The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-06 00:00:00

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The proposition of M. FOULD, to increase the al-
lowance of the PRBSIDENT, was received with shouts
of srlerisive laughter by the Republicans and by the
Legitzmatists. The following is the document which
he read from the tribune :
Bill when the Constituent Assembly, by the
Bi
oGfentit:a7n.lehr)9 12, 1849, voted a provisional sum of
600,000 f. to til'e executive power forfrais de represosta-
lion, it was e'ell understood that if afterwards that
allowance was ie'sufficient, the Legislative Assembly
would have the f.eulty to raise it to the level of the
necessities imposed on the first magistrate of the state
by the constitution, and by the habits of the country.—
(Noise on the Left.)
" The experience of more than a year has demon-
strated this insufficiency in the most absolute manner,
and, it being our duty to inform you of the same, we
now come forward without hesitation to fulfil that duty.
" The exposé des motifs of our constitutional compact
has defined the position, the dignity, and the attributes
of the President of the Republic, in terms which it is
essential to place before you:—
" The Constitution, it is there declared, confers on him
all the attributes which appertain to the head of the
State; it is in him that i 3 personified the action of France;
he knows, he promulgates, and he executes the wishes of
the Republic.
" If the Assembly is the soul of the Republic, he is its
arm; be represents it abroad, he disposes of its forces,
he gives an impetus to the Administration, and directs
it, and he is the protector of order, the defender of so-
ciety, the first magistrate of a powerful and free people,
the superior agent of a democracy. He ought, conse-
q aently, to have at the same time the dignity and the
•
fore., of the acting law.
"It ii that which we have desired in according to
that p 0
.N€l. all the rights which the Constitution at-
taches to .kds eminent position. We assign to him
supreme ran:' kind authority; and his will ought not
to encounter ,at:y resistance, for be commands in
the name of the law. All the movement of the
home and foreign 32ffairs of the State depends on
him, ascends to him; and, in consequence, we de-
sire that he be placed by ``he Republic in the condition
of honour and prerogative v;:iiell is fitting fur him who
represents France with other na:.ions. And if the salary
which we have appropriated to thei:q functions has ap-
eared to us too circumscribed, the reason, in our
opinion, is, that the national treasury ougil..t to provide
for all expenses of representation, the amount ."if which
will certainly exceed what we have fixed for his peil"°l?.
" It was so, gentlemen, that the Committee on the
Constitution expressed itself. The anticipation which it
expressed in these last lines was founded on a judicious
appreciation of the charges which were sure to weigh on
functions so highly placed. It, in fact, belongs to the
dignity of the Republic to give the means of properly
supporting the rank which he occupies to this first
magistrate, representing us, as he does, with other
nations, who is placed by his duties in constant rela-
tions with foreign ambassadors in Franco, with all the
constituted bodies of the state, and who is obliged to
move about constantly, if ho desires to study the wishes
and wants of the country.
" We may add, gentlemen, that political revolutions,
which may change in a day the form of a government,
do not modify with the same facility, and the same
promptitude, the habits of an ancient nation, where cer-
tain habits have taken deep root.
" In our country the chief of the state has always been
considered as a second Providence (loud bursts of
laughter on the Left) constantly disposed to encourage
the arts, to recompense meritorious actions, and to suc-
cour the unfortunate.
"Now, as formerly, you are convinced, gentlemen,
that numerous sufferers deserving of interest raise from
all points of France their supplications towards the su-
perior chief of the Government, who, in the eyes of the
unfortunate, should personify the beneficent action of
the country.
" Ought his hands to remain absolutely closed? Would
it be for the dignity and the interest of the Republic to
reface its representative to an inability cf doing good?
WouM an economy, attended with such a deplorable re-
sult, be a wise one?
" We do not consider it necessary to insist on this
point to prove to the Assembly that the credit inscribed
in the budget ig brought within too narrow limits to
allow the President to fulfil with dignity the obligations
attached to his position.
" It is a question of propriety, of personal apprecia-
tion, which cannot be discussed by details, which each
one must judge of according to his own feeling of dig-
nity, and according to the opinion which he forms of
the duties of the President of the French Republic.
"It is in appealing to this sentiment, gentlemen, that
we propose to you to carry up the allowance of the
Executive Government to the sum of 250,000 f. a mouth.
"It is well understood that by means of this grant the
credit appropriated to the expense of the Elysee will
disappear from the Budget of Public Works.
" Our proposition, gentleman, does not contain any
idea of innovation. The only question is to continue
what has been done for the last eighteen months within
proper limits, and to impose on the state charges for
public utility, to which it would be neither just, nor con-
stitutional, nor possible to continue any longer the cha-
racter of personal sacrifices. Such, gentlemen, is the
object of the Bill which we have the honour to present to
you.,,
The Republican journals, without exception, pro-
test against this attempt to raise the salary of the
PRESIDENT to 10,000 francs per day, and even
the Orleaniste, having secured the reluctant con-
sent of the PRESIDENT to the Electoral Bill,
now refuse to perform their part of the con-
tract by supporting it. Thus speaks the Ordre,
the organ of the Thiers and Odilon Barrot
party :—" The consequences of this proposition,"
says the Ordre, "will not be of such a kind as to
enable the PRESIDENT of the Republic to congra-
tulate himself upon them. Although the evil done
is already almost irreparable, the best course to
adopt would be, even now, to withdraw the Bill,
and rely on the generosity and gratitude of the
nation. Such advice will not, we feel convinced, be
followed, but the debate shall not have reached its
conclusion before the Ministry and PRESIDENT will
have discovered that they cannot congratulate them-
selves on the result. How has it happened, that
there was not a single friend by the side of the
nephew of NAPOLEON to warn him, that of all
undertakings this is the least elevated and the most
compromising ? "
The Legitimatists are opposed to the measure,
and threaten to join the Republicans, so that there is
every probability of the rejection of the proposition.
Count MOLE is suffering from severe illness. He
was seized in the Assembly, and was obliged to be at
once conducted to his residence.
General GOURGAUD having taken upon himself to
reproach M. CLART, the cousin of the PRESIDENT, and
the Colonel of the Ist Legion of National Guards,
with having voted against the Electoral Law, that
gentleman has resigned his command.
Orders have been received at Brest countermand-
ing the levy of seamen which had been ordered.
PARIS BOURSE, JUNE s.—Latest Prices.—Five
per Cents., 93r. 90e. ; Three per Cents., 58f. 30c. ;
Bank Actions, 2,262 f. 50c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, JUNI 5.
Boulogne and Amiens, 64—Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 13N —Dutch Rhenish, 2s/—Northern of
France, 14—Paris and Orleans, 301/2 Paris and Rouen,
22—Paris and Strasbourg, 6%—Rouen and Havre, 9.