The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-13 00:00:00

.44 _
\- mitirdnit

LOISTON, THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1848.

Accident or design_ accident the most infeli-
..---.41.
citous, or a design
baulked the intentions
th:‘. most deliberate—has again
tune. Yesterday eveninigthet representative Legisla-
o'clock, according
to the punctilious custom of si
Parliament,h. the House of
33bleul'i"ndefinitely
Commons adjourned vvithout
arrived at any
positive resolution as to the consideration of the
in Corn-
k, Crown and Government Securint
mittee. Consequently, the Bill mayy
postponed, standing as it does among the orderse of the
day for this evening. Previous arran
interfere with its advancement, if the ;rompoer'sitjoinabYe
not altogether strangled by the arrival of the Easter
Vacation.
From the sentiments which are inferentially ex.
expressed in the foregoing paragraph it will be con-
jectured that we are disposed to regard the in-
tended Act with approbation. We are so.
With the utmost emphasis, with the , utmost
deliberation, with the utmost distinctness, we
would express our solicitude to see the measure intro-
duced by the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment passed into a law by the Houses of Legisla-
ture—modified of course in its passage through Com-
mittee, and restricted to a merely temporary opera-
tion—but still passed into a law, and that triumph-
antly. We would, however, on no account be misun-
derstood. Our devotion to the liberal institutions of
England are undiminished and undiminishable. Any
interference with the sane liberty of speech, of
writing, of petitioni❑g, or of assemblage would in our I

opinion, be an infringement upon the holiest rights
secured to us by the Constituaon—an infringement,
indeed, such as would justify opposition
and sanctify even the weapons of insur-
rection. We believe that —we maintain that
—we regard it as one of the primitive dogmas of
our patriotism. Freedom of the tongue and, of the
press—a perfect and unconditional freedom of the
tongue and of the press is one of the first principles
of our political creed. It is one of the arch-truths
in our Religion of Government. Without the main-
tenance and vindication of this freedom the whole
system of Great Britain would tumble in ruins on
the instant. The diminution or the abstraction of
this freedom would be to the Constitution what the
abatement or removal of the force of Universal Gra-
vitation would be to the Solar System—chaos, terror,
and destruction. Smother the voice of the People
fetter the language of the Press—and the
whole glory, the whole strength, the whole
vitality of the Constitution will have disap-
peared. No ; rather let the tones of the demagogue
or the effusions of the journalist diffuse the doctrines
of sedition over the land than one single un-
constitutional restriction should be imposed upon
the lips or the hand of an Englishman !
Rather let the whispers of treason be-
come audible in the tribune and the sweat of
malignity ooze out of the columns of the newspaper,
than the Government should assume to itself any
unconstitutional power of censorship over the utter-
ances of the one or the recommendations of the other!
Nor are we singular in this fanatical devotion for the
Freedom of the Popular Voice. Far from it. Every
Englishman who rightly comprehends the Constitution
of his native land sympathises with us in our :reve-
rential regard for the Liberty of Thought. It was
only yesterday that the Prime Minister of England
spoke thus in the House of Commons :—"Sir, said
he, " I believe that, according to the spirit of the
Constitution, great liberty of discussion should be
allowed ; that inflammatory language should even be
permitted ; and that language that may excite alienation
from our monarchical constitution should be allowed
to proceed to great lengths, because I know that
without the allowance of some abuses of this kind,
the free liberty of discussion could not be main-
tained !" So precious, so inestimable is this
particular phase of our freedom as English-
men, that the First Minister of the Crown
can advocate the continuation of insubordination
and the connivance at treason, rather than imperil,
interposition, the perfect " li-
by any unnecessary
berty of discussion."

Yet it is in despite of this indestructible attach-
, went to the civil and political rights of Englishmen,
that we are anxious for the passage through Parlia-
ment of the Crown and 'Government Security Bill.
The measure appears to us to be justified (simply,
be it observed, as a temporary enactment) by the
extraordinary occurrences which are transpiring every
day, as well as by the flagrant and equally extraordi-
nary conduct of certain persons resident in the United
Kingdom. We have already said that, in our estima-
tion, it would be an odious and tyrannical infringe-
ment of the Constitution for any Ministry to interfere
with the sane liberty of speech, of writing, of peti-
tioning, or of assemblage. We repeat it—" of the
sane liberty:' For there are political madmen who
require the straight-waistcoat of the law quite as
much as those maniacs who are confined in the
Asylums for Lunatics. We ask any man in his right
senses whether he can call the speech delivered in
the House of Commons, on Monday evening, by Mr.
WieLeell SMITH O'BRIEN, an evidence of the sane
liberty of the tongue ? We ask, moreover, any man
who is not himself a monomaniac, whether the letters
written by Mr. JOHN MITCHELL, in the columns of
the United Irishman, are examples of the sane liberty
of the press ? We ask, indeed, if they are not,
both of them, more conclusive proofs of the mental
derangement of the Member for Limerick, and
the editor of the United Irishman (as politi-
cians), than the eccentricities of Air. DYCE SOMBRE
or the blood-thirsty predilecticns of the pot-
boy OXFORD? It is for the protection of the
more rational members of the community from the
ravings of these incurable and dangerous madmen
that the Government proposes to pass this stringent
Bill of Repression—a Bill not conceived with the
intention of diminishing the sane liberties of the
subject, but solely with the determination of putting
a wholesome restraint upon the insane brawlers in the
United Kingdom—a Bill, moreover, which cannot but
be especially beneficial, since it degenerates
the rather gentlemanly and even aristocratic
crime of Treason into the ignoble and
vulgar offence of Felony. For these reasons it is
that we regret the impediment which has arisen be-
tween the passage of this measure and the Easter
Vacation, because we regard the Bill less as a Se-
curity to the Crown and the Government than as a
vindication of Decency and Subordination.

Pius IX. has addressed a proclamatiOn to the
Italians—a proclamation in a peculiar degree inte-
resting, and remarkable, alike from the character of
its author, from the position of the people to whom

it is addressed, and from the nature of the events by
which it is elicited. It is rendered remarkable and
interesting by the character of its author, for notwith-
standing the universality of the revolutionary movement
and the frequent reforms conceded by European Sove-
reigns, it cannot be denied that Pius was the
first and most powerful promoter of the new crusade
of liberty and social regeneration. He was the
first European Sovereign who ranged himself
under the banners of the people. His hand
gave the first and irresistible impetus to the
great movement which has agitated Christendom, and
evoked the dormant energies and ambition of every
the
:x
etrocies
ex
address,hor ft
European nation. France, by her astonishing revo-
lution may have made the initiative movement in the
struggle for European emancipation, but Pius, by his
declared liberalism and his salutary reforms, had
already prepared the way for that movement. Men
of all nations and all creeds have long since unani-
raanodusly declared their admiration for the liberal
appropriatereforming POPE, and hence it is peculiarly
shoalfirst hdat nhe who had been the
sentiments of graot.fotuw.
instigator thed great and pacific re-
volutionearnest anxiety goinv ei t
s utterance
success, to
and his
s
for
briefts satisfactory consummation.
The object of the
events which have recenatldaytdonrdetrsasnjspuisrtedisstuo
edHblymthteo
POPE is, in the first place,
whom all glory is due ; ascribe the wonderful
t'o secondlyth
the triumphant Lanibderaulsnanirnsiet
Y without which
worcdusreo.f
th"elVoe to
that moderation
no popular victory can be
him," such are the opening
" woe to him who, in this tempest,
h
cedar and the twig are alike agitated andwtor ere
the
their roots, listens not to the voice of the
Lord
fr"om
Woe to human pride, if it attributes to the fault
or
b 1
merit of a few men these wonderful changes, place of adoring the secret designs
of
PROVIDENCE, whether they be manifested by the
ways of justice or by the ways of mercy—of that
PROVIDENCE in whose hands are the ends of the
earth." "And we," so it proceeds, with beautiful and
touching simplicity, " we to whom the word is given
to interpret the mute eloquence of the works of Gon,
cannot keep silence in the midst of the desires, fears,
and hopes which agitate the hearts of our children."
The remainder of the address, though only consisting
of a few brief sentences, eloquent in language, and
almost affectionate in manner, contains most salutary
and truthful advice, worthy of being cherished and
adopted not:only by the Italians, but by all the liberal
nations of the world.
are "Ve cannot refrain from.reminding you,'' these
the kindly worded counsels of the address, " that
to make a good use of victory is more difficult than
to conquer. If
that all stabilitseful
AL the
another period of present time reminds you of
forefathers be il your history, let the faults of your
to their descendants. Remember
cord. It is Got andt
n" all prosperity depends on con-
of the same
Who renders the inhabitants
his laws, in the liberty
of
; and GOD accords his
society, in charity towardBhis church, in the order of
justice alone builds up, while passions Remember that
our prayers bring do e passions destroy. May
w on
and force, and Wi n s domPAI that spirit of counsel,
of GOD is the beginning, in ordfer thwhichthe fear
eyes may
behold peace in all this land of Ital '
T
at our
_Y-, he staunch-
, est opponent of the creed of rlvs cannot refrain