The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-27 00:00:00

EVENING FIDITION.

'

i der how they could ever have so deemed of sounds so
1 unusual and thrilling," This is not prophecy, but a
judgment founded upon knowledge of the moral con-
stitution of mankind ; and we hope the day will yet be
seen in England when, under the guidance of the Catho-
lic Anglicen Church, the combination of rational liberty,
with rational submission to authority, will be better un-
deratood, both in things sacred and in things secular,
• than it is at present.
(From the Morning Herald.)
The speech of the King of the French, on opening
the session of the Legislative Chambers, though strongly
resembling our own royal speeches of modern times in
f .ring drawn up with a view rather to conceal than to
i cnmrnunicate information, and to escape from all definite
re,,an.ing in umbragecus generalities, yet contains one or
two topics not undeserving of some observation. His
'.Majesty says, " the eldest of my sons, in visiting this
oar a great part of my kingdom, has observed wher-
. ,ver he has been a great supply of work, the progress of
t :ndustry, respect for institutions, and obedience to the
leas." To this passage there is nothing to object on the
tereund of its evincing a disinclination to be conzmunica-
The only objection is, that what it does communi-
eoe appears not to be in accordance with the truth. If
,i :t he, then have the accounts of extensive distress, want
,•. of employment, discontent and misery in France, which
its % e formed of late a considerable portion of the corm-
; :sp, :dense from that country to the London press, no
r".,,,i Anion in fact ; nor has there been any truth in what
has 'item stated of bread-riots in a country which has
, Corn-laws. Then is there no truth in a constant
accession of desperate plots to overturn a Government
:i.ended upon a revolution only ten years old—to pluck
trout the brows of a " Citizen King" a crown placed
. thrse by the hand of a " triumphant people." Then
16 there no truth in the statements of extraordinary
,:•,-,e sutions taken by the Government to baffle formi-
' .e bands of conspirators, incessantly endeavouring to
,: ~g ?are and liberty once more into a revolutionary
1-dos, in a land where the monuments of the " mar-
' tsa red heroes of the glorious days of July" are annually
xiecoratcd under royal auspices, and the public peace is
guarded by a vast army of centralized police, con-
! neeted with the most vigilant system of espionage which
tine that of Russia, can
gay Government, not excepting;
iioast. Let us hear the King again. " Our flag, in con_
cert with that of Great Britain, faithful to the sprit of
that ',mien so advantageous to the interests of the two
counerics, has watched over the independence and the
1 i-e.ernediate security of the Ottoman empire." This is
di‘isibleinto two propositions—the one, that the
French and English flags float in the most harmonious
concert together, giving to the world an example of
amicable union between two ancient rivals for the
sovereignty of the seas,—the one, the beaten , the other,
the victorious rival ; quite edifying to behold. We
ileet that the friendly alliance between the French and
iEnglish flags, like the free trade system which our
t political economists opened between the two nations, is
1 founded on the principle of a one-sided reciprocity ; that
1 is, that the French get all the advantages of the alliance,
and the English are favoured in return with nothing
but insults. The intimate union spoken of in Louis
Phlippe's speech is curiously illustrated by the recent
t outrage committed by French officers on that flag at the
Mauritius, where they deliberately thrust it below the
flag of all tuitions. No wonder it must be offensive to
their sight, for it bears on it the glorious recollections of
many immortal achievements humiliating to the national
vanity of Frenchmen, concluding with the crowning
I; Victories of the Nile and Trafalgar. The " meteor
ii flag of England," neither when it "burns terrific" amid
1 the tempest of battle, or idly waves on the summer gale
of peace, can Frenchmen look upon with anything like
satisfaction. Our pusillanimous Government having al-
ilowed that once glorious flag to be insulted with impunity
by our Francis allies at Podendiek, at Mexico, and
'1 at other places, we cannot wonder at the length to
' which Frenchmen thought themselves safe in going in
i flinging contempt on that flag at the Mauritius. More
i: enibelderied than ever must French insolence become,
i when it is learned that Captain Driver, for resenting
!lie insult so wantonly cast upon his country's flag,
leis been compelled by the British Governor to apolo-
gise ; while from the offending Frenchman no atone-
, merit has been exacted. With regard to the other
proposition, that France watches over the independence
'id security of the Ottoman empire, what is to be
said, seeing that France has been engaged for upwards
or :en years past in the work of dismembering the Otto-
, ,u.ent, empire. Alrwdy the " Napoleon of Peace" has
melded the Turkish dependency of Constantine to the
I ether Turkish dependencies of Algiers, which the Go-
, prernent of Charles X. had reduced, and a most ex-
tensive plan of conquest is prosecuted along the African
::ores of Mediterranean. in II 'grant violation of the so-
semis promise given by the French Government to our
own, not to make any conquests or permanent settle-
-ants in that part of the world. The allusion which
t. •ee speech contains to the affairs of the East is ex-
ec, dingly vague and general. But on the Eastern
~.iurstion we have so lately treated at some length in
reference to the new " mystification" of those ?ffiirs,
ennoected with the mission of the Baron de Brunow
to this country, that we need not say more upon
that subject at present. Neither need we dwell upon
' the notice which the speech takes of the situation of
Spa;rs„ Neither the finessing of Louis Philippe, nor
Inc.; " British legions" of Lord Palmerston, nor the
" ltrategi,c talents" of Espartero, had the slightest
;voct in pacifying the northern provinces of that die-
'. ~..:ted kingdom, until a INlaroto appeared in the field.
New, indeed, that the northern provinces are pacified,
opportunity seems to offer for the general pacification
of Spain by the intervention, not of the armed forces,
but the good offices of other Governments, which, by
; putting a final end to a cruel and demoralising conflict,
ii would save much suffering to humanity ; but let us add
' that no plan for the pacification of Spain can be just or
t likely to be successful which does not provide for the
great natural resources of Spain being made available
to the payment of its debts ; for Spain has ample
means, if properly and honestly managed, to enable it
to retrieve its national faith by satisfying the claims of
I its British and other foreign creditors. "In America,"
says Louis Philippe, " the Mexican Government has
fulfilled its engagement of the treaty which I have
j terminated with that republic. The blockade of the
1 ports of the Argentine Republic still retains one of our
i squadrons. Fresh forces hlye been directed to this
1 distant point, in order to hasten the satisfaction which
is due to us." Thus, again, we see the " Napoleon
of Peace" engaged in active hostilities against South
American republicanism. " I called," said Canning,
i " the new world isto existence to redress the balance of
1 the old." It was at the best but an absurd boast ; but
it now becomes perfectly ridiculous, when we see the
)
" Citizen-King of France " vanquishing one of those re-
publican states after another, without disturbing the
' " balance of the old world " at all. As to the home
4 affairs of France, the speech ends as it began, with an
) allusion to them, in which they are painted rose-colour,
az a time when plots and rumours of plots are as rife as
ever—at a time when the independent expression of
public opinion excites a degree of terror in the mind of
the " Citizen-King" equal to anything which is wit-
I ,nessed in the most despotic countries--at a time, too,
when the " Napoleon of Peace" cannot proceed to open
the Legislative Chambers without the whole garrison of
Paris being put under arms, and the Royal procession
being guarded by a force of horse, foot, and artillery,
which gives to this solemnity more the appearance of a
conqueror traversing a vanquished country, than the
elected Sovereign of a " free State," proceeding to open
:.I peace, among a loyal and affectionate people,
the
temple of national legislation.
(From the Times.)
The public have been importuned for some weeks
Nst by a series of snarling paragraphs in those news-
v pets which are understood to receive their instruc-
. 'ons from Downing-street, the avowed purpose of all
'etch bitterness being., to hold up Sir Robert Peel to
censure, for not having formally disclaimed a course of
political Extravagance, in the shape of either declarations
er projects, which it has pleased the Radical and Romish
partisans, out of the abundance of their own Chris-
. roan charity, to impute to that Right lion. Gentleman.
'hr Robert Peel is abused by these persons for
ee telling the world what he means to do, and what
P means no;; to do, with regard to certain questions
t ,hich at the same time have not been raised by him,
or even suggested or glanced at with his cognizance
or connivance ; and all manner of insulting epithets
64 arc bestowed upon him for the "meanness," and " du-
i p,icity," and " cowardice," and so forth, which deters
I ' him from speaking out upon such matters, and letting
icil‘ the world know all he thinks. There is only one
. 'ring which we shall insist upon as very certain touch-
, l'g these writers and their attempts upon the reputa-
tion of Sir Robert Peel, viz.—that they must think
their readers, or be themselves, a set of " enormous"
li.ockheads. 'What right can one man pretend to over
the tree-agency of another, by virtue of which he can
require the latter to adopt or to disavow any scheme
of proceeding, however absurd or iniquitous, that
rnay be made a topic of discussion amongst third
p irtiCl, unauthorized by him to whom the requisition
• is directed ? One impuilent fellow charges Sir Robert
„ peel with a design to oppress the Irish Roman
4 Catholics, to repeal the Emancipation Bill, to let the
Orangemen loose upon " the people of Ireland," to
Iprovoke." the people of Ireland" to rebellion, and to
commit a long list of nameless atrocities, among which
,r not. many days ago was specifically mentioned that of
1 "poisoniny the Queen '." Then, because the Right
lion Baronet looks calmly down upon such formidable
accusations, instead of solemnly denying their veracity,
( whole pailfuls of Billingsgate are launched at his head,
land the logical conclusion is come to, that the charges
Imust be well founded. Why, at this rate, it is within
the compass of the most paltry vagabond, the veriest
scoundrel of the community, to put the first characters
in the land on their trial ; and for what ? Not for
things which they have done, or words which they
base spoken, or offences of any description to which,
,tireetly or indirectly, they themselves were parties, but
- fur the acts or expressions of other men, uttered or
attempted in their absence, without their acquies-
cence or tl eir privity, with which they had no more
concern than what daily takes place in Japan ; and
.it die statesmen who are objects of such preposterous