The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-04 00:00:00

TEB POLICY OF FRANCE.

The following is from the political article:of M,
Forgade in the January number of the Revue des
Deux Mendes, which appeared yesterday :
"The shadow which foreign questions cast on the
domestic policy of France is too thick for us to be
able to give to internal questions properly so called
the order which belongs to them—that is, the first
order. At this close of the year (fate has willed it
for some time that the years should expire in a
gloomy fog) the anxious expectation of each indi-
vidual is directed more to foreign countries than to
home. It is in vain that an appearance of a return
towards a liberal policy was lately manifested ; and
that we have acquired a right to count on an ap-
proaching revival of Parliamentary life. One is
curious, no doubt, to see what will happen at the
fulfilment of the programme of the 24th of Nov. ;
but we are much more uneasy with respect to the
events in Europe which the first months of the
year 1861 promise us. It is the question of peace
or wer which occupies the first place in the people's
minds. One is more particularly anxious as to the
influence which external commotions may exercise
on France. Italy, Austria, and perhaps Turkey
are in a state of agitation which may at any
moment prolluce profound disturbance. Will these
disturbances commence at the period so long fore-
told—that is to say, next spring ? What shall the
consequences be for the rest of Europe ? Such are
the questions asked, and which the public addresses
to itself with an anxiety which increases according
as we advance towards the date fixed by the hopes
of some and the fears of others.

" In our eyes the great importance of the events
to which we are approaching, in place of diverting
public opinion from internal discussions of which
the mechanism °four Government may be the object,
ought, on the contrary, to bring it back to that sub-
ject with more force. We are on the eve of a
great European crisis. Be it so But then
how far does that concern France ? Evi-
dently with respect to two matters. First,
to be well informed as to the nature of the
European problems which are about to be
agitated; the extent of the engagements of
our foreign policy ; and, next, to adopt decided reso-
lutions when fully informed. Is it not true that
public opinion in France is insufficiently enlight-
ened as to the engagements of our foreign policy
which it interprets erroneously from incomplete
information, and that ignorance is the principal
cause of the uneasiness which prevails ? Is it not
true (and the lesson derived from the war in Italy
is a caution) that it would not only be violently
unjust, but lamentably rash to deprive the country
of the fullest participation in the choice of the
system to which France is to bind her future action ?
Let the situation of certain countries in Europe be
painted in the most gloomy colours ; let the respon-
sibility of the French Government in the events
foreseen be enlarged. It will then be demonstrated
with more force that it was never more necessary
for the country to become perfectly informed on its
affairs, and to exercise its influence on the conduct
of the Government by means of all its natural
organs. We have arrived at one of those periods
when the government of the country by the country
is a necessity—when self-government is the vital
interest as well as the undoubted right of a people.
We may be placed in a position when it may become
necessary for us to exercise our will, and in that
case we should know the motives of these acts and
the consequences they may produce. To know and
to will !—a nation cannot resolve this problem,
except by the regulation and practice of its insti-
tutions.

" We are consequently not of the number of those
who would think they were doing an injustice to
Government by supposing that in its opinion the
programme of the 24th November, notwithstanding
its deiciencies, responded, at least in part, to that
necessity which the state of Europe has created in
France. That performance is in our eyes a signal
—it is of the greatest importance that that signal
should be understood. The programme refers to
little but to the Parliament. We do not deny what
it has done for the Chambers by giving them
the right to publish their debates—the right of
presenting an address, and the participation of
some of the Ministers is the deliberations of the
legislative body. To speak only of foreign affairs,
we shall certainly derive valuable information from
that quarter. It is impossible but that the Govern-
ment will be seriously interrogated on foreign
affairs during the debate on the Address in the
Legislative Corps and in the Senate. We should
not be surprised even were the Government, in
order to give the debates a solid and substantial
basis, and by a wise imitation of the English Go-
vernment, to communicate to the Chambers the
principal documents of its diplomatic negotiations.
Three Ministers may speak in the Corps Legislatif,
but, 12 members of the Cabinet out of 13 being
senators, nearly all the Ministers may give explana-
tions in the Senate. It will depend, therefore, on
the members of the Senate and of the Corps Legis-
hail to obtain not only partial information on some
details of the foreign policy of the Government,
but an explanation of the great lines—of the gene-
ral tendency of the system of that policy. The
foreign policy being thus laid open, the public will
obtain something more than useful and accurate
information. The communications made by the
Government with respect to past events will assume
the character of an engagement for the future. It
will be easy for public opinion to deduce logical
consequences from the principles laid down and
from the explanation of what has been done. The
necessity which the Government has voluntarily
accepted to express and to explain publicly at a
given moment the idea and the acts
of its foreign
policy will be useful to itself in the carrying out of
that policy. It will compel the Ministers to pay
a more vigilant attention in the conception and
execution of their acts, knowing that they will
have to render public account of what they have
done. Such, particularly as regards foreign affairs,
is the result which may be obtained from the pro-
gramme of Nov. 24 if the senators and deputies per-
form their duty. But the publicity of the debates
of the Chambers, though it may supply the best in-
formation to the public, is not sufficient to supply
the constant and universal want of information
which civilised society feels
in the present period.
Society cannot find this constancy and univer-
sality of information except in a Press stimulated
by competition and vivified by liberty. Among a
people where all citizens are called by universal
suffrage to participate in the Government political
duties are not confined to the exercise of legislative
functions, and, are not cz:!usively imposed on mem-