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

THIS EVENING,

Will be performed the first act of the Opera LA VITANDIERIL
After which, a new Faree, entitled THE MODEL COUPLE, in
which Messrs. Oxberry, G. Cooke, Mrs. Selby, and Miss E. Stanley
will perform.
To which will be added, the last act of LA SONNAMBULA.
To be followed by a New DIVERTISSEMENT.
To conclude with the Farce, entitled HIS FIRST PECCADILLO.

_ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
DUMBOLTON'S SERENADERS.

This celebrated Troupe, whose performances have excited univer-
sal admiration throughout the United States, will repeat a short
Series of their popular ETHIOPIAN ENTERTAINMENT at the
above Theatre TO-MORROW EVENING, December 13, and on
Friday Evening.
The Programme will include a variety of original Songs, Glees,
&e., entirely new to this country, written and composed expressly
for this company.
Doors open at Eight, the E
past Eight.

►ts to commence at Half-

- Boxes, 4a. ; Pit, 2s. Boxes and Stalls at Mr. Mitchell's Royal Li.
brary, 33, Old Bond-street ; and at the Box-office of the Theatre.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
o communication can be attended to unless authenti,
cated by the name and address of the writer.
Rejected communications cannot be returned.

THE WEATHER—SUN OFFICE, DECEMBER 12.
THERMOMETER, Lowest, 46; Highest, 55; Noon, 54,

BAROMETER, 30.26.
WIND S.S.W; dull hazy weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Morning .. 46 min after 2 I Evening .. 11 rain. after 3

13. ... Remusat
14. .. Jules Simon
15. ... Stourm
16. ... Grevy
17. .. Baudet
18. .. Chambolle
19. ... Cormenin
20. Buchez
21. ... Lichtenberger
22. ... Carnot
23. .. Boulatignier
24. ... Marrast
Z. .. Landrin
26. ... Lasteyrie
27. .. Falloux
28. ... Vaulabelle

▪ Baroche
• Bixio

lendemain
lendemain
vielle
vielle
vielle

vielle
vielle.

Twenty-one out of the thirty Provisional Coun-
cillors of State are consequently men pledged to the
maintenance of the Republican institutions—men
whose careers afford a guarantee of their loyalty
to the democratic form of government. Selected
m oreover immediately by the National Represen-
tation as the depositaries of the political conscience
of the nation, they enable us to estimate the propor-
tion of parties within the very bosom of the Repub-
lican Parliament. From this extraordinary prepon-
derance of the true Republicans in the National As-
sembly, and in the Provisional Council of State, it is
obvious that the destruction anticipated for the Re-
public by the retrograde party is little less than a
sheer impossibility.

Were we to repose any confidence in the assertions
of the numerous enthusiasts in the French capital,
we should certainly be bewildered into the belief that
more Presidents than one would emerge from the
ballot-boxes of the metropolis and the depart-
ments. The adherents of CAVAIGNAC would
compel us to credit the certainty of his
election. The motley supporters of Louis
NAPOLEON would reduce us to the conviction
that the Prince must be victorious. Nay, the select
worshippers of LAMARTINE would leave us in no
doubt as to the ultimate triumph of the poet-states-
man. Sullen threats and sinister predictions are the
only demonstrations in favour of RASPAIL or LE-
DRU-ROLLIN, though the resolution of the Red
Ultras, and of the Socialist faction, is as earnest as
that of the admirers of the other competitors.
Throughout the haze of obscurity resulting from
these opposite reports not one glimmering beam of
light is perceptible. We must tarry—and, tarrying,
we must repose in confidence
.upon the capacity of
the French multitude to choose for themselves.
Whatever is their decision it should, and will, be held
sacred. The future President will be the embodi-
ment of the will of the nation, be that President
LAMARTINE, Or CAVAIGNAC, Or LOUIS NAPOLEON.
He will be consecrated by the votes of the people
—votes rendered doubly potent by emanating
from universal suffrage and lying under the shelter of
the ballot. President LAMARTINE, or President
CAVAIGNAC, or President BONAPARTE—the choice of
the electors will have rendered him the very incar-
nation of French nationality.

Rumour declares that, as yet, the Prince Louis
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE has the most probability of
success. Supposing this to be veritably the case, and
presuming that the patriotism of the Prince has ex-
tinguished his ambition, we could yet indulge in a
day dream of the consolidation of the Republican
Government under his Presidency. This day-dream
he might realise, and its realisation would be this :
ARMAND MARRAST, Vice-president of the Republic,
General CAVAIGNAC, Minister of War, M. DE
LA-
MARTINE, Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. MARIE,
Minister of Justice, M. GARNIER PAGES, Minister
of, Finance, M. DUFAURE, Minister of the Interior,
General CHANGARNIER, Commander of the National
Guard, General SUBERVIE, Commander of Paris,
General LAMORICIERE, Governor of Algeria, M.
DUPONT (de l'Eure), President of the Council, with-
out portfolio, M. FRESLON, Minister of Public Wor-
ship, M. SENARD, President of the National As-
sembly. With a continuance of the jealousies
which still distract political parties in France,
we must acknowledge that such a combi-
nation and reconciliation appears to be the very
acme of improbability. Yet all might be ac-
complished satisfactorily for France if her different
statesmen had the self-forgetfulness and the unam-

bitious patriotism of M. DE LAMARTINE—if they
would consent to take the second, the third, or even
the last place in labouring to secure her happiness.

The accounts from Ireland are still of the most
painful character. Day by day the gloom that over-
hangs the entire country, more especially the southern
and western districts, deepens in intensity. Every
post brings us intelligence of wholesale evictions, of vast
tracts of land being cleared of their miserable inhabi-
tants, of cottages rased to the ground, and the house-

less and homeless wretches who formerly obtained
shelter therein, being driven at this inclement season
from their humble abodes without a morsel of food or
the protection of a roof. On the other hand, we are
told of absconding tenants ; of those who have the
ability, but not the will to satisfy the just demands of
their landlords, who convert their entire stores into
cash, and fly from their native land to seek a home
on the other side of the Atlantic, kaving large arrears
not only of rent, but also of rates, tithe, rent charge,
and other demands that remain charges on the hold-
ings, and must, of course, be satisfied by the defrauded
proprietors. It would, in fact, appear as if a fierce
conflict was carried on between the landlord and
tenant classes, as if the sole object of each was to

inflict the utmost degree of injury on the other. Of
course there are many honourable exceptions. Men
are to be found who discharge their duties honestly
and conscientiously; but we regret to say that the
general rule is otherwise, and it requires but little
prescience to foresee the inevitable result. 'We have
been told, on the highest authority, " that a house
divided against itself cannot stand." Society in Ire-
land is, unhappily, so divided ; and unless peace can
be restored between the belligerents—unless both
parties are disposed to yield a little, and to act
upon a system of reciprocity and mutual advantage,
it will be vain to hope for the arrival of more
prosperous and happier days.

This untoward state of affairs may partly be attri-
buted to the enormous burdens that press with equal
severity upon all. The great mass of the people are
kept in a state of idleness, unprofitably consuming
the resources of the country. A want of capital, or
rather a want of circulating medium sufficient for
the national exigencies prevents the peasantry from
obtaining employment, as they cannot maintain
themselves by the wages of their labour; they are
driven to the poor-rates for support, and these poor-
rates absorb the greater portion of the produce of the
land, and a perpetual struggle is thereby occasioned be-
tween the proprietors and occupiers of the soil—both
classes cannot be supported thereout The dimini-
tive profits will not bear division. They therefore,
respectively, endeavour to oppress or to defraud their
opponents, to obtain all for themselves.

The only adequate remedy for the sufferings of
Ireland is the due development of her industry.
There are many means by which profitable employ-
meat raay
be provided for the people, and the only is the best practical mode of availing our-
selves of these
opportunities by affording effectual
relief to the labong
classes without burdening the
community at large.
Among
the
plainest and most
obvious of these methods we g
urould aain, although we
have already repeated it
the reclamation of the -waste landasd,nauseam, refer to
and a proper at-
tentionesteeme
jdoncoNrres
I he steoctohned Irish e
letter
s ohfe rioeus .r
pondent,
anotheritusSELL,
Mr. RIGBY WASON, tO Loan
which will be found in extenso in
exposes, with caustic severity, the absurditl:fe°lo
utf:r:ohe
maxims and rules of the " One-eyed men,"
se
who cannot perceive that the only alternative that
remains is whether the government will feed the
people in some of the Irish unions, or compel them
to work in exchange for the food that must be
given to them. It is impolitic for the Government to
employ the people, cry the " One-eyed men"—it is
impolitic to interfere with the rights of property. So
the people are demoralised by being maintained in
idleness at an enormous expense, but then they are
not employed by the State. The lands remain waste
and uncultivated, alike unprofitable to their nominal
owners and to the community in general, but then the
rights of property are preserved inviolate. Thus 1
everything of practical utility is sacrificed to the 1

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