The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-29 00:00:00

A FRENCH IRRECONCILABLE,

The Revolutionary party has sustained a severe loss in
the death of Armand Barbes, who died at the Hague yes-
terday afternoon, after a long and painful illness.
Barbes, it is true, took no active part in the recent move-
ments of his party, but at one time he filled a prominent
place in its annals, and he assisted in maintaining the
theoretical dignity of the Republicans by his unquestion-
able sincerity and devotion to his cause. He
spared neither life, liberty, nor fortune, in the
interests of the Republic. He was never one of
those who incite others to action, and take care to keep
themselves aloof from danger. He has not inaptly been
compared to Garibaldi, whose chivalrous self-devotion
and courage he emulated, and whose political sagacity he
did not excel. The history of Barbbs, it has been justly
said, is the history of all the plots since 1830. He was
the leader of the insurrection of May 1839, and headed
the band who attacked the Conciergerie and killed Lieu-
' tenant Drouineau. Brought before the Chamber
of Peers and condemned to death, the forti-
tude of Barbes never faltered. Clothed in
the terrible camisole de force, he calmly awaited
the summons to the scaffold, and his " Two
days under condemnation to death" shewed how
completely he was master of himself and of his thoughts.
The reprieve which has allowed us now to chronicle his
death at The Hague was as remarkable as the man for
whom it was obtained. The poem of Victor Hugo con-
taining the line "Thanks for a cradle; thanks for a
tomb " was transmitted to the King the very night before
the day fixed for the execution. The poet prevailed over
the politician, and the reprieve was given. Barbes was
liberated by the events of Feb. 1848, but he had not learned
Prudence. He was again involved in plots and conspi-
racies, this time against the republic itself. He took
part with Blanqui, Raspail, and Huber in the scheme of
framing at the Hotel de Vine a new revolutionary ad-
ministration. He was an important character at this
epoch, for he was President of the Club of the Revolution,
Governor of the Luxembourg, Colonel of the 12th Legion
of the National Guard, and member of the Constituent
Assembly. For his participation in the manifesto of the
15th of May he was imprisoned in Vincennes, and subse-
quently sentenced by the High Court of Bourges
to imprisonment for life. Barbes remained at Belle Isle
until 1854, when a letter from him on the Russian War,
displaying his real patriotism and sincerity, came under
the notice of the Emperor, and obtained his pardon. Re-
leased from Belle Isle, the stubborn republican re-
fused to profit by imperial clemency, and coming
to Paris gave himself up to the authorities.
However he was left free, and became a voluntary exile,
feeling no doubt that his part in France was played out.
He finished his days in Belgium, and died as he had lived
a high-minded and self-sacrificing, if mistaken, man. A
writer in the Liberte says of him that "Prisoner Barbes pro-
tested against his gaolers ; set free, against his liberators
under the monarchy he conspired against the monarchy ;
under the republic he conspired against the republic. If
he had been a dictator he would have plotted against his
own dictatorship. Could even a society of saints satisfy
such a character ?"

FAREWELL MANIFESTO OF QUEEN
ISABELLA.

The following is the full text of the Manifesto of Queen
Isabella on her abdication:—
"Spaniards—My long reign has seen many sad and
troubled periods ; sad, above all, for me, because the
glory of certain facts and the progress realised while I
ruled the destiny of our dear country cannot make me
forget that loving peace and the increase of the public
good, I never saw my deepest and most cherished feel-
ings, my noblest aspirations, and my most earnest wishes
for the prosperity of Spain thwarted by acts independent
of my wilL As a child thousands of heroes proclaimed my
name, but the horrors of war surrounded my cradle. As a
girl, I had no thought but to second proposals which
appeared good and calculated to secure your happiness ;
but the heated strife of parties allowed no time for the
law and for the love of prudent reforms to take root. At
an age when reason is fortified by experience, the un-
governable passions of men whom I would not oppose at
the cost of your blood, more precious to me than my own,
have driven me to a foreign country, far from
the throne of my ancestors, to this friendly, hos-
pitable, and illustrious land, but which is not my
own country nor that of my children. Such, in brief, is
the political history of 35 years in which I have exercised
the supreme representative power of the people committed
to my charge by God's law, by personal right, by national
right. Reflecting upon this period, I cannot accuse my-
self of contributing with deliberate intention either to the
evils laid to my charge or to misfortunes which I was
powerless to avert. A constitutional Queen, I have sin-
cerely respected the fundamental laws. A Spanish woman
before all, and a loving mother, Spains's sons are all
equally dear to me. The misfortunes which I could pro-
vent were mitigated by me as far as possible. Nothing
was more grateful to my heart than to pardon and re-
ward, and I omitted nothing to prevent my subject's tears
from flowing for my cause. With feelings, that have
nevertheless been vain to spare me in my country, or
away from it, the bitter trials afflicting my life, resigned
to buffer them, and accepting the designs of Divine
Providence, I believe I can yet freely and spontaneously
make this last of my acts, all of which, without excep-
tion, have sought to promote your prosperity and secure
your tranquillity. Twenty months have passed since I
set
foot upon foreign soil, apprehensive of ills which in their
blindness tenacious supporters of illegitimate aspirations
who have been condemned by the laws of the kingdom,
by the vote 'of many assemblies, by the right of victory,
and by the declarations of the government of civilised
Europe do not hesitate to endeavour to reproduce. In
these twenty months my afflicted soul has never ceased to
hear the suffering cry which arises from my never-for-
gotten Spain. Full of faith in its future, solicitous for its
greatness, integrity, and independence ; grateful for the
support of those who were, and are, attached to me,
forgetting the affronts of those who do not know
me, or insult me, for myself I ask nothing; but I would
obey the impulse of my heart and the loyal sentiment of
the Spaniards by confiding to their honour and noble
feeling the destiny of a traditional dynasty and ;,he heir
of a hundred kings." Here follows the act of abdication,
transferring the crown to the Prince under the title of
Alfonso XII.; Isabella preserving all civil rights, and the
custody of Alfonso, while living abroad, and until pro-
claimed King by the Government and the Cortes repre-
senting the legitimate vote of the nation."

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.—Copies of orders
Council, relating to the War Department, have been pre-
sented to Parliament by command of the Queen. The
orders define the limit of power to be extended in future
to the Field-Marshal, commanding the forces in the
United Kingdom, to the Surveyor-General of the
Ordnance, and to the Financial Secretary of the War
Office, all of whom are, however, to submit, in their
government of the army, to the superior authority and
prerogative of the Secretary of State for War.
THE IRISH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.--A deputa-
tion consisting of Irish Peers and members of Parliament
representing Irish constituencies, was to have waited on
the Prince of Wales on Monday, to convey to his Royal
Highness and to the Princess an invitation to visit
Ballinasloe, during the first week in August, the date
fixed for the Annual Show of the Royal Agricultural
Society in Ireland. On Saturday, however, it was
intimated by General Knollys to Major D'Arcy
(the representative of the committee) that the Prince
would be unable to accept the invitation, for the
reason contained in the following letter, addressed
to Major D'Arcy by General Knollys :—" I have had the
honour of laying the request contained in your letter of
this day before the Prince of Wales, to the effect that
their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess would
honour the Agricultural Exhibition, to be held at Balli-
nasloe in the first week of August with their presence
and h
lam directed by is Royal Highness to request you,
in reply, to convey to the committee, as their chairman,
his great regret that, owing to the absence of the Prin-
cess and himself from England at that period it will
not be in their power to avail themselves of an invitatioto
n
which would have afforded them so much gratification
have accepted."
A TRAFALGAR-SQUARE MEETING.-011 Monday
night, a considerable number of people assembled in Tra-
falgar-square, attracted by the following advertisemenlast
t,
which had appeared in some of the advert
papers
of
week :—" Slavery in England.—A public ing
Slaves will be held in Trafalgar-square, at 8 o'clock, on
Monday evening, June 27 (to be continued weekly), when
' a Poor Slave will take the chair, and explain
the means by which slavery may be abolished
in England." As no one appeared to take the
chair, those assembled began to look uron the
proposed meeting as a hoax, and gradually to disperse.
At nine o'clock only a few stragglers were left in the
square. Just about that time a Mr. Johnson, who is con-
nected with the Democratic League meeting in Clerken-
well, entered the quadrangle, accompanied by two or
three friends, one carrying a large bundle of papers under
his arm. From their demeanour it was evident that that
they were promoters of the movement, but after taking
up a position at the foot of the monument and con-
sulting together for a few minutes, they were evi-
dently disconcerted at the small number present,
and walked away fronthe square apparently much dis
app.ointed at finding few "slaves" had responded to
their appeal.