20 DECEMBER 1834, Page 2

The trial of M. ROUEN, the responsible editor of the

National, is the only news of interest in the French journals of the week; and as it is made the subject of an interesting Letter by 0. P. Q. which appears in anothercolumn, it is not necessary to dwell upon it in this place. The French Chamber of Peers caused the editor of the National to be tried ter a libel on their own body. The pro- ceeding was analogous to that which takes place in this country when a person is summoned before either House of Parliament for a breach of privilege; but instead of inflicting the slight punish- ment usually awarded in England in such cases, the French Chamber of Peers sentenced M. Rouen to two years imprison- ment,and the paper to a fine of ten thousand francs. This savage sentence will be remembered against the men who passed it, in after times—in the days of the terrible "reaction " that must yet arrive in France. It was in part provoked by the speech of M. CARREL, probably the actual writer of the article, and who was brought from the prison in which he was undergoing punishment for a previous offence, in order to plead the cause of his colleague: his defence of M. ROUEN was one continued stream of eloquent invective, and SATIIIS to have stung the noble judges in their own cause into a condition of mind approaching to fury. The speech was rapturously applauded by the audience. Lord BROUGHAM was present: he would see the consequence of the policy pursued by his friends of the Juste Milieu, in the present state of feeling in the French metropolis.