The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-12 00:00:00

TEE FLAGS 0.

ow ofs
" The flags of England and France combinedform, in the European Heavens, the E :inp
Liberty." How full of thought ! simple and
grand. in their truth, are these words, falling from
the lips of the man who accepted. power with the
mission "to close the era of revni.utions "—upon
whom empire was conferred, and who proclaimed
that it was " Peace—and chose first act, upon
acoeesion to an almost despotic throne, was to seek
the alliance of the freast peor e of Europe.
With what patriotic dignity he has fulfilled his
duties, with what honestykept to his engagements,
we all know ; and of dji the Potentates of Europe
none owns a loftier 0r a more popular fame than
the present Monarch of France. The power con-
ferred on hint by the will of the French people was,
we have just said, almost despotic. But Napoleon
was not the wan to become a despot. If ho ac-
cepted power, it was not for the idle and infamous
purpose of ruling, robbing, and ruining a great
people, but rather to heal the wounds of repeated
doweati° conflicts, to crush license and extinguish
fiction, that he might raise anew the political
edifice, "to be crowned," as he has declared, with
„vberty."
Of his sincerity what proof more convincing than
that he refused the territorial aggrandisement
which he might have purchased when, had he
joined the despotic alliance of Russia, and by con-
niving at her designs in the East, and delivering
Eastern Europe into the power of the Autocrat, he
might have seized upon and secured th© West as
his own. But Louis Napoleon is no despot. He
is the first of Frenchmen—the living embodiment
of the will of the French people, with whom, on all
occasions, he identifies himself. He is the repre-
sentative of the nation which has shed so much
blood, and suffered so repeatedly for " Liberty,"
and, in accordance with the national spirit, he has
spurned theft and the temptations of Nicholas, and
has refused to betray the French people and the
liberties of Europe. Instead of this, he has allied
himself closely with us in the cause of right, repu-
diating conquest and self-aggrandisement—drawing
the sword in defence of the weak, for the re-
storation of the balance of power, and the perma-
nent freedom of Europe.
In the great struggle which we have undertaken,
with God's blessing, we shall succeed ' • but when
we have triumphed—when we have hurled back
the legions of Russia—when we have annihilated
her power in the Black Sea and the Baltic, to what
great results may we not look. Well may Louis
Napoleon call our alliance " the Rainbow of
Liberty," full of promise to Europe. How great a
thing will it not be for Italy—for Austria—for all
Germany, when they are freed from the deadening
influences of Russia. Well may Napoleon foretell
the "destruction of despotism," when it has been
struck to the heart in its great stronghold. Austria
must then adopt a more liberal policy. No Russian
hosts will again crush Hungary. The intrigues of
despotism against Sardinia must come to an end ;
that State which owes its existence at this moment
to France and England need then no longer
dread the suppression of its free institutions.
Naples and Tuscany, Bavaria and Saxony, with all
the petty Potentates of Bamberg, will be freed
from the influence which has instigated them to ill,
and which has supported them in it. The Rainbow
of Liberty is in the skies, and the nations of Europe
will accept with avidity and gratitude the blessed
boon given to them, and guaranteed by the two
Great Western Powers.

Whilst making these reflections, it is impossible
for us not to recall, with just pride, that, from the
first, we saw and understood the character and
policy of Louis Napoleon, and we may be excused
if we indulge the expression of our heartfelt satis-
faction at the great and cordial alliance which is at
this moment the admiration of the world—an
alliance which we have uniformly used our strong-
est endeavours and the whole of our humble influ.
ence to promote. We do not wish to recall the
faults or follies of others. But we are proud in
the reflection that, as in other matters, so in the
matter of foreign policy, and more especially with
regard to France and the French Emperor, this
journal has maintained, through good report and
through evil report, a steady, a consistent, and an
English course.—Morning Post. 1

THE WORKING MAN.

---
When we entered upon our great European war,
our population was less than half what it is
now. Lavish as was the squandering of trea-
sure the expenditure of blood was greater. Iu
the Army and Navy, not less than five hundred
thousand of our most able-bodied producers
were drawn from the labour to the killing market ;
and yet, withal, our productive powers increased so
rapidly (almost in the ratio of the decrease iu our
workers) that the waste was more than supplied bythe
increase; and we fought Napoleon, the great weaver
in the loom of fate, with our weavers iu cotton and
in wool. Money was found whenever money was
wanted for the purpuse of destruction ; and yet it
was never deaf to the calls of commerce. We have
now more than double the capital we then possessedf
and a great deal more than double the population
—yet we are greatly more sensitive to the perils of
war—our funds and our trade are in a far inure
nervous state. We seem as if we could bear the
drain of hostilities less easily—the burden of taxa-
tion less lightly—the drafts upon our population less
conveniently. Consols tumble to 85 upon the mere
rumour of a " brush with the Russians"—stock of
all kinds suffers sudden and extensive fluctuation
and reduction ; and although the workhouses are
practically empty, the security of the supply of
labour is " a mote to trouble the mind's eye."
When a stone-mason can get two guineas a day in
Australia, and a common "from hand-toemouth."
Irish bog-trotter can become a landed proprietor
in America there is nothing indeed to create sur-
prise in this. When also it is remembered that
free trade has emancipated the sons of toil perma-
nently from all exorbitance of price for the neces-
saries of life—has greatly reduced the taxes on con-
sumption and production, transferring them to rea-
lised property, and has opened the commerce of the
world to us just at the very nick of time of the gold
discoveries of California and A ustralia, it follows with
the direct sequence of a corollary, that the condi-
tion of the manual workers of the world should be
elevated in a ratio much more comparatively great
than that of any other class. Nor do we see any
prospect of reaction, or of a future glut. Emigra-
tion grows by what it feeds on. One settler gives
courage to and facilities for another. The home
heart goes across the broad Atlantic, or doubles the
Cape with the sons, mothers, or sisters that have
wandered thither ; the home affection rises on the
**het of the hearth of mere nationality. Then trade
and commerce gradually follow the stream of mov-
ing human life. The diggers of nuggets, and the
fellers of the great forests draw around them para-
sitical trades, and ancillary caterers for their wants
and appetites—the preponderance first, the equilli-
brium afterwards, of affection and population to the
old country is overcome ; and we see that in Ireland
cheap laud and high wages fail to arrest the migra-
tory instincts, or the new convictions of the people.
At last they even prefer poorer fare in the new re-
gion of their fanay, to improved conditions in the
country of their birth. Perhaps the facts we see
around us now account for the mysterious decay of
great nations. A hankering after " untried being"
becomes a furor of flight, and sugeestions of
self-interest utterly fail to arrest the desire fur
change. It cannot be that labour should go, and
that capital, enterprise, and ability, or skill, should
remain behind. The brain-worker must have his
tools. The merchant must follow his customers.
The seller must go where buyers have money.
Where the carcase is there will the eagles be ga-
thered. We are, in this old ,vorlcl and this old
country, in a state just now of most critical transi-
tion. Following on free trade, emigration and the
Pactolus streams which have flowed in upon Europe
from the West and South, have arisen a series of
strikes of the most extensive description, and omi-
nously protracted duration. These do not betray
any symptoms of subsidence or exhaustion. In
fat c, we must expect them to grow and strengthen.
The most universally abundant harvest ever known
to the furthest reach of universal history has not
only been grown but gamed ; and with bread cheap
and capital set at liberty for commercial purposes,
it is quite obvious that the working man can at once
live upon less and exact more ' • the great conditions
of scarcity in the supply of labour and consequent
increase of its price. It will require a steady hand
arid a wise head to hear this overflowing cup
steadily to the lips. Nothing but the sagacity of
significantt he aheurefars,3can save him from the great injury of
all other el
re-
munerated es., and the ruin of his own. The
aacntaislbaregforet übsb,dtileiast
son
gill botenisiunnlivineer is an n
bone w oo
workers
thek ers biens tre
this-
kingdom refuse to toilesfor more than a sixth part
of the day—that
anda yet they hav© contrived to rule
enormously tax the public—
their employers,
and that in reference to a greapttionnecoiszsmarayteolfialibey,
for which the present
tchoentprraicctee.d blyvht et
its
munity. It
ley manage to increase
Lhethweang-oerskoefr i s not oat
to 7 1
consideration to the coin
ltabbeoti r.
consumer r
concealed that the poor are chiefly in4-oree'ed ibe
n
every
modersahtiingnagnmeoxrceei?ssa_iidni or
has to pay at least e.igh eenPeri.ee. An advance in
direction is equalised ultimately by an
wages in
.If the collier
increase in charges more
for heating the baker s oven,
or for the fuel of
the flour-mill steam-engine, the baker must have
If the farmer gets
more for his bread.
high prices for his cattle, or the grazier for his
wool, he has to pay more for the leather
an advance to
of his shoes and 1111129,4,94 and