THE FRENCH REPUBLIC (From the Sydney Christian Standard, July 1.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 231, 16 August 1848, Page 4

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC (From the Sydney Christian Standard, July 1.)

The impulse given to Liberalism in Continental Eulopc by the n font revolution in Fiance, must lead to gieat chants i" tl.c spirit, as well as in the forms of viiriou" Governments, comprising th>it great confederac\ of nations It. would be pleasing, if our experience ol the past would pcuTiir us to Anticipate nothing but good f.om the twumph of libetal opinions : but with the ct t ieiienre of the ever memorable icvolution of 1789 before v-, we arc compelled to rojoirc wtb trembling. And }\>t, on the other band, to pcinut our misgtvinss to destroy our confidence in the pio^reGsivc advancement of Uic human race, would bo to do violence to the mure geneious sympathies, of ouv nature. We may naturally tear, thai niuchth.it is incidentally, ami for a time, seriously, injurious to thebcbt interests of man, may be the immediate consequence of punin lute changes in the political elements o( soiicty in the less enlightened countries of Europe ; hut vie may pha hope that while the evil will be confined to the present generation, and then disappear, the «ood will on \hr contrary, bo of peimnnent dm a ion, and will I* gratefully enjoyed by gcueiations yd unborn. The justice of the lccent revolution in Frnu-e is an important consideration with tlio^e who thmk that •' nothing which lfl morally wronp, can be politically *if»ht." To decide this point, it will be necessity to i. ivert to the history of the laat few years. In 1830, Louis Philippe was placed by a rcvolutionaiy movement the three days of July) upon the tin one of France. The lenovared monarchy was to be one "surrounded by republican institutions." H:ace, Lcon^my, and Kivfokm, weie to be the cbanu-tenMics of the new go\ eminent. On such condition, cieai ly atiddeluulely undei stood, he wab cilltd to rule ovur tho Fionch people. There could be no miM.iU^ as to the tmiu of ih-« compact between the: km- and the ptopk. Whether it was a wise or just one is number cjues* tiou ; but- Ltmii Pii.bppc liav uir out c pledged him&etf, ami openly in the face ol all Em ope, to goveill 8.3 a *' Citizm Kvng/' bis admuushauon must be tested by suefcivnce to Ihosf moral (and as some think) U'oV in princip'cs of action, with w'aiih it wus voluntarily identified. ttow have tliehc plcdj-Oo been red -erai'd ? A.s to f i:ack :--By the ccm.unimate prudence and tact «t the now exiled King, the quiet of Europe has not been hedously disturbed, and a general war lus been p. evented: foy this he deserves the hearty thanks of every weU-wklier of the human rate. In tins instance at loabfc the Monarch has been faithful to his <vowb, but in none other. Instead of Economy, the national expendiUuv, bab been enoimouMy increased, c.ii(l tlit: eiul 1-s.t cippoi-illy, has been on a most extravagant scale. A mean aud giusping avauoe haß been the tii uueterif tic trail, m the pecuniary transactions of a Kin". pcibona'ly the most wealthy individual in Europe. "With icsncct to Rm?orm, every evil consumed of und. r the old regime, has luxuriated iimbrtht»admnnstiation of a republican King. Ihe representation of t'r-e people of the Chamber ot Deputes, though somewhat iinpiovcd by a il-ght modification o* the Chirter, has remained ladically the same. A boily of 45D members, chown by a Conittuency ot Jrom 150 to 13 ),000 voteis, out of a population of 35 million!., has never commanded the conhdence ol France. It was notorious that the pi mctple ot centralization which threw foto the hands of the Executive Government, the disposal of about 200,000 offics. oi honour and emolument, placed the mojority of the constituencies, completely undei the influence of the miniver for the time bung ; the >oters being main y composed o f the needy lespectabi'ity of th« middle ranks of socie'y, a class above all othe s the most husccptible to undue influence, rendered an independai.t r pr.-M-nt.iti.nl impossible. The freedom ot the press, and the liberty of public discussion lu.vc been gradually retrained, as fitiiujj oppoituumes occurred. Every nioposal on the part of moderate men to secure needful refoims, has been successfully opposed through the wei«ut of court influence, until at last, for the want of lho-c very safety-valves, which mis<-alculaii»« despotism likes to cl.we up, but which in free constitutions give timdv notice ot danger, the explosion toJt place when least exacted. The « Citwbn Kiko ' was dethroned in a few hours (24th Fob. 184S), nnd oxprlled from Trance for ever. His enemies ton say with some reason, " be came in like a Jox, governed like a wolf, and was driven out like a dog." If we examine Louis Philippe'* conduct in reference to bis foieign politics, *c see little to admi.e, and muelito blame. As a Constitutional Monaich, ho took from the first a false position. To the despotisms of Europe ha was subservient and ti nek ling ; obliged apparently to favour the permaiure movement of the Italian patriots in 1831 to 1833, he betrayed treacherously their interests. At a later peuod to secure impur.ity for French intrigues in bpain, he abandoned the Italian peninsula altogether to Ausciia. < What little character still remained to him, was lost m ths heartless affair of the Spanish rratches m 184 G. And now the measure be has dolt out to others, has been meted out to himself and his; his postc.ity are not '.iiiely to occupy thrones, and the aged deposed Monarch the boasted Ulysses of the nineteenth centmy, an exile for the second time, has nothing before him, but to So down with sol row, and with the conciousness of de«rved shame, to the grave. The late of Louis Philippe is a great moral lesson ; it teaches us theiwelessncss of n«re tiickeiy and cun«in", however adiiotly managed by.the iiiostconsummate tactitian. A little common honesty, a sprinkling of correct moral feeling a gain of true wisdom, and he min-ht have died a King, and transmitted the crown to Wsheirs The French nation is not the mere fi ivolous changeable tbiug, which our national prejudice imagines it to be. Having much yet to learn, in reference to the practical working of free institutions, its inexperience may lead it to hope and desire, that which we have made up our minds to consider us impiacticable. It sees a glorious ideal, and in endeavouring to grasp a thculow too frequently misses the romance, while wit Jiave been tnu o -ht by the lesson of two jevolutions, to he content to let Well alone. The French people are capable of the most generous ennobling sympaMi s : they cm appreciate and understand the grand dud disinterested in character, anil in spite of their republican tastes, they would have rallied round, and consolidated the thrown of Louis Philippe, had be chosen to be in reality, as well as in profession, the Constitutional King of a free people. A conviction of the renibiitive justice of God m forced upon us, by a review of the histo.y of the Bourbon family snee Henry IV., falsely surname 1 the gieat, secured the throne of France by apostatizing irom Protestantism, a l). 1593. A false glare has been thrown by faistoiians and novelists, upon a character j'e.jiadeu by wibmUal licentiousness : h« son Louis l.ith (the mere cypher in the hands of Cardinal Riche-lu-u), commenced a systematic cius.ide against what remained of liberty m Fiance, whith was thoroughly extinguished in the reign of his son and successor Louis XIV. Tuis so called " Grand Monarque," c übroiled the peace of Europe for more than halt a < cntury. A youth distinguished by systemat c inimot »ljty was followed bv an old age of religious dotHge, ti« sinc-rity of whith, was proved by the rtvoca'ion ol the edict' of Nautc-, and the persecution of two

millions of his Protestant sublets. Louis XV., l>y his extravagance and disgusting sensnali'y, tendered ! that Revolution inevitable, to which his innocent grandson Louis XVl.i fell a victim. We ne°d not dwell upon the character or history of Louis XVIII. or Charles X. Suffice it to observe that the giandson of Charles X., Henry of Bourdeux, is now an exile w ith the ludicrous distinction of being as Henry V., ' the legitimate pretender of the tluone of France. The younger branch of the House of Bmnbon, (that of Oilcans) originated in Philippe, the second ton of Loins 13th, manied to the Princess Henrietta, duugh- [ ter of our Charles 1. lie is remembered chiefly as an ' accessory, if not, a principal, in the poisoning of his ' wife, of whom he wis jealous. His son, dining the i minority of Lows XV.. wa3 the nototious Regent of ■ France, the. patron of law, (who was the protector of | the Mississippi Scheme) and a partner in that gigantic swindle, which involved so many thousands of families in nun ;he died prematurely, the victim of his own profligacy, ad. 1723. The great prandson of the Regent, was the well known Philip Egalile, who entered into all the earlier (xcesesofthe Revolution, voted for the deaih of his relative Louis XVI., pan- | dered to the basest passions of the Paiisian mob, and I at length fell their victim, a.d. 1793. The present ex-Kins; Louis Philippe, is the son of this Philipe Egalitc His early struggles with adversity, were not altogether lost upon him, and lor some years his conduct both as Duke ot Orleans and King of the French, led the world to suppose, that the school of adversity had taught him wisdom. Hi cent events show that the le^on had been for otten. Perhaps it is as well for the woild that it should be so, for it would have been an additional mystciy in God's moial government of the world, if the deacendnntb of Phil'p Kgalite had been permanently permitted to occupy the throne of France. I |

France owns nothing to the Bourbons. They on slaved its local parliaments —they con uptcd its nohi-IHy—-they degraded the lower classes—tl'cy destroyed religious libcity and intellectual fiecdom—they banished its most industrious ai trams (the Protestants in ]{JBo) —they vitiated, as far as the influence of their pcisonal example extended, the morals of all classes of society by their undisguised licentiousnebs. They icndeicd Revohvion unavoidable in 17h9; because lcform, too long ilelnycd, was then impossible. 'J he guilt of the blood of the millions slain h-om 1790 to 1815 is traceable to them. Alter an exile of twenty-fivo years, ii\ which " they had forgotten nothing and learned nothing,' 1 they returned in the wake of foreign armies, forced upon a reluctant"people, to manilest in another tii.il as uilers the innate incoirigiblc peivcrsity of their natuies, and to deseive and to suftci a double re-expul-sion fiom the throne and soil of France, which is pio- ' bably a final one. Their political career is now finished. We but anticipate the vcidict of an impartial postuity, wlion as each tiouibon parses in levicw hefote us, we point to the mysterious hand-writing on the wall, and say, "Tnou ait wciglicd in the balances, and found wanting." | How far the experiment now again to ho liird of a Republican Government in France will succeed, is diflicult to say. "We cannot judge fiom (lie l.iilurc of the attempts fiom 1792 to 1803. It would be as uni.ur to estimate the capacity of nations as ot men by one l miscairiagc. Tlic France of 1848 ditteis materially \ horn the Fiance of 1792. During the last half centmy ma ly obstacles in the way of republican institutions have been lemoved. The more equal division of piopci 'y among the agricultural classes, the long possession of legal equality, the non-existence of privileged classes in the community, a simple and intelligible code cf laws, (he gradual rise of a manufacturing and mcicantile interest, and a general agreement in political j views, me circums'ances in themselves favourable to the expeiimentt Add to these the increase of educational influences under Napoleon, and the subsequent extension and increased efficiency of the communal '• schools (since 18 J3), by means of which the popul.tion | of Fiance, especially in the more influential dcpaitments in the north and west, have lcceived a Jaiv shine of ek'iiiciitniy knowledge: and we shall pruew the j immense difference between Fiance, ignorant and bin taliscdby long tyranny in 1792, and France, comparatively enlightened and accustomed to amcasurc of freedom ! in 1848. We must also take into account the tiiluerce of religion. Within the last few yeaJs there has been a great re-action in favour of the pap,il form of Christanity. Popery modified by French laxity, (whith ne^er could tolerate the Popery of Spain or I'al }), bids fair to be felt as a powir in the French nation. Much as we may regret that a purer form of Christianity has not been the instrument of French rcgene- J ration (such as it it,), we cannot but rejoice in this symptom of the spread of moral and religious principles, and in the consequent discredit of those hemtlesß dogmas of sensual infidelity, which, while rampant, rendered free institutions impossible. In the north of Germany, and in Belgium, as well as in Ireland, opposition to Protestant governments hus identified Popery with democratic principles. So also in" France during the last eighteen ye.us. If the influence and weight of th<? French clergy be thrown, (as it will in all probability) into the Republican scale, we may live to see a netv Iking in the earth, Popery in triumphant alliance with Democracy—the very soul and lite of a republic in Central Europe, comprising France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and poitions of Germany, —going forth conquering and to conquer, perhaps one of the last trials to which the nations aie to be expostd befoic the final triumph of the truth. It would be singular if despotism which has hitherto employed Popi ry as a tool, should be punished by its own instruments We should not be surprised at tins. Satan sometimes inadveitently casts out Satan. But come what will, " The Lord reignetlv let the earth rejoice ; let the multitudes of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkncsß are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne" (P»alm xcvii. 1, 2.)