The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-23 00:00:00

ettening t"tut

LOND')N, THURSDAY. MARCH 23, 1848.

Germany has now an opportunity of achieving its
perfect emancipation—its emaneipatien from the last
gyves of feudality—those clumsy and broken mana-
cles of irresponsible power, which were riven asunder
in England in 1688, and in France in 1792. Ger-
many has now this opportunity, and FREDERICK
WILHELM of Prussia may prove her Liberator. The
proclamation issued by that vigorous and patriotic
Prince on the 18th instant, is among the most re-
markable documents ever given to the world with a
royal signature. It is the Evangel of Freedom to
Allemania. If it ba only regarded in a correct light,
it will consolidate the hopes of many millions into a
compact and democratic nationality. It may be the
scroll flung upon the waters of the storm, to
still the waves of sedition, and to evoke
from the chaos of recent events, the Genius of
Allemania! GOD grant this may be its sequence,
and that after an epoch of unparalleled turmoil and
darkness may dawn the calm and refulgent morning of
universal brotherhood, of peace, of liberty, of equality,
of fraternity ! Let the children of Fatherland, let
the vine-dressers who wander along the banks of the
beautiful Rhine ; let the fishermen on the Baltic,
and the shepherds on the Carpathian Alps take pat-
tern by ti.e Parisians ; by that heroic and accom-
plished race of democrats, which has acquired a new
glory from the very gloom of a Revolution. If
there has been one evil in the destiny of FREDERICK
WILHELM, which must be regarded as paramount to
all others, it is unquestionably the mishap of
his royal origin ; his greatest misfortune is the
misfortune of his diadem. It is a misfortune
however, which may be effectually overcome, it is
an accidental crime which may be exi iated. The
KING himself sees that such a conquest over circum-
stances is possible ; he is evidently striving to re-
deem in his own person the injurious coincidence of
his ancestry. Hitherto he has only divulged a pos.•
tion of the reforms long projected in his own judg-
ment. Suddenly, however, they have been wrested
from his bosom by the catastrophe which has just
befallen Absolutism in Vienna. Prince METTERNICH
has fallen, and with the overthrow of that puissant
but malign statesman, Austrian despotism has
been annihilated. Throughout the complexities
of the Germanic system the current of
liberal ideas has flowed as freely and almost as
rapidly as electricity. It has acted, moreover, with
more than the vivifying influence of electricity—it
has not agitated into a grim semblance of vitality the
obscene corpse of Feudalism—it has invigorated
with immortal life the institutions of the populace.
Beholding the passage of this august stream of intel-
ligence in the vicinity of his dominions, on the fron-
s..," PreseoLs 112,120 r, eina arno.s. the Irsbn..
bited quarters of Posen Flennunicx NIL-
HELM I.V. recognises the imminent necessities
of his own position, and of the general position
of Allemania sees the arrival of that
propitious moment for which he has long waited, the
moment in which he . can reveal with safety his
project of an alliance of German nationalities, and the
complete consolidation of its disjointed and deterio-
rated sovereignties. Allemania has been as much the
dream of the whole life of FREDERICK WILHELM, as
ever was Atalanta the vision of PLATO. He has had
his Utopia as well as Sir THOMAS MORE, his Flying
Islands as well as Dean JONATHAN SWIFT, and his
Arcadia as well as Sir Pnuar SIDNEY. The King of
PRUSSIA is, nevertheless, somewhat more fortunate than
his literary prototypes—he attains the hour in which
his daydreams may b 3 realisell. He looks again over
the distracted divisions of his fatherland, and he be-
holds the simultaneous ebullition of the popular en-
thusiasm. Then he speaks to his people through his
proclamation, and not only to them, but to the whole
of that glorious portion of the European continent of
which the kingdom of Prussia is a part. Then, says
he :

"We demand that Germany be transformed from
a confederation of states into one federal state.
We demand a general military system of de-
fence for Germany. We demand a German
federal banner. We demand a German federal
tribunal, to settle all political differences be-
tween the Princes and States, as also between the
different German Governments. We demand a com-
mon right to all natives of Germany, and a complete
liberty to establish in the German countries. We
demand that, for the future, there shall be no barrier
raised against commerce and industry in Germany.
We demand a general Zollverein, in which the same
measures, the same weights, the same commercial
rights shall draw still closer the material union of
the country. We propose the liberty of the press,
with the same guarantees against abuses fur every
part of Germany. Such are our propositions and
our wishes, the realisation of which we shall use our
utmost efforts to obtain. We rely with the
fullest confidence on the co operation of our
German confederates, and all the German people ;
we shall fortify, by their incorporation into our
states, provinces which do not form part of them,
when, as we suppose, the representatives of those pro-
vinces will partake of those wishes, and that the con-
federation will be disposed to agree to them. We
hope that the realisation of our intentions will put an
end to the anxiety which, to our great regret, at this
moment agitates Germany, paralyses commerce and
industry, divides the country, and threatens to deliver
it over to anarchy. We hope that these measures
will strengthen Germany in itself, and make her re-
spected abroad, in order that in her united strength
Europe will find the firmest guarantee for a durable
and prosperous peace. But, in order that the accom-
plishment of our intentions may experience no delay,
and that we may develop the propositions which we
judge necessary for the internal constitution, we
have resolved to hasten the convocation of the United
Diet, and we charge the Minister of State to make
that convocation for Sunday the 2d of April."
Such is the quintessence of this memorable mani-
festo from Berlin. If it be welcomed with the ap-
probation it merits, it must lead to a re-organisa-
tion of Germany—a re-organisation calculated to
impart to that country a distinct and magni-
ficent nationality, to afford Prussia a promi-
nence even over the hitherto superior authority of
Austria, and to lay the foundation of a durable
and dignif.ed peace. It must be a phenomenon hence-
forth in the history of that land of wonders that the
liberalism which first woke to life in the council-
chambers of Berlin received its last and most irre-
sistible impulse from the Palace of Vienna. Now,
in truth, the lion has fondled the lamb, according to
the Book of Revelations—democracy and despotism
have fraternized.

Accounts from Ireland are not encouraging. St.
Patrick's Day, as we have already remarked, passed
off without any of those violent demonstrations which
had been apprehended, nevertheless, the spirit of dis-
affection, though its ebullitions have been partially
repressed, is by no means quelled. Its existence is
manifested, if not by actions, at least by most unmis-

takeable language. On Monday last, on either bank
of the Liffy, meetings were held by the two adverse
parties—the advocates of moral force and the advo-
cates of physical force. The former was an ordi-
nary repeal meeting, and passed off quietly enough,
the latter was a far more pretentious affair.
The avowed object of this meeting was to facilitate
the " fraternisation" of Ireland with France. A
congratulatory and fraternal address was accordingly
drawn up and agreed to, which address is to be for-
warded
to Paris, and presented to the Provisional
Government by Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN and a select
deputation. Such were the avowed objects of the
assembly held in front of the North-wall on Monday
last, which object was, for the time being, very
satisfactorily fulfilled. How far the principal parties
concerned may be enabled to carry it out remains
hereafter to be seen. But, however, satisfactory this
meeting may have been to Messrs. MEAGHER and
S. O'BRIEN, and their colleagues, to us it is invested
with a most melancholy aspect. In whatever light
we regard it, it is sorrowful and disheartening in the
extreme. If, for example, we were disposed (which
we are not) to credit the assertions of the malcontents,
their position is suffused with gloom. " We meet here,"
exclaimed one of the speakers, "as strangers in our own
homes, under the guns of a foreign garrison, by the
sufferance of a military governor, who holds our
country for another nation." Again, in their fra-
ternal address to the French, they commence in the
following mournful terms—" As slaves should ad-
dress freemen, &c., we address you, Citizens."
Viewed in this light the picture is assuredly suffi-
ciently grievous, yet regarded in its true character it
is infinitely worse. Worse than an assemblage of
ill-used wretches, of slaves even as they would
represent themselves to be, we can only
recognise in the meeting of Monday a con•
gregation of disaffected, desperate men, regard-
less of their own duties as citizens and patriots, and
desirous of stimulating others to a similar disregard
—men, we will not say, inspired by the worst of mo-
tives, for they may perchance be themselves mistaken
or deceived ; but if not inspire.] by bad motives them-
selves, reedy by their inflammatory language
to instigate others to the commission of
the worst of crimes. A body of men who could pro-
claim by the lips of one of their members such an
iniquitous sentiment as that pronounced by Mr.
REILLY, when he said "he knew no franchise, muni-
cipal or Parliamentary, like the possession qf a gun.
lie would rather give a peasant a gun and
teach him how to use it, than give him
a right to elect a poor-law guardian, for an
armed people might defy all poor law guardians
and other officers who conducted themselves badly?'
A body of men, we repeat, which could listen to such
an assertion, and receive it with cheers, can only elicit
from every right- thinking man, from every true
friend of Ireland and the Irish people, one
universal sentiment of indignation and dis-
gust. After the above sample, it is unne-
cessary to particularise further the enlightening
arguments put forth by these promoters of civiliza-
tion. Now, for example, one individual advised that
a deputation should proceed straight to the QUEEN,
and demand Repeal—Yes or No ! "If the latter,
they would be prepared to get it themselves, without
spilling one drop of blood; yet, if necessary, they
would wade through rivers of blood to pro.
cure it." Neither need we allude to such
hopeful predictions as that which suggested
that before the harvest moon grew pa'e deliverance
might be at hand. The best advice that was given
on the occasion, we are inclined to think, was that of
a Mr. .M‘GnEE, who suggested that "they should
wait a little longer, till Great Britain should be en-
gaged in foreign war. That they should wait till
French steamers were letting off the steam in Fal-
mouth and Portsmouth !" With this suggestion we
perfectly coincide. Yes, let the movement in Ireland
be made then—and not till then. But these dis
courses are not worth the trouble of recapitula-
tion. The whole affair, indeed, does not merit
a moment's attention ; it is only interesting
and important, on account of the consequences to
which it might lead the way. We have not now to
learn from how insignificant or despicaisle a com-
ment the most momentous results may not arise. A
,asuwit apatit waterinis 111117
kindle a universal conflagration. And so it
might have been been in this case. Who shall
attempt to say what effect such violent harangues
as those pronounced on Monday, enforced with all
the earnestness of declamation and the eloquence of
indignant passion, might not have produced on a mul-
titude of ignorant and impetuous men, irritated and
exasperated by long-continued sufferings, and goaded
on to violence and madness at the thought of being
insulted and made slaves of. Happily these
incendiary harangues have as yet been produc-
tive of little mischief. A better spirit, we
would fain hope, animates the hearts of the Irish
peasantry, a spirit whose fruits have been already
evident in the marvellous patience and fortitude with
which they were supported in every protracted
trouble. Nevertheless, it is not fitting that they
should be further tempted by the plausible rhetoric of
Mr. MEAGHER and his worthy companions. The
Lord-Lieutenant has resolved to put a forcible stop
to these gentlemen's oratory, a proceeding which
may possibly defer Mr. O'BRIEN's visit to Paris, and
postpone to an indefinite period his purposed consul-
tation with the Provisional Government of France as
to the best means of establishing a National Guard
in Ireland. However much the latter unfortunate
circumstance may be to be lamented, there is little
opportunity to question the advisability of the Go-
vernment interference. It is an interference cer-
tainly justified and sanctioned by the necessity of the
case. One only objection to such a proceeding is,
that it invests the offenders with too much import.
ance, and confers on them a notoriety almost
approaching to celebrity. If there be the least
shadow of injustice in a Government prose-
cution the offence is forgotten (in public esti-
mation), and the accused is elevated into a mar-
tyr. So it was in the prosecution of DANIEL
O'CONNELL; but so it certainly cannot be in the
prosecution of Messrs. MEAGHER, MITCHELL, and
O'BRIEN. Nevertheless, even if it do cast a shadow
of celebrity upon their names, even if it do cause a tran-
sient exultation in their pseudo patriotic hearts, and add
a little to their self-esteem, and increase the eloquence
of their future denunciations, such a course is infi.
nitely more desirable than to have suffered them, by
diffusing their violent and un-Christian sentiments,
to have added to the sorrows of an afflicted people.

The Emperor of RUSSIA has issued the following
ukase to the Minister of War :

" In the west of Europe events have transpired which
manifest the sinful design of subverting legal authori-
ties. The alliance of friendship and the treaties by
which Itimlia is connected to the neighbouring Powers,
impose upon us as a sacred duty to take timely measures
for placing a portion of our troops upon a war footing,
that, in case circumstances should demand it, a firm
front may be imposed to the direful spread of anarchy.
" In pursuance of this we command our Minister:—
" 1. Immediately to organise the reserves belonging
to the divisions specified in a separate order.
"2. To this end immediately to call into active ser-
vice those privates who are bound to form the reserve
corps, but who are on furlough for a given or for an in-
definite period, in Governments to be hereafter named.
"3. The assembling of these troops shall take place
immediately after this ukase shall have been published
in the circles, and shall terminate, without fail, on the
Ist (13th) of April next.
" NICHOLAS."

The intelligence from Belgium is important. On
the afternoon of Monday the Government presented
a Bill, empowering the great banks of Belgium, the
"Banque de Belgique," and the " Societe Generale,"
to suspend cash payment for bills above twenty-five
francs. The Bill gives legal currency to notes of
the former bank to the amount of tea millions of
francs, and of the latter (the most important in this
country) to the amount of twenty millions, in all
thirty millions of francs.

The suspension of cash payments in Franca has
thus been soon followed by a similar suspension in
Belgium.

We have news from Rome to the Bth instant.
Cardinal FBRRBTTI, the legate of Rovenna, having
interfered to prevent a demonstration at Imola in
honour of the new French Republic, in which the
people carried a tri-colour banner, was pursued with
hisses and even with showers of stones. He has
been recalled to Rome. The Jesuits have been
driven out of Faro. The Bolognese have sent a
deputation to Rome to demand an immediate and