The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-01 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1848.

But that such tremendous interests are involved in
the settlement of the occurrences now transpiring on
the Continent, it would be absolutely ridiculous
to watch the contradictions into which our Tory
Contemporaries are continually stumbling, carried
along by the impetuosity of their blind predilections.
Only the other day they were hounding on the sol-
diers of FERDINAND to the massacre of the Viennese,
and were exulting in the conquest of German demo-
cracy by the guns of WINDISCHGRATZ and the bar-
barian Croats of JELLACHICEI. To-day they are
absolutely beside themselves with rage because
CAVAIGNAC has generously dispatched assistance to
the noble and generous-hearted Poserunr who was, only
the other day, bombarded by murderers in his palace
of the Quirinal ! An idiot like the KAISER cannot
be driven forth by a population infuriated by the
treacheries of his Government, without agitating
this class of politicians into a perfect ecstacy of in-
dignation ; while a paternal patriot like the POPE
may be besieged in his place of residence by a band
of ruffians, his Prime Minister may be stabbed like a
dog in the light of noon-day, his Secretary—one of
his oldest and dearest friends, and one of the moat
inoffensive of nien—may be shot dead in the privacy
of his chamber ,while reading his brevi4ry, and then
when a guard of honour is dispatched to the
Eternal City, to save from the bands of assassins a
Prince venerable for his virtues and benevolence,
a shout of wrath is raised worthy of individuals
whose bands are furtively grasped in those of the
Socialist propagators of the principles of anarchy and
spoliation. We leave] this fact, so replete with
meaning, to the meditation of the multitude.
Quoting
the organ of Terrorism in France, one of
ourth morning Contemporaries gloats over the notion
" " the Romans will exercise their undisputed
right by refusing to allow this. French interference,
and that they will take
Citythe liberty of kicking M.
ConacELLßs outof the . Seven Hills 1"
Now, it would be as well for the credit of journalism,
if these scurrilities were
Whyyul tdoltoshtt
orture.tned.oh
genuous impartiality. Why
wGriothverinnl
Govern-
ment alone in this matter ?authasosa.il. in the same
dignified language the Spanish
bearing s
and the
British authorities? For vessels,
astenendirwtihthe
England and of Spain, as well as othersgbe
the gag of
tricolour of the Young Republic, have h
the same generous impulse to proffer shelter to the
Sovereign PoszirF at Civita Vecchia ! The truth is
simply this—Pius IX. began the movement of poli-
tical reform ; he must be bumbled : the Roman So.
cialists are facilitating the progress of reaction by
their excesses ; they must be encouraged : General
CAVAIGNAC is identified with the republican modera-
tion of France; he must be rendered impotent by
slander and misrepresentation : Prince Louis NAPO-
LEON is the best stepping stone to a counter-revolu-
tion ; his chance of election to the Presidency must,
at all hazards, be improved. Hence these clamours
against the unsought assistance offered to the vie-
tim of Roman ingratitude.
Of all the proceedings of the Republican Govern-
ment, that which has recently been taken by order of
M. BA STIDE is, in- reality, the most honourable, the
most chivalrous, and the most beautiful. It was said
in February by M. DE LAMARTINE, that the in-
augurative decree of the Republic, abolishing capital
punishments for political offences, was " the voice of
the nation rising in a spontmeous cry from the soul
of her Government." The same may be said, almost
in the same words, of the recent act of the present
Administration. And not only France rejoices in the
aggregate at this bold deed of generosity towards
the Sovereign PONTIFF, but the admiration of her
citizens will be responded to by every generous heart
in Christendom. It was by a noble impulse rather
than by an astute calculation of political strategy,
that the Cabinet presided over by General CAVAIGNAC