The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-17 00:00:00

according to the French historian, no victories at all; they
were all mere delusions ; the French, it is true, had suf-
fered in some instances, but, as VOLTAIRE says of the

British troops at the battle of Fontenoy, their defeat
was as glorious as a victory. In every instance that oc-
curs to us, M. Tnrans gives the preference to his coun-
trymen for naval tactics, hard fighting, and daring enter-
prise, and is only a little puzzled in winding up his tale
to account for the result. From these facts, we are
justified in inferring that, in his reveries about the vic-
tories which, under the ORLEANS dynasty, should equal
those of the empire, he dreamed of the dominion of the
sea as well as the boundary of the Rhine. All these
visions, however, have vanished, for in the speech to
which we allude, he fully admits that France cannot
compete with England at sea. For forty ships of the
line which France can build and maintain, he said Eng-
land could raise one hundred, and the vast difference be-
tween the respective forces, therefore, could leave no room
'or doubt as to which would ultimately prevail. This is
an important admission from one hitherto so vain-
glorious, and who may in a few years be again Prime
Minister of France. But this apparent change of opinion
is accompanied by other circumstances of far more
*eight. Latterly the tone of the Paris journals has
exhibited a great diminution of asperity in reference to
the policy and power of England. They reason calmly
on her victories in India—even praise the moderation
of the Governor-General ; and one of them, usually
most hostile to England, admits that " no nation more
extensively fulfils its providential mission." The op-
position in the Chamber has undergone the same re-
generation—even M. BILLAULT can speak of England
with decent composure; and all these violent and un-
becoming displays which some years since made the
events at Otaheite, and especially the PRITCHARD affair,
absolutely ridiculous, are never by any chance re-
peated. At one time it was understood that the
ex-Minister was paying his court to the Duke
DE NEMOURS and his brother JOIN VILLE, in the hope
Jiat they disapproved of the peaceful policy which
has so honourably distinguished the reign of their
father, and that they might join with him in
reviving the glory of the French army, and defeating
England in her own territory by means of steam-boats.
But he evidently has met with no favourable reception
from that quarter, and is obliged to fall back upon the
only chance of recovering power left to liim,'and *owe
a warm advocate of peace with Englahti. Lord PAL-
MERSTON is in somewhat a simile; iositienA -Earl GREY
oad pronounced a ban upon him, ,iihireh went forth to the
whole of Europe and met with warm approbation from
Lhe friends of peace, as well as from all those Powell
..vho reprobated the Syrian expedition. The Fiiiiab
Opposition were in ecstacies to find their most eltusgeroes
opponent blackballed by his own colleague, arid the war-
'ilte spirit of Lord PALMERSTON made the real ground
;,e demolishing the RUSSELL Cabinet. A brand was
hus fixed upon the ex-Foreign Minister, which no ex
o!anations, no professions of a sincere desire for peace,
no expressed determination to maintain to its full extent
the entente cordiale, could efface, and the appointment of
Lord PALMERSTON to his former office, in case of a change
of administration, would have been regarded by the
French Chamber as a declaration of war ; for they
might well say—" This is not our opinion only, you
yourselves admit the fact; you wish to live at peace, but
it the same time, men who know your Cabinet secret:
better than we do, tell us plainly there can be no secu-
ity for peace while PALMERSTON is at the Foreign
,tfice." The impossibility of giving a satisfactory recly
,o such an argument has not been without effect, and
,robably has mainly contributed to the friendly inter-
:ourse of civilities which are now going on Paris
Whatever may be the real cause, however, the friends of
ieace will rejoice in the result. -By personal communi-
sations, by witnessing improvements as observable in
France as in England, by experiencing the hospitality
and the warm congratulations of Frenchmen of all par-
les, and also by judging more intimately of the real cha-
ecter of the people, Lord PALMERSTON may learn an
iseful lesson, and he and M. THIERS may the more rea-
lily admit the folly, as well as the wickedness, of bring
ng into collision, from personal pique or some cause
qually undignified, two nations whose friendly co-
operation is absolutely necessary for promoting the wel-
fare of both, and securing the peace of the world.

Another glance at the devastations which still pro-
•eed in our beautiful, but doomed Ireland, is almost re-
luisite, from the terrible character of the most recent
otelligence from that quarters nor can it but be inte-
resting at the present juncture. To-night Parliament.
Kill resume its sittings by taking under immediate con-
,ideration the kind of legislation which should be
adopted towards the Irish multitude, and hence it be-
comes absolutely necessary to weigh every indi-
cation of mal- government by which the species
of correctives to be employed become more recog-
nisable, During some months it has been our un-

fortunate duty to comment upon the exigencies of that
wretched population, and to insist earnestly and laces-
sandy upon the certainty there was of such ulterior
woes es would baffle the interposition and hamper the
movements of the Legislature. Again and again our voice
has been raised in supplication for the destitute millions of
Irish, and in warning against that accumulation of ills
by which the efficacy of any Government intervention
would then become null and powerless. Unless a more
rapid policy be adopted by Parliament in dealing with
the wants of Ireland—unless effurts of a more sponta-
neous nature be made in behalf of the famine-stricken
millions, the " Great Ministerial Difficulty" will

defy the ingenuty of the mass of remedy- mongers.
Circumspection is, urhubtedly, a wholesome adjunct
in legislation, but There are circumstances in which an
over-scrupulousness would be criminal in the rulers of
a great empire. When thousands are pinched with the
fiercest pangs of hunger ; when tumultuary crowds
defy the arm of the law by their insubordination ;
when whole parishes are abandoned to disease and
death, with nothing but poiso,ous food, it is as
suredly not the moment to cavil over the
propriety of this detail or of that formality.
An awful example of this d contr.versy
has been given us by our illustrious and ii,comparabl..
iloometu : every one will remember the picture in
which he delineares the heroine of Marriage a la ,l/ode
expiring in acute torments, while the rival physician
are wrangling over their panaceas. Here is the potion.
—here is the inestimable pill; both are paraded as cer-
tain to prove remedial; but in the midst of the argu-
ments the pati,nt attains the climax of the disorder, and
renders recovery through human power all Lut impossible.
There is a resemblance in the comparison closer than
the superficial might at first conjecture. WILLIAM
lIOGARTH, in that production, advanced a gnat moral
truth of universal application ; what hob's good in this
r spect individually, holds good also in the multitude ;
what is appropriate in this particular to the ph} sician, is
appropriate likewise to the legislator. Unless, therefore,
some speedier means be applied for the reclamation
of Ireland, the evils of famine, of contagion, of insubor-
dination, will exceed all ordinary bounds of s uppression.
The great under-current is in motion; an effective:
effort must be made at once, or the consequences must
prove dire beyond calculation. We do not aspire
to the post of those who would needlessly gene-
rate a panic; we abhor conduct of such wilful
atrocity; but when we behold so many thousands
of our
dreadful
concomitants,fellow-countrymen
thoughgoade we on
wouldby starvation
still
de
depre-
cate s.
,vweouwroualuda have the legis-
lative remedy
cate any undneadpvraecnciepaitatin
rigour witho
with-
out any petty attention to the minutiae of separatyec;lau:
We cannot but hope that the Members of the LoWeeti.
r
House will perceive the real urgency of the case, and spurn
from their counsel anything like captious opposition. We
earnestly trust that, with the various indications of the
present mal-administration of affairs in Ireland—the
incesmant and wholesale evictions—the indifference to the
effusion of blood—the riots around the flour-dray at
Tipperary, and the ferocious assault upon the mills, at
Clonmel—we earnestly trust, that with these sig-
nificant facts before thorn, a conscientious sense
~f the responsibility which devolves upon them
will impel them to some conclusion forthwith. Accord-
ing to Freeman's Journal, the wretched beings who
mingled in the last•mentioned outbreak were " reduced to
the utmost extremity of distress; their bones protruding
through the skin which covered them." These are the
people for whose redemption from the jaws of death, and
for whose preservation from anarchy, Government has to
legislate. They are not therefore a meta admitting of a
tardy or elaborated policy. What good has to be done
in their retard, must be done at once. Delay is ruin.
_ -

The following letter from Cracow, dated April 5, is pub-
lished in the Uniursal Gennetn Gazette of the 12th :
" The officer of the militia, M. Ducillowicz, who betrayed
the conspirators to the authorities, and apprised them of the
hour fixed for the explosion of the insurrection, has been
struck with apoplexy, and is at present in the hospital. A
nervous fever prevails amongst the Austrian corps of occu-
pation in this city. Letters from Warsaw state that the G -
vernor of that city has adopted strong measures to preserve
order. The troops sleep in the streets, and at 3 o'clock the
houses are closed. We are ignorant of the states& Galicia,
as all communication has been interrupted. We merely
know that the peasants had not yet! returned to their.duty.
The Austrian army had suffered some loss in the forest of
Niepolomidec. The insurgents dug pits, which they covered
vith loose earth, and when the cavalry charged, several were
dismounted, and put to death without mercy. When' in
want of provisions, the peasants
_advance to boa:cilia;
abd
even to Wretitzka."

There are no later accounts from Madrid than those re-
itits/Urt Thigi anamwed the smositni of OOP