The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-09 00:00:00

lxvnin al tzmo

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1848.

Democracy on the Continent has recently learnt
by experience that SIIAKSPERE was right, in more
senses than one, when he declared that misfortunes
come in battalions. RADETZKY has illustrated the
truth to Milan, WRANGEL to Berlin, and WINDISCII-
GRATZ to Vienna. Before long JELLACHICH may
administer the same instruction to Pesth, unless the
heroic followers of KOSSUTH vindicate the character
of the Hungarians. Precisely at this junc-
ture, when the retrograde party is 1.1-joie-
ing in the recollection of its late successes,
when the ambition of the German revolutionists
affords an evidence of its abatement, when the
noisiest amongst the boisterous legislators at Frank-
fort-on-the-Maine are beginning to nod over the
delibera`lons of the Imperial Parliament, two occur-
rences startle the agitators of the German population
into a renewal of their efforts for the furtherance and
development of the Democratic movement. Those
two occurrences are big with the destinies of Chris-
tendom. They eclipse all others, for the time being,
by their magnitude. They are a fitting consumma-
tion of this year of political miracles. They concen-
trate upon themselves the attention of the Euro-
peans —an attention which had until now
been distributed in so many opposite directions.
Pope Pius IX. is forgotten for the moment in his
banishment at Gaeta, and the multitude regard with
a somewhat diminished interest the conflicting ru-
mours afloat as to the place of the venerable PONTIFF'S
destination—according to the Times, Malta; accord-
ing to the Herald, Barcelona; according to the
Chronicle, Benevento. Ihe brilliant exploits of
CABRERA in Catalonia, the Court jealousies of CABRAL
and SALDANHA, the anticipated dismissal of NAR-
VAEZ through the intrigues of the Duchess DB
RIANZARES, the skirmishes already taking place in
the French departments between the ultra-Democrats
and the Bonapartists, the conspiracies of MAzzINI
amongst the lakes of Lombardy, and of CANINO
amidst the desecrated palaces of Rome, the Croatian
forays of JELLACHICH, the preliminary measures
adopted by Annas PACHA to form a new. Egyptian
Government—all sink into momentary oblivion and
comparative insignificance when contrasted with the
two extraordinary events to which we are nlw
making allusion. So momentous, indeed, is the
character of these occurrences, that the imagina-
tion has not leisure to revert eastwards to Asia,
where the Seikhs and English are collecting their
opposing forces among the brick-kilns of Moulton
and ndunder the battlements of Lahore, or westwards
America, where the Whigs and the Locofocos are
preparing to meet the difficulties consequent upon the
recent election of a President
Nothing is of com-
parable attraction in the world e
of politics wi▪ th the
facts which have simultaneously transpired in the
palatial seclusion of Sans Sc:c3i
former, FREDERIC WILHELM IVandßng ofPrussia,
O.lmutz. In the
has
has dissolved his Parliament, en.ri
new Constitution ! In the latter,
Fitabizoclai▪
med a
Emperor of Austria, has abdicated in'l. the
fat
.
nephew, the Archduke FRANCIS JOSEPH, the fathof
ers
of the latter, the Archduke FRANCIS CHARLES, having
waived, In favour of his son, his own right to the he.
reditary succession ! Of the arbitrary proceedings -of
the Prussian Charlatan we shall speak on a subse-
quent occasion. At present our allusions must be re-
stricted to the wonderful changes effected in the po-
sition of Austria.

The new Emperor FRANCIS JOSEPH the
FIRST ascends the imperial throne of Ro-
DoLruE when the year of his age is the
eighteenth—a time of life which severally marked the
commencement of the reigns of NERO and of HENRY
VIII. May the destinies of the Austrian SOVEREIGN
be the direct antithesis of those which hare covered
the names of NERO and of HENRY with everlasting
infamy ! May his counsels be directed by a wisdom
as sage as that which emanated from the lips of
SENIsTA and WoLsEy ! If the proofs which have
already been given by the young Prince of valour,
circumspection, and intelligence, may be regarded as
th-_, portents of his manhood, we may augur well for
the progress of a reign which has opened at a period
so peculiarly troublous and alarming. It is in solemn
language that the first proclamation of the youthful
EMPEROR closes. "It is an awful time," says he,
" in which we ascend the throne of our fathers. Great
are the duties or our office, great is its responsibility.
May Goo protect us." Appreciating in this manner
the solemnity of his position, it is to be hoped that
FRANCIS JOREPIi the Fiasr comprehends in like