The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-04-20 00:00:00

CONDITION OF FRANCE.

AFTER the storms of revolution, the bitterness of
contending parties and civil discord, the trickery
of the coup d'e'tat and the rigours of military
government, France has begun to enjoy a little
temporary repose. The new bodies in the state are
formally installed ; there is a Chamber of Senators
and one of Deputies ; the PRESIDENT has laid
down the " Dictatorship," as he very properly calls
it; and the principal men in the state have taken
the oath of allegiance to him ! Never was the old
French motto so true as it has recently become,
"Petat, c'est moi;" for everything is done by a
decree of the individual. By a decree, laws are
enacted or repealed ; by a decree, institutions are
founded or abolished ; by a decree, personal liberty
is taken or conferred ; by a decree, any class in the
nation is elevated or depressed ; by a decree, men
mustshaveor may wear beards. Talk of DION v SIUS
of Sicily, or the sable King of Dahomey, after this;
we will back Louis NAPOLEON for absolutism
"against the field," as sportsmen say. It has been
remarked of Frenchmen, that no people in Europe
make laws so well, or obey them so badly ; but now
they are freed from the trouble of legislation, and it
remains only to be seen how they will obey these
decrees, of which the spirit is sic volo sic jubeo.
It is of importance to distinguish between the
wisdom of the country in accepting this dictator-
ship, and the honesty of the individual in offering
it. With the country it was a choice of evils ;
and, in such a case, the less is always preferable to
the greater. Those who object that tyranny is
bad, should remember that anarchy is worse, and
that the temperament of the people and the con-
dition of parties was such as to surprise us that
matters are not even worse than we find them.
But the acceptance of the uncontrolled rule of the
PRESIDENT, for the avoidance of a greater evil, is no
proof that the country is or can be satisfied with
the present condition of affairs. In spite of the
surveillance of police and the rule of soldiers, it
will soon be found that a farther change is neces-
sary. A people proverbially jealous of liberty, and
proud of their advanced position, real or pretended,
will not quietly submit to look upon the press
manacled, honourable men
confiscated, and civil liberty a mockery : in short

)roseribed, property

if they must accept the sternness of military de

potism, under the specious name of republican
government, it is only that they bide their time.
Like LOYOLA'S leg, which was badly set, the limb
must be broken again before it can be put straight.
By a chain of reasoning, THEMISTOCLES 'tvould
have it that his little boy governed the world ; for
he governed his mother, who acted on the warrior;
and the latter controlled Athe

and thence Europe

and theknown world. In the case of the PRESIDES

one link of a similar chain has been removed; for
a certain lady who existed towards him in a rela-
tionship quite well known in France, has been
pensioned off. There are various rumours as to the
cause. According to some, his moral influence
was gradually diminishing; according to (Allis,
the Pope refused point blank to invest him with
the imperial diadem, unless he either discarded her
or "made an honest woman of her ;" while others
allege that it is to smooth the way for a matri-
monial arrangement with a foreign princess. We
will venture to judge more charitably, and say, with
BLACKSTONE, "the law alts
to virtue."

lys ass

a return

Rumours are frequent from France itself, that

the giddy elevation on which the PEE

NT at I

former does not claim to be eithe

But both have

power; both have governed by the strong
_ _

rt of (

OF Al

inq Era

Ships,

try of her newl

We may expl

Is, whe

foreign tonnage, the entries i

rect ind

many yes

1 from

DWELL the next

3 trig3s inwards at

d 1851 re-

GO ,artal
18,637

18,683

'fish Nay

aired territory, Ca-

tonnage we gave the entries

t, with respect to

zrds form the most cor-

y in bal

st to other

ports for cargoes, and these not being reported ;
coasters arriving at New York seldom have foreign goods
and, in such case, not being required to bo en-
the Custom.houce, the clearances outwards form
the most correct index. From 1849.t0 1851 the clearances-
were as follows :

on board

Increase,

Vessels.
3,994

895,589

'l9 1,020,070
1,214,942

19,353 tons

The clearances from New York for California, via Cape
Horn, were 60 vessels, carrying' 52,145 tons, shewing an

average tonnage of the coasting

) vessels, employed in

this trade of 850 tons. There being no return freights
from California, those vessels of course proceeded to the
Eastern and Chinese Seas to compete with British and
Foreign shipping for homeward or European cargoes.
For the first two-and.a-half months of the present year
22 ships and two steamers, carrying 21,212 tonr, had
cleared out from New York for California; and it is ex-
pected that the year's clearances will exceed those of 1851
by one-half. This is an important fact, as bearing upon
the probable rate of long-voyage freights for this year.

THE ANNUAL VESTRY MEETING.