The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-27 00:00:00

The unwarrantable attack made by Mr. SMITH
O'BRIEN on her MAJESTY'S Ministers, more particu-
larly on the Secretary for Ireland, during the pro-
gress of the debate on the Address, called forth
from that gentleman, and subsequently from the
eremier, a vindication of the conduct and policy of
the Government, as complete and satisfactory as could
be desired. The blind and unreasoning fury of that
attack defeated its own object, and rendered quite
unnecessary the powerful reply, the perfect refuta-
tion, and the gentlemanly rebuke, that fell from
the Irish Secretary. The well-known letter, an-
nouncing the intention of the Lord-Lieutenant to
sanction presentments for reproductive works, and
the non-assembling of Parliament in the month of
November, particularly excited the bile, and raised the
indignation of the Hon. Member for the county of
Limerick, who declared that such acts merited an im-
peachment. Well might Mr. LABOUCIIERE say that,
" If the Member for Limerick county was prepared
to propose that he should be censured for having
put his name to that letter, he did not believe that he
would find another Irish Member to second his mo-
tion, nor could he find another Irish Member to
concur with him in thinking that Parliament ought
jto have been assembled in November." This is, un-
doubtedly, the truth, for Mr. SMITII O'BRIEN fortu-
nately happens to be the only representative of
Young Ireland in the Senate—the constituencies of
the sister island not entertaining the same exalted
opinion of the physical force party that the bellige-
rents do of themselves.

The information conveyed by the authentic statis-
tics elicite 1, the explanation of the motives on
which the Government acted, and the general
character of their intentions towards Ireland,
were all of the highest importance. The startling
fact that in ordinary times there were no less than
1,135,715 agricultural labourers, whose average
earnings did not exceed from 2s. to 2s. 6d. per week,
and that they, with their families, were out of em-
ployment and in distress during thirty weeks of the
year, must prepare the mind for a knowledge of the
awful state which any extraordinary calamity affect-
ing the means of livelihood of those unhappy suf-
ferers must occasion. There was nothing to fall
back upon,—no superfluity or comfort that could be
cut off or given up. In the best times they obtained a
scanty subsistence, barely sufficient to support
human nature, and any deduction therefrom at once
occasioned the most pitiable distress and destitution
We have now a calculation that may be relied on as
to the amount of loss estimated at a pecuniary value,
and also at the quantity of produce that has been
abstracted from the average supply. Mr. RICHARD
GRIFFITH, the eminent civil engineer, and probably
the most distinguished statistician in the United
Kingdom, undertook, at the request of Government,
to make an estimate, and we regret to say that his
report not merely confirms the conjectures previously
hazarded, but shows an amount of damage far greater
than any yet imagined. The loss, then, in money oc-
casioned by the potato disease appears to be no less
than 11,250,000/. sterling, and by the failure of the '
oat crop 4,4C8,000/. sterling, making together
15,916,0001. sterling, or about one-third more than
the gross annual rental of Ireland; and by weight
and measure a los3 of 8,437,500 tons of potatoes, and
5,027,000 quarters of oats. These figures will show
more powerfully than any language the extraordi-
nary extent of the national calamity, and the
imperative necessity for Imperial aid to the suf-
ferers, and a general participation in the amount
of damage, so extensive, that if suffered to fall ex-
elusively on a single class, and that already an em-
barrassed and impoverished one, it must wholly crush
and destroy it.

The policy of the Government respecting their
non-interference with the import provision trade, and
the necessity of a strict adherence to the pledge
which the Premier was required to give in the course
of last autumn was fully justified, and the fatal results
that must have attended any other course clearly
pointed out. Lamentable and heartrending as hate
been the sufferings and destitution of the people,
they would have been fearfully increased if the
Government had adopted any other line of con-
duct. A distinct and positive answer was re-
quired by the merchants engaged in the provision
trade. The simple question was, will the Govern-
ment interfere with our operations, or come int* the
market in opposition to us? We have a right to know
before we embark our capital in the speculation. If you
refuse an answer we will take it as an indication of
the intention of the Government so to interfere, and
Iwithdraw in time from the contract. What, then,
I could the Government do ? They had only the option
ofgiving the rcluired pledge, or of undertaking the
task of providing, at any cost or expenditure, under
any difficulties, not only for the people of Ireland, but
also the people of Great Britain, who, by such a
course, would have been involved in misery nearly
equal to that endured in Ireland. They selected the
wise and statesmanlike principle—they gave a direct
and straightforward answer. We will not interfere
with the import trade or, under ordinary circum-
stances, with the retail trade; and fortunate it was
that they did so; for, otherwise, the private speculators
would have withheld their capital, and the destitution
and mortality throughout the country would have
been tenfold that which has unfortunately taken
place. And a great distinction existed between the cir-
ccauumssetiante_e3 under which the late Premier
e
of the hpresiernwntPhoicrhte:xtii importation
n of Indian
wcoarsn and
a th o s
greate
experiment
thoughhave eminently success-
ful, could not safely
gigantic efforts of the Government been repeated.
means open to them may be gedobfyf the legitimate
fact, that there are at present over 45,7 the simple
, 00 labourers
employed on the public works, while the officers en-
gaged under the Board of Works axe-74 inspecting

The rashness of the Royalist statesmen of Por-
tugal in fomenting the animosities of the population
against the reigning dynasty, by their intrigues to
restore the associates of the CABRALS to authority,
must at length be perfectly obvious to the unfortu-
nate QUEEN herself. The last brittle barriers which
have hitherto protected her from the national wrath are
trampled into the dust by the ruthlessness of her own
abhorred supporters. On the commencement of the
insurrectionary movement in the Portuguese division
of the Peninsula it was very manifest that the vast
proportion of the multitude regarded the question at
issue with an indifference that almost amounted to
apathy. It seemed, from the paucity of the forces
assembled together under the banners of the revolted
chieftains, that it mattered little to the million of their
countrymen whether the Court party or their oppo-
nents were victorious. For awhile the fortunes of
the intestine wars fluctuated so perpetually, as to
testify that no overwhelming enthusiasm, either on
the one side or the other, had been germinated. The
belligerents dodged each other hither and thither ;
casual skirmishes resulting in the death of some ill-
starred dragoon, or the more torturing expiation of
some yet more ill-starred guerilla, tended to keep
alive the anxieties of the citizens of Lisbon ; the con-
fiscation of property, and the deprivation of titles and
prerogatives promoted the cause of the insurgents
at straggling intervals ; sometimes a more disas-
trous encounter would threaten to annihilate the expec-
tations of the defeated party ; sometimes, again, the
Conde SA BANDEIRA, or some less conspicuous revo-
lutionist, would picturesquely escape from the clutches
of his antagonists, by skulking among the rushes of
some river bank in an open boat and a ragged uni-
form. As with every revolutionary movement in the
sunny south, the matter has opened with melodrame,
and promises to terminate with tragedy.
By a most unexpected and bewildering magic the
heterogeneous bodies of the Septembristas and the
Miguelites have combined, and appear for a time to
have forgotten all their antagonism to each other,
and to have resolved themselves into a homogeneous
band. As may naturally he conceived, this coalition
of parties so powerful of themselves presents a most
formidable obstacle to the success of the Royalists.
It is little matter to the Royalists whether, in the
arrangement of this alliance between forces
heretofore so diametrically opposed, the Libe-
rals have conceded all their cherished ideas
about government, or the adherents of Dorn
Micutr, have yielded the preponderance. It is
but a secondary consideration with the upholders of
Queen MARIA as to what may be the tacit under-
standing of the united enemies of her domination, as
to what may be the details of their mutual conces-
sions, as to what, in short, may be the actual condi-
tion of the dynastic question. The primary consi-
deration of her Government is, of course, the exist-
ence of so extended an insurrection, and the nature
of the steps which are most advisable for its discom-
fiture. These are, however, but the feeblest glim-
merings of hope as to the fortunes of this doomed
and erring SOVEREIGN. The execrable atrocities per-
petrated by her soldiery upon the inhabitants of
Torres Vedras, on the occasion of the recent disper-
sion of the popular forces, has enkindled a flame of
indignation among the peasantry and civilians of
Portugal, which has already spread to
an appalling extent, and threatens to in-
volve the whole kingdom in the moral
conflagration of civil war. One of the most odious
illustrations of the evils consequent upon battles is
this diabolical sensuality of the Royalist troops after
the seizure of Torres Vedras. The multitude are
quick to recognise this circumstance, and the re-
sult has already been the sensible diminution of the
army of SALDANIIA, and the extraordinary enhance.
ment of that under DAS ANTAS, SA DA BANDEIRA,
and their associates. It is little anticipated that the
former General will, under existing circumstances,
seek an encounter with the insurgents, while
it is most certain that the latter are solicitous
beyond measure for his arrival. According to
the latest information it would appear that SAL-
DANIIA has departed from Coimbra, and has
advanced four leagues northwards, via., as far as
Agueda. According to the same account, the Royalist
General BERNARDINO has joined the popular forces

at Oporto, while the redoubted General f'oToAs has no
only dispatched fifty veterans, fully equipped, to
Oporto on the same mission, but has so far ingra-
tiated himself with the Junta as to have received the

rank of Lieutenant-General and Governor of the two
Beiras. It is unnecessary to enter into the nume-
rical surmises, as to the strength of the insurgents,
which were floating about the Portuguese metropolis
on the departure of our latest dispatches. What is
mainly worthy of observation, and what is ostensibly

credible is, that the army collecting about Oporto is
of such dimensions as to be universally considered as
ominous to the cause of the reigning SOVEREIGN.
Even were that army less formidable in point of
numbers, it would still be most formidable in point
of earnestness. The absolutism of Queen MARIA'S
Government has driven the Portuguese peasantry to
desperation, and by setting the most sacred principles
of the Constitution at defiance, she has loosened the
foundations of her dynasty.

The intelligence from America, which reached
England on Saturday by the packet-ship Angle
Saxon, will be esteemed very grateful by every lover
of peace, every admirer of national honour, and every
opponent of unprincipled despotism. It confirms the
hope breathed when we commented on the news from
the United States, received twelve days since by the
mail-steamer Cambria—that " Congress would
not consent to sacrifice free-trade principles
to gratify the insatiable ambition of Mr.
POLK." A recommendation having been offi-
cially made by the Secretary of the Treasury to tax
tea and coffee, in order that the Government might
raise a loan for prosecuting the Mexican war, the
House of Representatives, on the 2d instant, promptly
rejected the proposition by a large majority, the num-
bers being 115 and 48. This spirited resolutio
may, by this time, have served to convince the Pre-
sident that his headstrong and repulsive military po-
licy is repudiated by the Legislature. Had the war
been a just one, instead of being a ruthless invasion,
the Chief Magistrate of the great republic would,
doubtless, have found himself " thrice armed" for the
conflict ; but the war being what it is—foul in its
origin, and marked with revolting rapacity through
all its subsequent stages—has completely failed in
eliciting any patriotic demonstration in Congress,
without which it can never be maintained or honour-
ably terminated. It is at length manifest that there
is a point beyond which the representative authorities
of the States will not suffer themselves to be carried
in a mere idle attempt to slake the unquenehable
thirst of Mr. POLK after territorial aggrandisement.
For so vain an object, Congress has now plainly
enough given their President to understand that
the vitality of commerce shall not be recklessly
compromised,—for so reproachful and iniquitous a
war, Congress, it is clear, will not subject
.their
American subjects to commercial restrictions, ever
harsh in their results upon the humbler classes, and
hostile to the development of national resources.
The effect of the recent vote in the House of
Representatives has struck consternation into
the minds of the Democrats. The "sinews
of war" are happily wanting. To supply
them, hic labor, hoc opus est. We recommend Mr.
PoLK. to retrace his infamous steps as speedily as
possible. He never can escape from the struggle
with the cruelly- outag.ged Mtuisans with credit: he
may save himself from increased humiliation and
aggravated disgrace. Hominis errare, insipientis
vero in errore perseverare. SANTA ANNA ap-
pears to be filling his high mission of Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Mexican forces with
becoming energy and dignity. This is evident from
the opinion broached in his communication to the
American authorities, viz., that the Mexicans will
never entertain any overtures of peace till hostile
forces, military and naval, shall have first been with-