The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-09 00:00:00

tiVnln

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1846.

General SANTA AIUNA has issued a proclamation
unfolding the character of his intended policy, and
nobly have the anticipations of his countrymen been
realised! After narrowly escaping from the domi-
nation of an unpatriotic dictator, and that moreover
at the very moment when their existence as an inde-
pendent principality is threatened by the rapacity of
a neighbouring Government, the Mexicans will, if
they have any regard for their own prosperity,
welcome a document which is prophetic of so many
national advantages. With a Ministry professing the
most ultra-liberal principles, with GOMEZ FARIA3 as
Minister of Finance, ALMONTE, Minister of War,
RsJow, Minister of Foreign Affairs, PACHECO,
Minister of the Department of Justice, but espe-
cially with ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA as
President of the Republic, Mexico may now take hope
to herself, that without any European intervention she
may justify the expectations of her most enthusiastic
compatriots, thwart the avaricious machinations of
her invaders, and re-establish the integrity of her
dominions, and the permanent liberality of her con-
stitution. Visionary as this beautiful scheme may
have appeared hitherto, there is now an opportunity
for its successful prosecution. The Mexicans have
freedom, tranquillity, wealth, and happiness within
their reach, if they will only stretch forth their hand
and seize them. Courage, constancy, and unanimity
are, however, necessary before those glorious boons
can be obtained. An ordeal more terrible than
burning plough-shares must be passed before those
benefits can be effected. Let them, nevertheless, but
take confidence to themselves, and their greatness as
a nation, and their glory as a people, are already and
la.stingly accomplished. _ _

Although the Americans have established themselves
so formidably upon the frontiers and although they nave
actually taken possession of the ports of California, San
Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego, there is so much
that is propitious in the character of the recent revc-
lution at Vera Cruz, that the United States may he
not merely repulsed in their subsequent aggressions,
but may have their present unlawful conquests vio-
lently wrested from their grasp. So great is the pr(
bability of such a vicissitude, that the inhabitants of
the towns just mentioned have retreated by a simul-
taneous movement into the interior so intense and
universal is their antipathy to the enlightened annex-
ators I But that such an alteration of circumstances
in the position of the belligerents is not a frivolous
anticipation, is further demonstrated by the vigorous
and resolute character of the new Administration, and
especially by the principles avouched by the new
President. It is impossible for any one who has
the slightest sympathy with the struggles of a race
foe' government compatible with their natural rights, •

and consonant with the advancement of civilisation,
it is impossible for such an individual to read the
long and eloquent proclamation just issued by SANTA
ANNA, without experiencing emotions of exultation
at its sentiments, or without yearning for the tri-
umph of a cause so noble and gigantic. On a
former occasion, the new President acknowledges,
his policy was essentially different ; he struggled
for a certain moderation in the liberties ensured by a
Republican Government ; he aimed at constructing
an adroitbalance in the executive authority; he "hoped
to moderate by the inertia of Conservative instincts, the
vehemence of popular masses." Experience has taught
him a severe but salutary lesson ; in his solitude and
banishment at Havanna he has conned the necessities
of his country ; and, taking a warning from the
miseries which have been entailed upon Mexico by an
adherence to the policy he had originally regarded as
alone of beneficial tendencies, he has recognised the
real exigencies of her position, and now beholds the
necessity of a wholesale reformation. SANTA ANNA
saw, moreover that, through the pusillanimity or the
perfidy of PAREDES, Mexico was abandoned to a ca-
lamitous alternative ; that, unless some strenuous and
chivalrous effort were made in her behalf, her destinies
would never more be in the ascendant ; that she was
about to be delivered up, bound hand and foot, to
the servitude of a foreign prince, or to be annihilated
by a piecemeal annexation. "As one of the principal
chiefs of the independence of our country," exclaims
SANTA ANNA, "and as founder of the republican
system, I was indignant at this endeavour of some of
its sons to deliver the nation up to the scoffs of the
world, and to carry it back to the ominous days of
the conquest. I thereupon took the firm determina-
tion to come and aid you to save our country from
such a stain, and to avoid the horrible consequences
of a measure by which its glorious destiny was to
be reversed, carrying it back to what it was, and what
it never should be again. To execute this determina-
tion was to offer up my blood to any one who, in
case of failure, might choose to shed it, in compliance
with the terms of the barbarous decree which drove
me from the republic ; but I preferred to perish in this
nobler attempt, rather than appear indifferent to the
ignominy of my country, and see the countless sacri-
fices made for our independence and the right to
govern ourselves rendered illusory."
Fired by this heroic resolution, the restored Pre-
sident appeals to the body of his countrymen to form
for themselves a constitution adequate to their wants
and capabilities. He demands their suffrages—not
an irresprisible dictatorship. He declares that the
will of the majority must govern the obedient
minority—not that the will of the minority should
domineer over the debased and enslaved majority.
His ambition has assumed a benign and humanising
lustre. His voice is persuasive with the earnestness
of the GRACCHI, with the eloquence of BOLIVAR and
"Mexicans !" he exclaims—
" There was once a day—and my heart dilates with
the remembrance—when leading on the popular masses
and the army to demand the rights of the nation, you
saluted me with the enviable title of Soldier of the
People. Allow me again to take it, never more to be
given up, and to devote myself until death to the defence
of the liberty and independence of the nation."
Let that voice be heard ; let SANTA ANNA, " the
Soldier of the People," marshal his countrymen under
the gonfalon of liberty ; let the power of the President
be restrained within the limits he has himself indicated,
and the cause of Mexico is triumphant.

One of our poets, who is still living, in the course
of a conversation upon the merits of the bard of
Avon, remarked, that no matter what play of his was
taken up for perusal, the reflective reader could not
relinquish its pages without feeling he was a better
man. Incomparable as is the language of SHAKE-
SPEW; highly artistical as is the manner in which
the various passions of our nature are marshalled,
challenged, and developed in his unexampled produc-
tions, it is, nevertheless, to the truthfulness of the ob-
servation, that a lofty strain of morality pervades the
whole of them, that we must assign, beyond all others,
the cause of the great hold which the writings of our
immortal poet have for centuries preserved over the
literary affections of this and every other civilised
country. Parva magnis componere, we feel justified
in asserting that a perusal of any one of Lord Mon-
PETIeS speeches never fails to imbue the mind with
pure and enlarged views. The address recently de-
livered by the Noble Lord at the Mechanics' Institu-
tion in Bradford, adds another laurel to the moral,
intellectual, and statesmanlike reputation of the
Ciaief Commissioner of her 11A.msrr's Woods and Fo-
rests. The classicality of Lord MORPETH'S mind ever
clothes his ideas in simple and winning language,
certain of captivating the audience, whilst their rea-
son is equally sure of being convinced by the great
and enduring truths which his Lordship so touch-
ingly imparts, and advocates with such invariable
success.

It is delightful to contemplate the existence and
rapid spread of the numerous mechanics' institutes
already established in our various towns and cities.
But a few years ago the miserable cry was being con-
stantly dinned into our ears of a little knowledge
being a dangerous thing, and of the consequent
impolicy, not to say cruelty, of attempting
to educate the humbler classes of our com-
patriots. Selfish and uncharitable thoughts 1 A
master mind, however, was present among us to
break the spell of this ignoble delusion. Lord
BROUGHAM, to whom the di=passionate ♦oice of pos-
terity will yield the palm of having, beyond any other
man of his age, by his gigantic grasp of intellect,
originated most, and accelerated many, of the useful
reforms, political and social, of the nineteenth cen
tury—Lord L'aoucttAm led the van, and the seeds,
scattered under his influence and that of other worthy
coadjutors, are already teeming with fruit, and general
education, as a national duty, happily occupies, at the
present hour, a large space in the public mind. The
formation of literary, scientific, and mechanical re-
pertories, under the associated auspices of private
benevolence, constituted the nucleus from whence a
wholesome impetus was given towards the supply of
the mental wants and desires of all classes, the highest
and wealthiest excepted. The satisfactory working
of these institutions awakened Lord MELBOURNE'S
Government to the propriety of obtaining, through
Parliament, an annual sum of 30,000/, in furtherance
of enlightening the ignorant masses of the community.
That sum, since increased to 50,000/., was, and is,
paltry indeed, but the principle conceded was all
potential; and every hour testifies to,the deep interest
which the industrial classes, who form the great plat-
form of society, take in its further progress. Re-
tropectively contemplated, the mechanics' institutes
are like so many rills, springing, almost unob'ervedly,
as it were, from a distant and scarce regarded upland :
a healthy stream is now flowing from their tributary
confluence, refreshingly invigorating every soil
through which it meanders, and, growing with its
growth, and strengthening with its strength, it4pro-
miscs to expand, compass, and fertilize the most
barren and unfavoured spots of Great Britain.
Much as is generally expected from the Government
in the ensuing session, in reference to stimulating
the cause of national education, still it must be re-
collected that the functions of the Government, on so
large a question as this, will derive their chief utility
through the superintendent and directive powers with
which Parliament may think proper to invest them.
The magnitude of the sum that would be required to
place within the reach of the rising generation the
advantages of a sound and elementary education,
would be an encumbrance far beyond what the public
finances could support. Parliament can, and doubt-
less will, do much in countenancing, and, to a pru-
dent extent, contributing towards what is necessary
in supporting a well-organised system ; but, as Sir It.
PEEL has already declared in the House of Commons,
for the success of any scheme for this splendid object,
the hearty co-operation of individual benevolence
must be chiefly looked to and relied upon. Acknow-
ledging the force of this observation, we regard the
well-being of the mechanics' institutes with peculiar
gratification. Their active promoters must applaud
the philosophical wisdom with which Lord MORPETII
has indicated the means at their command for ac-
complishing a vast amount of ulterior good, exclusive
of what they have hitherto so benignly prosecuted
and no apprehension crosses our mind ; on the con

trary, it is redolent of hope that an enlightened and
liberal support will be given to the mental progress
awl moral culture of the United Empire. Lord
MORPETII, addressing the great employers of labour,
wisely said," I feel it to be eminently theirduty, but not
more their duty than their interest, to take every
means of surrounding themselves with an orderly, a,