The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-20 00:00:00

longer of such importance the fortification of that
capital. Nay, it was rather a danger. It was evi-
dent that if it were so situated that the enemy could,
by means of his movable columns, prevent the pro-
visions, the commodities, the succours from without
entering it, then its position would become deplor-
able. Did the Austrians in order to defend Lom-
bardy fortify Milan ? No ; it was further in the rear
that they placed the basis of their defence. It was
at Verona. Verona could not be closed up. It was
defended by the Lake of Garda and the Adige ;
and it could communicate beyond it by the route
of the Tyrol and two railways. These were the
considerations which gave Verona the preference
as the basis of the defences of Lombardy. Bel-
gium was a broad and level country. Brussels
was not near its frontiers. If she were made the
central point of defence some movable columns might
seize its provisions, and a war might scarcely have
commenced when the campaign would be disastrous
to the country. He might be told that Paris,
although much more considerable, had been enabled
to anticipate all its necessities ; but there was no
similitude between Paris and Brussels. Paris was
surrounded upon all sides with a natural or artifi-
cial frontier, very easy to defend, very difficult to
attack. Paris was not compelled to be provisioned
at all times. It could wait until the armies were
exhausted. It had besides a great river, which
afforded it every facility for defence as well as for
provisioning itself. Brussels had no such advan-
tages. Besides, it had not enough of drinkable
water within itself if the pipes recently laid down
were cut. The commission advised that if Brussels
were fortified it would still be necessary to fortify.
Antwerp. Antwerp had this advantage—it pre-
sented no aggressive demeanour to any Power.
Antwerp was covered by rivers which formed a
line of very favourable defences. Antwerp was not
assailable except in front. The entrenched camp
and the enceinte were completely protected by
water, and this water was in itself a great obstacle
to a blockade. Gen. Chazal, in conclusion, invited
the members of the Chamber to peruse the report
of the commission which recommended the pro-
posed defensive works at Antwerp.

THE AMNESTY AND THE FRENCH
PRESS.

The proclamation which sweeps into ablivien all
political offences has been received in France with
such joy and gratitude that the Emperor must
already congratulate himself upon his courageous
act. For the first time since he assumed the Im-
perial title the applause of his people is earnest,
heartfelt, and universal. The representatives of
every shade of opinion except only the organ of the
Ultramontane priests,
"Of whom to be dispraised is no small praise,"
vie with each other in frank and fervid acknow-
ledgments. When the unexpected proclamation
first burst upon the Parisian public there was a
moment of incredulity and a little season of sus-
picion. The news was too good to be true. It was
more than reasonable men had dared to pray for.
There must be some condition, some reservation,
some long list of exceptions, some hidden ambi-
guity which would annul the free action of those
wide-circling phrases of universal import. The
action of the officials has, however, put the best
gloss upon the terms of the Amnesty. The prisons
have been thrown open, the police have ceased to
watch over the suspects, friends are meeting and
embracing after long absence, lost relatives have
been found, and steamers are departing for Algeria
and Guiana to bring home the victims who are
now expiating the too great impetuosity of their
political convictions in distant exile. The memo-
rials of past civil discords are all thoroughly
sponged out. "It is with a throbbing heart," cries
the organ of one of the advanced sections of the
Liberal party, "that we think of the mothers of
the children whom this good news will transport
with joy. We are about again to see friends of
whom we have not for a moment ceased to preserve
a cordial and sympathising memory.' By one sim-
ple courageous act the French Emperor has united
all France. He has given us a touch'of his skill as a
pyrotechnist which no one of us had anticipated.
At the end of his triumphs, his fetes, and his
blazing fireworks it was the business of an expert
}Edile to manage some original device which
even after all the foregone splendours should sur-
prise while it delighted. He has succeeded so far
that all France is still astonished and still in admi-
ration. The last grand bouquet exploded, and fast
fell from it into each little circle of a thousand
families the most precious boon for which that family
could pray.
But the Amnesty comprehends not only men, but
those still more sensitive and liberty-loving crea-
tures, the organs, or what once were the organs, of
public opinion. All warnings heretofore given to
newspapers in France or in the Colonies are to be
as if they had never been. Entire oblivion is to
extend to peccant newspapers as well as to com-
promised individuals. The jubilee passes over all
the political world and erases all bonds. How shall
we hope for the future ? May Frenchmen do with
impunity in time to come all for which they suf-
fered in time past ? We cannot hope that this
should be so ; for the liberty of those days was
licence, and approached very nearly to that " sacred
right f insurrection" which gave title to every
fanatic to shed blood in the streets. Is impunity
for the past deeds of the press entire freedom for the
future ? We cannot believe that this can be so.
Napoleon can scarcely so soon unlearn all the in-
stincts of an absolute ruler as to set the press free.
Yet it must come to this if, as cautious lookers-on
believe, it has entered into his mind to commence a
new era and to develope the energies of his king-
dom in a new direction. If he would emancipate
himself from the thraldom of his uwn priests, if he
designs to educate hispeople in sound political
knowledge, if he woulordraw forth all the commer-
cial and industrial power of his kingdom, if he in-
tends to break down the system of Protection and
to inaugurate an era of Free Trade, and if he sighs
for colonies and commerce as well as ships, he can
only do all this by means of a free press. The press
is the interpreter between the men of thought and
the men of labour. Great thoughts are born in hid-
den places, and come forth unshaped and often in-
comprehensible. They speak a language not under-
stood of the people. They require an interpreter
to go forth with them into the world, an interpreter
with strong lungs, great fluency of speech, and great
power of making abstruse matters plain,—an inter-
preter that can command attention and utilise that
attention when gained. Such an interpreter is the
Press. In physics and in morals, to cause the
application of a great invention destined to change
the nature of all human affairs, or to give practical
force to a newly found truth capable of preventing
great masses of human misery, the only agent is e'a
free Press. It must be free, or it will not be be-
lieved ; it must be unfettered, or it will not be
respected. But alone, and unshared by any com-
petitor, a free Press holds the prerogative, denied
to Kings and Emperors and Ministers of State, of
dispelling popular delusions, and of gradually but
surely disseminating truth. If Napoleon 111.
meditates a destruction of the present suicidal com-
mercial system in France he must set a free Press
to work, or ignorance will be too strong for him.
Let him remember how many thousands of columns
of this newspaper, closely filled with speeches and
essays, were required to convince, first, our people
that Corn Laws created scarcity of food, and;
secondly, our farmers that they might give up Pro-
tection and yet carry on their business with a
profit. Those speeches and those essays were read
and meditated over because the English nation had
confidence that they appeared in an arena where
there was a free stage and no favour for every
advocate for and against. When Cobden spoke a
thousand Cobdens next morning addressed a thou-
sand audiences; when Newdegate or Ferrand
replied the speech was as faithfully multiplied.
Every man thus had the facts and arguments con-
stantly before him, and formed his own conviction
from abundant reading. As moderators in the great
controversy, .ve often pointed the moral, summed
up the arguments, or called attention to a fact ; but
it was the full, fair, fearless publicity, the unfettered
discussion of this question, which obtained the result
so simply referred to by Mr. Cobden on Thursday
night—" There is generally plenty to eat." There is
no other plan. If France is not to drop astern and
to be a mere population of very small cultivators,
taxed to the utmost to fatten a small class of ineffi-

cient manufacturers, a free Press must be allowed

to go forth and dispel the gross ignorance which
weighs over the land. If the Emperor's course is
really onward this must be one of his earlist steps.
But we must confess that we have no great de-
si,-.
e to see in action a French press such as existed
to see that
under
ethfevr
which it held under constitutional monarchy. No friend
either
pressanee or of the press itself would wish
of Paris reinstated in the position
the French press
ser Louis Philippe. In those days
than it is at this mwoas no more really independent
inradvnitd.ly.9l who wished to make
organ either of an Every paper was the
power, or of a poli-
his paper the ladder to
tical party, doing for itPwohiattical
detienfended every act
party did for itself
in tile Tribune. It praised and
prfesthe public to
g opposed to it,
,po•lsitsinenk to the
of the party and decried everything
of course postponing the intelrleest
that of its own little circle.
office of being trumpeter to some
adven-
turer. .Most of our political coteries and
our statesmen ardently desire to see the mostn,. Ii ohf
press in the same condition. Many an able man ;,,
quite intolerant of an honest exponent of public
opinion where he is reflected without flattery and
criticised without hesitation. Many a blockhead
points a witless sneer at an intelligence before
which his little dignity pales, and many a man
would have his own paper as Tillers and Carrel and