A POLITICAL JUGGLER.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 348, 4 November 1848, Page 144

A POLITICAL JUGGLER.

[From the Patrie.']

It is a long time since any one has considered anything done by Lord Brougham as serious ; it roust however be admitted, that he never on any former occasion carried his absurdities and burlesque eccentrioities so far as in his recent conduct vrith respect to the French Republic. Some days before the failure of the great Chartist demonstration in London, Lord Brougham demanded (we give authentic proofs of it below) letters of grand naturalization from the Provisional Government of France. He went so far as to propose himself a candidate for our National Assembly in the Department of the Var : and no sooner is the alarm created by the Chartist demonstration. dissipated, than this same Lord Brougham uttsrs in his place in Parliament a long tirade against France and her institutions. It truth we are afraid, on Lord Brougham's own account, that there is something in all this which is more than eeantrieity. We fear that the noble lord is one of those who, invariably on his knees before the successful, spit to-day on those whom they adored yejterday, like those trafficers who trod upon the figure of Christ in order to traffic with Jahem. We are besides •truck with the ignorance shown by a Legist of the presumed ability of Lord Brougham, in the naivetes which abound in the letters written by him to our Minister of Justioe. The following are textually the letters, with their answers : — FIRST NOTE FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO THB

MINISTER OF JUSTICE.

" Lord Brougham has the honour of presenting his compliments to the Minister of Justice, and being desirous of being naturalized in France, he hai demanded certificates from the mayor of Cannes, where he has resided for thirteen years, and in which he possesses a property upon which he has had a chateau built. Those certificates are to be sent directly to M. le Ministry and Lord Brougham begs of him to have the goodness to have the act of naturalization pasted with the shortest possible delay. " Paris, April 7. 1848."

FROM THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE TO LORD

BROUGHAM.

"My Lord, — I mast make you aware of the consequence which will be produced if you obtain it by the naturalization which you demand. If France adopts yon, you cease to be English; you are no longer Lord Brougham, you become the citizen Brougham. You lose in an iaatant all your noble 1 * titles, all the privileges, all the advantages, of whatever nature they may be, which you hold, either from your quality of Englishman, or from the rights which the laws and customs of your country have conferred upon you, and which cannot be reconciled with our laws of equality among all citizens. This would be the case, my lord, even if the English laws had not that rigour with regard to English citizens with their naturalization in a foreign country demands and obtains. It is in this sense that it will be necessary to write to me. "I certainly imagine that the late Lord Chancellor of England knows the necessary consequencea of so important a step ; but it is the duty of the Minister of Justice of the French Republic to warn him of it officially. When you shall have made a demand, including these declarations, it will be immediately examined. "Accept, &c, " Ad. Cbbmibux."

LORD BROUGHAM TO THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE. "London, April 10, 1848. " Monsieur le Ministre, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging letter of the Bth. " I never could have supposed that in getting myself naturalized as a French citizen, I should lose all my rights as an English peer and an English subject in France. I should only retain my privileges in England ; in France I should be all that the laws of France accord to the citizens of the Republic. As abore all things I desire the happiness of the two countries, and their mutual peace, I thought it my duty to give a proof of my confidence in the institutions of France, in order to encourage my English compatriotes to trust in them as 1 do. " Receive, &c, " H. Brougham."

THB MINISTER OF JUSTICE TO LORD BROUGHAM. " Paris, April 12, 1848. "My Lord— My letter hat not been well understood; yours, to my great regret, does not allow me to decide upon your demand. " You do me the honour to write to me :—: — " ' I never could have supposed that, in getting myself naturalized as a French citizen, I should lose all rights as an English peer and an English subject in France. I should only retain my privileges in England; in France, I should be all that the laws of France accord to the citizens of the republic' " I had put in my letter the clearest and most positive expressions. France admits of no division. She does not admit that a French citizen can at the same time be a citizen of another country. In order to become French, it is necessary that you should cease to be English. You cannot be an Englishman in England and a Frenchman in France. Our laws are utterly opposed to it. You must choose.

It is on that account that I took pains to explain to you the consequences of naturalization. "In the present state of the case, then, and as long as you wish to remain an Englishman in England — that is to say, as long as you do not choose to abdicate completely and everywhere your quality as an English subject, and to exchange it for that of a French citizen —it is impossible for me to grant your request. "Receive, &c, "Ad. Cremieux."

The Patrie adds: — "At the moment of going to press we learn that Lord Brougham, iv a letter received to-day in Paris, formally renounces naturalization in France.