The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-04 00:00:00

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43V1,11314 it it

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1848.

LATEST FROM IRELAND.

We have received the following from our corre-
spondent in Dublin by Electric Telegraph from
Liverpool:—

" DUBLIN, I ThURSDAY EVENING.

" All the accounts from the provinces report the
continuance of tranquillity. There is no intelligence
of the movements of the rebel leaders. Your re-
porter, writing from Ballingarry on Wednesday
night, states that several arrests had been made of
persons known to have harboured the rebel leaders
as well as for taking part in the insurrectionary
movement. Smith O'Brien slept at Kilcooley on
Saturday night in the house of an under forester, in
the service of Mr. Ponsonby Barber. Meagher and
Doheny are believed to have taken up their quarters
on the north side of Slievenamon. The troops have
been moved out of Ballingarry, and are encamped in
a field adjoining. A report has been received that it
is the intention of the rebels to attack the military
on Tuesday next; it is not however credited.
The Electric Telegraph's Company's express states
that yesterday proclamations were issued by the
Lord• Lieutenant to the 15 counties and baronies pro-
claimed last Monday, calling on all parties, not privi-
leged, to deliver up their us on or before the 7th
inst., under the penalty of two years' iinprisonment
with hard labour.
Lord Hardinge reviewed the troops of the garri-
son in the Phcenix Park to- day, and expressed him-
self well satisfied with their high state of discipline.—
Times.

The recent intelligence from Ireland principally
consists of speculations concerning the present posi-
tion of the rebel leaders. A variety of circumstan-
tial accounts have been put forward respecting their
movements, all of which appear to be equally desti-
tute of foundation. According to one statement,
Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN sailed from Limerick on Satur-
day night last in an emigrant vessel, the Jane Black,
which started on her voyage much sooner than the
period anticipated, leaving several parties behind
who had engaged berths on board her. Another
• account, equally circumstantial, states that he sailed
from a small port on the Galway coast, accompanied
by Messers. MEAGHER and DEYIN REILLY ; while
a third declares that he passed through Bristol, and
and thence by the Great ‘Vr stern Railway, and on to
Rotterdam by the Batavier steam. packet ; and a
fourth, with greater probability, announces that he
is seeking refuge in the mountains lying between the
counties of Clare and Galway, where he may remain
concealed until the closeness of the pursuit has re.
Taxed, and where he could readily obtain shelter and
protection against any small party who might conic
upon his track. Any peraou at all acquainted with the
character of the Irish peasantry will easily understand
the origin of these conflicting rumours. Through..
out the entire country, and more especially
in the less cultivated %istricts, the greatest sympathy
is invariably entertained for, and, whenever practic-
able, assistance afforded to, persons seeking to evade
the law. Even the met sanguinary murderer will be
aided in his flight from justice, and the stringent pro-

visions of the law will be fearlessly encountered in
order to facilitate the escape of a perfect stranger.
Whenever the pursuit becomes too pressing, a
number of contradictory accounts are forthcoming
respecting the movements of the fugitives. Statements
will be put forward with the utmost simplicity
and verisimilitude, calculated to distract the atten-
tion of the pursuers, and to turn them from the right
scent. There will be as many different accounts as
there are inquiries made. No person when inter-
rogated will acknowledge his ignorance, but will pre-
tend to the fullest information, and invent the most
minute details as a corroboration to the authenticity
of his narratiou. It is by such means that outlaws,
for whose apprehension large rewards were offered,
have been enabled to continue at freedom for many
years, until, emboldened by the impunity, they have
relaxed the precautions they observed in the first
heat of the pursuit.
A more cheering evidence, however, could not
be afforded of the total and entire suppres-
sion of the insurrectionary movement in Ire-
land, and the absence of any description
of hope in the minds of its abettors, than is
afforded by these various statements. If it was still
supposed possible that a general outbreak could take
place, it would not be announced that the " Gene-
rals" had fled the country, and had consulted their
own safety by an ignonimous flight. It might be
said that they were lying hid until the proper period
arrived, but that they would still be prepared to
head the " National Armies," and lead them on to
victory over the Saxon oppressor in due time.
Their departure for a foreign shore, however,
is an abdication of the functions entrusted to their
charge, a manifest proof that even they themselves
acknowledge the total failure of their enterprise.
We do not by any means assert that the spirit of
discontent and disaffection which was unfortunately
so prevalent throughout the whole of Ireland, has
been changed, or that many would not be prepared
to take advantage of any favourable opportunity for
setting the authorities at defiance. The eradication
of that feeling must be a work of considerable time,
and we will add, also, of much labour and great ex-
pence. We must wean the Irish people from their
unfortunate prejudices by a long course of kindness,
and by a judicious and conciliatory policy. Their
real grievances must be removed, and reasonable as-
sistance afforded to render their lands productive, and
provide constant employment for all who are able
and willing to work. As we hare repeatedly said,
they must be in every respect placed upon a footing
of perfect equality with England, and rendered an
integral portion of the British empire, with equal
rights and equal privileges to those which we ourselves
enjoy. A fully occupied and fairly remunerated man,
in possession of the actual necessaries of life,
and perhaps the enjoyment of some humble comforts,
will not readily listen to the voice of the tempter, or
be easily led astray by pernicious counsels, however
plausible they may appear. To use a homely
adage—" A man will not quarrel with his
bread and butter," but when the butter is wholly
abstracted, and but a small portion of the bread is
allowed to remain, his disposition becomes much more
pugnacious, and ready for any disturbance, which,
whatever may be its result, can scarcely deteriorate
his condition.

At present the "snake is scotched, not killed."
The majority of the people are kept in awe by fear
and not by love. There is, however, little prospect of
a further outbreak at present. The decisive check
given to the insurgents at Boulagh by a few policemen
has proved the utter hopelessness of any attempt
to withstand the British power with the means at
their disposal. No insurrectionary movement could
be at all successful, neither could the great body of
the people be induced to participate therein, un-
less some brilliant successes had attended
the first outbreak. An early discomfiture
is equivalent to a total defeat, and when
that has taken place, as in the present instance, there
will be no chance of a speedy repetition of the attempt,
unless the people are goaded on by cruelties and atro-
cities practised under the guise of law. The difference
between the termination of the present rebellion and
that of half a century preceding may be attributed to
the different mode of treatment adopted towards the
" suspected " at the different periods. The Irish
have been blessed with the temperate but firm
rule of a CLARENDON in 1848; but in 1798 the most
abominable cruelties were perpetrated, and the
triangles and pitch caps were in daily requisition in
the Yeomanry riding-schools. Hence the massacres
of Wexford and Scullabogue, while more recently life
and property have been in every instance respected. The
rule to be adopted for the permanent tranquillization of
Ireland should be that, some years since put forward
in an excellent pamphlet under the quaint title of—
Feed, Employ, but don't hang them."

Disasters have at last followed each other with
such rapid succession in Lombardy, that the King of
SARDINIA is beginning to reflect seriously upon the
possible consequences of a French intervention.
After the brilliant successes with which the campaign
of liberation commenced it becomes doubly deplor-
able to observe the repeated and profound calamities
which have latterly befallen the Italian forces. A
quick succession of victories, beginning with the
battle of Goito, had illustrated the military enter-
prise of CARL) ALBERTO, and seemed to promise
the speedy and permanent consolidation of the long
buried nationality of the Roman peninsula. These
achievements, however, have now given place to the
most deplorable reverses of fortune. The army
which had responded so nobly to the calls
of the Milanese, which had been augmented
by auxiliary troops arriving at intervals from
Naples, from the Papal States, from Tuscany,
and from the smaller principalities, the army
which had driven back the German legionaries to the

heart of the province of V icentino, and which only
yi,sterday threatened the divided power of RADETZKY
with either flank under the walls of Mantua and
Verona—that army has suddenly recoiled in the very
hour of its glory, it has fallen back before the over-
whelming and concentrated superiority of the Aus-
trians, it has been outnumbered, and outgeneralled,
and outmanoeuvred, it has been compelled to
retreat swiftly and almost in a state of disorganiza-
tion from the line of the Mincio to the fine of the
Oglio. According to the last accounts received from
the seat of war, the head-quarters of Calm° ALBERT°
were fixed at 13ozzolo, so that the road between
Mantua and Milan lay open before the soldiers of
RADETZKY. It would appear that a detachment of
the Austrians had already advanced as far as Cremona,
and were doubtless soon afterwards advancing upon
Pizzeghettone. Consequently the dream of the Sar-
dinian SOVEREIGN has " melted into thin air" at the
very instant it seemed to verge upon realisation. The
kingdom he recently traversed as a conqueror, he is
now obliged to resign almost with the precipitation of
a fugitive. Nor when we reflect upon the numerical
preponderance of his antagonists, is this bewildering
change of circumstances altogether unaccountable.
From first to last the Piedmontese have acted with
extraordinary gallantry. Although but feebly se-
conded in their efforts against the Germans, by the
Romans, the Tuscans, the Neapolitans, and even by the
Milanese themselves, the young recruits of Piedmont
have deported themselves almost in every instance,
without exception, with the enthusiasm of novices,
and eometimes even with the circumspection of vete-
rans. They have been to the more patriotic
Italians what the Garde Mobile have been to the
moderate Republicans of France. They have been
the avant garde of Italian nationality as the Garde
Mobile have been the trustiest phalanx in defiance of
anarchy and terrorism. Still, in spite of the cou-
rage of the Piedmontese, in spite of the earnestness
of their King-Captain (and, the splendid prizes he
has at sake in the contest are the surest guarantees
for the sincerity of CARD) ALBERTO—the Italian
army have been forced to retire, first, be-
cause of the enormous superiority of their op-
ponents in point of actual number ; and, seetnully,
because in fighting against RADETZKY they are
fighting against one of the wiliest commanders of the
age. The Piedmontese have been outnumbered,
CARLO ALBERTO has been outgeneralled—and that
is the reason why we suddenly find the tide of for-
tune reversed, and the Italians hurried from the
shelter of the Mincio to the western banks of the
Oglio.

From what has occurred in Lombardy it is dreaded
lest Franca shall be led to adopt the policy of inter-
ference. In the celebrated manifesto of LAMARTIN2

it was announced to Europe that the Republic would
only interpose her forces when the cause
of any distinct nationality should appear
desperate. Not otherwise. And hitherto
amidst all the changes of her administration the
young Republic of February has adhered with the
noblest constancy to this wise and generous decla-
ration. Hitherto the armies of France have abstained
from crossing,her frontiers. The army of the Alps,
it is true, has dallied upon the borders of Provence
and Dauphine, but it has only been to act with
promptitude in any case of emergency. Up to the last
week the passive attitude assumed by the French
Republic in regard to the combatants in Lom-
bardy has been confirmed by the thanks
and entreaties of the King of SARDINIA. Never-
theless it must be remembered that that was
only during the period of his success. Now
that fortune has shifted to the banners of RADETZKY,
the tone of CARLO ALBERTO appears to be changed in
like manner. It, is certain that the retreat of the
Piedmontese army to Bozzolo was immediately fol-
lowed by the departure of Signor GUERRIERI, and
afterwards of the Marchese Ricci to Paris, the former
as an unaccredited, and the latter as an accredited,
agent from the old Provisional Government of Milan.
On Wednesday morning Ricci arrived in Paris for
the purpose, as it is understood, of seeking the help
of France in the present doubtful position of affairs
in Lombardy.
Now, any armed intervention on the part of France
between the belligerent forces of Austria and Pied-
mont would necessarily embroil the Republic with
Germany. War on the River Po would inevitably
lead to war on the River Rhine ; and war in those
two quarters would as certainly lead at once to war
all over the continent. For the sake of humanity,
therefore, for the sake of civilization, for the sake of
constitutional freedom, it is most earnestly to be
hoped that a merely spurious sentiment of generosity,
much less an ignoble thirst after conquest, will not
blindly plunge France into a collision with Austria.
To our own mind, such a proceeding seems impos-
sible if it were attempted, and insane if it were pos-
sible. Part of the army of the Alps is now occupied
in the vicinity of Paris, and part of it even in the
metropolis. Indeed, the Republic has scarcely leisure
to go off on a freak of knight-errantry like that of
delivering the virgin nationality of Italia from the
lichorish grasp of the old brutal Austrian despotism.
The iron bands of the French soldiers are still
grappling with the conquered, but not annihi-
lated, hydra of insurrection. If the grip
of those hands be relaxed and the awe of
that military presence be carried beyond the
ridge of the Cottian Alps, the anarchists will arise
with redoubled energy, infuriated by their late de-
feat and maddened by a raging appetite for ven-
geance. In that case the streets of Paris must
again run with blood, and in the civil war carried
on in that city by the surviving demons of the late
outbreak who shall vouch for the safety of such men
as LAMAZTINE, ARAGO, DUPONT, MARRAST, MARIE,
and the like ? And those men gone, whose voice
shall recall France to reason, whose courage shall
crush terrorism by its defiance, whose genius shall
allay the storm of the social convulsion ? No: if
France on the first glimpse of a reverse in Italy, has
the madness to involve Europe in a blaze from
one extremity to the other, she will be sealing the
doom of her own woe and degradation. Nor will
she be acting with any degree of faithlessness towards
the Roman peninsula by abstaining from an instant
participation in its quarrels. The fate of the Pied-
montese is obscured, but it is by no means desperate.
In fact it has been hinted by the Vicegerent of Ger-
many himself that Austria has only been awaiting a
slight flush of victory, in order that she might, with
some appearance of grace, yield to a compromise.
On the opening of the Vienna Diet, the Archduke
JOHN declared that the Austrian Government was
not anxious to do violence to the nationality of the
Italians. Hence, we maintain again, that the posture
of affairs with the Piedmontese, although serious, is
in no respect disperate.