The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-20 00:00:00

beituinix anu

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1848.

The provisions of the " Act for the better preven-
tion of Crime and Outrage in Ireland " will at length
be rigidly enforced. The Earl of CLARENDon, who
throughout the whole of the trying period during
which he has been invested with the Vice-royalty of
the sister kingdom, has exhibited the greatest for-
bearance in bringing into operation the enormous
powers with which he was intrusted, has discovered
that prompt and vigorous action can no longer be dis-
pensed with, and that it was absolutely- essential, if
not for the maintenance of the connexion between
the two countries, at least for the preservation of many
valuable lives, that would necessarily be sacrificed in the
event of any attempted outbreak—however speedily it
might be crushed—to arrest the progress of treason,
and to enforce obedience to the Government of the
country. It was time that a systematic and organized
violation of the law should be suppressed, and that
the sedition-mongers who for their own base pur-
poses stimulated a too excitable population to acts of
hostility against their best friends, and also the un-
fortunate dupes who listened to the insidious advice
of the tempters, should be taught that the majesty of
the law must be respected, and that any attempted
violation thereof would most assuredly be followed
by the infliction of severe and well-merited punishment.
The painful but necessary stephastherefore been
taken. Proclamations have issued,ro bringinghdB the cities
Drogheda,
of Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and and also
certain baronies in Cork and Waterforde under: the
operation of that salutary law, and it is certain that
published
further proclamations will be without any
delay, calling upon all persons within the disturbed
districts, who shall not obtain licenses for
oition of fire-arms and other weapons
sur-
render the same into the hands t d
O ooefrioeffeernscaee
tr etee.
for that purpose, within a limited period, and exposing;
all those who neglect or refuse to obey such directions
to the stringent penalties prescribed by the statute.
Similar proceedings will alio be adopted in every
other locality where seditious clubs have been or-
ganized,i and where the well-disposed and loyal in-
habitants are kept in a state of terror and excitement
from the acts of those misguided men who seek to
involve their unhappy country in al the horrors of
on internecine war.
We cannot censure the Irish Government `for

haN dug so long refrained from taking these, decisive '
steps. It was a laudable and praiseworthy effort to
g( ►v ern the country by its ordinary laws. When the
ieasure was before the Legislature it was declared
►,hat the new enactments would not be re-
sorted to except in cases of overwhelming necessity,
and that pledge has been most honourably and faith-
fully redeemed. We believe that no person, of any
political creed or party, could venture to assert that
the Government are not fully justified in the course
they have so tardily and so reluctantly adopted. Had
there been less excitement in other lands—had not
a species of insurrectionary epidemic prevailed
throughout the whole of the European continent, it
is more than probable that the temperate, but firm,
administration of Lord CLARENDON would have
restored tranquillity to the island, and that it would
have been chiefly remarkable for the vast improve-
ments effected in the social condition of the country—
the establishment of a more solvent proprietary—a
better description of agriculture, and the gradual
development of every branch of industry by which
that great desideratum, full employment, would have
been afforded to the labouring population. "Sed Diis
aliter visum." The great end and object of his
government was frustrated by the momentous events
which, following each other with such unprecedented
rapidity, tested the stability of the domestic institu-
tions of every European nation, shook the several
thrones to their very foundations, and menaced the
existence of the established monarchies. At such a
period, it may readily be supposed that even a more
phlegmatic people than the Irish would have sur-
passed the bounds of sobriety, prudence, and discretion.
An enthusiastic and talented, but most mischievous
man, took advantage of the opportunity to fan the
smouldering fire into a blaze. He cast aside every
species of disguise, openly avowed his hatred to the
English connexion, and almost daily gave undis-
guised expression to sentiments the mere utterance
of which, even in a secret assembly of his co-con-
spirators, would have cost him his life under any other
Government and any other code of laws than that
which it is the boast of Britons to live under. The
idea of repeal was abandoned, or at least was merely
retained for the purpose of maintaining their influence
over the more timid and wavering politicians.
The real object was separation, and the establishment
of an Irish Republic. The transient and evanescent
gleam of sunshine that followed the special com-
missions, when the juries of Limerick, Clare, and
Tipperary so nobly discharged the duty they owed
to their country, too speedily passed away, and the
political horizon again became overcast with clouds
that portended the coming tempest. Plans for the
approaching contest were weekly promulgated in a
journal established for the purpose ; the most ap-
proved weapons of destruction were pointed out ; the
praises of the pike—which had attained too painful
a celebrity in the insurrection of 1793 were
chaunted with the utmost enthusiasm, and all classes
were called upon to arm themselves, so as to be ready
to strike a blow against England and the English ,
when the fitting season arrived. The advice so given
was too generally adopted. Clubs were formed for
the purpose of arming and drilling the people. But
still the Government maintained its tranquil position.
The enforcement of an old statute, most properly
brought into operation for the occasion, and the
punishment of a very few of those communicat-
ing or receiving illegal instruction in military tactics,
was sufficient to abate one of those nuisances,
and to prevent the people from playing at
soldiers without lawful warrant. The assimi-
lation of the law of England and Ireland,
the reduction of an offence from high treason to more
humble felony, brought the head and front of the
confederacy within the operation of the law, and
sent him to expiate in exile the crime of which he
had been guilty. Others who attempted to follow in
his footsteps were arrested and committed for trial,
and it was hoped that the examples thus afforded
would be sufficient to restore the general body to
some degree of sanity. But the disease had taken
too deep a root—the organization was too complete,
and projects were entertained for the rescue of the
prisoners, and an immediate insurrectionary move-
ment, which was only delayed until the progress of
the harvest would provide food for the insurgents,
and funds for the contemplated Provisional Govern-
ment. No course, therefore, remained but one—all
conciliatory means had failed—more vigorous steps
were therefore rendered necessary. These have been
taken, and we confidently anticipate that the result
will be the triumph of peace and order, and the
prompt suppression of the insurrection that has vir-
tually existed in Ireland for some months past.

While the attention of Europe has been distracted
elsewhere by more startling occurrences, Germany
has pressed steadily onward towards the settlement of
the great problem of her nationality. The patriotic
war raging in the heart of Lombardy, and on the
frontiers of the Venetian territories, may have been
invested with a more brilliant eclat—the expedition
fitted out for the incorporation of Schleswig with the
neighbouring principality of Holstein may have ap-
peared to be more intimately associated with the for-
tunes of the Confederation—the defensive battles of
Denmark, the slaughter of the insurgents in Paris,
and the massacre of the Neapolitans by the lazzaroni,
were circumstances so astounding in their suddenness,
and in the two latter instances so horrible in their fero-
city, that to the more tranquil observer everything else
sank, for the time being, into comparative insig-
nificance. Now, however, that the torments of the
late paroxysm appear to be subsiding among the re-
volutionized nations of the continent, we are enabled
to examine with some suitable degree of attention the
less noisy and less ostentatious proceedings which have
recently transpired in the imperial city of Frankfort.
Perhaps in the whole of those extraordinary occur-
rences which have rendered the commencement of
1848 memorable among the most memorable years
since the day of the Redemption—perhaps in the whole
of those extraordinary occurrences, we any, not one can
be mentioned more remarkable in itself, more invested
with the pomps of that majesty which survives in the
records of the historian, or more calculated to affect,
in a conspicuous manner, the future of the whole of
Christendom, than :the election, the acceptance, and
the reception of the Archduke JOHN of Austria as
Vicegerent, Protector, or Lieutenant-General of the
great Germanic Confederation. By that momentous
decision on the part of the United Diet of Allemania,
the destiny of its august nationality is determined
either for good or for evil, There was no longer a
chance for remaining stationary—it had become
necessary for Germany to advance or to retrograde.
And Germany has advanced. She has advanced at
the bidding of the representatives assembled together
to decide as to the manner and nature of her constitu-
tion. She has advanced, and at her head—in the van
of that glorious movement —she has placed the Archduke
JOHN of Austria as her leader, holding aloft in his
hand the banner of Germany, the tricolour—red,
black, and gold—symbolic of the union, and the
glory, and the greatness of the fatherland. On mature
thought we are satisfied that a wiser resolution could
scarcely have been adopted by the Parliament of
those forty kingdoms and principalities. To the
theoretical politician it may seem a feasible idea to
construct out of these numerous and incongruous
states an elaborate instrument of government which
without jar or hitch, shall exercise imperial authority,
now at Munich, now at Berlin, and new at Vienna,:
according as the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and
Bavaria succeed each other in rotation to the diadem
of united Germany.* To the practical statesman,
nevertheless, such hypothetical forms of administration
appear only in their true light, namely, as puzzles,
worthy of examination in a diplomatic thesis, but as
most assuredly unfitted for actual experiment. If it
be only remembered for an instant how enormous
were the responsibilities hanging over the Diet
s ilemnly congregated under the dome of the cathe-
dral church of St. Paul's, in Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
it will be acknonledged at once that the selection of
the Archduke JOHN as Regulator or _Regent of the
Confederation was, all circumstances considered, the
best calculated to lead the common fatherland to se-
curity and happiness. True, the Archduke is no
statesman; neither is he a distinguished soldier, like
his illustrious brother the late Archduke CHARLES,
for it can never be forgotten that while the latter ac-
quired renown, if not victory, in fighting against the
armies of NAPOLEON, the former lost the battle of

'' See, for an explanation of this, an ingenious pam-
phlet called " Who is to be the Emperor of Germany?"
pp. 32. London, John 011ivier, 1848.

Hobenlinden while MOREAU was struggling onward
among the vallies of Switzerland. Beyond this
deficiency in military and administrative genius,
it is, moreover, undeniable that the Archduke
JOHN, the newly-elected Protector of Ger-
many, is to a certain extent incapacitated from
forwarding to the utmost limits the aspirations of his
fellow-countrymen, by the fact of his being no
longer animated by the sanguine and robust tempera-
ment of youth ; fur the Archduke JOHN is an old
man, being now in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
Still his three score years and seven are valuable as
affording a criterion of his character, seeing that
throughout the whole period of his existence he has
maintained the same honourable and enviable reputa-
tion, as a large hearted, liberal-minded, patriotic
German Prince. He has been to the house of
Hapsburg what the late Duke of SUSSEX was
to the house of Brunswick—a lover of demo-
cratic ideas, notwithstanding the blood-royal in
his veins. And in reference to the feeling
with which the uncle of the reigning Empe-
ror of AUSTRIA has always regarded the cue ition of
the Germanic nationality, we may mention, as suffi-
ciently significative, an incident which occurred some
years back at a grand banquet, given in one of the
great cities of the Confederation. Toast after toast
was pledged by the banqueters—" Long live Saxony !"
"Long live Prussia !" "Long live Bavaria !"—when
at last the Archduke JOHN arose, and, lifting Ilia cup
above his head, spoke thus—" Not Long live Saxony !
Long live Prussia! Long live Bavaria! say I—but
Long live our Fatherland—ONE GERMANY !" The
dream of the Archduke is being realised. In his old
age, he is summoned by the voice of that fatherland
to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, and in the streets of that
ancient city 'of the Emperors he is welcomed as the
first Vicegerent in modern times of that One Ger-
many. As an additional evidence of the sincerity of
his patriotism, the Archduke JOHN has already inau-
gurated his Administration by the nomination of
three liberal statesmen, quite irrespective of country.
He has named SCHIMERLING (the President of the ex
Germanic Diet, and Deputy from Austria), Minister
of Foreign Affairs and the Interior ; General
PENCKER (Plenipotentiary of Prussia in the Military
Commission of the Diet), Minister of War; and
HECKSCHER (a converted Jew, and an advocate of
Hamburgh), Minister of Justice. Such has been the
inauguration of the new German nationality ; may it
be consolidated in defiance of the jealousies against
which it must inevitably have to contend!

Of the three most important measures in relation
to Ireland, for the amelioration of the social condition
of that unhappy land, it has been decided that two
are to be postponed until next year, while the assent
of the Lords is, if possible, to be obtained to the
amendments introduced into the Incumbered Es-
tates (Ireland) Bill, which it is hoped may become
the law of the land before the prorogation of Par-
liament. We are by no means disposed to under-
value the beneficial results that may fairly be ex-
pected from the operation of this moat salutary
measure, which may be regarded as the master-
key to unlock the industry of the sister-
kingdom, to afford her the blessings of a
solvent proprietary, able to discharge efficiently the
duties incidental to the possession of property, and to
develop the manifold natural resources of the coun-
try. The fearful incumbrances by which the exer•
tions of the nominal proprietors are paralysed have
long been regarded by those who have maturely con-
sidered the question as one of the chief evils under
which Ireland has long groaned. Improvements that
would yield a most ample return for the outlay, and
which would afford abundant employment to the
people, have been indefinitely postponed, because the
overseers of estates have been reduced to the condi-
tion of persons receiving small annuities thereout,
who were unable to apply any portion of their scanty
incomes either to the proper cultivation of the land,
or to the promotion of the prosperity and welfare of the
occupants. Even the unembarrassed holder of an
entailed estate, (and it is, unfortunately, too notorious
that the great majority of lands in Ireland are in-
cluded in settlements which give but life interests to
the inheritors), is seldom enabled to do adequate
justice thereto. He cannot sell any portion
to improve the residue, although such a
disposition may be productive of the greatest benefit,
aswell to the portion sold as to that stil lretained in his
hands. Most probably he has a family of younger
children, who at his death will be reduced to com-
parative penury, and everything he can save from his
annual income is naturally put by, in order to save
those children from absolute poverty, rather than, by
improving the lands, to increase. the wealth of his suc-
cessor in the estate. The tenantry then are neglected,
their interests disregarded, and the utmost amount that
can be extorted is unhesitatingly wrung from their
industry. If the tenant is a man of good character,
who keeps his holding in what is termed good heart,
and increases the value of the reversion, he cannot
afford to pay so high a rent as will readily be offered
by a less conscientious person, who will exhaust the,
fertility of the lands, and perhaps in a few years
return it greatly depreciated in value to the hands
of the landlord. If preset income was not the chief
object of the latter, such a state of things would not
for a moment be tolerated, and other elements would
enter into the calculation besides the amount of rent
promised. But this is not the case. The younger
children unprovided for are the objects of his solici-
tude, and not his heir or his tenantry, and every other
motive is absorbed in the paramount one of making
adequate provision for their wants and exigencies.
If this be the case with the unembarrassed tenant
for life, how much more so is it with one who can
only retain for his own use a small portion of the pro-
duce of his lands ? Every exertion must be devoted
to keeping down the interest of the charges and in-
cumbrances affecting the property, which, if neglected,
will deprive him even of the scanty subsistence he still
obtains, and transfer his property to the care of a still
worse landlord (for in the lowest depths there is a
deeper still), the Receiver of the Court of Chancery,
who, restricted by the stringent rules and regula-
tions of the Court, endeavours only to collect the
rents, without the slightest consideration for any
improvement, awl only desires to preserve himself
from falling under the censure of the Court, and'
being mulcted in heavy costs, for any departure from
that primary object. There are at the present moment
estates producing an annual rental of not less than
one million sterling which have been consigned to
that " slough of despond," and a mere casual traveller
may readily discover in the dilapidated condition
of the buildings, the neglected and uncultivated ap-
pearance of the lands, and the dejected and hopeless
air of the peasantry—the evidences of that untoward
state of affairs—that the property has passed under the
management of the Court of Chancery. When matters
have reached this point there is but one remedy—the
immediate sale of the incumbered estate, or of a suffi-
cient portion thereof to satisfy the incumbrances, and
it is a mercy to all parties concerned, as well to the
incumbrancers as to the broken-down and ruined inhe-
ritor, and still more to the oppressed and impoverished
tenantry, to effect the transfer with the least possible
delay and expense, and also with the greatest possible
security to the purchaser, which improved security
will, at the same time, increase the amount of the
purchase-money, and diminish the heavy costs so
uselessly expended in the investigation of titles.
Every consideration, therefore, demands that the pre-
sent Bill for the sale of incumbered estates, which
will facilitate these objects, and which, if not perfect
in itself, at least constitutes a good basis for future
legislation, should be passed into law during the pre-
sent
session.

It is, however, much to be regretted that the other
measures have been postponed, althoush for a brief
period. The Landlord and Tenant Bill may be re-
garded as a twin measure, which should have pro-
ceeded pari passu with that for the sale of incum-
bared estates. The latter will give a proprietary
able and willing to effect ameliorations, the former
would encourage improvements by the tenantry
themselves, by ensuring to the occupants that they
themselves, or their families, would be permitted to
enjoy the fruits of their industry either in the
shape of a prolonged tenure of their holdings, or of
pecuniary compensation if they should be ejected
therefrom, or their rents unduly raised in consequence
of their own ameliorations. It is unnecessary to expatiate
upon the stimulus that would thus be given to honest
industry—the improvement that would thereby be
effected in the condition of the occupiers of land, and,
as a natural consequence, in the peace and tranquillity

of the kingdom in general. Every man who had a
claim for unexhaustal improvements, would have
given a hostage to the State for the propriety of his
future conduct.

The Bill for the improvement of the elective
franchise in Ireland was, indeed, much needed,
and its withdrawal will occasion much dis-
content, and that at a period when it was
most desirable to avoid every well-grounded
cause of complaint. The proposition of the Chief
Secretary for Ireland was received as an instalment
of justice. It would have considerably enlarged the
number of county electors, who at present are in the
proportion of but one voter to every 123 persons—a
simple fact which will impress upon every mind the
rrecessity for an alteration without the need of further
argument. We will hope, however, that early in
the ensuing session we shall see new measures of
reform for the whole of the United Kingdom, which
may go far to remove the present discontent that so
generally prevails amongst the unrepresented portion
of the community.