PERSONAL SKETCHES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. (From the Watchman)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 235, 30 August 1848, Page 2

PERSONAL SKETCHES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. (From the Watchman )

The following Sketches are derived principally from a sort of Fiencli " Parl'nraentary Pocket-book," entitled Biographic dcs Deputes, and compiled by two *• journalists," both of them ardent Republicans. Other sources of information have been leiorted to, to correct or corrpletc ihe accounts:— M. Louis Blanc, one- of the Secretaries, not having been a member of the Chamber, is not mentioned in the Biographir: He is best known to us through his historical writings, especially his History of Ten years n work of singular literal y ability, which liub had an immense circulution on the Continent, and has been translated into Engl sli. He was an uncompromising foe to the fallen dynasty ; and one of the most curious portions of his book is that in which ho elaborately discmses the death of the Duke de Conde, and all but diiectly charges Louis Philippe with having instigated the murder of his wealthy kinsman. Of the other po j litical opinions and tendencies mnnifeited in the His. t<»y of Ten Years, the most important are the author's hostility to what he considers the social and political usurpations of the middle class, his antipathy for the principle of competition in trade, and his zeal for the rights of the working man, which he would secure 171 7 co-operation, and by what among a certain class of French economists is designated the " organization of labour." His economical principles are akin to those avowed by the more rational of our English Chartists. He is a young man of ardent temperament and unquestionable sinceuty. His stature is so small that when hfl addiessed a large assemblage of working men the other day, some of Ihe most enthusiastic of his hearers hoisted him on their shoulders in order that his little figuie might be visible to the admiring audi« enee. M. Marie, Minister of Public Works, and one of the membeis for Pans, is a balonnkr of the order of avocats. He is sixty years of age. After a long course of toil and privation, he rote in 1830 to a place beside the Du.} ins, Munguins m»d Berryus, and has since been considered the leading counsi 1 for political causes* His defence of one of the conspirators of the 'Pont dcs Arts' was a masterpiece of cleverness. M. Cainot, Minister of Public Instiuetion (including the administration of religious aft'airs), was bom in 1801, and is a son of the fami us conventionalist of that name. He U a devoted pailisan <>t democratic ideas, nntl belonged to this extreme Left, lie vo ed against the Piiichunl Indemnity Bill, mid for M. llenmat'h project of PailiainenUry reform. M. Mauasr, one of the Secretaries, had a sat in the Ch'imhcr of Deputies. He is the piincipal editor of the National, one of the ablest nnd by far the boldest of the journals opposed to the Lite monaichy, and remarkable also for its virulent untipiithy to England. Ilii Engli h npologists, however (tor he hiißiome) say that h'l3 iinimo'ity has been duected not so much against England itself, as against what he considered the truckling conduct of the Fioich Government in its dralings with this country. M. Marrast has been a resident in London, and it married to uu English lady. M. Ga^nier Pages, th(> Mayor of Paris, and deputy for Mans, was hied to the bar. Though rather a tedious aud solemn man, without the learniu<>; of his late I'rcther, yet ho is of uprigit uud resp.cUbe cluiacLr. Dupontde FEuro, the new President of the Conn, cil, wa» deputy for Evicux. At the electionsof 1842, M. Dupont, indignant at seeing the deputies ft tho Ku c sei vilely voting in favimr ot the Gu.zot Ministry contested (our colleges of thut department simultaneously ; he was dieted in all four, and chose Evruix. He invariably voted against the sdmini*-tu t on winch, has (alien wth its protct'r, the King, lie entered on the 82nd year on the 27th February. In the yc»r VIII. he was a member of the Council of Five tluudred ; in 1811 he was President at the Com t of Rouen ; in 1813, he was President of the Co>ps Legislaitf; in 1815 he proposed the famous didaiaiion, in which the rights of citizens were reserved ; in 1830 he was appoin'ed Minister of Justice. 1113 appointment derives its Mgmficancy as being a personal piotest ngainkt Maishal Bugeaud. Wi en he uddiebted the muhiimle at^the colwnn of July, on Sunday week, '' Listen'' shouted Arago. "It is eighty years of apmc lile that spejiks to you" — a far beuer expression than the forty •enturics looking down from the Pyiaunds on tho Trench army. M. Arairo, Minister of Mnrim, is or.c of tlie first savans in France, and pre-eminent for his skill as a popular expounder of science. In this sense he may be s<ti<l to be eloquent, but he is not an orator, though the " joumalhtb" tissurcs us he eijojs n brtiiant reputation in that' respect. lie possesses, ho\vevet»a lino person, a luminous eye and manly manner, with a voice to proclaim the Republic to the stars. He was born in I7BG, and is perpetual secretory of the Acadomy of Scieucei, member of the olliee of longitudes, and one of the most illustrious scientific men of the age. '1 he Republican prints aay he is modcrute in expressing hit opinions, though holding extreme views. Tiie Morning Chronicle, however, says that even in the scientific world the great mathematician is known by the violence oPhis temper and the harshness of hU chaiacter ; his politics v.c of tho most ardent republicanism, it adds that he cannot string three wordj together in public, (a gross exagiraiaUon.) although, ho hai long been called by his flatterers " the Consul L'lectofthe Republic." GeneMl Bideau, Minister of War, is now only in his forty-foutih year. As aide-de-camp to (jeneial Ferrier, Gerard, and Sthramar, he made the campaigns of Belgium in 1831-2, and for the 1-at twelve or fourteen years has bton among the mo-t active and dist nguished of the young African Generals. He aud General LamorciCiC have fought their way to tho ranks they now hold by long uud gallant service in Algiers, and they have respectively filled the ranks of lieutenant-governors to the provinces of Constantino and Oran. The administration of Bideau hai, from the nature of t»i3 country, been chiefly remarkable for military Government ; that of Lamoriciure for military enterprise ; the former passes for the abler man ot the two, the latter for the more during. M. Cremieux, Minister of Just'ee, is a Jtw ami deputy for Ctunon ; he is now in his 7'lth ye»r, and was, before 1830, the foremost advocate of the bar ot Nismes. He accompanied Sir Moses Montefioie on the mission to ancst the perserution against the Jews, which followed the murder of Father Thomas m Darnaßcus. He is a man of wealth and substance, and immediately after 1830 purchased of Oddon Barrot the place of Consaller el la Cour de Cassation. For the last t.n years, he has been one of the most popular and gemrously employed of the Paritiau advocates. He demanded, on the discussion of the game law, (originated in the Peers,) ihe suppression ot the article which exempts the Crown lands tiom tic severe provisions of thtt enactment ; but aithou&li successful 10 the Deput e , the Upper Chamber reatoinil the obnoxious clause, Ik is the fnund wh.na Mr.

Cobden called as an authority for peace between the two nations, M. de Lamartinc, Minister for Foreign Affairs, islho poet-historian of the Gxrondins. He is deputy for Macon and more than thirty years ago served his apprenticeship as a diplomatist, and was named Minister Plenipotentiary by Charles X. in 1828 and 1830. La. martine, now in his fifty-eigth year, is a gentleman of birth and fortune. He is eveiy where a poet even at the tribune. Like most poeis however, he is rather fickle and inconstant, vain and impiudent. For a length of time lie occupied a very undecided position in the Chamber, but he eventually langed himself on the side of the Opposition. Fiom that period M do Lamartine took a decided part in favour of progressive reform, and lidiculed the Guizot Cabinet as the Minishy of "limitations." Ho voted against the Pritchard indemnity, and was appiized by the Opposition as an invaluable acquisition. He wrote and spoke strongly egainst the conduct of Government in the affair oi the Spanish marriages The following is im own rather misty expression of his policy:— "The organic and progressive constitution of the entire demociacy, the expansive principle of mutual charity and social fiaterlrity, organised and applied to the satisfaction of the general interest." The events of last week have exhibited him in a new light, and proved him to be really a great man. M. Ledru Rollin, Minister of the Interior, is deputy for Mans. His speech to the electors subjected him to a persecution on the pait of the Government, and the tiial of the chso produced api cat .sensation. M. Rollin represents the ultia Jladica' inteicst, and has often attacked not only M. Guizot, but also the policy of such men as Thieis and Odillon Bau\,t. He sat on the extreme Left, and has defended, at the tribune, with vigour and talent, the opinions advocated by La Reforme newspaper. He is an avocat by profession, with not too much practice. He gained some public notoriety in England by his. Quizotic visit of propagan« aism to Ireland, when he offered to the late Daniel O'Connell to procure for him an armed force, composed of Frenchmen to aid the Irish people in securing the repeal of the union by an appeal to the sword. He is also a contributor to the columns of the National. He is forty seven years of age. The Timei styles him a pedantic demagogue. He, too, has risen immensely in reputation siuce he assumed his piesent most arduous office.