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

ettening 231111,

LUNI ON, THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1848

Akccid4nt or design—an accident the most infeli-
,or a design the most deliberate—has again
baulked the intentions of the representative Legisla-
ture. Yesterday evening,
to the punctilious
at six o'clock, according
1
Commons adjourned
without
Parliament, the House of
as
to out having arrived at any
positive resolution
Governmettile
"Crown andconsideration of the
`security Bill," in Com-
mittee. Consequent)
be indefinitely
postponed, standing ays'ittes a I may
the orders of the
Previonle'rZrangements may
day for this evening,
interfere with its advancementuif t.ii,
Preposition be
not altogether strangled by th'• arrival of the Eastpr
Vacation.
From the sentiments which expressed in the foregoio are inferentially ex.
i
g
jectured that rre are disp paragraphosed to t will be con_
tended the in.
Act with approbation. regard,
With the utmost emphasis, with the
are
".
deliberation, with the utmost distinct utmostwould express our solicitude to see the measure intrwoe
duced by the Secrttary 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 petitioning, or of assemblage would in our

opinion, be an infringement upon the holiest rights
secured to us by the Constitution—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 oar 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,
by any unnecessary interposition, the perfect "
berty of discussion."

Yet it is in despite of this indestructible attach-
ment 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
Bane 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.
\Vim-lAm 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 ley 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 Mr. DYCE SOMBRE
or the blood-thirsty predilections •f 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 in to 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 or every
European nation. France, by her astonishing revo-
lution may hare 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-
mously declared their admiration for the liberal
and reforming POPE, and hence it is peculiarly
appropriate that he who had been the
first instigator of the great and pacific re-
volution
should now give utterance to his
sentiments of gratitude on its success, and his
earnest
anxiety for its satisfactory consummation.
Che object of the brief address just issued by the
fore is, in the first place, to ascribe the wonderful
,-vents which have recently
transpired to Him to
whom all glory
is due
and, secondly, to exhort
he triumphant
Liberal moderation and ra s to the exercise of
no popular victory
can beunanimity without which
secure. " Woe to
him," such are the openin
" woe to him who, in
this
ghiswords of the address,
cedar and the twig are alike a
ittempest, where the
their roots, listens not to the vated
ic and torn from
to human pride, if it attributese t
of
the LORD !
merit of a few men these wonderfulo
cthe fault or
in place of adoring the secret
designs lianges,
PROVIDENCE, whether they be manifested by of
ways of justice or by the ways of mercy—o the f
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 Got),
cannot keep silence in the midst of the desires, feale.,
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.

reminding you,' these
We cannot refrain
"that
are the kindly worded counsels of the address,
is more difficult than
to make a good use of victory
-----
from
to conquer.. If the present time reminds you of
another period of your history, let the faults of your
forefathers be useful to their descendants.
Remember
on Con-
that all stability and all prosperity
depends
lord. It is (;on
on alone who renders the inhabitants
for
of the same house unanimous ; and GOD accords his
the
only to humility, to mildness, to respect f
his laws, ill the liberty of his church, in the order o
society, in charity towards men. Remember that
justice alone builds
our prayers bring down on
uP, while passions destroy. May
and force, and
wisdom. of
which the fear
You that spirit of counsel,
of GOD is the beginning, in order that our eyes may
behold peace in all this land of % Italy The staunch-
."
est opponent of the creed of Pius cannot refrg:n

from sympathising in these truly Christian sen-
timents—sentiments the universal adoption of
which would form the most glorious and fitting
consummation to the great revolution in which Pius
has enacted so honourable a part. The concluding
words of this address are full of beauty and pathos.
In speaking to the people of Italy, the patriotism of
the Italian makes itself manifest in spite of the
universal and :impartial philanthropy demanded of
the POPE. He was evidently desirous of calling
Italy the kingdom (as it naturally must
be) the nearest and dearest to his heart,
but he thus expresses himself with a sort of exquisite
and rhetorical delicacy—" If in our universal charity
for the whole Catholic world we cannot call it (the
land of Italy) most dear, GOD has, however, ordered
that it should be nearer to us than any other." That
sentence is of itself a justification of the remark re-
cently made by the new Roman journal, L'Epoca,
that a great principle is expressed by " confounding
together in one—Pius I. and Italy."