The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-02 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, JULY 31.
No later details of the conflict between he police
party and the rebel horde, commanded by Smith
O'Brien, have been received, than those forwarded
this morning; but the following, which may be re-
garded as an official account of the engage' vent, has
been issued in the shape of a general order, by the
Dublin Metropolitan Police Commissioners, ;addressed
to the members of that force. This import: tut docu-
ment mentions that the rebel army amounted to one
thousand—that seven of the rebels were killed, and
many wounded, whilst the small police force escaped
altogether :

" GENERAL ORDER.

" Sunday, Or-uly 80.
" The Commissioners of Police are happy to be able
o inform the force that a small party of coesstabulary,
yesterday evening, unassisted by military, near Kille-
naule, in the county Tipperary, attacked on thousand
men, mostly armed with fire-arms and pikes, under the
immediate command of Saaith O'Brien. Not a man of
the police has been injured, but seven of the rebels were
killed, and a great number wounded. O'Brit in's party
ran away in the greatest confusion, and were ;ompletely
dispersed. About an hour after a large military force
were on the ground, but too late to be of service.
" The Commissioners congratulate the men of the
Dublin police on the gallant conduct of their comrades
of the constabulary, knowing that the metropolitan force
are always ready to do their duty and set the disaffected
at defiance."
A letter from Cashel contains the following impor-
tant facts :
" It was rumoured hero yesterday (Saturday) morn-
ing, that the Bishop's Palace was to be attacked. The
Bishop, Dr. Daly, resides in Waterford, but Isis curates
reside in the Palace. About the same time intelligence
was received that the rebels contemplated some move-
ment near Killenaule. Sub-Inspector Cox, with twenty
police, proceeded to that town, and there learned that
there was likely to be a collision between another police
party and the rebels at Ballingarry, three mites distant.
They set off in all haste, and arrived at the scene of ac-
tion just in time to aid Sub-Inspector Trent and his
party, first forcing their way through the rebel ranks.
The result was the total rout of the insurgents, after
several had been killed and many wounded."
The next letter of interest is from the county Tip-
perary :
" CLONDIEL, JULY 30.—0 n Saturday morning reports
of various collisions between the military and the people,
about the towns of Killenaule and Mullinahoue, on the
previous day, reached Clonmel, and caused immense ex-
citement, which was considerably increased on the pro-
clamations offering rewards for the apprehension of
Smith O'Brien, Meagher, Dillon, and Doheny, being
posted conspicuously all over the town, as it was well
known that several of those persons had taken refuge in
some of the coal-pits abounding in the localities above
referred to. The reports becoming more and more
alarming and conflicting, I was determined to ascertain
facts, and set off about three o'clock P.M. for the scene
of action. On reachingFethard, which is seven miles from
Clonmel and eight from Killenaule, I found that a report
of a collision between the police and the colliers that
morning, at Ballingarry, a village three miles from Kil-
lenaule, had just reached that town, and that the party
of police had been disarmed in consequence. This state-
ment, however, has not since been confirmed. Seventy
constabulary, who had been sent from Clonmel on the
preceding evening, to occupy the Fethard military bar-
racks (the military having all gone into Clonmel), left on
six four-horse cars for Ballingarry, under the command
of Sub-Inspector Monahan. Hearing this, I immedi-
ately pushed forward to Killenaule. On arriving at the
old pound at the entrance of the town, I saw the remains
of what had been yesterday a barricade, consisting of
several huge blocks of timber, trees, stones, &c., and at
which the progress of a party of the Bth Hussars (en
route from Cork to Dublin) had been arrested, till the
officer in command had pledged his word of honour, as a
soldier, that he had no warrant against Mr. Smith O'Brien.
On getting into the town I found that two troops of the-
-Ist Dragoon Guards, from Cahir, had just arrived, and
immediately after I witnessed the arrival of the head-
quarters of the 74th Highlanders, a considerable
number of the 60th Rifles, two field pieces of ar-
tillery, and two companies of Sappers and Miners;
these troops had left Dublin that morning, by
special train, on the Great Southern and Western
Railway, at six o'clock, for Thurles, and were
under the command of General Macdonald. The troops
marched through the town, and down to a field about 40
perches from the hotel, called Bullock's Field,' where
they erected their tents and encamped for the night.
Great excitement prevailed in the little town. Reports
were flying in all directions. The object of this large
force having been sent down, it is thought, is to sur-
round the coal-pits, in one of which it is believed the
rebel leaders are concealed, and to starve them out, as
also to make a general search for arms in that disaffected
locality. It was here I first heard the true account of
yesterday's affair of the barricade. It appears that a
party of the Bth Hussars (as I before stated en route)
were seen approaching the town in which Smith O'Brien,
Dillon, and some others, had taken up their quarters;
the word to turn out was given, when most of the inha-
bitants, men and women, armed with every description
of weapons, pikes, guns, pitchfork s, sticks, &c., rushed out,
and in less than ten minutes a barricade was erected
across the road at the entrance of the town, and mounted
by the people, with J. B. Dillon (it is said.) at their
head. On the advanced guard of the Bth coming up, they
rode back, and told their officer of the obstruction ; he
immediately came up with his party, and demanded why
his route had been interrupted ? He was asked had he
any orders to arrest Mr. O'Brien ? He said he had not,
that ho was only proceeding on his way, and
had no orders to arrest any man, and that if he
had, he would do so. He was then asked to pledge his
word to that effect, which he did. The barricade was
then in part taken down, and the party of dragoons was
allowed to proceed unmolested. When leaving last night,
the army was still encamped on the field. Outposts and
sentinels were placed around so as to prevent surprise.
On my way here, I saw nearly twenty signal-fires blazing
on the mountain of Slievenamon, which were shortly
seen by the country people all around, and by the time I
reached Clonmel, on all the mountains beyond it fires
were burning.
"SUNDAY, FOUR O'CLOCK, P.M.—Great excitement
has prevailed hero to-day. The constabulary were called
out while attending Divine service, as a rumour has just
reached that Smith O'Brien was arrested, but it turns
out to be untrue. The army did not attend Divine ser-
vice to-day, and are confined to barracks. There are
great crowds of idlers in the streets."
A correspondent, writing yesterday from Thurles
says--

TIIIIRLES, SllNDAY.—Although no actual outbreak
has occurred here, I am yet sorry to inform you that the
people are in a state of the greatest excitement, and are
in hourly expectation of being called upon to act. They
are well armed—thanks to Mr. Labouchere—and as they
are well practised in the use of fire-arms, and are, more-
over, of a naturally lawless disposition, the worst fears
are entertained in the event of their being called on to
take part in the insurrection. The well-affected—owing
to the dilatoriness of the Government—are not provided
with the means of self-defence."
Extract from a letter, dated Mullinahone, yester-
day—

I went yesterday evening to Mullinahone, and found
the place apparently deserted, no men being visible,
though it was well known that a large armed party was
concealed—Smith O'Brien was, it is said, at the time in
bed at a farm-house. The most anxious solicitude ap-
peared in the countenances of the women. Everything
at present wears a most warlike appearance."
i DUBLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.—There is no news
from " the seat of war" by the Great Southern and
Western train, which reached the King's Bridge station
soon after three o'clock this morning. Monday (yes-
terday) had been fixed for the concentration of the entire
of the Queen's troops in Tipperary and Kilkenny, pre-
paratory to a general movement this morning for the
capture of the rebel leaders, and the crushing of the at-
tempt at insurrection.
The accounts from Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Clare,
and other southern and western districts, all declare
that there is not the slightest manifestation of a disposi-
tion on the part of the people to resist the constituted
authorities. All accounts, including those from Conser-
vatives, laud the Catholic clergy in the highest terms for
their efforts in discountenancing any insurrectionary
movement.
The Tralee Chronicle of Saturday contains the fol-

I lowing :
" RUMOURED ARREST OF THE REV. OWEN O'SUL-
LIVAN, P.P., AND MR. DENIS SHINE LAWLOR.--
This day, a rumour having prevailed in Killorglin and
its vicinity that a large party of, some would have it, the
Mb, from Tralee, and others two troops of Lancers,
were en route for that locality, to arrest the Rev. Owen
O'Sullivan, and thence to proceed to Rossbeigb, where
Mr. Shine Lawlor, with his family, is staying at present,
with a view to similar proceedings as regards that gentle-
man. When our informant, a respectable Roman Ca-
tholic gentleman, left, the chapel bell was ringing, and
the peasantry in large masses flocking in from all direc-
tions. It is not true, as industriously stated in Tralee
this evening, that Mr. Lawlor had been arrested, and

" An active search was made last night in this town
for arms by the police, but none were found. It was ru-
moured yesterday that shots were fired, in the course of
the night before, on the Oakpark side of the town."
The Newry magistrates have entered into a resolu-
tion, to the effect that no person shall be sworn a
special constable who has ever been a Repealer, or a
member of any Confederate Club.
The Freeman's Journal of this morning contains
the following :
" RUMOURS FROM THE SOUTH.—From among the
many rumours that were Lfloat last night, we give the
following, as having reached us on such authority as to
warrant repetition :
" It was confidently stated in town yesterday, that
the directors of the Mining Company had received a
letter yesterday morning, or Sunday, from Mr.
O'Brien, making certain proposals with regard to the
protection of the property in the mines situate in
liille-
and to the course about to be taken by the di-
rectors, as between him and the authorities. We, of
course, cannot vouch for the accuracy of the rumour,
but we have heard it confidently asserted that such a
letter had been received, and that the authorities have
been put in possession of its contents, if not of the do-
cument itself.

"RUMOURED COLLISION WITH THE TROOPS .—We
have heard it stated that a letter, bearing date Saturday,
has been received in town, from a sergeant of the Rifle
corps, stating that a volley was unexpectedly discharged
from under cover at his company, by which several of
the men were wounded, and some killed. That a letter
to the effect, purporting to be from a sergeant in the
Rifle corps, reached town to-day from the vicinity of
Thurles, is a fact, but while we give the rumour of its
contents, we are not disposed to give them much cre-
dence, inasmuch as we had a letter from Thurles, dated
Sunday, in which not only is there no mention mado of
the alleged fact, but it is positively stated that all is
perfectly quiet in the vicinage of Thurles, which could
hardly be stated with truth if the letter purporting to
be from the sergeant in the Rifles be authentic and
correct."

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE
BRADFORD REFORM ASSOCIATION.
Sir,—On Monday, the 31st, the House went into
Committee on a Bill, of which, strangely enough, I never
heard the name beiore; the " Farmers' Estate Society
(Ireland) Bill." And the result of hearing, is a belief
that it deserves more looking into than it is likely to get.
t..io far us I can form a judgment, it is a Bill for forming
a Joint- Stock Company in Ireland, for the buying up
estates, with the conditiou of afterwards ejecting
and turning into the hedges all " seven-acre '
tenants, and all tenants of any kind holding
fewer acres than thirty. And by way of carrying oat
the principle, it contains a provision that land which has
once passed into the gullet of this Joint-Stock Company,
is never hereafter to all eternity to be capable of being
let, sold, or devised by will, in less quantities than thirty
acres, or not without incurring the penalties im-
posed. I cannot be mistaken in thinking I heard the
question asked, whether it was really intended, that a
man who had three daughters, and all whose property
consisted of thirty acres in fee simple of this " taboo'd"
land, was not to have the power of leaving them ten
acres a-piece; and answer was made that he was not.
Now what a wine and oil of landlordism is this, to
pour into the sores of Irish poverty at a moment like
the present ! Communism is standing out and saying,
there shall be no rich because it will be more con-
venient for the poor. And here is landlordism standing
out and saying, there shall be no poor because it will be
more convenient for the rich. If the question is to lie.
between the philosopher who is for cutting up a man of
a thousand a year into holdings for twenty men of fifty
pounds ayear, and another who is for turning poor cotters
into the hedges in order that their holdings may be
rolled into one for what is to be called a " Yeoman," I
am afraid I must give the preference to the first.
Perhaps you think I am not serious in my statement.
I assure you the preamble of the Bill as now before me,
is literally as follows :—" Whereas the formation and
establishment of a permanent body of independent
Yeomen, consisting of resident proprietors holding farms
in fee-simple, containing respectively not less than Thirty
Acres, would materially improve the social condition of
Ireland." Here are your new Socialists. It is
desired that in Ireland there should be yeomen ; there-
fore make yeomen by Act of Parliament. Why should not
the other Socialists, in France or where they may have
the power, make cotters by Act of Parliament ? I make
them a present of the precedent, for whatever it may be
worth.
1 But a law must have a penalty for breaking ; and,
what is to be the penalty, if any of the land traded i a
by this Joint-Stock Company, with its capital of tv io
hundred and fifty thousand pounds in twenty-poundshares, shall be found illegally in the hands of
men of less than thirty acres? I copy from, the
margin for brevity, with the substitution of a few words
from the body towards the end, to express w.nat the
margin has left obscure. "In case of divisioil below
Thirty Acres, lands divided to be charged with. one half
the annual value of such portion (that is, I suppose,
half the rent), to be paid to the Guardians of the Poor."
In other words, it there are poor, they are to keep the
poor. The law of the landlord is, that there are not to
be poor ; and if there are, they are to live on one
anottier. I wait with curiosity for the comments of the
Communists.
Taking this view of the case, I do not feel much
shame iu having been in a minority of three against
tifty-one, in the division which took place in the at-
tempt to expunge the words " or occupier" from one
of the clauses, where they were put for the prevention of
letting under thirty acres. Let us hope that somebody
will look into the case, before it passes the snap-lock of
the law.

On the same evening I bad an opportunity of avow-
ing in the House the opinion declared to you some time
ago, on'the propriety of meeting bounties by foreign Go.
vernments on exportation to this country, with a corre-
sponding duty. The Member for Sunderland (Mr.
Hudson) brought forward the fact of the application from
Bradford on the subject of French Merinos; and I told
him I had avowed the principle, and must vote with him
if ever he brought the question forward in a distinct
form. It did not however appear that the statement
before the House, conveying a demand for a duty on
Dutch refined sugar on the ground of the existence of
a bounty, was Oufficiently made out to demand my vote.
On Tuesday more debate on the Farmers' Estr‘te
Society (Ireland) Bill; and I hope some light .was
thrown upon the nature of the Bill. It is clear the Bill
is meant to be a broom to help to sweep the small
tenantry of Ireland off the face of the earth. Every
Irish landlord whose estate is full of small tenants, who
pay his rent badly and sometimes fire at him
over a hedge, will have an interest in offering his
estate to the Company that is to be, and it will be the
interest of the parties to come to terms. The Company
cannot be fired at, and the landlord can; and though
it may be true as was urged from some quarter, that
the engrosser of thirty acres will be there to receive the
fire, it is at all events something that the landlord is not
to be there also.
The only scheme advanced for checking the tendency
to the turning out of small tenants, is a clause proposing
to oblige the Company to support the ejected tenants for
five years if they come upon the poor-rates. A miser-
! able compensation it is, to men turned out of the house
in which they were born, that they shall be kept upon
the poor rates ! Great debate arose as to whether
this obligation to keep the poor they made,
was to fall upon the Company in addition to
their share of the poor in the surrounding country; and
efforts were made to represent this as anjast. To which
the answer is, that the Company is a machine with a
, t
special apparatus for ejecting all small tenahnutsnawanheo.mb7
come into its hands. A landlord may be
CompanyThethe
onl
only
wa
yi s
ilalutoincahnecbky the Act ionftePreasrt of lisrci esat
he
Company in buying land with poor tenantry to eject, is
to impose
the additional necessity of maintaining them,
therefore to
be
a s a means of making it a bad trade for the Company to
deal iu land so circumstanced.
But the substantial question is, what is the necessity
for the Thirty Acre provision at all. Why not leave
the Company to manage its poor tenants like other land-
lords, kindly when it is disposed ? Why determine by
Act of Parliament, that it shall always bo their enemy ?
An enactment of this kind will be no Soothing Syrup for
Ireland at a moment like the present.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. PERRONET THOMPSON.
Blackheath, London, Aug. `), 1848.

THE DISCIPLINE or LIEE.—The noble authoress
of this work, which is just now
the topic of conversa-
tion in all reading circles, may be con on e
great success of her first effort in thegratulated literary arentha.
Her work is worthy a place not only beside those of her
aristocratic contemporaries who have recently wielded
the pen of the novelist with such effect, but it deserves
to be ranked in the same class with the admirable
fictions of the author of " Angela" and " Emilia Wynd-
ham," which, indeed, in style and treatment, it some-
what resembles. The object of the work—to show how
characters may be tried and improved through the
events, the trials, and the temptations of common life,
such life as all may know, with but just so much of
romance as at some time or other tinges the fortunes of
all men—has been most successfully attained, through
the medium of one of the most interesting fictions that
has been produced for a long time.—Evening paper.
[AnvEaTisnatercr.]—A Diseased Elbow Cured by
Holloway's Ointment and Pills.—Mrs. Dunham of
Scrubby, near Alford, was dreadfully afflicted with an
enlargement of the elbow joint; for several months she
IJst the use of her arm, during which period she was
under the treatment of tho faculty in Lincoln, Notting-
ham, and other places, but obtained no relief, and from
the intense pain she constantly endured, it was decided
that nothing but amputation or death could relieve her
sufferings. In this state, Holloway's Ointment and Pills
were resorted to, and these truly valuable medicines soon
effected a permanent cure, and restored the complete use
of her arm. Mr. Ilarton, bookseller, Louth, will testify
to this. Sold by all Druggists, and at Professor Hollo-
way's Establishment, 244, Strand London.

eVeniall Ants
LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1648.

LATEST FROM IRELAND.

[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]

DUBLIN, TUESDAY EVENING.

Smith O'Brien established the head-quarters at
~iil!c::sh on the side of Slievenamon early this morn-
ing. He had from 3,000 to 4,000 followers.

Lord-Lieutenant has issued a proclamation
cautoning all persons against harbouring the rebel
leadefs or aiding their escape under the penalty of
high treason.
Lord Hardinge has arrived, and is consulting with
the military authorities.
Dr. Kane was arrested in Kilkenny, yesterday.

It is stated that Richard O'Gorman has been shot
dead at Tarbert.

BRISTOL, WEDNESDAY, EIGHT, A.M.

By the Rose steamer, Captain Burgess, which left
Waterford at nine o'clock yesterday morning, we
learn that that city was in a state of perfect tranquil-
lity.

The general opinion was that Mr. Meagher has left
the country.
The express which arrived from Cork as the Rose
left Waterford brought intelligence that all was quiet
there.

No apprehensions of a rebellion are now enter-
tained.

No arms have been brought in under the recent
enactment, and but very few stands of pikes had
been found. The 3d Regiment of Buffs had arrived
at Waterford.

The following extracts from the Dublin Evening
Yost have been transmitted by the Electric Telegraph
Company :

" DUBLIN, FOUR O'CLOCK, P.M.

" Tha inland mails by the Great Southern and
Western Railway have arrived, and report all
tranquil.
"It is stated that Smith O'Brienhas fled from the
colliery districts of Tipperary, and had arrived at
Woodward, on his way to New Quay, a little sea-
port village in the county of Galway.
" One letter informs us that the peasantry were
returning towards Thurles, and resuming their
work."

The accounts from Ireland this day fully confirm
the former intelligence of the decisive results of the
victory obtained by a few policemen over the rebel
force, amounting, probably, to one hundred times
their number.
It is impossible to overestimate the zeal and
activity displayed by Mr. BLARE, the county
inspector, in making his arrangements for the attack
on the rebel encampment, or the gallantry and de-
termination evinced by Mr. TEANT and his fifty
brave associates, who sustained the burden of the
contest. Two other gentlemen appear also deserving
of favourable mestion—Mr. Cox, a sub-inspector,
who was approaching with nineteen men from
Cashel, when he encountered an immense body of
insurgents retreating from 13oulagh-common.
Their leader, a black-coat boy—(su termed
to distinguish him from the general mass
of the frieze-coated population)—attempted to cheer
on his associates to the attack, but the gallant little
band, unintirnidated by the extraordinary disparity of
'
numbers, having fired a volley, which killed the
chief and wounded several of his associates, the party
dispersed, and sought safety •
h .
g in flight. Sub-Inspector
MONAGHAN was approaching
another road, bring-
ing with him 90 of
the constabulary, who, the moment
they heard the firing, dashed forward with the utmost
enthusiasm to the rescue of their comrades.
entire Nothing during the retransaction is
more gratifying than the admirable manner in
which the police invariably behaved
o requi
occasion, when their services were called u
intopon every
hn
sition. From the sergeant at Mullinaanrdhni6t
troop of seven men, three of them enfeebled by
i
illness, illness, who refused to surrender their a
tocthe
more brilliant exploits of Mr. TRANI and
.
the same gallantry, devotion, and fixed determination ox,
efficiently to discharge the duty entrusted to their
hands has been exhibited. How utterly unfounded
were the assertions of th 3 agitators when they in-
sisted that considerable disaffection existed in the
force, and that they would be prepared to take an
active part with the people the moment the standard
of insurrection was unfurled. We trust that adequate
rewards may immediately be granted by the Go-

vernment to all those who have more particulary dis-
tinguished themselves, and these rewards should not
be limited to the officers, but should be extended to
all who have participated in the contest.
It now appears that the loss of the insurgents
amounted to ten or eleven persons, either killed or
mortally wounded, and that many others, perhaps
from 30 to 40, hare received minor wounds. It is,
however, impossible to say with any degree of cer-
tainty that there was not a greater amount of casual-
ties, inasmuch as many of the wounded were removed
by their companions, and are now lying hid in the vici-
nity, where the coal-pits afford great facilities for
concealment. A strict search will take place for
those who appeared in arms against their SOVEREIGN,
and more especially for the ringleaders whe insti-
gated the misguided men to so ruinous a course. An
efficient military force, under the command of General
MCDONALD, has now encamped in the neighbour-
hood of Boulagh, the head-quarters are at Bailin-
garry, only one mile from the field of battle, and
such measures have been taken for the capture of
such of the leaders as may be lurking about the
country, as to render it impossible that they can long
succeed in evading justice.

While matters are thus proceeding in the disturbed
districts, no less activity is displayed in the metro-
polis. Ten persons, employed as assistants in
the establishment of Messrs. Pim and Co., have
been arrested, and on some of them regular commis-
sions duly appointing the holder to the rank of cap-
tain in the rebel army, were discovered. It is now
known that many such appointments had been made.
It had been decided that when the harvest was
gathered in the outbreak should take place. In fact,
the preparations were on the most extensive scale,
and had it not been for the promptitude displayed by
both Houses of Parliament in so nobly responding to
the appeal of the Prime Minister, and conceding the
extensive powers demanded without a moment's delay
or hesitation, much blood would necessarily have
been shed ere the rebellion could have been sup-
pressed. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act,
however, precipitated the crisis. The revolutionary
leaders were struck with terror, and fled
from the metropolis. The rashness of Mr. SMITH
11 O'BRIEN in at once raising the standard of rebel-
lion, his vacillation and inefficiency in command,
and manifest imbecility since the vast responsibility
of the generalship in the field of the rebel army was
conferred upon, or assumed by him, coupled with
the decisive defeat he sustained from a handful of
police, have completely crushed the incipient revolu-
tion, with less than one hundredth part of the des
struction of life and property that must have taken
place two months later. Had there been a temporary
success the consequences might have been formidable,
and greater difficulties would have been encountered
in putting down the rebels—the issue, however,
could not have proved doubtful for a single moment.
It is said that Mr. O'BRIEN has succeeded in again
assembling some thousands of followers, and that a
rebel camp has been established on the side of
Slievenamon. This position has manifestly been
selected from the facilities for escape and shelter in
the mountain fastnesses, where it would be
almost impossible for the military to pursue the fu-
gitives very closely. The parties who thus remain
along with the proscribed chieftain are most probably
those who have already committed themselves too
deeply at Bouglagh, and who dread the consequences
of their own insane conduct, and the avenging arm of
General McllosALD, who, it appears, is entrusted with
ample powers for the punishment of all those impli-
cated in the rebellion. They may fancy themselves
sufficiently strong to set small parties of police at
defiance, but it is by no means probable that they
will venture to await the attack of a regular
military force, with artillery and all the other appli-
ances of war. Should such an attack take place they
will probably immediately disperse amongst the bogs
and rocks, of which the mountain consists, without
waiting to receive even the first fire from the troops.
We cannot anticipate anything very formidable from
this last convulsive struggle of these desperate men.

A proverb, long popular among the peasantry of
Flanders, says, Quand le Francois dort, le Diable le
fierce—" When the Frenchman sleeps, the Devil
rocks the cradle I" Since the insurrection of June
there has been, politically speaking, a lull within the
circumference of the Boulevards. The Parisians
have been sleeping. Worn out by the agitation of
four months of perpetual vigilance, stunned by the
interminable din of the rappel—they have at last
yielded to the demands of nature and have slum-
bered. Who rocks the cradle ? Ask General CA-
VAIGNAC. Not that we mean to insinuate, by any
means, that the victorious Dictator of the 23d, 24th,
25th, and 26th of June, is identical with his Satanic
Majesty; neither is it that we pin down our credence
to the accuracy of the old Flemish adage, attributing
the occasional drowsiness of our Gallic neighbours to
such diabolical lullabies. We couple with the proverb
of Flanders the fact of the late unwonted quietude
in the French capital—and demand the solution of
the problem from the man best qualified to answer
the inquiry. M. EMILE DE GIEARDIN has gone
further—his interrogations have been rather more
disagreeable in their criminal inference—he has not
only pointed out where the shoe pinches, he has
trampled upon it with a sort of sardonic glee, and
illustrated the accuracy of his perception by the
poignant agony and writhings of his antagonist. In
a letter addressed to our contemporary the John Bull,
the principal editor of the Presse has put these ques-
tions :—On the 22d of June the existence of the con-
spiracy and the plans of the insurrection being known
to the Government, on which of the Ministers did the
duty of taking precautions devolve in a particular
manner ? On the Minister of War. What
precautions were taken by the Minister of War ?
None whatever; the Minister of War was in a state
of profound inaction. Who was the Minister of War ?
General CAVAIGNAC ! The deductions to be drawn
from these considerations would be inevitably to the
prejudice of the fame and character of General CA-
VAIGNAC, were not the earnestness of his patriotism,
and the goodness of his heart, believed in most cor-
dially by his admirers. M. DE GIEARDIN confesses
as much, and is compelled to transfer the odium of
that conduct which led to the unobstructed outburst
of rebellion, and consequently to the concentration of
the powers of Government into the hands of General
CATAIGNACt from General CAVAIGNAC himself to his
more designing and less conscientious associates. If;
then, the Republican Dictator was not actuated by the
callous calculations of self-aggrandizement even at the
expense of his unfortunate country, he was an instru-
ment in the hands of knaves who saw a brighter
perspective for themselves through the bloody mists
of civil war. If he was not a criminal he was a dupe.
If he did not wilfully permit the horrors of battle and
anarchy to rage in the beautiful streets of Paris for
the purpose of availing himself of the confusion by
snatching the fasces of the Republic out of the dust the
instant it was hurled from the grasp of the Executive
Committee—he unconsciously allowed himself to be
deluded into a stupor which very nearly caused the
destruction of France, and resulted in such an
extraordinary accession of authority to himself as ne-
cessarily gave rise to insidious rumours, and, in a very
great measure also, justified suspicion. Such is the
severe logic of the Redacteur en Chef of the Frew ;
and certainly his arguments are wonderfully per-
suasive, if they are not altogether unanswerable.
The political commentaries of M. ESSILE DE GI.
EARDIN are, nevertheless, very far from being infallible
or oracular. In witness whereof we may adduce a
communication just published in the columns of the
The author of this communication is none
other than the illustrious founder of the French Re-
public—that man more eloquent than VERGNIAUD,
more brave than ROLAND, more philosophic than
CONDOIICET, more pure than CHENIER, and more
abused by the slanders of ingratitude than the gentle-
hearted and enthusiastic DESMOULINS. The letter
inserted in the Siecle has allusion to a statement
made by M. DE GIRARDIN, in his recent pamphlet,
to the effect that on the 29th of March " a paid band"
threatened to destroy his printing-presses, and that
for three days " paid rioters" were stationed opposite
the office of his newspaper. Here is the refutation of
this enormous calumny, as contained in the commu-
nication addressed to the Siècle by ALPHONSE DE
i 4AbtARTINE. It appears to us so nobly characteristic
0f the
man that we give the circumstance precisely as
it is related by LAMARTINE
" On the evening," he writes, '° of March the 29th a
body of young men, artists, National Guards, and work-
men, filled the court-yard of the Hotel of Foreign