The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-26 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.
The following is the draft of the Address in answer
to the Emperor's Speech, drawn up by the com-
mittee of the Senate :

"Sire,—When your Majesty decided by your decree of
November 24 to extend your communications with the great
State bodies, and those of the great State bodies with the
country, the Senate, as trustee of the fundamental compact,
immediately understood that the constitution remained
unchanged, and that it would be animated by more ener-
getic actions. We congratulate ourselveg, Sire, on the
august interpretation which your Majesty has given to
our interpretation. France likes neither an excess of liberty
nor an excess of power ; on that account she confidently
adheres to the Constitution of 1852, the wise limits of
which preclude power from degenerating into absolutism,
and preclude liberty from degenerating into license. The
author of that Constitution, the foundation of which rests in
the national ballot-box, your Majesty is its firmest support,
and it is not in your hands that it can depart from its
essential principles. But it is not deviating from it to open
the way for reforms which are in the nature of durable in-
stitutions, and which are repugnant only to constitutions
which rest on no solid basis. The reforms we hail with
gratitude, and we will show ourselves able to avail ourselves
of them with the independence which exists in our hearts
and in your wishes, and with the moderation which is part
of the duties of the Senate.
"The exposition of the state of the country at home and
abroad has shown us, by the most irrefutable documents,
the consthnt solicitude of your Majesty for the prosperity
and greatness of the empire.

"At home, order is united to security, and every one
lives in the enjoyment of that reasonable liberty which
France cannot do without (done la France ne saurait se pas-
ser). Our finances do not appear likely to be disturbed by the
sacrifice of 90 millions of receipts, abandoned for the enfran •
chisement of objects of daily consumption. For to fill up the
void thus caused by your own free will, your Government
does nct require either to resort to fresh taxes, generally un-
popular, or to appeal to public credit, always anxious to be
spared. If trade, made uneasy for a moment by the treaty
of commerce, husbands its finances during the transition,
it is merely to find, under the spur of competition, the
courage which leads to success. Meanwhile public works
are carried on with their wonted energy, without any ap-
prehension of the interruptions which excessive enterprise
could alone bring about.

"Capital is abundant and actively solicits employmcnt.
Capitalists impatiently wait for the Anal swttleraont of the

external situation, in order to summon the material interests
of the country to the career of public and private wealth.
That career is henceforth one of the necessary paths of
national activity. France does not fear to confess it, as on
entering upon it she does not mean to diminish in any way
her worship for the glories of intellect and courage, nor to
weaken the moral patrimony which lends a lustre to civi-
lisation.
" On this account the Senate has given its best attention
to the measure by which your Majesty has united in the
hands of the Minister of State the various services connected
with science, literature, and art. The encouragement
afforded to the works of intellect honour a reign, and ferti-
lise the genius of an epoch. Centralised under the eyes of
the Emperor, those encouragements will be distributed
with greater ensemble, consecutiveness, and success.
" It is also with lively satisfaction that the Senate has
beheld the efficacious solicitude of your Government to
extend religious and literary instruction, to improve the
condition of the clergy, and to multiply country parishes
and rural curacies. The development of moral sentiments
is the best auxiliary of the laborious activity of a people.
It is with this view that the wishes of the Senate would
support the praiseworthy efforts of your Majesty's Admi-
nistration to second the communes of the empire, but espe-
cially the rural communes in the building and repair of
their churches, of their presbyteries (priests' residences),
and their schools. Whilst agricultural labour increases
under the Emperor's fostering hand, it is indispensable that
the morality of the population should maintain itself in at
least an equally progressive movement.
" At the close of the journey of your Majesty to Algeria,
you decided that a new organisation should regulate the
government of that colony. We congratulate ourselves
that an illustrious marshal, our colleague, should have been
called upon by your confidence to realise the hopes con-
nected with the system of decentralisation which you are
resolved upon making a trial of, May that system, in
which the military is to fortify and not obliterate the civil
element, favour more and more the growth of confidence
for the colonists and of security for capital. It is stability
in the institutions of the colony which, above all, bring
about that result, and that stability exists in the spirit of
our Constitution, and in the mind of the Emperor.
"Abroad, sire, your Majesty, by the clearness of the com-
munications of your Government, has enlightened public
conscience, and strengthened the confidence of the country
in the greatness of France and in the maintenance of peace.
The alarm which prevailed a short time since, excited by
the advancement of a fatal period, has 41.0 diplo-
matic correspondence has placed in a dazzling light the
good 'understanding of France with foreign powers, the
weight of her consideration, the value of her moderate and
conciliating policy.
" In Syria you have placed the sword of France between
Christian populations and Moslem fanaticism. The mas-
sacres of our Catholic brethren ceased at the aspect of our
flag.
" But more still—faithful to your summons, the French
army proceeded to the extremities of the East to raise the
cross thrown down by Asiatic superstition. Missionaries of
religion, avengers of French interests, our soldiers, united
to those of Great Britain, have opened a path for ideas, com-
merce, and civilisation, to the capital of the Celestial
Empire. It was a great day when, from the chair of the
restored cathedral, the Te Deurn resounded for the Almighty,
and the Domine Salvum for the Emperor.
" If now, we turn our eyes towards the Italian peninsula,
we are struck with your Majesty with the events enacted
there since our last session. Two interests of the first order,
which,the Emperor wished to conciliate, have come into col-
lision, and Italian liberty is engaged in a struggle with the
Court of Rome. To prevent and put a stop to that conflict
your Government attempted all that loyalty and political
skill could suggest. To one party you pointed out the
path of the law of nations, to the other that of compro-
mise. Whilst on the one hand repudiating any responsi-
bility in unjust aggressions, you on the other hand deplored
injudicious resistance, but always you felt deep sympathy
for noble misfortunes and melancholy ruins.
" Finally, all equitable means have been tried, and you
only recoiled before an appeal to arms ; for it is not by
armed intervention that ideas of conciliation are realised.
Your Majesty, moreover, has not forgotten that at other
times it was the mistake of France to attempt to rule Italy,
after having delivered her, and you determined to disen-
tangle French policy from what had embroiled it, not
thinking that because it had been necessary to interfere in
favour of Italy, oppressed by the foreigner, it was
therefore necessary to interfere once more to coerce
the decisions of enfranchised Italy. That system of
non-intervention, the best to prevent general confla.
grations, will close the career of our secular rivalry with
Austria; and if, notwithstanding sinister predictions, a
European war does not break out in the spring, it is because
your Majesty, preserving a wise and firm attitude, has with.
s'ood the provocation of ardent passions, while you have
not yielded to the exigencies of reaction.
" And that peace will be as great a blessing for Italy as
for ourselves. For Italy will only be understood by the
world which now beholds her dawning existence, if she
proves that she has no wish to disturb Europe by her free-
dom, after having so often agitated it with her distress.
Let her remember above all that Catholicism has entrusted
her with the Head of the Church, the representative of the
greatest moral force which holds power over mankind. The
religious past of France makes it a duty for her not to for-
get it ; the friendly memories of Magenta and Solferino
make us hope that she will bear it in mind.
"But our firmest hope is in the indefatigable and tute-
lary hand of your Majesty. Your filial affection for a holy
cause which you do not confound with that of intrigues
which borrow it as a mask, has incessantly exerted itself
for the defence and the maintenance of the temporal power
of the Supreme Pontiff, and the Senate does not hesitate
to give its fullest sanction to all the acts of your loyal and
moderate and persevering policy. For the future we will
continue to place our confidence in the monarch who shields
the Papacy with the French flag, who has assisted it in its
hour of trial, and has constituted himself for Rome and the
Papal throne the most faithful and vigilant of sentinels.
" Sire, looking at the questions which appear about to be
raised in Europe, France is perhaps the last country where
anything remains to be done in consequence of what has
been done already. However, a nation such as
ours can-
not remain inactive. Labour and progress are its destinies,
impulses and from your Majesty the most fruitful are
derived. Whatever may be the share reserved for the
Senate in the national movement, your Majesty may rely
upon its zeal and its devotedness, its love of truth and of
the public good."
The discussion of the above project of address
has been fixed for Thursday next.
A letter from Paris, dated Feb. 25, says :—lt
was known for some weeks past that Prince Napo-
leon intended to pay a visit to Italy at the end of
this or the beginning of next month; but, though
his Imperial Highness is still desirous of carrying
out his intention, the journey will not take place.
The Prince is not his own master, and the regula-
tion of his movements depends upon another: The
Emperor has forbidden his cousin to cross the moun-
tains, and, though the question of the temporal
sovereignty of the Pope is pretty well resolved, so
far as his Majesty is concerned, yet, as his poliey,
still hesitating and embarrassed, might experience
a rude impulsion from the undisguised and free

spirit of the Prince, who during his Italian tour
would most likely give hearty expression to his
anti-clerical opinions, as he has already done in the
committee-rooms of the Senate, the cautious Em-
peror thinks it more prudent not to expose him to
a temptation into which be would most assuredly
fall. Perhaps the prohibition would not be so
positive but for the success with the Prince's
anti-clerical oratory met with in the Senate the
other day. Be this as it may, immediately
after the discussion in the committee room, where
_ _

F the Prince spoke so earnestly, and yet, as I am
assured, in suitable terms, against the temporal
power of the Pope, the Emperor and his cousin
had an animated conversation on the subject. His
Majesty seems to have reproached the Prince with
contravening his policy, acting inopportunely, and
expressing opinions which are not those of his
Government. The Prince replied with a certain
degree of warmth. He observed to his Majesty
that he did not pretend to speak in the name of the
French Government; he spoke simply in his own
name, as a member of the Senate and as a citizen ;
and he moreover assured his Majesty that he by no
means coveted the honour of advocating a political
system the tendencies and consequences of which
he was far from approving.
The Emperor rejoined that when a person had
the honour to be a French Prince, he had no longer
the right to detach himself from the policy of the
head of the State; that the public never regarded
or understood the fine distinctions between the
dynastic Prince and the senator or the citizen ; and,
finally, and in order that he should not have too
frequent opportunities of putting forth his personal
opinions in so positive a manner on the important
subject of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, he
prohibited him from carrying our, at this moment
at least, his project of visiting Italy.
Of course, there was nothing to be said, and.nc-
thing to be done but submit. Ihe Prince has sub-
mitted to his Imperial cousin's wishes, for wishes
under such circumstances are equivalent to corn
mends; but he has submitted with moderation,
and those who know his frank character and his
habit of speaking without disguise will appreciate
his self control on this oeca9inn.

BOURSE, Feb. 25.—There has been little busi-
ness transacted, and prices show a slight decline
on those of Saturday. For the Account, Threes