The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-26 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1848.

Some idea may be formed of the weariness and las-
situde of the popular representatives at this protracted
period of the session, from the fact that when the
House went into Committee last night to hear the
concluding financial statement for the Parlia-
mentary year, there were but thirty-eight
Members present, so that it might have
been in the power of a single individual
to have insisted upon a " count out" on one of the
most important, and, generally speaking, most inte-
resting events of the session, the actual condition
of the national Exchequer, and the manner in which
the deficiency of the public income, to meet the
public expenditure, would have to be provided for.
The present statement is of a mixed character, and
if we cannot offer any very cordial congratulations to
the community in general OH the state of affairs, there
is, at least, a negative consolation that may be admi-
nistered ; it is quite as well as could have been ex-
pected, considering the fearful ordeal through which
the country has passed, the general depression under
which every branch of trade, manufacture, and com-

merce has laboured, the great dearth of employment,
and 'the intense political excitement which, in this
country, greatly endangered the public tranquillity
at one period, and in Ireland burst forth into open
and undisguised rebellion—a rebellion which, thanks
to the wisdom and firmness of the distinguished noble-
man who now so ably ills the viceroyalty of Ireland,
was so speedily, so completely, and so easily sup-
pressed, without any extraordinary shedding of blood
in the field or on the scaffold.

The first great feature of the present statement is,
that there has been a reduction in the amount of the
estimates originally submitted to Parliament of no
less than 828,0001. sterling. This is a direct and po-
sitive saving, and it is still more satisfactory to
announce that it has been effected without
any diminution in the efficiency of any of the branches
of the public service. Strict economy was neces-
sarily required, but there was no decrease in the force
available for the protection of the country from
foreign attack or internal commotion. This is as it
should be. It proves that Ministers have entered
upon the path which we trust they will follow to the
end, the path of economy and retrenchment. The
particular items in which the reductions have been
made are as follows, viz., on the navy estimates,
208,0001.; on the army,150,2001. ; ordnance, 123,0001..
miscellaneous, 235,000/. ; and militia, 150,0001. These
amounted in the whole to 866,2001., but on the other
side of the account there were 38,2001. to be added ;
that is to say, 25,0001. for pensioners, and 13,200/.
for miscellaneous, leaving altogether a saving of
828,000/. available for the service of the country.
The next subject of congratulation to the public is
on the excess of the actual over the estimated reve-
nue of no less than 920,0001. Of this, 340,000/,
affords real cause for rejoicing, being occasioned by
the large crop of barley last year, which exceeded
our utmost hopes, and led to the making of
an: increased quantity of malt, and thus im-
proved the Excise revenue. The next item is one
purely accidental, which figures for the last time in
the national balance•sheet, viz., 80,0001., the last
remnant of the China money; this is a useful windfal
in its way, but it cannot, as we have said, again be
looked for. The other improvement is one of a dif-
ferent description—it is occasioned by an anticipa-
tion of next. year's resources, and therefore, there is no
cause of rejoicing thereat. It is, in fact, merely
carrying what are termed " the appropriations in
aid " to the credit of the current year in place of
permitting them to remain in the Exchequer. A
sum of 500,000/. is thus obtained for present emer-
gencies, but of course our future revenue will be
dimininished, pro tanto.
By these means the deficiency which had been es-
timated at 2,040,000/., or thereabouts, will actually be
but 292,3351., a very material improvement indeed
in the financial position of the country from that
which had been anticipated some months since. We
now, however, come to the dark part of the picture.
There is, unfortunately, an extraordinary expendi-
tureb which must be provided for, in addition to the
expenditure
e-named deficiency of 292,3351. on the ordinary
of the year. This extraordinary expen-
diture consists of four items, viz., 1' 100 . 000/ for the
r
Kafir war, 245,411/, fo
nai. val excess, 262,5451. for
Irish distress, and 130,9651, for providing medical
assistance for destitute em6igrants to Canada, an omi-
nous item, but one which weregret to say was but
These
too urgently demanded. m ounted in the
whole to 1,738,9211., which, with thea other deficiency,
leaves altogether 2,031,956/, t be provided
for. This Sir CHARLES woos proposes
eitherpose b
atoeffect
by borrowing the money in the ma
by the
issue of Exchequer-bills, the sale of stock, or by
mixture of these methods. This is, indeed, the mosta
objectionable part of the whole. It is a recurrence to
the old system of meeting a temporary difficulty by a
permanent increase of the national
burdens,
by imposing additional charges upon our pos-
terity. If this should be at all justifi-
able even during the raging of a sanguinary
war, when the preservation of the institutions
and the liberties of the nation demand such a

sacrifice, the circumstances must indeed be of an
extraordinary character to render such a course at all
defensible ; and we must say that they have not, in
our opinion, as yet arrived at such a point. On
Monday we shall return to the consideration of this
subject.

Perhaps no circumstance could have reminded us
more forcibly of the relative position in which the
Russian empire stands towards the more civilized
kingdoms of Christendom than the monstrous ru-
mours which have been lately afloat of a revolution
breaking out simultaneously at Moscow and St. Pe-
tersburgh. Such an occurrence would have been
nothing less than the consummation of the regenera-
tive movement on the Continent. It would have
illustrated the extraordinary history of 1848 by the
final catastrophe of despotism. Nothing, however, it
must be acknowledged, as yet justifies the most san-
guine imagination in the hopo of a convulsion such
as would result in the downfal of the Government of
NICHOLAS. A very considerable time must elapse
before the vassals of the CZAR will be able to compre-
hend the blessings of freedom, and the miseries of their
blind and infatuated obedience. Until the light of
this knowledge streams beyond the Dneiper
and penetrates even as far as the Volga, Western
Europe must await her destinies in patience, uncer-
tain whether the intellectual force of her influences
will prove triumphant over the brute barbarism of
the Tahtars, or whether the Voltjaks, and the Cos-
sacks, and the Kalmuks, are doomed to ravage the
fertility and the pomp of Germany, of Italy, and of
the Spanish peninsula, as the Ostrogoths desolated
the palaces of Rome and the Imperial gardens of the
Campania. According to those who view futurity
through a more timorous medium than ourselves, the
latter result appears to be the most probable—they
already recognise in CAVAIGNAC the BELISARIIIS of
Western Europe, they behold in THIERs the Ginuom
of its overthrow, and the generals of the dynasty of
MICHAEL ROMANOFF seem to them only new examples
of the savage genius of ALAnic and ODOACER. Con-
jectures like the foregoing are nevertheless unsuited to
a practical age, and we merely allude to them for the
purpose of reprobating their frivolity, and of pointing
to a more rational channel for the expectations of the
Europeans—such a channel as has been already dug
out by the laborious researches of the ingenious and
erudite scholar, the historian FALLMERAYER.

As early as the spring of 1813 the Emperor NA-
POLEON perceived the accuracy of those ideas which
afterwards ripened into one of his most memorable
prophecies. He appreciated the vigour of the
Russian barbarians, their masculine power as con-
trasted with the enervation of the more western races,
the ambition which was even then breaking in
upon their passions, their lust of the riches of
Southern Europe, their envy of the luxuries heaped
together in the cities of the German principalities,
and the sullen wrath with which they would retire
again into their wildernesses to brood over the splen-
dour of which they had obtained a glimpse, over the
delicacies which their lips had tasted, over the pomps
which they themselves had, during one delicious in -
terval, partaken. NAPOLEON appreciated all this in
1813; his views were confirmed by the incursions
into France, in 1814 and 1815, of the Russian
soldiers under ALEXANDER ; he knew well enough
that those soldiers would carry back tales of
the wealth of the West enough of themselves
to render the most peaceful barbarians pre-
datory, and he knew, moreover, by the
wisdom derived from the records of history, and from
his own amazing experience, that those tales would
only be increased by tradition. Hence it was that
in the course of his profound and prophetic conversa-
tions at Longwood—those conversations which, more
even than the deeds of his heroic life, revealed the
vast and noble capacity of his intellect—NAPOLEON
predicted that the Russians would ultimately revenge
upon the European Sovereigns the insult inflicted by
them upon the liberties of the French nation. And
this prediction will be inevitably fulfilled, if the
kingdoms of Western Europe do not ward off the blow
by one of those great and historical acts of justice
which shed an imperishable glory on the human race,
Europe may confirm the progress already made in
the advancement of civilization—she may secure her-
self from the possibility of a disastrous invasion
poured upon her from the steppes of Russia—she
may even render the ultimate regeneration and en-
lightenment of Russia a thing capable of accomplish-
ment. And how ? By the restoration of the
nationality of Poland. Not otherwise ! As things
remain at this moment it is impossible that civiliza-
tion can be safe from the assaults of barbarism.
Every month Western Europe is more liable to
attack—every month the power of the CZAR be-
comes more formidable—and latterly there have
been a multitude of almost irresistible inducements
to invasion on the part of Russia. The distraction
of Germany, the agitation in the Italian peninsula,
the occupation of the Prussian arms at Schleswig,
and of the Austrian arms in Lombardy, the excite-
ment of the Hungarians, the ardour of the Walla-
chians, the hesitation of the Bulgarians, have all
tempted the Emperor NICHOLAS to precipitate his
plans and to march with his colossal forces across the
plains of Lithuania. Of the facilities afforded to
Russian ambition by the successive partitions of
Poland it is scarcely possible to speak in lan-
guage too ominous. When we say that the last
of those diabolical acts of spoliation brought
the Russian frontier within sixty German miles from
Vienna, and within fifty from Berlin, it is surely
unnecessary to pronounce the positions of Prussia
and Austria, as compared with the superior dominions
of the CZAR, as fearfully perilous. With the
assistance of steam, Russia might transport an army
of overwhelming power in a very few hours from the
remotest corner of Podolia or Volhynia to the very
centre of Galicia—it might be at Prague, and even
at Vienna, before RADETZKY could cross the Carpa-
thian mountains. In like manner the Russian forces
might be hurried forward to the seizure of
Breslau and the occupation of Silesia. A 3 far as the
lines of territorial demarcation are at present mapped
out upon the eastern hemisphere, there is no safe-
guard to Europe—none whatever—against any such
incursion on the part of the Russian EMPEROR. One
only means of security--of security not only to her-
self but to her awful and holy heritage, the cause of
civilization—remains to continental Europe. That
means of security is the restoration of the kingdom
and the nationality of Poland. According
to the Count VALERIAN KRASINSKI, in his late
remarkable work on " Panslavism," Europe
is laying herself open to a double danger by the
delay of this great work of justice—she is repelling
the divided powers of Poland from herself into the
arms of Russia, for the augmentation of the already
monstrous strength of that barbarian empire, and for
the consolidation of the various Slavonic races into one
concrete and gigantic nation, resistance to the autho
rity of which would be madness on the part of the
continental Sovereigns. How far these anticipations
of the Polish Count are correct we shall explain at
an early opportunity, by examining more in detai
his dream of a predominant Panslavism.

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDB IN A CAB.--This morn

ing at an early hour the following extraordinary act of
suicide was committed by a gentleman unknown, in the
hackney cab, No. 2,397. The driver thereof, Henry Pethers'
was hired near Westminster-bridge by the deceased, who
told him to drive to Gower-street, and then pulled up the
windows. On reaching Store-street, Pethers heard a sound
as of glass breaking, but on glancing round, seeing that his
vehicle was not damaged, he proceeded on. On arriving at
the end of Gower-street he alighted and opened the door, and
found deceased reclining in one corner of the seat, his head,
from which blood was flowing, frightfully shattered, and a
pistol firmly grasped in his right hand. The cabman imme-
diately raised an alarm, and deceased was conveyed to the
University College Hospital, where, on examination, lite was
found to be quite extinct, a bullet having entered the roof
of the mouth and lodged in the brain. The deceased ap-
peared to be between 25 and 30 years of age, of dark com-
plexion, dark brown hair, and grey eyes, dressed in a brown
shooting-jacket, a blue striped shirt marked F. R. S. 1845,
low shoes, grey stockings, and black silk hat. No money
was ou his person, but in his pockets was a small bag of
bullets, a quantity of percussion-caps, a snuff-box, comb,
seal, two watch-keys, whistle, box of lucifer-matches, four
old copper coins, several latch keys, and a card on which was
p "Thomas Debenham,l, Queen's-row, Pimlico." The
body lies at the hospital to be owned, and awaits a coroner's
inquest.
PRINCE ALBERT'S BIRTII-DAY.—This being the
natal day of her Majesty's Consort, the morning was ushered
in by peals from the parish bells of the metropolis, and the
royal standard hoisted on the Tower, Somerset House, and
other public buildings. In the forenoon the members of the
theß l
1.
iigArtilleryhneos; Companywbheiienhg di
nwith their band assembled at their
roooyy
aa
members
~m,..emss:ln.Thßeutruandiell-row, City-road, in honour of the day, his
t h n_a. honoure ofw Colonel of that distinguished corps,
stmheenevoefnt.his together this evening at their
Royal Highness will sup toge-
coroinsE,Le._lLee
_eon:, sent off yesterday evening from the
the cito"yieuruorslTthe Governor of Canada, and also for
of the other North American provinces.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The National Assembly, in its sitting of Thursday,
adopted the measotre of postal reform proposed by M.
GOUDCIIAUX. The rate of postage is fixed at 20 cen-
times (twopence) on all letters not exceeding the
weight of 7i grammes ; 40 centimes on all letters ex-
ceeding 7i, but not exceeding 15 grammes, and If.
on all letters and parcels exceeding 15, but not ex-
ceeding 100 grammes. Beyond the weight of 100
grammes no packet will be carried by the Post-office.
Stamps are to be used as in England, and the mea-
sure is to come in force on the Ist January, 1849.
The Moniteur publishes the decree suspending the
publication of the Gazette de France. It sets forth
that—
" Considering that this journal contains incessant attacks
against the Republic, and excitations tending to destroy this
form of government in order to put in its place the monar-
chical form ;
" Considering that these attacks and these excitations are
of a nature, under present circumstances, to turn citizens
one against another, and thus to raise civil war in Paris and
in the departments—
" Decrees—That from this day the Gazette de France is
and remains suspended."
An attempt was made by the proprietors of the
Communist journal, the Lampion, the publication of
which was suspended by the decree of Tuesday, to
continue it under a new name, the Bouche de Fer.
General CAVAIGNAC, however, would not suffer his
decrees to be set at nought by such trifling as this,
and accordingly the Bouche de Fer was seized imme-
diately on its publication.
The meeting of journalists called by EMILE DE
GIRARDIN was held yesterday, at which it was agreed
that a protest should be drawn up against the decrees
of General CAVAIGNAC, suspending the publication of
certain newspapers, and that such protest should be
presented to the Assembly. The meeting and the
protest, however, were alike failures. Neither the
Debats, the Constitutionnel, the National, the Siecle,
the Union, nor, in fact, any of the leading journals,
were represented at it, and, with the exception of the
name of M.'EMILE DE GIRARDIN, there is not at-
tached to the protest the signature of any individual
of note either in the political or in the literary world.
The fact is, that all the true friends of order and of
the Republic are perfectly aware of the existence of a
vast conspiracy for the plunder and murder of the
industrious classes, the conspirators being the non-
productive idlers of every description.
Monarchists and Communists who,'however much they
may differ on other points, agree in their hatred of those
who gain their living by their industry, and in their de-
sire to rob them of the fruits of their labours. The
drones are endeavouring to rob the working bees. It is
to be hoped that the bees will succeed in expelling the
drones.
The National thus alludes to the attempts which are
being made by the Legitimatist party to produce con-
fusion:—
" Bad rumours are spread about. It is reported on all
sides that the last of the Royalist parties is seeking to take
advantage of the misery of the working classes, in order to
seduce and pervert them ; that clandestine meetings are held
in Paris, and others more numerous in the open country; in
fine, that money destined for charitable purposes is used to
hire bands of insurgents now organizing. We know not
what may be true or false in these manoeuvres of a faction
on its last legs; but we do not fear the result. The last
sixty years have enlightened the people, who can now judge
of the future by the past. They know what were worth the
promises of 1815 and the programmes of 1830. They have
faith in the Republic they have founded, and the calumnies
that are in the dark directed against it, although conjoined
with passing sufferings, cannot prevail against its principles.
The honest workman will not serve any cause for mere hire.
He cherishes his convictions, and does not sell them. Ic
would be doing him an injury to doubt his patriotism and
disinterestedness. We will not be guilty of such injustice."
It is said that the Legitimatists had fixed upon yes-
terday, the 25th, the fete of St. Lours, fur the outbreak
of the united Royalist and Communist insurrection, but
General C.avaiasrec is, we believe, amply provided with
means to meet the threatened danger.
The Opinion Republique says—
" A million of cartridges have been distributed to the Na-
tional Guard.
" Yesterday several carriages with shells and howitzers
passed along the quay going towards the Ecole Militaire ;
eight ammunition waggons heavily laden proceeded from
Vincennes to the same destination.
" At Vincennes one hundred field pieces are in the court-
yard ready to be put to. There are four in the Hotel de
Ville, forty in the Temple, four in the court of the Tuileries,
eight in the Luxembourg, four at the Palais d'Orsay, six-
teen in the court and garden of the National Assembly, and
a whole park in the Ecole Militaire, Champs de Mars. Mount
Valerian and several other forts have cannons of siege planted
on their ramparts."
The following have been stated as candidates for the
seats vacant in the representation of Paris in the Na-
tional Assembly :—Messrs. GOUIN, ACHILLE FOULD,
EMILE DE GIRARDIN, EDMOND ADAM, Secretary-
General of the Prefecture ; THORE, editor of La Vraie
Republique; and RASPAIL, who is now a prisoner at
Vincennes.
It is said that the speech which M. CAUSSIDIERE is
to read in his defence in the debate on the report of the
Committee on the insurrection, has been written for
him by M. LINCIAT, who was at one time secretary to
the late Prince Pomabrac, and who was subsequently
employed by Count MOLE and various of the Ministers
of Louis PHILIPPE.
The important discussion on the report of the Com-
mittee of Invastigation into the insurrection of June
commenced in the Assembly yesterday, at twelve
o'clock:; M. ARMAND MARRAST. President of the Na-
tional Assembly, in the chair. The following is a re-
port of this important debate, up to'the hour of post:—
The order of the day was the discussion on the report of
the Committee of Investigation into the insurrection of June.
The President, in a discussion of such gravity, thought it
unnecessary to appeal to the patriotism and good feeling of
the Assembly. He trusted that they would contribute as much
as possible to promote union and concord amongst all the chil-
dren of the Republic. He trusted also that the representa-
tives would aid him in having the Parliamentary rules strictly
observed.— (Approbation.)
Colonel Charras would propose that the priority should be
given to such representatives as wished to take part in the
discussion on a personal matter.
The President—This proposition is to give to the persons
incriminated, or who have to complain of the evidence given,
the right of speaking before all others.—(Murmurs.)
The question, being put to the vote, was carried in the
affirmative.
Admiral easy came forward to complain that M. Lacrosse,
in his evidence given on the 11th of June, relative to the
invasion of the Assembly, had accused hint of having re-
mained seated in his place next to M. Charras in tranquillity,
when he might have been more usefully employed in freeing
the Assembly of its invaders. He had to declare that the
memory of M. Lacrosse had proved treacherous. He (the
Admiral) was then Minister of Marine, and M. Charras,
Minister of War, and did not deserve the imputation thus
cast on them. M. Lacrosse had not addressed them, as he
stated, on the day in question, and it was no doubt to others
that this observation had been made.
M Lacrosse maintained that he had stated nothing but
what had .really occurred. The honourable representative
entered into the details of the incident, and concluded by de-
claring that the truth demanded that he should persist in
what he had already affirmed.
Colonel Charras next ascended the tribune, and said that
M. Lacrosse had on that day in question only asked him whe-
ther it would not be better to take measures to free the
Assembly. He (M. Charras) had replied that he was
not the commander of the force about the Assembly, but
General Courtais, and that consequently be could not take
upon him to give orders. Beyond that nothing further had
passed.
M. Ceyras complained that in the report his conduct
had been altogether misrepresented. It had been inti-
mated that on May 15th he had taken part with Barbes,
Blanqui, and other invaders of the Chamber; whereas he
was altogether opposed to those persons and their views. He
was represented as having gone to the Hotel de Ville
to take part with the outbreak. He had been twice exa-
mined before the Committee—once as Government commis-
sioner, and next as representative; and he thought that the
that
evidence which he had then given ought to have kept him
free from any accusation. In fact, he was represented as
He was proceed-
Terrorist, a Socialist, or anything that was objectionable,a
in place of what he was, a true Republican. Tnhenollt Honour-
able a
irc
able Representative then gave an account of his goinhou'n
company with M. Falloux and M. de Mornay to the Hrotiel
de Ville on the 15th of May, in the epen da
st him as straying
the invaders of the Assembly, hut to oppose them. He
next complained of the manner in which the Government
Commissioners had been treated in the report, saying
tandisbpeeoninitoowltheednupaocnryasar"olsiectaogrsa.i'n'
from the question. He then repeated his former assertions
itnhgeyonh
about his conduct on the 15th of May, and descended from
the tribune.
M. Portalis expressed his regret that he, who had been
Procureur of the Republic, should have been obliged to ad-
dress the Assembly in his own defence, particularly as he
felt conscious of having always fully and conscientiously per•
formed his duty. In the evidence of N. Arago there was
an imputation on him as having, on May 3, been present at
a meeting held at AL Ledru Rollin's, the object of that meet-
ing being to devise measures to act against the Republic.
That intelligence bad come from M.
M Duclerc, who had it
from Louis Blanc. M. Portalis declared solemnly that
he had not been present at that meeting, nor did he
know anything whatever about it. He had al-
ways considered himself honoured by the friend-
ship of M. Ledru Rollin, but he never was acquainted
with M. LoTtis Blanc. The Honourable Gentleman then re-
ferred to the case of Sobrier, whom he wanted to have
arrested, but who was allowed to remain at large by the con-
nivance of the Government. He referred also to the arms
given by M. Arago to Sobrier, when that gentleman must
have known that Sobrier was not a safe person. He con-
cluded by repelling, in indignant terms, the imputations cast
on him by the evidence of M. Arago.
M. Landrin also complained of the language of M. Arago,
in comprising hint amongst the persons who had plotted to
overthrow the moderate portion of the Government. He
spoke in very animated language, and defied any one to sub-
stantiate such a charge against him.
M. Arago entered into explanations of his statements
against those-two gentlemen. He declared he had spoken
according to what he had heard from M. Ledru•Rollin..„;
M. Ledru•Rollin—l claim permission to speak.
Arago went on to explain the giving of arms to Sobrier
affirming that Colonel Brissol having brought him an order
from the Minister of the Interior, he did not think it fit to
refuse them. The Hon. Representative repeated the sub-
stance of his evidence before the Committee, again declaring
that what he said was in consequence of what M. Ledru-
Rollin had affirmed to him.

retdi coufl ahr drienfge rirme
Portalis and M.
Ledru-Roilin said that he wawswaiatcshcpuilasi.
tpor.operriemheaedtinegerst,aainncllythoafttenots' Mpoak3e-n3
Land rin on the affairs of the Republic, they being the law offi-
cers of the Government, and he the Minister of the Interior.
But there was ,uothing reprehensible in such conversations,
nor in the meetings at which they took place. At that of
May 3 he had not been present, and he could not therefore
have spoken to M. Arago in the manner which that gentle-
man had mentioned. Ile had not seen those gentlemen for
some days before that spoken of, as he, and indeed almost all
the political men, were busied with the elections. It was
true that he had spoken to M. Arago of various political
matters, and in a moment of animation he might have gone
whatbeyond
Portalis
andu
b! meant
whheactewrtnaalyenretvede: attributed to M.