The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-06-22
views or the present condition or the French
Republic, by an Engiishman.

time with daily incre asing weight upon the
french nation; no description can be sufficiently
graphic or minute to convey to the inhabitants of
peaceful land, and the subjects of an established
government, full and complete conception of the
effects OF such revolution. The revolution Is i'm
every house and at every door. The terror it still
INSPIRES has twice In this last week reused the
S,lzens OF Paris from their beds At the break Of
gay, and kept them under arms till midnight: for
th defence OF property and life is there the princi-
pa,i We .ngh. say the only business of man. The
InultiIarious pursuits of life have been suddenly
stopped. Official services and even iudicial ex
perlence have been turned adrlft into the streets
the learned professions and the liberal arts have lost
tor a time, their objects and their rewards. the
trades have ceased to purvey abundant supplies to
the wants OF metropolis and to the taste of Eu-
rope industry itself, in her humblest walks, has
been ousted OF her rghts,by the scandaous example
and the base competition of 100 900 workmen con-
verted into paupers by the delusve pledges and the
mlschevous. prodigality of the state and the re-
public, which Is responsible for the past and for
the future OF the nation whose power it has as
sumcd, totters under this tremendous crisis with
out the means to supply the resources it has al
ready dissipated, without man to give a vigorous
impulse to the executive power, without even
definite object or political system to govern the
loose and turbulent deliberations of the National
Assembly What we behold-what we know of
this extraordinary state of anarchy and confusion
is but the superficial and perplexing aspect of
scene where the mind seeks in vain to arrive at
any conclusion; and the multiplicity of irregular
and disordered objects confounds even the sight
But take the daily life of any individual citizen of
that huge town of Paris at this moment, and see
what 1t consists Of What prvations, what duties,
what reluctant submission, what ruin what terror
The authority OF government has ceased to pro-
vide tor the security Of his person and his family
and he must therefore mount guard, and perhaps
expose MS LIE IN actual conflict with the revolu-
ton. The faith of the government has already
been so far violated that he has lost portion Of
his deposited savings; and the rest of his property
invested IN public securities is enormously depre-
ciated, and threatened with total ruin. The con-
ditlon OF public affairs is disastrous that it has
interrupted all the avocations and amusements of
private life ). and all that men care for and live for
Is engulphed IN an Improbable sacrifice to an idol
OF imaginary freedom, which can confer none of
the blessings of freedom, but only the harshest
drudgery and misery in return.
The statements recently published in the Mont
tcm OF the trade and revenue of the first four
redswlth the first four months of 1916 and l847, de-
monstrate with the utmost clearness what the ex-
tent of these national losses has already BEEN In
the import duties on various articles, including
peclally all raw materials employed IN manufac-
lures, the fall has been an average about 66 per
cent; or, In other words, the consumption of the
country has been reduced to one-tlnrd of what it
was In preceding years. The period of four
months, for which the return is made up includes
Of course, the month of January, and ~ days Of
February anterior to the commencement of the re-
volutlon, during which time trade was slackened,
but not as It has nee been, annihilated; 80 that
months OF March and April, is even greater than
the aggregate amount of the four first months.
would make 1t appear to be-. The receipts of i'm
ports sN which were l2725 l5of in April 1886 and
April, lS4S In the same month, the amount paid
on cotton wool imported fell from l ,I97, 1887. in
1876 to SIS, 1881 in lS47. and 2O2, 4O5f. in ls48
Cast Cast iron ron, from ass 30 IT,, in ls to in
rate of reduction, the falling off in the revenue
from the customs alene, would exceed three mil
lions sterling per annum which is more than half
their total amount In the present state of the
French tariff. But the other branches of the reve-
nue. derived from direct taxation, have not Jared
at all better. The falling off in them for the month
OF April alone is twenty three millions of francs,
or G92OOOO; and the sums collected, either by the
prepayment OF taxes, or by the extraordinary i'm
post of 40 centlmes additional on every franc here
tofore levied, Chat Is, an augmentation of As per
cent? have by no means supplied the actual de-
hclency IN the most direct and certain portion of
the public revenue.
The resources of the state have therefore, enor.
mously diminished, and Its expenses have actually
increased The actual cost of the ate,ers nationawr
has risen to El0 sterling a-day, in Paris alone.
The Assembly itself receives E9OO a-day, or about
the same sum as the whole civil list of Queen Vic
toria. The Garde Mobile have certainly done good
service, but they are paid four times much as the
soldiers of the regular army. These are public and
acknowledged expenses but, in addition to these
disbursements, an enormous outlay OF more secret
kind has been. going on. The sum found in the
treasury by the republican government on its ac-
cession has never get been accounted for, on epen
named; tcat is ertrao,dinary noe beiiepe it hs
nerer 6eeen asked for, although ii certainly erceeded
fpc millions sterling Yet it is that sum which has
chiefly kept the government its legs for the last
three months, and there now manifest signs
that 1t is rapidly coming to an end. Many of these
difficulties were from the first foreseen; but instead
of being provided against, they were aggravated by
such absurdities as the guarantee of labor to the
working classes. The ateliers nafio,raur have be-
m hauntS n Iufe md Tho III la
they have drawn off workmen who might have
found employment elsewhere; they have attracted
to Paris loose bands OF companions" as they are
termed ; they have surrounded the capital with an
army of deceived irritated, and starving men; and
at last the guarantee of labor is come to thus
that the Minister Of Public Works calls upon all
able-bodled men between IL and Is to enlist at
once in the regular army, upon pain of immediate
dismissal from the national workshops Meanwhile
Paris is daily and nightly on the aleft until some
method shall have beeQ found of removing this
enormous mass OF pauperizefcitlzens from the vi
cinity of the legislature and the faubourgs of the
capital; Very probably, this removal will not be
effected without serious collision.
We do not for moment deny that the embar-
easements arising out of the state of things into
which the revolution of February plunged the
French nation were terrible, that it was not to
be supposed; and we never did suppose, that any
amount Of political energy and wisdom could avert
very great caamities from the nation. But it
could hardly have been foreseen that the French
people would display both in their executive go
vernment and in their National Assembly, so very
slender an amount of these essential qualities in
such an emergency. The three weeks which have
now elapsed since the opening of the Assembly
have been spent without approximation to the
real work of government One or two good COM
mittees have been named, chiefly composed of
members of the old Chamber of Deputies, and
their labors may produce something useful but
the debates of. the Assembly have been to the last
degree sterile, indecorous, and incoherent.
Not only have no subjects been seriously discuss
ed, except the superluous question of The bani h
ment Of the house of Orleans but no parties have
been formed, no leaders have risen up, no conf
dencc has been established between the govern
ment and the representatives of the people. And
by some strange caprice OF fortune, at moment
when this labor question involves the safety of
d do destin,, of Erance the inspl,ahIa tasL