The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-14 00:00:00

undoubted right of deposiog them, should the As-
sembly refuse to do its duty by putting them under
accusation. If they pretend that they exercise power
by any other authority than by that of the Constitu-
tion, then are they usurpers and outlaws. So much
for the law of the case, and now comes the question,
have they violated the Constitution ? Undoubtedly
they have violated the Constitution by their unjust,
impolitic, iniquitous war against Rome. The Con-
stitution declares that the PRESIDENT has not the
right of declaring war or making peace—that right
belongs to the Assembly alone. The Government
applied to the Constituent Assembly for permission
to send an expedition to occupy some point of the
Roman territory, in order to uphold the interests
of France in Italy, which were threatened by
the victory of the Austrians at Novarra ; that per-
mission was given on the expressed condition that the
Roman Republic should not be attacked. The expe-
dition landed at Civita Vecchia, and General OUDI-
NOT, in direct contravention of the wishes of the
Assembly, acting, it is said, under secret orders from
M. DE FALLOUX, the favourite of the PRESIDENT and
the representative of the Parti Pretre in the Cabinet,
which orders were conveyed to him by Monsignor
DE FALLOUX, the brother of the French Minister and
a priest in the personal service of the POPE, attacked
Rome and was defeated. On the 7th May the Con-
stituent Assembly, who aline had the right of
declaring war, refused to do so, passed a vote of
censure on the Ministers, and ordered them to
recal the expedition to its original purpose,
which was, be it remembered, to occupy some part
of the Roman territory, in order to protect French in-
terests in Italy, so long as those interests should
be threatened by the presence of an Austrian force
in the Peninsula. This order was contemptuously
disobeyed, and on the Sunday which intervened be-
tween the rising of the Constituent Assembly on
Saturday, and the assembling of the Legislative
Assembly on Monday, the Government dispatched
orders to General OUDINOT to enter Rome bon gre
mai gre, thus declaring war against the Roman Re-
public, in direct violation of the Constitution which
they had sworn to observe and defend. It cannot
be said that this was a case of emergency, and that
there was no time to consult the Assembly. M.
GOUDCFIAUX and some other members seem to have
suspected some fraudulent proceeding on the part of
the Government, and therefore they met in the hall
of the Assembly on Sunday and continued sitting
there in permanence until midnight, so that at the
very time this dispatch was sent off the Assembly
was sitting. Neither did the Government report
to the Legislative Assembly, as it was their duty to
have done on the first day of the sittting, the important
step they had taken, and it was not until Monday last
that M. LEDRU ROLLIN wrung from M. ODILON
BARROT the tardy avowal of the commission of this
breach of the Consti ution on the part of the Executive
—a breach so flagrant, that not even the Ministers
themselves have ven*ured to make even an attempt
at its justification. In the course of this discussion M.
Oothosi BARROT in vain endeavoured to rouse that
false sense of national honour which has been so
often appealed to as an excuse fur the
commission of the most atrocious crimes.
" There is something," said M. LEDRU ROLLIN, "of
greater consequence even than honour: it is justice"—
a noble sentiment, and one upon which we trust the
French Republicans will continue to act ; but justice
can bide her time ; the punishment of the avenger
is all the more weighty, and the more certain, be-
cause her steps are slow. Let justice be dine, but
let prudence be consulted, in order that it may be
people are in their right
done effecti....ll" The
up to the pre5,,.... moment ; do not let
them by the comniission of any '-enrudence put them-
selves in the wrong, and give their en,-;‘,„ that op-
portunity w hich they so ardently desire, or ._,an-
guishing liberty in blood. Let them look to the
example of O'CONNELL, let them look to the success
of the O'Connell tactics, when adopted in France
against GUIZOT and LOUIS PHILIPPE in the autumn
of 1848 ; let them seek justice by peaceful agitation,
and justice they will obtain, in spite of the intrigues
of the DE FALLOUX, or the mercenaries of the CHAN-
GARNIER, even although those mercenaries should be
reinforced by the Croats of JELLACHICLI, or the Cos-
sacks of NicuoLas.

We had hoped that the unanimous decision of the
House of Lords with respect to Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN
and his unfortunate coadjutors—a deci,ion pronounced
without the slightest doubt or hesitation, and sup-
ported by the most convincing arguments—would

have terminated the proceedings in these painful

cases. Having been cl-arly convicted of the highest
crime known to the law—having exhausted every
human device to frustrate the ends of justice—having
had the various points of law raised in their favour
most fully and ably argued before the several tribu-
nals until they were finally adjudicated upon in the
court of ultimate resort—their forfeited lives were
placed at the mercy of the SOVEREIGN against whom
they had rebelled, and whom they sought to deprive
of a portion of her dominions.
It was well known, however, that the ex-
treme penalty of the law would not be car-
ried into execution. Such a consummation
would be 83 repugnant to the feelings of
our Most Gracious QUEEN, as it would be revoking to
public opinion, which could not bear to see what had
been regarded as a farce terminated in so deep a tra-

gedy. It would indeed be a harrowing and heartrending
spectacle to behold the death pangs on a scaffold of
those misguided individuals whose follies and ab-
-urdities rendered them objects worthy rather of
ridicule and contempt than of capital punishment.
Nothing could tend more to revive the agitaion
and disaffection in Ireland, which has happily sub-
sided, than the execu-ion of those wretched delinquents.
Notwithstanding the crimes of which they had been
convicted, there were redeeming points in their
characters that deservedly Arai led the public sym-
pathy. Although their guilt was in the highest
degree dangerous to society, and subversive of the
best ioterests of the community, there was nothing
of a mean or sordid description therein, nothing
to awaken that thrill-of indignant horror and execra-

tion that attends the la,t muments of the cold-blooded
murderer who deliberately destroyed his fellow-
man. To consign to the scaffold men convicted of
merely political offences would be, not to deter
others from the commission of similar offences, but

o excite the strongest detes!ation of, and opposition

to, the sanguinary code wider which such barbarities
could be perpetrated, and to induce a desire to
abrogate it by any means, however illegal and uncon-
stitutional.

But if it would be unwise and impolitic, as well
as cruel and vindictive, to con-ign these guilty men
to an ignominious death, the example would be per-
nicious which taught that there was to be unlimited
impunitydgiuriene
at r y e .
outbreakscf
oo
ur r
asguec 1
nh e
nco rim i m
tope
os
society might be convulsed,
p. t
uh
lolastre v
iw.woo uli
eel
ndk
ce
edo, p ebaryna
dt ew
san-
guinary I
ha.
property deteriorated, and
many innocent lives sacrificed. Instead of the exten-
sive and well-regulated liberties enjoyed by British
subjects, and the mild sway under which they are
now governed, all order would be trampled under
foot by audacious demagogues, and we sheuld live
in a region of political volcanoes. If the conse-
quences of high treason could be evaded in their
cases, how could we ever punish minor delinquents ?
Could their rank and station in society, which mate-
rially aggravated, be permitted to extenuate their
crimes, or to exempt them from the punishment
they had merited ? Tnese are questions that suggest
themselves to every reflecting mind, and the solution
is by no means easy to those who would desire to be-
hold justice tempered with mercy, but who would, at
the same time, be careful that mercy did not so far
Supersede justice as to beccme an injury to the com-
munity in general.
Influenced by such considerations, the Executive—
which in an early stage of the proceedings had assuaged
the terrors of the friends and relatives of these unhappy
men by giving an assurance that, whatever might be
the result of the appeals then pending, their lives, at
least, would be spared—came to the conclusion, after
mature and anxious consideration, that all the require-
ments of justice would be satisfied by the commuta-
tion of the capital penalty to the milder, but still
severe punishment, of perpetual banishment. We
can scarcely feel surprised that a greater mitigation
was not announced in the first instance. It is true '
that they had already suffered deeply—that, they had ]
encountered the anxieties of trials, on the result of I