The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-20 00:00:00

victims, so as to make them unable to distin-
guish between error and truth, and to adopt
the teachings of any sect rather than the one
only Church of Christ. Slavery was never
carried to such a pitch in France. There it
was rather the slavery of political ideas that I
prevailed than the slavery of the soul with all
its dreadful consequences. The liberty to all,
in 1848, brought out many sects, but though
the minds of the people had been prejudiced
against the Catholic clergy, their intellect
had not been tampered with, nor deluded into
following any other teacher than the idol
set up by their passions. Therefore, every
new sect soon died a natural death. The
people knew, as every sinner knows who
has any conscience left, that if they did not
sanctify the Sunday nor fulfil the duties of
religion, it was because they preferred the
pleasures of this world to God. These teachers
had, therefore, no influence over them. The
people told them plainly that they were only
mountebanks ; that if there was any religion,
it could only be found in the Catholic Church.
The people were honest in 1848, they pro-
claimed full liberty to all, free education,
allowed the parish priest to preach as he liked,
they let him direct the religious instruction of
the children, which until then had been so
much tampered with by the schoolmasters.
Every liberty that France now enjoys can be
traced to the revolution of 1848. The people
were, no doubt, glad to carry out the principles
of equality laid down at the revolution of 1789,
but they had found out that public order and
prosperity cannot flourish without religion,
which is the only power that can curb the pas-
sions. They had learnt that vice and perjury
lead only to the dissolution of society or to
the greatest slavery. That is why they saw
with pleasure the return of the religious orders
and the breaking up of the university mono-
poly. The people proclaimed themselves king
in 1848. Nobody was therefore asked to take
an oath, and all those conscientious men who
had retired from public life in 1830 were able
to accept the places of mayor or governors in
the departments, and to take part in the go-
vernment of public affairs. The general elec-
tions which took place soon after the revolu-
tion of 1848, under the proclaimed law of uni-
versal suffrage, were principally influenced by
the landed proprietors in the country and by
the Republican leaders in the principal towns.
The first National Assembly was composed
of 900 members. They were men of every
shade of opinion, chosen more on account of
the popularity they enjoyed at the time, than
for any fixed political principle. The good
sense of the people had been so tampered with
by theories of liberty, perfectly true taken in
the abstract, but most false in their appli-
cation to a nation where glory and honour are
the mainsprings of life and of activity. A re-
public is no doubt the most liberal of all govern-
ments. But can a country like France settle
down under such an element ? If it could have
done so France would have been a hundred
years in advance over every other nation.
But the impossibility of that renown was shown
as soon as the National Assembly met ; it
was nothing but turmoil. Those exciting scenes
and speeches cannot yet be forgotten. It was
said at the time that the riot of the street had
got into Parliament. The number of opinions
can ideas ofh
uttered in that Assembly were almost equal to
the number of members present ;.some had re-
ligious principles, some republican
1792, others demagogue principles ; every
shade that can exist between good and bad
was represented in that meeting. But the
more they discussed, the more they found out
that reforms cannot be carried out without a
head, and that a leader or chairman is neces-
sary to judge what ought to be done and what
ought to be avoided. They had banished
royalty, so they named a president to be re-
elected every three or four years. This nomi-
nation was followed up by decrees to prevent
the constant assembling of men in the streets
and squares, as everybody felt- the necessity of
order. It was with the greatest difficulty
they made the people leave the Tuileries, of
which, as kings, they had taken possession.
This commencement of order did not please

the red republicans, who ' had made Paris
their centre. Although the Provisional Go-
vernment, which had been formed in the great
commotion, had been replaced by new men,
such as Arago, Gamier-Pages, Marie, Lamar-
tine and Ledru-Rollin, all these men were
wanting in religion, and had no other prin-
ciples than those of equality, and liberty.
But they were honest republicans, and wished
that every class of society should enjoy the
same liberty. It was on the 12th of June,
1848, that Louis Napoleon was returned for
the department of the Seine, and by three
other departments to the National Assembly.
Although banished out of France he was
allowed to return, liberty was absolute during
the republic, and the Connt de Chambord
might have returned as a simple citizen, the
only family excepted was that of the Orleans.
The red republicans would not allow order to
be restored, they had taught the people to live
on the subsidy of the nation, which ended in
the awful struggle of June, 1848, during which
more than 300 barricades were thrown up, and
firing continued in all parts of Paris day and
night during three days. The Departments
came to the assistance of Paris ; the Faubourg
du Temple was carried with cannon and
howitzers • more than 20,000 men were killed
and wounded, amongst them eleven generals.
The Archbishop of Paris was among the killed.
Innumerable prisoners were taken. This
awful struggle was necessary to put down
the red republicans. It was only by such
means that order was restored in Paris.—Cor-
respondent of the Westminster Gazette.