We have just seen, but ha...
The Times, 1824-09-04T00:00:00

We have just seen, but have barely had time to rcad, a French pamphlet, recently printed at Paris, and ascribed to M. SALVANDI, a knowa writer of great talent. The present production bears the title of Le Ministere et La France. It is, in all respeets but one, an admirable work; full of spirit, argument, trui'l, andl knowledge. If there -were any who supposed that intelligent Frechrhnen were disarmed of their reflecting power, or blunted in their sen. oibility, by the progressive anid ovcrbearing enterprises of the Mini'sters against the constitution and chartered liber- ties of France, this little book would, we are disposed to tlhink, undeceive them. The author sketches the duties of the Administration-tben their defects and vices. He de- scribes their original system, after the late election law was carried, to have been one of hideous corruption; and, baffled in that by the Chamber of Peers and the Courts of Justice, be states their amended svstemn to be that of pure force, illustrated by the Censorship; the consequenices of which iniquitous measure to the wel- fare of society, and to the Government itself, are painted with powerful force and accuracy. *" Every thing "will be inviolable in France, from the gensdartnes to "yourselves (the Ministers) ; only our properties, our "rights, ourinstitutions, our lives, will not be so." " Can "you state what violence may not be committed hencefortlh "with impunity ? You have robbed us even of our last " refuge--tle wisdom and mercy of the Ki-G. Truth has " no longer any path to the Royal presence. The Tuileries " will suffer, as well as France herself, the law of all Asi- "atic Governmerts-the lexr talionis. Among them the "Prince is a captive, as his people are slaves. He is de- "graded, as his people are oppressed. But in Asia the "people avenge their sufferings by a conflagration; and the "Sultan by a bow-string. You know that, thanks to "tthat article of the .undamental law which declares " you to be responsible, yon have nothing to fear " from cither. The Grand Viziers will envy you the " Clharte Conswtittionelle." It is then foretold, as it has bcen here, that the Ministry will become more violent as it fancies itself more secure. Their foreign policy is repre- sented to be consistent with the tyrannical spirit which prevails at home-towards Spain-towards Greece ; and, in their commercial system, towards Germany, Switzer- land, the Low Countries, the United States, and St. Do- mingo. W e bave not time to enter minutely into the re- flections of this able writer upon the internal condition of France herself, and the action and re-action which are hkely to take place between the p ublic interests and those of the Mlnistry,under the various aspectsin which both are con- sideredl. His account of the progress alieady made towards the restorationI of the Jesuits to absolute power over Churchl and State, and over the mind of the nation, is extrenmely in- teresting-ant to a philanthropist not a little affecting. Nor are the names and fates of CHARLES I. and of JAMES II.,whicl finished the careef of the house of START, remotely hinited at by M. SALVANDI, or obscurely applied to the course of French contingencies. The sole weakness wlich we could perceive in this pamphlet, with a view to its effect upon the French people generally, was its ajpa- rent subserviency, on some points, to the interests of WI. de CHATEAU5RIAAND.