The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-11 00:00:00

rience, and the healthy action of uncontrolled public
opinion have peaceably begotten and conformed us to
many wholesome usages, of which we might to this
hour have been bereft, had we been exposed to the
fierce contention that is inseparable from ;the
legislative tyranny that seeks to bind men's
consciences on matters in which they ought to
be left unfettered. It would be idle to point out
to the exquisitely hallowed mind of the professed
Sabbatarian how largely augmented would; be the
❑umber of Sunday travellers were the wishes of the
petitioners to be effectuated. With the knowledge
that no letter could reach their friends in the country
on the Sunday, the reasons that would necessarily
induce people to avail themselves of the rail to com-
municate in person what it is proposed they should
be debarred from doing through the Post-office, are
as illimitable as they are obvious to any suggestive
and reflective mind. In a word, it is only charitable
to suppose that the Sabbatarians are profoundly igno-
rant of the incalculable degree to which attendance
upon the offices of religion would be interfered with,
compared with what it now is, provided their pro-
posal were to be sanctioned—apart from which is the
certainty that the vexation, hardship, and expenses to
be incurred, as incidental to the adoption of their
proposition, would be chiefly felt, not by the affluent,
but by the humbler and poorer classes, who require
especially protection from such fanatical freaks. In
a report of a Committee of the Congress of the
United States, upon a similar subject, the Sabbata-
rians met with the following appropriate
rebuke :—" The history of the world fur-
nishes the melancholy demonstration that the
disposition of one man to coerce the religious homage
of another springs from an unchastened ambition,
rather than a sincere devotion to any religion."
We esteem it a happy coincidence that, pending the
movement of these self-sufficient and brawling agi-
tators, and the partial gatherings they have got up in
this metropolis and elsewhere, the responsible duties
of the Post-office have been presided over by a noble-
man who has so firmly resisted their pernicious
scheme. Undismayed by the repeated and indiscri-
minate attacks made upon the Government, the Mar-
quis of CLANRICARDE has refuted, by indisputable
data, the charge of Sabbatical desecration, and rolled
back the tide of calumny upon the heads cf his
accm_ers. Under his auspices we have secured many
postal reforms cf great commercial utiiity, but in no
respect are the public more indebted to the Post-
master-General than for the unflinching manner in
which he has repelled the unseemly arrogance and
the escetic presumption of the Sabbatarian party.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of Saturday
and yesterday.
The leading columns of all of them are filled with
articles on the approaching electior, all written in
the absurdly exaggerated strain which seems the
common characteristic of all electioneering addresses,
and of which the celebrated proclamation of " the
three tailors of Tooley-street" may be considered as
the type.
The refusal of the re-actionary majority of the
Chamber to accede to the demand of the PnESIDENT
of the It9public, for an increase in the pay of the non-
commissioned officers of the army is producing its
effect. The army are voting almost to a man for the
democratic candidates. The National says, that of
the soldiers quartered at Nantes, entitled to vote for
Paris, 67 voted for the Socialist list and 19 for the
Conservative. In the Upper and Lower Rhine there
are 2,000 voters for Paris, 1,950 of whom, according
to the National, voted for the Socialists, and only 50
for the Conservatives ; out of 175 Chasseurs of -Vin-
cennes, 172 voted for the Sacial list. At St. Omer
the votes were 27 for the Socialists and 9 for General
DE La. HITTE. At Caen, out of 83, there went 77
for DE FLOTTE ; and at Doriac, out of 74 there were
64 for the Socialist candidates for Paris.

The Committee of the Assembly, to which was re-
ferred the demand of the Procureur of the Republic
for permission to prosecute M. MICHEL (de Bourges)
for language alleged to have been uttered by him at a
meeting of the electors of Paris, has refused the re•
quired permission, on the ground that M. IVIICHEL
(de Bourges) had, in the presence of the Assembly,
solemnly denied that he had ever uttered the words
imputed to him.
A pamphlet on the revision of the Constitution,
having been published by a M. VAUCORBEIr., which
gave great offence to the Socialist party, the Siècle
published an article insinuating that the author was
an employe of the Elysee. On this subject the Ordre
publishes the following communicated note :—" The
Siecle, in giving an account of the pamphlet of M.
VAIICORISEIL, insinuates that that gentleman was one
of the employes of the Elysee, and even the librarian
of the PRESIBBNT of the Republic. The insinuation
may be clever, but it is like many others, completely
void of foundation."

The pamphlet, which recommended a coy d'etat
on the part of the PRESIDENT, has been seized by
order of the authorities, and a prosecution has been
commenced against its author. The Lifoniteur in an-
nouncing these facts republishes the draft of the
organic law which defines the PRESIDENT'S duties,
with the penalties for their violation. Amongst the
acts of high treason for which he might be impeached,
the following are s't down :
" It is a crime of high treason on the part of the Pre-
sident of the Republic—
" No. 5. Should he render himself culpable of acts, cr
mancouvres having for their object to suspend or over-
throw the Conetitution—.

" No. 6. Sholdjiiiihrow obstacles in the way of the
National Asseeahly calculated to paralyse its action, or
impede the progress of its labour,"
This talien in conjunction with the distinct disa-
vowals in the Napoleon of last week of any intention
on one part of the PRESIDENT to violate them, cannot
but be most satisfactory to all the true friends of the
Republic.

the Napoleon declares its intention to support the
candidates of the Electoral Union.

We find in the same journal the following on the
subject of the differences between Prussia and Swit-
zerland :

"The French Government have received from Prus-
sia news of the most reassuring kind. The difficulties
respecting Switzerland have been all removed. On
one side S witzerland exercises a rigorous and firm
vigilance, and on the other, Prussia by her moderation
and good sense proves the value she has placed on the
observations of the French Government have thought
proper to make to her."
" "We are informed," says the SVele, " that M.
RozE, officier de paix, who had, on the 24th of Feb-
ruary, caused the crowns to be removed from the
column of July, was on Thursday evening invited to
resign his place and apply for his retiring pension.
It is added that it is a sub-chief of the police, M.
BALESTRINO, who is to replace him in his functions."
" A new proposition," says the Constitutionnel,
" relative to the Paris and Avignon Railway, is
talked of. MM. I. SeGnix and Co. have, it is said,
offered at their own risk and peril to complete the
line from Lyons to Avignon in the space of three
years on receiving the sum of 236,000,000 f., to be
paid by instalments as the works advance, and
engage besides to keep up the said line for twenty
years at the rate of Sf. per metre, everything
included, except the working materiel, or at 2f. 50c.
fur the iron way alone. it is said that the com-
pany is prepared to furnish a guarantee of six million,
applicable as well to the construction as to the repairs,
and moreover proposes to devote to the guarantee of
the repair all the profits on the construction over and
above 10 per cent. This arrangement, if accepted by
the Government, would necessitate a loan."

The Patrie of Saturday says—
We learn that the Mediterranean squadron, which
had been expected at Toulon, bas received a counter-
order, according to which it was to proceed to Naples,
where Admirable Parceval Dechenes will await th© set-
tlement of the differences between England and the
Greek Government."
The PRESIDENT of the Republic has received an
autograph letter from the Porz, from the contents of
which it would appear that his HoLozss hopes soon
to return to Rome.

The Star frigate has landed at Bona 257 of the in-
surgents of June, 1848. The Gomez, having also on
board a number of these insurgents, has put into
Cadiz, from which port the Pomone sailed on the 2d
inst. for La Plata.

The AsBemblee Nationale says,—" The destination
of General STROGONOF, who had been expected in
France as the representative of Russia, has just been
changed ; he has been sent to Erfurt, to carry the ul-
timatum of the CZAR to the Diet."
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCLIANGE, MARCII 9.
Boulogne and Amiens, 7—Northern of France, 135/8—
Orleans and Bordeaux, 31A—Tours and Nantes, 2%.