The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-15 00:00:00

FRENCH LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.

The Emperor of the French has probably encoun-
tered a much more numerous as well as a more bitter
opposition in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies
than he had been led to expect. He might have
thought, and not unreasonably, that nine years of
the most severe repression had tamed down the
exuberant spirits of French Parliamentary comba-
tants, and reduced them to a state much more
nearly resembling the phlegmatic Englishman than
the lively and excitable Gaul. This, however, like
most of the theories of arbitrary power, is, as events
have shown and as reason could have proved, a very
superficial view of the subject. Men can be kept
silent by the fear of death, of chains, or of deporta-
tation, but the repression which teaches silence does
not inculcate moderation, and political passions burn
only the more fiercely for having been concealed.
The habit of public discussion, of confuting, of being
confuted, of striking and baring your shoulders to
the lash in your turn, has a great effect in modify-
ing the most extravagant prejudices and regulating
the most ungovernable tempers. We in England
have debated upon public affairs till we have hardly
left to ourselves a substantial difference of opinion
to debate about. We have rounded the corners and
planed off the angularities till there is hardly any-
thing left to lay hold of. It is not so in France.
She awakes from her nine years' slumber, like
Nourjahad or Rip van Winkle, apparently uncon-
scious that she has slumbered at all. Nothing has
been learnt—nothing has been forgotten. The old
factions wake up again in all their vigour and in
all their bitterness, and the Tribune resounds with
denunciations as vehement and fierce, and the
Chamber with interruptions as violent and long,
as ever waited on the speeches of Gxizot or Lamar-
tine. The political education of the country and
of the Chambers has to be begun again. We
think it is high time that the process should begin,
and therefore sincerely rejoice that the Emperor
has at last opened an academy in which that neces-
sary instruction can be imparted. We would,
however, suggest one improvement in the course of
discipline through which the French Chambers
are to pass. The experience of 600 years of Parlia-
mentary debate has taught us in England that the
true objects of free discussion can only be attained
by a free and lively interchange of the thoughts of
the moment; never by condemning a deliberative
Assembly to a wearisome succession of written ser-
mons. The sallies of an exuberant fancy or the
vehemence of an over-eager advocacy may be tole-
rated and forgotten, but the cold, dull, elaborate
malignity of a written oration, every phrase of
which has been weighed and every epigram pointed
in the study of the speaker, leaves wounds that no
time can heal and no good nature can forget.
Still, bitter as has been the attack on his person
and his Government, we think the Emperor of the
French has no reason to regret that he has taken
the people into his counsels, and given them the
opportunity of expressing, in the most unreserved
manner, their hopes and their fears, their hatreds
and their predilections, their friendships and their
animosities. Certainly, a great many of the
speeches display neither reason nor moderation.
Facts have been ludicrously misstated, opinions
grotesquely distorted, and everything has been re-
garded through the refracting medium of nine
years of compulsory and burning silence. Yet all
this, we apprehend, has not been without its advan-
tage to the Emperor. With all deference to M.
Prevost Paradol be it recorded, that the " Old
Party," the existence of which he so strenuously
denied, has shown itself in this debate in its:true
colours. Orleanist, Legitimist, and Ultrairontanist
are blended in one undistinguishable phalanx.
There is no difference to note between them. Re-
ligion, politics, sympathies, and antipathies are all
the same. We might quote their speeches in detail,
but it would be a futile repetition. Nothing but the
nnme at the beginning of the speech could inform us
whether the orator was a bigot or an unbeliever, a
Republican or a disciple of the divine right of Kings.
They have but one cast of countenance, one voice,
one manner, one thought. There is a monotony
of hatred, an uniformity of disappointment. Their
religion is to believe that Christianity must stand
or fall according as the very worst Government in
Europe is preserved or destroyed. Protestants or
Catholics, they all hold the same language and-are
full of the same idea. The Pope is the only guaran-