The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-14 00:00:00

PRICE 5d

CHAMBER OF PEERS.

DISCUSSION ON THE ADDRESS.
TUESDAY, JAN. 11.—At two o'clock the Duke de Bro-
glie took the chair. Messrs. Guizot, Humann, and the
other Ministers were present.
After some preliminary proceedings, -and the swearing
in of several lately appointed Peers, M. Merilhou read
to the Chamber the following Address in answer to the
Speech from the Throne :
" Sire,—The Chamber of Peers is happy to offer to
your Majesty the accustomed tribute of its respect and
devotedness.
" The questions which had excited in the East the
solicitude of France, have reached their term. Your
Majesty has signed a Convention, consecrating the com-
mon intention of the Powers to maintain the peace of
Europe. We indulge the hope expressed by your Ma-
jesty, that this Convention will contribute to consolidate
the repose of the Ottoman empire.
" Your Majesty has ordered important reductions in
the public burdens. Nevertheless, those diminutions
have not sufficed to establish between the receipts and
expenditure, a balance as necessary as it is universally
desired. This balance we shall labour to obtain without
reducing our military forces below the standing which
the safety and dignity of France require, and without
adjourning the execution of the works which are claimed
by the country.
" We shall examine with interest the project of law,
which your Majesty announces to us, for the establish-
ment of a grand system of railroads. The Chamber of
Peers knows that the facility and promptitude of the
communications between the different parts of the king-
dom are sources of power and wealth. It will always
receive with eagerness all the projects which your Ma-
jesty may order to be presented to it with a view to mul-
tiply and improve the means of communication of every
description, as much :as the financial resources of the
country will permit.
"The extension of the commercial relations of France
is the object of the solicitude of your Majesty. Nego-
tiations have been opened by your orders. Your high
wisdom does not lose sight of the necessity of maintain-
ing the protection secured to our national industry by a
legislation which guarantees the security of our agricul-
tural and manufacturing interests, and has so powerfully
contributed to increase the wealth and prosperity of France.
" We are delighted to hear from the month of your
Majesty the expression of your confidence in the dura-
tion of peace. France, who would be ready to submit to
every sacrifice in order to support her dignity, considers
an honourable peace to be the greatest of blessings.
" The consolidation of the French dominion in Algeria
will be the work of time, perseverance, and courage. That
land, which the valour of our soldiers has conquered and
defended, and where the princes, your sons, have so often
braved death and given the example of every military
virtue, belongs to us by the right of victory, and will be
attached to us by the blessings of civilization. Your
Majestyever
Fhraesnsch.,
said, Algeria shall remain henceforth and
for

" The Chamber of Peers will attentively examine the
projects of law which will be brought before it in the
name of your Majesty.
" Sire, it is but too true that criminal machinations,
and daring attempts, always defeated by Providence but
as often repeated, still cheek the progress of France and
of her powerful activity, and retard the development of
the beneficial fruits of that liberty which has been con-
quered at the price of so many labours and perils. Ne-
vertheless the slow but certain action of justice, the
strict execution of the laws, the co-operation and union
of the great powers of the State, the zeal of all good
citizens, will maintain entire the sacred deposit of
order and of public liberties. The happiness and re-
pose of France are the .objects of the dearest wishes of
your Majesty ; future generations will reap the fruits
of your efforts and sacrifices, and posterity will preserve
for ever their recollection."
M. Merilhou having concluded, the Chamber decided
that the discussion should forthwith commence.

The Prince de la Moscowa, began by condemning the
caution observed in the King's Speech and in the ad-
dress respecting the conclusion of the affairs of the East,
which he disapproved, as -having been most sterile in
results for France. The policy of Lord Palmerston to-
wards France had never been sincere. After the battle
of Nezib the English Cabinet had openly evinced its
deadly hostility against Mehemet Ali, and, finding that
it could not change the sentiments of affection of France
towards the Viceroy, it attached itself to revive the old
hatred of the European Powers against her. Hence the
conclusion of the treaty of the 15th of July. The Prince
then recapitulated all the events which preceded and
brought about the evacuation of Syria and the submission
of Mehemet Ali, accompanying his narrative with ex-
presssions derogatory to the honour and sincerity of
Great Britain, 14..h05e alliance he was certain M. Thiers
now bitterly deplored. The Convention for closing the
Straits had not been'a concession ; that Convention no-
wise secured the integrity of the Ottoman empire ;
France had no direct interest in closing the Straits
against the Russian fleet ; the measure, moreover, would
not prevent Russia, whenever she thought proper, from
landing her forces on the coast of Asia Minor, or me-

nacing—the Turkish capital. The Ministry evidently saw
in that Convention a pretext for re-entering the Euro-
pean concert, and eagerly seized it, without heeding the
humiliating consequences resulting to France from her
accession to the Treaty of July.
The Marquis de Boissy read a manuscript essay in fa-
vour of the address. He could not, however, help blam-
ing the conclusion of the treaty consecrating the right of
search, and trusted that a convention, hailed by the Eng-
lish with so much exultation, had not been actually
signed. The silence of the King's speech on the subject
was a guarantee that it was a mere report. He then ex-
amined the policy of the Cabinet in respect of Spain, and
perceived in the differences which had lately arisen be-
tween the two countries the intervention of England,
ever zealous to create embarrassments for France. The
Marquis de Boissy then indulged in violent recrimina-
tizins
against Espartero, whom he accused of covetting
the throne of Spain, and stigmatized in turn as an " un-
grateful wretch, a traitor, and an executioner." The
revolutionists generally came in for a share of the Mar-
quis de Boissy's abuse. He afterwards reviewed the situa-
tion ofAlgeria, and recommended the grant of secret service
money to the Governor-General to obtain by corrup-
tion what the force of arms was inefficient to achieve.
As respected the system of internal government, he
thought that Ministers were too lenient towards the
factious, and urged them to resort to more energetic
measures ; and if the jury and the press were an ob-
stacle in their way they should effectually shackle them,
for the sake of consolidating. the throne and society.
M. de Boissy, in conclusion, declared against all reduc-
tion in the tariffs. As a friend of the Cabinet, he hoped
that it had not signed with Belgium, which had only
4,000,000 of inhabitants, a treaty calamitous for France,
which had 35,000,000. Some expressions of M. de Boissy,
in which he described the Legitimatist party as possess-
ing five-eighths of the property in France, and therefore
able to overthrow the existing Government, should they
form an alliance with the Republicans, were received
with loud murmurs of disapprobation by the assembly,
and, on the invitation of the President, he consented to
modify his language.

• M. Guizot rose in turn, and called on M. de Boissy to
retract the offensive terms which he had used in speaking
of a person invested, in a foreign and friendly country,
with a portion of Royal power, which M. de Boissy re-
luctantly retracted.
M. de Montalembert spoke next, and said, that al-
though a partisan of British alliance, and no friend to
Mehemet Ali, he could not give his approbation to the
mode in which the Eastern question had been concluded.
He never, he said, considered the treaty of the 15th
of July as a casus belli ; but he thought that France
should not have re-entered the European concert, but
should have continued in a position of armed isolation
sooner than accede to that treaty. The Convention of the
Straits was a mere complement of the Convention of July
15 ; it stipulated no concession to France, or any im-
provement is the condition of the Christian population of
Syria, which had been from time immemorial accustomed
to look up to France for protection. In reviewing the
relations of the Cabinet with the Foreign Powers, M.
de Montalembert defied M. Guizot to stand up and
name a single nation in Europe whom he considered to
be a faithful ally of Frame ; for his part, he thought
that there did not exist a single one, large or small, in
the whole world, upon whose friendship France could
place the least reliance. Abandoning the foreign
questions, M. de Montalembert pronounced himself to
be a staunc h Conservative, and a partisan of the
system of resistance. He would not call for new
repressive laws, because he thought the existing le-
gislation sufficient to repress the Ragas of the fac-
tious against the " social citadel," which, he regretted
to say, was violently shaken, and in imminent danger.
He then proceeded to draw a sad picture of the political
and religious condition of society in France. The dis-
credit into which all the institutions had successively
fallen was no subject of astonishment for him, he said,
in a country where virtue was every day traduced and
held up to public contempt ; where calumny was merci-
lessly lavished on the most deserving characters ; where
the tear of God and respect for religion were entirely
extinct ; where the Sabbath was profaned, and the ex-
ample given by the constituted authorities themselves.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—It is perfectly mysterious to us how men
can be found blessed with the impudence requisite to
write as the Tory scribes do on " the factory system."
The Post this morning exclaims, " Surely there is not
much reason why they who have the good of the la-
bourer chiefly at heart should countenance a revolution
in the present state of influences in England, in order
to keep the manufacturing system from the decline
which seems to threaten it. Surely it would be indeed
madness' to sacrifice the employment of the agricul-
tural labourers, in order to give a fresh impetus to that
system which produces labourers answering to the above
description." The system which has produced what is
evil in the state of the manufacturing population is the
present system. No revolution is requisite in that sys-
tem to occasion a continual throwing off of the rural
population on the towns. The system of regarding no-
thing but cultivation on a large scale, and high price for
produce, is the system which crowds the towns with la-
bour which has no employment or encouragement on the
land. The only question is, not whether this stream of