The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-23 00:00:00

Cabinet, any sympathy with the repressive and retro-
grade principles which during the last half century
had been the inspiration of the Vienna Administration.
It was with a superb scorn that he stigmatised the
proceedings of METTERNICH and his myrmidons as
conduct which formed an example of "antiquated
imbecility." With an equally emphatic distinctness,
he asserted that in the opinion of a considerable
portion of the continent, the policy of Austria has
been inimical to the progress of European
liberty. Earnestly and cordially, however, as he
might coincide in these views, it devolved upon him,
as one entrusted with the stupendous responsibility of
presiding over the foreign relations of this vast em-
pire, so to conduct the diplomatic intercourse between
England and her contemporary Governments, as to
conserve the blessings of peace, not merely for her
own advantage, but to exercise also a beneficial in-
fluence over remote Cabinets by securing, as much as
possible, the glory and the happiness of international
tranquillity.: Such, according to his acknowledg-
ment, are the objects towards the attainment of which
the whole energies of the Foreign-office, under his
conduct, are directed. On Saturday we demonstrated,
by a reference to the events which have transpired
during the last eighteen months, and by an allusion
to the position occupied by Great Britain at the
present moment, how fully and successfully Lord
PALMERSTON had accomplished the first grand de-
sideratum of a Foreign Administration—the preserva-
tion of peace between England and the other nations
of Europe—and the preservation of peace, too, at a
period when almost all the powers of the con-
tinent were embroiled in warfare of one de-
scription or another warfare beyond their re-
spective frontiers, internecine strife, conflicts arising
from religious animosity (as in the case of the Swiss
Sonderbund), from the contention of classes (as in
the case of the Communistic Anarchists of June, 1848),
from the enmity of races (as between the different
principalities of Germany), and from the lust of
territorial spoliation (as in the instance of the
lawless invasion of the duchy of Schleswig). It has
been seen that while France, and Italy, and Switzer-
land, and Spain, and Portugal, and Denmark, and
Prussia, and Saxony, and Bavaria, and Austria, and
Sicily, and the Danubian Provinces have been given
up to the horrors of one or other of these descriptions
of warfare, England, under the conduct of Lord PAL.
MERSTON, has preserved a friendly understanding with
all, and has employed the high and glorious preroga-
tive of her influence in endeavouring to effect a re-
conciliation between the various contending Govern-
ments. It has been seen that while nearly the
whole of the rest of Europe has been ravaged
by revolutionary outbreaks, by moral and physical
struggles for the mastery on the part of Democracy
and of Absolutism—while elsewhere cities have been
bombarded, pillaged, committed to the flames, and
declared in a state of siege—England has kept up the
most cordial communication, through the medium of
Lord PALMERSTON and his diplomatic agents, with
the numerous and infuriated cabinets of the eastern
hemisphere. Presburg has witnessed the revival of
terrorism under the shadow of an imperial gibbet ;
Paris has been the arena of the bloodiest fight that
ever occurred in the capital of any empire ; Messina
has been levelled to a heap of ashes, her fires
extinguished by the blood of her citizens ;
Berlin has been distracted by fears and kept in
perpetual surveillance ; Vienna has been thundered
down into obedience by the roar of artillery ; and
Bucharest has been awed into an unnatural quietude
by the lances of the Cossacks and the swords of the
Russian Dragoons—while from the tranquillity of
London Lord PALMERSTON has striven with unceas-
ing assiduity to render England the arbiter of na-
tions and the general Peace-Maker of Christendom.
To this end his good offices have been directed—now
towards the negotiation of a pacific treaty between
Prussia and Denmark; now between Austria and
Piedmont ; now again between the Neapolitan despot
and the Sicilians. And yet, in despite of all this, he
has been traduced as an interloper and intermeddler ;
much has been said about mock mediations;
and it has even been flagitiously and insolently
declared that England has, under his misdi-
rection, so grossly and repeatedly committed
herself that she has acquired the scorn and con-
tumely of surrounding nations. " Certainly," said
the Noble Lord the Foreign Secretary, on Saturday,
when condescending to refer to these imputations,
" certainly, I know of no case in which that
want of respect has been shown, when we find
that from north to south in cases of difficulty, not
only in the affairs of nations, but internally between
Governments and their subjects, we have been asked
and invited to interfere in friendly mediation."
Again alluding; to these perverse insinuations As to
Lord MINTo'S diplomatic mission in the Italian
Peninsula, and thereby in a more particular degree
to the whole of his (Lord PALMERSTON'S) policy as
at the head of the Foreign Department, the noble
statesman at once and for ever crushed these calum-
nious statements with the following dignified and in•
dignant exclamation :—" Sir, to suppose that any
Government of England would wish to excite revo-
lutionary movements in any part of Europe--to sup-
pose that any Government of England had any wish
or desire but to confirm and maintain peace be-
tween nations, and tranquillity and harmony be-
tween Governments and their subjects, is really a
degree of ignorance and folly of which I never
could have supposed a public man to be guilty."

Having rebutted these charges thus dis-
tinctly, and having thereby indicated the
integrity and patriotism of his statesmanship, Lord
PALMERSTON might have been contented with an
evasion of the question embodied in the motion of Mr,
BERNAL OSBORNE—the question as to the conduct in-
tended to be pursued by the English Government in
regard to the brave and abused Hungarians. The
temperament of Lord PALMERSTON, however, is alto-
gether too chivalrous to resort, at such moments, to
the covert of an evasion. Besides which, as he him-
self avowed, "he believed the hearts of the whole
English people had become enlisted in favour of the
Magyars." The question was altogether too " plump',
to be evaded. Nor did the Noble Viscount yearn for
such an evasion. He spoke out and to the point. He

protested that he and his colleagues viewed
with pain the invasion of the Hungarian territory by
the combined armies of Austria and Russia; and
that immediately an opportunity presented itself they
were resolved to let their opinions come forcibly

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before the Government both of the Austrian and

Russian Emperors. " Sir," said he, in the elevated
tone befitting a statesman of the British empire,
" Sir, it is most desirable that foreign nations should
know, on the one hand, that the people of England
are sincerely desirous of preserving and maintaining
peace—that they entertain no feelings hostile towards
any nation in the world—that their wish is to be on
the most friendly footing with all. They have a
deep interest in the preservation of peace, because
they are desirous of carrying on the advantages of

:he innocent and peaceful relations of commerce, and

because they know that these must be interrupted by

any interruption of these friendly relations. But it
is also essential for the attainment of that object—it
is essential, even for the protection of that commerce
to which we attach so much importance, that it should
be well known and understood by every nation on the
face of the earth, that we are not disposed to submit to
wrong, and that the maintenance of peace on our

parts is subject to the indispensable condition that
other countries respect our honour and dignity, and

do not inflict any injury upon our interests:"
Those noble declarations will not pass without their
effect : they will go forth to the world as the protest
of England against the invasion of Hungary; they
will exercise a profound influence over the combina-
tions of despotism, and will carry dismay to the
councils of the KAISER and the AUTOCRAT. We thank
Lord PALMERSTON for his bold and statesmanlike
oration—an oration which affords the most signal
corroboration of our remark on Saturday, that he has
earned for himself the gratitude, the confidence, and
the admiration of his countrymen.
After the admirable speech of Lord PALMERSTON
in the House of Commons, the meeting to be held
this day at the London Tavern, as expressive of
English sympathy for the Hungarians, cannot but
pass off with increased enthusiasm.

The Central Relief Committee in Dublin, a body
of benevolent gentlemen, associated for the purpose
of soliciting and dispensing relief to our suffering
fellow-subjects in Ireland, have issued the following