The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-03 00:00:00

14jr iteningiuit

LONDON, MONDAY. APRIL 3, 1848.

Ireland is preparing a stupendous ordeal for itself
and for England. Sedition is being systematically
organized ; pikes are purchased by the peasantry as
coolly as a switch of blackthorn might be slivered
from a hedgerow; the loungers in the more fre-
quented and fashionable promenades of Dublin are
already replaced by raparees. Everything is viewed
by the Irish multitude through a distorting medium
—the present, the past, and the future; the Position
of the English people, of the Continental people, and
of themselves. Their political system has changed
as thoroughly as their social aspirations, and as mi-
raculously as the necromantic princess in the" Arabian
Nights' Entertainments," who was metamorphosed
successively into a tigress, a peacock, a pomegranite, a
grain of wheat, and a herring. The barbarous
regality of Boau was followed by the military de-
vastations of CROMWELL, that again by the revolu-
tionary disorders of 1688, that again by the territorial
absorption of 1800, and at this moment by a reviving
avidity for rebellion and a thirst for an insane and
spurious nationality. Repeal has expanded, has
burst, and has vanished like a bubble. That is no
longer the object of Celtic ambition. The project is
no longer the inauguration of an independent Parlia-
ment in College Green. The grand problem is already
debated among the anarchists as to whether the Re-
publican or the Monarchical system is preferable in
the government of civilized millions. Those passions
which had been engendered by the flagrant misrepre-
sentations of demagogues have been latterly fomented
beyond endurance by the democratic movements
throughout Europe. Posen has blown the trumpet
which was doomed to evoke the resurrection of the
liberties of Poland. Berlin has conquered at the
sword's point, not only the freedom of the Prussians,
but the rights of the whole Germanic Confederation.
Madrid is already crying out the pass-word of Spanish
advancement to the cities of Catalonia and the fron-
tiers of Navarre. Paris has planted the oriflamme
of the people upon the colossal ruins of royalty, and
has secured the permanent emancipation of France
from the Appenines to the confluence of the Ourthe
and the Meuse. From Peterwaradin and Pesth those
voices have already resounded which summon the
Hungarians to the re-assumption of the sovereign
power. Prague calls to Bohemia, and Carlstadt to
Croatia, and, if the flying rumour of the moment be
authentic, the flag of insubordination is unfurled upon
the pinnacle of the Tyrolean Alps. Even within the
embattled ramparts of Milan the war-cry has given
the signal for the junction of the civic battalions of
Lombardy. Venice has atlJst shaken off the chains of
ages, and the golden wand of her illustrious democracy
is again reflected in the purple waters of the Adriatic.

The liberalism of Turin has been echoed by the hopes
of Genoa; the Citizens of Bergamo have j,,ined hands
with the people of Verona. Sienna has called to
Florence, Reggio to Rubiera, and Urbino to Bo-
logna, ar:d the supreme law of the million has attested
its p►ogress in Sardinia and Tuscany, among the
Lombards and the Romans, among the drowsiest
rabble of the Neapolitans, and among the Sicilian in-
surgents. On every side the sound of the tumbling
thrones of the Continent, and of the up. rousing
limbs of those nations which have been so long pros-
trate under the bonds of absolutism, is startling the
inhabitants of Ireland, and goading on to acts of
audacity and words of insolence the more ignorant or
the more unprincipled of her demagogues.
History will pronounce as to the truth or the in•
accuracy of those who represent the policy of the
English Government towards Ireland as one of
cruelty, selfishness, and despotism_ To history Eng-
land may leave the decision of that question with confi-
dence ; for the future historian may point in refuta-
_

tion of those atrocious calumnies to the unutterable
miseries entailed on England by her fraternal efforts
in behalf of the wretched multitude beyond St.
George's Channel; he may point to the public time
which has been lavished in the discussicn of legisla-
tive measures of amelioration, having exclusive
reference to the condition of Ireland and her
children ; he may enumerate the bounties poured
into the lap of Ireland from the lavish palms
of England in those protracted seasons when the land
must otherwise have been ravaged without any alle•
viation whatever by the dread scourges of Pestilence
and Privation. These facts will be recorded with an

impartial exactness in justification of that magnani-
mous kingdom which is now suffering for the abun-
dant out-pourings of its sympathy, and which, to the
disgrace of humanity, is recompensed with ingrati-
tude instead of affection, and hatred instead of
reverence.

What advantage we should be glad to know has
ever accrued to England from the association of its
own fortunes with the destinies of Ireland. What
advantage ? Emphatically and deliberately NONE.
On the contrary, an incalculable amount of wretched-
ness has alone flowed to our shores in return for the ten-
derness evinced of late years by ourselves towards the
Irish population. Granted that England is answerable
for a vast deal of mismanagement in the sister island;
granted that her legislators have evinced an extraor •
dinary reluctance in admitting the Irish to a full
participation in the privileges and immunities enjoyed
by Englishmen—still it cannot be denied, so long as
the memory of the past shall remain, that in regard
to the alleviation of the distresses of Ireland, England
has been an enormous and uncomplaining sufferer.
It were as idle to deny all this for an instant, it were
as frivolous to say that we have not materially
assuaged the sufferings of our brethren beyond the
Channel by voluntarily taking a portion of the har-
den on our own shoulders, as it would be to gainsay
the reality of the Act of Catholic Emancipation, of
our poor law interference, or .of the 10,000,0001.
bestowed on Ireland for the diminution of famine,
and the prevention of a national bankruptcy. As
well might British generosity towards
Ireland be
denied, as the sacrifice of twenty millions,
and the endangerment of our colonial pros-
perity, for the abolition of slavery and
the furtherance of the grand principle of universal
brotherhood. Yet, despite these facts—facts renowned
and recognised throughout Europe, facts attested by
the very existence of the human race upon the soil
of Ireland, facts
lustre uhich will rest for ever
as a halo of immor-
tality upon the very
which will cause much of that
name of England—spite of them
all, the Irish arnarchists are afoot, the pike already
gleams in the hand of the peasant, steps are every
day taken for securing the more effective outburst of
the rebellion. The language borne to us across the
Channel is characterised by that profound sullenness
which has in it a forboding of disaster.

Venice is a Republic. Venice 15 on
Republic. The last intelligence from Italy confirms
a former report to that effect. The Austrians have
been expelled from Venice, a Republic proclaimed,
a Provisional Government appointed, and the Aus-
trian soldiers and employes compelled to depart
from Trio* Thu. 3 it i 3 evident that the liberal

movement is making itself felt in states which have
been hitherto completely subjugated; thus it is evi-
dent that Austria finds herself powerless to retain
her heretofore most tenaciously cherished conquests.
Venice is a Republic, an Italian Republic—Venice,
which has long ceased to be Italian even by " geo-
graphical expression."
In the multitude of great events now daily tran-
spiring, the importance of each one individually is
hardly considered. It is hardly to be expected, in-
deed, that an insurrection or even a revolution can
excite the same attention now as formerly, now that
we hear of a similar movement almost by every post.
Nevertheless, if we pause to consider them separately,
every European kingdom has some distinct and indivi-

dual claim on our sympathy, every phase of the great
movement is invested with a powerful and peculiar
interest. When Plus first manifested his enlightened
patriotism and univeral philanthropy, when
Rome gave the first and irresistible impetus
to the sublime work of regeneration and re-
form, we experienced a most lively satisfaction
that " the Eternal City " should distinguish herself as
the prime motor in so grand a cause. And our satis-
faction in this particular was occasioned not so much
by the historical reminiscences of Rome as by her
present position. We were peculiarly rejoiced that
the spirit of independence should make itself mani

fest in a religious city, under the auspices of a reli-
gious prince, because (no matter though that religion
differed somewhat from our own) we hailed such a
manifestation as a guarantee that religion and liberty
would be no longer, as too often supposed heretofore,
antagonistic, when an hostility to tyranny has degene-
rated into sacrilege, and an assertion of popular rights
seemed incompatible with due reverence to things
spiritual. Thus the liberalism of Rome inspired us
with peculiar exultation, but when the acclamations
of freedom resounded through France, we found new
cause for interest in a retrospect of the past. The
eager anxiety and emotions with which we had
perused the records of a former revolution were all
revived. Again we felt a similar admiration to that
with which the redeeming traits of those terrible
chronicles had inspired us, while the abhorrence and dis-
may with which the crimes that disgraced the cause of
liberty had filled us, gave place to the most profound
and lively satisfaction that the new revolution should
be immaculate of blood. It is unnecessary to parti-
cularise the various causes which have rendered the
emancipation of every successive kingdom in which
the spirit of nationality has manifested its existence
the object of some especial and paramount gratifica-
tion. It is unnecessary to particularise why the
mighty impulse now agitating Allemania, why the
concessions wrested from absolutism at Vienna, why
the dark storm gathering over Russia, why the re-
surrection of Poland from the very grave, and why
similarly marvellous events transpiring in innumer-
able other places, are each and all possessed of some
strong a claim upon our sympathy and consideration.
And Venice also is possessed of similar
claims. The emancipation of Venice is a cause of
peculiar gratification. It is important in a political
point of view, for the assertion of its nationality,
by a State hitherto so entirely under the domination
of Austria, cannot fail of exciting immense in-
fluence as an encouragement to the other Italian
States, and a warning lesson to the powers of
Vienna. The emancipation of Venice is also in-
vested with especial interest on account of the '
historical reminiscences and poetical associations con-
nected with it. The whole history of Venice, its
origin and its very position, is one continued chapter
of romance. To us, inhabitants of London, the
idea of a city where the only sound that disturbs
the streets is the plashing of oars, and the song of the
gondolier, is marvellous and almost incompre-
hensible : while the cause of its peculiarity of posi-
tion as a state founded by an expatriated race,
seeking refuge from their oppressors, being denied any
place of exile on the faze of the earth, and being forced
to build for themselves a retreat in the very bosom of
the waters, invests it with a peculiar interest and a
certain sublimity. Venice has consequently been the
favourite scene of the dramatist, the romancist, and
poet, and has henna necessarily become a subject of
universal and undying interest ; for as BYRON has
beautifully observed, speaking of this very city and
the imaginary inhabitants which people it—
" The beings of the mind aro not of clay."
They are essentially immortal, and the interest with
which they invest their dwelling place is consequently
increased. But, apart from the adventitious charm
which fiction has bestowed upon it, the whole history
of Venice is full of attractions. Amid the rise and
fall of monarchies its republicanism remained in-
violable ; not but what we are inclined to think re-
publicanism superintended by a Doge and a Council
of ten as very different from that now advocated
by a Provisional Government, nevertheless it must
have been infinitely preferable to the domination of
Austria; for however arbitrary or tyrannical the
Venetians may have found their republican rulers,
" their tyrants, then, were still at least their coun-
trymen." According to the author of " Coningaby,"
we English are now possessed of a " Venetian Con.
stitution ;" if so, we can hardly do better than desire
for the Venetians a speedy restoration to their ancient
form of government. However, in the mean time
(as we are not quite clear as to the truth of the pre-
mises), we will be satisfied with the restoration of
and
even
v em
rejoiced,
i tnalda l n
Ge n
rthe Venetian Republic, and content with the installa-
tion of a
Provisional
e
content,sub-
stitution, because although ianrep wa place
i of
the a D
ogeguit
now, as heretofore,
" The widowed Adriatic mourns her lord,"
no longer now, as heretofore (let us hope),
will the
Venetians mourn their liberties.

We have received by the Levant mail the Constan•
tinople journals to the 18th, and the Athens journals
to the 19th ult. In the former there is nothing of any
interest. By the Courrier d'Athenes, however, we
learn that the news of the overthrow of the Orleans
dynasty and the Guizot Cabinet had given the Liberal
party at Athens so much preponderance, that the
Ministers, after a discussion in the Senate, in which a
majority rejected a portion of the budget of the
Alinister of the Interior as illegal, tendered their re-
signation to the KING. MM. TRICOUPI and CON.
DOURIOTTI had been successively consulted by the
KING, and on the 18th the latter had undertaken the
formation of a new Cabinet

Intelligence from Lisbon to the 29th ult. has been
received.

A Ministerial crisis had lute(' some days, in con-
sequence of the resignations of Senor GORJA, Mi-
nister of the kingdom, and of Senor ALBANO, Minister
of Marine. It was supposed that the m'derate mem-
bers of the Government would succeed in ousting
those from the Cabinet who were in favour of extreme
measures. The Conde DE THOMAR (COSTA CA BR AL)
had openly opposed the violent counsels of JOSE
CABRLL, his brother.