The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-02 00:00:00

THR SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, ATY G T 9, 1849.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JO-URNALS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

TIMES,—Among the shocking and incredible dramas
which appalled and amused the theatrical public of
At hens, there was not a sadder or a stranger than CEdi-
pus at Colonos. A man of noble stature, more vener-
able for grief tbaa for years, and ;And by violence, not
decay, appeared on the stage under the guidance of a
child at a rural altar, whither he had come to claim the
protection of the infernal deities. By virtue of curses
uttered before be was born be had become the pollution of
mankind. Most unwittingly he had murdered his father.
and married his mother, and by the wrath of heaven on
these crimes had brought a pestilence on his kingdom.
When he knew what he bad done there was no amount
of expiation he was not ready to undergo, and at once he
hid for ever from his sight the earth and the sky he felt
himself no longer worthy to behold. A wanderer once
a from slander. The
ompoprreesshioen,sousing f
and an
ooromacqustitrtalngers a refuge from
House of Lords presented on Tuesday a spectacle not
unlike, though nothing , could be like, that monstrous
conception. A venerable man suffering from recent
illness, and still more from mental affliction, came
before the senate to complain of an untoward fate and a
calumnious age. In the simplicity of his heart he lid
deliberately invited and welcomed to his residence thou-
sands of men in military procession, carrying banners,
and a large portion of them arms. He had then and
there refreshed their bodies, end animated their souls.
He had done this on the anniversary of a bloody triumph,
a day loved by one faction and hated by another, and
memorable in consequence for a thousand fatal collisions.
The procession came under a class expressly forbidden
by an Act just allowed to expire, and still contrary to
the common law of the land. It is unnecessary to say
that the victorious faction were the objects of his Lord-
ship's well-meant hospitality. The triumphant caval-
cade provoked the same jealousy it had always done,
and as usual there ensued a collision. At a pass
where the factions bad braved one another a hundred
times before, they braved one another again. A fight
ensued, as usual at that place and that day. His Lord-
ship's guests were well armed, well horsed, well fed,
well refreshed, well escorted and guarded, and accord-
ingly they carried the day with considerable slaughter.
It only remains to be told that his Lordship did his
part of the affair in the utmost simplicity. He is an in-
nocent and calumniated man. It appears that Lord
Roden had no more to do with the tragical result than
Mr. Bright or Mr. Smith O'Brien. Individually he did
all he could to prevent the collision, as everybody with
a spark of generosity in his bosom will confess when he
hears his Lordship's own account of the affair. Listen.
It was only in 1845 or 1846, says his Lordship, that the
Act against these processions was suffered to expire.
The great mass of the humbler classes in Ireland were
so bent upon them that it was difficult to suppress them,
even when they were expressly forbidden by the law.
Last'year, such was the excited state of the country,
there was a great rebellion, which the Lord-Lieutenant
put down, if not with difficulty, at least with consider
able exertions. When the 12th of July 1848, " came
round," and when the loyal men of all classes wished
to take that opportunity of expressing their joy
at the result, and the Orangemen of the
north came to meet at that period, " he
honestly confessed that he did not discourage or prevent
their meeting. Last year, then, they met quietly
enough, and passed some resolutions against repeal.
But when the 12th of July was "coming round" this
year, the Orangemen bethought themselves of an im-
provement on last year, and a return, in fact, to the
pious usages of antiquity. They proposed a march across
the country to Lord Roden's, and their leader conferred
with his Lordship on the subject a fortnight before. His
Lordship hesitated; he was old; he could not stand noise;
one of his family was in delicate health; so he would not
promise to take them all in; but at the same time did
not like to say no. The Orange ambassadors were dis-
appointed and unwilling to return with their errand
fruitless, so they suggested an out of doors reception.
His Lordship took two days to consider this, and
at last confessed that he could not close his gates
against loyal men—that if they must come, they must.
So on the 12th of July " several thousand" of them,
as Lord Roden said at the time, came with their wives
and children, and three hundred stand of arms. They
marched in capital order, and in such silence that the
invalid indoors did not hear a word. His Lordship
stood at the door, and they defiled before him. He was
sorry to see so many in arms. " Ho confessed he sin-
cerely regretted to see it; he thought, however, that it
could not be illegal, because on the 12th of July, 1848,
there were many armed in those processions, and on the
17th of March last, when the procession of the Riband-
men took place on their great day, he saw many hun-
dreds who were armed, and, in tact, they fired a volley
over his gate, but he thought little of it." He measured
the act by the standard of his own equanimity, and
thought there could not possibly be danger or offence in
firing a-volley over the gate of a political antagonist.
Nay, so struck was he with the harmlessness of the
transaction, that, as he says, he was encouraged by what
he saw to forgive his own friends marching across the
country in arms. With all the innocence of childhood,
Lord Roden said to himself, " Two can play at that
game," and if Riba,ndmen may amuse themselves with siege
operations " on their great day," why may not Orange.
men do the same when their great day comes round?
In all this we can only admire the unsuspecting naiveté
of a nobleman who has lived through half a dozen re-
hellions and insurrections great and small, and yet can
think no evil of these rival demonstrations. But to pro-
ceed with Lord Roden's own simple relation of the real
facts of the case. The procession passed by, and went
into a field at the end of his park. By the merest luck
they found in the field bread 14nd:cheese and beer suffi-
cient for 2,000 men, their wives and their children, and
as they had marched a good distance, they could not re-
sist the opportunity of lunching at his Lordship's ex-
pense. The lunch was there by the merest accident,—
such things are common in that land of plenty—but
Lord Roden accounts for it thus:—His school children
had had their annual treat in that field two days before,
and so much had been provided that the remains were
sufficient to satisfy the ten thousand men, women, and
children who stumbled inadvertently on the very same
field two days after. By the merest accident,
too, his Lordship was there also. He ex-
plains how this happened. "He felt it was the
duty of the gentry, whatever difficulty or danger
there might be, to go with them to prevent
them from committing any indiscretion. He ac-
cordingly followed them." But marvels increase in this
fabulous region. Besides the stupendous vestiges of the
school feast, the mountain of bread, cheese, and beer,
"he found a platform erected "—dropped from the skies,
doubtless, like the chapel of Loretto. Nothing daunted
by the prodigy, " he and several gentlemen ascended "
the miraculous platform, and made a speech which very
naturally thrived a preternatural tone from the wonder-
ful incidents of the day. With " the thousands of loyal
men he saw around him—the waving of banners of 50
lodges—the dense multitude, too great for any voice to
reach," it was impossible he should forget " the occasion
of our glorious anniversary," or the principles for which
Orangemen contend, or " the heavy blows and great dis-
couragements" they had received from the various par-
ties who had ruled this country for the last 20 years.
But be said not a word about Dolly's Brae, or about
keeping their powder dry, or anything of that sort. Such
are the plain facts of the case as far as Lord Roden is
concerned. When the 2,000 men, including 300 under
arms, with an escort of mounted police, left the park,
what with the beauty of the day, the strength of his
Lordship's " small " beer, the magnificence of the
scenery, "the mountains of Morne echoing to their
"shouts," and Slieve Donard, the mistress of them
all, looking down on their proceedings, they took
the turn to Dolly's Brae, and there found a strong
muster of the enemy, whom they " used up "
in no time—to Lord Roden's inexpressible concern.
The difficulty of the case, it is obvious, arises from Lord
Roden's entire innocence of the affair. Our fear is that
he may be equally innocent of future equally unpleasant
results. His simplicity bar, hitherto, been proof against
circumstances that could not fail to sophisticate ordinary
men. Here is a nobleman near 80 years of age, pos-
sessed of numerous estates, and said to manage his affairs
with discretion, a custos rotulorum, and a large sinecuriat,
who does not know that an armed procession of 2,000
partisans through a country of hostile partisans is illegal
or injudicious, or even offensive to the adverse faction.
He feels no affront, and therefore sees none, in a
volley fired over the gate of a hostile leader. He
thought a twelvemonth after a rebellion, and a month
after the ignominious banishment of its chiefs, the
most harmless and appropriate moment for a tri-
umphant demonstration. He conceived that he was
doing his very utmost to prevent it when he was ar-
ranging with its leaders that it should only enter
his park and march past his hall door. It was only
by accident that it got to a field in his park, and
found provision for ten thousand hungry men, women,
and children. He was unconscious of any connivance
with the 300 muskets when he attended them through
his park. He was guiltless of the platform which he
found there erected. All the rest—the allusions to "our
glorious day," the principles it was founded to support,
and the discouragements received from the successive
rulers of this empire, the cheers and the waving of
banners with which his Lordship's address was hailed,
were all harmless and customary things. As for the
particular route taken by the host on leaving the park
of thereits
dwanegreer oos
Lord Roden cannot be held resist nsible for that, even if
he had foreseen it. His Lordship then is perfectly
clear. Not a child in arms—of whom we have no doubt
manytenindenthcies eptrhoacneshsieond—id. procession--could
dikhnoowwevleesrs,
is the very thing which gives us the uneasiness we are
forced to confess. It appears that the most perfect in-
nocence is compatible with the most mischievous conduct,
and that a venerable peer and magistrate, in the face of
a thousand warnings, tray continue to sanction illegal
proceedings, almost certain to terminate in bloodshed.
Lord Roden, of course, must be acquitted of blame.
He no more knew what he was about than the Theban
hero did when be slew a contumacious traveller, and
married the Queen of the country he had preserved. It
only just occurs to the mind that there are questions of
decency and of convenience as well as of justice. Lord
Roden is at least a most unlucky man. We are afraid
of his fortunes, not of his faults. The undiscerning
public, also, will infallibly associate his name with
Dolly's Brae. So all things considered, we really think
that Lord Roden would meet the proprieties and the
conveniences of the subject by either resigning his com-
mission or pledging himself never again to give the
least countenance to an Orange procession.
lIERALD.—If an abettor of despotism on the Con-
tinent of Europe—or that beau ideal of despotism—the
Emperor of Russia—were desirous of exhibiting to his
people the futility of representative institutions, he would
perhaps exultingly point to the deliberations of the
fifteenth session of the United Parliament, or the session
of the 12th and 13th Via., which closed its sittings at
three o'clock yesterday afternoon. For a period of lull
six months the Houses both of Lords and Commons
have been constantly sitting, and though there has been
an endless amount of speaking—very little good—a Tory

great deal bitter bad—and a vast portion most indiffer-
ent—yet in the way of useful legislation almost nothing
has been done, and even the little effected is of question-
able utility, when not positively and unmistakeably mis-
chievous. But of " words, words, words," as Hamlet
says, we have had bushels and tuns—a very wide waste
of at best of times a most worthless and inexpensive com-
modity. _ _

" Words are like leaves, and where they most abound
Small store of fruit beneath is rarely found."
Some portion of this evil of wordiness is no doubt inci-
dent to and inseparable from a Reformed Parliament, in
which every halt-informed coxcomb or every dull ob-
scure opsimatbist and blockhead is desirous of being
heard and reported. But a good deal of the evil also is
owing to the state and position of parties, and to the
attempt made by the Peelits—an attempt in which they
signally failed—to erect themselves into the neutral ar-
bitrators and critics of a Government which they had
the desire to supplant, but not the courage or the ho-
nesty to attack openly. On the part of the second and
third-rate Peelites, there has been for the six months
last past, both in the House and in the press, a great
deal of wearisome snarling—witness the cflorts of Mr.
Gladstone and Lord Lincoln—which considerably im-
peded the flow of public business; and on the part
of the Member for Tamworth there was that
elaborate and pompous patronage which cer-
tainly did not tend to lubricate public affairs. For
three or four nights the Right Hon. Baronet occupied the
Lower House with details relative to his tariff—with his
views and opinions relative to the condition of Ireland—
with his sham scheme of Connaught plantation—and
with artful and grossly-discoloured views of the opera-
tion of his measure, or rather, Colidee's measure, adopted
by him at the twelfth hour, 01 free trade. But, apart
from these egotistical questions and considerations in
which the personal pronoun was used many thousand
times, we do not find that the "distinguished states-
man," as the Morning Chronicle fondly loves to call him,
contributed one new idea to legislation—that the " dis-
tinguished statesman" produced one new Bill—that the
"distinguished statesman" said one brilliant, original,
or witty thing (when did he ever do so from 1809 to the
present day ?), or did any one feat, or performed any one
Parliamentary part or passage that could relieve him from
the toilsome repute of being one of the most hard-working
—one of the most painstaking—men of good faculties, to
whom God has denied literary and political genius, poli-
tical courage, political honesty, and its general conco-
mitant, political wisdom. Independently of this position
of the Peelites, the efforts of the Government have also
been in some sort impeded by the Humeites and Cob-
denites, who, though occasionally speaking strongly
against the Ministry, have, in general, when matters
came to a pinch, voted with them. But a more formid-
able enemy to Ministers than the Peelites, Humeites,
and Cobdenites—a greater impediment to public busi-
ness than any opposition, open or covert, was their own
rashness, ignorance, and incompetency. This is riot the
place—nor is to-day, perhaps, the occasion—to completely
and systematically review their measures. But when
they put into their Royal Mistress's mouth the as-
sertion that the state of the public business enables
her to dispense with their attendance, they know-
ingly and wilfully utter the thing that is not.
What question have they settled in domestic affairs?
Do they fondly imagine that the Irish poor-law is set-
tled ?—that the rate in aid is settled ?—that the ques-
tion of Irish emigration is settled ?—or even the working
of their Encumbered- Estates Bill, in which they have
not yet filled up the names of the Commissioners ? Far,
indeed, from it. All these measures are sure to come on
us again and again in the next session, revealing sins of
commission and omission innumerable; showing that
Ministers have done what they ought to have omitted,
and have omitted what they ought to have long since
done. Even with respect to Irish landlords and tenants
—even with respect to the power of Irish leasing—
or to Irish public wet ks— or to provisions for another
Irish famine (which God in his mercy avert !)
Ministers have done little or nothing, and if the
potato crop fail in the present year, we firmly be-
lieve we shall find these incapable men as unpro-
vided with a remedy—as unprovided with any " large
and comprehensive measures"—to use their own
words—as they were in 1846, 1847, and 1848. How,
then, can the men have face to :ay that the state of
public business enables her Majesty to dispense with the
attendance of her Parliament? Where is the country
in Europe that is tranquil or at rest? Is France.? Is
Germany? Is Italy? Is Switzerland? Is Hungary?
Is Poland? Is Turkey? Is Wallachia? Is Greece?
'ls even Russia itself ? Alas! no. Though the preli-
minaries of peace, as is ststed in the Speech, have been
signed, under the mediation of her Majesty, between
Prussia and Denmark, yet this convention may not prove
the forerunner of a permanent or definitive treaty, and even
though such treaty be signed within a week from this
day, the position of the French in Italy, and of the
Russians in Hungary, is such as to awaken the solici-
tude of the least apprehensive and the most hopeful
among the sons of men. One hasty, one rash word—one
imprudent act—on the part of any one of the powers,
may light up a war in Europe, of which the youngest
amongst grown men may not see the consequences or the
termination. On the Russian interference in Hungary,
on the French occupation of Rome, the Speech is alto-
gether silent. Is this silence wise or politic? Is it
dealing fairly with the people to pass over, or, as certain
newspapea writers say, to " ignore," these facts, inter-
fering with and greatly deranging the European balance?
True, her Majesty states that her Majesty's efforts will
continue to be directed to promote the restoration of
peace in those parts of Europe in which it has been in-
terrupted. But for now near a twelvemonth a struggle
has been going on in Hungary, and in Italy for more
than a twelvemonth, and peace seems as far distant as
ever. Venice still holds out—Garibaldi's band is not
extinguished, but lives, moves, and has a being; and
even Mazzini boldly proclaims that the Roman Republic
is not dead, is not extinguished, but will yet arise again
from its short sleep. How, then, we ask, can Ministers
talk so confidently as to the future ? We are not
told, as we usually are, that her Majesty
continues to receive from all her allies assu-
rances of amity and friendship. All we are told
in general, ambiguous, and most suspicious terms, is
" that the friendly character of her relations with foreign
powers affords her Majesty a just confidence in the con-
tinuance of peace." This, in the present state of Europe,
is, indeed, but a frail and feeble guarantee. Such are
some only of the neutral and negative points (if we may
so speak) of the Speech. If we look to the positive
points—to the actual performances—all we find stated is
that the Navigation Laws have been amended (query ?),in
the full confidence that the. enterprise, skill, and hardi-
hood, of the British people will assure to the traders of
this country a full share in the commerce of the
world. We trust it may be so, and that all
our prognostications and previsions may be frus-
trated. But if so, such a result assuredly will be
accomplished, not because, but in spite of the legislation
of her Majesty's Ministers. In the congratulations ex-
pressed on the termination of the war in the Punjaub,
we can cordially concur. We extend also a full measure
of praise to the exertions made by the Government of
India, and to the valour displayed by the British and
native army. But apart from these topics we see
nothing in the Speech that commands approval, and
little that commands assent. It will be some compensa-
tion for what the Times in barbarous language would
call the " short-comings" of a most barren session, if
her Majesty is, by this early prorogation, thus enabled
to see Ireland in person—to judge of the land and of the
people—and, while making a just, laudable, and neces-
sary excursion, is all the while laying in a stock of health
and information, calculated to enable the best of Sove-
reigns the more fully hereafter to perform her duties to
a people who, though misled for a moment, have ever
been loyal and well-disposed at heart.
POST.—Upon the very interesting subject of mar-
riage the quarterly return of marriages, births, and
deaths, published by the authority of the Registrar-
General, gives the following information:—
" Looking at the circumstances of the country, the
general result of the return is favourable. The mar-
riages continue steadily at the average, neither swelled
by speculative expectations, nor depressed by idle doubts
of the adequacy of the industry, science, and nature of
the country to supply its wants."
This is a gem in its way. It must be highly consola-
tory to the people of Great Britain that they have the
privilege of paying not only for this kind of
authorship, but also for its publication in blue books.
The Registrar-General is, it seems, no vulgar recorder
of facts—no mere arithmetical compiler, but a supplier
of philosophy to her Majesty's public. He not only
tells us what it is deemed necessary we should know,
but the conclusions which we should draw from this
knowledge. The general result of the return we are in•
structed to regard as favourable. But the most curious
part of this Registrar's proclamation is the
new view which he affords us of the phy-
losophy of motives leading to marriage. It
used to be thought that people married because they
liked each other, and because they expected or hoped to
be able to keep house in their united state. But these
enlightened times have got far beyond that. Marriages,
it seems, are now "swelled by speculative expectations,"
or, on the other hand, they are " depressed by idle
doubts of the adequacy of the industry, science, and
nature of the country to supply its wants." We, in our
simplicity, did not know before that when young couples
thought the times were too bad to make it prudent for
them to marry they had previously entered into a calcu-
lation, or at least a consideration, of the adequacy of the
science of the country, together with industry and
nature, to supply the wants of the country. There is an
old-fashioned book called the Book of Common Prayer,
which also enters briefly into the philosophy of marriage,
but it is not half so scientific in its views as the publica-
tion of the Registrar-General. Itis laid down in that old-
fashioned book that marriage is the symbol or significa•
tion of a religious mystery, no less than the union of the
Christian Church with its Divine head. It is described
as an honourable estate, which is not to be taken in
hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly; but we do not
find that any consideration of the scientific capabilities
of the country is even mentioned as a desirable preli-
minary. It is, indeed, admitted that population is one
of the purposes of marriage, but it specially refers to the
training of such population in the fear and nurture of
the Lord—a point which is not touched upon in the
Registrar-General's report. Moreover, the old-fashioned
book represents marriage to have been ordained for a
remedy against sin, and for the mutual society, help, and
comfort that one ought to have of the other, both in
prosperity and adversity; se that even speculative ex-
pec•a • dons of increased fortune, or idle doubts of the
adequacy of science to supply the wants of the country,
would not exactly apply to the augmentation or
diminution of matrimony when thus contemplated.
It is worth while to mark the growth, in this our
day, not only of statistical information, but of that re-
fit cave philosophy which so naturally accompanies sta-
tistical tables. As matters are proceeding, the world
will, no doubt, be, in a few years, wondrous wise. Per-
haps we ought to mention that, according to the Regis-
trar-General, while marriages continue steadily at the
average, influenced by the philosophical considerations
already adverted to, the births are increasing, and the