The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-08 00:00:00

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The following is the speech of M. Rouher, on
the La Plata question :
M. Rouher, Minister of Justice, next rose to reply.
M. Thiers, he said, had treated the question in the
double point of view of the commercial interests
and honour of the country. The Government had
never demanded the ratification of the treaty of
Admiral Le Predour. Why, then, discuss the me•
rite of each of its clauses, as if the Cabinet adopted
them ? M. Thiers was perfectly aware that when
Ministers laid down the principle of mediation and
proposed to open new negotiations they could not
discuss the intrinsic value of the treaty. He would,
nevertheless, follow him on that ground, at the
same time that he invited the Assembly to bear
in mind, that the treaty was not submitted
to its ratification ; that the Government demanded
the continuation of a negotiation imposed upon it by
the most vulgar rules of the law of nations, a nego-
tiation that might end in war, which the Cabinet
wished to be serious, without assuming an unbecoming
menacing attitude.—( Murmurs on the loft.) 11. Rouher,
turning towards that side, said—lnterrupt us, gentlemen;
charge us with weakness, endeavour to depreciate the
Government. Do you consider that a proper and
patriotic act? Do you imagine that, when you shall have
enervated the Government by your accusations of inex-
perience and weakness, you will have fortified the
country? No, you will have attempted a new ministe-
rial revolution, which this discussion does not infer;
you will have done nothing else, and the country will
suffer the more.—(Approbation on the right.) I am
here accomplishing the important duty I accepted: if my
strength betrays me, I may regret it, but my courage
will not betray me."—(Bravo on the same side.) M.
Rouher then examined it the honour of France was en-
gaged in the question. He admitted that France
had sought a point di 'appui, at Monte Video. W hen
she declared war against Oribe, an internal in-
surrection overthrew that chief, and three other
wars ensued on the banks of the River Plata,
which were on the point of overpowering Rosas,
when M. Thiers, then President of the Council, gave M.
de Mackau the following instructions:—" Paris, July
21, 1840. You will find yourself in presence of
auxiliaries who were either unwilling or unable
to keep their promises. In the first case,
you owe them nothing ; in the second, they
are entitled to your sympathy, good offices, and even
assistance, to deliver them from the perils that may
menace them, but which are Improbable in a country
where the vanqUished parties and the conquerors find it
so difficult to meet, But.they cannot require from you
that you should continue indefinitely, on their account,
struggle, in which we did not involve them, which they
spontaneously and willingly commenced themselves—
and for the success of which they demanded and ob-
tained our co-operation without rendering us as many
services as they received from us. Nevertheless, if they
succeed in negotiating with President Roses, you will
enter into communication with them, offer them your
friendly intervention, and save them, in a word, as much
as possible, from the consequences of the civil war they
themselves originated.
M. Thiers here interrupted the Minister, and said that
the parties above referred to were not the Monte Vi-
deans, but the insurgents of Corrientes and Entre Rios,
commanded by Lavelle.
M. Rouher replied that be could not accept the expla-
nation of M. Thiers—that bis recollection must fail him;
and that, having read the entire document, he had not
perceived in it the distinction made by the Hon. Gen-
tleman. _

M. Thiers nevertheless insisted, but at the suggestion
of the President he permitted the Minister to proceed.
M. Rouher said that the vivacity of the interruption
of M. Thiers little surprised him. The question had
been his own for the last twelve years.—(" It is the
question of the country! not mine," retorted M. Thiers.)
He was totally disinterested in the affair ; he would
examine it fairly and impartially, and inquire if the
national dignity was really compromised. M. Thiers,
in 1840, when war with Europe was impending, did not
hesitate to follow his convictions, and demand a repara-
tion for the insults offered our countrymen in La Plata.
He, however, did not complicate the question by others
relative to Monte Video and the presidency of Oribe.
This is so true, that when Rosas was nearly overpowered,
M. de Mackau signed the treaty of the 29th of October,
1840, on terms perhaps more favourable than those
laid down in his instructions. The other grievances subse-
quent to 1840 have since been investigated. In 1844,
M. Thiers demanded an inquiry, to which the Cabinet
replied by reading dispatches from M. Pichon, Consul-
General, proving that the latter had always resisted the
armament of the French, and that he had even cautioned
them that if they took up arms they would lose their
nationality, and incur the penalties enacted by the civil
code. M. Rouher next contended that France was only
bound to guarantee the independence of the Republic of
the Uruguay, agreeably to the stipulations of the treaty
of October, 1840. That obligation the Cabinet would
fulfil. He next demonstrated the inutility of an inquiry
in France. Its proper place was on the banks of La
Plata. More confidence should be-granted the admirals
and agents of France on those shores than the parties
interested, who would be examined here. The dis-
patches of Admiral Le Predour and other naval officers
agreed in stating that the foreigners, and in particular
the French residents, at Buenos Ayres, enjoyed protec
tion and a great liberty, because they did not meddle in
politics; that the armistice was religiously observed on
both sides, and that Oribe evinced the utmost modera-
tion and good faith in the execution of the different
clauses of the treaty of the 24th May last. M. Thiers
had said that Suuth America offered France a consider.
able market. He might rest assured that the Cabinet
would not compromise her influence in that quarter by
abandoning Monte Video, the commercial importance of
which was independent of that of Buenos Ayres. The
populatioi of those countries being Catholic will always
give the preference to Catholic France. The trade of
the River Plata with France is a necessity, an imperious
necessity for the people inhabiting its banks,
syeeboewctcoacearovuenmexsarez:
they are devoted to agricultural
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ing of cattle, and stand is need of French and European
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treaty of Admiral Le Predthouerre,
were to hearken to their wishes it would ratify the
video, who were like • wise entitled to the protection of
France. The Assembly should wait to come to a deci-
sion; a solemn opportunity will
regards the Cabinet, it pledged soon present itself. As
negotiation and energetically itself to continue the
t() protect the French
settled on both territories. The
Brazils are interested
in the independance of the
Banda„sec Oriental, but have
nothing to apprehend from
•"
do at home. Was he not oblriis, who had sufficient to
obliged to watch General
to
Urquize, who is endeavouring constitute an indepen-
dent state? It should not be forgotten
Paraguay and the Oriental Republic
either that the.
s
from the Argentine Republic. Te2l e wretched
hseparate the
militaryßraisa
l
means placed at the disposal of Rosasrre by M. re
were, on the other hand, little calculated to enable him
to realise his supposed ambitious views
on that country.
Referring them to the projected expedition,
on
f M..Rouher
said that the neutrals would, as
demand to be allowed to tradecontinueathoereroccasZtnl;
Buenos Ayres. The English interest r •
might not be
aroused by a first attack, but if the•the
blockade eontieued too long, that interest
occupation or
erest might put for-
ward pretensions, and this is a reason not to embark
rashly in a war which was not immediately and
anxiously required by the honour of France. In con-
clusion, the. Minister declared that the Cabinet would
not ratify the treaty, nor abandon Monte Video, nor re-
cede before the consequences of the war, but
he would
observe that there were duties to be fulfilled before com-
ing to that extremity. After the close of the negotia-
tions the Assembly would be called to investigate the
conduct of the Ministers, who wouldexplainit - •
with the
same frankness they had exhibited throughout the pre-
sent discussion.
The Assembly afterwards rejected five or six amend-
ments to the resolution of the Committee, one of which,
moved by M. Bouvet, proposed that the settlement of
the question be left to the joint mediation of Great
Britain, France, and the United States; and adjourned
at half-past seven.
The debate was to be continued on Monday.
The publication of the note which we have quoted
from the Napoleon, and which appears also as corn-
rnuniqui in the Patrie and Moniteur du Soir, has
occasioned a great sensation, particularly among the
Legitimatists, to two journals of which party it
appears to have been communicated by mistake. The
Opinion Publique, one of the organs of the Legiti-
matists, and which, during the ascendancy of the
De Falloux party, was wont to be favoured with
Ministerial communications, has the following :
" The following note has been communicated to us.
It comes from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. [The
Opinion Publique hero quotes the note of the Napo-
leon.] We cannot but remark the singular phrase
underlined in the original, and which we have printed
in italics—' So long as the Ministers have the confidence
of the President, they meet wills no check.' At are
Palace of the Elysie that may be possible, but at
the Legislative Palace it is quite another thin .g.
The Assembly has, up to this time, passed for being a
power. Who makes the laws ?—is it the President ?
Who votes the taxes ?—is it the President ? Who
regulates the number of the Ministers ?—is it the Pre-
sident ? Who can put the Ministers on their trial ?-4
is it the President ? Who can put the President on his.
trial ?—is it himself ? Louis XIV., it is true, said,
The State—it is I;' but Louis XIV. made head against-
the whole of Europe; he si ned, after twenty victories,.
the glorious treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle, Nimeguen, and.
Utrecht he bent the fleets of England and Holland ; '
he triumphed over the armies of Spain and Italy ; ha •
had Ministers who bore the names of Colbert, Louvois,.
de Lionne, and de Torcy ; he said at the end of his.
reign, " The Pyree6.2B no longer exist. He did not.
thick that Rosas was a too powerful enemy for France..
A little less vanity in words, or a little more pride its
action, if you please."
The Opinion Publique then adds—
" Whilst writing the above lines, a person presente d
himself at our office, as sent by the Minister of Foreig n
Affairs, to declare, as not apocryphal, but simply ett-
tracted from a journal entituled the Napoleon, the notte
which we published; which- the Gazette quoted as aw
extract from the abovenamed journal, which the Mord!