The New Reign In France.
The Times, 1824-10-19T00:00:00

Frante atpresent exhibits one of the most singular spectacles which can be conecived_that of a people intoxicated with hepe and joy, without being able to explain the xeasons why it is actuated by either sentiment. It Is only a few months since every body was plunged in sorrow, andi almost in consternation, the future appear- ing to them only in.thie most sonlbre aspect. Now, every body is happy; every one thinlks that he sees before inriP a briglht and pros- perous futurity; and I should not exaggerate if I said,that of all the people of Europe, the French are at this moment the most happy. What, then, has happenel to produce so complete a change ? The clange is this-a King who was known to be dyilg, ie dead; a Prince, for whom neither estcem nor affection was felt, has suecced. ed; Ministers, for whom aversion was felt, have remained in place; and every one rejoices in a revolution so extraordinary and so happy. The censorship, it is true, has been abolished; but the censorship did not exist three monthst ago, and yet the whole of France was in a state of consternation. Besides, we should egregiously deceive our- selves, If we believed that In this country the mass of the population attachled to the liberty of tire press is of' much importance; it is not sufficiently enlightenedl for that. Several causes have contributed to thts change in opinion, for there bas been no real change in things. This is proved by the fact, that the hopes of the Ultras, the Jesuits, and the partisans of the Holy Alliance, are more lively now than ever. When a people is divided by factions, the men who are at the head of each ptrty are judged nothing, because they are really nothing, but by the hopes | which they inspire in their friends, or the fear which they eccasion to their enemies. The emigrants and the Catholic clergy thought that they saw in the accession of the Count D'Artois to the throne the arlunsph of all their pretensions ; and as their enemies or their opponentsascribedto themn desires of vengeance, persecution, and spoliation, it was believed that the reign of the Count D'Artois would be signalized by the abolition of the charter, by religious and political persecutions, and by the forced surrender of the property which had belonged to the emigrants and the clergy. These fears ! were juslified even bythe partisans of the late King. who was repre- sented as the only wise send moderate person of his family. Events have not justified the fears which were entertained. Charles X. has neither shown himselfa despot, nor a lover of vengeance, uor a per- secutor. He has, on the contrary, shown some dislike to arbitrary power, and exhibited kindness to persons who had been his enemies. He bas thus dissipated the fears which his name had inspired, and destroyed every idea of revolution; for if the events which were dreaded had happened,tbe fall of the dynasty was infallible. "Wlhlen Louis XVII !. sball be no more," said the Parisians, " Charles X. will disappear ;" (or in the French, Charks dir poaraitro (disparai- tr.a)-a pun whicth cannot be translated intoEnglish.) Thesati3faction which is felt, has therefore a real cause-namely, the termination ot fears which had agitated the country for the last ten years, and which placed before us a war withl the Holy Alliance after internal revolutions and eommotions. A second cause ofthejoy which is felt, is the confidence entertained of the sincerity of tile present King. I)uring the 14 years of of Napoleon, the French people experiencd nothing but leception on the part of their Government. The ten years which followed were not much more fortunate in this respect. Whether right or wrong, nobody placed any confidence either in the intentions or the pro. mises of the late King ; and therefore could have no security in the future: for in a country without institutions, there can exist no other guarantee for liberty than that which is derived fronm the per- sonal character of the msnarch. Charles X. has found means to create a belief in the purity of lis iiitentions, and, consequentty, in the sincerity of his promises. The confidence which he inspires is therefore the greater, as there is tbe more necessity for it. It is a sentiment which overflows, because for the last quarter of a century it has been suppressed. It will show itself with more moderation when the first moments of its eff'usion shall have passeri. The facility with which the Government of the Bourbons was overthrown after thie first restoration, created a belief' in many that this Government wonld never take root in France. A great number of ambitious metn, therefore, threw theriselves into the opposition, and became the detenders of liberty, in the hope that in tbie first revolution which they believed to be at hand, they shouldi bo in the foremost rank, ready to enter on the possession of employment, dig- nity, and t'avours. Seeing their hopes deceived, they now scized the first opportunity which presents itself to rally round( the (Jovern- rment. They are convinced that they can gain more by following in tire train of courtiers, than in niarchring aurong an opposition which can obtain nothing. But as they wish to appear consistert in their principles, they ascribe to the new aovereign all the qualities which can justify t1,cir change ot' language. Ten years ago, they evoulI have begun to speak of' Louis XVIII. and his Ministers as they now speak of Charles X., if they could have believed in tlie stability ofthe Govermneut. The public, which is not in the secret, repeats a little foolishly that wlich it hears from the men whom it is in the habit of' considering as its defenders; and this contributes riot a little to increase the public joy. Nevertheless, whilst from all sides the praises of Charles X. re. sound, and whilc, for the first time, the Liberals holdl the samrre lan- guage as the Ultras, MInisters are exposed to the attacks of all tirc parties. Never, during the last ten years, has there been a Mlinistry which has been at once so odious and so despised. All parties join in dernanrling its dismissal-tirst, because they flatter the popular resentments; anrd secondly, because every oure hopes to gain something by Its fall. The I Iltras think that they uvill have men less selfish, less branmied by the opinion of' thie public, and more frnnkly dlevoted to their Interests. The Liberals hopre that, trom a Prince wiiom they believe sincere, they will have Atinisters less corrupt, and less disposed to corrupt orliers-flinisters who will observe the laws which they shall have themselves made, or who will violate them with less audacity anti inipudence. The tfall of' the 11Ministry appears, then, infallibleto every body, except, perhaps, to the Ministers themselve3. It is not believed that thc ma;jority wvhich they have in the Chamber of Deputies will be capable of sup- porting tliemn, because experience has proved thrat the zeal or the mi- nisterial party decreases in exact proportion to the credit of tie Minis- ters. The friends of the Dlinisterof Finance pretendl that tirc right side have nourman capableof'succeetllng hiin;but whien theey come to exclude from an assembly all the men of any remarkable tailent; and when, on the other hanl, there exists no sort of responsibility, it 1s so easy to be a Alinister, that nothing will be more easy than to replace thie iii. de Villele. In one of' my preceding letters, I toli you that rlie amnesty granted to tie l'renci solr'iers who were capturcdi in Spain in the ranks of the Constitutionalists, liad been prepared by Al. de Villele, to render himself popular under tire late King. Whether Chlarles X. was informed of thi s circumstance, or whether he thought that he had confrined Iris favours within too narrow a limit, he ordlered his Dlinisters to present hiim a project of arimnesty, which slioulel embrace, withott distinction, all the piersons condemned for political ofrences. The linistry is at present engaged, it is said, in inquiries whetler, in the number of persons conilenineri, thLerc nmay not be some whoin it might be (langerous to forgive. Tire time of the publication of this Act is tlot yet deterrnined. It is supposed that it will be put off till the molemnity of tire Cororratiori. Tire AMhiisters of course do not hasten it, either in tire hiope that it will confer honour upon tltern, or that it will retard their llIl. In considering this measure in a point of view purely political, it wvill be snuch mrore advantageous to tbe Government than even to the persons who will be its objects. Tire nuajority of the condent- nations were pronotncrd in 181;, and 1816, or in the years 1820 and 1821 ; so that the greatest nuniber.of the persons condemned have already expiated their sufferings. The insignificant numnber of those who found meanis to withdraw themselves from the execution of their sentence, have been freed from theirpenalties by prescrip. tion, or are uprn the point of being so. In prosecuting and condemning them, the Government bad rendered itself odious, and had not convinced tihe public that they were guilty. In pardoning them, it will render itself popular, and will create a belief in many that persona become criminal w,hen they defend the liberties of their country, or the independence of other nationr. You mnust have believed, in seeing the excesses of joy manifested on the suppression of the censorship, that we possessed all the means of publicity wihich you yoturselves enjoy; but we are very remrote front that first f' yotisltould not forget that a political journal can- noc beeste.blishea in ntrace, except with the express liermission of theoMinister; and that there at preseute exist no more than two libc- ral journals at Paris, which have not been sold or subdued. The proprietors of thesejournals, in order not to endanger their existence, and to .reainin pousessidn of tie monopoly which the law secures to- thenr: endeavour as much as they can to preserve their subscri. bers with6vt drawing down upon themselves the vengeance of Go- vqerrne so thit in-case of publie.dissatisfaction, they can only be the. faitllexs organs ofopinion. In the second place, no pritrter can exercise his profevsioni till after hli has received tbe ititliority of- the Government ; and if he after- wards becote obnol;ios5the Government may withdraw the brevet which it has given. Its i-thetefore through tie printers that linis- ters, and evenr the bishopg, exercise a censorship over books. This censorship of printer4 is ii the more rigid, that it lias no other rules than thosedictated by fear. This linid of censorship (from which the journals are not exempt) is not perceived by thepublic, but wiriters ex- perienceit enough, in a cruel manner, as they carinot publish anything without the express authority of the Government. The llfemoirs of Foawht, for instance, could not be.published tiU after the editor had ,expunged all the passages whicbh were offensive to tIe Royalists. The numrber of eacts of thia kind is so considerable, that -sevetal writers believe that the printers have receiYsd positive orders in this respect, anl that therefore they have imposed upon themselves, as a rule, not toprint any thing which nmay displense the Government. Thess means of oppression may exist a long time without occasion- ing to the existing King any loss of his popularity, because the pub - lic can only know them by means of the press, and no printer will dare to publish them. All the citiee and communes of Franne are at present engaged in transmitting to the loot of the throne the expressions of their joy, and of their attachment to Charles X. Accordingly, for some dlays past, our rrinisterial Journals have been filled only writh addresses. If you wish to appreciate the language which these addresses emn- ploy, iniagi:ne to yourbelf the officers of your Life Guards assenm- bling at the summons of their Colonel, to express the sentiments which their Monarch inspires-that they compose their (liscourses cou- formably to the orders which they have received-and that then thev express themselves in the following terms :-" Sire,Your faithful subjects, the inhabitants of the city of Lontlon, of whom iwe are the organs, approach your throne to lay at your feet their humble con- gratulatiorns." This would probably appear to you very ridiculous; but it would be quite analogous to what passes among us. Our dties and our communes have no more influence in the appointmeat of the officers who speak In their name. than the city of London in the appoittmuent of the officers of the Life Guards. I spoke to you in a foriner letter of the difficulty experiencel by the Governmneit in satisfying the Ultras, relatively to a social organiza- tion. Our M1inisters are now occupied with the demands which are made to them on this subject. As yoa are a people whom we con- sider essentially aristocratic, they have sent to England a conmris. sioner, who is to employ himtelf in studying your institutions, and to conmunicate tie result to his employers. If you have among you abuses, this coDnmissiOner will take notice of them, andl carry them back to France, for the purpose of adding to thie law of septerniality, anti tlus completing tllC representative Government. TBE N-EW BIGN IN FRANOB, PARTS. OCT. 15-