The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-20 00:00:00

PRIVATE AND AUTIIENTiC CORRESPONDENCE

PARIS, MAY IG.—There is an old Englis

verb which says, that virtue carries ‘ci(ll

own reward, and vice its own punishtne

Frequent instances occur in the sphere of every
~ersun's observation, and a striking example may
hr found of it in the rage of parnphlet•publishing
in Paris; at least fifty have been published per
week during this winter, so that the Public has

been cotnpletely not only satiated but disgustei
with them, timl were it not for a few trials tha

have revealed to the public the existence of some
Pamphlets, it is very probable that
.they would
have passed from the printing-office to the butter-
shop without our ever hearing even of their titles.
Thiis.from abundance arises satiety, and not even
DE CONSTAAFT nor CHATHAUBRIANT will be able
to rouse the public from this indifference. In this
respect the Oppbsition is treated almost as se-
verely as the Ministerial Parry—wit and sarcasm
the most poignant can scarcely awake attention,
or, when awake, excite a smile ; a kind of anti- •
pamphlet torpor has seized the public, or, in the
language of a medical friend, the readers and
writers of Pamphlets are affected with Tetanus,
but of two different species, the former being af•
flieted with Opiahotonot, and the latter with Tris-
mus, and both are likely to be fatal. Hence it
will readily be conceived that the cold, methodi-
cal reasoning of the Government Writers is in-
capable of rousing attention. When I look tit
this state of things, I ask myself why the Mi-
nistry and the Ministerialists are so much alarmed
as. the Liberty of the Press. In the first moments
it was natnral that the Public, anxious for no-
velty, should read all that was published without
distinction ; but, ere long, convinced of the futi•
lity of such a plan, and finding that ninety-nine
in one hundred Pamphlets were only the crude,
undigested larragos of vanity and ignorance, the
Public ceased to read ; the Aut hors, however, con-
tinue to write, their proverbial vanity making them
fancy that their's will be the favoured one ; and,
besides, having published something, gives them
the title to Men of Letters, which in France is justly
regarded as an honourable Profession. But as
these publications bring no profit, they will finish
by giving it up. Indeed, I think the greatest
harm done by the Liberty of the Press in France
is in -the terror it inspires in the Ministers. Seeing
them tremble, they are supposed to be weak,
and this public opinion renders them really so,
• In England the case -is widely different ; the
Press there is not so formidable a weapon, and
are calumnies against public men by pamphleteers
are treated with proper contempt, like the rant-
ings of factious, demagogues in society. But this
Indifference is the work of time—with a little pa-
tience the same thing will happen in France.
Besides, why be so much alarmed at the ap-
pearance of a few pamphlets, when, during six
months of the year, the Deputies from the Tri-
bune say with a tone of authority ten times more
violent things, which are repeated in the Papers,
and thus circulated throughout the Kingdom ;
whereas of the pamphlets, upon an average, they
have not each 100 readers out of a_population,of
30 millions. To be afraid,of this is, as MACKLIN
said, beieg frightened at squibs, when one is sitting
on a barrel of gunpowder.
The Ministry cannot oppose the circulation of
the opinions of the Members of the Chambers—
the slightest attack on this right would be very
properly regarded as an attack on the Representa-
tive Government ; yet it wages bellum ad inter-
neeionent with a horde of needy scribblers, who

are raised into importance by the imprudence of
Messrs. MARCHANGY and VATEMENIL. Abuses
of the Press should not indeed remain unpunish
ed : but how should they be punished ? Why
by the regular law of the [and—by the decision of
a Jury. But ere this is determined on, the Go-
vernment should weigh the changer of the writ-

ing and the danger of increasing its publicity,
and the scandal attending it, which is almost

ways more dangerous.

These reflections have struck me, because I see
daily Government men panic-struck at the sight
of the shoal of pamphlets which teem from the
Press ; and these Statesm:::n sigh because the Li-
berty of the Press exists in France. It, how-
ever, ap;-tars to me that, so far from restraining
the French Legislation, it would secure to it its
natural privileges, and that it will obtain front the
Government not the concession, but the right,
that the abuses of the Press shall be tried by a
Jury. If the Ministry be wise, it will declare it-.
self in favour of this system, and not wait until
it be compelled to yield it by the importunities of
the Chambers. In every thing, the Government
should never suffer itself to be dragged on by
opinion—it should frankly and boldly place itself
at its head.

The Dean and Chapter of ‘Vorcesier have given
601. in aid of the fund for erecting a new Church
in the parish of St. Clement, besides their former
liberal donation of 2001. towards the building of
nets Churches.