The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The late Mr. Astley, among his other pur-
suits, constructed maps of the various countries
in Europe, and when it was objected to them,
that a given town was placed fifty or sixty miles
from the true position, he would ask, " Were
you, Sir, ever in that town ?" and on being an-
swered in the negative, he would rejoin, " Well,
I have been there, and, by G—d, I say I know
the situation very well, and I have placed the
town just where it ought to be." Convincing,
however, as this argument appeared to Mr. Ast-
ley, it did not go down with the public, and the
maps remained on his hands. We are reminded
of this gentleman by our contemporary the
Examiner, whose authority for the extraordinary
position, that " The French Commonalty is at
this moment the most intelligent of any in the
world," though the said French commonalty eau,
in general, neither read nor write, is no other, it
seems, than his " sojourning some space in the
country." Without wishing in the least to un-
dervalue our contemporary's ability to estimate
the comparative merits of the French com-
monalty and the commonalty of the rest of the
world, we should like to know the extent of the,
opportunities he has had of knowing the rest of
the world, and knowing France. Time world
is wide, rand France is
__a large country.

A man may sojourn in France, and e'en
proceed by the diligence as far as Paris, and yo_,,~
on such powerful claims we may demur to his
authority for so sweeping Et conclusion, We
have always understood that different part., cif
France were extremely unlike each ocher, airkl
that what might be true of one provitA.6 could.
not be true of another. Has our contemporary
sojourned in the different provinces ? Was. Irr:
able to speak the different patois ; for it so hap-,
pens, we believe, that this most intelligent com-
monalty of the whole world in nsarly two-thirds
of France, not only cannot write and read, hut,
except in the towns, can neither speak French
nor understand it when spoken. In genoa4 we
are not disposed to attach much value to
character given by travellers of nations, ft,',ll.lett
on their own experience, for one man's into:-
course with the individuals of a nation must at
best be very limited. In France the difficulties
in the way of intercourse are much greater than
in England, from the diversity of language and
the defective communications in the former
country; while in the latter, all, except the
Welch, speak and read the same language, and
even the villages are in constant communication
with towns. But we do not mean to prejudge
our contemporary ; he may have been peculiarly
favoured in his experience. We have conversed,
_ .

within the last 24 hours, with a gentleman who
travelled on foot through a great part of France,
particularly the South, quitting the great roads,
and the account he gives of his experience is
very different from that given by our contem-
porarythe Preface to his History of India), as ncv
. " But (as is observed by Mr. Mill, in
fact is more certain, so none is of more import.
ante, in the science of human nature, than this,
that the powers of observation in every indivi-
dual are exceedingly limited; and that it is only
by combining the observations of a number pi'
individuals that a competent knowledge of any
extensive subject can ever be acquired. OF so
extensive and complicated a scene as India, how
small a portion would the whole period of his
life enable any man to observe
Whatever is worth seeing or hearing in India
can be expressed in writing. As soon as.every
thing of importance is expressed in writing, a
man who
knowledge
ois f
Indiadul qualified
y iltoset moreiri
eamraiyn ibsta
England, than he could obtain during the course
of the longest life by the use of his eyes and his
cars in India." This little controversy between
our contemporary and ourseireg, began, as he will
recollect, by his expressing himself ryjeitrieri at
our availing ourselves of a passage in the Lettll
of a Morning Paper, in order to repeat an opi,
nion which we had heard more than once, both
from Ultras and Liberalq, that the Election Law
of 1817 was more favourable than if the suf.

frage in France had been universal. We have
been contemporaries of several Revolutions, in
which the lower orders were generally unfa-
vourable to the liberal side ; and in the lao
sti uggle in this country respecting Catholic
Emancipation, except in great towns, the sen-
timents of the lower orders were not certainly
very liberal. In this country, reading and
writing may not produce all the good effects they
ought to produce, but we have always seen that
where reading and writing were most assiduously
carried on, the people were most liberally dis-
posed; and when we knew that in two-thirds of
France few of the lower orders were taught to
read and write, we, judging from analogy, were
not quite assured as to the manner in which they
might exercise their suffrage. It may be true,
as our contemporary observes, that " English-
men are pre-eminently clever in their trades and

callings ; but the moment they step out of them,
their understandings are poisoned by floating fal-
lacies and prejudices," and that " if a low French
and a low English peasant, taken at random,
were to be brought together for comparison,
simplicity would be observed to be the characte-
ristic of the one, and confusion that of the other.
The Gaul would have his two or three first

ideas ; the Briton a budget of blunders ;" bur,
the low peasants form a small proportion of the
lower orders of England, while the low peasants
Form a very great proportion of the lower orders

of France. —So much for a matter which seems

to us one which may be discussed good-hu-
mouredly ; and we will not be seduced by the
tone of our contemporary, to descend to per-
sonalities.--Morning Chronicle.
The French Opposition Journals, which form
an immense majority of the daily Press, have
been lavish of their vituperation of the English
Cabinet, under the impression, that it is to their

secret influence they are to ascribe the recent
Ministerial changes in France. Enraged by this
imaginary injury, they conjure up, in revenge,
an imaginary charge of another nature, against
the objects of their resentment—the charge of
torpid imbecility, or disgraceful apathy, to the
existing political relations of the great Powers of
Europe. We apprehend the latter accusation
to have precisely as much foundation as the
former. We have heard that a step, vigorous
and decisive, has lately been taken by the British
Cabinet in the very complicated and intricate

t t
yetsohl
fffit rcieee
ispietrltelytc
sirteel
oi u
altraiitlolner(sel
to ooff
hazard a decided opinion ; we shall therefors
s
e
content ourselves with a simple allusion. 011
tqhuiess step,tio
Portugaln andwi vaorleßv enrd oa
the still more important question of the war in
the East, we are informed that a coinmunication
has been addressed by the Duke of Wellington
directly to the Emperor Nicholas, iivwhich the,
British Minister lays down principles, corrects
erroneous assumptions, and quotes treaties with
his usual straightforward simplicity of manlier.
We are assured that in thil:rernarkable docu