The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-30 00:00:00

LONDON.
WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 30, 1829.

We had intended to have made some observa-

tions upon the important decision of the French
Judges in favour of the Liberty of the Press ;
but the observations of our enlightened Paris
Correspondent spare us the trouble to-day. We
cannot, however, let this opportunity'passovithout
expressing our deep regret that the French should
have so just cause for exultation over a coi.ntry in
which the freedom of the Press was hitherto sup-
posed to be its brightest ornament, as well as the
best safeguard of personal liberty. The liberty of
free discussion was the distinctive characteristic of
England, and as such were her sons honoured
among the nations. But can they hold up
their heads now, as formerly, :and challenge
the same proud respect ? We fear not ; but let
the following communication answer :

" PARIS, DEC. 27.

" The chief subject of conversation at this
moment in the society of Paris is the remark-
able coincidence between the two series of pro-
secutions which have just taken place on the part
of the Ministry of France and England against
some of the conductors of the public Press on the
capitals of the two countries ; and on comparing
the result of the two series of trials, it is, I as-
sure you no small topic of exultation, among the
great majority of the well-informed classes in this
country, to find themselves in a situation which
they pronounce to be so decidedly superior to
that of Englishmen, with reference both to the
power of the Minister and to the general free-
dom of discussion.

" Of the late trials in France, that which was
directed against the French Courier, founded
on some observations which occurred in a criti-
cism on a historical painting of M. Girard, the
subject of which had been taken from the Bible,
appears to be regarded as the most decided
triumph for the cause of freedom. The
writer had said that if it were possible for
the frail material of the picture to survive the
Christian religion it would still, independently
of its scriptural origin, be a subject of sublime
contemplation. This was regarded by the ad-
visers of the Crown as an indirect attack on the
religion of the State ; and on its being brought
before the Court of First Instance, the con-
ductors of the Paper were sentenced to punish-
ment by fine and imprisonment. When the
case came before the Court of Appeal the de-
fendants might undoubtedly have strengthened
their cause by disclaiming any intention to
attack or undermine the Christian religion ; but,
as if resolved to become the champions of the
pure cause of Liberty, they contended that the
public prosecutor had no right to inquire into
their religious tenets, and they rested their de-
fence on the broad ground, that under the prin-
ciples recognized by the Constitution, they were
entitled to enter on a free and temperate discus-
sion of any religious topic whatever ; and the
Supreme Court, to its infinite credit, has con-
secrated this principle by the solemn acquittal of
the defendants.

" The more recent case of the Journal des
Debuts bears a nearer analogy to those which
have lately been brought by the English Mini-
stry against the proprietors and conductors of
the Morning Journal. In both cases the de-

fendants are accused of an attempt to bring the
King's Government into contempt, and in both
t has been said, with some appearance of reason,
that things materially different in themselves have
been studiously mixed up and confounded by the
public prosecutors in both countries. In the
first of the three cases, for instance, against the
Morning Journal, the private and personal
right of Lord Lyndhurst to require a compen-
sation in damages for an abominable libel on
his personal character, is bolstered up by the
accusation of a design on the part of the de-
fendants to bring the King's Government into
contempt. It is undoubtedly true, that such
was the design of the writer in the Morning
Journal, but it is more than questionable from
the general aspect of the English cases, and par-
ticularly from the qualification appended to the
verdict of the Jury who tried the second of the
three, whether a mere abstract attempt to
bring his Majesty's Government into contempt
would have been followed by the conviction
which has now been obtained. In discussing
this matter with Frenchmen, I have been obliged
also to hear the character of the English Press
assailed, in consequence of the grave delinquency
imputed to one of the defendants in the London
trials, who, after framing an article universally

declared to be personally applicable to the Lord
Chancellor Lyndhurst, should, for the paltry
purpose of screening himself from punishment,
have deliberately filed an affidavit, in which he
solemnly denies the applicability of the libellous
matter to the personage in question. On this
point, I have been obliged to admit that the
parallel is again unfavourable to England, and
that the Paris editors, who have lately been
placed on their defence, have stood on much
higher ground than the individual who has thus
pilloried himself in this audacious affidavit.
" M. Bertin, the editor and proprietor of the

Journal des Debats, a Paper which has belonged
to him and his brother during a great 'variety cf
fortune for the last thirty years, took an active
part in conducting his own defence, and in
conclusion made a very effective address to the

Court, in which he endeavoured to shew, by the

exiles and imprisonments he had repeatedly
suffered under the Consulate and the Empire,
and the steady attachment he had evinced to the
reigning family, that the incriminated expres-
sions of " Malheureux roi, Malheureux pays,"
could not have been used by him with any in-
flammatory or disloyal design. In this instance
also, hovverer, the Court of First Instance
had been of a different opinion, and con-
demned M. Bertin, like his contemporary
of the Courier, to fine and imprisonment.
In his case the personal hardship would
have been enhanced, although perhaps the public
triumph has been diminished by the fact that

M. Bertin has through life been an active and

consistent but constitutional Royalist ; and
during the hundred (lays had been a fugitive
from his country in consequence of his known
attachment to the House of Bourbon.

" Upon the whole the general opinion in this
country seems to be that the late decisicins in
favour of civil and religious liberty have consi-
derably strengthened and consolidated the con-
stitutional freedom of the country. To give you
an illustration of this feeling, I may mention an
observation which was made last night, in my
hearing, by a gentleman, a member of an emi-
grant family, who left France in his infancy,
and during a long residence in England in the early
years of his life acquired a decided predilection for

the forms and institutions of a constitutional Go-
vernment. This gentleman is regarded by the
Royalist society in which he is accustomed to
move, as being tinged, or rather tainted, with
republican ideas ; although, I am convinced,
that he is at heart a decided supporter of the
monarchical branch of the Constitution. He is
a regular reader of the English newspapers, and
it is his observations on the comparative results
of these two series of state prosecutions, as he
calls them, that have called my attention to the
subject in this day's communication, for the pur-
pose of evincing the growing confidence on the
part of the numerous and influential class of
French citizens, to which this gentleman belongs,
in the stability of the institutions of his country.
The conclusion at which he has arrived he ex-
presses in very strong terms, saying, that while
France is making rapid advances in liberty and
knowledge, England is going as rapidly back-
ward ; and from henceforth he declares that he
would rather live under the protection of the
French than of the British Constitution : a de-
claration which is of small importance as coming
from an individual, hut which I apprehend to be
worthy of very great consideration with reference
to the class of which he is the representative."

German Papers to the 24th have been received.
The Russian fleet was concentrating for the winter
at Poros. The following are extracts :

(From the Nurembury Correspondent.)

FRONTIERS OF WALLACHIA, DEC. 7.

Wehavenow positive information of the evacua-

tion of Adrianople by the Russians, only a division
of 1,500 men remaining with the hospitals. Soon
after the departure of the Russians, 3,000 regular
troops, that had been ordered from Constantinople
for that purpose, entered the city. The Pacha of
Scutari, with his Albanians, has at length quitted
his position, and has commenced his march to re-
turn home. The frightful excesses which these
troops hare committed in Philippopolis and the ad-
jacent country must have convinced the Sultan that
it could not be advisable to put Adrianople in their
power : however, the intention of the Russians in
these measures of the Porte is evident.

The accounts from Bucharest are very gloomy,
which will not seem surprising when we consider
what that city has suffered during the last ten years ;
and yet every thing appeared to be reviving after the
conclusion of the peace and the cessation of the
plague, when the catastrophe of the 26th November
entirely discouraged the inhabitants of Bucharest,
and again interrupted all business.
VIENNA, Drc. 16.—Metalliques, 103 ; Four per
Cent. ditto, 93k; Bank Shares, 1,259.

CORFU, NOV. 29.
We learn fr( m Poros that 11 Russian men-of-war
have arrived there, as well as the two Admirals.
On the 26th October, for the first time these
two years, there arrired at Syra two vessels, laden
with corn, from the Black Sea.

ANCONA, DEC. 9.
A great numl et 0r ships, With corn, have arrived