The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-13 00:00:00

TATVITiIIg w':;*ittL

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1847.

CABINET COUNCIL.

A Cabinet Council was appinted to be held at
half-past two o'clock this afternoon, at the Foreign-
office, Downing-street. Lord LANSDOWNE was ex-
pected to arrive in town from Bowood Park, Lord
JOHN RUSSELL from Claremont, and other Ministers
were also expected to arrive in town, for the purpose
of attending the Council.

Yesterday, a translation of the speech addressed by
his Majesty King Louis PHILIPPE to the Peers and
Deputies on opening the Legislative Chambers of
France was duly published in our columns. If any
expectations were entertained that in this remarkable
oration would be discovered the motives of the
French Government in certain occurrences which
have recently transpired, or the intentions of the
French Government in regard to certain proceedings
which are likely to be undertaken, those expectations
are very far from having been realised. Rumours
were prevalent that his Gallic MAJESTY would, in
some measure, unbosom himself with reference to the
complicated transactions whereby the tranquillity of
the European continent has been latterly endangered.
Mysterious inuendoes were whispered about the salons
in the more fashionablefaubourgs, intimating the pro-
bability of some royal explanations upon the mar-
riage in the Peninsula, upon the annexation of
neutral territories in the northern empires, and upon
the sudden interruption of the friendship hitherto
subsisting between France and Great Britain. All
those rumours and inuendoes have however " melted
into thin sir." From the parturient mountain of
anticipation has crept forth the veriest mouse of a
speech-from-the-throne ever delivered. f Hitherto
the addresses of Louis PHILIPPE to Messieurs les
Pairs et Messieurs les Deputes have been characterised
by something beyond the mere conventional small-
talk of royalty. His MAJESTY has heretofore illustrated
the commencement of the different sessions with the
delivery of sentences not only gracefully turned, but
singularly suggestive. In the present instance there
is no departure whatever from the ordinary nothings
of royal eloquence. Some considerable time since a
delightful sarcasm upon the Parliamentary addresses
of the SOVEREIGN appeared in the Charivari—
namely, a blank column, headed " The Speech from
the Throne." That sarcasm at this moment would
have " told " with admirable effect. The flattering
promise and actual emptiness of the Address to the
French Chambers irresistibly recal to our recollection
the simile employed by SPENSER in his " Colin
Clout's come home again ;" the sentences being
literally—

" Like bladders blowan up with wind,
Which being prick'd do vanish into noughts."
Even in the opening paragraph there is an affecta-
tion of explicitness which is quite ludicrous, seeing
that it is composed of the most vague and unsatisfac-
tory generalities. As is befitting him in the charac-
ter of the guardian or patriarch of a great people, the
KING expresses his anxiety to witness the earnest co-
operation of the legislators in forwarding those mea-
sures which his MAJESTY'S Government deem neces-
sary for the alleviation of the present sufferings of the
community. What are those measures ? Listen.
" I hope," says the Monarch, " that by the firm main-
tenance of order, by the liberty and security of com-
mercial transactions, by an ample and judicious ap-
plication of the public fortune, efficiently aiding the
zeal of private charity, we shall mitigate these trials
with which PROVIDENCE sometimes visits the most
prosperous states." Assuredly this is a marvellous
way of meeting an extraordinary emergency. As if
the maintenance of order, and the freedom and security
of commercial transactions, and the ample and judi-
cious application of the public fortune, and the
sympathising assistance of individual alms, were not
advisable, nay, as if they were not absolutely requisite
at all times and under all circumstances! As if
these were not actually the very motors of the ma-
chinery of civilised society ! Why, the simplest
tyro in legislation could have strung together phrases
of equal ingenuity and prettiness.
After this benevolent induction, King Louis PHI-
LIPPE proceeds by the utterance of a gigantic fallacy,
"My relations with ALL the Foreign Powers," says
he, " °fjord the firm confidence that the peace of the
world continues secured !" Wonderful assurance !

IWhat, the peace of the world secured—with the alli-
ance between Northern and Western Europe utterly
destroyed by the violation of the Vienna treaty
witti the cordial understanding between England and
France interrupted by the perfidious violation of the
Utrecht treaty !—with the Spanish population embroiled
with their rulers through the odiOus interference of the
Gallic Cabinet! —with the provinces of Portugal
ravaged by intestine warfare, through the instru-
mentality of the pedagogue DIETZ !-with the Swiss
Confederation still encompassed with the dangers of
a religious antagonism, fomented by the policy of the
crowned diplomatist of the Tuileries ! Marvellous
security ! Bewildering confidence ! Most pernicious
peace ! It is matter of astonishment how the French
Monarch could utter that sentence with an
unperturbed countenance, when scarcely five se-
conds afterwards he had to speak as follows :
" An unexpected event has impaired the state of
things founded in Europe by the late treaty of
Vienna. The Republic of Cracow, an independent
and neutral state, has been incorporated with the
empire of Austria. I have protested against that in.
fraction of the treaties." Why, here is a flat con•
tradiction of the preceding assertion. Here is a
sufficient testimony of itself that European i
tran-
quillity is based upon a very rotten foundation.
ow, in the name of all that is rational and
‘-"nPrenensible, can the peace of Europe
be regarded as secured when a treaty like that of
Vienna—a treaty
c
gpol
owbeer_fuils
violated
theand plenipotentiaries of the most
assembled monarchs
tineostsverean civilised quarter of the
withc European peace
olants
edinbsimultaneously
yhmade between the
solemnly
.
Prussia, and of Austria? tioigns of Russia, of
elv
be establishedn
of emphatic protests upon such
athe transmission
crime from the
foreign offices of London and Paris to the
Ambassadors of Vienna, of Berlin, and of St.
Petersburgh? Is anything calculated to exci
teso much
and such rancorous feelings of hostility amongst
e

Governments of the earth as these execrable deeds cf
spoliation, as these despotical acts of robbery, as
these larcenies of imperial marauders ? Are not
these occurrences more detrimental to the cause of
international quiescence than the squabbles of a few
merchants over casual cargoes of opium or inter-
mittent cases of tea and ivory ? Is there not
more reason to tremble for the continuance of
peace during the transmission of such documents
than during the manifestation of the most irascible
animosities among contiguous rases ? Yet " the
peace of the world is secured," according to King
LOUIS PHILIPPE ! This is unquestionably an unpa-
ralleled instance of a monarch paltering with words
for the purposes of a venal duplicity.
But there is, if that be possible, a yet greater
specimen of inconsistency in this unequalled
oration. In one paragraph his MAJESTY con
gratulates himself and his subjects upon the

union of " his beloved son; the Due DE MONT-
PENSIER with his beloved neice the Infanta LOUISA
FERNANDA," and in another paragraph, as we have
already observed, he alludes to the infraction of the
Vienna treaty, by saying that he has forcibly pro-
tested against that infraction. One paragraph ex-
presses indignation at the violation of the treaty of
Vienna, another paragraph expresses exultation at
the violation of the treaty of Utrecht ; so that,
to reconcile this anomaly, we must presume that his
MAJESTY regards treaties as unlike the juice of
grapes, inasmuch as the former becomes worthless with
increased age. More preposterous logic was never
heard. The compacts of 1815 are to be accounted
sacred ; the compacts of 1713 are to be considered as
the mere tunnels of diplomacy—to be passed through
with indifference.

Not a syllable is uttered by Louis PHILIPPE in refer-
ence to the coolness which has recently arisen between
his own Government and that of Great Britain. The
question was too delicate and fragile to bear the weight
of the most attenuated monosyllable. The ice was
merely skinned over the gulf, the former would have
broken in under the pressure of a mere allusion. Still
there was ample opportunity afforded for self-gratula-
tion upon "the devotedness and valour" of the French
soldiers in Algeria and upon the navigation treaty
concluded with the Emperor NICHOLAS. A sop for
the prowess and cupidity of his warlike and enter-
prising people ! With these triumphant reminiscences
the oration of King Louis PHILIPPE is completed : it
may prove a firebrand, or the reverse, among the
Governments of Europe.

The English people are not easily roused into action.
In their private as well as in their public affairs, in
the due management whereof they are perfectly sen-
sible of being deeply interested, many causes may be
at work to their disadvantage, and with which they
become fully acquainted—first, by soft rumours ; and
next, by loud complaints—still they preserve an
apathy which no other people would evince under
similar circumstances. This indifference is, for the
most part, to be accounted for by the feeling of self.
reliance they possess, that when matters reach a crisis,
and the energy requisite to reduce them into a shape
conformable with the maintenance of their personal
or public welfare, can no longer be staved off without
imminent risk, their talents, intelligence, and indo-

mitable perseverance will overcome the difficult.)
how aggravated soever may be the height to whit:
. _

t had been suffered to reach. From the innate

love of justice, too, peculiarly characteristic of the
English, they are always cheerfully inclined to bear
any sacrifices, rendered indispensable by any negli-
gence for which they are deserving of blame. This
singular trait in our national character is neverthe-
less productive of great mischief. " Prevention
is better than cure," is an apophthegm to which an
Englishman is constantly giving utterance, but
which he seldom enforces by practice. He is indif-
ferent to prevention ; he takes a pride in effecting a
cure. The consequence of this inert policy is, that
evils of a most serious nature are allowed to become
chronic, and so to engraft themselves upon the
social system, that nothing short of the most vigorous
arid comprehensive remedies will effectually eradicate
them.

The truth of the foregoieg observations is un-
happily afforded and precisely exemplified by the
grievous want of general education that has long
been felt throughout the community. Year after year,
for a long period past, have an influential portion of
our countrymen been striving to impress upon their
fellow-beings and the Government, the duty of dis-
tributing, upon a large and systematic scale, at
blessings of a sound and moral education to tht
humbler classes, and the certain and per-
nicious results that would attend a disregard of
this natural obligation. Till the accession of the
.present Ministry to power every appeal of this na-
ture was made in vain. True it is, that in the next
session we are expecting a healthy move will bt
made in the right direction, the Government having
pledged themselves to undertake the question of
national education in a manner commensurate witl
the wants of the country. But, even if these per
petual appeals had not been made, and we were with- '
out any Government assurance, enough is transpiring
on the judicial bench to convince the Executive that
immediate legislation on this head is imperatively
demanded. Judges, as well as juries, the snore im-
mediate judicial representatives of the people, are be-
coming restless under the state of the law as appli-
cable to juvenile offenders, on the one hand, and are
appalled at the fearful increase in the number of th;s
miserably neglected class of delinquents on the other.
Crime is committed, and the criminals are, from the
seat of justice, declared to be objects of pity rather
than of punishment. The law is enforced, and, at
the same time, denounced. Human nature is
represented by the recognised organs of justice as
being daily outraged in our tribunals. The juries
convict, but pour in their strong recommendation for
mercy. The judge applauds their sentiments, but
bitterly laments that his hands are tied, and that the
law has left him no merciful discretion. A scene of
this painful description occurred yesterday at the
Middlesex Sessions. It were a superfluous task to
capitulate the facts ; the instance is not a solitary
one. These shocking examples of our ministerial
defects in judicature, by which justice is convulsed,
and mercy, " which becomes the throned monarch
better than his crown," is stifled, are of perpetual re-
currence. We have them ad nauseam. Expert thieves
of mature years trepan children of tender age into
their vicious courses, and make their little hands the
instruments of robbery, whilst they themselves watcl.
their demoralised pupils committing the depredations
they have schemed, securing their escape in the event
of instant detection. Happily the tables were turned
in a case that came on yesterday for trial at the ses-
sions. The boy escaped, but the prisoner, aged 20,
who instigated him to steal two print dresses, whilst
he loitered about the prosecutor's door, was secured by
the police, and has received a sentence of seven years'
transportation. But this was a fortunate incident,
purely hazardous. These youthful victims are easil3
led away, on account of the idle and neglected condi-
tion in which they are at present, almost by compul-
sion and without remedy, suffered to squander the
most precious moments of their existence. Place the
means of education for his offspring within the
reach of the parent, and we may then hope
for a speedy diminution of this frightful epi-
demic of juvenile depravity, which is now
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purely individual action, however humanely and ener-
getically it might be deployed. May the session of
1847 not close without evincing a becoming solicitude
for the rapid extinction of juvenile crime!

Among the various causes which have conduced to
the dorNnfal of the legitimate drama in this country,
there is one, and that one the principal, which has
been, if not altogether overlooked, at least touched
on very slightly—we mean the rapacity (for that is
the proper word) of dramatic artistes themselves, a
rapacity produced by theabominable star system. This
the main cause of the decline of the drama, is curi-
ously illustrated by the correspondence between Mr.
BUNN and Mrs. BUTLER, which we publish in another
column. Our readers, perhaps, are not aware who
Mrs. BUTLER is. She is the last and least of the
KEMRLES—the ci-devant young lady, who, as Miss
FANNY KEMBLE, some seventeen years since, appeared
with success for two seasons at Covent-garden, at
which time she was certainly a promising actress ; and
whol he 4 she continued on the stage, might perhaps