The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-21 00:00:00

THE SUN,

Obenti3l# `ate

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1850.

" Prince Louis NAPOLEON rides well"—such is the
estimates formed by France of her chief magistrate.
The circumstance is not less fantastic than charac-
teristic. It accords admirably with the general bear-
ing of the nation, of whom it has been said that they
would dance over an earthquake. Other men have
been chosen, it is true, for less heroic qualities.
HATTON was favoured by ELIZABETH, because he
could " foot it " with more than ordinary agility.
OLIVIER was beloved by Louis XI , because he hap-
pened to be, in more senses than one, a decidedly
" clever shaver." GEORGE IV. toak an interest in
BEUMMELL, scarcely less for the adroit disposition
of his neckcloth than for his carriage as a consummate
gentleman. Innumerable instances of infatuation not a
jot less remarkable might be adduced from the historical
records of humanity. Yet such corroborative evi-
dence would most assuredly be superfluous, consider-
ing that every person, more or less, can from their
own remembrance find proofs of the frequency of the
principle recently carried out in the popular accept-
ance of Louis NAPOLEON. Two years have elapsed
since his election, on the 10th of December, and the
unanimous opinion of the community who then ele-
vated him to the supreme rank of President is—that
"he rides well !" The estimate, we grant, is pecu-
liarly characteristic ; but apart from the circumstance
of its being in this respect a genuine bon mot, we
cannot but regard it as an expression not
merely unjust towards the Prince, but absolutely
ungrateful. Louis NAPOLEON does something more
than ride well. Witness this the tranquillity se-
cured to France during no less than four-and-twenty
months of his government ; witness this the increasing
prosperity of the country in most of its industrial de-
partments ; witness this the constitutional working of
the republican form of administration, preservative at
once of order and democracy, of freedom and of mo-
rality ; witness this the re-establishment of those
only secure and reliable foundations of society which
had hitherto appeared to be crumbled away under
the pressure of undue license and exagge-
rated fanaticism, under the depressing influence
of Socialist and Communist ideas. The condition of
France at the present moment, bearing in mind the
deteriorating effects of the Orleans system, immedi-
ately prior to the revolution of February, and pre-
serving yet more in recollection the ruinous conduct
of the anarchists and Red Republicans immediately
after that great political explosion—the condition of
France we say at this moment (bearing those things
in consideration) is a sufficient testimony that the
Prince LOINS NAPOLEON is capable of something
more than merely riding well ; that he is sagacious
as well as accomplished, a statesman as well as an
equestrian.

Speaking bluntly, however, the phrase to which
we have alluded as being just now on the lips of most
Frenchmen, is but another evidence of their fickle-
ness. It reveals a disposition on the part of some, at
least, to upset the rule exercised over the young Re-
public by the Elysee through the dexterous employ-
ment of that most formidable of all weapons among
the Parisians —ridicule or caricature. Let the laugh
be once raised against a man in power and he is
effectually " done for" among the intriguers of that
metropolis. It was the constant charivari directed
against old " pear-head" that led as much
as anything to the downfall of the last monarchy.
It was the jocularity with which the political arti-
zans collected together in the Luxembourg were
treated that caused the abandonment betimes of their
great scheme for the organization of labour, and the
ultimate expatriation of its originator. It was the
admirable jlke against LAMARTINE, that he was
nothing less then an incendiary transformed into a
fireman, which prepared the way for the dissolu
Lion of his authority, an authority at one
time nothing less than that usually wielded by
a Dictator. So it has been in innumerable
other instances among Frenchmen, and so it will
doubtless continue to be as long, at least, as their

temperament remains unchanged. Aware of this the
mere witty among the intriguers at Paris have been
long cudgelling their brains for the detection of a
vulnerable part in the character of the PRESIDENT, or,
rather, an assailable point in his proceedings. Un-
fortunately for them the task has been somewhat
difficult, for hitherto the PRINCE has in no way ren-
dered himself ridiculous. He may have, and doubt-
less has, blundered in the direction of his Govern-
ment, but hitherto, at least, we repeat, he has not
rendered himself ridiculous. Indeed this is avowedly
the most conspicuous merit of his Administration.
_ _

it has tended not a little to surprise the majority of
observers to find one who had previously so very
often laid himself open to the shafts of derision
evincing in every act and expression the soundest
judgment. That a knight of the Eglinton tournament,
the " Pretender" at Strasbourg, and the invader at

----
Boulogne, should, on ascending the Presidential
- -

chair of the French Republic, in no one par-
ticular afford an opportunity for the skill of
the caricaturist, must be remembered among
not the least bewildering facts recorded
in the annals of the " great nation." Yet such has
indisputably been the consequence of the memorable
election of the 10:11 of December, insomuch that we
are compelled in justice to remember the former
events in the career of LOUIS NAPOLEON, such as bis
proceedings at Strasbourg and Boulogne, as nothing
inure nor less than the sowing of his political wild-
oats ! On his elevation to the chicf magistracy
of the Republic, the PRINCE had satisfied
his wild humours to the full, and had not only
sobered down and reformed from an adven-
turer into a statesman, but had accomplished this,
be it remembered, with the acquisition of experience.
Whatever, therefore, the joke-mongers of Paris may
say with a view to diminish the respect inspired by
his acts towards his judgment—it must be confessed,
honestly and explicitly confessed, that LOUIS NAPO•
on the Boulevards,
LEON " rides well," not merely