The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-10 00:00:00

etivningÜj

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1848.

An insolent attempt at dictation was made on
Monday afternoon in the National Assembly by the
ultra-Republicans. The Citizen DORNES was the
GUIDO FAwicEs of the enterprize. He devoted his
reputation to the possible supremacy of the clubbists,
staked his honesty upon a motion of surprise, and
sacrificed his name to the insatiable and unscrupulous
egotisms of M. LEDRU Rows. The scheme was in-
-7enious in its conception, but it was also harmless by
is very audacity. Immediately after the Assembly
had listened to the financial statement of GARNIER
PAGES, and the diplomatic report of LAMARTINE, the
representatives were startled by a proposition, the
more dangerous in its character inasmuch as it was
byomeans unpremeditated. It was submitted to
the
Chamber that, coupled with a vote expressive of
gratitude to the Provisional Government, a decree
should be adopted by the Assembly, organizing
a temporary Committee of Administration a
committee consisting of five individuals whose
names had already been determined upon by
the ultra-section of the democrats. It has subse-
quently transpired that the pG ersons selected for the
formation of this intermedisteearnment were LA •
3fARTINE, ARAGO, GARNIER PAGES,
attempt
RoLLIN,
and MARIE; when, however,
an
by M. DORMER to read the catalo,sue etompthtewNalatinioanalel
Assembly, his voice was drowned in an explosion of
disapprobatory cries, accompanied by exclamations of
rage and indignation. Even the equable tempera-
mentent of DCPONT (de l'Eure) was ruffled by a project
so insidiously devised. Every one felt that unless the
plot were quashed by acclamation, the integrity of
the first Ministry of the Republic might be
seriously jeopardised. Every one experienced
this conviction—from the youthful workman
who represents the democratic intelligence of
Marseilles to the gifted Moderate who occupies the
chair of Presidency. The whole concourse of legis-
lators stormed—BAßßES gesticulated, SAC protested,
XAVIER Dun*sxu became vociferous in the an-
nouncement of his pertinacity, and ultimately the

sittings were suspended by the President BCCHEZ
veiling his head in sorrow. On the resumption of
the debate, M. DOEMES yielded to the unanimity of
his opponents by expunging the obnoxious para-
graph from his proposition, simply submitting to the
National Assembly the propriety of decreeing a vote
of thanks to the Provisional Government, and or-
daining, as a supplementary decree, the election of
a Commission, for the purpose of nominating the
members of an Intermediate Committee of Administra-
tion. The proposal thus amended received the acceptance
of the Assembly, with the exception of such querru-
lous dissentients as BARBES, DURRIEIf, FELIX PM,
and a few others of extreme opinions. In this chur-
lish and abbreviative fashion was the protest of jea-
lousy raised against the civism, the devotion, and the
disinterestedness, the assiduity, and the patriotic
Abnegation of self, evinced during upwards of two
months by the members of the Provisional Govern-
ment. Had the demagogues of the Club de la Revo-
lution, the organ of BARBES, or the fanatics of the
" Central Republican Society," headed by BLANQUII
or the band of Montagnards, who bowed to the man-
date of SORRIER, been capable by their numerical pre-
ponderance of such an ignoble proceeding, they
would infallibly have decreed rather the ostracism
of the Provisional Ministers than their coronation
with civic diadems. Thanks be to the moderate Re-
publicanism of France, however, the Provisional Go-
vernment have received that guerdon of approbation
to which they are so eminently entitled, by their
labours, their genius, their resolution, and their un-
conquerable loyalty to the Revolution.
It was an auspicious circumstance that this honour-
able degree of gratitude was immediately preceded
by the elaborate explanation of the financial position
of the country by the Provisional Minister GARNIER
PAGES, and the brilliant narrative of the position
I assumed by France in relation to the rest of Christen-
(lom, from the oratoric lips of the Provisional Minister
LAMARTINE. Those would, indeed, be of a most
sanguine temperament who could anticipate from
the former report any other than the gloomiest
picture of the pecuniary embarrassments of
the French Republic. After the profligate
expenditure of a lavish dynasty and a corrupt
Cabinet, it was scarcely possible that the exchequer
of a great nation like France should be otherwise
than in
Especially
a frightful
must and
this be the as
precarious
when that
of inv involve-
ment. v e -
mt
dynastic extravagance and official corruption has
been of many years'
duration, and when it has re-
sulted in the overthrow of mercantile stability and
commercial confidence. A very different theme re-
posed in the portfolio of LAMARTINE, treated with
all the grace of his ductile and poetic eloquence.
That theme was the position occupied by
France in relation to the other powers of
Europe a theme stretched out to its full
dimensions by the Provisional Minister for
Foreign Affairs in all the splendour of a prolonged
and consolatory antithesis. Admirably did LAMAR-
TINE contrast the situation of his country before and
after the revolution of February, and most admirably
did he deduce from that comparison thoughts of hope
and consolation. " Such," said he, in his beautiful
and majestic peroration, ." such, citizens, is the exact
picture of our exterior situation. The good fortune
and the glory of this situation belong entirely to the
Republic. We only accept its responsibility, and we
al ways congratulate ourselves upon having appeared
before the representatives of the country, giving them
the guarantee of greatness, our hands full of alliances,
and pure of human blood." That remembrance is the
panegyric of the Provisional Government.

An Austrian victory is of so rare occurrence tha

it appears ungracious, when such an event does take
place, to criticise it severely. But the capture of
Cracow, as recorded in the official dispatches, pre-
sents circumstances that demand our scrutiny, even
at the risk of diminishing in some degree the lustre
which this brilliant exploit has shed on the arms of
Austria.

It appears, as far as can be gathered from the
somewhat confused statement contained in the first
dispatch, that a disturbance took place at Cracow on
the 26th of April, in which Baron KRIEG, notorious
as having been Vice-President of Gallicia at the time
of the massacres of Tarnow, and confessedly an ac-
complice in them after the fact, was roughly handled
by the populace, though not seriously injured. It
might have been supposed that a judicial inquiry
would have been the proper sequence for such an
irregularity ; but a paternal Government proceeds by
other steps. Baron KRIEG was probably consulted,
and mindful of his success in Gallicia, advised more
decisive measures. The dispatch of the 26th from
Count CASTJGLIONE, the Commandant of the town,
closes with an ominous hint of the proceedings which
were to take place on the morrow.
Accordingly, on the 27th, some tumult having
occurred in the market-place, several companies of
infantry were ordered to the spot, although the newly
enrolled National Guard offered to be responsible for
the peace of the town. Two shots were fired at the
soldiers, with what effect is not stated, but they were
returned. The people threw up some barricades,
which the Austrians did not think proper to at-
tack. They prudently retired to a strong position at
the foot of the castle, and immediately began to bom-
bard the town.

Now, in civilised warfare (which boasts that it
attains its object of crushing armed resistance with
the least amount of cruelty possible), the bc.mbard-
ment of a town is never resorted to except when it
is the only mode of attack that can reasonably be
adopted ; for it inflicts injury, not merely on the
hostile armament, but also on those whose destruction
can in no way accelerate the termination of the war,
involving in wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter
impotent age and helpless infancy, women, the sick,
friend as well as foe. Besides, according to the laws
of war, solemn warning must be given to the devoted
city of its impending fate, that the blood of those who
are able and willing to escape may not be laid to the
account of the besieger.

But General Count CASTIGLIONE acted on other
principles than these which we have described. Al-
though the garrison of Cracow consists of several
thousand men completely appointed ; although the
population of this unfortunate little town, worried as

it has been by its " protectors," scarcely exceeds
30,000 inhabitants ; although it is entirely open and
unfortified, lying at the foot of the castle by which
it is commanded ; although, as appears by the first
dispatch, the Austrians were prepared for an emeute,
and had taken their measures accordingly—neverthe-
less Count Cs.s-ricuoNE, without warning and with-
out necessity, subjected Cracow, according to the
official statement, for two hours to the horrors of
bombardment.
If Louis puiraepu had bombarded Paris on the
24th February, if the English Government had
ordered a few congreve rockets to be thrown amongst
the Chartists assembled on Kennington-common,
Europe would have resounded with cries of abhor-
rence against such deeds of barbarity. Yet the
might have been justified more readily than the bom-
bardment of Cracow ; for they would at least have
been measures adopted by lawfully-constituted Go-
vern me nts,
whilst a flagrant act of usurpation is the
only title which the Austrians can show for the
authority they exercise
in a town which they have
free and independent.
solemnly acknowledged as