New-York tribune., 1869-05-05
rHE pRESs IN FRANcE.

THE PRESS IN FRANCE.
A we'll known Paris journalist, NJ. Louis Ul-
bach, was fined 800 francs a few weeks ago for
disrespectful remark about tho Emperor IN
his journal La Otoche. 1t is just about year
since Louis Napoleon promulgated the Press
law which was supposed to raise the profession
of journalism from the disgraceful thralldom IN
which it had Ianguished since the I'd of Decem-
Der, 1851. Under this law journalists
were at last accorded the privilege
Of discussing political questions without
the express permission Of the government
How much the tardy concession was worth
the history of the past year must show. 1t
seems to have been in fact little else than q
scheme for dragging the enemies Of imperialism
to the light and bringing them within reach of
the official arm. Republicans who had hitherto
kent silence rather than recognize the usurper
by asking q license to publish then political
views through the press, were now at liberty to
speak, but speaking was as full OF danger as
ever In fact the severity of press prosecu-
tions under the new system has increased
rather than diminished. When the editor
of Toulouse Epaper was acquitted On
trial for publishing the Baudln sub
scriptiOns, the prosecutor Nj. Segaler'
received an official notification that his argu-
ments were "too weak,n and the Minister OF
Justice would accept his resignation. lie pup
lished manly reply; Speaking in court un-
"der the surveillance of q secret police, and
" expressing convictions forced upon me 10 ad-
"vance by the Minister of Justice, are two
"things to which / cannot st0Op." During the
wear since the Press law went into operation,
nearly one hundred suits have been lnstl-
tuted, and almost every one has been 1ol-
lowed by conviction. In most Instances, the
editors have been both fined and imprisoned.
Seven newspapers have been altogether
suppressed Three have been temporarily
interdicted. M. Delescluze, a Paris editor, mas
been moreover divested of his civil and poltl-
cal rights-denied the privilege of voting, OF
holding Office. of publishing anything over his
signature-placed, in fine, ON level with con-
victed felons. Fines and imprisonments and
disfranchisement are not the only penalties
which editors have to dread. Summary sup
nression of the sale of obnoxious Journals In
the streets and at railway stations precedes
the forrnality of trial; and if by any rare luck
the trial end in acQuittal, there is no redress
for the wrong already done. The government
therefore can ruin any newspaper, even without
cause. Though che paper be never so cautious
to keep within the law, it may be practically
suspended during trial for some imaginary Of
fense. and its business ruined before the jury
can declare it innocent.
BIT the animosity of an offended government
does not safe itself on the editors and proprie-
tors. The business agents and the type-setters
share in the punisbments for obnoxious articles
which they never saw. This is blow not at
e. Al. L,to ip1t H.
man cannot follow an honest trade except
with tho approval of the Empe-
ror. He must work only for NapOeOn's
friends. We wonder that the Offenses of Re
publican journals are not visited on the mill
owners who manufacture their paper and the
founders who make their type. The scrutiny
is as rigid under the new law as it was under
the old. The censorship, which is blind to the
grossest assaults upon morality and decency,
has keen eye for the slightest departure from
political orthodoxy. 1t is no ofiense to lam
poon the Almighty, but his Majesty the En-
peror must be treated with becoming respect.
We are told in recent letters from France
that NapOleOnism as popular worship Is fast
dying out The reverence for the great founder
of the dynasty has been rudely shaken; the
splendor which surrounded that grand historic
name fades gradually away; the proposal to
celebrate the centenary of his birth by pension
to his few surviving soldiers,-even this, though
it might we'll be deemed homage to the mill
tary glory of the French nation,-is disfavOred
by the Emperor's own servants. Whatever
strength Napoleon III. may have derived from
his uncle's fame has now failed him. He could
not preserve the glory; he could not keep alive
the reyerence he cannot trust to the memories
of Austerlitz. lie stands now by his own
strength He holds his people only by a heavy
curb. 1t is dangerous hold, and it cannot last