The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-19 00:00:00

FRANCE.

A letter from Paris says :—At last the question
which has considerably agitated some parts of the
press seems settled. The King of Prussia is to come
to France in the beginning of October, and the inter-
view is to take place at Compiegne. If one is to be-
lieve rumour, all kinds of questions are to be consi-
dered; and there is even a talk of a preparatory
journey by the Prussian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
There is to be a serious talk about Denmark and
Schleswig and Holstein, about eventualities which
might lead to a Scandinavian kingdom, a word about
the Polish question, and more than one about the
kingdom of Italy; in fact, about everything in
general, and some others more in particular.
All those on dits are only so far of some import-
ance
fcr the present as they show a tendency to
turn people's eyes to that side which has hitherto
not attracted much attention.
All those meetings of associations and:" Vereins"
all over Germany, under different nambs and with
different objects, show more or less ilia the frantic
disease of nationality which makes such progress in
Europe has not spared the sober Germans either ;
and although the form is mild, and the German con- 1
stitution is not very favourable to it, there are unde-
niable preliminary symptoms, which have by no
means escaped the attention of their neighbours on
the left bank of the Rhine. The assiduity with
which these symptoms were chronicled would
be alone sufficient to show this,—the pa-
triotic example of the Duke of Coburg,
in placing his army under Prussia; the
suspicion that Baden, and perhaps others, might
be inclined to follow; rumours of the great impend-
ing changes in the internal government of Prussia,
extension of suffrage for the elections, and freer
movements of the municipalities, with the intention of
rivalling the much-talked-of Liberalism of Austria ;
the subscriptions for a national fleet ; and, lastly,
the prominence given in the late concentration to
the 7th Corps d'Armee, composed of men from
Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia, together with the
dinner by the King, and his allocutions.
With the exception of the subscriptions for the
national fleet, which rouses now and then a slight
sneer on German national liberality, these symp-
toms are recorded without much comment; never-
theless, the impression is that they are the precursors
of a new spirit, which ought not to pass unob-
served. This had probably a good deal more to do
with the importance attributed to the journey of
the King than any positive information on the
object of the journey.

Every one knows that France is the land of
fashion, and what a wonderfully capricious deity
Fashion is. No contradiction is too strong for her,
—she does not care for it, strong in the feminine
argument, " I will." Ultramontanism is now the
fashion among the upper ten thousand, and those
who would like to be thought some of them. This is
natural enough, as a line of distinction, which is diffi-
cult enough to find in this land of egalite. But what
seems rather unnatural is that while they cry down
on one hand Italians and all others who are eager
to establish their nationality, they have been all
along the most ardent partisans of Poland, likewise
in search of her nationality. All others are demo-
cratic and revolutionary, this latter alone is sub-
lime.

This double thesis, sufficiently absurd in itself,
becomes doubly so by the manner in which it is
upheld by the clerical papers.
M. de Montalembert, who has lately been in
Hungary and Poland, takes up the cause of Poland
in one of the last numbers of the Correspondent,
and the article has been reprinted under the title,
"A Nation in Mourning."
Certainly M. de Montalembert has the talent of
turning into gold whatever he touches. His own
strong convictions and fiery imagination throw un-
consciously the halo of poetry over the most prosaic
subject ;—how much more over one which must com-
mand universal sympathy ! It would have been
difficult to preient the cause of Poland in a bright( r
light and plead it more eloquently ; it is only a
pity that he does' not keep more in the back-
ground the too palpable motives of his enthusiasm,
so that in the end one has to ask oneself—ls he
pleading for Catholicism or Poland ? And this
doubt, if it can be called so, spoils considerably the
effect of the whole, so that it looks now and then
like a poetical religious theory, applying not unfrc-
quently the bed of Procrustes to historical facts
order to make them fit in.

A short resume may not be uninteresting to yolir
readers.
The article begins with a retrospect on " lost illu-

sions and important efforts," and finds in this ship-
) wreck of politics a rock from which as from a light-
house there blazes the flame of a great cause justly
defended—a light which brightens the soul.
It is Poland where a whole people is under the
sway of a moral sentiment ; a nation in mourning,
a nation gay naturally, which has abandoned all
gaiety and mourns, praying to God, " Lord, give us
back our country, give us our freedom."
M. Montalembert quotes some of the prayers, and
exclaims "This is sufficient to show how different
the cause of Poland is from the cause of revolution
in the rest of Europe."
Everything has been attempted against her, and
nothing has succeeded; she is as firm now as ever.
Establishing a contrast between the effete nations
of the West and Poland, he says,—" The most re-
volting in the former is, that never in the history of
the world has successful crime and plausible tyranny
found so much indulgence—nay, approbation."
If the national morality, as M. Montalembert
calls it, has been preserved in Poland, it is owing
to the complete absence of home despotism. In-
dividual freedom was, on the contrary, pushed to
an extreme.
But, what was more difficult, they have resisted
all temptation of Panslavism and material welfare,
as well as revolutionary doctrines.
If all this was possible, it was by aith and social
peace, which exist, according to M. Montalembert,
nowhere more than in Poland ; and he developer
this point at considerable length, putting forward
Catholic Poland as a double barrier against schis-
matic Russia and Protestant Germany.
Then, after a tribute paid to the late Prince
Czartoryski, comes an historical résumé in which
the partition of Poland is ascribed to the down-
fall of monarchy in Franco in 1793, and the
" comedy' of Napoleon I. in Poland exposed,
while the crime of the monarchs of the Holy Al-
liance and of the Conservative party towards Po-
land after 1814 is equally denounced.
Ihe last chapter shows the chances for Poland.
Russia can no longer maintain this situation. Al-
ready the youth of the country sympathise with
the movement.
He has, indeed, some apprehension lest even con-
stitutionalism should be turned in Austria to the
profit of bureaucratic centralisation ; but neverthe-
less thinks that, with regard to Galicia, she looks
upon it as a temporary possession, which she would
be ready to give up, provided it did not fall into
the hands of Russia.
Prussia is the worst; she denationalises more
systematically than Russia, and seems by no means
disposed to part with her share. The hope in this
respect is in German and Prussian ‘. democracy."
Then comes a digression in the Unitarian ten-
dencies of Germany, which M. Montalembert thinks
certain, and which, according to him, will lead not
only to great changes on the Rhine, but likewise on
the Vistula. Prussia, when she becomes Germany,
cannot keep Posen.
• While detesting the means, M. Montalembert ad-
mires in anticipation the work of the justice of God.
The only fear is lest the Poles should feel too
much tendency towards their future liberators—
democratic Germany, and become the curse of the
North, as Italy, inaugurated by Pius IX., has
become of the South. This fear is inspired by the
vote of the Poles in favour of Vincke's motion on
Italy, and he warns them against contaminating
themselves with Garibaldi and the like of him, for
Victor Emmanuel does the same work with the
Italians of the North towards those of the South
which the Russian Slaves want to do with the
Polish Slaves.
The interest of the pamphlet, as you will see
from this extract, is not exactly in the arguments ;
it is in the eloquent language, which would make
one read a treatise by the same hand on the differ-
ence between a bluebottle and a common fly.
BOURSE, Sept. 18.—The market has been ra-
ther more animated to-day, but prices have not
been materially altered. Threes, for the Account.
are now at 69f. 20c. Railways quiet, but firm.
The following are the last quotations :-
0 per per Cents ... 96 20 Credit Fancier 1225
Do. end month.... 96 301 Belgian 41
3 per Cents
Do. and month 69 20 Roman
Bank Shares — —, Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 765 ' Spanish Threes —
Do. Account 767 50 Home Debt