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

trophe to attend at the tomb of the diplomatist he
would pronounce a funeral panegyric as earnest as
the declamation of BOSSL'ET, and as deliberate as the
climaxes of VENTURA. To speak, however, as seriously
of the matter as the occurrence merits, we are more
than gratified at the expressions of approval which
were yesterday uttered by Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and
subsequently by Lord PALMERSTON, when alluding
to the course pursued by the British Ambassa-
dor at the Court of Queen ISABELLA. That
course was dictated to him, indeed, by
the instructions received from the residence
of the Foreign Minister in Downing-street. The
communication which excited so much indignation
in the mind of the Duc DE SOTOMAYOR was merely
expressive of the policy of the existing Administra-
tion—a policy, too, which was rendered absolutely
essential to the honour of the country, to the interest
of so many who are living, and to the reputation of
so many who are unhappily deceased. While com-
menting on a former occasion upon this extraor-
dinary correspondence between Sir HENRY BULWER
and the Due DE SOTOMAYOR, we maintained that
England not only possessed the right to offer the
recommendations which were offered by her Govern-
ment through the medium of her representative at
Madrid, but we insisted that that interference had long
since become an historical necessity, and that any
abstinence from such interference on the part of the
British Government, out of feelings of delicacy or
from motives of punctilio, would, in point of fact, be
nothing less than a flagrant and inexcusable derelic-
tion of duty. The cogency of this argument is very
singularly verified by the observations yesterday
made before Parliament by the Prime Minister him-
self. Lord JOHN RUSSELL reminded the House that,
according to a treaty not yet ruptured, England
was bound by obligations to furnish military and ma-
ritime assistance, in case of emergency, for the
maintenance of her Most Catholic MAJESTY upon the
throne she now occupies. " Considering, then,"
continued the Noble Lord, " the obligations of this
treaty, and considering the sums of money due by
the Spanish Government to England for arms and
-hnaetrr—yQremembering
earvntahmle
Government
teoarittnys
forfo,hr
cht
hhe e
mobliges
nt iaotnnhcsi
es
oofcfoUt
Spain—bearing in mind that, if called upon, we
have engaged to make those efforts; it is, I conceive,
our right thus to tender advice, and it is natural
that we should desire that any danger of disturb•
ing the Government of Spain should not be
recklessly incurred." Fully, boldly, manfully.
honestly has the Noble Lord, in those few and simple
words exonerated her MAJESTY'S Government from any
culpability in forwarding the recommendations it has
forwarded to the Ministerial advisers of Queen
ISABELLA. That single sentence, articulated in the
British House of Commons by the Prime Minister of
England, is at once a perfect and honourable vindi-
cation of Sir HENRY BULWER and a resolute enco-
mium upon the foreign policy of his illustrious col-
league -Viscount PALMERSTON. Opponents of that
policy, such for example as the Hon. Gentleman the
representative of Stafford, may quibble as to the ex-
pediency of affording grounds for the ill-temper of a
petulant diplomatist like the Duke DE SoTow.vort,
but it will require more than the logical skill of
Professor WHEWELL, or the infinite ingenuity of
Archbishop 'WHATELEY, to distort the conduct of the
Foreign Secretary or of the Ambassador to th e
Court of Madrid into acts that may be considere

either as culpable or injudicious. This evening it is
the intention of Lord STANLEY to revive the discus-
sion on the singular correspondence to which we
have alluded, by repeating in the Upper House the
inquiries last night made in the Lower House by
Lord PAnmEasioN's perpetual catechist, Mr. UR
QUIIART.

Whatever may be the consequence of that
correspondence, no one, with the smallest modicum of

candour, will accuse Lord PALMERSTON of precipita.
_. __

tion, or Sir HENRY LYTTON BULWER of an oblivion
of the etiquette of diplomacy.

Fragments of intelligence respecting the inaugu-
ration of the National Assembly—appearing as they
necessarily do this evening in detached passages—
cannot afford an adequate idea of the cordiality of the
acceptation of the republican form of goverment by
the nine hundred newly-elected representatives.
Time must elapse, discussions must be reported,
divisions must denote the relative differences of
opinion among the metropolitan and departmental
Deputies, before any very accurate notion can be
acquired of the proportion of numbers among the
Ultras, the Royalists, and the Moderate Republicans.
Enough, however, has been already revealed to show
that a triumphant majority has secured to the latter
the preponderance in the legislative convocation.
Moderation, as the presiding principle of the new
democratic regime of France, was welcomed by the
acclamations of the multitude at the very moment
when the Provisional Government was elevated to a
temporary dictatorship upon the barricades of Paris. It
was welcomed on that eventful evening when the
Chambre des Deputis was occupied by the insur-
gents ; it was accepted on that glorious morning when
M. DE LAMARTINE announced the abolition of
royalty ; it was rendered the permanent doctrine of
the population during that solemn demonstration of
fealty which, in the space of a single hour, sur-
rounded the Hotel de Ville with a forest of protecting
bayonets, on that festival of fraternization, when a
procession of armed citizens defiled beneath the Arc
d'Etoile during fourteen consecutive hours, and, af-
terwards, in that crowded theatre, when the audience
recognized the Provisional Minister for Foreign Af-
fairs in a private box, and when the emotions of
the poet-statesman were so supreme that his face was
buried in his hands, while the crowd rose like one man
in homage to the cause with which his name has become
identified, and made the walls of the building vibrate
with the watch-word of Moderation—Vice LAMAR-
TINE ! There is no necessity to speculate upon the
possibility of a Communist Administration; the vic-
tory of the Moderates is indisputable. LAMARTINE
and his colleagues obtained the ascendency on the
24th of February ; they had definitively secured that
ascendancy to themselves prior to the 4th of May.
In this circumstance there is the more reason for a
profound satisfaction, as the question of their success
is not a question of men, but a question of principles.
The splendid and unparalleled ovation of M. DE LA-
IIARTINE is less significant as a testimony of admira-
tion to the poet of Elcira, than as a token of reverence
for the august visions, the humane aspirations, and
the beneficent ambition which his virile and capacious
intellect has unveiled to the million. It is because
the tendency of the projects of Moderate Republi-
canismnot are eminently pacific and ameliorative, and
because LAMARTINE is a great historian, or
ARAGO
subere
ojn ct
the for
eve exultation.
of resigning
great astronomer, that the triumph of the
majority of the Provisional Government is a worthy
into the hands of the
national representatiogn the responsibilities with
which they had been entrusted by the acclamations of
the people, the Provisional Ministers have issued a
farewell proclamation. In that document of
adieux, there is this exquisite sentenceCmleeesntsicl
Royalty is for ever vanquished : let there be
more privileges—but equality : let there be no
mor'ro
e
room for divisions—but fraternity ! La royaute,
citoyens, test a jamais vaincre; plus de privilege,
regalite; plus de place aux divisions, la fraternite.'
Yes ! Liberty—Equality—Fraternity—those have
at length become more than seductive illusions.
They are capable of realisation. They are realised.
Liberty without licentiousness. Equality without
communism. Frateraity without the confusion of
classes or the intermixture of nationalities. Such a
description of liberty, such equality, and such frater-
nity have acquired the confidence and advocacy of
tthhaetMadovdoecraactye byt Republicheaengsi,s
aatnudr e t
mh e
u stresu enforcementltin of
the
establishment of internal and international peace.
That General OCDINO7I has been dispatched to tbe
head. quarters of the army of the Alps, with the mani- I
fest intention of marching the soldiers of the Re-
public across Savoy to the assistance of Lombardy,
iresehnaeouonsf
tutea b
sufficient
counselscient .
of the Moderates. argument
ciesOf France, as
y
and need in its antiquity by the suavity of its song
the splendour of its heroism, it has already been
ojrae LsAwmeAet
SzRTIaNEin-
"S
e-for minstrel,
Liitehfieerce Rc
Turenne in war,
To the
itana lettir'S Car."
zloty of old Athena,
it has elsewhere
been argued, by that