The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-10 00:00:00

territory over which he is placed, but suited to the
• exigencies of the old country, and determined on by
persons utterly ignorant of many circumstances that
necessarily should be taken into account before a
final decision was arrived at. Many months must
elapse before an answer can be obtained to
any remonstrances forwarded to head-quarters;
and during that period he must continue to
act against his own conscientious convictions
and in obedience to fallacious principles ; any
remonstrance must be of a peculiarly delicate
description. If he insists on the impossibility of
carrying into execution that which is prescribed to
him, and urges its impolicy in a bold and ener-
getic manner, he offends the Minister, who has full
power over his destinies, who, on his mere fiat, may
hurl him from his position, and consign him to a pri-
vate station, branded with the Royal displeasure.
All he can do in such a case is, to state the
results of the system, in plain and simple language,
and allow the Secretary to judge for himself as to its
policy or impolicy, and as to the necessary altera-
tions to be effected. If it should eventually fail, he
is the ready scape-goat to bear the odium and dis-
grace attendant on that failure, and the great man is
too often happy to give him up to public condemna-
tion, and to transfer from his own shoulders the
merited opprobium to those of the ready victim.
While the duties are necessarily of this ardu-
ous character, it is incumbent that the Go-
vernor should be supported in the strongest and
most efficient manner in their discharge. No
vague rumours or calumnious insinuations should be
listened to. If the Governor shows himself to be
manifestly incompetent, he should of course be dis-
missed, but a full explanation of that incompe-
tence should be afforded, and of the acts
of omission and commission by which it was
manifested, and also any directions by which he was
prohibited from the free exercise of his judgment.
The public would then judge between him and the
Minister about to displace him, and that judgment
would in nine cases out of ten decide correctly as to
the party really in fault. If any direct charge is
preferred, if it bears on its face a verisimilitude, and
that a reponsible party puts himself forward and de-
clares his ability and readiness to substitute it, he
should be apprised thereof, and given a full oppor-
tunity to enter into his defence. And he should have
accorded to him that which is the birthright of every
British subject, viz., that he should be deemed inno-
cent until his guilt was fully proved and established ;
but anonymous accusations—the whispered insinua-
tions of the coward—should betreated with the con-
tempt and disregard they merit.

The case of Sir EARDLEY WILMOT, the late Gover
nor of Van Diemen's Land, presents features of pecu

liar hardship. The correspondence on the subject,
recently ordered by the House of Lords, if that can
be called a correspondence which is wholly one-sided,
consisting only of a public dispatch and private letter
from the late Secretary for the Colonies, ap-
peared in our columns a few days since ; and we
this day insert a letter bearing the sig-
nificant signature, " AUDI ALTERANI PARTEM," which
casts a strong light on the manner and the injustice
with which he was treated. That private letter of
Mr. GLADSTONE plainly shows that the dismissal, as
well as the refusal to hold out any hope of future
employment were founded, not on the public acts of
Sir EARDLEY, but on the rumours relating to his
private life. Those rumours admittedly did not take
the form of charges or information, supported by the
names of the party tendering it; but, like Rhadamanthus,
that inexorable judge, Mr. Secretary GLADSTONE,

" Castigat auditque dolor,"
first punishes as if they were well founded, and then
expresses himself ready to hear the exculpation of Sir
EARDLEY IVILmoT from those anonymous calumnies.
He admits that it would be his duty, but for those
rumours, to express a willingness to consider of any
favourable opportunity which might offer for re-
employment. He admits that, if they were sanctioned
by the names of parties, it would be his duty to
refer them to Sir EARDLEY for his answer before acting
on them, but, as they are not so guaranteed, he treats
them as if fully sustained by evidence. Sir EARDLEY
WiLmox appears to have acted in the manner becom-
ing a high-minded gentleman—conscious of his own
innocence, he courted the strictest investigation. life
laid the secret dispatch before the Executive Council,
who, at his request, appointed a committee to under-
take the inquiry. That committee, consisting of the
chief justice, the commander of the forces, and a
highly respectable clergyman, reported that such
an inquiry was absolutely impracticable, no charges
having been brought capable of being directly substan-
tiated or directly met, and they very properly refused
to accede to the request preferred by Sir E. WiLmoT,
who, possessing the mens conscia recti, was anxious
that they should invite every person who had any
charge against him to come forward and substantiate
it. Addresses were forwarded even by his political
opponents, contradicting in the strongest manner the
unjust imputations, and showing that what in Eng-
land were considered as notorious facts, in Van
Diemen's Land were looked on as notorious falsehoods.

Desirous as Mr. O'CONNELL is of visiting Rome,
we nevertheless collect from the most recent intelli-
gence, in regard to his health, that his chief anxiety
is to find himself permitted, by renewed strength, to
revisit his native country at the earliest possible mo-
ment. We trust that he will be speedily relieved
from all apprehension in the above respect ; and we
sincerely rejoice to be informed, from authentic
sources, that firm hopes are entertained of his
health becoming promptly and satisfactorily
improved. No one should be unmindful of the
services which were rendered by Mr. O'CON-
NELL, within a recent period, to Ireland and the
empire at large, by his bold and manly opposition to
the desperate principles embraced by the seceders
from Conciliation Hall. We had hoped that, smitten
as Ireland has been with a severe national calamity,
and succoured as she has been in her misery by the
splendid munificence of Great Britain, intervening
reflection might have produced a wholesome
change in the principles and feelings of the " phy-
sical force" association. This expectation, however,
never strong at any time, has completely
vanished, and hence it is we deplore the unavoidable
absence of Mr. O'CoNNELL from the shores of Erin.
On Wednesday last the Irish Confederation held
their monthly meeting in Abbey-street, Dublin ; and
whether we regard the speech of Mr. SMITH
O'BRIEN, M.P., or the resolutions that were passed,
it is impossible to refrain from passing the severest
censure both upon the one and the other. The
address of the Member for Limerick was fraught
with ingratitude and public vice ; happily, however,
it was as inconsistent as pernicious. Sweltering in
his venom, his feelings carried him too far and
led him to prove too much. The be-all and the end-
all of both speeches and resolutions was to urge the
repeal of the Union. But the very men who were the
most bitterly arraigned by Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN were
members of the confederation, styled, par excellence,
" The Irish Party." Their conduct and votes, in
reference to Lord GEORGE BENTINCK'S railway pro-
position in the House of Commons, were such that
Mr. S. O'BRIEN considered it "a spectacle that made
him ashamed of the name of an Irishman ; he saw
those men, who had vowed before GOD and
their country never to allow any interest
to weigh one feather in the balance with
the interests of their country he saw them,
under the influence of the British Minister, record
their votes against that measure ; from that moment
he saw that the very name of an Irish Member was a
byeword among nations." This language was rap-
turously applauded. But if it conveys a true de-
scription of the character of the Irish party, who
have claimed for themselves the credit for the
purest patriotism, and have consequently felt
themselves emboldened to agitate for a repeal of
the Union, can we find a stronger argument in
favour of its maintenance ? And how grate-
ful ought not Mr. SMITE O'BRIEN and his
" chosen few" to be that Great Britain firmly resisted
handing over the government of Ireland to the
tender mercies of the phalanx of whom the Member
for Limerick has spoken in such unmeasured terms ?
Let us
"
though suppose that the Irish Party at large
had proved themselves equal to the self-vaunted
patriotism
and concentrated wisdom of Mr. SMITE
O'BRIZISI should
we then have been one whit less
justified in
itw s upholding
the Union ? This oracle de-
clares that
not on any light grounds that the
principles of the
Irish Confederation were promul-

gated, and from those principles he was not prepared
to recede—not to speak of the memorable controversy
on, physical force,—a controversy which remained as
unsettled as ever,—there was still remaining what
would ever he a bar to effectual coalition—he meant
a Whig alliance." On such grounds Mr. SMITH
O'BRIEN was not prepared to coalesce with Mr.
O'CoNNELL, and " take his place behind the Mi-
nister." Under such circumstances, we would re-
mark of the split between Conciliation Hall and the
Music Hall, esto perpetua, and with respect to the re-
volutionary sentiments last quoted, and which were
vehemently applauded by the auditory, is there ought
wanting to confirm our prudence in faithfully adher-
ing to the Act of Union ?

Madrid journals of the 3d have been received.

The Gacela contains the official announcement of
the following appointments :—Lieutenant-General
JOSE MANSo to be Captain-General of Valencia;
Major-General FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA to be Cap-
tain-General of Madrid ; Lieutenant-General JOSE
DE CONCUA to be Inspector-General of Cavalry.
MADRID BOLSA, APRIL 3.—The Three per Cents.
closed at 32} for cash ; the Fiv© per Cents., at 201 ;
Passives, at G ; and Coupons, at 17.

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.
With the exception of the Journal des Debats, they
all have articles on what they are pleased to denomi-
nate the check which France has received in Spain
and in Greece.
The Opposition papers of all shades continue to
affirm, and to comment on as true, the rumour of the
fall of COLETTI in Greece, notwithstanding the posi-
tive denial of the truth of the rumour by M. Du-
CHATEL, the Minister of the Interior.
The Union Monarehique, the organ of the Legiti-
matist party, has the following on this subject :
" For about eight days the Ministry has known the
recent events that have occurred in Greece, not the
news of the fall of the Coletti Cabinet, but the menace
of the English Government, to the effect that it would
obtain payment of a debt of which poor Greece was un-
able to give a farthing. Now, nothing was more easy
than to foresee that M. Coletti being able neither to pay
nor to resist, had only to abandon his place ; that is
what be has done. M. Coletti then is overthrown in
Greece, and we may say the influence of M. Guizot with
him ; for M. Guizot gave us this singular spectacle, that
at Paris he is not to be shaken, but that every where
else he falls—yesterday at Madrid, to-day at Athens ;
and that there may be no possibility of deceiving oneself
as to the disgrace of the Ministers who sympathise
with M. Guizot, who are considered in their country as
the allies of France, these Ministers do not cede to a
movement of the Chamber, to the blow of a majo-
rity which strikes them. No—certainly the full and
entire majority is for them. At Madrid the ad-
dress is voted almost unanimously ; two or three
days afterwads the Sotomayor Ministry retires ; it
would perhaps be more correct to say that it was kicked
out. At Athens we have a repetition of the same scene.
M. Coletti has the majority; it supports him, it votes,
it manoeuvres to the wishes of his policy; a bad sign, it
announced his ruin. In truth, one cannot explain to
oneself how Ministers, at least in Greece and Spain, give
themselves so much trouble to influence the elections;
the elections give them the majority—that is true—the
majority gives victory—that is true too; but victory
brings them death! Whence comes their fall? It must
have a source somewhere. We must seek it in the in-
cessant war which the English Cabinet wages against
M. Guizot. At Madrid influence is obtained over the
mind of the young Isabella—she is brought into a quar-
rel with her mother—and her mother having taken her
departure, all that have ties with France are set aside.
At Athens a misunderstanding is excited between the
Turkish Ambassador and the Coletti Ministry; and
after having created this embarrassment, M. Coletti is
overthrown by having presented to him a line of vessels
which dictate his sentence. To hide this last check,
M. Guizot may tell the Chambers, if questioned, that in
presence of the English guns, M. Coletti has fallen in a
fashion quite extra-parliamentary."
The National also comments on the affairs of
Greece and Spain in a style as furiously rabid as that
of the article from the same journal which we gave
in our yesterday's impression. " Events," says the
National,
" appear to hurry precipitately on to over-
throw the French system abroad; they have been
preparing beforehand, and long since. PALMERSTON
did not delay a single day, and his designs are being
accomplished. Worsted at Athens, worsted at
Madrid, we cannot even give an opinion in the case
of Portugal. The English Ambassador treats on the
matter with Spain, and he has received full power to
use his fleet;if necessary, to bring about an arrange-
ment. There cannot now be a long interval between
the moment when we write and the conclusion of
the differences, which threatened the last for an
indefinite period. The Junta and the QUEEN wilt
come to an arrangement in the arms of England,
who will stifle them both. At Madrid the Pacheco
Ministy has signalised its accession to power
by recalling M. OLOZAGA, who is to take his seat in
the Cortes. There is some talk of nominating NAR-
VAEZ Ambassador at Paris, and ESPARTERO Governor
of the Philippine Islands. Promotions, honours, and
decorations will be restored to the generals and poli-
tical chiefs who were prosecuted with such severity
by the reactionary party. We have established our
influence on an oppression so completely odious, that
all these acts of justice are greeted with transport as
protests against the Afrancesado party. Re-peruse
the articles of the Debats, read over the tnagniloquent
speech of M. GUIZOT on the immense advantages of
the Spanish marriage, look even to the Address of the
Chamber, and to all the hymns of triumph on the con-
quest of the Peninsula, and what remains ? A dowry !
nothing but a dowry, and that a curtailed one !
And what has France gained ? what is her compen-
sation ? What does she become in the Mediter-
ranean? Attacked in Greece, in Portugal, in Spain,
at Tunis, and at a later period perhaps even in
Algeria, what pledges does she preserve ? what
security has she achieved? To the work, great
statesmen whom we accused of deceiving us as to the
inevitable results of this dynastic enterprise, this is
the moment to support your doings, to show your
resolution ! You are driven out everywhere, slighted,
mocked ! Where are your faithful agents ? What
is the illustrious ISTURITZ about to become ? And
M. BRESSON, who procreates grandees of Spain, dares
not even show his face at Madrid ! And CHRISTINA
is on the point of flying to Rome ! You had for-
sooth drawn closer together the two nations, you had
seized in your grasp the Peninsula, you had so dex-
terously jockied England ! What, was all that to
last but four months ?"

The National is right in one of its assumptions.
The recent change in the Spanish Ministry, although
not a victory for England, inasmuch as it was not
brought about by any English influence, is a defeat
for the French Government, and a defeat richly
deserved, inasmuch as French influence in Spain has
been established "on an oppression so completely
odious" that every act of mere justice is a
protest against the unjust ascendancy of the
Afrancesado party.
The Constitutionnel concludes a cuttinzly sarcastic
article on the recent changes in Spain in the follow-
terms :—" It will be said that all this is the play of
free institutions, or the effect of palace intrigues, and
that to-morrow French influence may resume the
ascendancy. Be it so ; but the marriage so lauded
to the skies has not prevented these changes ; nay, we
believe that it has precipitated them. It was cer-
tainly well worth while to isolate France, to place Eng-
land in opposition to us, to sacrifice Poland, to throw
Greece and the East into grave perils, to turn Europe
topsy-turvy, in order to witness the play of free in-
stitutions and the effect of palace intrigues amongst
our neighbours of Spain I"
The Presse is furious, and of course it attributes
all sorts of designs to England ;
but it comforts itself
with the notion that " there is something in the
Spanish character which will not agree with English
materialism," and that therefore Spain must eventu-
ally become the victim of Franco-Neapolitan Ma-

The Prince DE JOINVILLE arrived at Marseilles on
the 2d.

By the whale-ship L'Aigle, just arrived from the
South Seas, copies of the commercial treaty concluded
between M. PERRIER, the French Consul of the Sand-
wich Islands, and the KING of that country, have been
received. It is comprised in seven articles, the essen-
tial provisions of which are—that all French subjects
residing in the islands shall enjoy an equal protection
of persons and property with the natives, and the
same privileges as have been, or hall be granted to
the most favoured nations ; that all Frenchmen ac-
cused of crimes shall be tried only by such a jury,
whether native or foreigners, as shall be proposed or
accepted by the French Consul ; that all protection
shall be extended to such French ships as may be
stranded on the islands, and that the amount of
salvage shall be settled by arbitrators mutually chosen
between the parties ; that all deserters from French
ships shall be recaptured and delivered up; that no