The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-17 00:00:00

curious way, by turning out a bagged
fox, and all at the expense of the bankrupt's
estate." Those same examplary commissioners con-
tinued down to the time of that Giant Destroyer of
so many legal abuses, Lord BROUGHAM. No sooner
had Lord BROUGHAM exchanged his stuff gown for
the scarlet and ermine robes of the Lord High
Chancellor than away went. swarms and swarms
of these despicable sinecures, and among them away
went these charming old-fashioned now almost for-
gotten bankruptcy commissionerships. Six commis-
sioners alone of a very different class alto-
gether being reserved in London for perma-
nent employment as a veritable, practicable
Court of Bankruptcy. Other commissioners being
at the same time allotted, in the country districts,
to chief towns in the provinces, such as Leeds, and
Manchester, and Birmingham. Then, too—still
all this, while thanks to the Master Law Reformer
of his age, Lord BROUGHAM—came, in lieu of the
old jobbing assignees, selected (absurdly) from
among the creditors, and even then without sub-
jection to any control whatever—then, in lieu
of these, thanks to Lord BROUGHAM, came the official
assignees ! Eventually, in 1849, the whole of the vari-
ous statutes from the time of King HENRY VIII. to
the time of Queen VICTORIA were consolidated
into one comprehensive, but still, as it has turned
out, wholely insufficient act of Parliament. From
the insufficiency of that measure of relief has come
at length the remarkable bill of Sir RICHARD
BETHELL, now rapidly advancing through Par-
liament on its way towards enrolment upon the
statute book of the realm. Thanks, in a very great
measure, we cannot but think, to the masterly
argument of the Lord Chancellor, the Attorney-
General's Bankruptcy Bill was read a second time
last night without any attempt at obstruction or
amendment being adventured upon prior to its
consideration in committee.

The eloquence of Prince NAPOLEON in the speech
in the Senate, which so much surpassed all pre-
vious expectation—has brought down on him some
unpleasant consequenees. He went out of his way
to compare personally the NAPOLEONS and the
BOURBONS—of course not sparing laudation for
the one and sarcastic censure for fhe other. Little
was said about it at the time. Its grossly bad taste
and want of dignity was felt by all. A dynasty of
modern men only, comparative upstarts, who felt
that as such the old Royal families and aristocracy
of Europe regarded them, could alone be guilty of
showing any consciousness that they needed self-
praise. Think only of a Prince Royal of the family
of Hanover expatiating on the merits of the
GUELPHS, and the demerits of the STUARTS, had
the latter any -representatives living to assert their
legitimate title to the Crown. Our English Senate
would assuredly blush at such an exhibition. And
should the STUARTS have condescended to a reply,
although this would have been thought undig-
nified, yet as the response to an attack, it would
have been thought less so than the speech of the
Royal Orator Laureate.
In the latter position is the Duke D'AUMALE.
We may feel that silence on the part of the BOUR-
BONS would have been the most dignified reply to
vain laudations of his own family,"and ungenerous
attacks on the absent by a lucky member of the
BONAPARTE family. Still we all sympathise with
the attacked man, who having wherewith to sting
his unhandsome accuser, gives way to his temper,
and dips his pen in gall. Better not to do it; ahigher
position that of despising attacks which all right-
minded men condemn as unfair and even mean.
Still, we all of us have tempers which sometimes
make us forget that our reputation can take care of
itself. The opening sentences themselves, in which
the NAPOLEONS are challenged to let the defence
be as public and free as the accusation, are as gall-
ing, we should say, as the more personal invectives.
Fair•-play for the accused is one of an Englishman's
most deeply-seated feelings—and there is not, pro-
bably, throughout the pamphlet an appeal which
will be more felt here than this :
" Whilst the head of your dynasty—l am using his own
words—was expiating at Ham by a six years' imprisonment
his rash attempts against the laws of his country, he en-
joyed, without restriction, the rights of a citizen, and freely
criticised in the newspapers the regular Government which
he had been trying to overthrow by force.
" My situation is very different, and I claim no such pri-
vileges. Exiled from my country, without having trans-
gressed any of its laws, without having committed any
crime to deserve my fate, I am known in France solely as
having been brought up under her flag, and as having
faithfully served her up to the day when I was violently
driven from her shores. But has that exile deprived me
of the moat natural, of the most sacred rights, that of de-
fending my family, publicly insulted, and defending at the
same time the part of France ? That insulting attaek,
which a Government so strong—and which inspires you
with so much confidence—has endorsed, propagated, posted
upon every wall, can my reply follow it, and be published,
in conformity with the laws, in my native soil ? I will try
the experiment; if it should fail, if, in spite of the most
common notions of justice and honour, you stifle my voice
in France, raised for so just a cause, it will at least have
some echo in Europe, and in every country will reach the
heart of all honourable men."

This appeal was, of course, unsuccessful. The
writer well knew it would be so. The pamphlet
was published in the afternoon, and by 5 p_m. not
a copy was to be had. The police had had their
orders promptly enough ; but curiosity is as active
as the police, and secured, it is said, thousands of

copies before the pamphlet was answered by
seizure. The writer's object, however, was at-
tained; all Europe will read it, and we may sup-
pose that even in Paris it must be impossible to

prevent surreptitious circulation. Every French.

man will, of course, be only the more eager'to read
what the NAPOLEONS use such exertions to keep
from him; and the satire will be the more enjoyed
because it is forbidden. What is unanswered will
be held to be unanswerable. And doubtless the

greater part of the present charges, philippics, and
inuendoes against the NAPOLEONS are unanswer-

able ; NAPOLEONS—for, as the Duke observes,

there are no BONAPARTES

There is abundance of clever personality in the
pamphlet, perhaps none more/telling than that in

which he replies to the attack on the BOURBONS for

their scandalous divisions. He points to the long
period throughout which the BOURBONS had fur•

nished a numerous list of princes ; and does not
claim for ten centuries of a large house, immunity
from the vices of humanity, and then remarks :
"If your family had for ten centuries occupied the first
throne in the worll, borne on various occasions five or six
other crowns—if, during a long career, the public and pri-
vate life of all its members had belonged to history, and
appeared to us of stainless purity—if it numbered as many
great kings, as many captains, as many warriors slain in
the battle-field, as the Royal House of France (histori-
cally that is its right name even now), then, perhaps, you
might be entitled to show so much severity. For, pray
remark, you can no longer judge princely families with the

austerity of a Republican philosopher. You now enjoy a
number of privileges that deprive you of that advantage.

You became one fine morning senator, grand cross, lieuta-

nant-general, prince of the blood, not through your merit,

which was then unknown, but by right of your birth—and

your point of view must naturally have changed with your

exaltation."

Cutting enough, too, must be the reminiscences
of Prince NAPOLEON'S movements on the day of the

coup d'etat :

"You speak in magnificent terms of the coup d'etat of

he 2d of December. On that day, however, you were not