The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Tl3lES.—Death has been rather busy of late
among the friends and servants of the Emperor
Napoleon ; and the Moniteur of yesterday conveyed
the announcement of the decease of M. de Thouve-
nel. M. de Thouvenel was not at the time of his
death, and-had not been since the 12th of October,
1862, a member of the Imperial Cabinet. His
place at the head of the Foreign-office was at that
epoch filled up by M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and when
at the lost change—Ministerial crises are unknown
iu France under the Napoleonic regime—the latter
received his dismissal we are not aware that his
Majesty expressed any wish to recall his former
Minister ; possibly because his failing health unfitted
him for further services. But for this circumstance,
M. de Thouvenel was only 48 years old, and no
statesman who has ever been honoured with Napo-
leon's confidence needs look upon himself as irre-
vocably put on the shelf, or past all hope of being
again "sent for" at a moment's notice. The pro-
motion or removal of a member of the Cabinet, his
illness, or death, can hardly be set dawn among
political events in France, notwithstanding
the amount of idle talk such events invariably
give rise to. The Ministers of the Emperor are
only responsible to him, who, for his own part,
is only responsible to himself. The Imperial
rule belongs to the category of what are called
personal or autocratic Governments,— a system
which may equally exist under an absolute master,
under specious constitutional forms, and even in
some republican communities; but in no State that
we can call to mind has there ever been a. Sovereign
to all appearance less dependent on his Ministers,
less disposed to acknowledge their influence, and
'even less willing to allow them to look upon them-
selves as fixtures in his Council than the Emperor
Napoleon. Nothing is more common in Eastern
countries than to see a Vizier usurping all the in-
fluence and popularity of a Sultan. Mayors of the
Palace in remote ages wielded all the sway of faine-
ant Kings. Louis XL put his faith in a barber;
Charles 11. and Charles 111. of Lucca and Parma
transacted all home and foreign business through
their Yorkshire groom; Pope Gregory XVI. aban-
doned himself an his State to the care of his valet;
and there are instances of Monarchs who took for
their Premier a ballet-girl or a fiddler. Francis 1.
of Austria wr s only the shadow of 'Metternich, and
William of Prussia is not much more than a lay
figure in the hands of Bismark. Nay, more, even
at Washington, neither Lincoln nor Johnson ever
counted half as much as Seward. But of Napoleon
111. no man has ever yet been able to name a
master. Of the many great measures initiated
under his auspices, whatever opinion history may
form of them hereafter, be alone will have to bear
all the praise or the blame. Behind those Imperial
scenes we arc not privileged to see ; not many, we
should think, are so privileged ; but most assuredly,
if the Emperor takes any important hint from his
advisers, he also takes good care that the world
should know nothing about it. The long expe-
rience of a checkered life, or mere natural insight,
may enable him to choose the best instruments
of bis work. Tact in such a selection, as we all well
know, constitutes the first element of a great man's
greatness. He may know how to find out the hest
man, how to put him to the best use. lie may
" pump him and squeeze him out, and turn him
inside out," and then have done with him. Of
what takes place between master and man we know
nothing); we mey suppose th:it the Statesman who
couLtersigns his Sovereign's decree has given it his
assent ; shat when one Minister goes out and
another comes in there has been some clash of
Opinion in the one case, and there exists perfect
harmony in the latter ; that a faithful servant is
sometimes committed to a venturous course in
which it may afterwards suit his imperial patron to
disavow him • but all this is mere matter of conjec-
ture. One Minister is called in and sends forth no
programme ; another is put away and gives no sign.
Let history at any time weigh all the names that fill
up the roll of the second empire, and it will be found
that one statesman alone has from beginning to end
been the State. The men who have served the Em-
peror since he came into power belong to three dis-
tinct categories. The first consists of the old per-
sonal
,friends of Louis Napoleon, the sharers of the
ups and downs in his struggling life, the Persignys,
De Mornys, Mocquards, Fleurys, whose fidelity has
been requited by a stanch gratitude, of which it
must be said in sober truth the annals of the world
offer few examples. The second is made up of those
who knew how to turn towards the rising sun at the
right moment—the Billaults, Baroches, Roubers,
and other men, who favoured the exile's election to
the Constituent Assembly, 'who canvassed for his
Presidency, who joined him at, or soon after, the,
2d December. The third and last category compre-
hends those who are rather the servants of France
than of the French Emperor, whom the Monarch at
his accession found already in office, and whom he
may be presumed to have chosen, not out of per-
sonal obligation or partiality, but more probably
from a fair estimate of their abilities, no less than
of their discretioh, of their aptitude to fall in with
his views, to second his plans, and, perhaps, to claim
little of the merit of their doings, and work altoge-
ther on the sic vos non vobis principle. To this lat-
. ter class of public men, together with Drouyn de
Lhuys, Moustier, and others, belonged also M. de
Thouvenel. He had already gone through import-
ant steps in the diplomatic career in 1851, when,

after the coup d'etat, he was trusted with the direc-
tion of the political department at the Foreign-office,
and was only placed at its head in 1860, when he
had filled for several years the embassy of Constan-
tinople. In .the discharge of his duty M. de Thou-
venel advocated a policy of opposition to this
country. The Italians looked upon him as a firm
partisan of their cause, and it is supposed that the
Emperor's Consent to the annexations of 1860, the
recognition of the new kingdom by France and by.
other Powers was mainly due to Thouvenel's exer-
tions. The same official journal which spread the
news of his death gives him credit for the'annexa-
tion of Savoy and Nice to the French territory—an
act, of course, which was only a sequel to the trans-
actions by which Italy was made one. It is equally
asserted that his retirement in 1862 was caused by
lukewarmness in the cause of the Temporal Power,
as the late resignation of M. Drouy❑ de Lhuys has
been attributed to his excess of zeal in the same cause;
but it is permitted to doubt whether the Emperor
himself at any time had any settled policyabout that
unfortunate Roman question except to humble the
Pope, and whether, indeed, he has even yet made
up his mind as to its forthcoming solution. The
Roman question, so far as France exercised any

influence over it, has gone through three distinct
phases. The Pope hasbeen deprived of the Legations
by the express act of the Emperor Napoleon, who
compelled the Austrians to evacuate those provinces,
and suffered their inhabitants to rise in. rebellion ;
that was in 1859. The Pope had been deprived of
the Marches and Umbria with the positive consent
of the same Emperor who. bade Cialdini " Frapper
rite, et frapper fort." That was in 1860. That
move of Cialdini broke up the Pope's military power
and placed him in utter dependence upon the French
garrison. Finally, the Pope was, or will soon be,
deprived of the support of the French bayonets by
the September Convention of 1864, in which M. de
Thouvenel had no hand. What may really be
understood.by the terms of the September Conven-
tion we have as yet no means of knowing ; we are
by no means sure that the Emperor himself knows,
and we have, at any rate, no hesitation in believing
that those who know least about the matter are M.
'llrouyn de Lhuys, the Minister who is said to have
thrown up his portfolio because he thought the
French protection should uphold, the Pope even
after the removal of French bayonets ; or 11I.Alous-
tier, the Minister who caught up that portfolio as it
fell, because, it is asserted, he is ready to withdraiv
the French garrison and let the Popetake his chance.
ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES.—The English sup-'
pose themselves to be, and are often spoken
of by others, as a staid, phlegmatic, sober-
minded, sensible people ; not given to ardent
excitement, sudden impulse, or warm feelings of any
kind. That an opinion such as this should become
general over the world shows that manners, speech,
and deportment more strongly impress the minds of
others than acts. 'Io look at an Englishman—to
hear him talk —to receive his cold salutation—would
convey the impreSsion that you are in contact with
a man who, if he had any impulses, had learned to
subdue them. A judge solemnly seated on the
bench, with his grave manner and overawing wig,
would not convey the idea of a jovial dinner coin-
panion. Yet the chances are he would be the most
genial guest of a jolly party. Is an Englishman
what his manner proclaims him to be? To judge
by acts, we should emphatically say " No." In
1863 there were established in London five great
-financial companies. When first introduced they
filled a void required by our monetary system.
Quickly they paid enormous dividends, and carried
to a rest large reserves. The favour of the public
raised their shares to a high premium, and a host
of imitators appeared in the field. " Every dog "
is said "to have its day," and all pups before
attaining to sound strong health have a very
disagreeable day of distemper, and sickness unto
death. These puppies of financial institutions
promised to grow into splendid animals, and were
gamboling in the exuberance of health and strength,
when suddenly all were smitten with distemper,
and from promising young things became a mangy
set of curs. Now, how came this to pass? Mainly
through the wild and reckless impulses of the Eng-
lish people. This time last year the chief buying
and selling on the Stock Exchange was in the shares
of these five' great companies, all of which stood at
a handsome premium, and could be disposed of to
almost any extent without influencing the market.
To-day these shares sell at less than the premium
given for them last year, and a few shares thrown
on the Exchange sends them down till they become
wholly unsaleable. Are these companies now in-
trinsically worse than they were then ? We believe
the contrary to be the case. Last year they were
inflated by the public favour and the credit they
enjoyed, so that money seemed to have lost its full
significance., -A hundred thousand pounds was a
mere unit with. five " naughts " after it; and the
sum a single item in a long list. The first shock
was received by the London Financial Association,
a company then standing very high. It was believed
to be managed prudently by skilful financiers and
directors of undoubted integrity. It transpired
that a sum—over £400,000, just two-thirds of
their " paid-up " capital—had been advanced to a
contracting firm, which had failed. The shares, in
Stock Exchange parlance, grew " heavy," which
we suppose means that the till of the company
being in one scale, and the shares in the
other, as the former lightened the latter weighed
down the balance. There are always about the
Stock Exchange a gang of needy men ready to take
advantage of damaging reports. They sold the
shares freely, which depressed them still more, and
the bona fide holders took alarm and threw their
shares also on the market. The fall of the com-
pany became rapid and continuous, bringing a new
danger into the field. The financial companies traded
not on their own capital, but chiefly on moneylent on
debenture, a large portion of which, unfortunately
for them, was at short dates. The fall of the shares
alarmed these creditors, who withdrew their money
as it became due. The radical error of the business
done by financial institutions now became painfully
apparent to the directors.• The money they had
borrowed at short dates had been lent on long terms,
or "locked up" in securities,. not readily saleable.
The only resource was to throw the burden on the
proprietors, and a call was made. This aided the
operations of the needy and greedy gang outside,
whose schemes were further advanced by another
fact, which became painfully apparent to the share-
holders. Hitherto " liability" had been pleasingly
associated in their minds with the word "
Now they looked the limit in the face, and a little
calculationank r up t
of showedmost tohfa t
them.tle " limit " would make
This increased the
b
fright, and on that fright the speculators traded.
Having reduced the London Financial to the lowest
ebb, and having obtained an inkling Of their own
power, they turned deliberately on the other insti-.
tutions. The Imperial Mercantile was going along
like a balloon when it was arrested in its
airy flight by these. kennel-scrapers. It had none
of the inherent strength of the Loudon Financial.
It traded on a gigantic capital, all of which, with
the exception of a paltry half million, was borrowed
money, and borrowed, alas ! for it, on terms which
no financial company ought for a moment to have
entertained. Not one word could be said against
the manner in which the money was employed, but
the mistake of borrowing at short dates and lending
at long instantly brought it to the ground. We can
scarcely imagine a more painful position than that
at the time held by the directors of most of these
companies. The shareholders were in an agony of
fright, ready to believe any rurnour, however wild
and improbable. The speculators were rampant
with success, bad become organised bodies, and
were masters of the position. At first the other
financial companies had coldly looked on the troubles
of the London Financial Association. They did not
then see their own danger ; they only gaw a rival
institution " coming to grief." When the tide of
public opinion set strongly against finance, the
banks smiled grimly at the epidemic which had
broken out among the puppies. It was soon to be
shown that their own financing had been worse far
than that of these establishments, and their own danger
consequently greater; but their fate does' not enter
into the scope of our article. With the exception of
the Imperial Mercantile, the five great institutions
fairly stood the fearful strain. The tide set with
the greatest strength against the Credit Foncier of
England, but under the ablemanagement of ALBERT
GRANT the operators against this company burnt
their fingers. In vain they spread the most sinister
rumours ; in vain they sold by tens of thousands
the shares of the company—which at one
time people were actually paid to put in their names
—the company was too strong, and could not be
broken. The International Financial suffered least
from the epidemic. It had always been conducted
on the true principles of financial transactions, and
in the worst days of the panic it offered to take up
all its acceptances at the Bank rate of discount.
Now let us glance at the action of the British pub-
lic. One of two things is clear. They must have
bought these shares last year without the slightest
idea what they were buying, or they must be selling
these shares this year without the slightest idea what
they are selling. Indeed, we believe that both pro-
positions are true, and in both cases the mass are
acting on the most wild and unreasoning impulse.
If the sober-minded and sensible English are sen-
sible in anything it ought to be in their manner of
investing their money. Yet their action is the very
reverse of what their appearance would indicate.
We have little hesitation in saying that these four
companies are better now than they were then,
though, judging by the Stock Exchange prices, their
shares now are worthless, which were then quoted
at an extravagant premium. In spite of the reck-
less inflation which the public encouraged, and in
spite of the fearful collapse which has Followed, in