Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1848-04-05

prematurely PUSHES into sreyolution, her
liberty even if gained, viii not be adapted
to the character and condition Of her peo-
pie, and will prove the instrument f her
own destruction. Switzerland has been
convulsed with civil war. The victori-
GUS party have subvertcd the legal govern
ment Of the conservative cantons, and their
Diet is now attempting to alter the consti-
tuition Of the Republic so as greatly to CEN
tralize power, il not virtually to destroy
Cantonal sovereignty. The Cabinet Of
Paris has united with those Of Vienna,
Berlin and st. Petersburg, in a strong, ear-
nest protest. The opposition in this de-
bate have been loud and unmcasured in
their condemnation Of the act. Switzer-
land, exclaim they, has nobly risen against
her worst enemies the Jesuists, and has
expelled them from the soil they disgraced.
The struggle, Ike that Of Italy, has been
one for independence, for liberty Of thought
and action. She, therefore, had claim to
the sympathy Of France: If she could not
have that, she was at least entitled to the
cold favor Of herineutrality. The govern
ment replies that this encroachment upon
the independence of the Cantons unsettles
the whole basis of the Helvetic confedera-
|tion, as recognised by the treaty Of Wen
ma, to which France solemniy made her
self party. The Cabinet, BY its protest,
had done not only what national honor
dictated, but what national prudence re-
CURED. There was the best reason to APP
prehend that Switzerland if left to work
out the policy she had entered upon, would
become the prey to radicalism, and hot
bed Of revolutionary agitation, most bane-
full to the interest Of surrounding nations.
Again it was charged that the minister
in his zeal as royal courtier, had, by con-
ferring the highcstfuactions upon prince
of the blood, in Algiers, in effect estab-
lished vice-royalty in Africa, an office
wholly foreign to the spirit Of the French
Constitution. 1t is answered that the Duke
ld'Aumale had succeeded Marshal Bugeaud
as Governor General of Algiers, because
his abilities eminently qualified him to re-
duce military rule into civil government
and because as son of the King he was
deemed most likely to exercise favorable
influence over the Arab Chiefs, with whom
he would be brought in relation. And
next it was accused tkat the ministry had
too early abandoned the commercial inte-
rests Of the nation on the banks Of :he La
Plata, and by its conduct had greatly ag-
gravated and protracted the unhappy diff
culties that had SO long prevailed in that
quarter. Neither was the Intervention
in Portugal, in favor Of the exiled Queen,
forgotten. But passing by this, we come
to the last grand charge of the conflict
The final paragraph of the Address speaks
Iof political banquets held, since the close
Of the last session, by a combination Of
Llind and euI disposed agitators, and of q
suppression Of them which regard to the
public tranquility had obliged the Minis
ter of the interior to make. This, for tn.
last three days, has been made the grount
of an attack OF the utmost fierceness ant
violence. Every opprobrious epithe
which language can command has beer
heaped upon the administration as plum
derers of the right Of speech and freedom
of political action which the Charter sa
credly guarantees the French people,
i reiterated, last evening, M. Odillon Bar
rot, the chief Of the Extreme Left, and thu
Jupiter Tonans of the Assembly, 70,
have done that which Polignac and Peyr
renot in the days Of Charles Tenth never
dared to do" The Chambers swayed witt
; excitement; and as the turmoil increased
he elevated his voice TO still higher pitcl
and shouted g wish to have my word.
recorded, and echoed to the very extremi
ty of the kingdom. Ministers Of July, yo,
have violated, and still continue to violat.
a right which the Ministers of the Resto
ration respected, up to the day when they
and the royal dynasty were overthrow
together" The melee which ensucd battles
description. The President abandoned
the chair, and the members left the hall il
the greatest excitement and confusion.
have dwelt as have upon this debate
IN order that you may see the leading ideas
of the leading politicians of France, and
the relative position of the two great par
ties that are struggling, the one to main
tain, the other to secure the ascendancy
1t cannot be denied that the present is q
moment Of try ing emergency to the minis
I try. While it has to deal with the most
untoward state of things in both its for
eign and domestic relations, it is support
ed in the popular branch Of the govern
ment BY majority not large, and continu-
ally decreasing, and majority which is
extensively made up Of its own official de-
pendents, and those bound to it by person
al and local interests, and which, there
fore, commands but little of the mora! in
fluence that would otherwise belong TO it.
Among the people it is, without much
doubt, in decided minority. II surely is
SO, if we take Paris, which all experience
justifies us in doing, as the exponent of
public opinion throughout the kingdom