The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-05 00:00:00

THE SUN,

immedkte pursuit of the suspected parties resolved on.
The following day the particulars of the murder and
an accurate description of the persons, of Mr. and
Mrs. MANNING were wafted on the wings of the press
throughout the length and breadth of the land. Not
a village or hamlet remained in which there were not
persons who had read of the transaction, and were
prepared to render their aid to the civil power, and to
afford every information to the officers of justice.
The cabman was first discovered who had driven
MANNING through bye streets to the neighbourhood
of the Waterloo terminus. This at once indicated
the quarter in which the scent might be recovered,
and LANGLEY and THORNTON, two experienced officers,
were forthwith dispatched on his track. They had
scarcely arrived when a telegraphic communication
was received, that MANNING was supposed to be on
board the Victoria American packet-ship, which had
recently sailed from the port of London. It was
found that she had passed Spithead, where she was
expected to have remained for a short time. But
such an obstacle was not permitted to impede the
course of justice, and within a few hours the Fire
Queen steamer was in rapid pursuit. The packet-
ship was soon overtaken, when it was found that the
chase had been fruitless; that neither Mr. nor Mrs.
MANNING were on board. Thi3 check, however, did not
abate the ardour of the pursuit, which was speedily
destined to prove successful.

Mrs. MANNING, who was first captured, was doubly
discovered. The cab, in which she was driven from
her own dcor was soon traced out. It was thereby
ascertained that she had gone to Edinburgh, and
a telegraphic dispatch was immediately forwarded
to put the police authorities on the search. She could
not long have evaded pursuit, but by a strange com-
bination of circumstances the arrest had taken place
immediately before the receipt of the intelligence.
A perfect stranger, a stockbroker, had his suspicions
excited by a visit from Mrs. MANNING, who made
inquiries about the sale of railway scrip. He com-
municated those suspicions to the superintendent of
police ; the pseudo-Mrs. SMITH was waited on, and
her capture effected within four days after the dis-
covery of the body.
The husband (MANNING) remained at large some
time longer ; he had reached Jersey,Gubeurtnnsey not
in undisco-
vered. vered. A girl who had seen him in
last recognised him on board the steamer, and oh,hear-
ibg of the offence, communicated the fact to Mr.
UrEassAacg, crown prosecutor, of Guernsey.
That gentleman lost no time in forwarding
the intelligence to Jersey, and every precaution was
taken to prevent the escape of the alleged murderer.
The Consul at Granville was communicated with, and
means were taken to ensure his detention in the event
of his reaching France. He, however, remained on
the island, lying close in the house of an aged couple
with whom he lodged. His sottish habits, however,
led to his detention. The enormous quantity of
brandy consumed led to inquiries by the vendor,
whose suspicions being awakened, he also commu-
nicated with the detective officers who had arrived in
Jersey, and MANNING was captured the same night,
and sent to London, to answer the charge before a
jury of his countrymen.
An instructive lesson may be gleaned from these
events, that (must have a valuable effect upon those
who are almost trembling on the verge of crime.
They have seen how apparently insignificant cir-
cumstances will bring suspicion on parties—how
strange inquiries about the sale and purchase of
railway scrip led to the apprehension of one—
an extra supply of brandy to that of the other
they will see that there is, in fact, no
possibility of escape from a serious pursuit, and,
thus warned of the inevitable consequences of crime,
they may pause while there is yet time, and return to
a course of virtue and propriety. If the considera-
tion of the case should have such an effect, the Ber-
mondsey murder case may become a valuable prece-
dent, and prove a sound moral lesson for all who
may be exposed to temptation.

The well-wishers of Ireland have had cause to re-
joice in another auspicious sign of the times. The
Nation newspaper has become an advocate of tranquil-
lity, and almost denounces all future agitation as a
crime and " worse than a crime"—a mistake. On
Saturday last, the morning after the expiration of the
Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, the long defunct
Nation, reviving pEcenix-like, made its re-appear-
ance. If its tones are no less eloquent than of old,
they breathe a different and a sv'ser spirit, declaring
"all bluster and bravado" to be "more repulsive and
mournful than a death-bell." Tbis is the lesson taught
by the revived Nation to the revolutionists and the
would-be revolutionists of Ireland :

"Now again we renew our labours in new and trying
circumstances. We must begin this time at the bottom,
for we have arrived there. We must begin by solidly
piling granite upon granite—not laboriously balancing a
house of cards, to be blown down contemptuously in the
end by the breath of a Court lawyer. A design, wisely
subordinated to the actual facts of our condition, but in-
cessantly expanding itself till it fill up the entire breadth
of our purpose—the purpose of making Ireland a free,
prosperous, and honoured nation—is the only one in which
I can put faith. It is easier to sigh over opportunities
which are gone, or to scream for contingencies which
have not arrived, than to strive towards this purpose by
systematic labour and devotion; but whoever means to
live through other years than the present,
or hopes to see the end attained, had
better not prefer that plan. Assuming these
premises, what then? This, then; we cannot win our
rights at a blow, but we must win them in detail. This
is my faith. We must win them in detail, beginning
with the most urgent, and advancing from point to
point towards the great goal. Ireland is a sick and dis-
abled man whom we must strengthen and invigorate
with many preliminary successes before he is able to
win his last and most precious right. Independence is no
longer the first achievement and sole spring-head of all
that will enrich and ennoble our country, but the end
and result of many previous victories. There, and no
other where, does it lie. For the tide of revolution
has gone out and left us stranded on the shore, and we
needs must conform to the circumstances in which we
are cast. Shipwrecked men build with spars and waifs
spared by the storm, and if they are wise ones work
cheerfully with the meats and appliances fortune has
left them, making no unmanly whining for those that
he buried in the great deep; for whining will not bring
them back again. We must win our rights in detail,
and strive to learn, or revive, the heroic virtues in the
struggle; for it is folly to talk of the independence of
the Iri,h race till the individual men of Ireland have
learned to become independent."

"It is easier to sigh over opportunities that are
gone than to strive onwards with systematic labour
land devotion." Undoubtedly it is, and this fact has
rarely been so wofully corroborated as in the history
of Ireland. Her patriots have evinced sufficient prac-
tical eloquence in depicting her sorrows, but not
sufficient practical patience and perseverance in re-
dressing them.
How much toil and trouble, how much of national
enthusiasm and individual exertion, have been ex-
pended in the Repeal struggle, and for what ? Those
same exertions, if directed in another and more prac-
tical channel, might have produced a very different
and far happier result. The Nation, at least, has
recognized this error, and proposes, with an ardour
worthy of the cause, to remedy it forthwith. The
cry is now not for national but for individual
independence. "It is folly to talk of the
independence of the Irish race till the in-
dividual men of Ireland have learned to become
independent." And how shall this lesson be taught
them ? What is the true secret of independence ?
a fair day's wages earned by a fair day's work. This
is the true philosopher's stone. He who enables or
assists the poor beggar to earn his own living in the
sweat of his brow, is the true benefactor, and they
are the true patriots who help their fellow-country-
men to help themselves. If this is what the Nation
proposes, all success we wish it and its endea-
vours ! It would seem from the above paragraph,
however, that when " the individual men of Ireland
have learned to be independent," then some steps may
be taken towards effecting " the independence of the
Irish race," but an attempt at such a time will be
most gratuitous. When the Irish are individually
independent they will dream no more of
such delusions as repeal, and the independence of the
" Irish race," for they will by that happy time have
learned that the union of England and Ireland is
compatible and identified with the freedom and hap-
piness of both countries.

But without, at the present moment, troubling
ourselves with the opinions of a future time, we con-
tent ourselves now with congratulating our Irish
contemporary on his re-appearance, and we rejoice to
find him a fellow-labourer with ourselves in the cause
of Ireland's happiness, via peace, patience, and per-
severing industry, or, in other words, individual in-
dependence.