The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-02-10

tion is given to these principles, and the Senate
would be bound by law TO defend them. bas these
powers in the hands of serve and dependent
body may only be turned TO Instruments OF greater
oppression. They supersede the control OF the or
binary courts ofjustee and especially OF the Court
0rh a. aao
the government and the nation, since "the Senate
msnt aims or annuls all the acts which may be SUBJ
United to It as unconstitutional by the government,
or denounced for the cause 10 petitions by the
citizens" this semi.judicial power loses all its
wei2 ht il the grasp Of men who have NJ indepcn-
dence. The persons selected to fill the station of
senator's may, indeed, raise the character of such
body by their own rank. services, or talents, aud
we await these nominations with interest But
hitherto all contact with Louis Napoleons govern
ment has been avoided by such men. M de Mon
taembers has literally been obliged to hide himself
in pretended sick room from the general indg ua-
ton Of society at his political apostacy. The pro-
liability u.s. that the Senate and the Council of State
will be composed OF men not mere eminent or in.
dependent than those whose names have been made
to figure in the Consultative Commission. The
President is armed beforehand with the means of
giving or Withholding from them liberal incom
and In ebert, nothing is wanting to convert suoh
assembly into the most plant of the tools Of dsa-
potism.
The Legislative Assembly is, however, the great
est farce in this constitution 1t is to be elected
by ballot and by universal suffrage, in the proper.
ton of one deputy to 600 Inhabitants and to sit
Tor six years, not ten, as was enormously stated
yesterday; but as the electoral law is not yet pro-
mulgated, We have yet to learn under what lmi-
sesiSns the suffrage is to be exercised. When
elected this body will have the sterile privilege Of
discussing laws it cannot alter by way of amend
ment, and OF voting measures it cannot originate.
Even the reports Of it's proceedings are to DO
fined to the minutes on the journals, for it is evil
IDENTIFY the intention of the President to stife al
political eloqueHce, and to shut up the feeble de
bates OF such assemblies within the four walls of
one Of his palaces. The President and Vice.
President Of the Chamber are to be named by
Ia L. n
tons can be addressed to the body which repre-
SCENTS the people, nor, indeed the people to have
any mode of ascertaining what the actual conduct
OF their representatives may be- Aud, after all,
upon the frst act of opposition this Assembly may
be dissolved or prorogued, and the Senate will
provide in the interim of all that is necessary for
carrying on the government Such body has,
therefore, no original powers at ali, and the pre-
tended powers which are speciously conferred uoon
IL may lie transferred on the least show Of resist
ance to a more docile instrument.
We know not to what extent the expectations Of
those who have judged most severely of the recen.
acts and future policy of Louis Napoleon Bona
parte may have carried them but for ourselves
we certainly anticipated hing more fatal to the
liberties Of France and to the whole theory Of par
lamentary government than this constitution. II
gives to the natior % hold upon its
and to its representatives no hold upon the govern
ment Yet the systematic Bonapartist policy, be ID
OF the uncle and Of the nephew, has been to keep
in the foreground the principles of the revolu.
ton and tho authority of the people; while, in
reality. nothing is retained of the more generous
and enlightened maxims of 1853 but the destruc-
tive consequences TO which they unhappily led and
nothing is required of the authority of the people
but to sanction the impostures practisod in its
name.
The FIRST step to the preparation Of such mea-
sures was the destruction of that publicity whioh
is the guardian of all other liberties. From the
moment that the press was suspended, the nation
ceased to know the events of its vn history.
Society is cropping in the dark, unable to meet, to
discern the course of the times, or to combine the
most ordinary expression Of opinion Even now,
it is only beyond the frontiers of France that the
criticism of document which vitality concerns
the French nation can commence; and even beyond
its own frontiers the government has endeavored
TO tamper with the organs of public opinion, which
Il breads. The effect produced even in France, by
the late DEGREES Of Punishment and deportation has
for the first time shaken the confidence of the
Dictator and his accomplices. Several of the
persons prescribed by that edi,t have not yet been
sent out of Paris; and q second list of pro,crip-
tons. containing large number Of public writers
and men of Parliamentary families, has been sus-
pended by the influence Of nj. de Morny Tho
government seems to rely for support among the
educated classes only on tho lavish distribution Of
its degrading honors, on its INSCRIPTIONS perse-
cutions. 1t rules men by their cupdlty or by their
fears; and to the honor Of the great oriy Of the
upper classes in Paris, it must be told that its
failure in the salons has been equal to its in
the streets 1t was one Of the imperial practices to
crowd every drawingroom with spies, to watch
",
the women who still braved greater IN In than
Louis Napoleon. That system is already extern
svely renewed, and no private meeting of half
dozen guests in Paris is now considered secure
Yet, it is vain to Danish freedom from the political
constitution, from the press, and the public assem-
blies of nation, until it has sunk and expired in
the hearts Of men. government that promul-
gates an act denying all the rights and political
independence, POUNDS its power in defiance of all that
is most vigorous and energetic among the educated
classes in France and this constitution. though it
be accepted now by those who sipk alike under
be thought as degrading the fears in which it has
taken its origin.
From the London Post, Jan 10
The act by which Louis Napoleon has terminated
so much anxious suspense, has silenced SO many
bitter ISLANDERS, and by which, to quote his own en-
phatic words-he trusts that Peace will be assured
at home and abroad--his ardent hopes BIO fulfilled
his mission accomplished has been published
Our readers are, therefore. able 10 judge on what
kind of foundation the trustee Of such mighty inte
rests has undertaken to reconstruct the political
fabric to regenerate the social system of France
The constitution is, as the proclamation of the I'd
Decembe announced that it would be, based on
the system and principles on which the magnih-
cence and enduring benefits Of the empire rose out
Of the hdeous ruin of those earlier days of revou.
ton The distinguishing chlra ,ter Of this politi-
cal framework Is an executive OF strong action and
comprehensive power, responsible through parlia-
both ore elected. 1t will be that to the legis.
ative body is secured that great constitutional
check on the executive, with which no deseotism
can CO exist, the exclusive power OF voting the sup
plies of government Thus the constitution of
1852 preservest to the French people the great prn-
ciple Of parliamentary government, while it gives
them, what is now the chief want OF France, an
acting power in a position TO effect the works of
progress and reform which, in the face of jealous
and i'll regulated Assembly, i could hitherto only
propose = In thus boldly and frankly adopt
ing tho form and spirit Of the imperial polity for
che basis of the system By which no is to govern,
the President has, no trust, 1Ted to Franco the
best and only guarantee OF Prosperity within, and
of peace beyond their frontcrg-a firm and stron
government trusted BY the people on 81 detaus of
execution-responsible te the nation on al gre 1t
questions Of principle To have attempted pew
Gtopia-a theorzed system, on principles elaoo
rated from conjectured ENTHUSIASTICALLY have
been to fall at a more critical moment, and With
less hope Of extrcatiou, INFO the miseres and de-
lusions which made 1913 year OF ruin We recog-
,;sa in Tho nevy constituton--in the reception by