The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-03 00:00:00

ettenina 31titr.

LONEOI4, FRIDAY. LITGUST 3, 1849.

Wit seems to follow, as a natural consequence,
upon good fortune ; victories from the days of C2ESAR
to those of GEORGEY appear to provoke epigrams.
It cannot be forgotten how, on the capture of the
Hungarian capital, the success was announced to the
Liberator of the Magyars in the brief dispatch—
Hurrah ! Buda ! Georgey I—a dispatch as striking
as the Veni, Vidi, Vici ! of the Roman Conqueror.
Recently, on the occasion of the relief of Peter-
wardein and the overthrow of JELLACHICH, a
communication as abrupt and as admirable
for its brevity, intimating the dispersion of
the Croats, was forwarded to KOMUTH by the illus-
trious victor, the communication being simply Bern
Ban Bourn ! meaning, " in point of fact," as cousin
PHaNIX would say, literally "Best's beat BAN 1"
Nor is this the only evidence of good humour dis-
played by the great soldier whose heroic valour and
whose military genius were evidenced in so many
brilliant achievements throughout the last campaign
in Transylvania ; for in a still later dispatch
he declares with punnirg emphasis to the
Hungarian PRESIDENT that—" Our army re-
quires now to conquer only two generals
more, Jumus and AnoUSTlls"—those words signifying
July aid August in the Latin tongue, and in the
language of the Hungarians. While the principal
commanders of the Magyar forces are evincing this
disposition to be jocular, the leaders of the Imperial
troops are becoming only more and more ferocious.
And the ghastly proclamation issued by HATNAU to
the citizens of Buda-Perth cannot but remind us of
the famous saying of the Emperor NAPOLEON, that
whenever you see an exhibition of savage and
pitiless fury on the part of an antagonist,
be sure of this, that he has been all but
varquizhed ; or we call to recollection the old story of
the country man recognizing JUPITER to have been
egregiously wrong in an argument, when the Fa-
ther of Olympus, towards the close of it, begins to
whisk about his thunderbolts with indignation. Now
nothing can be more pitiless or more savage than the
decree of the monster HAYNAU dooming to death—
" instant death "--every one, of either sex, who shall
insult an Austrian soldier, who shall wear a revolu-
tionary ribbon, who shall circulate reports as to the pro-
gress of victory with the Magyars, or who shall
communicate in any manner with the persons desig-
nated rebels at Vienna and Olmutz, but known as
heroes and patriots everywhere else. It was in refe-
rence to this horrible document tbat the Noble Lord
the Member for the borough of Aylesbury called
the attt ntion of the Foreign Secretary immediately
before the recent prorogation of Parliament. " Seeing
my Noble Friend the Secretary of State for the
Foreign Department in his place, I wish (said Lord
NUGENT) to ask him a question, on which I hope he
will not be reluctant to satisfy what is a feeling of
ardent anxiety in the minds of a great part of the
nation." Thereupon, according to our reporter, the
Noble Lord thus pursued his interpellation :
" He had seen a document in the public papers,
purporting to be a proclamation of the Austrian General,
Baron Haynau, to the people of Buda and Pesch, de-
nouncing the punishment of death—instant death upon
the spot—upon persons of either sex who might be pre"
sumed to be taking part in what he terms political
offences, such as were never made punishable with
death, even under martial Ltw, by any chief acting
under the commission of any civilized state.—(blear,
hear.) Instant death, to
i persons of either
sex—(Hear, hear)—to be ieflteteed soldiery,onh
lih
thespot.e were
Ap
be al
pointing, therefore, of course, h
to be the executioners, tosummary judges of
the fact Such as what may r deemedd a revolu-
tionary address, what may be the spreading of
.false re-
what may be atn inalisuyltto
ports, and, above all,
any soldier under his command. Resistance
vio-
lence or outrage committed by a soldier coming,
course, in the estimation of the perpetrator, withintn 113 f
category of insult, and punished with instant death the
category hear.) He wished to ask, first,
whether his Noble Friend had reason to believe what he
(Lord Nugent) would not trust himse.lf to characterise
by any epithet bat that of thiT-astontshing—doctument
(he was sure his Noble Friends generous nature would
deem it deserving of a very much stronger term), was
genuine or not?—(hear, hear.)
In answer to this direct inquiry Lord PALMERS•
TON at once acknowledged that it was unnecessary for
him to assert that her MAJESTY'S Government, in
common with everybody else, had read that procla-
mation with pain. Further than this, until the
document in question could be formally and officially
authenticated, the Noble Lord the Foreign Secretary
was precluded from expressing his sentimeots—
caution being beyond all things exquisitely requisite

in matters of diplomacy. While the Government, in
obedience to this immemorial etiquette of statesman-
ship is compelled to tarry until a sufficient time has
elapsed to enable them to arrive at a calm and unim-
passioned conclusion, the public may, without in-
fringing
any laws of propriety, draw their own infe-
rences from what has already transpired. From the
mere facts already narrated in our columns it is im-
possible that any other opinion can have been deduced
than that, for once, Migbt is growing upon the side of
Right, in defiance of an enormous, and even fright-
ful, numerical superiority. Not merely is this testi-
fied by the records of victory gained by the Hun-
garians, and unwillingly avowed through the
organs of their assailants ; but the reality
of the successes of the Magyars, and of the
bitter losses suffered by the Austrians and their Rus-
sian allies, is corroborated beyond all further doubt
by the contrary temper revealed by the belligerents
—the brutal ferocity of HATNAU breathing the
vengefulness of defeat, and the joyful dispatches of
Brar and GEORGE"! betJkening the exhilaration cf
hope and the exultation of victory.
Indeed the truth of the glorious achievements of
the Hungarian patriots is now placed out of the reach
of all evasion and prevarication. In the south BEM,
in the north GEORGET has been triumphant. The
former has routed the Croat barbarians under JELL/L..
cmcu. The latter has outwitted the Cossack bar-
barians under PASKIEWITCH. Meanwhile DEMBINSKI
—whose masterly project has been accepted
as the basis of the plan of the campaign, and
who has in consequence been appointed Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Hungarian army of
KOSSUTH—continues with a force of 60,000
men in an intermediate position, between Szegled and
Szolnok, prepared at any moment to operate either
on the south or on the north, to unite his forces
with those of BEM, or with those of GEORGET,
to carry the war en masse on the one hand
towards Illyria, or on the other towards Gallicia.
So immense and imminent is the peril to the
soldiers of FRANCIS JosHru and of NICHOLAS, that
one corps of the Austrians has been dispatched by
forced marches to render assistance to the Ban of
CROATIA, while two other corps have been advancing
- preventing, if possible,
for the purpose of
the passage of the Danube by DEMBIN sm. Extraor-
dinary armaments are in the meantime being accu-
mulated under the banners of Hungary in the
. provinces of the Backsa and of the Tscharikist, inso-
much that many are beginning to look for the close
of the campaign in the vicinity of Peterwardein.
In spite of the appalling force at the command of the
two EMPERORS we have nevertheless such profound
confidence in the heroic patriotism of the Magyars,
and place such implicit reliance upon the skill of their
military chieftains, that we anticipate nothing but a
glorious conclusion to a campaign so auspiciously
commenced—especially now that to the generalship
Of GEORGET, BEM, and DEMBINSKI, there is being
added that of JuLlus and AUGUSTUS.

The Earl of RODEN volunteered a statement in the
House of Lords, on Tuesday evening, in justification
of his conduct with respect to the Orange procession
on the 12th of July last, which led to the unfortunate
collision and loss of life at Dolly's Brae, and to the
incarceration of many of those of an humbler station
who took part in that most unwise and impolitic de-
monstration. This explanation may appear perfectly
satisfactory to the Orange party, and to those who
think that the evil passions of the multitude should
be fostered—that they should be encouraged to insult
their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, and that those
religious dissensions that have so long been
the shame and reproach of Ireland, more espe-
cially of the northern provinces, should be perpetuated.
We confess, however, that to us the matter appears
in a very different point of view. There can no
longer be any doubt of, to use the mildest terms, the
culpable indiscretion of the Noble Earl. He distinctly
and unequivocally admitted that he made no effort
to dissuade the Orangemen from their illegal and ab-
surd exhibition ; that he did not make use of the
legitimate influence belonging to his station and pro-
perty to deter his humble brethren from the grave
violation of the law they meditated, and which was
productive of such melancholy results. His position
in the society as well as in the magistracy
of the county would have lent peculiar
weight to his arguments, and would, were
he really desirous of stopping the procession,
most probably have induced the different lodges to
have acceded to his wishes, and to have abstained
from any public meeting on the occasion ; but so far
from adopting such a course, he opened his gates to
the illegal assemblage, and regaled, and subsequently
harangued his visitors. He declares " that individu-
ally he did all he could to prevent the unhappy col-
lision, which no one more sincerely lamented than
himself," but, unfortunately, he did nothing to pre-
vent the procession, of which a serious collision was
the almost inevitable consequence, and his subsequent
regret could not Testae the lives that had been
sacrificed through his remissness. Where an ex-
cited multitude, armed with deadly weapons,
march with party tunes under party banners, through
a hostile population, it requires no extraordinary gift
of prophecy to predict a sanguinary conflict. The
magistrates, who tacitly assent to these unjustifiable
proceedings, who utter no remonstrance, who express
no regret, but who, on the contrary, declare their
gratitude for the visit, which they regard as " the
most gratifying mark of affection and attachment,"
roust be looked upon as abettors and participators in
the proceedings.
Lord RODEN " honestly confesses" that when the
12th of July, 1848, came round, and the Orangemen
in the north came to meet together on that occa-
sion, he did not discourage or prevent their
meeting. He attempts, indeed, to justify that
conduct by speaking of the disaffection that pre-
vailed at that time in the south and west of Ireland,
and the anxiety of the Orange party to put down
" that spirit of rebellion." But surely a better and
a more judicious mode of exhibiting their loyalty
might have been adopted, and one that would have
been far: more acceptable to their SOVEREIGN and her
chosen Ministers. It could scarcely be supposed that
an Orange procession would have removed the exist-
ing disaffection—that it would have conciliated the
opposing party, or induced them to regard the union
with this country in a more favourable light. It
was calculated rather to add fuel to the flame—
to inflame the passions of the malcontents to
the utmost, and to have rendered the outbreak
that subsequently took place inevitable. The Go-
vernment were looked upon as conniving at the in-
sulting demonstrations. They had suffered the
salutary law by which processions were prohibited to
expire, and thus tacitly sanctioned the outrage on the
feelings of the Roman Catholic community. His
Lordship states that " they met without collision,
without anything happening to cause sorrow for the
proceeding." Perhaps a more deadly conflict was anti-
cipated, perhaps the opposite party looked forward to
an early day of reckoning, when a full measure
of retribution might be obtained. " Curses
not loud but deep" attended the procession,
which excited deeper feelings of animosity,
from the absence of any opposition, that might have
acted as a safety-valve to to the inflamed passions of the
people. The proceeding, however, was unequivocally
condemned by all right-minded men. The Govern-
ment censured the parties implicated, and the public
journals exhibited an almost unparalleled unanimity
of disapproval. It was followed by an equally ob-
jectionable demonstration on the subsequent Patrick's
Day ; and it was manifest that the opposing factions
were wrought to the utmost pitch of anger and deadly
hatred against each other. Under such cir-
cumstances, it was surely a duty incumbent
on all loyal subjects, more especially on those en-
trusted with the commission of the peace, to have
used their utmost exertions to prevent any violation
of the law or disturbance of the public tranquillity.
'they should have endeavoured to teach their humble
brethren
the fully and the inutility of such proceed-
ings, and the great danger of the untoward results
that would most probably follow. They should have
inculcated the necessity of forbearance,
exhi-
biting peace and goodwill towards
asthe conduct
their and of r
fellow-men.
trand
of
Let us, see, however, what w
Earl of Ronesr, a high officer—we believe the
Master of the Orangemen, and a
magistrateand
deputy-lieutenant of several counties and we take
it on his own statement, and not on any less trust-
worthy evidence.
It appears, then, that about a fortnight before the
i 12th of July last, a gentleman, Who was the great

leader of the Orangemen in that part of the country,
called upon his Lordship and informed him that the
Orangemen were anxious to visit him on the 12th of
July, in order to testify their affection and attach-
ment to him personally. His Lordship replied " tbat
the noise of such an assemblage would be unsatisfac-
tory to him—that he was at an advanced period
of life, and not in that health he once enjoyed, and
that as a member of his family was in deli-
cate health, the noise might be most in-
jurious." Here was not one word against the pro-
priety or expediency of the proposed demonstration,
not a single syllable as to its illegality or imp olicy.
The objections were entirely of a personal charac-
ter :—" The noise would be unsatisfactory." "He
was at an advanced period of life." " Not in that
health he once enjoyed." " A member of his family
was in delicate health." But nothing against the in-
tended procession, which was thus expressly recog-
nised and sanctioned in the clearest manner. The
Orange leader was not so easily got rid of. He saw
how feeble were the faintly uttered objections. He
remonstrated, and his Lordship, in place of remaining
firm, took two days to consider the matter. At the
appointed time he told the plenipotentiary " that he
could not invite the Orangemen to his house, but
that if they went to a field near his house,
be would not shut his gates to any loyal men
who wished to come in." Could there be a more dis-
tinct invitation to the parties, or more unequivocal
encouragement of their purpose ? Was he not to all
intents and purposes a participator in their proceed-
ings ? He stood at his own door while the Orange-
men passed before him. He saw " about 300 who
were armed, and he confessed he sincerely regretted
to see it. He thought, however, it would not be illegal
because on the 12th of July, 1848, there were many
armed in these processions, and on the 17th of March
last, when the procession of Ribandmen took place,
on their great day, he saw many hundreds who were
armed." Here, then, is a magistrate, a man of
rank and education, professing his ignorance of
the law he was bound to preserve, and believing in
the legality of armed processions because the Orange-
men of the former 12th of July, and the Riband-
men on the 17th of March, had also been armed.
His Lordship subsequently harangued the assembly
from a platform erected on his own grounds. He did
not, of course, advise them to be guilty of any of the
outrages that were subsequently committed; but un-
fortunately, the fact of the procession, the party
tunes, banners, and watchwords, the paraphernalia of
the lodges, left but little doubt as to what would be
the termination of the proceedings. The remainder
of the statement consisted of a denial of having distri-
buted whisky ; beer only was given, of which an ad-
ditio►nal quantity was ordered for the occasion.

It remains fur the Irish Government to say whether
the above explanation be satisfactory, and whether the
conduct of Lord RODEN was consistent with his duty
as one of the magistracy of the county in which the
disturbance took place. To us it appears very far, in-
deed, the reverse. His speech will afford the most
conclusive evidence of the necessity for the re-enact-
ment of the Processions Act, which we trust will
be brought before Parliament in the very commence-
ment of the session. The matter is now in Lord
CLARENDON'S hands, and we doubt not that his deci-
sion will sufficiently vindicate the law and prove
satisfactory to those who desire the maintenance of
peace and tranquillity in Ireland.