The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-16 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
PARIS,
The foreigner living in Paris cannot trelpir
struck with the admirable and pateinaollall:l2o3ti=
which France iegovernell." The' b!life
source of power is the Emperor,t7h* ‘Nvi.4°
enlightened policy;
of
ently pursued for years, be
li-
=pith* And the tar-
get at the same time for a thousand malevolent
attacks, is now triumphantly stamped with the seal
of neoereas, and of the interests of humanity. The
policy of the empire, said the Emperor long ago, is
peace ; and in the Universal Exposition of 1867 the
civilized world has received from the master spirit
who planned its details a lesson and a proof graven
in characters more durable than iron or marble, in
characters of living light, upon the intelligence of
nations, before which the clouds of ignorance, and
bigotry, and suspicion disperse like mists before the
sun. There have been many Expositions, but never
one like that of 1867. • It showed the monarchs of
the four quarters of the globe that all petty and
personal interests must yield before the march of
civilization—before the welfare of peoples ; and the
lesson came with tenfold force from the monarchical
ruler of one of Europe's greatest and grandest na-
tions ; and the war demon spread his wings, and fled
away from before the face of the Angel of
Peace. When unoccupied with the cares of
State, where is the Emperor of the French to be
found? Amongst his people, founding this in-
stitution, supporting that -- driving round his
capital in an unassuming little phaeton, noting
down this or that alteration to be effected, asso-
ciating with him unceasingly in every work of well-
doing or progress his only son, that he may, in after
years, perpetuate the policy of his father and the
grandeur of France. For long years no country
looked with greater suspicion upon the policy of the
Emperor than England, and the institution of the
Volunteers took its rise mainly from this circum-
stance ; but where now in Great Britain, and by
whom is the policy of Napoleon better appreciated
than by those very Volunteers, the intelligent mid-
dle classes, who form the most powerful element of
that mighty nation, and who cannot but see what
was long since foreseen by the Emperor of France,
that the position of those two great monarchies, in
regard to human interests and human civilization,
utterly preclude the possibility of their clashing in
a useless war, and that if a contest of any kind
is to arise between France and England, it should
be a contest as to which of the two should go farther
in the cause of progress ; and that which may be
said of France in regard to England may with
equal justice and reason be said of her in
respect to the other powerful nations of Europe ;1
that for the future it must be a moral weapon with
which the disputes of nations shall be decided, no
matter what provision or panoply of war they may
amuse themselves in preparing. Passing on from
the Emperor to his Ministers, we find the same
principles of liberality and progress ; and the bril-
liant sophistries of the lawyers and newspaper
editors of the Opposition evaporate before the calm,
sound sense and close cogent reasoning of the Minister
of the Interior, the Minister of State, and of Mar-
shal Neil, like feathers blown before the whirl-
wind. I was much amused this morning in casting
my eyes over the columns of the Siecle, which has
hitherto been carping incessantly over the proposed
measure with regard to the law of the press, to find
the following paragraph enumerating the principal
advantages of the present measure :—" The neces-
sity for permission to establish a newspaper exists
no longer ; the stamp duty has been reduced ; the
maximum of penalties lowered ; there are no more
admonitions ; the Judges have no longer the power of
depriving a person condemned for newspaper offence
of his electoral rights for five years. En somme nous
regardoins le regime de 1852 conzinelavantageusemeht
modi fie. I think this littlesummary, coming as it does
from one of thebitterest supporters of the Opposition,
speak volumes as to the liberal tenour of the mea-
sure which has now nearly passed into law ; and
unless these gentry wish to obtain an unbridled
licence as regards newspaper literature, than which
there is no more powerful nor dangerous weapon of
attack, Ido not know what they want. Perhaps
they wish for the return of the days of red caps,
and that pleasant feeling of insecurity which cha-
racterised the reign of terror ; think a human head
on the top of a pike a very pretty ornament, and
breaking the baker's windows and hanging thebakers
themselves, the shortest and most agreeable, from
of helping themselves to a four-pound loaf. There
is a popularity hunting, self-interested sort of feel-
ing which tinctures strongly of the oratory of such
pleaders as Jules Favre, and others of his stamp,
which always reminds one of O'Gibbet's advice to
Titmouse, in the cm of the lection Petition.