New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-08-02

"e "'"'e' 'eFo'uuoList who in the COHsfiguti0nrei
bad m'sied the government Of Charlie, X. tor 10.
ouuSges on liberty, who bad af,ervard founded thu
National in order more efectually 70 provoke TIA
people to overth ow that government. himself in
II. duoed into and carried through the Legislature
the famous laws against free printing kno q, the
laws q Septembor Bow ever instead Of an snbi
tous aspraut be VaInow a minister aud was quite
ready 70 discwn the IDEAS Of which be had been so
loud an advocate aud by which his selfish p-ojecs,
bad been realized. These Laws though equally .e.
we're with the ORDINANCES which had caused the
expulsion Of Charles X. aud the elder Bour5ons
produced 10 such consequences nov. /. is curious
that the French wjl today make some special
piece Of tyranny the occasion Of revolution, and
that revolution ones over, will allow the same ty.
rainy 10 be established over them withou, resist
ance. Thus the February Revolution was brough,
On BY the att mptoi tho Government to suppressthe
Reform Benquets, aud yet now much seyerer re.
strctions upon the right Of meeting are psacesbly
submitted to. In the last case the eason is n be
found in the fact that more radical q1es,ions have
Iiuce arisen in the nation by which the liberals ofths
time before February are converted into thorough
friends Of order ready to go 70 any length Of des
Po,ism Necessary TO check the inroad Of the nex
idess
Under the laws Of September the government
ard the journals lived on unit, February lsis Then
liberty was agsin restored 10 the press, aud main.
tanned without restriction til June following. Du.
ring this period the govern ment was daily az
tack ed in the panest manner by several papers,
but suffered harm thereby, for the reason that it
ives government of the people and enjoyed their
confidence. Liberty is dangerous only to those who
mediate some fraud upon her. The nsurrectionof
June broke out, aud one of the first acts Of Gen
Cavaignac on taking command Of the city now IN.
der martial law, was to arrest one eminent journal
ist, and suppress some six or eight papers. 1t is
said that this instruction was partially frui. Of
the liberty Of the press, bat we utterly repel that
accusation. The instruction took place because
the people bad been cheated by the represents
tives Of the middle class and were IN despair, and
because the spectators and intrigaers who still
aspred to confscate the honor and glory of France
to their own profit were bent on having a conflict
in order that they nigh! finish with the people
and smother the insanity Of Socialism for ever
Now we do not suppose that martial law and the
liberty of the press are conssten. with each other
and so far do not blame Cavaignsc for tempo
rariy suspending the latter. But the manner in
which he did il was inexcusable, as was his sub
sequent conduct toward the press 1t all proved
him a man of narrow views, and republican by
rote more than by genuine democratic instinct.
Since then one restriction after another has been
put upon the right of printing, and the Govern.
ment has been incessant in the persecution of the
Democratic and Socialist journals Most Of these
have pershed and the law jus. passed against the
Press is far more stringent than those of sePtem
Der, and is hardly surpassed in Russia. Thus We
see that in the sixty years which have passed since
the French Press began to assume its present i'm
portauce it has enjoyed the advantages Of liberty
hardly one fifth of the time.
The FetHiet0H is a peculiarly OF French jour.
nails which has been adopted by the Spanish and
Italian Press, and to a considerable extent by the
German but has not yet found its way into the
English and American. The meaning of the word
FeuilietoR is little sheet In journalism it de-
notes the lower part Of the paper separated from
the rest by heavy rule running across from one
margin to the other sometimes extending over the
second and sometimes the third page 1t is devoted
to literature and the fine arts. Jules Jsnln, the IA
nous feuilleton writer Of the Journal des Dcbats,
defines the euilleton as timd lines gliding below
the formidable political columns Of which they are
the triAng accompaniment and the elegant em
broidery" The euileton in its origin was occupied
with criticism of theaters and books The Able
GeolIroy, who first gave it any Importance, began
in 1900. in the Journal deS Debats, a series OF re
markable articles in that part OF the paper on Art
and Literature, which were 90 brilliant and taking
that notwithstanding the paper no longer had any po-
lical interest it had 10000 subscribers, mainly on
account of the feuilIeton Geotiroy was paid tor
his services at the rate Of "a 600 francs Si,s00l
ayear. He was a most severe and unjust critic
and employed the black mail system without scru
pie. AL the principle actors OF Paris were COM
PEELED to pay him tribute or endure his assaults;
Talma and Nile Duchesnois are alone named as
too proud and too secure Of their position to submit
to ,uch degradation; Tslma at one time inflicted
on him a slight personal chastsement in the shape
Of blow on the side of the head Some Of the
best authors were also objects of his sarcasm,
though he lauded De StaeI and Chateaubrisnd -
He layished on Napoleon the most sycophantic
praise. Within few years the feuilleson has be-
come the vehicle Of original romances, which have
contributed greatly to enlarge the circulation oil the
journals, as well as to increase the rates PAD ior
such works. At the same time il is evident that
the custom of printing novels in the Daily Press
and of writing them from day to day without the
possibility of careful revision, has lowered the ar
tstlc character of that important class Of compost
tons
Tie number Of journals in France, considered
relatively to its population, is not large The total
Of periodical publications Of all sorts will not vary
greatly from 1900, though we have not the exact
figure, and wing to the frequent changes Hace
February, ls4s, coud hardly hope to arrive at the
nrecise number. In February, 1s45, there were is