The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The telegraph brings us the intelligence
of the New Year's Reception at the Tuileries.
Hardly anything occurred to give the ceremony a
more than ordinary interest. For the last two or
three years the Emperor's levee on this occasion has
ceased to be a political event. A twelvemonth ago
his Majesty spoke a few words singly to each of the
foreign Ministers, but made no general address to
the whole diplomatic body. This year he thanked
them for their congratulations, and conveyed
through them to their Governments the expression
of his sentiments of friendship. His wishes were for
the stability of thrones and the prosperity of nations.
He looked forward to a new era of peace and con-
ciliation, and trusted that " the Universal Exhibi-
tion would contribute towards calming passions and
drawing closer the general interests." We are far
from disputing the importance which may be at-
tached even to these few commonplace sentences.
A Sovereign at the head of the most compact and
homogeneous State in Europe, and possessing as
much absolute power as is consistent with the barest
forms of representative government, must be aware
that not only has he a right to be heard, but that
his very silence would be considered as significant
as his most distinct utterance. The mind which
guides events must have some foreknowledge of
what a twelvemonth may bring about. Seven years
ago a few words spoken to the ambassador of a
mighty monarch portended the loss of the finest
province in his master's empire. This year the hope
and wishes of Napoleon for peace ought to be equi-
valent to a guarantee of its continuance. The old
phrases that not a cannon should be fired in Europe
without the Emperor's consent, that when France
was satisfied the world was tranquil, were not alto-
gether idle boasts. There was none to dispute with
Napoleon the rank of moderator and arbiter. In
the general confusion consequent upon the disturb-
ances of 1848 there was nothing that Europe stood
in greater need of than a redresser of wrongs and a
protector of the oppressed, or, in other words, an
international policeman. France had hailed her ruler
as the saviour of society, and that check which he
exercised on anarchical passions at home he could
equally have extended to dangerous ambitions
abroad. But for the discharge of so jealous au office
it was necessary that the Emperor's motives should
be essentially pure ; his championship of the cause
of peace and order should be entirely disinterested.
It was necessary the world should know that he not
only did not covet, but would not even accept any-
thing, either for himself or France. His confidence
in the ascendancy of France should have been so
full as to allow no man to suppose that he considered
any accession of territory an increase of her import..
ance. It was on these principles that his policy was
originally based, and it so fully coincided with the
views of the French people that any exception which
might have been taken to the character of his home
rule was overlooked in consideration of the flattering
assurance that " the Empire was Peace." Unfortu-
nately, the faith of the Emperor was not up to the
level of his sagacity. The calmness which reigned
around his throne was not sufficient to reassure him,
and he fell too lightly into the notion common to his
predecessors—that it was necessary to divert the at-
tention of French people from home to foreign af-
fairs. As he expressed himself to a great statesman
at a famous interview, "Il lui fallait ddborder."
Neither France nor Europe saw the necessity of
this "overflowing," but, at all events, his first un-
dertakings, the Crimean war and that of Lombardy,
were prompted by generous motives, and untainted
by sordid objects. France foughtthrough those wars
with her wonted gallantry, but not with her ancient
eagerness, and was only too glad of any incident
that cut short her victorious career. Napoleon
thought he could reconcile France to her sacrifices
by the annexation of territory, and this led to
his first blunder—the acquisition of Savoy and Nice
—a blunder which lowered France in her own esti-
mation, and exposed her to unappeasable mistrust.
The influence of France was, however, unbroken,
and up to this last spring the Emperor Napoleon
was still master of the situation. Had he at Aux-

erre simply stood up for his mission as a peace-
maker, had he taken up his position on the Rhine,
and intimated that whoever fired the first shot by
that very act threw down his gauntlet to France, would either have been no war, or he might
have given the war such a turn as would have laid
Central Europe at his discretion. Instead of this
he put forth claims for compensation, and tendered
as it were his tacit complicity with the depredator
upon condition of a share in the spoils. His moral
influence was gone before the outbreak of hostili-
ties ; his credit for sagacity was damaged by their
unforeseen results. His exertions at Nikolsburg
hardly covered his retreat. The Emperor Napoleon
has, however, the courage to acknowledge an error,
and the adroitness to repair it. He tendered his
hand to the man who had foiled him; he abandoned
his claims, and declared that, under no circum-
stances, would he allow his friendly rotations with
Prussia to be int irrupted. His few words to the di-
plomatic body at yesterday's recep'cion fully confirm
the frank declaration of last summer. France is at
peace with Prussia. She is at peace with Europe.
Would that the Emperor Napoleon were Nil-illy at
peace with France ! His scheme for the reorganisa-
tion of the army is most assuredly one of those mea-
sures by which he destroys whatever faith in his
infallibility may yet exist. A reduction, not an in-
crease, of her military establishnient 'Would betfit the
new era of peace and conciliation proclaimed in yes-
terday's Imperial address. France has no reason
to fear or to wish for war ; she clnnot tolerate the
drain of men and money inseparable from the sense-
less prolongation of -an armed peace. With all the
laurels that the French armies ever reaped in the
Crimea, in Lombardy, in Mexico, France has only
reason to regret that the Empire should ever have
departed from its original programme. It was the
too heavy tribute in blood and gold exacted from
France that overthrew the Throne of the First Na-
poleon. Let it not be said that the Second Empire
lays on France all the burdens without the glories of
the First. It is the lastfeather's weight that breaks
the camel's back. France is a warlike nation. She has
for the last eighteen years borne patiently the inces-
sant increase of her military establishment without
too steadily inquiring into its object. Let her ruler
beware lest upon his demand of further sacri-
fices France should look to the results hitherto
achieved. The Emperor Napoleon has spoken in
a friendly and benevolent tone to the agents of foreign
Powers. Has he no words equally reassuring for his
own subjects? Can he not announce to them "
new era of peace"---an era of unarmed Peace ? a

On account of the effective nature of the experi-
ments and trials made with Capt. the Hon. A. Coch-
rane's vertical tube boiler, now completed at
Wool-
wich, it is stated that the Lords of the Ad •
It
Dutra y
have ordered a tabulated detail, with full official re-
marks, to be drawn up for their inspection, in order
to satisfy the board, of the utility of the boiler for
the general service of the Royal Navy. From the
fact of a saving of 10 per cent in coals alone having
been realized by the trials, the subject has become
one of general interest. It was stated on Saturday
at Woolwich that some of the large ocean companies
have entered into negotiations for the supply of
Capt. Cochrane's boiler, by which they calculate
upon an increased dividend of from £15,000 to
£20,000 a year.
The Times remarks that in the new Post-Office
Directory for the coming year no fewer than fifty
new trades have been added. The search after
" new things" never ends, and from year to year a
Beckman might gather in these pages materials for
a new history of invention. Sometimes it is science
that gives birth to a trade, sometimes it is a passing
caprice. In either case the want brings the supply.
London traders take care that no one shall long be
able to say with a clear conscience that he cannot
get all that money can procure. When the want
has thus been met, it is for the Directory-maker to
record the fact in his register of new trades. The
list is not quite so fantastic as usual, but is still a
curiosity in its way. It includes aluminium agents,
anti-friction powder manufacturers, artificial plant
and bouquet makers, brimstone refiners, church
vestment warehouse (Roman Catholic), dolls'
boot and shoe makers, earth closet manufac-
turers, esparto merchants, gazogene manufacturers,
graphotypers, paper-fastener makers, parkesine
manufacturer; school and exhibition decorators,
sodium and (patent) sodium amalgam manufac-
turers, and stay-fastening manufacturers. It fs
only rea,sonab!e to suppose that as new trades are
born, old ones die out ; but they pass away un-
noticed and unsung. So with the changes which
each year sees among the people whose names,
dwellings, and avocations such a book undertakes
to chronicle. An old inhabitant possessing the
requisite local knowledge can read no sadder
volume than an old Directory. To him the register
of street or quarter must call up painful recollec-
tions of men who one by one have been struck '
down in the hard battle of life, and whose places
are now filled by a new crowd of busy, struggling,
successful, disappointed workers. But the book
itself deals neither with success, or failure, with
ruin or death. If you answer to the yearly muster-
roll, well ; if not your name is blotted out, and
there, for Directory purposes, is an end of you.