The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-08 00:00:00

jelfitag •
1

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 8, 1848,

On Saturday the Provisional Government solemnly
abdicated from its dictatorship, resigning into th3S
hands of the national representatives h t...ose powers
which had been confided to it by the acclamations oi '
the people—powers, born like order from chaos,
emerging like light from darkness- Saturday, May
6, 1848, witnessed not only the formal abdication oi
the statesmen of the interregnum, it was rendered a
day still more memorable in the calendar of the
Republic by the explanatory reports delivered from
the tribune of the Assembly by the Ministers of the
different departments of administration. As Pro•
visional Minister of the Interior, Al. LIMIIII ROLLIN
endeavoured by an assumption of integrity to justify
the proceedings of his arrogant and unconsci-
entious emissaries. M. CRLXIEUX, in his capacity
1% i
Provisional Minister of Justice, explained
VI laity, but the imperturbable resolution evinced
toward
with 1.,
' the magistracy, and the solicitude
, which that vast and responsible body of admi.
nistrators baaddiakie n. revised and purified under his
particular
of "his noble adjudication. Speaking as the colleague
friend, the Citizen ALBERT," N. LOW
BLANC
expatiated upon those most seductive visions
of Democracy,-his theories as to the Organization of
Labour, and endeavoured to illustrate the necessity for
a .
the establishment ~f linistry of Toil and Pro-
. grass. theSunsequeltilovn,ai ii)i,l)htical consciences of N.
of
N.
G.AItmER
pAGEs.tshter of Public Instruc
CAZNOT, the Prov
e erovisional 'Minister
lion,
Pruvisiona
were
dmeolsitr, the
. of Finance, and of N. 13E;n
Mit.ister of Commerce,
factorily sir ived to the Repzriately and saris
Saving, however, the alternate curiosity can
Legislators
. evinced in the " rumours ct cAuchotmensnddi'ndignati°'i
which the Deputies interrupted the address&'e"" with
LEDILU ROLLIN, or the exhaustion of voice of
id.
which
compelled M. GARNIER PAGES to reserve the pero-
ration of his discourse for the columns
niteur— the explanations of the Provisionalof the Mo
Govern-
ment would not hfi-ve risen above an interest at ones
ev
anescent and mediocre, but for the rcumstance
the man, and the oration by which they were intro-
duced.

Wan tb venerable DUPONT (de l'Eure) craved

the indulgence of the National Assembly in conse-
quen;ev w the abatement of his vhysical energies, when
he entreated its members to permit the substitutiun
of one of his colleagues as the deliverer of the pre-
amble to the different reports prepared by the Al is-
ters of the Provisional Government, and when, above
all, President BUCLIEZ announced the name of that
illustrious substitute by demanding a hearing for the
Citizen LAMARTINE—no marvel that the Palace of the
National Representa'ives resounded with their en-
thusiasm. For LAMARTINE is recognised throughout
Christendom as the high priest of the political religion
of France. With Ids came are identified all those
beneficent acts of modera ion which have proved the
salvation of his country and have covered with
an imperishable glory the councils of the
Provisional Administration. His voice was not
more audible when he apostrophized the tri-
colour from the staircase of the Hotel de Ville with the
pikes of an infuriated rabble at his breast, and their
swords brandished before his noble and unblenched
visage, than it has been in every one of those benign
proclamations which have, from time to time, testified
to Europe the purity, the amenity, and the disin-
terestedness of French republicanism. His hand was
not more visible in the composition of his celebra'ed
manifesto to the diplomatists of the eastern hemisphere
than it has been in each of those memorable deerees
which have afforded practical testimonies of the reign
of fraternity. In spite of this, LAMARTINE on
behalf of himself and his provisional associates ap-
pealed fur forgiveness to the National Assembly.
" Citizen representatives," said he, " bestow upon us
an amnesty for our involuntary dictatort.hip—
Amnestiez noire dictature involontazre .' An am-
nesty ! Yes : the amnesty of France will be her
eternal gratitude. 'Without following the orator
throughout his brilliant address, a translation of
which will be found elsewhere, we cannot but direct
attention to a few of those sudden ebullitions
of eloquence with which he stirs up the whole
soul, enthralls the senses, and entrances the
imagination of a multitude. It was in a splendid
moment of inspiration that, referring to the
abolition of the punishment of death as the first act
France emancipation
an
don E the Europe
p e24t h o
f
(F) fetiahreuapreyo,plhee after
exclaimed--"
their
com-
prehended (in that act) that lion had in truthro his
in-
spirations in the crowd, and that a revolution in-
augurated by greatness of soul, would-be pure as an
Idea, magnanimous as a sentiment,holy and as a
virtue—La France et L'Europe comprirent que
DIET; avait ses inspirations dans la foule, et qu'une re-
volution inauguree par la grandeur d'ame serait pure
comme une idee, magnanime comme un senti-
nent, salute comma une vertu." In a con-
spirit he spoke of the people during
,he crises of the Revolution thus :—" Each citizen at
Paris was at one and the same moment a soldier of
liberty, and a spontaneous magistrate of order—
" Chaque citoyen a Paris etait a la fuis soldat de la
liberty et magistrat volontaire de l'ordre." Remem.
Bering, indeed, the glorious conduct of those citizens
during the three days of February, and long after-
wards, posterity will corroborate the panegyric of
LAMARTINE ; and, hearing in recollection two inci-
dents of this final Revolution—the abolition of
capital punishment, 'an :l the reverence p4i I to the
Inarble crucifix of the Tuileries—the hisrorian will

.late the close of that famous month of February as
the epoch in which the predilection of tt,e humane
romancist was realist —" The cross shall re-
place the gibbet!" Congratulating himself and
his compatriots upon the result of their recent endea-
vours, M. DE LAMARTINE thus gives articulate mean-
ing to his emut:ons :—" Thanks be to GOD, who has
never more evidently manifested his intervention in the
cause of the people and of the human mind—thanks be
r.O that people itself, which has never more majestically
revealed its treasures of reason, of civism, of generosity,
of patience, of morality, of that true civilization
which fifty years of imperfect freedom has matured
in its soul, we have been enabled to accomplish, very
imperfectly without doubt, but not without good
fortune, a portion of that immense and pe-
rilous labour of which events have imposed
upon us the responsibility. We have founded
the Republic, that government declared to be im-
possible in France, unless accompanied by foreign
vvar, civil war, anarchy, prisons, and the scaffold ;
we have shown the Republic to be happily compatible
with European peace, with internal tranquillity,
with voluntary order, with individual liberty, with the
sweetness and the serenity of the manners of a nation
to whom hatred is an abomination, and to whom har-
mony is a national instinct." In a preceding portion
of his harangue, this great orator had pre-explained
his meaning as to the source of the proclamation of
the Republic, and he had done so in these vivid and
burning words—words that moved the heart
if the Assembly as the sound of the
trumpet stirs the heart of the war horse—
" The throne subversed, the dynasty self-exiled,
we did not proclaim the Republic : it had been
already proclaimed by th 3 mouth of an entire people :
we only recorded the cry of the nation." Of the
many passages of this oration, however, which appear

ro; us suffused with the glory of a superb elo-
quence, the last percrative sentence appears to us to be
'he very noblest. It is the sublime aspiration that
tlistory, in recounting the great deeds just accom-
,lished by France, will apportion her eulegiums with
justice. " May she," exclaimed LANARTINE, " in-
:read of the obscure and perishable names of

nen who have devoted themselves to the corn-
non safety, inscribe upon her pages two names
done—the name of the people who have saved all,
the name of GOD who has blessed all, upon the

'oundatiuns of the Republic." :Nobly, bravely,
;enerously, sublimely, has the Provisional Govern-
ment abdicated with that farewell aspiration on its
,ips--on the lips, at least, of its illu,trions leader, the
poet, statel.man, orator, historian, LAmARTINE.

The United Irishman has again appeared, and on
;his occasion without having been subjected to the
indignity of a lawyer's revision, as a guarantee for the
moderation of its contents, awl for the safety of the
parties who would in any manner aid or assist in its
publication. One printer, or we should rather say
machine-owner, only in the Irish metropolis could be
round with sufficient hardihood to endorse the politi-
:al acceptances of Mr. MITCHELL without such a col-
.ateral security, and he, it appe.,rs, was only enabled
.:o print half the usual quantity of matter. Eight
pages, therefore, only appeared on Saturday, and
.he falling off is not limited to the quantity alone,
but the quality has also deteriorated very consider-
-s', at least in the opinion of all those who admire a
;ood, high-spiced, unequivocal, seditious, or treason-
Able article. In 'lace. of being fully up to the mark
in the former alternative, in the latter resplec
tilowed to indulge
any external his own discretion (Mrsell
unfettered by
Notwithstanding the bombasta
high-
sounding language and pretendedanf
is a manifest withdrawal from the position
severely involves the editor
haitmive, and this, although he was
nit.rlo the full extent of his
fearlessness, there
c!IELL's discretion! !!)
assumed but
infludences whatsoever.
fury, the
ploirsisibtaility
two short weeks ago, before the Crown and
rnent Security Bill had as yet become thaendlaGwo.ovfe.
iand. When mere words could not by a Govern-
ment
nave been regarded as an act of treason,
cusu. declared that he would speak high tiles:-
, but now that his wish may be gratified, at least to the
oxtent of felony, he pursues a more prudent course,
and has undoubtedly studied the provisions of the
law with the most critical and attentive considera-
ion, so as clearly to understand how far he may go
without being entangled in its meshes. Ile still
sneers at the distinguished Nobleman who so worthily
tills the viceroyalty of Ireland, but "
[Lai: milli quanto murabus ab illo Ilectore."
[le no longer calls upon the multitude to smash
in
Dublin Castle, or gives instruc7ions as to the most
yproved method of waging
war against the mill-
• •
dry and police. He is now contented with address
ing G. W. F. 'VILLIERS, Englishman, as if in condo-
lence, because the Irish will not gratify him (?) by
rising in open rebellion.
This is not all. He tries to sneak from his former
to 1
associates.
under the guise of a quarrel with his quondam
It appears that Messrs. OBRIEN
and MEAGHER i
the
wiluie
ho
,Nv, .re by no means prepared to "go
with the prosecuted patriot,
end that their
differences
o un, or even than the
are of older standing than
either the Limerick d n-trati
;.------so.,kur..T d en Cund,anne, Victor Hugo
In his Den-
has uttered that
I,r
outlaorthe
revoitatt ciebteuee—WAt sentence so-
ebruary.

atrocious attack upon the m-,mory of O'CoNNELn,
which so highly exasperated tne p=opie. Mr. MIT-
CHELL says—" The truth is, that before any of us
went to Limerick at all, and before the objectionable
printed in the United Irishman, Mr.
intimated to me his aversion to any public
poaTi3aggi rrap sh was
association with me, and his strong wish that I
should not accompany him and Mr. MEAGUER in
their proposed tour to the south, in which they con-
templated the holding of meetings at New •ItoSs,
\Sratarford, Cork, and Limerick. lat lance yielded
to his wish, and undertook to use the leisure
which must intervene before the trial in visiting
some towns of 1.71,ter, in company with my
friend Mr. MARTIN. Mr. MARTIN, however, being
confined to his house by an accident, and not being
able to make any preliminary engagements, I accepted
an invitation to some meetings in England, and
actually went to England, but was suddenly recalled
by the Attorney-General, who required my presence
in Dublin. I then went to Limerick on the special
invitation of the Committee of the Limerick Re-
peelers." So then, after all, JOHN MITCHELL was an
unwelcome intruder upon the territory of his asso-
ciates—the other members of what was once the
triumvirate who probably anticpated the warm re-
ception he would receive from the Southerners. He
then enters fully into the nature of the differences,
and fairly reveals the dissensions that really existed
among the members of that apparently happy family
the Irish Confederation, and which led to the
threatened resignation of Mr. O'BRIEN on Monday
last—a resignation which he was only induced to
recal upon being assured that Mr. MITCHELL and his
Pus Achates, Mr. DEVIN REILLY, would wholly
withdraw from the society, and leave him without
a rival near the throne. This was acceded to, and
letters were sent in by those gentlemen, stating—and
certainly in fair and moderate terms—the true
reason of their withdrawal. The truth, however, did
not suit the managers of the Confederation, and the
resignations were ascribed to the Limerick occur-
rences—a line of conduct which Mr. MITCHELL con-
siders by no means justifiable.
Two circumstances are now perfectly clear from
the publication to which we have adverted ; first,
that the differences and dissensions that exist among
even the leaders of the Confederation, and the
" Young Ireland" party generally, are such as to
render them utterly feeble as a body, and to prevent
the possibility of any real danger to the well-dis-
poseds and loyal inhabitants of the country ; and,
secondly, that the new Act has proved more effica•
cious than even its most strenuous advocates could
have expected, and that so long as its salutary pro
visions are in force the writers in the United Kish.
man and the Nation, the declaimers in the
Confederation and at the various meetings throughout
the country, " et hoc-genus came," will take good
care to keep themselves free from the penalties that
may be incurred fur " open and adviied speaking and
writing," and that they will prefer remaining in Ire-
land even under what they are pleased to term " the
Saxon domination," to making a voyage at the
national expense to the British settlements at Norfolk
Island or Macquarrie Harbour.