The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

UN'E 22 1857'

voico in the managment of the'r own affairs ; that
tkey are act so silly Gr so dastardly as to allow' onot
mAtt tutor or guardian to do eveything for
t`!em, in tl:eir name, as if they were idiots or in-
t.: des.

When the elections are over it will be the turn
of the independent candidates who have been
elected—if any are elected—to decide how they are
to act. The honest and liberal electors will then
have done their part • recorded their undying devo-
tion to the came of eree discussion, and of the self-
govermlont of the people through the instrumen-
tality of elected representatives. The time will
then have come for the elected independent
candidates to make up their minds whether
the conditions prescribed by the Government
to those who seek admission into the
Corps Legislatif can be complied with by them.
The probability is that some will find nothing in
the oath exacted from members of the Corps Legis-
latif that is incompatible with their principles and
views of policy, and that some will find it utterly
repugnant to both. It will, of course, be the duty
of the former to take the oath, and of the latter to
reject it. Both will be doing good service to their
country by the courses they respectively pursue,
diametrically opposite though these courses be.
They who refuse to take the oath will demonstrate
to all reflecting and intelligent Frenchmen that the
oath is of such a partial and captious character as
to deprive them of the legislativeservices of many
of their best and most trusted citizens. They who
take the oath may by their criticism of the mea-
sures submitted by Government to the Corps
Legislatif, and by their votes upon them, open the
eyes of the unreflecting to the mischievous opera-
tion of a nominal Legislature which is a mare office
for registering the edicts of the administrative.
The electors who vote for independent or opposi-
tion candidates, the successful independent candi-
dates who take the oath, and those who decline it
—all will be taking an important part in an initia-
tory movement, the object of which is to create or
resuscitate a national constitutional party in France.
This is all that true patriots in France have any
chance of accomplishing at present. The unpre-
meditated revolution which the blended self-will
and imbecility of Louis Phillippe, Guizot and their
creatures, provoked in Paris, called into exist-
ence a multitude of contending parties, and de-
stroyed every centre of combinesl action. A wary,
bold, unscrupulous, under-estimated man availed
himself of this state of anarchy to snatch the reins
of government. By irritating and- fostering sec-
tional grudges, he set the labouring classes in
array against the middle-class. By fawning upon
the speculators of the Bourse, he gained the
support of its most unscrupulous members. By
large donations and larger promises, he gained the
mercenary and unprincipled part of the army and
of the civil administration. When thus far secure
of his object, he sought to impart an appearance of
popular sanction to his usurpation by appealing to
an election by universal suffrage. The deceived
labouring class rallied round his standard ; the
timid and the friends of order, weary of apparently
interminable emeutes, acquiesced reluctantly ;,the
dexterous manipulation of the ballot-boxes by local
authorities who held their places on the good-will
of the Central Government did the re,t. A large
epparent majority was gained for the claims of the
Napoleon dynasty. Tois- vote the Emperor now
affects to understand as a distinct resignation by
the country of its right to withdraw the authority
it conferred upon any future occasion. Such a gross
fallacy can delude no man. If the nation has the
right to vote a man into the throne, it must have a
right to vote him out of it again. If it has the
right to vote one new Constitution, it must have
the right to vote another. If the right of universal
suffrage exists in the nation it must be inalienable;
and though the nation remains, the individuals
composing it are in an incessant state of change,
and with them their wishes, needs, and opinions.
This the intelligent and enlightened citizens of
France know right well, and are no ways disin-
clined to assert th9ir rights. But the distrusts and
animosities so insidiously sown amongst them are
still rankly luxuriant. Combined action is still all
but impossible ; and the one man in authority
holds the national purse-strings, and in doing so
holds the armed force, and the police with all its
spies and other agencres. France, toe, has been'
taught by dear experience the bootlessness of mo-
mentary emancipation gained by violence. The
restorers of her liberties can have no chance ex-
cept in working by peaceable and legal means. The
impediment in the way of adopting such means
is the want of cordiality and mutual confidence
among the adherents of free representative institu-
tions. The restoration of this cordiality and confi-
dence can only be the work of habitual association
in the prosecution of one common object. Such a
common object is now placed within the reach of
the French Liberals by the electoral movement,
which aims at eliciting a national pronunciam,ento
in favour of real representative government. In
this movement all can take part—all can act in
conceit, who have faith in government by majori-
ties, and in the power of free discussion to inspire
those majorities with humanity, rectitude, and
wisdom. However widely they may differ on other
points, all who -believe that it is the right of the
majority of a nation to determine how it shall he
ruled, and that it is the right of parties and indivi-
duals to endeavour to sway that majority by rea-
soning and persuasion, can take part in the elec-
toral movement which is at 'present agitating
France to its centre. The Orleanist, the Republi-
can,_the_Socialist—Lasteyrie, Cavaignac, and Dari-
mou—all who are opposed to the unchecked
despotism of one man, or the brute rule of
ementiers by profession, can struggle side by side
for the resuscitation of Parliamentary government
in France. All Europe has, and feels, an interest
in the result of this movement. The temporary
erasure of France from the list of free nations has
cast a gloom over the prospects of the freemen of
Europe—a gloom which can never be dispelled till
free representative institutions resume.their ascen-
dancy in France, with their permanence guaranteed
by the patient devotion, the temperate judgment,
and the fearless promptitude of ac. ion displayed
by the majority of the French people in their re-
suscitation.

PEOSECUTION OF THE DIRECTORS OF

THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK.

(From the Observer of yesterday.)
The directors 'of the late Royal British Bank
already in custody or liberated on bail are at pre•
•sent five in number. Mr. Owen, Mr. Stapleton,
M.P., and Mr. Macleod have put in bail for th-ir
appearance ; Mr. Humphrey Brown is at present
iu the Queen's Bench Prison, not having completed
his bail. Mr. Alderman Kennedy.is on his way
to this country, and will arrive in London to-day
in custody of one of the assistants of Inspector
Field. Bail is ready to be given to the required
amount for Mr. Kennedy. Alderman Kennedy was
captured in the- south of Germany by Inspector
Field. He hid for some time past been suffering
considerably in health, and was about to leave the
resictmce he had occupied for some time for one in
Italy. The alderman was, it is stated, considerably
alarmed on being arrested. He was first taken to
Wiesbaden, where he was left by the officer and a
member of firm of Messrs. Linklater and Rack-
wood, in charge of an assistant instructed to accom-
pany him to London. Mr. H. D. Macleod, who
was a director of the bank in the earliest stages,
surrendered himself at Boulogne on Thursday morn-
ing last to Mr. Hosgood. who held the warrant for
his apprehension, and in whose company he arrived
in town on the afternoon of that day. Mr. Macleod
was subsequently brought up before Mr. Justice
Erle, at judges' chambers, ween.the amount of his
bad was fixed at 8,0001., himself in 4,0001. and two
sureties of 2,0001. each. Mr. Humphrey Brown, it
appears, succeeded for some time in evading being
taken, by wearing green spectacles and a wig, which
most effectually altered his personal appearance.
No proceedings will be taken against Mr. Apsley
Pellatt ; his connexion with the concern, and the
acts which he perfomed, having been deubless in-
influenced bya feeling of the most perfect confidence
in the integrity of those with whom he was asso-
ciated. He was in no way bmefitted by the frau-
dulent transactions of the Bank, and the Attorney-
General feeling convinced that the prosecuticn of
that gentleman would be attended with failure, has
decided not to take steps against him. The indict-
ments against the parties are for having conspired
fraudulently to obtain a charter from her Majesiy's
Privy Council; and also for conspiring to obtain
money by fraudulent representations. The trials
will not, it is expected, come off before November,
and they will take place in the Court of Queen's
Bench. The bill to enable the assignees of the bank
to effect a compromise between the shareholders and
depositors has passed the House of Commons, and
now awaits a second reading in the House of Lords:
It is stated, however, that Lord St. Leopards and
some other of the law lords are opposed to the
further progress of the bill until the appeal from the
decision of the Master of the Rolls in Irelana, re-
specting the liability of the shareholders of the Tip-
perary Bank, has been decided.
A telegraphic despatch arrived in London last
night, stating that. Mr. Cameron, the late manager
of the tank, had been arrested at Lausanne ; and
it was reported that Mn -Esdaile, the governor of
the bank, had been captured.
M.

.r. R. PALMER, M.P. TOR BERICS.—This ton. gen.
tleman whose illness from a sudden haemorrhage at the
nose while at Ascot races was noticed in The Sun a week
ago, is now rapidly approaching convalescence. There
were last week many calls at liolme-park to inquire after
the hon. gentleman's hoalth, and the accounts given by
the medical advisers were gratifying to the friends and
relatives of Mr. Palmer.''