The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-07 00:00:00

FREN CH PAPERS.

CII,MtR OF DEPUTIES.---SirriNo of At.G. 4.
M. Dupin took the chair at four o'clodk, in presence of a
full attendance of mefe,btrs; , The PrOitlefit of the Council,
and the Ministeft of Public Instruction, Justice, and Marine,
Ociiiiii&ee, the Interior, and the Finances, were in their
places. _

The President recommended punctuality of attendance to
the members of the grand deputation appointed to accompany
the funeral procession of Wednesday, in honour of the victims
of the 28th. He also stated that the other members of the
Chamber were to meet at the President's hotel before ten
o'cloek in the morning, and proceed thence in a body to the
invalids, in order to arrive there some time before his
Majesty.
The President tit the Council then ascended the tribune,
and addressed the Chamber for the purpose of making a Go-
vernment communication. He commenced by referring to
the magnitude of the crime which had filled France with alarm
and indignation—to the gratitude due to Providence, which
had watched over the interests of the country—to the love and
respect due to the Sovereign, who had displayed the greatest
courage in the midst of a horrible crisis—and to the regret
which should be felt for those that were no more. lie de-
dared that Ministers came forward in behalf of their Sove-
reign—in the name of France and of her institutions—
to demand such laws and powers as were necessary to pre-
serve the country from a return of the dangers that menace
her existence, by threatening the King of her choice. He
observed that the evil was by no means new, that for
several years the baneful activity of party spirit had been at
work to destroy the fruits of the most legitimate revolu-
tion that had ever been effected. For the last five years France
might be said to have enjoyed the utmost prosperity in a state
of constant Mann, to have combated in the midst of peace.
Her course had been one of progress and of danger. She
enjoyed within herself every means of prosperity, and yet her
first care had been almost invariably devoted to her own safety.
The members of the Chamber had been obliged to exert all
their energies in support of order, and yet order had not been
completely established. The Chamber was not to be terrified
by danger, but Hon. Deputies must now feel the necessity of
acting vigorously to repel those dangers. Parties, though
vanquished, still existed in secret ; each day disclosed the evil
worked by them, and the disastrous traces of their passage.
An inveterate hatred of social order, a determination to over-
throw it at any sacrifice, a degree of exasperation produced by
defeat and baffled hope, an insatiable thirst of vengeance, were
still to be found in the ranks of a minority which, though van-
quished, was not submissive, A prompt and effectual remedy
could alone prevent the prolongation of such a state of things.
If the factious were permitted to attack the powers of society
—to protest in the open face of day against the principle of the
Government—to make a public manifestation of their adhesion
to a Government which France had rejected, the existence of
society would be nothing more than a protracted revolutionary
crisis—the respect due to the laws, or the fear that might stand
in lieu of that respect, would disappear. Such were the evils
reserved for France, if not stifled in their birth. Some of
these evils had been already called into being, for never had
Government been attacked in its principle, in its form, and
in the person of its Sovereign, with more inveterate au-
dacity, and hitherto with greater impunity, than the Go-
vernment of the charter of 1830. The fallen dynasty had
audaciously claimed France as a domain, and excited the
disaffected to a counter-revolution. The Republicans
braved, denied, and insulted the Government. A fanatic
party, capable of the worst excesses, was formed amidst the
very dregs of French society, and the fact was traced in cha-
r acters of blood on the pavement of the streets of Paris. The
lamentable picture which he had sketched had but too much
reality ; but the courage of France, which for the last five
years, had resisted the attacks of parties, would find a remedy
for the evil. That remedy lay entirely in the principles and
the force of the Constitutional Government. 'The programme
of the political system which the Government was proud
to support, " the charter and peace," must be accomplished
without hesitation and without reserve. To defend the rights
of the charter, and to re-establish its inviolability, would prove
the sole means of returning to the principle of the Revolution
of 1830. To effect those objects, was the aim and end of the
laws about to be submitted to the Chamber. He conceived
that the liberty of the press was not predominant over the
other institutions of the country, as it was limited by the con-
stitution of which it formed a part. One of the fundamental
principles of the charter was its own inviolability. A fun-
damental principle of a constitutional monarchy was, that the
sovereign is beyond all attack, and superior to all discussion.
The monarchy, the sovereign, and his dynasty, were as in-
violable as the charter. To attack or deny them publicly was
an act of revolt, and after the crimes of June and April—after
those of November 1832, and July 1835—such an attack was
a manifest attempt against the safety of the state. The Cham-
ber, however, had no cause for apprehension that Ministers,
in their desire to restore the authority of the charter, would set
its provisions at nought. They proposed no exceptional laws,
no temporary measures. The law which they were about to
submit to the wisdom of the Chamber would be found just,
advantageous, and based on good policy, so long as France
enjoyed the blessings of a constitutional monarchy. The parties
opposed to the Government could demand only three principal
guarantees—the liberty of the subject, the liberty of the press,
and constitutional jurisdiction. With regard to the liberty of
the subject, Ministers proposed to make no change ; as to the
liberty of the press, they wished it to be complete, but also con-
stitutional. They wished to establish no limits to the dicus-
sion of the acts of the Government ; but with regard to the
King, his dynasty, and the constitutional monarchy, the press was
not entitled to greater privileges than the tribune of that Cham-
ber. At a moment of difficulty like the present strong laws, but
not laws of terror, were required. The spirit of the proposed
measures would be found conformable to the policy which
Ministers had ever supported—the policy which had prevailed
since 1830, and which had been characterized by former
Chambers as the only system in unison with the wants of the
nation. The feelings of the nation had been strongly pro-
nounced, and in that Chamber Ministers confidently relied
upon finding support. That Chamber had its participation
in the Government of the country. The protection of Pro-
vidence had interposed in favour of the throne, and it was now
for the wisdom and courage of the Legislature to disarm the
factious, and to terminate the work which had been commenced
by the fortune of France.—( Hear.)

The Minister of Justice ascended the tribune, and said
that three Bills were about to be submitted to the Chamber by
the Government. The object of the first of these Bills was to
modify the existing legislation on the press. After enume-
rating several of the provisions of the Bill, as comprised in the
text published by us at full length, the Minister observed
that the enemies of the Government would no doubt maintain
that the enormity of the penalties to be pronounced proved the
existence of a design to crush the freedom of the press. He
would admit that Ministers wished to render a Republican
and a Carlist press impossible, for the existence of such .a
press was incompatible with the principles of the Government.
The citizens of France were not to assume the qualifications
of Republicans and Legitimatists, or publicly to express the
wishes and threats which had reference to those opinions.
The Minister then explained and commented on several
other arjicles of the Bill, particularly those which relate to
caricatures, theatrical representations, seizures, judgments
by default, appeals to the Court of Cassation, &c. He con-
cluded by saying, that the inefficacy of the present system of
legislation on the press was evident to all, and that the object
of the present Bill was, by the infliction of severe penalties,
to crush the party which sought to overthrow the Constitu-
tional Government. He then proceeded to read the text of
the Bill as follows :
‘‘ CHAPTER 1.-CRIMES, OFFENCES, AND MISDEMEANOURS, BY
MEANS OF TIIE PRESS, OR ANY OTHER MODE OF PUBLICATION.
" Art. 1. Every offence against the person of the King, whether
by one of the means mentioned in Article 1 of the law of the 17th
of May, 1819, or any other mode of publication, is an attempt against
the safety of the State. Whoever shall be found guilty of the same
shall be punished with detention, and a fine varying from 10,000
francs to 50,0(X) francs.
" 2. Whoever shall by the same means have endeavoured to turn
into ridicule the person and the authority of the King, shall be con-
demmd to imprisonment for a term varying from six months to five
years, and to a fine varying from 500 to 10,000 francs. The offender
shall moreover be deprived of the whole or part of the rights men-
tioned in Article 42 of the Penal Code, for the entire duration of
his penalty, and for a term equal to that of the imprisonment to
which he may have been condemned.
" 3. In discussing the acts of Government, it is forbidden to
introduce the name of the King, either directly' indirectly, or by
allusion. The author of an offence herein shall be punished with
imprisonment, for a term varying from one month to one year, and
with a fine varying from 5001. to 5,0001.

" 4. Any attack by one of the same means against the principle
anti the form of the King's Government, as established by the con-
stitutional charter of 1830, any direct or indirect provocation to
change them, is an attempt against the safety of the State. Who-
ever shall be found guilty of it shall be punished with detention, and
a fine varying from 10,000 f. to 50,000 f.
" 5. Whoever shall have publicly manifested his adhesion to an-
other form of government, either by assuming the qualification of a
Republican, or by expressing a wish, hope, or threat, for the des-
truction of the monarchical or constitutional order, shall be con-
demned to imprisonment for a term varying from six months to five
years, and to a fine varying from 500 f. to 10,000 f.
" 6. Whoever shall have publicly attributed the right to the
Throne of France, either to one of the members of the Family con-
demned to perpetual exile by the law of the 10th of April, 1832, or
to any other than Louis Philippe I. and his descendants ; whoever
shall have expressed a wish, hope, or threat, for the restoration of
the fallen Government, shall be condemned to imprisonment for a
term varying from six months to five years, and to a fine varying
from 500 f. to 10,000 f. .

" 7. The dispositions of the laws at present in force against
offences of the press, and not contrary to the present law, shall
continue to be executed ; nevertheless, in the event of two con-
demnations in the course of one year against the same individual, or
the same journal, the penalties may be augmented to the double of
the maximum, and, in the case of the periodical press, to four times
the amount of the maximum. The penalties which may be suc-
cessively pronounced shall not be confounded with each other, and
shall be all undergone to their full extent.
" 8. It is forbidden to open and publicly announce subscriptions
tending to annul judicial condemnations. The offender herein
shall be punished correctionally with imprisonment for a term
varying from one month to one year, and with a fine varying from
500 to 5,000 francs.
"9. It is also forbidden under the same penalties to publish
either before or after the sentence the names of the jury who may
have sat upon a case, or to give an account of their internal deli-
berations.

" CHAP. 11.-GERANS OF JOURNALS AND PERIODICAL WRITINGS.
" 10. Conformably to article 8 of the law of July 8, 1828, the
gerant of a journal, or periodical writing, shall be bound to sign
each number of his journal. Any gerant who may beforehand have
signed a blank sheet, shall be punished correctionally with impri-
sonment for a term varying from one month to one year, and with
a fine varying from 500 to 3,000 francs.
" 11. Every get-ant shall be bound to publish in his journal, re-
ceiving payment for the insertion, the information or rectification
addressed to him by the Government with regard to the facts stated
in his journal. In case of refusal on his part, he may be punished