STATE OF FRANCE. (From the Evening Mail, March 27.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 228, 5 August 1848, Page 1

STATE OF FRANCE. (From the Evening Mail, March 27.)

Although no progress has yet. been rrnde by the French ppoplc in the defin te formation of that republican constitution which 13 to govern the iv ure condition of the nation, the existing form of government in France doseivta to be more fully considered, notwthbtandhng its temporuiy and provisional character. We buy that it deseives to be considered, becau.se the fact that such a form of government htm subbioted for a whole month is itself a rcmaikable phenomenon ; tin re is moreover every reason to believe that ics existence will be prolonged beyond the period origin illy assigned to its powers ; but abovo nil, it may be shown that the character which this provisional form of government has assumed wid materially increase the dillicuUy of substituting for it any more permanent and eiicumscribed republican in.stiuuions. For these reasons the present political aiate of Ft ance, or rather of Paris, will exercise a poweiful and lasting influence on the future course of events. The postponement of the elections, and consequently the prolongation of the peculiar powers of the Provi sional Government, was the most important ouject of the great popular demonstration of last week ; and there is no doubt nut the demand was suggested to the clubs and multitude by the most decided p,irtizans of the revolution — whether in or out of tlie Government. M. Ledru llo'liii hiinscU va-y explicitly uvowed the motives upon which he wjib piepwcd to act when he dccl ired that—- •' If we wish to have a national representation which shall not be a disguised representation ot the principles which have been destroyed; if we wish for a truly r p-.blican representation 5 if we think thtf, at this moment, the elections cannot take place, so as to cnsi re, indelibly und immutably, the principle* v.c proilaimed after our victory— ob, than, the elections slidli be adjourned." The u'tra-republican party is perfect'y aware that the great bulk of the Ftenrh ni>ion is by no means a.iunated with tho same onergct c 1 evolutionary sentiments ns the populace which sanctio s tin 1 plebi&ceta of the Hotel de Ville ; but it is expected that by dint of clubs, commissaiiesfr >m Paiis,and nnmnaramaloiy proos, public opinion in the departments may be raised to a much higher pitch of excitement. Time is ttiere fore demanded in order to Hgitate, 01 , according to the expression of our neighbours, " pour travaillcr Tspnt public." In tho inteival the poru'ace of Paris have no reason to complain. They aie the absolute masters of the Government and of France. If any attempt were I made to promulgate a decree which should not enjoy the favour of that fraction of the French nation, n popular demonstration woutf compel the government to revoke it. In other words, the control of the soveieign people, or that portion of it which assembles in the btreets of Paris, is direct and immtd'ate— and this state 0/ things has lasted (or several weeks, and will last probably as many more. We .veiuure to affirm that no sucli exhibition or application of i-nme-diate popular puwer lus ever been witnessed in a stale on so vast a scale or for so consideiable a tune. It presents some fuint analogy tj the assemblies of the democracy of Athens, with her 20,000 citizens, or the comitia of Rome in the tuibulcnt d lysof the Republic; but in Athens the class of aitisans was expressly excluded from the rights of citizenship, and in Home the proletani wcie slaves. There is, however, one place, not in political reality, but in political fiction, where the very same itate of things is recommended and appliuded as the very perfection of libeity — and that is in the pjges of the " Central Social" of Jean Jacques Rousseau. It is curious to observe how many of the wildest sophisms of that eccentuc philosopher have been grasped as political truths by the French people, and especially that which submits every act of the executive to the direct control of the sover. ign people bodily assembled Ilosseau absolutely prescribes the theory of representative government ; und in li s eyes the agents of executive power are at all times to act as the servants, or rather the slaves, of the popular will. The sovereignty of tha people is, to uso his paradoxical language, inalienable and indivisible ; that is, it cannot bs delegated to representatives, or severed into partias. A universal popu.ar dictatorship is the basis of his theory of law und government. Suuh 11 state 01 things has certainly not often been witnessed among men ; but it is precisely what we have now before our eyes in Pans. That ci'y has, in tho first place, entirely assumed or usurped the sove.eignty of France, and therefore one or two hundred thousand individuals who shout, threaten, aud coin inand in the name of the French nation, may e-isily be collected at one spot at any Riven time. Practically, France has ceased to be a nation composed of millbm of men enjoying equal rights, and is become a Parisian Republic, ruled bj Decemvirs of exclusively Parisian authority. M. de Lamartine, who is himself more connected with the province of Burgundy than wiih the populace ot Paris, has courageously resisted this species of usurpation — but that is prooably one of the grounds of Ins declining popularity. The despo'ism of centralisation i 3 never bo absolute as when it is wielded hy ti« Ijwe&t and ojgat vehement democracy, ynd e r

those circumstances, and after ihe spirit of anarchy has been strengthened by agitation, by indulgence, and n mock fear of resistance, what conceivable inducement the Parisian crowds have to abdicate their actual power, to swear allegiance to the representatives of the other parts of France, to reduce their own preten* sions to the slender proportions of a mere constituency, or to obey any form of government bo established ? It is clear that no species of representative government can stand against the direct power of an armed and exciteable mob. Whenever the nine hundred representatives of France are assembled, they will be as completely under the control of the populace of Parii as the late Chamber of Deputies was on the 24th of February, or as »he Provisional Government still ii at the Hotel de Ville. Representation of tho people 13 a farce, unless the people consents to suspend its direct interference by authoiity on all occasions except at a general election. But in like manner, the general aspect of affainj In France has extinguished the other fundamental condition of public liberty, by virtually putting an end to p<uties. The right to express all shades of opinion with freedom and safety, and to form associations for the defence of them, i 3 the very essence of a frea consti 1 ut'on— mil the policy or a free state is guided by the icsult of these contending forcei. In Paris it is needhS9 to s>ay that all such contents of party have ceased. There is a iriglufnl uniformity of subjection. Opinions are mere freely expressed in St. Petersburg than in tho c.ipital of France ; and ulthough faotion9 may mise at the instigation of personal ambition and intrigue, the free movement of parties is paralysed by fcxv. The party of the Monarchy vanished on the 24th oi February, and not a man of it has been heard of since ; not a line has been since printed in its defence. Tho party of the " bour^coise" and the National Guard made its demonstration on the 17th of March, and in a few hours sank, scurely lt)«s effectually crushed than the monarchy. Neither the one nor the other have attempted to maintain their ground again-.! the popular element, for at the stage at which matters arc now anived m France, all discussion means blowa — all resistance civil war — and from these dreadful extremities every one recoils. There is, therefore, no genuine discu 1 sion, and no resistance. If the French people were reully to intend that a body of national representatives should frame the future cons itutiou of the Rcpubl'c, one physical condition would be mdi pcnsadlo to bccuio the independence of their dilibeiations. nimely, that such an assembly should not s>it within reach ot Paris. But wo are well aware that Budi a pioposul would bs altogether cliimeiicrtl, and indeed would be furiously resented as- a dinct attack on the mnj irity of the Parisian people, Yet in Paiis, ns long as the populice retain their present direct and absolute power, no independent executive government and no n piesentative legislature can in reality exi*t. And we shail not be surprised to learn thut ihe clubs which are engaged in speculating on the utmost limits to which democratic absolution oan be carried had discarded these fietiom. A celebrated writer his observed, tint the tyranny of the inajoii'y is the curse ot the democracies; bat the existence of a real legal in ljjrity tn a state presupposes a certain amount of order and justice. There is an. evil far beyond that tyianny; namely, the tyranny of the 111 nonty, which is Insod on injustice, and can only be noaintdined by fear. "La hberte* pol que,' J sayj Montesquieu, " provicnl citoyen est cette tranquillud ds sa surttc ; et pour qu'on ait cette hburtc il fuut que le gouvernemont teit tel qu 'an citoyen." How remote is that happy stute of things froru the present condition of France !