The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-17 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY_
_EVENING, AUGUST 17, 1847.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
rnosr THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—If the document emanating from the
Prussian Cabinet, which we published a few days
ago, were understood to comprise the sum total of
the results of the late Diet, the most sincere well-
wishers of King Frederic William IV. would be con-
strained to admit that the amount of business trans•
acted, and the importance of the measures carried,
fall much_ below the solemnity of the occasion. To
convoke 600 gentlemen in Berlin from all parts of
the Prussian dominions, and keep them in full debate
for eleven weeks, was rather more than was necessary,
if the Diet simply negatived all the proposals of the
Government on the one hand, and the Govarnment
has evaded or ignored all the demands of the Diet on
the other. But if the proceedings of the late Diet of
Berlin are obnoxious to this kind of criticism, we
hasten to add that we by no means underrate the im
portance of the moral consequences of what has
been accomplished and exhibited to the nation
and to the world. In spite of all the apprehen-
sions and uncertainty which attended the convo •
cation of ,this assembly, we have seen a body of men
whose moderation and good sense were only equalled
by their eloquent language and their enlightened
opinions ; we have heard the unanimous declarations
of the Diet in favour of the existing institutions of
the Prussian monarchy, and of all that tends to main-
tain the nationality and vigour of that kingdom ;
we have nowhere discovered any tendency to revolu-
tionary innovations or a spirit of disaffection, and
even the Ministers escaped in a remarkable manner
from those legitimate attacks which it is their busi-
ness to encounter in such popular assemblies. In a
word, the Diet lent the whole strength of the nation
to the support of the Crown and of the King's Go-
vernment, and it seemed never for an instant to have
forgotten that the duties of loyalty and order ought to
be paramount in the Legislature of a monarchical
state. By the Prussian people and by the rest of
Europe the conduct of the Diet has been appreciated
as it deserved to be ; but we cannot think that the
Prussian Government has done full justice to the mo-
deration which guided its whole conduct. To sum
up impartially on both sides, the Diet leaves a great,
dignified, and honourable impression of the mind;
whilst the demeanour of the Prussian Cabinet has
been from first to last uncertain, petulant, and by no
means equal to the emergency. It would have been
easy for the leading members of the popular assembly
to have raised and directed a party which would have
routed the Ministerial forces in a week, and compelled
the King to seek for other advisers. But whatever
the country may have thought of its Ministers, they
were on all occasions treated with as much respect as
if their policy commanded the approbation of the Diet.
The truth is, that all the Ministers are, like the public
servants in Prussia generally, men of high character
and honest intentions ; and when they erred it was
chiefly from inexperience of the new political machi-
nery they had brought into existence. This respect for
their personal characters carried them through the
melee without any formidable wounds ; but it cannot be
extended so far as to justify their political conduct
upon a review of the whole transaction. It was a
great and an impracticable inconsistency in the Prus-
sian Monarchy to educate and arm the people, and to
confer on them the exercise of extensive municipal
rights, without extending to them any portion of
political power ; but that inconsistency would be
rather increased than diminished if the same exclu-
sion from political power were still maintained
against the representatives of the people, after they
had been formally convoked in the Diet of the
kingdom, and after they had shown the utmost
moderation and aptitude in the performance of
their duties. Very naturally, they assert that the
first of those duties is to define their political
power. They are called together in pursuance of
pledges repeatedly given, and the manner of their
assembly is studiously copied from that of the
estates from which they trace their descent. It is
clear that their legitimate powers cannot be less
extensive than those of their forefathers, or those
contemplated and secured to them by pledges of a
more recent date. Those powers, therefore, they
will contend for and eventually obtain. For it must
be remembered, as one of the principal consequences
of the Diet of 1847, that henceforward the. United
Diet of Prussia has a permanent existence. It can
no longer perish. Whether it be sitting or adjourned,
the hopes of the people and the strength of the State
rest on its future deliberations and on its votes.
Whether its powers be latent or acknowledged, they
are in being ; and at the first emergency, to them the
appeal must be made. In other words, the political
destinies of the country are in their hands. The last
observation we would make on this subject is to point
out the strange confusion which exists in the minds
of wary continental statesmen, and probably of the
King of Prussia himself, on the subject of constitu-
tional government. They speak of a surrender of
the absolute rights of the prerogative, as if that in-
volved an inevitable weakening of the powers
of government. They forget that for every por-
tion of individual authority which may fall away they
receive the benefit of a collective energy and a multi-
pliedoGpoervaetrinomn.entT,
whehyiedhoisnuoltwauty os nacoet soege
wthiatht
onuot
arbitraryeo-
the express support of its subjects, and perhaps in
opposition to their will, can ever accomplish those
great tasks or realise those vast designs which re-
quire the conjoint action of a whole people ; and they
have yet to learn what the strength of that power is
which a Minister derives from the majority of a free
nation. There is, it is true, no halting place between
absolute power or constitutional responsibility.
Ministers must either act with the undivided autho-
rity of the Sovereign whom they serve, or they must
have the direct support of the people whom they
govern. A Cabinet is worthless and powerless which
is first tutored by a Prince, and afterwards tolerated
by a people. But that is a state of transition which
cannot be of long duration. The Prussian Govern-
ment will be wise enough to discover that its true
strength lies for the future in the support of a ma-
jaonrditymoofdtehreatDioniet
w;
ialnid we have no doubt that time
Crown into more perfect harmony with those of
bring the councils of the
the nation.
CHRONICLE.—The results of the county elec-
tions in Ireland indicate the political temper of that
country even more strikingly than the borough re-
turns. The facts are well worthy of notice, and most
especially worthy of the notice of English statesmen.
The conclusion which they all establish is, that the
feeling in favour of a Repeal of the Union, or, in
other words, the tendency to look anywhere rather
than to England for the cure of Irish evils, is as
strong in the hearts of the Irish people at this mo..
ment as when the multitudes assembled at Tara and
Mullaghmast, and when a leader still lived to give
utterance and intensity to the national aspirations.
There can be no room for doubt that the Repeal pas-
sion is alive and powerful amongst the Irish, and its
vitality is the more evident from the circumstance
that all these exhibitions of it are the result of local
and apparently unconnected impulses. There has
bneoengennoercaelntra The Repeal Association
central poweroe
has been little more than a name. It has had nei-
ther mind nor y
organization.fsso'rortthhe speakingof at
arduous
money business
giving direction to a popular movement. But for the
audacity of Mr. Reynolds, the metropolitan city
would have been as
cool as a cucumber,
while the greater part of Ireland was raging in the
fever of Repeal. In dealing, however, with these
confused and tumultuous heavings of popular passion,
it is not unimportant to notice the position and cha
ratter of the parties who, though they have little real
control over the movement, are most prominent in
connexion with it. These may be separated into
two classes, one of which is friendly and the other
hostile to the present Government. We may take
this as the broad practical distinction between them—
that the former is disposed to give Ministers a general
support, and to enjoy the benefit of their patronage,
while the latter declares the acceptance of Ministerial
favours treason to the Repeal cause, and opposes the
Government with the most deadly enmity. The
" Old Ireland" party, which includes the sons of Mr.
O'Connell, has only the strength which arises from
of
• hood The former element power is evanes-
cent,priest .
family a political allegiance similar
that popular name, aisnndoftrosmo. thelf
tchoeunlatregnearnpceortoifonthoef
but the latter
the Roman Catholic clergy yield to Mr.
may still be possieblnet, at
of the Repeal foralf time,f to
peQa
_eelin„,crom
to°'C ante 1 aevhich they_ _ renderedl to himself it
prevent the main current
Ir. 0 on-
tl
Ws successors may not exac y possess his sagacity
ne may be presumed and discretion, but they to be at
least as willing as he was tokeep Repeal for the Corn
Exchange, and to use. Parliamentary influence for the
being directed into angerous channe
it appears to b
is any central influetnciet,
is apart w
which
ihn the hands
of enforcement of practical measures. So far as there
of this party ; eth woube
e clergy,
grow front
day to day less
as politicians, appearin one or two localities, the other
united. Except
section of Repealers, whichis called " Young Ire-
land,"to he not only powerless, but positively
appears
beyond all questi is - on, a curious
unpopular. This,
powerless withouEutngtlthaoend,claenrgdy,
d which '
fact. Young Irelao
in its fierce and almost
savage hatred of anitds fanaticism for
nationality,
feeling, c in perfect har-
mony with thepopularmight b e
g supposed
oli
ee
int to
nbe
however,lreland can create tio s nor evenan scarcely show
itself upon any hustings, walk the streets,
without having to call
p the thing is not so
When analysed,against
ath
poetry
ome
to.rby.
surprising. Young
, and can vivify
historical traditions y its literary power,
but it wants tact and discretion,
and its ballads and
for the
rather attempts to create a new spirit
its oratory are
of nationality, than
h
utterances of
exist the coarse and
vulgar sentiment whic now The set of gen-
tlemens.
Repeal movbement
who compose Younglreland, therefore, are
not more dangerous than their rivals. It
mistake, however, to take it for
woualdt
be present
gnrtieyous

granted that they cannot become dangerous. Already
they have powerful allies amongst the young, and
they fraternize easily with the Conservative converts
to Repeal, who bring to it the influence of property.
The wind of popular favour is now against them,
but before a twelvemonth is over we may see it
filling their sails. Their determined denunciations
of place-hunting are very likely to tell in the
long run, for it required nothing less than the
magical power of O'Connell himself to make fide-

lity to the Repeal cause appear compatible with the
solicitation of places from an Anti-Repeal Government.
We do not hesitate to say, however, that if Ire-
land is ever to be raised out of the slough of
despond in which she is now plunged, the bestowal
of place ought not to be made thus subservient to
the extension of political influence. The immediate
gain is purchased at a frightful cost. That de-
bauchery of the public mind which is the result of
stimulating the appetite for place-hunting, may be-
come, if it is not already, one of the most formidable
obstacles to good government in Ireland. Steady
tastes for the ordinary pursuits and labours of life,
and that impulse which seeks an improved condition
through industrial enterprise, are the mental quali-
ties to be promoted amongst the Irish. A Govern-
ment honestly desirous for the social advancement of
such a people would take pains to turn their thoughts'
towards any other mode of living rather than its own
appointments. It would reduce the number of ex-
pectants by every practicable expedient. It would
make its selections in all cases with the least possible
delay, to prevent suspense and the growth of vain
hopes. It would give a flat negative at the first
word to all improper applications, and instead of
keeping crowds hanging about its offices in idleness,
and wasting the time of its functionaries with
useless interviews, it would at once drive the nine
out of every ten who must be ultimately disappointed
to betake themselves to some honest calling.
These principles have not only not been observed, but
resolutely violated by nearly all Irish Governments,
and the consequence is that the place-hunting
pauperism of Ireland has become almost as great a
social evil as the system of public works. We may
give one illustration. Under Sir Robert's Act for
creating new colleges there are some twenty, or at
most thirty, professorships to be disposed of. For
these thirty places it is currently reported that there
are upwards of one thousand applicants. In this
case alone, therefore, a thousand educated men are

hanging in expectation upon the Government. They
have been so for about two years, and it is said that
one year more will elapse before the appointments
are made. It is needless to insist upon the bad habits
of mind which must be engendered by such delay in
. .

this large mass of persons. An Irish Governm-ent
ought to be as far from encouraging a moral plague
of this sort as from promoting the spread of cholera
or fever. If it could not make these college appoint-
ments at once, we may feel sure that it might at
least have dismissed at once nine-tenths of the appli-

cants as unqualified, leaving a qualified remnant for
the selection. Such promptitude would not subserve
mere party interests, because it would convert nine
hundred friendly expectants into as many disappointed
foes, but it would be a wholesome medicine for one

great social malady of Ireland.
ADVERTISER.—The present state of our com-
mercial and monetary relations with America is not
sufficiently understood. Great misconceptions exist
on the subject where correct views might be expected
to prevail. For the last eight or ten days apprehen-
sions have been entertained, that we were about to
be subjected to another severe and continued drain of
specie in consequence of the demands of the United
States for our gold. The alarm is groundless. No
man who looks below the surface of things could
share in it. The exchanges have not been quoted
lower than 5 per cent. Their highest rate is 6& It
is of importance to observe, that no transaction is re•
presented as having taken place at 5 per cent. Bills
are only said to be offered at that rate. But what sort
of bills ? Only those of a very questionable character.
There is no instance given in which transactions have
taken place at less than 5i per cent.,—none at
least in paper that would even be looked at.
Good bills are not to be had under 6 per
cent., a rate of exchange which, with the in-
creased rate of discount now charged by the Bank
of England, the expenses of insurance, freight, and
the loss of four months' interest, renders it impos.
sible to export specie from this country to America
without sustaining an absolute loss. But this is not
all. Even the very best American corn bills are now
regarded with great suspicion by the banking in-
terests in England. A large number of such bills,
protested, were returned by the steamer which sailed
on the first of the month, and a still larger number
by the steamer which quitted Liverpool on Saturday
last. Under these circumstances, it were out of the

._. _
question to suppose that any amount of specie will be
drawn from the coffers of the Bank for export to
America. There is even more than this. Not only
.

are all apprehensions of another American drain of
our precious metals without foundation, but there are
grounds for believing that in a few weeks we shall
actually see a re-importation of gold from America
into this country. The large amount of returned
bills must instantaneously operate on the exchanges
in New York. The difficulty of getting undoubted
bills on England will send up the exchanges suffi-
ciently high to render it profitable for our merchants
to import bullion from New York. It is proper, how-
ever, it should be understood, that in advancing this
position, we do so on the assumption that, along
with the returned corn bills, there will be a con-
continued, if not increased, demand for our English
manufactures, and a sensible decrease in the ship-
ment of bread stuffs for this country. On the first
point there can be little or no doubt. In Lancashire
and Yorkshire there is at present a large number of
American orders for English manufactures, and all
the more intelligent Americans in this country concur
in the opinion, that this trans Atlantic demand for our
goods will not only be continued, but increased. It
is equally probable—certain, we should rather say—
that the shipments of bread stuffs to this country
will now fall off to a very considerable extent. The
very great reduction which has occurred in the price
of corn must of itself prevent any large shipments
to England. With the present low prices, in con-
junction with a still further expected decline, no
English merchant will dream of importing cargoes of
American corn, in the expectation of realising a
profit by the speculation ; and the United States mer-
chants will not incur the risk of sending their cargoes
to this country on chance. The necessary effect of
this will be, that the exchanges will take an upward
turn, until they reach a point which will render it
profitable for England to import the precious metals
from New York.

POST.—It has been well remarked, with respect
to the tendencies of this busy, self-displaying age,
that whatever it does at all, it overdoes. This is
quite as apparent in the most serious and weighty
affairs of life as in the most trivial. Whether it be
men's object to propogate a religion, or to acknow-
ledge acts of individual service to the community—to
build churches, or to elevate some character in the
public esteem—we perceive equally the nimium
which is the characteristic of the day—the extrava-
gance which well .disciplined good sense and native
sobriety must condemn—the exaggeration from
which good taste must turn with sensations of offence.
Of course this general feature of the time is modified
by circumstances into various forms, and, according
to attendant lights and shadows, assumes ,various
hues. In all of them there is—or, at all events, in
our judgment there is—a disagreeable violation of
truth and simplicity. One of the forms in which this
extravagance or excessiveness appears is in the en-
deavours which even good men make to blend together
things in their very nature discordant—to en-
graft, for instance, religion upon worldliness, or—to
use the words attributed to a distinguished personage
—to embark " the ark of the Church upon the crest
of the advancing wave of modern society?' We beg
pardon for what may seem to be impatience, when
we say at once that we can look upon this kind of
thing as little better than grave nonsense, or some-
thing between dreaminess and affectation. We have
in this journal, as often as it seemed proper for
writers in our sphere and of our calling to do so, pro-
tested against the prevailing spirit, or " advancing
wave" of modern society, as utterly alien from
Christian sentiment ; and we declare now unre-
servedly, as we have inferentially argued before, that
they who would have the principles of Christian re-
verence, of good-will one towards another, and of
practical humility and kindness prevalent in our land,
have no other rational course but that of utter and
absolute opposition to the sentiments and habits
which do now prevail instead of these things.. To
combine the spirit of the Church with the spirit of
the world appears to us to be an extravagance suffist
ciently rebuked by the plainest language of the m.o
" Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.
awful authority to which Christian men
three potent spirits—not, certainly, of heaven—by
the :crest of its advancing wave"
but appear upon cr
of levity,
but too prominently—we mean thhee spiritspirit of which modern society
the spirit of aggrandisement, and t
seems ready
ostenta-
tion. As to the first, almost oneand
y?'anTareerael—be
for a jest, or even a sneer, subjects
.p
is manifestly possessed,of.ublic and
which indicates that the public giggle is sought for
as an evidence of public opinion. In complaining of
this, we have nothing to say against . mirth or buoyant
portance are frequently brought . forward in a shape
humour where it is natural or becoming. Our objec-
tion is to that excess and perversion of a lightsome
rneveo.k e sxl aeuxgt ht
ht eerr
eis wherethe judgmenta
gshouldgran
.
which in these days seems altogether in-
sindspaiatsiriekairnetblewtenh.hte:cdTehcie last thing thought of by any one is
moderation. A perpetual and inordinate straining
after more is the characteristic even of those whose
possessions are already alarmingly great. More pro-
minent than the other two, and not less offensive, is
the spirit of ostentation ; for we find each one striv-
ing to surpass bis neighbour in some egregious vanity

or another, and sounding his trumpet before him as '
much as ever he dares. Is it in company with such
spirits as these that the ark of the Church is to be
borne upon the crest of the advancing wave of
modern society ? The Right Hon. Gentleman lately
elected to Parliament by Oxford University is gene-
rally believed and said to have written an article in
the last number of the Quarterly Review on the state
of British Society with relation to Religion and the
Church. In this- essay we recognise that curious
combination of clearness in the detached parts, with
obscurity in the drift and purposes of the whole,
which the Right Hon. Gentleman is apt to exhibit in
his more serious discussions. But, if we rightly
understand the article, it is intended ultimately to
enforce the policy of trying to blend religion with the
habits and views of society as we find them. And
yet the author, adverting to a time which he describes
as " towards the middle of the nineteenth century,"
describes thus the state of our divided society :
"There are huge assemblages of human beings in
vast and wealthy towns, and wide districts also of the
land, through which we may walk and see the spec-
tacle of a Christian people, silently unchristianized,
and religion all but relegated, within the pale of
wealth and temporal ease which it menaces, by the
Eoverty which it came to bless and ennoble. When
'he consciousness of these things becomes definite,
when it falls upon the affections of sensitive and
pious, especially if also youthful and ardent minds,
like a spark upon tow, can we wonder that every-
thing that exists shall be questioned and arraigned
and many a harsh and unjust sentence passed under
the excitement of the moment ?" It appears to us
that if any judgment at all be delivered upon such a
state of circumstances, whether by the youthful and
ardent, or by the aged and considerate, it must be a
severe judgment if it be a sound one. We think that
he who deals tenderly with such a state of society,
and who does not condemn it, is more liable to the
reproach of being "unjust" than he who does.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
TAT rERSALL'S-YESTERDAY.

Until late in the evening the only stake touched upon
was the Ebor Handicap, for which Mathematician was
backed at 6 and 7 to 4, and Grimston freely at 5 to 1,
the latter subsequently advancing to 4 to 1; nothing else
was fancied. A few bets were laid afterwards on the
Great Yorkshire Stakes, St. Leger, and Derby, but be-
yond showing a decided feeling against Eryx, it pos-
sessed very little interest.

THE EBOR HANDICAP.
6 to 4 agst Mr. Gully's Mathematician
4 to 1 agst Sir J. Gerard's Grimston
12 to 1 agst Mr. Jaques's Sir Martin (no backers)
15 to 1 agst Captain Harcourt's Ellerdale
Neither Halo nor Pyrrhus go to York.
GREAT YORKSHIRE STAKES.
5 to 1 agst Sir R. Buikeley's Montpensier
6 to 1 agst Mr. Bowes's Epirote
7 to 1 agst Mr. J. Day's The Farmer's Daughter
ST. LEGER.
Even on Mr. Pedley's Cossack (the field for choice)
8 to 1 agst Lord Eglinton's Eryx
8 to 1 agst Lord Eglinton's Van Tromp
15 to 1 agst Mr. Mostyn's Planet
16 to 1 agst Mr. Mostyn's Mr. Martin

25 to 1 agst Mr. Pedley's Foreclosure—taken
30 to 1 agst Mr. Stephenson's Black Dwarf—taken
2,000 to 30 agst Mr. O'Brien's The Liberator—taken
400 to 100 agst Mathematician winning the Ebor Han-
dicap and Cossack the St. Leger—taken
GREAT YORKSHIRE HANDICAP (DONCASTER).
Even money laid on the field agst lots of ten and eleven