The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-08 00:00:00

thirlx lErittion

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

FRANCE.
• The President of the Republic proceeded yesterday,
ats half-past 12 o'clock, to open the Session of the
Council-General of Agriculture, Commerce, and
Manufactures, which is holding its sittings in the
Palace of the Luxembourg. The President went in
' an open carriage, having on his right the Minister
'of Foreign Affairs, and in front the Minister of
'Agriculture and Commerce, and of the Interior
The other Ministers followed in separate carriages,
' and the last was occupied by the orderly officers and
aides-de-camp. The Prefect of Police also accom
periled the President. The usual escort of dra-
goons completed the cortege. On the President
' entering the Court of tne Luxembourg, the
' bmid of the Glst Regiment of the Line
ktrucl up the well-known air composed by Queen
Tiortense, " Partant pour la Syrie." The crowd
was composed of more respectable looking persons
• than usually forms such assemblages, and received
the President with much respect. The majority
• cried " Viva Napoleon !" a few shouts of "Vive la
• 'Riyublique !" were also heard. Oa the whole his
reception was flattering. The President opened the
- proceedings by a speech, of which the substance is as
• follows :—He showed the necessity of all intelligent
' men combining together in the present circumstances.
• Their task was never more difficult than now. The
• lest way to render powerless what was false was to
'adopt what was useful, after the convulsions of the
'last two years. The Government had already afforded
' the first succour by relieving property from the
• burden of 27,000,000 f., as announced by the
Minister of Finance, and by the Bill on the re-
'-ferm of the mortgage system. Further measures
intended by the Government, its renunciation
of a part of the duty on registration, and
• a new project relative to credit, will afford
real advantages to property without exposing
•the country to the dangers of paper money. Some-
thing should also be done to diminish the price of
sugar, without prejudice, however, to colonial or domes-
• tic produce. The want of credit was a grievous injury
• to the agricultural interests of the country ; uncertainty
'as regards the future paralyzed all operations, kept
•down prices, and occasioned an immense loss to
agriculture—a loss out of all proportion to
'the remedies already suggested. Instead of in-
•dulging in vain theories, men of sense should unite
their efforts in imparting strength to the Govern-
ment for the maintenance of order, and respect
• for the law ;—this was the surest way of benefit-
ing the credit of the country. Attention to the
general interests of the country did not prevent
the Government from paying particular attention
to the state of the working classes. Savings banks,
provisions for old age, mutual relief, salubrity of the
-lodgings of the working classes, were the objects to
which, until the decision of the Assembly was
'known, the Government would direct attention. " An
assembly like yours," concluded the President, " com-
lsoied of men so enlightened and so competent, will,
'I trust, be fertile in happy results. Free from party
spirit, which always paralyzes the best intentions,
'you have only one object in view—the good of the
country. Examine, then, with all the care you are
capable of, the most practical questions—those that
are of immediate application. For my part, I shall,
with the aid of the Assembly, leave nothing undone.
But I cannot too often repeat—' Let us hasten; time
presses ; let not, I beseech you, the progress of evil
passions outstrip our progress.'" This speech was ap-
plauded throughout, and particularly the concluding
sentence.
The Napoleon alludes, as follows, to the "manifes-
tation" of Monday last, of which the President of
'the Republic was the object :—"A great noise has
been made in the papers of the pretended insults
offdred to the President of the Republic while passing
through the Faubourg St. Antoine, on his return
from the review at Vincennes. The• details given on
Pis subject are inexact. The passage of the Pre-
sident in the midst of that populous quarter was, as
usual, saluted by cries of Vire la Riesublique
' Vice Napoleon !' In certain groups. however, easily
.recognised, the cries of Vive la Republique I' were
uttered in a menacing manner. The crowd was
immense, in consequence of the annual fair, which
that day had attracted vast numbers of people ; but
'nothing hostile or insulting was remarked in those
shouts. As to what has • been said about outrages
and personal violence, of which it was stated the at-
tendants of the President were the victims, they
merely consisted in the fact of a tilbury driven by
two servants not in livery having been stopped by
groups, and• one individual who wished to seize the
horses' reins having received a blow of a whip, the
interference of the Berg ens de ville became necessary
to d•s-agage the persons who were driving the til-
bury."

'The Napoleon touches on the very grave subject
the revision of the constitution. It invites all
" sound minds, the intelligent men of all parties, to
:examine in good faith, and to indicate with
precision, the articles of the constitution that
are susceptible of amelioration. It is not for
ul," it saws, " to. present the programme of those
articles. 14 t them be examined without reserve,
without recrimination, without unjust suspicions,
and we shall take a part in the controversy with zeal."
'The Napolon intimates that, in case the approaching
election for Paris be of the same kind as on the 10th
AlArch, a revision of the electoral law will become ne-
cessary. The paragrspli is worth giving :—" An elec-
toral law which would confine to produce such results is
already judged. Society must demand its reform. The
Cmstitution has only proposed the principle of election
—the law axes its conditions. It is from a new law
that society will have to demand precautions and
guarunteess against a similar surprise. A representa-
tive of the Morbihan (M. Larochejacquelin). pro-
posed, a few days since, to put the Republic or the
Monarchy to the vote. It was too late. What will
be pnt to the vote on the 28th in Paris is Socialism
and the Law of Election. The vote of the 28th will
condemn the one or the other. We may look forward
to fierce attacks on this in the Socialist journals of
to- morrow."