been caused
during the Bishop's late charge by the rude endea-
vours of many persons to improve their positions
onithat occasion.
Those who are seated must remain in their seats
or leave the church? and there will be no permission
to any one to remain outside the screen, which has
been placed all round to keep out draughts of cold.
air and help the sound of the Bishop's voice, which
was not distinctly heard by the assembly upon the
delivery of the celebrated. address. The floor has
been covered with soft matting and kamptulicon,
and 12 stoves will be burning during the service.
The north door will not be opened at all. The
choir, consisting of 500 persons, will be admitted.
at half-past 6, at the iron-gate facing Watling-.
street. The Lord Mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, arid
clergy will be admitted at the south door.
The committee who have undertaken to assist in
seating the congregation will each carry a white
wand, and it has been arranged that the members
of the committee shall be the only persons em-
pow/red to move about during the performance of
the service, and that one of that body shall issue
directions to the rest.
Inspector Mitchell, whose energy as one of the
city force is well known, undertook to place a suf-
ficient body of policemen outside to maintain order,
and of detective officers inside for the protection of
the congregation ; but the committee expressed an,
opinion that, as there will be no collection, those
who have purses may as well leave them at home.
Carriages will not be allowed to set down at any of
the gates except the two west gates in the court-
yard.
After the committee had made all these arrange-
ments they proceeded under the dome, and upon a
signal being given the whole of the magnificent
building was in a blaze of light.
The committee directed that the psalms appointed
to be sung on each Sunday evening shall be printed,
and a copy deposited on each chair. They gave
great credit to the architect for the rapidity with
which he has carried such extensive arrangements
into effect, and they entertain no doubt that the
public will be satisfied with all that has been done
for the accommodation and convenience of the con-
gregation, taking into consideration the limited
means at the disposal of the committee and the
shortness of the time in which the object has been
accomplished.
The dome is still undergoing the skilful labours
of painters and cleaners and repairers, and it is be-
lieved that sufficient has been done to show that if
the funds be forthcoming the church will be made
One of the most useful for divine service in the king-
dom. The consumption of coal is very great, for it
has been ascertained that the heat must be kept up
continuously.
At half-past 6 o'clock the choir, consisting of up-
wards of 500 persons, were admitted. Among
them were several of the best singing boys selected
from the different schools from upwards of 1,000
applicants, all of whom had testimonials from their
masters.

The evening service for Advent Sunday will be
led by the Rev. Mr. Moore (minor canon), and the
organ will be presided over by Mr. Goss. The ser-
mon will be preached by the Bishop of London.

The " report" of the Montalembert trial pub-
lished in yesterday's Ale iteur is a curiosity. Exclusive of
the text of the indictment and judgment, it makes less -than
15 lines. It is simply a statement that MM. Douniol and
Montalembert appeared before the tribunal, and that the
Procureur Imperial Cordouen prosecuted, and that M.
Berryer and M. Dufaure were for the defendants.

There is one prerogative, we beg to assure the
sportive hirelings who play the part of Bertrand
to the Imperial Macaire, which even an Emperor
by the grace of perjury cannot exercise towards
men convicted by his tribunals of honour and of
virtue. He cannot pardon. He may shrink from
the cry of arraignment and indignation which all
the winds of heaven are wafting to his ears, and
may cancel the decrees of a prostituted Court ; but
he can no more smile away the disgrace of the
Twenty-fourth of November with a simper of
clemency than he can bury the remorse of the Se-
cond of December under a mask of lead. If there
be pardon, it must come from guiltless hands : the
disturbed conscience of tyranny must seek first its
own absolution, and leave to history—inexorable
history the absolution of its enemies and its
victims.

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