The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-10 00:00:00

FRENCH CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.

SITTING OF THE STH APRIL.
MEETINGS FOR ELECTION PURPOSES.

In a discussion regarding Election Petitions, after
several speakers had been heard,

M. DE CONNY said, we hear unceasingly of the
influence of the public authorities, but this influence
is legitimate when it does not exceed its bounds.
The freedom of elections loudly demanded that li-
berty is secured by our laws; but - I will .ask, whe-
ther it is not attacking it to allow the formation of
these Associations, which usurp a power not granted
by the laws ? (On the left, "ah ! ah ! there we
are ! Listen ! listen !) These Associations, which
I shall be intitled to call illegal, far from being au-
thorised, they are formally proscribed by the laws.
I will ask, by what right they are formally assembled
in the midst of the capital ? In virtue of what laws
do they appoint their President, their Scrutineers,
their Secretary, deliberate on the most important
questions of political order, and call on the depart-
ments of France to imitate such examples ? I ac-
knowledge, that even laying aside the recollections,
which may revive in France the fatal organization of
such associations, lam alarmed at the clangers which
they may present to public order, which is the first
necessity of society, and in such associations is the
spirit of anarchy. We hear that it is to oppose the
influence of power that these associations are formed,
which, though called legal by the parties, even when
they violate the country, and assume the strange
title of Constitutional Association. But let us come
to our. explanation of the nature of the influence
which, in a monarchy, the public authority is calcu-
lated to exercise in the elections. It ought to be
legitimate, open, public. The instructions from the
public authority ought to be printed in the Moniteur.
I will remove from my mind a supposition which
was once noticed in our Parliamentary records,where
a Department, carried away by the winds of passion,
chose as one of its Deputies a man whose name
was connected with the most execrable of offences—
a crime, the recollection and shame of which can
never be effaced by all human power. No doubt so
horrible a phenomenon will not be presented a second
time; no department of France will choose for its
representative a man covered with the blood of his
king, presenting himself amid you, and with his head
in his hand, demanded his hire.—(A number of
voices, "Oh ! ho ! what language !" The Presi-
dent with much difficulty restored silence.)—No,
resumed 'M.. Conny, that scandal will not be pre-
sented to France. If ever he presented himself to
us, the shouts at the indignity which would at the
sightl of him, burst forth on all sides, would teach all
Europe, that the presence of a regicide shall never
defile our benches.—(Repeated murmurs.)—But
cannot other circumstances present themselves in
which the exertion of power ought to be active in
the Electoral Colleges ? If a man, who should
have attached to his name the most deplorable cele-
brity amid our civil discords, were presented for
election—if such a candidate had, at another period,
demanded the proscription of brothers, children,
women, old men—if he had, in the Saturnalia of the
18th Fructider, required the exile of his colleagues,
and had sent them to die in the deserts of Synama-
ria—[whispering in the Chamber]—if, persisting in
his sentiments of hatred against the Bourbons, after
so much clemency, the year 1815 found him still
proscribing that august race—ought the Public Au-
thority to remain a careless spectator of such a scan-
dal, for what else could it be called ? I do not
pretend to give lessons to the Ministry; but if I had
the honour to be Prefect of a Department where
such a presentation took place, this. is the way I would
act ;—I would print some thousands of the bloody
pages where are inscribed the proscriptions and the
votes of the candidates of 1828 [on the left " And
the Charter !"]. I would have it placarded on all
the walls of the town [on the left, " And Article 11.
of the Charter !"]. I would send them into the
villages and the hamlets [on the left, with greater
warmth, "And the Charter which interdicts all ex-
amination of opinions and votes !" A long inter-
ruption: After something like silence had been re-
stored, by the frequent ringing of the President's
bell, M. Conny proCeededl.—l would say to the
people, " These are the claims of the man who
would be a Deptity of France; it is for you to judge
whether he can present himself before his King
to take the oath to defend him, as a loyal Deputy
ought to do." Profoundly convinced that legiti-
mate royalty is the work of safety to France, and that
if it disappeared all would be lost for ever and that we
should be thrown into a sea without shores, we have
granted to royalty a respect which misfortune has ren-
dered still more sacred. On the tomb of our fathers have
we sworn to be faithful to the Bourbons.—(Bravos
on the right.)—lf—which God forbid, for we raise
our most fervent prayers against it--new tempests
should disturb the repose of the country, we should
be under arms to defend legitimacy.--(Great agita-
tion in the Assembly.)

M. ALEXANDRE DE LABORDE mounted the Tri-
bune—(Profound silence) :—Gentlemen, I mount
this tribune filled with indignation at what I have
just heard.—(Exclamations on the right; " Yes,
yes," on the left.)---Yes, gentlemen, as a Deputy of
Paris, and a declared partizan of the spirit of associa-
tion. What mean this constant talking of revolu-
tion, and reviving recollections ? Who thinks of
renewing past excesses which every one deplores ?
But, among those is whom this intention is attributed,
are there no sufftrers from that same revolution? 1
ask, are there many Royalists in this Chamber, or
out of this Chamber, who have lost their father, and
half their family on the scaffold, for the causcof the
Bourbons ; who have lest an income of 1,200,0001.
by the revolution—who have fought five campaigns,
and received ten wounds for the Royalist cause, and
who, as the reward of all their sacrifices, have asked
nothing of the Bourbons at their return, in order to
preserve their independence, and to be able to speak
to you at this tribune as I do.—(Bravo, bravo, on
the left ; profound silence on the right) ? Let us
grant to the Revolution the praises which its
fortunate results merit, at the same time de-
ploring the evils it has caused, and then we
shall all agree as to this painful question. Do
we not know that we owe to the Revolution the state
of prosperity, riches, and glory which France has at-
tained, and even the institutions which now govern
us, and which are its consequences ? Who would
wish to restore France to what it was forty years
agO ? Who is the Royalist who would wish to
descend from Austerlitz to Rosbach, and from the
religious tolerance granted by the Charter to St.
Barthelemi ? Who would descend from our present
Code to the Feudal Law, and her torture; even
from the late Ministry to Madame Dubarry, the
Abbe Teray (prolonged movement in the Assembly.)
Now the most precious of the advantages secured
by the Charter of Louis XVIII is, no doubt, the
intervention of the community into its own interests.
That principle established by the Charter, has, how-
ever, been restrained by it ; not only has it confined
It to 630,000 electors, out of a population of 32
millions, but it has wished that these 80,000 should
not be the choice of their fellow-citizens, and that
their qualification should depend on age and the
census. They have thus rather a duty to fulfil
than a right to exercise. Then is it not fair that
they should have the widest latitude for fulfilling
this duty, for making use of this right on which
such great interests depend ? Hitherto what have
been the means of exercising these powers.
There are three sorts. The first is, by yielding
blindly to the Government, which composes the
Electoral Lists, which appoints the President
of the College, the Provisionary Bureau, which
openly points out the Candidate, forces the Public
Functionaries, and those over whom it exercises
any influence, to vote for it ; which them gives a
Chamber like that of 1824.—a Chamber foreign to
the interests it ought to represent, because it is not
an emanation of it. [Some voices of the Centre,
" How, then ?"—On the Left, " Yes, very well ;
that's the fact."]—The second means is, of referring
to a certain number of Electors who deserved con-
fidence, and who would devote their time and their
understanding to direct the people's choice in this