The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-30 00:00:00

-

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1848.

Our annual retrospect becomes, we must acknow-
ledge it at once, somewhat embarrassing at the close
of a year so wonderful in its character and so fruitful
in its occurrences as the year 1848—the year which
beyond all others is entitled to the appellation of the
Annus Mirabilis. It has been already christened the
Year of Revolutions ; but 1848 is not memorable
solely for its political events ; it has proved unpre-
cedented in almost every particular. The terror
excited during the past twelve months by the anarchy
looming upon us through the "bloody haze" of in-
surrection, in which the whole continent of Europe
was enveloped, derived a very extraordinary
enhancement from the dismay excited by the
impending scourge of the Asiatic Cholera. Added to
this, the inhabitmats even of those countries which
were the least affected by the general convulsion
found ample cause for lamentation in the scarcity of
provisions, in the absence of employment, in the stag-
nation of industry, in a commercial and financial panic,
such as had seldom, if ever before been experienced,
in the anticipation of revolt, in the distracting fluctu-
ations of the money market, in the anguish of a severe
and increasing mortality, and in a variety of other
strange and bewildering calamities. If, like the
earlier fugitives from the first French Re-
volution, we hurried from the crimes and
wretchedness of the more populous regions of the
globe, and sought consolation amidst the more un-
frequented tracks of the ocean, or acrcss the ice
mountains of the arctic circle, our sympathies were
oppressed with doubts as to the safety of iir JOHN
FRANXLIN and his companions, or our imaginations
were startled by. the rumoured re-appearance of the
sea-serpent. Sans of a diabolical character were
perpetrated in the very heart of the domestic tran-
quillity of England, which added a new horror to
that originating in the catastrophe%
of gigantic
empires. From the miserable concubine who
strangled her two children on the I%t of
January, in the madness of a momentary paroxysm
of jealousy, or from the murder of a soldier in St.
James's-park by a pistol-shot fired by the delicate
hand of a grisette, down to the tragical assassination
of the Recorder of Norwich and his son, under cir-
cumstances as melodramatic as any one of the ro-
mantic incidents depicted by the morbid colouring of
Da BALZ•c ! Nor have these obscure and individual
atrocities been unaccompanied by disasters of a
wholesale and appalling character. One while the
sanctity of the grave was violated, and the dead burnt
in their shrouds by the flames accidentally kindled
among the coffins in the vaults of St. Sa-
viour's Church, Southwark. At another mo-
ment a tremendous conflagration carried de-
solation and destruction through the streets of
Albany. In August, one hundred emigrants
were lost in the blazing ruins of the Ocean
Monarch ; while in December, seventy-three were
suffocated in the steerage cabin of the Londonderry.
Disease or conspiracy mowed down, at the same time,
in the very thick of events, men whose careers were
conspicuous, or whose names had long been recorded
in the catalogue of the illustrious. Here the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury (HowLEr) died in his bed in
the fulness of years—there, the Archbishop of Paris
(Arras) perished at the foot of a barricade, bearing
the olive-branch to the blood-stained rebels of the
faubourgs, and dispensing his benedictions over the

capital of France were delivered up for four days to
the fury of the demons of insurrection, leaving 10,000
corpses tie the attestations of their inhumanity. In
July a rebellion, which was attempted by the Irish
demagogues, led only to the disgrace of the
latter near Ballingarry, and to the suspension
of the Habeas Corpus Act in the sister country by
order of the two Houses of Parliament. In August
a collision again raged in the public places of Vienna
between the workmen and the military. In Sep-
tember the efforts of the Magyars to accomplish
the labour of their emancipation was renewed. In
October the Austrian EMPEROR was a second time
obliged to escape from the Castle of Schanbrunn, and
the Viennese held for the time being in their grasp the
destinies of several distinct nations. In November,
the revolutionists of Germany were silenced by the
guns of WINDISCHGRATZ, and pillaged by the savages
of JELLACHICH ; while Pope Pius IX. was com-
pelled to fly from the Papal dominions to
seek protection from murderers in the Neapolitan
sea-port of Gaeta. In December a youth of eighteen
ascended the throne of RonoLpir, and the son of
HORTENS BRAIJHARNALS occupied one of the palaces
of the Emperor NAPOLEON, in virtue of his
right as President of the French Republic.
Looking back through the darkness and confusion
of these twelve memorable months, we can well
appreciate that thrilling exclamation of MAcAuLAT,
that at moments we are almost forced to doubt
whether or not we shall " sacrifice Liberty to save
Civilization !"

The absolute necessity of a speedy and comprehen-
sive financial reform is now fully recognised through-
out the length and breadth of the land. The example
afforded by the people of Liverpool has been fully
appreciated, and will be followed in all parts of the
empire. The information disseminated by the exer-
tions of the Liverpool Association—the startling
revelations that have taken place, the monstrous
abuses that have been exposed--..are producing their
natural results ; the good seed will not remain
barren or unproductive. A peaceful and constitu-
tional movement is taking place that must even-
tually lead to the desired alterations. Finan-
cial reform associations are springing up in
different parts of the country, and we venture to pre-
dict that no free and independent constituency will
be without its branch or auxiliary society, to partici-
pate in the
,contest, and more especially to bring
conviction home to the minds of those anxious for
seats in the representative branch of the Legislature
The rise, progress, and ultimate triamph of the Anti-
Corn-law League have taught the people the means
by which great reforms may be achieved, and the use-
ful lesson will not he forgotten or disregarded. Al-
ready it has been acted on in Scotland. A magni-
ficent meeting was held on Wednesday in Edinburgh,
presided over by the LORD PROTOST, at which it was
unanimously resolved, that "it was expedient to form
at Edinburgh a Financial Reform Association, which,
acting independently of party, and without aiming at
organic changes, shall adopt all lawful and constitu-
tional means for effecting a thorough reform in the
national financial affairs." The principles laid down
at the meeting, as well in the resolutions that were
submitted for consideration, and the language
of the several gentlemen who addressed the assembly,
proved that there was no desire to " clip and pare
down the men who really served the country, or to
effect reductions" inconsistent with the maintenance
of the establishmenta which are essential to the
safety, the dignity, or the integrityin his
great.
there the Lcao:rdbePrnoovodstousbtat
address,
dmdprierses.
ed
thafittntnies
country
end of the land to the otherecono they had has been stricken with a fit of thrift. From
calling out, Econoeny
humourarnalalentrd.,, extent,sooner
or later, and to a larger ornlys.
they would have their
their demands will be reasonable—the
tend,
elbyv
eiulntl
prune the overgrown branches of the State With eau.
tion—they will ask for nothing that
by implication, to weaken the faith of the nation, nor
yet to injure in any way the great institutions of the
State." His Lordship also added, and the sentiment
was enthusiastically responded to—that " he had a
strong feeling that those gallant men who had fought
our battles by land and by sea ought to be honour-
ably and liberally rewarded." This is the true
feeling that should be encouraged—" the labourer
is worthy of his hire," and there is no
necessity that the nation should be guilty
of mean or niggardly conduct, which might in the
long run prove a very unwise and injudicious eco-
nomy. Those whose services are required should be
not only fairly, but liberally remunerated, but

Iheads of the very ruffians who had rendered him the
martyr of Peace and Patriotism. From the political
world of England two men of prominent talents and
of opposite principles have been hurried out of the
arena of Parliament. One, the leader of the Opposi-
tion, was struck Gown by a spasm of the heart in the
meadow-lands of Nottingham ; the other, for several
years the Prime Minister of Great Britain, breathed
his last at his ancestral mansion in Hertfordshire.
Among the literary characters of England we have
lost, towards the close of 1848, a distinguished
critic and biographer in the person of Sir JoHN
BARROW; while Europe had to lament towards the
commencement of 1848 the demise of FRANcois
RENE DE CHATEAUBRIAND, the panegyrist of Chris-
tianity.

While these casualties have afforded a melancholy
illustration of the vicissitudes of fortune and of the
evanescence of life—terrible crimes have imparted
infamy to the recollections of the people and their
rulers. The blood of assassination has polluted the
weapons of democracy and of despotism ; the blood
of LAMBERG has descended upon the Hungarians,
that of LATOUR upon the Viennese, that of Rossi
upon the Romans, that of DIIVIVIER upon
the conspirators of June, that of the Nea-
politans upon their SOVEREIGN, that of BLUM
and of MESSENHAUSER and of a multitude of other
victims, upon the effete Government of the Austrian
dynasty. But if these criminal acts cast a gloom
over the narrative of the events of twelve
months of miracles, the remembrance of the heroic
and glorious deeds achieved by the Continental races,
and by their gifted leaders, will not be lost to the ad-
miration of posterity. So long as the sublimities of
virtue and the marvels of valour can be appreciated
by the human intellect, so long will these things be
cherished as the prototypes of true civism and of exalted
self-forgetfulness. PEPE fighting for the nationality
of the Italians in Lombardy—CAßßEßA losing all his
ancient ferocity when struggling to power among the
cities of Catalonia—Kossurii cheering on his com-
patriots in the regions of the Danube—Mazzusi ex-
erting his intellect and raising his impassioned
voice among the crags of Switzerland—
LAMARTINE daring death for the sake of
freedom, and conquering the diabolical strength
of Terrorism by his grand and historical
utterances ;—all constitute in themselves a spectacle
such as might arouse even the most indolent to ac-
tivity, and excite even the most apathetic to en-
thusiasm.
Month after month the noise of the "agonies of
great nations" has resounded to us across the waters
of the Channel—the detonations of those social earth-
quakes which have subverted thrones, shaken cities
into ruin, driven forth the most powerful statesmen as
fugitives, and strewn the earth with the cadaverous
relics of civil battle. In January the excitement
caused by the reception of ESPARTERO at Madrid had
scarcely subsided when the city of Palermo was
bombarded by the Neopolitan Monarch—the Two
Sicilies were involved iu the perils of an intestine
conflict. In February the monarchical system which
had been embodied in the younger branch of the
BOURBONS was suddenly annihilated, and in a mo-
ment, as it were, the gigantic form of the Republic
rose from the chaos of the explosion—" like an ex-
halation"—like the palace of Pandemonium. In
March the hoary sway of METTBRNICH crumbled
into dust, and simultaneously the Posenese revolted
against Prussia, while the Lombards marched to
victory under the banners of Sardinia. In
.dpri/ the Chartist riots evoked from the citizens
of London that magnificent evidence of
their love for order and of their devotion to the
Constitution, which still thrills us with emotions of
satisfaction. In May the diplomatic relations between
the Cabinets of VICTORIA. and ISABELLA were abruptly
severed asunder by the ignominious expulsion of our
ambassador at the behest of the irritable and insolen
SOTOMAYOR. In June the streets of the beautifu

siderable labour. The entire system must undergo

a radical change. The gross amount collected must
be paid into the national treasury in the first instance,
and then the expenses of collection, the salaries, and
compensations of officers, and—if needs must—

the pensions, if any just or sufficient grounds
can be shown for their continuance, may be paid.
Why, we ask, should quarantine expenses be defrayed
out of the Customs ? What connexion is there be-
tween the tax imposed on various articles of mer-
chandise coming into the country, and the establish-
ments which are erroneously supposed to keep out
disease, but which only impose difficulties and re-
strictions upon our trade and commerce, and on the
free intercourse which it is so desirable to mainta!n
between the several nations of the world ? If money
is to be expended for sanitary purposes—and we
would be the last to oppose any judicious outlay for
such a purpose—could it not be applied in a
more beneficial manner, with greater advantage
to the public, and with far less inconvenience and
annoyance to individuals ? By the present system
the charges are not brought under the express notice
of Parliament, and are, consequently, exempted from
that control that should be exercised over every branch
of the national expenditure. Again, why should the
expenses of the Scottish Courts of Judicature and of
the Sheriffs be paid out of the Customs revenue, be-'
fore it has been deposited in the Exchequer ? The
charges may be perfectly fair and reasonable, but
for that very reason they will bear revision, and no

inconvenience can arise from the fullest publicity.
It is, perhaps, to shelter more objectionable items
that would, if possible, be involved in obscurity, that
the system is continued. It (may be to protect his
Grace of GRAFTON, who is in receipt of 11,9461. per
annum (via., 8,5391. from the Excise revenues, and
3,4071. from the Post-office). These payments
have now been continued for no less than
175 years ; and if they had been accumu
lated at compound interest it would appear that
the maintenance of this single peerage has cost the
country more than twelve hundred and sixty millions
of pounds sterling, or one-half more than the entire
national debt.

Surely, it is unnecessary to adduce an additional
argument against a system under which so iniquitous
a job could have been perpetrated for such a time.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The new Ministry has been again signally defeated
on the question of the salt tax, in the National
Assembly. After the amendment of M. ANGLADE
had, as we stated yesterday, been adopted, an attempt
was made by the Ministry to get rid of its effect, but
unsuccessfully. It was incorporated in the Bill as the
second article, and then the Bill thus amended was
voted by a majority of 372 to 363. The effect of
this division, so far as the salt tax is concerned, will
be to reduce the tax to one-third its present amount,
on the Ist of January, 1849. M. GOUDCHAUIL spoke
and voted in favour of the Ministry.
The Gazette de France says, M. PASSY, Minister of
Finance, immediately after the result of the division
became known, announced his intention of tendering
his resignation. His resignation will, it is believed
lead to that of the entire Ministry.
•
The Constitutionnel says that M. PASSY, notwith
standing the remonstrances of aeveral Members of
the Assembly, declares his intention to resign, and
that should he not alter his intention, he will be suc-
ceeded by M. ACHILLE FOULD. The Coneitutionnel
attempts to disguise_its anger and disappointment by
endeavouring to prove that the majority by which
the Ministry was defeated is composed of the most
heterogeneous materials.
"It consists," it says, "in the first place, of timid
men, who are preparing for their re-election, even at
the price of confusion to our finances, and who imagine
that that which is most necessary for France is to abo-
lish a tax, even at the risk of rendering soon inevitable
the adoption of some much heavier impost. In the
second place. there are the adversaries of the new regime,
who are numerous in the Assembly, and who avenge
themselves on the budget for the check which the coun-
try gave them in the election of the President of the
Republic. Lastly, the majority is completed by the
group of Montagnards or Socialists, who perceive a
chance for their ideas in every public embarrassment and
in every financial disorder."
The true cause, however, of the anger of the
reactionaries of all classes against the National As-
sembly is the dread they entertain of the imposition
of an income-tax, which would affect the old hunkses
of the Faubourg St. Germain, who at the time of
the revolution put down their establishments, and
deprived themselves in many instances of the com-
forts of life for the avowed purpose of creating dis-
tress and misery among the working classes.
The Dibats exposes the true reason of the opposi-
tion to the reduction of the salt tax in the following
lamentation :

" Will it be said that the taxes which it is proposed
to establish—that the tax on property, for instance, will
be less odious or less burdensome to the people, than the
tax upon salt ? For our parts, we do not fear to say
that the projected tax upon revenue would be the most
vexatious of all taxes, and we doubt if the Government
will succeed in establishing it in France. Every one can
judge of this question, and can ask himself if it would
be agreeable to expose before a commission the balance-
sheet of his fortune—to say what are his resources, his
gains, &c., to show his books, and to suffer the investi-
gations of the fiscal agents into his affairs. Without
professing absolutely the opinion that the established
taxes are the best, it is nevertheless in conformity with
good sense and with science, to sustain that the existence
of a tax is already a motive of preference in its favour,
and that it is better to preserve that which exists than
to establish that which is new. The suppression of old
taxes, or their reduction, never profits entirely the con-
sumer."

When the vote of the Assembly became known on
;he Bourse the Funds fell 5 per cent.

The Credit states that M. LEON FAUCHER, the
Minister of Public Works, has been compelled to
withdraw the sum of 8,000,000 f., allocated by the
National Assembly for the completion of the works
of the Lyons and Avignun Railroad, in consequence
of Count D'ARGOUT, the Governor of the Bank of
France, having refused to lend the sum required—
excusing himself on the plea that a Minister fre-
quently makes promises which hia successor does
not feel bound to perform ; and that 8,000,000 f.,
advanced for the construction of the Lyons and
Avignon Railroad, might in three months hence be
expended in the formation of a corps of lancers or
sharpshooters.
The PRESIDENT of the Republic has, it is said, sent
for his cousin, the Grand Duchess STEPHANIE of
Baden, to do the honours of the palace of the Elys6e
National, where he intends to establish a sort of
Court.

Marshal BUGEAUD is confined to his house by
lness.

In the Committee of the Assembly appointed to
prepare a project of law for the organization of the
national force, General CAVAIGNAC made an ad-
mirable speech advocating economy in the finances,
and a reduction in the army. He said, that in his
opinion a republican government ought to direct all
its efforts for the establishment and maintenance of a
general peace, and that France should set the example
to other states, by a large reduction of the armed
force. Sentiments similar to these were expressed in
almost all the bureaux, and there is every reason to
conclude that the French army will speedily be
organized on a system totally different to
that which
has prevailed hitherto.
The Monitcur publishes an account of the imports

war to the knife should be proclaimed against the
drones, who prey upon the resources of the country
without affording any benefit in return. The esta-
blishments should be suited to the wants of the nation,
and all unnecessary employes sent to earn an honest
livelihood by their own exertions. Ateliers Nationaux
are not to be maintained for pauper sprigs of nobility,
in order that the entire patrimony may descend un-
incumbered to the head of the house. These are the
abuses that must be swept away, and that speedily
and completely.
One of the first objects to be attained is the sim-
plification of the national accounts, the obtaining of
clear and unvarnished statements, that will be acces-
sible and intelligible to every tax-payer. All stop-
pages in transitu, all deductions, of any de-
scription or on any account whatsoever, before
the sums collected are paid into the Exche-
quer, must be abolished. Many of the most
objectionable items of expenditure are veiled from
public notice by this ingenious device. Hereditary
pensions, expenses of various legal establishments,
salaries and compensations to officers, are in this
manner attempted to be placed beyond the control of
Parliament, and the same item will frequently occur
under various distinct heads, so that the amount
actually paid cannot be ascertained without con-