The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-01 00:00:00

,I•4'r bentin

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1848.

But that such tremendous interests are involved in
the settlement of the occurrences now transpiring on
the Continent, it would be absolutely ridiculous
to watch the contradictions into which our Tory
Contemporaries are continually stumbling, carried
along by the impetuosity of their blind predilections.
Only the other day they were hounding on the sol-
diers of FERDINAND to the massacre of the Viennese,
and were exulting in the conquest of German demo-
cracy by the guns of WINDISCHGRATZ and the bar-
barian Croats of JELLACHICEI. To-day they are
absolutely beside themselves with rage because
CAVAIGNAC has generously dispatched assistance to
the noble and generous-hearted PONTIFF who was, only
the ether day, bombarded by murderers in his palace
of the Quirinal ! An idiot like the KAISER cannot
be driven forth by a population infuriated by the
treacheries of his Government, without agitating
this class of politicians into a perfect ecstacy of in-
dignation ; while a paternal patriot like the POPE
may be besieged in his place of residence by a band
of ruffians, his Prime Minister may be stabbed like a
dog in the light of noon day, his Secretary—oneof
kis oldest and dearest friends, and one of the most
inoffensive of nsen—may be shot dead in the privacy
of his chamber while reading his breviary, and then
when a guard of honour is dispatched to the
Eternal City, to save from the hands of assassins a
Prince venerable for his virtues and benevolence,
a shout of wrath is raised worthy of individuals
whose hands are furtively grasped in those of the
S'ocialist propagators of the principles of anarchy and
We leave, this fact, so replete with
7(eaning, to the meditation of the multitude.
Quoting the organ of Terrorism in France, one of
our morning Contemporaries gloats over the notion
that " the Rom-ms will exercise their undisputed
rfgfir by refusing to allow this French interference,
and that they will take the liberty of kicking M.
COURCELLEs out of the City of the Seven Hills !.,
Now, it would be as
well for the credit of journalism,
if these scurrilities were
Only, distributed with in.
whya
genuous impartiality.
;huh the French Govern-
nannt alone in this matter
authorities
not assail in the same
, the flag of
signified language the
Spanish
ritish authorities► ? bea
For vessels,and the
Bnr; b
England and of Spain, as well as othe c
tricolour of the Young Republic, have haste hastened ring
the
with
the same generous impulse to proffer shelter to the
Sovereign PONTIFF at Civita Vecchia ! The truth is
eitnply this—,—hus IX. began the movement of poll-
-4041 reforml; he must be humbled: the Roman So-
..
*lista are facilitating the progress of reaction by
thp,t excesses ; they must be encouraged : General
qicf.Onsiac is identified with the republican modera-
tion of France; he must be rendered impotent by
slander and misrepresentation : Prince Louis NAPO-
LROM is the best steppingstone to a counter-revolu-
tion ; his chance of election to the Presidency must,
at all hazards, be improved. Hence these clamours
against the unsought assistance offered to the vic-
tim 'of Roman iagratitude.
Of all the proceedings of the Republican Govern-
ment, that which has recently been taken by order of
BASTIDE is, in reality, the most honourable, the
ip96 chivalrous, and the most beautiful. It was said
"=February by M. DE LAMARTINE, that the in•
tiftwirative decree of the Republic, abolishing capital
pinKiments for political offences, was "the voice of
the nation rising in a spontaneous cry from the soul
of her Government." The same may be said, almost
*.tile same words, of the recent act of the present
Administration. And not only France rejoices in the
e• ate at this bold deed of generosity towards
- 'vereign PONTIFF, but the admiration of her
citizens will be responded to by every generous heart
in Christendom. It was by a noble impulse rather
then by an astute calculation of political strategy,
that the Cabinet presided over by General Ca,vAlGDia.c