The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-03 00:00:00

03(Je i 1 ice.t nit

LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1849,

In the present depressed condition of Ireland
every tangible suggestion offered by intelligent and
experienced men for the regeneration of that unhappy
land, by the due development of its industrial re-
sources, is deserving of the Most serious and attentive
consideration. As we have repeatedly pointed out,
her children, although primarily, are by no means
solely interested in the prosperity of their country.
It is a matter of the deepest importance to the Eng-
lish taxpayer that the sister kingdom should not only
cease to be a burden on the Imperial resources, and
a drain on this more favoured land, but that she
should be enabled to contribute her full proportion to
the revenues of the United Kingdoms, and to bear
her fair share of the national expenditure—to be-
come, in fact, an integral portion of the empire—the
right arm, the powerful auxiliary, and the glory
of England, in place of being her weakness
and reproach. This great desideratum, however, can
only be attained by the liberal and judicious applica-
tion of capital in the improvement of the soil, which,
although nominally under tillage, is still so negli-
gently cultivated that it scarcely produces on*
quarter of what might be obtained under a better
system of agriculture, in the reclamation of the waste
lands that are now suffered to remain barren and
un;•roductive, and in stimulating the various branche>
of incluE.try, which have been shown to be capable of
making profitable returns for the amount expended
thereon. The railways, the mines, the fisheries, the
peat bogs of Ireland afford the most favourable
channels for investment ; and, perhaps, there is no
source that could be attended to with more beneficial
results than the proper cultivation of flax, and the due
development of the linen trade, the staple manufac-
ture of Ireland.
Mr. J. HILL DICKSON, of Hawkins•street, Dublin,
a clear headed and intelligent gentleman, who has
long and zealously exerted himself for the ameliora-
tion of Ireland and the improvement of the condition
of the working classes, by the introduction and use
of machinery and the development of arts and manu-
factures, has addressed two letters to the Cerporation
of the City of London in reference to the recent
proposition for the purchase of lands in Ireland, in
s hich he gives the results of his great experiencei as
to the vast resources of the country, and shows how
ample would be the profits to those expending
theit capital therein. Mr. DICKSON declares his
opinion to be, that "the only way to regener4te
Ireland is to connect the agricultural and
the manufacturing interest." And he adds,
as the soil and climate of Ireland are peculiarly
ad leted to the growth of flax, "let the manufacture
of linens—the natural trade of the country—be the
first." He paraphrases a maxim of the late DANIEL
O'Coisisze.a, who declared that "England's weakness
was Ireland's opportunity." Mr. DICKSON truly
asserts that " Ireland's poverty is England's opportu-
nity "—" not to destroy her trade or commerce by a
repeal of the Union, or separation ; not to confiscate
the property of the nobility and gentry of the south
and west ; but to encourage them with that liberality
of heart that dictated the gift of twenty millions
sterling, to emancipate slaves in distant climes,
whose fate was an Elysium compared with the sufferings
endured by millions of our labouring classes during
the last three years, who it is on all hands admitted are
able and willing to work f only half as well paid as
English labourers are."

This is indeed a glorious opportunity, and one
whiab we trust will not be neglected or lost sight of.
To relieve a warm-hearted and grateful people from
the almost unparalleled miseries they have under-
gone and are still sustaining, to elevate them in the
social scale, and to render them—what they ought to
be—a prosperous, contented, and happy race, in the
enjoyment of all the necessaries of life, and of those
humble comforts that should be within tha reach of
every labouring man, is a godlike undertaking, and
the merchant [princes of England, the British capi-
talists will not exhibit cold-blooded apathy or care-

lessness as to the welfare of their less fortunate Irish
brethren, more particularly as there is almost a cer-

tainty of receiving ample remuneration for any risk
and expenditure to which they may be subjected in
their speculations.
Mr. DICKSON also points out one of the chief
catbes of the poverty and destitution of Munster
and Connaught. He says, " The fact is, the majority
of the landowners in Munster and Connaught were
at all times too poor, and those who were compara.
tively rich were too proud, to connect themselves with
the mercantile or manufacturing classes, by which

alone the interests of all, and of the working classes
in particular, would be promoted ; and so long as
grants are made by Government to support idle
Pauperism within or without the (miscalled) work-
houses in Ireland, so long will such men allow their
tenants in minions to remain as they now are, a
disgrace to. Ireland, a burthen on the industry of
IlNer, and a drain on England; so long will they
sulr.-r limn to remain incapable of appreciating the
comforts enjoyed by the tenants of the London
Corporation in Derry, Antrim, &c., and so long
must the millions of acres of waste land remain
ur~reclaimed." Mr. DICKSON also shows that we have
for the last six years been paying annually for flax,
an average of 7,783,883/.
oilcake, and flaxseed,
sterling, the whole of which might be obtained from
Ireland, if proper care and attention was applied to
the cultivation thereof; exclusive of the incalculable

advantages to ba derived from the employment
afforded by the weaving of that flax in the various
cottages throughout the country, the best weavers
being girls of 17 or 18 years of age, who in the

northern counties can earn from 12s. to 165. per week,
and thus provide every comfort for their families ;
indeed, so indefatigable are they in their exertions that
in many houses the loom is never permitted to
remain idle, the girls working by day and the sons
sitting up at night while their sisters are at rest ; and
these are the people who have been stigmatised as
idle and lazy, anxious rather to consume their time
unprofitably than to labour for the general benefit.
We heartily commend Mr. DrossoN's observations
to the consideration of our readers and of the public
generally, and we are quite sure that gentleman will
gladly afford every information that may be required
by those who are anxious to lend a helping hand to
the amelioration of Ireland and the improvement of
the social condition of the people.

The intercourse between the envoy of Republican
France and the Imperial tyrant of Russia, as reported
by the Assemblee Nationale, appears, considering the
peculiar circumstances of the times, of a somewhat
extraordinary character. It is said that the EMPEROR
had endeavoured to avoid all political subjects of con-
versation ; but on one occasion, pressed for a reply to
some interrogation, he ventured boldly to declare in
the presence of the Republican—" My project,
General, is to suppress revolution wherever it may
show itself." If this remark, addressed to the repre-
sentative of a Power which had risen only by revo-
lution, is sufficiently audacious, the comments of the
Assembles Nationale are even more so. "We think,"
naively observes this journal, anxious to exculpate the
EMPEROR from the least shadow of misrepresentation,
"we think that this was meant merely as a menace
against the spirit of revolution, and not against
nationalities." Unnecessary commentary ! Who
could for one moment be so credulous as to imagine
the Emperor of RUSSIA the enemy of nationalities ?
Henceforth let the wrongs of Poland be deemed
an idle tale—let the military occupation of
Warsaw, whereby every patriot hand was rendered
motionless, and every lip sealed by perpetual sur-
veillance, be wholly discredited. The soldiers of
PASREWITCH have not crushed the life out of bleeding
Hungary and given over her patriot children to
death, to exile, or to worse than either—the ignominy
of treason. Let all these atrocities be henceforth
disbelieved—the Assemblie Nationale has spoken—
NtheevEermthpeelreosrs,otfhßis uhssixgs.h.dsopeirs ngaacne nn t i
Ro neaplui tbi el
is.
canism gently ventures to hint .
he will not find menaces useful
inotedt menace nationalities.
Nevertheless, this high-spirited or
to the EMPthseßozetnhcaht
in disposing
people in his favour, albeit those menaces, as it
obligingly explains, are directed not against nationa-
lities but against the spirit of revolution. " The re-
volutionary spirit," proceeds this consistent Republi-
can, " extends itself by that deplorable agitation in
the public mind, that sanguinary fever, which has
precipitated Europe into all kinds of excesses since
the 24th of February, and it is to that which the
EMPEROR alluded in his remark." The spirit which
has animated Europe since the 24th of February,
1848, very possibly does not meet with
the EM PER ores approbation, for that spirit
is as dissimilar and as antagonistic to his predilections

as an individual, and to his power as a sovereign, as

day is to night, liberty to slavery, or the vigour of
of
life to the torpor of apathy. Since the 24th of

February, 1848, a spirit, which had long been ac•
quiring strength in silence and gaining fresh vigour
at every outrage or oppression suffered, has made its
existence unmistakably manifest. All Europe has
felt the influence of the mighty movement, even to
the stronghold of Absolutism. The once submissive
empire of Austria has been shaken to dismemberment,
and the Imperial power only preserved by the abdi-
cation of the then Emperor. Russia, as yet unaf-
fected by the storm, looks on with apparent
indifference, while the AUTOCRAT, tempting his fate,
scornfully boasts of his project "to put down revo-
lution wherever it may show itself." So confident
do we feel of the ultimate result of this audacity, that
we listen to the boasts of NICHOLAS with the same pity.
ing wonder with which the courtiers of CANUTE heard
their sovereign command the advancing waves of the
sea not to wet his royal feet. The cases are exactly
parallel, save that CANUTE'S infatuation was assumed
that the lesson might benefit his country, whereas
the delusion of NICHOLAS is real; perhaps its dissi-
pation may one day enlighten his imperial self. We
have heard of an ALEXANDER who, in the madness of
his ambition, asked for more worlds to conquer, and of
a XERXES who, in the madness of his anger, inflicted
chastisement upon the senseless sea ; but what folly
of ancient times surpasses his who, in the middle of

the nineteenth century, with the ruins of feudal power
before his eyes, and the thunder of popular indignation
in his ears, coolly enunciates a project "to suppress
revolution wherever it may show itself?" The fall
of Hungary may, perhaps, give encouragement to the
project. Be it so. The day of retribution for na-
tional no less than for individual sins, for imperial as
well as for private offenders, although occasionally
retarded, is inevitable.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday and
yesterday.
The Moniteur of yesterday publishes the nomina-
tion of BAROCHE, Attorney-General of the Republic,
as Attorney-General at the High Court of Justice at
Versailles. He will be assisted by MM. RATEN,
Sun, and LEvEsQE, members of the Court of Appeal
of Paris. The same official journal publishes the
names of 25 general officers placed on the retired list
by the Provisional Government, and who have been
reinstated in their rank by a decree of the PRESIDENT
of the Republic.
The PRESIDENT left Paris yesterday morning at
half-past six, for Espernay, to inaugurate that section
of the Paris and Strasburg Railroad. He was to re•
turn to Paris at eight o'clock in the evening.
Galignani's Messenger of Saturday has the follow-
ing important statement on the subject of the speech
made by the Minister of Commerce at the dinner
given, on Thursday, to the President of the RE-
PUBLIC by the Exhibitors of National Industry :
" It is much to be regretted that the Paris journals
which have given a report of the dinner on Thursday
have omitted the speech of the Minister of Commerce,
which, from a short notice given of it in a leading article
of the Patrie, appears to have been of an importance
secondary only to that of the President of the Republic.
According to the Patrie, M. Lanjuinais expressed an
opinion that the Protectionist system had been more
frequently fatal than useful to French industry, and that
he thought the manufacturers of France were now
in a condition to contend successfully with other
countries without the protection, or rather supposed pro-
tection, we should say, afforded to them by the tariff of
customs. This speech, says the Patrie, was much
applauded."
The Councils-General have met in their respective
departments. That of the Soane and Loire chose M.
DE LAMARTINE as their chairman. He opened the
Council with the following address :
° " Gentlemen,—ln paying to our president, by seni-
ority, the tribute usual on such occasions, permit me to
reply briefly to the kind mention which he has made of
my situation before you. It is truly said that the ordi-
nary, nay, the legitimate fluctuations of opinion, toss
about and submerge for a long time the men who, like
me, have found themselves, not by merit but by chance,
grappling in the events which are stronger than they.
I say so without a blush, for these events are sometimes
stronger than a whole nation. Their fame, their political
consideration, their credit with the national confidence,
necessarily and justly undergo The influence of the
counter-blow and reaction. They would be out of their
senses to complain of that, particularly when they have
the rare fortune to find amongst countrymen, the closest
to them, not only jastice, but indulgence, affection,
and a kind reception, such as your suffrages bear witness
to most strongly at this moment for me. No, I have not
descended, when I find myself again on the level of your
esteem and of your affection! The session during which
you have ordered me to act as president appears to me
to open under more favourable auspices than the pre-
ceding one. The country has passed three-fourths, nay,
I am inclined to think altogether, through those dan-
gerous interregnums, those terrible crises, which are
always to be found in the existence of nations between
an old order fallen to pieces, and a new one to be esta-
blished, particularly when that new order is to be or-
ganized in the proportions of an immense and regular de-
mocracy. In that constitution of the universal representa •
five of the people, the Councils-General have less to change
in their nature than our other fundamental institutions. The
Councils-General were already a Republican institution
before the Republic; but they had a base less wide, and a
mission less universal, Let us therefore conform to the
nature eminently popular of our institution. The Coun-
cils-General ought to be the Republic localised over the
whole surfaeo of the territory. Let us render it sen-
sible, visible, and palpable to the people in three
manners—by an economical administration of the fortune
of the tax-payers and of the property of the rich; by an
energetic impulse given to public works in the depart-
ment for the working classes, and by a generous pro•
digality, Christian and political at the same time, of
andsucc omuirs,e
riyn sot rf nt ehtei osnu,ffaenr
idn
ga i dr, taor
tt hoef wk npeos
ps ,uilgant
ioorna
.n c
feel confidant that the spirit of these councils is in ad•
vance of the spirit of the body which has been pleased
to choose me for its interpreter; and it is under the
auspices of these unanimous ideas that the session of 1849
opens."
We read in the Petrie

"In consequence of the rumours- which have been 1