The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-29 00:00:00

nit

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1848,

In the movements now making in various quarters
of Europe there is evident the commencement of a
struggle which must ultimately terminate in a general
war throughout the Continent. It has at last become
impossible to close the eyes to this certainty, to shut
the heart against this conviction. The characters on
tie wall are already too legible. The first resonance
of the horn of war may even at this moment be
heard. Nothing but a miracle can prevent a general
rrsott to arms in France, in Austria, in Prussia, in
Italy, in Spain, in Portugal. Of this there is unfor-
tunately too :much evidence. Since the beginning
of the year 1848 the two great Powers
of society' have been gradually accumulat-
iT•g their strength and concentrating their
h.itred. They now stand face to face with their
passions inflamed by a variety of reverses, by a con-
fusion of success end discomfiture, by a chaos of
hopes and fears. On the one side are the champions
of liberty, and on the other those of absolutism.
Acre are grouped together the people and their most
distinguished leaders ; there, on the contrary, are the
kings and the aristocrats, the oligarchies and auto-
cracies, the rulers by the sword, the dungeon, and
th scaffold. Wonderful as have been the events of
this memorable year, the revolutions which have
already occurred have only been the preliminary
rici:mishes of the encounter. The two conflicting
rowers of the European commonwealth cannot
rest satisfied with a drawn battle ; one or
other of them must be annihilated. The
combat is for a final victory or overthrow—a conten-
tion ala vie, v. la mort ! When, however, we speak
of general war being inealtable throughout Christen-
dom, we mean not a war between state and state,
between people and people, between the subjects of
one sovereign and those of another—but an intestine
battle of life and death, between the democratic and
despotic classes in the several dominions of conti-
nental Europe. We mean a decisive war within the
boundaries of each nation, between the men in favour
of advancement and those in favour of retrogression,
between the reactionaires and the friends of liberty,
between the revolution and the counter-revolution.

The for this definitive ttruggle will
emanate from Paris, exactly as the signal for the
Opening of the popular campaign in February came
from the same capital. And the event which will
constitute this signal will be the election of the first
publican President. No matter whether the su-
e: ssful candidate be Louis NAPOLEON, LEDRU ROL^
EUGENE eAVAIGNAC, or ALPHONSE DE LAMAR-
TINE—the signal will be ecog nised, the struggle will
ensue, the fate of despotism ore
character
will be de-
cided. No doubt but that the aracter
ment would vary according t the
of the move-
ment
multitude. In
character of the
individual selected by the
one case the predominant consequence
bloodshed, while in another the chiefnNeveeaPo'would be
ployed by the combatants would be morel anrdiepro:
'vatic. It is from this conviction as to the connexion
ex;sting between the contest for the Presidency and
the ultimate triumph of Opinions among mankind,
that we imbibe such a peculiar solicitude for the
result of occurrences on the 10th of December. And
it is because we would see blood spared as much as
pk.ssible in the capitals of the different Powers of
Europe, that we are anxious to witness the rejection
of LEDRU ROLLIN and LOUIS NAPOLEON, and the
triumph of either CAVAIGNAC or LAMARTINE. Sup-
p—ing LEDRU ROLLIN were, by some extraordinary
ell :lee, to gain the majority of suffrages, it would

one gram] step towards the revival of Terrorism

airi the guillotine; it would heighten the animosity
Nu l nerve the arm of the counter-revolution, by en-
h 'ming it 3 dread of Democracy; while, above all, it
v--; droril a terrible encouragement to those evil-

j a:. ted coDspirators who would drive " liberty mad''

',obverting all the foundations of the soci;l fabric
a-
.d giving loose to the unruly passions of the un-
c (I,z,:.ited million. In the event, again, of Prince

LGr s NAPOLEON being nominated to the chair
cl the Pi ethidency, a disastrous blow would
in :hat one act have been stricken at those
very institutions which have been gained with so
much difficulty. The reactionaires would be ani-
mated to a renewal of their efforts at retrogression,

regarding the acceptance of the Prince, very natu-
"l4l as 11 Wool encouragement to themselves. If