LETTERS FROM PARIS, BY 0. P. Q. No. XIL
THE NEW FRENCH MINISTRY.
"In a word, we deem the 0. P. Q. school decideilty on the decltne."—Enylish Globe, 1st April. " Polig,nae a t tie Charles X. Persil enterrera Louis Philip."—Tribase of 8th April. " Sire. !ingratitude a sa fatalite et sea terribles expiations."—Cardinal Rielwtieu to Louis the Thirteenth.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Paris, 9111 April MM. SIR—On the first of April (mark that), "April Fool Day," when the April fools, or "Poiasons d'Avril," are as plentiful in Paris as in London, the English Globe, the Whig Globe, the Optimist Globe, set about doing its very host; and, in order to convince the world that no one could beat it on the day of all the fools, viz. the 1st of April, it wrote the following sentence—" In a word, We deem the 0. P. Q. school decidedly on the decline!" Now do not imagine for a moment that the Globe, or rather the writer of that article. icaly thought SO. The editors of the Globe ale not such ignorant men as they profess to he ; not such stupid politicians as they affect to be ; not such dull, heavy, stone-blind writers as they claim the demerit of heing : but they like a good joke—not smile or a sneer, hut a regular vulgar broad grin, on the 1st of April ; and are not as morose and dissatisfied as Doctor Jon NSON, who when told by a saucy, lying rogue in Cheapside, on the 1st of April, that his shoe-string was untied when it was not, grumbled out, "I see nothing in it." No, no ! the Globe is merry at intervals ; facetious at sundry moments ; is an observer of times and seasons ; is heavy on Christmas Day, pious on Good Friday, full of corn and wine in harvest-time, and given to facetiousness on the 1st of April. So, in one of its merry fits—not after a cold dinner at Bellamy's, but after a warm dinner energetic opinions and feelings on the nomination or question under dis- cussion. And let it not be supposed that the journals speak not public opinion. They do speak public opinion. And therefore it is that the Constitutionnel, which is tame and flat and trinnuing, and which does not belong to the "0. P. Q. school" (ms the Globe styles patriotic feeling in France), has lost more than half of its subscribers; and why the Debuts, since it has become more Doctrinaire, has lost more than one third of its Departmental subscribers ; and why the National of 1834 has very much augmented its readers hoth bere and in the provinces ; and why the Tribune, which at one time could not pay its expenses, because the people hoped that the Government would march with the Revolution notwithstand- ing the contrary predictions of that journal, has now more than three times the number of subscribers, and is even saving money ; because the people see that the Tribune anticipated rightly, and that the Revolution is in danger of being sold or sacrificed to the Holy Alliance, by such men as TIIIERS and Pamir.. Yes, the journals do speak public opinion; and that is the reason why, in almost Bonds, the business has been ahnost entirely confined to Spanish and Nan- and see, that all France is disgusted with, and in arnis against this new and in- guese Stock. The fluctuations in the latter have been considerable : on Monday solent combination ; and that the Tribune is not far from right when it says, the price was 67 ; and on Tuesday the Bonds had reached 69; some large " Polignac killed Charles the Tenth. Persil will bury Louis Philip."
sales were subsequently effected at 681 ; the Stock speedily declined to tis ;' a The Revolution of 8:lo has been sadly mistaken, betrayed, and insulted, front further fall has since taken place to 67A ; and the closing price to-day was the beginning ; but the last insult it has received is more galling and more pro-
67 3.. yoking than all which have preceded it. PEits tr. Minister of Justice ! There We are without any intelligence from Lisbon. It was yesterday reported that is not a single Liberal in France who would not prefor Pa:vitoNNET or BEN, fort La Lippe, near Elvas, had declared for Don l'Enao.; but this turns out to avra. Masi!, 1%linister of Justice ! Ile who has denounced the juries of he untrue. If the wind continue in the present quarter, we can hardly expect France, because they have refused to crowd the prisons with journalists and any arrival from the Westward. The book at Lloyd's Coffeehouse presented public writers,—he who has propo:ell to deny to the jurymen the right of dis- cussiog their verdict one with the other, and has demanded that each jurymart should write his verdict on a piece of paper, and depose It in an tirn to be opened by the judges presiding. l'Easi 1. Minister of Justice ! lie who has attacked the Tribune with ninety prosecutions; who, as Procureur du Rid, has insti- tuted more processes against the Press in two years than have been in two cen- turies begun in Great Britain and France together; he who has counselled the Crown to grant no amnesty-, to send political offenders to Mont St. Michel, to demand a law for putting down all associations of all sorts in France, and who to-day is to require the Chamber of Peers to allow as little as possible the intervention of the jury ; and finally, he who has said that either the l'ress must conquer the Crown or the Crown must conquer the Press, for that both cannot exist. This is the man who is to represent "Justice ;" whose eyes are to be blind, whose scales are to be even, and who is to administer the laws without partiality and without violence. Oh yes, the Globe is right, if this be what it means by the 0. P. Q. school being on the decline. But let the Globe be- ware. The day will come when it will have to pen, aye, and will pen too, such a paragraph as the following—" The events in France do not surprise us. It was not to be expected that a high-minded people like the French would sub- mit for any length of time to be governed by such men as l'Ensts, aud TRIERS; and much as we deplore any great convulsions on the Continent, yet we hope that other governments and other monarchs will profit from such examples; for, as Cardinal RicriErasas said to Louis the Thirteenth, 4 Sire, ingratitude has its fatality, and it is sure to be required to make a terrible expiation.'" The nomination of M. Mutsu. as Minister of Justice, is an insult to the French nation; an insult to the Revolutions both of 1789 and 1830; and a cop &ant which will be sure to bring with it very sad thought very instsuctire coosequences. It is a fact—and a fact which I defy the Globe or its correspondents to deny —that not one single journal in all France (though snore than eight hundred are published), not one in I'aris, nor one in the Departments, not one, either political, literary, or miscellaneous--exceet those paid so much per month (as per accounts) by the Minister of the Interior, Prefect of Police, or Governor of
the Civil List, for lying and for writing Alinisterially,—I say, not one single paper or periodical has applauded the nomination of M. Permit, ; and yet Pram, is the Minister of April 1814. Some which are Juste Milieu have certainly preserved the most rigid silence. This I admit; but their silence is blame; for when a Juste Milieu journal does not applaud every measure of the Government it is because its subscribers have decided and most
we deem the 0. I'. Q. school decidedly on the decline." The " WE DEEM" is somewhat ponderous, I confess, for a First of April joke ; but we must make SA TuRDAY. I allowances for the metaphysical tastes and profound habits of sleeping and study- ing prosecuted with so much success by the Globe. Lours PHILIP Will never set up, like GOLDSMITH, for a rope-dancer. Perhaps the Globe will arm' 0. P. Q. to return the compliment of its joke, with a little anecdote, which the learned " We " have, more than probably, heard once before ; though as it is appropriate it will bear repetition. Once upon a time, there was a certain King called Puii,ir the Second, and he had a certain Minister called Cardinal SPINOSA.. The Cardinal got ill, very ill, and at last lay motionless on his conch- His at.. tenclants rushed to the palace of the King, and infinmed him that the poor Car. (final was dead ! "It ni a pity," said Prime, "lie was a man of great merit ; but I desire that he may be embalmed ! " The Royal. orders were soon about to be put in execu ; and the embalmers approached the supposed corpse of the Cardinal. " Softly, softly," cried Sri NOsA, " I am not dead, to cavaliers! You must embalm me another time! " My dear friends of the Globe, let me MONEY MARKET. adopt your language, and combine it with that of SPINOSA. " We deem the STOCK EXCHANGE, FRIOAY AFTERNOON, Globe is decidedly joking ; for the 0. P. Q. school is not only not dead, nor really to be embalmed, nor sick or on the decline, but snore rampant, more 'it* spirits, more sure of a futurity of success and amelioration, than ever ; and there- fore do not embalm us, we mav you, till next April Fool Day. But what have we got here? A NEW FRENCH MINISTRY! The Lord have mercy on its! for neither the Globe, nor M. PEasii. will. And, I suppose, when this said Globe heard of the nomination of the 0. 1'. Q. school hater and de- sti over, M. PeasiL, being named Minister of Justice in France, the editors rubbed their hands and exclaimed, " Did we not say so? To be sure we did! We said the 0. 1'. Q. school was on the decline !" Yes, indeed, it is on the decline, at the Palace, at the Court, at the Councils of the Ministers, in the Chambers of Peers and Deputies, and iu the tribunals of the Correctional Police. But it is not on the decline in the Army, the Navy, the Colleges and Schools, the Press, among the National Guards, among the middling and lower ranks of society, among literary and scientific men, among students and professors, or, in one word, amongst :121 millions out of 33 millions of French people ! We have a "new French Ministry," certainly, as opposed to the ameliorating, the civil- izing, the free, the constitutional, and the popular principles of the 0. I'. Q. school, as even the ingenuity of the Globe could have inflicted on us: but if the Globe is not as stone deaf as it is apparently stone blind, it cannot fail to hear
and champaign—the sapient, aye zind the witty scribe, too wrote, " In a word,
every !repairmen', the Opposition and even Republican jouroals have by far the most subscribers; aml why the new journals, started since Iti10 in the Pro. 'winces, and which .prosper, are either Republican or ('at list, but never Juste Milieu or Doctrinaire pilots; rind why the Journal de Paris and Bulletin du Par, though " the" Government papers, have not five hundred subscribers in tile whole of France, including:Paris ; and why those prints must be given up, but for the monthly sum paid to their agent or proprietor, LEON PILter, by the French Government. These are facts, and facts which I defy the Globe to deny; and yet it tells its readers that the Liberal and Patriotic party is declin- ing. No,no ! it isnot declining. Quite the contrary ; and the late Ministerial changes have tended most materially to aid the cause of the Revolution of July, and the advancement of the great principle of civil and religious liberty all the world over.
And do, I beseech you, just look at our present Ministry for a few minutes. Not one man who made the Revolution, who brought it about, who headed or was looked up to by the people in ISM, in the days of their triumph and confi- dence—not one—no, not even LA FITTE or LA FA VETTE— not one is DOW Cull nected directly or indirectly with the march of the Goverment. But those who made the Throne, raised it, christened it, and sought to render it popular, are now discarded. The Tribune says, when contemplating this, " Polignac a tue Charles X. Persil enterrera Louis Philip." And Cardinal Rictreareu said to Louts the Thirteenth, " Sire, l'ipgratitude a sa fidalik e sea terrifies expiations."
At the head of our Ministry and our At my. is Sou LT ; who carried candles in Ills hands ( saw 1 • in the Jesuit proeessions through the streets of Paris in the reign of Con Imes the Tenth, and who flattered the then dymisty, predict- ing for it an eternity of duration and of happiness. Seconn IN COMMA ND is TII ERS ; who, when pennyless and patronless, was Republican, Patriotic, iind Popular, but who " forsook his toaster " and Sal his birthright for a mess of pottage." TIIIRD IN COMMAND is PE lhioN Y ; whose chief merit is that of being a stilor,—as ignorant as a Hottentot of all but the sea ; who has been brought up (ever since accused of an offence approaching to breaking open boxes on board a ship) by his uncle Baron ire Lours, who served with equal devotion the Resto- ration and the Revolution, as Minister of Finance ; and who (De RIG N Y) is yet charged to conduct the Fottrants A FFA IRS of France, and to cope with Pozzo, with De WE RTHER, with D'AreoNv, and now with the President JACKSON. This is our Minister of Foreign Affairs ! lie is also our Minister of Marine and (I flies ! Poor Colonies ! We may know beforehand the fate of Algiers under such a commandant. "The highest bidder shall be the pur- chaser."
FOURTH, we have our Minister of Justice, PERSIL! his name is sufficient. But be is also Minister of Religion ! Indeed he is. You will find it very diffi- cult to credit my assertions; and if my letter were dated the hat of April, you would imagine I am imitating the Globe. But no ; the infuriated, the violent, the swearing, the exasperated, the almost intoxicated 51. l'EnstL, this man is Minister of Religion ! "Charity suffereth long and is kind, vaunteth not itself, is not easily provoked," and so on. But 51. Peastt. has never studied either Christianity or human nature. No wonder that the priests gain daily an in- fluence over the minds of the people in the provinces, when such men as PERSIL, enemies to the Revolution of I830, are Ministers of Justice and Religion !
M. GUIZOT figures as Minister of Public Instruction. 'this Dort: inaire- ex-editor of the Mi m 1 cur for Louis the Eighteenth, when that Prince wag, in ISIS, sent 1,ff from Paris to (and—has raised the cry of dissatisfiietion in the Journal di s Du buss, because he is not also Minister of Religion ! There is not one young man in all Pi MDT who adopts the pi ineiple or system of M. 6u molt— not one ; and yet he is at the head of Public Instruction ! M. Hu MA N a is Minister of Finance for the hour. His antecedents are less unfavourable; but he is a personal enemy of Sou Li, threatens daily to expose his profligacy and corruption, and is resolved on leaving their Cabinet at the end of the session.
M. DUCHATEL is Minister of Commerce. BoweiNg says that he has enlarged views' and that the English Government will have no difficultyiii obtaining floor him better commercial laws and a better commercial system. I hope Bowl:ANC; may not be disappointed ; though I have a bone to pick with him about his article in the Westminster, about his state and prospects of Bel- gium. But if I am not much mistaken, if Ikell ATE L shall be disposed to frame a good and a wise custom-law, he will get removed from office; for our excel- lent friend Pozzo iii Bono° will never consent to auy concessions being made to England.
This is our new Ministry. All that is stable about it is as bad as it can be : the only two decent names are the last, and they are merely " birds of passage."
" In a word, we deem the Globe school decidedly on the decline ;" for France never will consent to return permanently either to the Doctrinaires or the Carlists. I would risk a thousand lives, if I had them, on the truth of this
axiom. l am, Sir, your obedient servant, O. 1'. Q.
INSURRECTION AT LYONS.
Path, 1014 April.
Not an "emcute," and not "tumults," but an 'HSU RRECTION AT LYONS, has again taken place—nay, at this moment exists. N'ain are all the hopes of all those who deceive the British public by their oft-reptated falsehoods that "ALL IS SETTLED IN FR NCE "—that "ORDER IS RESTORED," and that "peace reigns." Order and peace never can and never will reign, whilst the present anti-national and anti-liberal system prevails. Order and liberty may reign together, but not disunited. Yesterday, certain "Mutuellistes" (turn back to my letter on the Associa- tions of Workmen at Lyons, a few weeks since) were brought up fir trial before the Correctional Judges of the city. A few days since, the first sitting of the Court on this subject was interrupted by "tumults," and a portion of the troops joined the cause of the people. On the next day, new "troubles" took place, when a Mutuelliste was buned. But yesterday, the "emeutes" and " troubles " of the previous days became infinitely more serious. All that we know is of course received by telegraph ; and the Government takes great pains to conceal all the news which it receives. Last night, the Bulletin du Sear published the following alarming statement,—which, though softened down as much as pos- sible by Timus and his confederates, still indicates the danger of the hour. " This day (Wednesday) the Mutuellistes were to have lawn sentenced before the Judges. Telegraphic news from Lyons have been received at Voris. The agitators have endeavoured to renew this day the troubles of the 5th. They have raised barricades this morning, which have been removed by the troops. We shall receive more ample details. All necessary measures are taken. and all serious attempts at insurrection will be put th.wn. I'. S. flair-past live o'clock.—A despatch announces that all the positions occupied by the disturbers have been taken from them by the troops, alio have acted a itlt the greatest vigour. Force has remained with the law."
At the moment I am writing you, the Moniteur has not appeared. A tele- graphic-despatch is said to have arrived at eight o'clock this morning, announc- ing fighting all night and apprehensions of a serious insurrection to-day.
ASSOCIATIONS LAW.
The Chandler of Peers has tensed the Associations Suppression Law, without an amendment, by a majority of 127 against 22. Poor fellows! .51. Fersii. rosy now set to work as soon as possible. But will he succeed ? Never.
0. 1'. Q.