LETTERS FROM PARIS, BY 0. P Q.

No. VIII.

FRANCE—LAW AGAINST THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN SOCIETY, ASSOCIATION.

Voiles vous, Mes4eurs, quo je runs disc avec franchise ma pensee?—C'est rine vOUS Ztes perdus.--Gaiixoxit PAoEs' Speeeh, llth March 1834,,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.

Pario, 19th March 1834.

SIR—I think I may defy you to understand in England,--that country of constitutional liberty and hereditary freedom--where meetings are held against the Assessed Taxes in parish churches—where there are committees, and hust- ings, and poll-hooka, in parishes and villages, even to elect a sexton or a vestry clerk—where, in fart, every thing that is worth doing is effected by unions, asso- ciations, and even cholos,—I say I think I may defy you to understand aud to feel what can be meant by such a law as that about to be passed by the Chamber of Deputies. .Notv only imagine a law which shall declare that no Dissent- ing congregation can assemble for divine worship—no committee meeting be held of any Saud:1y or parish, infant or Lancasterian school—no annual or quarterly, monthly or other reunions take place of the subscribers to or supporters of any Bible, Tract, Missionary, Educational, Literary. Scien- tific, or Artial instinitions—no Dispensary or Hospital committee or an- nual meetings or diallers he allowed —n0 vestry or public meeting to petition either Molise of Parliament he permitted—no quarterly or au- nual assembly of any shareholders in any insurance, or mooing, traility, or other company, Imo, Lloyd's Coffeehouse, and the Son Fire-oiliee 1,1 t:ie members of it comity ;arming agricultural association, be tolerated—illt ! iti tine, that under no pretext whatever, either by meetings of ten, or meetings of ten thousand, shall Englishmen be allowed to discuss together any religious, political, literary, scientific, charitable, or educational matter, even parochial affairs and elections of parish-officers—wixtioUT THE PREVIOUS CONSENT Or THE GOVERNMENT ! ! !

Before we proceed any further, just have the goodness to think of this for a few minutes, and imagine such a 12w proposed for adoption to the House of Commons ! ! !

On my word, I think, and on my conscience I believe, that the shouts, the peals of laughter with which such a proposition would be received in England, would be so loud and so reiterated, from " John o' Groat's House" to Lands End, that we should even hear the noisy tumult aeross the green ocean, and that we should be astounded by the sudden mirth of millions of amused and laughing mortals. The man who called himself a Minister of a king of Great Britain, and who dared to stand up in the House of Commons and even present such a

project as this, would be taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms as a mad- man, and New Bedlam would soon reckon him amongst her wretched inmates. The Speaker would feel himself insulted ; " Order ! order!" would be the cry from all parts; and very probably an address of sympathy would be presented by the Muse of Conunons to the Throne, deploring the melancholy fact that a Minister went stark staring mad before the Representatives of the People.

Yet this very law—word for word, just as I have stated it—has not only been presented by M. BA RTHE, the Minister of Justice, to the Chamber of Deputies ; but an amendment proposed by M. 13eliEtic ra—simply declaring that French-

men had the right of associating without the permission of the Government, provided they declared in writing beforehand the object of their meeting, and

allowed at all times the Mayor and 31agistrates to be present when they desired— has been REJECTED BY A VERN LARUE MAJORITY ! And more titan this-- the law—the whole law—full of pains and penalties against all who shall dare to violate its smallest provision—this law will pass, this week, by certainly a majority of three to two, if not two to one! ! ! Tell me their, was not M. GARNIER l'AGES right—quite right—when, ookiug back on the past history of France—at the events of the last forty

years—at the Revolution of 1830—and ;it all that has passed since that memorable period—and when looking forward to the measures preparing by the Government on the one hand, and by the People on the other hand, he exclaimed (anticipating the passing of this law), in the language I have prefixed to this letter.

•• Do you wish, gentlemen, that I should tell you all 1 think?—Well then, I will do so: YOU ARE LOST M" Yes, that is the word—" You are lost ! " Nothing can eventually save such men and such measures from universal execration, universal revolt, and scenes of desolation and violence which it will be vain to attempt to stop, as it will be idle

and useless to deplore. " You are lost ! " That is the great truism of this ses- aims. These men who for the hour govern France think that they shall conquer law; when even the genius, the talents, the glory, the MICCCSSCS of an Emperor NAPOLEON, who held Europe in the hollow of his hand, could not do so. They imagine, imbecile and drivelling as they are, that because the volcano is

not perpetually throwing forth fire and lava and desolation, the volcano is exhausted. The murmurs, the noises, the occasional explosions, the smoke, are all lost upon them ; and they dance on their own graves and erect houses on the sites of their future sepulchres. M. Titiens exclaims, in

furious frenzy, " The Restoration yielded, but we will not yield ; the Restoration ceded to its enemies, but we will not cede ; we will be

firm, decided, and persevering ; and thus we shall succeed." The

Restoration did not yield, but was vanquished ; the Restoration did not give way, but was vanquished ; and though the ordinances of July 1830 were

not so infamous as the associations destructive law of MU, yet the ordinances

of CHARLES the 'feud attacked our dearest liberties ; and if the Army had re- mained firm, and if the People had not risen, those ordinances would now have

been our laws—our charter ! and will M. Tim:as—the talking. jabbering M.

Tii rrirs—answer for the firmness of the Army, as well as for that of his coad- jutors? Will he swear, as Prince Pol.inwac dill on the 25th July i:-■30, that the King, CHARLES the Tenth, " couhl count upon his Army ? " Perhaps lie will ;—but POLIGNAC was mistaken, and Titisns is no oracle. " Firmness," indeed ! But is not France firm? Has she not, through evil and through good report, persevered for forty years and upwards in her resolution to obtain repre-

sentative institutions and a popular government ? Did even the glory and the conquests of NaroLros, who made the map of France the map of Europe,

distract for any long time the attention of Ftenchmen from their love Of liberty and of a well-established and impregnable freedom ? No! a thousand times, ! Then let us hear no more of bth.11 trash as the firmliess of M. Tills:Rs. There is a shortsightedness in the policy and in the principles of the Doctri- naires and their supporters, which is most instructive, whilst it is most main-

choly. They are gamblers in every thing. They begin with the 3 per Cents., and they end with the liberties of 33 millions of Frenchmen. They think that ti air little reign is the future history of France ; that their players, strutting a

few nights upon the stage, is eternity ; and that their destinies are those of the country which for the moment allows dein to breathe, to compile, and to pre- pare their future ignominy and execration. The rising generation are nothing

to then, ; the sons of the National Guards, now sixteen, eighteen, twenty years • of age, are nothing to them ; the deep-rooted conviction amongst eight millions of youths or young men in France in favour of Republicanism is nothing to them : the passing moment is all they see ; the sand of this hour's glass is all they look upon ; their triumphs are bounded by the hopes or desires of at most a. few years, and in some cases of but a few months. They gamble ! They gamble for money at the Bourse, and for temporary power at the Chambers.

For the inoment they succeed. They send up the 8 per cents. ; and they pass laws against the popular press, and against the fundamental principle of society, viz, that of association. This they call success. But M. CARRIER PAGES has given them another word, which one day they will remember, and weep tears of blood that they despised—" YOU ARE LOST." M. ()DILLON Baireor,—no mean authority, for he was one of the three Commissioners charged by the Revolution of July to conduct CHARLES the Tenth, the Duke and Dutchess D'ANGOVLE3IE, the Dutchess of BERRY and two of her children, out of France,—M. ()DILLON Baaaox has declared, in his place in the Chamber of Deputies,

" That be perceived, and acknowledged, with the most profound affliction and the

most serious apprehension, that the Revolution of July IMO had so changed its charac. ter, in the hands of those who hall attempted to guide and to direct it, that instead or

• being a revolution made for liberty, it hod become a revolution against all our liberties —even against those which had been respected during the Restoration."

• This is literally exact—word for word the truth—not a syllable exaggerated or misplaced. It is a fact that the men who now direct the Revolution of July

• IMO, so pure and so popular as it was during the first period of its existence— it is a fact that these men have now rendered it a most tremendous instrument for oppressing France, oppressing the cause of liberty everywhere, and for at- - tacking even those liberties which the Restoration- allowed to pass unmolested. No wonder that M. Benaven, the advocate of the Restoration, has dared the • Ministers of 1834 to cite any measure of that period of French history to be compared for its atrocity with that of the law now under discussion. No wonder that multitudes, aye, millions of patriots, should even sigh for the liberty pos- sessed under Louis the Eighteenth and CHARLES the Tenth, should even regret the failure of the ordinances of 1830. There is nothing astonishing in this. When I told you lately that we were marching rapidly to the Restoration, I told you a great truth : but more than this, I might have added—and we shall then enjoy, under M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND, M. BERRYER, the Duke DE Fin-JAMES, and the Royalist partisans of the Duke of BORDEAU x, more liberty of the press,

of the tribune, of association, of the streets, of opinion, and of private and indi- vidual judgment and feeling, than we do at present. Why, even in the reign

of Louis the Fifteenth, from 1724 to 1732, we had a " political association, called the Club de l'Entresal." Abbe ALLARY, who was then even the in- structor of the Royal Princes, allowed these meetings to be held at his house. Lord BOLINCHROVF, then in France, belonged to it. It occupied itself with all questions of the highest and most important political character, whether foreign or domestic : it controlled the Court—had its agents, its couriers, and its emis- saries everywhere ; and even Louis the Fifteenth, an absolute King, did not attempt to suppress it. And during the reigns of CHARLES the Tenth and Louis the Eighteenth, did not numerous associations exist ? Were they not tole- rated, though the days and places of their meetings, and the objects of their members, were no secrets even to the Police? The " Aide toi et le ciel t'airlera" Society was founded on the principle of overthrowing Priests, of opposing the policy of the Court, and of substituting for foreign influence the influence of the People : and yet, although through its agency the 221 Deputies who voted " the insolent address " to CHARLES the Tenth, were re-returned—yet no one, not even the ordinance of Cu ARLES the Tenth thought of attacking the righta of association. The right of association was looked upon by all parties in all times, except by NAPOLEON, as an eternal right. Even Camila PERIER did not attempt to infringe it. Even M. GUIZOT proposed, after the Revolution of 1830, to abolish the 291st article of the Penal Code, ;which prohibited more than twenty persons from a,senibling at the same time to discuss any matter without the permission of the Government. But now the Charta is to be violated : after all legal measures have been tried in vain to put down public opinion, unconstitutional means are to be resorted to ; and the Government is to descend into the arena, and, by itself, or its agents, is to measure swords with the Patriots and Republicans, and foot by foot, and inch by inch, is to fight the physical battle of arbitrary arrests and arbitrary incarcerations. This is a mea- sure of despair. The prisons in France could not hold a tithe of the number of these popular societies. New prisons must be erected; new dungeons must be created ; and tens of thousands of victims must be sacrificed : for the num- bers of these associations have announced at Paris, at Lyons, at Grenoble, at Strasburg, at Metz, at Chalons, in the West as well as in the East of France, and everywhere, to oppose force by force—resistance to illegality—and to prefer to die victims in the streets and behind barricades, rather than to die in cells or the prisons of this modern Inquisition. The 29th article of the Penal Code, which prohibited more than twenty per- sons from assembling without the permission of the Government, is now to be extended to two persons. That article was the fruit of a reaction of des- potism against the Revolution of 1789; and the law now proposed is a movement of reaction against the Revolution of 1830. General JAQUEMINOT declares, that he sighs for repose, and sighs for liberty ; and the General says that he represents the wishes of the National Guards of Paris. It may be so, and it may be that JAQUEMINOT is sincere: but of this we may be sure—that this law against the fundamental principle of human society, association, will not only not lead to repose or peace, but that beforehand it is known to be a brand of civil discord thrown into the midst of France, which cannot fail to lead to violence, bloodshed, civil war, and crime.

But the law now under discussion is uNCONSTITUTIONAL. I have no time to prove more than this to-day. It is still under discussion ; and my final letter on this subject must be deferred till all the amendments shall have been discussed, arid most probably rejected. To. day, however, I must slimy you that it is ors- r'ONSTITUTIONAL,—i. e. that it is opposed to the letter as well as the spirit of the Chart,. Favour me with your attention, and I shall be brief. In the Charta of 1830, dated 7th August, it is thus written—

The Chamber of Deputies declares. 3rdly, that it is necessary to proride successively, by separate laws, and in the shortest possible delay, for the following objects

1st Tids APPLICATIoN OF TOE JURY TO OFFENCES OF TOE PRESS AND 10 Poet. Tway. OFFENCE,.

On the very sanae day, as may be seen by a reference to the Moniteur of 10th August, the Chamber of Peers gave in its lull adhesion to this declaration. The Duke of ORLEANS, now Louis Plural', then said, in the Chamber of Deputies, surrounded by the Peers and Deputies of France- .. I hare read with great atten,ion the Declaration of the Chamber of Deputies, and the act of adhesion of the Chamber of Peers. I have weighed well and meditated nom all the expressions. I accept althout restriction or reserre the clauses and engagements which are included in this declaration, and the title of King of the French which It confirs ; and late ready to swear to its observance."

Thus, on the 17th August 1830, King, Peers, and Deputies, swore that a law should be made to form part of the Charta, by which offences committed by the press and political offences should from thenceforth be tried we JURIES. There was nothing hurried in this. It was a deliberate engagement, deliberately ra- tified by the dice powers of the state.

In pursuance of this engagement, a law was made, entitled " Law for ap- plying the institution of Trial by Jury to the offences qt. the Press, and to Political 0 !Paces." l'his law is dated 8th October 1830. At that time M. DUPONT L'EURE was Minister of Justice, and countersigned, in that capa- city, the law as it appeared signed by LOU/S PHILIP and agreed to by the two Chambers, as published in the Moniteur. This law so promulgated, declared, " That the trial of all offences committed either by means of the press, ur by any other means of publication, °unmerited in the Law against the Press dated l7th May 1S19, and the trial of all political offences, were both referred to the Courts of Assizes ;"

or in other words, to trial by Jury.

In order that no mistake could arise as to what "political offences" meant, this law, made in pursuance of the Charts of 1630, and as in fact part of it de- clared, that by political offences were meant all the offences enumerated in the

1st and 2d chapters of the 1st title of the 3d book of the Penal Code—in the 2d and 4th paragraphs of the 3d section, and by the 7th section of the 3d chapter of the same book and title—and by the 9th article of the law of 25th March 1822. lu these articles and sections, the "crime" of associating against the Government is expressly mentioned, arid that in a variety of ways and terms, so as to avoid all doubt or false interpretation ; and by the Charta of 1830 it was declared that these offences should all be tried at the Courts of Assizes, by Juries. There can he no doubt as to this.

And yet it is a fact, that notwithstanding the declarations of the Charta, and the law made by its direction, it is now proposed by the Associations Suppres- sion Bill, to subject those who form part of any association formed without the permission of the Government, NOT TO TRIAL BY JURY, BUT TO TRIAL BY THE JUDGES Or THE CORRECTIONAL POLICE, JUDGING WITHOUT JURIES; SUCH JUDGES BEING APPOINTED BY THE CROWN! And in order for a man to claim the right of being tried by a Jury, he must first of all admit that he was a member of the society, and had so become a member to commit a political offence!

This is the unconstitutional law of 1834, made by the Doctrinaires, to violate tie Charta, and to annihilate public and private liberties. " Give me this law," says AI. BARTHE, "and I will put down all associations." The country replies to this—" Let not hint who putteth on the armour boast like him who taketh it off;" and M. GAB.NIER PAGES adds—" Gentlemen, you are lost !" So says Your obedient servant, 0. P. Q.