The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-12 00:00:00

LONDON,

Westminiter ; the alternate prodigality and niggard-
liness ; the extravagance diTlayed in some instances
of scarcely any importance whatever, and the parsi-
mony shown in others where munificence would have
been eminently justifiable. Among other proposals,
for example, which have been made by Lord LINCOLN
and others, and which have been hitherto
shamefully neglected, is the oae for throwing down
the cluster of houses at Spring-gardens, and opening
the magnificent avenue of the Mall to Charing-
cross. Were this now accomplished, and the
marble arch removed to the extremity of the
Mall fronting Trafalgar-square, a direct line might
be opened along the Strand from Buckingham Palace,
one of the noblest improvements that could well be
effected in any portion of the metropolis.
Our attention at present, however, is turned almost
exclusively to the plans for the construction of a per-
manent bridge at Westminster; and earnestly is
it to be hoped that the site for the new bridge may
be somewhat lower down the river—firstly, because
the site occupied by the old bridge affords no security
to the foundations—secondly, because from its
proximity to the new Houses of Parliament it inter-
feres materially with the effect produced by that
sumptuous edifice—thirdly, because the necessity for
building a temporary bridge might by that
means be altogether foregone, the old bridge pre-
senting ample facilities for the continuance of traffic
during the alterations—fourthly, because the change
would, with a trifling additional expenditure, facili-
tate the more comprehensive schemes for the laying
open of new thoroughfares throughout Lambeth, as
well as Westminster. It is most fervently to be hoped
that at a period so peculiarly propitious as the present
the, Legislature may not be deterred from countenanc-
ing these noble schemes of improvement out of a
spirit of over-economy, a spirit ill befitting the
wealth of the British capital, and altogether unbe-
coming to the proverbial enterprise of Englishmen.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The amendment carried by the ultra-Legitimatists,
aided by some of the ultra-Socialists, which enacts
that every writer in a public journal shall sign his
name to the article he writes, sill most probably seal
the fate of the Ministerial proposition for the destruc-
tion of the liberty of the press, by ensuring its re-
jection as an ensemble.

The Journal des Dibals, which cannot be accused
of any regard for the liberty of the press, thus speaks
of this amendment :

" We quite agree in the desire to guard against the li-
centiousness of the press. We do not wish for inviolability,
but we think that all reasonable guarantees already exist.
The gerant is now answerable fur libels. Is not his re-
sponsibility sufficient? In all the respectable journals the
gerant and the editor are identified. The gerant lodges the
fourth of the caution-money; and, moreover, as he is at the
same time leading editor, he is in point of fact the sole
and only editor, answerable for libel when such is com-
mitted, seeing that it is the publication which constitutes
the offence. Recce the responsibility of the gerant is
not a falsehood or a fiction, but a real and serious gua-
rantee. Would the obligation to sign articles aid to
this guarantee? Not in the least. They who say, then,
that the g, rant is cot the sole and actual libeller, when
they talk of the public insulters, from whose face the
mask must be torn, they only prove their complete ig
norance of the system of journalism. The writers who
deserve the name of public insulters are not of the order
who lore the anonymous. Such writers revel in noise
and scandal. It is just the public insulter who signs his
articles; he writes tor scandal, and puts his name down
that the sc*ndal may be the greater. He signs, too, to
relieve the gerant fro?, responsibility, if not efore the
law, at least before public opinion."
The effect of the adoption of this amendment will
as the Ordre justly observes, to drive away or to
embarrass men of scrupulous, or perhaps timid, dis-
positions, who, holding a certain position in the
world, would fear to engage personally in rude con-
troversy, and who, owing to their influence or their
renown, would be obliged to act with a certain deli-
cacy towards others. On the other hand, it offers a
sort of prize in the shape of noise, eclat, and scandal
to novices and persons of audacity. It opens, too, a
source of fraud to desperate men, who would not
hesitate to sell their signatures, and at the same time
would give an ever-ready pretext to the police to
search the offices of a journal. It would create, in
fine, inextricable confusion.
The speech of M. VICTOR HuGo told with tre-
mendous effect on the members of the parti-pretre,
who winced under its sarcasm, and howled like wild
beasts under the lash of the tamer. M. EMILE DE
GIRARDIN has calculated that VICTOR HUGO was in-
terrupted no less than 30,000 times by the members
of the parti-pretre, a proof of the telling effect which
that speech produced on those lor whose especial be-
nefit it was intended.

M. LEVERRILA has presented the following propo-
sition to the Assembly; it is a scheme to enable the
Government to deport from Paris any individual they
way choose. Laving destroyed universal suffrage, na-
tional education, and the liberty of the press, the reac-
tionaries now attack the liberty of the individual.
" Art. 1. The residence in the department in which
the National Assembly holds its sittings is inter-
dicted to those who, not being domiciled in the depart-
ment, cannot prove the possession of the means of ex-

" Art. 2. The residence in the department in which
the National Assembly holds its sittings is in inter-
dicted:—l. To those who shall have been placed under
the surveillance of the high police; 2. To those who
shall have been condemned for mendicity or vagabond-
age; 3. To those who shall have been condemned in
virtue ( f Art. 3.

" Art. 3. Those who, being liable to the interdiction
stated in Art. 1. shall be found in contravention of it,
shall be punished with au imprisonment of fr,m one
month to six months.
" Art. 4. Those who shall act in contravention of
Art. 2, shall be liable to an imprisonment of from six
months to five years."
The Gazette de France announces that the Comte
DE CHAMBORD (the Legitimatist Pretender) will be
at Aix-la-Chapelle in the course of a few days, and
suggests to the Legitimatists the propriety of a pil-
grimage on the occasion. The Legitimatist move-
ments are regarded by the PRESIDENT with consider-
able apprehension.
PARIS BOURSE, JULY 11.—Latest Prices.—Five
per Cents., 95f. 40c.; Three per Cents., 57f. 40c.;
Bank Actions, 2,265 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, JULY 11.
Boulogne and Amiens, 7Ys —Luxembourg, 2 s—Paris and
Strasbourg, 6)b—Sambre and Meuse, 2:%.