The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-17 00:00:00

14 tcening un:

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1848.

Goito has become to the Mincio what Lodi has
been to the Adda, ever since the immortal Italian
campaigns of the young and heroic Boras-
:arm The bridge of Goito has become
identified with the first disaster of Austria
In the war of independence which has just corn-
ineneed upon the glorious soil of Lombardy. On
the Bth of April 1848, the soldiers of RADBTSLT were
covered with confusion by the valour of the patriotic
Piedmontese—they were driven from their position
on the Mincio with a loss of two thousand prisoners
a almost
ndfour pieces of artillery—their departure was
a sauve qui pout towards the suburbs of
Mantua and Verona—the broken parapets of Goito
were very nearly rendered the Caudine forks of the
German legionaries While these extraordinary
efforts at liberation
a
southern portion of Brreelse• n being made in the
the combined
rces of Sardinia, the volunteers by
sand national guards
of Lombardy are effecting a diversion int he r
emoun-
tainousCA regions situated to the north
t of f T
scarcely has the bulletin of
the is
e historic
been
oti
issued from his head-quarters on
ground
T
of Castiglione, when a proclamation by
a General
DI
ALLEANDI is disseminated among the Italian
n lege, calling upon them to rise for the furtheran-
ce Tyro
their common nationality, and for the subjugation ooff
that alien despotism which has involved even the
compatriots of Hoses in the bonds of an absolute and
irresponsible authority.
Supposing this attempt to germinate a revolution
in the Tyrol prove as successful as the aggressive
policy of the king of SARDINIA. has already done
over the first military demonstrations of Austria, the
army of RADRIIILY will find itself very speedily
in a most deplorable predicament. No passage can
be effected through the Tyrolean acclivities without
a perfect understanding with its inhabitants, and that
'understanding seems to be at this moment more than
ever of a doubtful character. During the last great
struggle between the continental powers it was suffi-
ciently shown that the untutored and undisciplined
mountaineers of the Tyrol could, with the most simple
contrivance and the most ordinary co-operation,
Wag the ,ev •
ince of a great captain, and con-
quer the airseri° •
r ray of a veteran host quite
as effectually as the naked barbarians of the north
in impeding the
Cmcrite and Auirit:dous ranks of the Macedonian.
who have recounted theare
not the only historians
rocks over the pitiless charge of a shower of
narrative has been repeateadrr of
a phalanx. The
DEAD. The biographers Rovioo and Minix-
terated at least one circu°l IgaroLuox have rei-
the facts recorded by the biographers coincident with
That one casualty graphers ALExcaDER.
may soon acquire a new
illustra-
tion
its the retrograde
generalship. RADETSKT may be of inferior
formidable weapons of n-atube assailed by those
destruction alike on the shakoesre
of which
hurled
on the helmets of ALE:XANDER. Tyrol APoLIoN and
barrier for the retreat of the Ausiansmay present a
u
aid may thus, by a bold and patrioticpon Vienna,
conduce to the capitulation of an army, ancdomteicity,
fieation of a treaty of peace. The destinies efrati-
entire peninsula repose in a manner at the feetoof the
the
Tyrolese. Let the word be spoken from the summit
•f those memorable hills—those altars of freedom
those colossal tribunes from which the Apostles of
Liberty have spoken ' to the whole world the great
truths of emancipation !—let the Sword be spoken from
the elevation of those famous hill-tops, and Italy will
be free. In the event of such an insurgent rising in
the Tyrol but one miserable outlet would remain to
the Austrian forces in Lombardy, by traversing
which the suburb* of the capital might be attained.

That outlet is the line of the Karpaths, connecting
together the Carinthians and the Tyrolese. To
reach this RADETSKY would be compelled to brave
the interposition of the Venetian auxiliaries, and to

hasten towards Saltzburg by the way of Verona,
Vicenza, Bassano, Feltre, Belluno, and so on in the
vicinity of Doblach,; Draw, and Lientz. As
ghastly a passage for a conquered army, we con-

jecture, as a cross fire from the alternate batteries
erected along the margin of the Dardanelles !
Although the campaign has only just opened be-
.

tween the Austrians and the PiEdmontese, it is by no
means difficult to conjecture the ultimate result of a
conflict in which the accumulated strength of Italy
is opposed to the decrepitude of a feeble and partially
dismembered empire. With Bohemia in one direc-
tion, and Hungary in another, and Gallicia in
another—all clamouring for concessions—the imperial
energies at Schoenbrunn will be too much distracted
to enable the Government to adventure energetically
upon the reconquest of Lombardy. Reconquest it
must be if ever the northern parts of the Roman
peninsula are to be again subjected to the thraldom of
Austria. Advisedly we call it reconquest, because
the whole of Lombardy is at this moment virtually
revolutionized because the only moral pre-
dominance yet retained in the grasp of the
VICEROY is the shadow of its dwindled, but still
terrific awe—and because all of the principal adjacent
Powers are allied to the revolted Lombards either
morally or physically. Switzerland impends the
bolt of ruin over the frontiers of what was recently
the Austrian possession in Italy. France already
hurtles the sword of a fraternizing democracy on the
boundaries of Savoy—that sword which has not yet
lost the swoop of death and the gleam of victory. Sar-
dinia has even now marched her army across the
Po, has fleshed her lance at Goito, and has carried
dismay in her banners even to the city walls of Man-
tua and Verona. Troops are marching rapidly from
Tuscany and the Papal States as contingents to the
ranks of liberation ; and even the ancient lords para-
mount of the soil, such as 11.5.11. ALEXANDRE the
Prince DI GONZAGA, are already pressing forward in
the van of that gigantic movement, which is dis-
pelling- the slavery of ages and awaking to new life
the glory of the Latin race.

The Press—the English Press—is the enemy of
the working classes ! Such is the new discovery
which has solved the perplexities of modern philan-
thropists—such is the great, and hitherto unsuspected
truth, which was proclaimed to the world on Satur-
day, April 15, 1848. The press is declared the
enemy of the working classes by no less an authority
than the National Convention; and consequently
that august assemble, in its sympathy and solicitude
fur the working classes, has, by the mou'ars of its
orators, overwhelmed the press with its eloquent and
intolerable indignation. Of what further penalty is
in store for us we are ignorant. Happily there is a
division in the enemy's camp. At the assembly on
Saturday an Honorable Delegate suggested that the
Printers and publishers of the daily newspapers should
be summoned before the bar of the house—in conformity
with the practice of "another place ;" while another
Honourable Gentleman, not so well acquainted with
Parliamentary practices, addressed his denunciations
to the reporters who happened to be present, and
strange to say, the speaker forgot to exclaim,
" Strangers, withdraw." The extraordinary pro-
ceedings of this new Parliament concluded with the
proclamation of the astonishing fact to which we have
already alluded—" The press is the enemy of the
working classes !" It is not consequently to be
supposed that the new and peculiarly popular Legis-
lature will long suffer the enemies of the people to
pursue their anti-popular proceedings. We have
indeed cause to tremble for the consequence. Little
did we imagine, while we have recently been loud in
our congratulations of those foreign nations who
have just obtained the liberty of the press, little did
we imagine that our own privileges were about to be
restricted. how, indeed, could we have surmised
that, when, in this age of liberation, the most
despotic Governments are readily conceding this
popular right (the freedom of the press) how could we
have surmised that a power emanating solely from
the people, a National Convention, a Chartist con-
gregation, should venture to overthrow this palladium
of popular liberty, an unrestricted press. Never-
theless, so it is. When that day comes, for
which of course all true patriots watch with
eager anxiety, when that day comes, when the new
Magna Charts shall be the law of the land, and the
National Convention shall have superseded the Par-

liament—when that day comes, our hour is
doomed—the press of England must be governed
by a censorship. In that jubilee of liberalism,
under the benign auspices of those enlightened
freemen, " who call it freedom when themselves are
free," the liberty of the press—that liberty in
which Englishmen have hitherto gloried—will cease
to be. We must teach our pens the unaccustomed
task of writing only scion les regles—we must stop
the press, not on the arrival of some electric dispatch,
but in order to attend to the corrections of the censor.
Yet would the popular Government be justified in
such an innovation—they would be right in interfer-
ing with the practices of the press, for the press, be
it remembered, is the enemy of the people !
The press is the enemy of the working classes! Of
all the extraordinary proceedings of the Chartist Con-
vention, this last declaration is the most extraordinary
of the unblushing effrontery which has characterised
the whole affair of the monster petition. This last
act is the most barefaced. WE—the press—the
enemies of the working classes—WE who are the very
voice of the people—ws, who in alternate tones
of argument, grief, and indignation, plead their
cause, expose their sufferings, and denounce their
wrongs ! WE, the enemies of the working classes—
WE, whose sublime endeavour is to fight and conquer
in that bloodless battle, where the weapons are reason,
and knowledge, and intellect, where the cause is truth
and charity and justice—that battle in which alone
the people's true rights are asserted, and their just
liberties achieved ! WE, the enemies of the people—
zee, who as a body, are the mirror of the people's
thoughts, and, as individuals, differing in politics, and
principles, and opinions, are, like the atoms of a
broken mirror, still true to the one common object of
reflection—the Press is the Reflection of the People.
Yet, say the Convention, we are the enemies of the
working classes, whereas in no one cause is the whole
press so unanimous as in advocating the rights of
the humbler classes of the community. Differ
apcgroi
nn cewieperlyeastmiavreaey,
, ppo Whig,rter s
ofLiberal,
Government or the the
soyrinnoun
yadrnde;
otc lsauil '
thieory supporters
s. , o n that head our
friends Of the Opposition, every
single organ of the press is is
nota friend of the working
classes. True, we
concur in individual
measures. The friends of one
reforms are the oppo-
-samespirit
people—the
nents of another. Nevertheless, th
unites us all—an anxiety to benefit the
people whose true representatives we are
rights we are the staunchest and warmest advocatewhose
whose liberties we are the staunchest guardians,
One principle unites us all. The very journal averse
to abating the tax on the poor man's food, that mani-
fests no kindly spirit towards the poor, influences their
arguments by their eloquent appeals on behalf of the
helpless factory-workers. Even those most vehement
in their denunciations of the charlatanism of Chartism,
are, perhaps, themselves true believers in the ex.
cellence of the Charter. No, we are not the
enemies of the working classes. Emphatically and
unhesitatingly we deny the assertion. But such a
denial is unnecessary—such a denial is as unneces-
sary as the assertion is false. Thelong years of ad working classes
are not likely to be deceived ;their
versity have taught them to know their friends. And
as for the kindly counsel of the Convention, which
advises the working men to discountenance all
jornuirJta:stohnieeni
demorii and
ri ctzaatlo tosb it heir interests, we heartily con-
cur it. For ourselves we are ready to abide the
test
classes." farp mo
of
joyfullyh
asnhoauckldnoww•eles,u3gbe
the Press -
England " the enemy of the working

M. LEDEII ROLLI4 IE, it seems, determined to prove
to the world how accurate was the estimate which
the late Mr. O'CONNELL formed of his character
when he denounced him to the Irish people as
an enemy to the true cause of liberty, a
tyrant in essence, and a rnan in whom no
reliance could be placed. From the conmenctment
of the reign of the Provisional Government

LEDRU ROLLIN has shown practically that he has nol
faith in republican principles, for he has been
invariably advocating an appeal to physical
force, to make all the world dress by LEDRU ROLLIN.
Setting aside the disgustingly egregious vanity,
amounting almost to insanity, exhibited by one who
thus virtually claims for himself infallibility, this
constant threat of having recourse to physical force
proves that M. LEDRIa ROLLIN Is a sceptic as to the
virtue of his own principles. No man who con-
siders he has any chance in argument ever offers either
to bet against or to fight with his opponent.
It is only when all legitimate arguments are ex-
hausted that recourse is had either to the argunzentum ad
ernmenam or to the argumenturn bacculinurn. Now,
to both these arguments has M. LEDRU ROLLIN
had recourse. He has numerous agents in
the French provinces who are arrply supplied
with money for the purpose of hiring mobs to coerce
the electors and control the elections, and he has
issued a circular, which will be found in another
column, in which occur the following passages :
" The elections, if they do not produce the triumph
of social truth—if they are not the expression of the
interests of a caste—the elections, which ought to be
the safety of the Republic, will be beyond a doubt its
destruction. In that case, there would be but one way
time
of safety for the people who made the barricades,—to
manifest
oaf
asecfaolnsde
nationalen its
representation. will,
decision andtoadjoluf social
ntibael
influences pervert the judgment or betray the will of
the masses dispersed or misled by distance, the people
of Paris believes itself, and declares itself to be cony
jointly responsible for theinterests of the whole nation."
As a proof of the sort of interpretation to be placed
on these passages, we find that the agent of M.
LEDRU ROLLIN at Montauban, entered the town at
the head of a train of artillery, and ordered the arrest
of M. LEON DE MALLEVILLE, and of all suspected
persons, thus disfranching all those who were
opposed to I‘l. LEDRU ROLLIN'S doctrines,
and that in Paris, on the afternoon of yesterday, he
assembled a mob of 150,000 workmen, with the
avowed purpose of overawing the Provisional Govern-
men. Was not Mr. O'CONNELL right in warning the
world cgainst this man? LEDRU ROLLIN, a Republican!
Let us not desecrate that sacred name by applying it
to one who if not a traitor must be a madman, and
who, by his wholesale distribution of bribes, is
affording as complete an ex post facto justification of
the corruptions of Louis PHILIPPE as he is by his
circulars of the ordonnances of CHARLES X.