The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-05 00:00:00

POLITICAL STATE OF FRANCE.

(We copy the following spirited article from the Morning
Advertiser.)
Sir,—ln commenting on the recent events of the French
' political drama, you have expressed your unqualified indigna-
-1 tion and contempt for the proceedings of the Doctrinaires,
both with regard to constitutional principles in general, and
the liberty of the press in particular. But the feelings which
the shameful practices of nhose men called forth were unmixed
with astonishment, for you could not well be surprised at their
being consistent with themselves ; that is to say, at their act-
ing conformably to the political profligacy which they have
magnified into a system. There is an unflinching persever-
ancer in evil-doers which strikingly contrasts with the feeble-
ness of purpose often exemplified in the service of a better
cause; not that they possess the conscientious firmness that
belongs only to real honesty, but because they make up for
their deficiency in that respect with unblushing assurance.
And, strange as it may sound to your ears, Sir, those very
Doctrinaires boast of their being disciples cf the English
school of politics. They are forsooth most deeply versed in
the precedents of your constitutional history—they have been
at the pains of writing I do not know how many books to ini-
tiate the French people into so useful a knowledge—and,
were I to enumerate the mere titles of those lucubrations, it
would turn the columns of yeur journal into a Parisian book-
seller's catalogue. They have taken to pieces, cut in a thou-
sand shapes, and dressed up in all the variety of a continental
garb, every one of your political historians, from Lord Cla-
rendon to Hallam. In a word, they offer themselves to our
admiration as English scholars,l and politicians, and statesmen.
But, Sir, we are told we must look to measures, not to
men. Let us sce how far the public acts of the Doctrinaires
will bear the test of examination. Their purpose, they say
is to implant in the French soil, furrowed by the revolutionary
ploughshare, the principles of your English mixed monarchy.
Now, have they actually done this, since they have possessed
the power and means of effecting it ? I say they have not ad-
hered, in one single act of their public life, to these princi-
ples;
ltt
upb to the
but that
mockerythe o
yhavet.ctohne wstaonrtlld.y violated them, and held
tie
Good God I will they be so barefaced as to call a temperate
fnriootunarticlhoyntelioaptieroec;Aultefsrsompo.
an army
usrvmhiychof,lvofoorkusrtohfkuoenred;sfentdphptheproteu,ascanenod:
• by which the French are (billed
men—that military despotis.- ,
into -constitutional habits, and tonne e. e ~.
When we come to look into the component parts ... thissYs4teill__
of selfish rule, what do we find ? The King, in Engia..-, .15
the head of a free people—in France he is the battling oppres- '
sor of a discontented nation. In England the monarch can
do no wrong, because he cannot interfere in any way with the
government of the country— in France he has the benefit of
the same privilege, with unlimited power over the affairs of
the State. In England the King's Council of State—but I
will not insult your Ministers—however bad they may be,_
with a comparison which would place them on a level with a
board of registering clerks, truckling to that power they were
sworn to controul—and assuming, if not the responsibility, at
least the disgrace, of all the misdeeds of their Royal Master.
What shall I say, Sir, of the French Chamber of Depu-
ties? I ask you if that House represents the feelings, the in-
telligence, the industry, the wants and interests of a people
who stand so high among the civilized nations of Europe?
No, they have no community of thought with the great body
of the French nation. Chosen by a kind of close corpora-
tion—consisting of about one hundred and seventy thousand
privileged electors, scattered all over the empire, but united
by the common bonds of interest—they represent only the
most selfish and worst feelings of the country. Hence it is
that they uphold the unprincipled policy of the Government—
an oppressive load of taxation—the profligate expenditure of
public money—the custom-house laws—and monopolies and
abuses of every kind.
You know, Sir, there is such a thing as a French Chamber
of Peers. Though alive to the importance of that most ho-
nourable House, I feel embarrassed to give you a proper defi-
nition of it. It partakes of the nature of a popular assembly,
and a senate of nobles, without having the generous indepen-
dence of the first or the natural dignity of the secend. It is
a motley compound of men notorious for having either served
or betrayed some, if not all, the Governments 'that have
lorded it over France for the last fifty years. The French
Peers, when decked out in all the embroidery, stars, ribbons,
epaulettes, and aiguilettes of state, present to our view a most
instructive and amusing sight, inasmuch as they are the most
exact and comprehensive chronological records of former
times and governments. Yet this mixed assembly is looked
upon by our Doctrinaires as a bright counterpart to your Eng-
lish House of Lords I
Such a system of despotism could only be established in
violation of the King's solemn promises, and in defiance of the
existing charter. Louis Philippe and the two Legislatures
have succeeded in destroying, not at one fell swoop, but by
degrees—not on the very onset, but by the slow working of
the basest means—all the rights and 'liberties of the French
nation. Restrictive laws have been made against clubs, asso-
ciations, and public meetings : the people are forbidden to as-
semble without a license of the police, if they exceed twenty.
No citizen, under the severest penalty, is allowed to keep any
kind of arms in his possession, unless it be for the sports of
the field or the occasional duties of a national guard. All the
legal restraints which protect individual liberty have been
trampled to the ground. The Quarterly Review, that sworn
apologist of aristocratic misrule and kingly despotism—is re-
duced ,to confess that, at this moment, there are more gaols
and state-prisoners in France than at any period of her history,
except the short reign of Robespierre. Many hundred indivi-
duals have been incarcerated, adds the Tory journal, under
circumstances of illegality and severity, which the annals of the
old Bastille cannot surpass.
There are laws, too, which forbid the singing of popular
ballads, or the hawking of newspapers in the streets without
a special license. The Government has waged an incessant
and merciless war upon the liberty of the press. There is
not a newspaper of any note for political worth which has not
been prosecuted—no political writer of a manly spirit that has
not been visited with heavy fines and severe imprisonment.
At the time Paris was declared in a slate of siege, to crush a
partial revolt, they would actually have given over the editors
of the National and the Tribune to be tried by courts-martial,
had not the supreme tribunal of justice, the Court of Cessa-
tion, claimed for those writers the protemion of the civil law.
Another paper, of very extensive carcula'on' the Bon Sens,
—the bold and uncompromising advocate o f the rights and in-
terests of the people—has been assailed, ever since it was
established, 'with unrelenting attacks and persecutions, at the
hands of the PrVa de Police, who, in affairs of this descrip-
tion, can only be considered as, an organ o.f 'the Government
of whom he is a subordinate member. During the last four
years there have been more than six hundred indictments di-
rected both in Paris and the departments against the daily
press, for alleged attacks on the King's'persim or Government.
The French people being deprivpd of all the 'legal means of