The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, .JULY 24, 1848.

against the measure, while no less than 271 recorded
their votes in favour of the Ministerial proposition.
It was not, however, by this vast and overwhelming
majority alone that the House expressed its confidence
in the administration of the Earl of CLARENDON, and its
determination to suppress the threatened insurrection.
A much stronger, and even more pleasing testimony
thereof was afforded in the readiness with which they
consented to waive their established forms, so that the
Bill went through its several stages in one day, it
having been read the first and second times, having
gone through Committee, been reported, read the
third time, and passed at a single sitting. The sup-
port so generously given to Government by all parties
was not qualified even by the delivery of long
speeches, or elaborate statements of the reasons by
which individual Members who generally opposed
Ministers were actuated on the occasion. Leading
Members of the different sections into which the
House is divided most properly expressed their
sentiments briefly, but emphatically, and they
may be looked upon as the exponents of the views
and feelings of the parties with whom they ordi-
:narily act. Thus the Right Honourable Baronet
the Member for Tamworth may be regarded as
speaking on behalf of the late Ministry and of the
Tree-trade Conservatives—the Hon. Member for
Buckinghamshire, of the Protectionists—while the
veteran Reformer, the Member for Montrose, in the
cordial support which he tendered to her Majesty's
.Ministers, proved that the Liberal party were ready
to strengthen the hands of the Government, when
occasion required, and to sanction measures most
repugnant to their general principles, when their
actual necessity was made apparent.
Remedial measures are undoubtedly most urgently
required for the tranquillization of Ireland. A people
reduced to the very verge of starvation, whose la•
inentable condition must excite the commiseration of
every right-minded man, are easily led astray, and
induced to lend too ready a credence to the inflam-
matory harangues, and listen to the insidious advice,
of mischievous demagogues, who for their own vile
' purposes and the gratification of their morbid
passion for notoriety and of their misplaced ambition,
I,vould involve their native land in all the horrors of in-
ternecine war. If the country was in a prosperous con-
dition—if the people had an adequate supply of even
the commonest necessaries of life—if those who possess
no means of obtaining even the humblest support,
-unless earned by the sweat of their brows, were
assured of sufficient employment for their labour, at
a reasonable remuneration—if a " fair day's wages"
could certainly be obtained in return for " a fair
day's work," by all who were able and willing to
employ themselves in the pursuits of honest industry
—the preachers of sedition, the emissaries of treason,
would find but few dupes, and their puny
efforts might be laughed to scorn, or treated
with silent contempt. But unfortunately such is
not the case. The great bulk of the Irish popula-
tion have undergone the most heartrending priva-
tions, and are still enduring an accumulation of evils
sufficient to drive the most patient and long-suffering
to a state of madness. We do not urge this as an
13xcuse for their adopting a course that must fearfully
aggravate their misery and increase their suffering,
but persors in such a condition will readily listen to
any one breathing hope, and promising the advent of
a more favourable period, of a happier time. How-
ever manifest the delusion, however palpable the ab-
surdity of these promises, they cannot be persuaded
thereof, or close their ears against the deceitful
blandishments of the mendacious agitators, who work
upon their discontent and urge them to plunge into
the most fatal excesses. The permanent pacification
of Ireland cannot be expected until it is elevated in
the scale of nations, and there is a vast improvement
in the social condition of its people.
But, however urgent may be the demand for such
measures, however pressing the necessity for their
adoption, this is not the time for their concession ;
nor are the present circumstances of the country
those under which they could be granted. When re-
bellion and disloyalty stalk with giant strides
throughout the land, when hostile weapons are
directed against the bosoms of the well affected and
peaceable inhabitants, there can be no temporizing or
parlying with armed insurgents, who endeavour to
extract from the fears of the Legislature the boons
which they no longer seek to obtain from its justice
and mercy. The insurrectionary movement must be
crushed, the rebellion must be firmly and effectually
siwpressed. The misguided people must be taught
that no relief can be obtained while they preserve a
hostile and threatening aspect. They must first sub-
mit themselves to the constituted authorities, they
must abandon the perilous path on which they have
entered, and repudiate the pernicious counsels of
their would-be leaders, and then, but not unti'

then, their grievances will be taken into
consideration, their sins forgiven ; they will be re-
ceived with open arms as erring brethren, and every
nerve will be strained to advance their interests, and
develop all the resources of their magnificent coun-
try. Large and comprehensive measures of reform
will then be carried, and every reasonable cause of
complaint removed.

We trust that this period may speedily arrive. The
House of Lords will most probably this day sanction
the measure, which has been sent up from the Com-

mons, and it will receive the Royal assent without a
moment's unnecessary delay, and it is more than pro-
bable that the apostles of sedition may by Wednes-

day next be arrested, and a stop put to their atrocious
proceedings. If this be so, and that the peasantry
are disarmed and the clubs broken up, we may
hope to see peace and tranquillity restored
in Ireland, and order prevailing throughout
the whole of the British dominions. Then, indeed,

the measures for the amelioration of the country
should be entered upon without an hour's delay, and

relief given where it is required, and aid and assistance

should be afforded with no stinted or niggard hand,
so that the Irish may be taught that their best friends,

;heir most faithful allies, their most liberal benefae.

,ors, are the calumniated Saxons, whom they have

too long been taught to regard as cruel oppressors
and tyrannical governors.

Mr. ROBERT OWEN has sent a letter to the Paris
journals announcing his desire to expound to the
National Assembly his plans for securing at all times
labour to the workman. The Constitutionnel has a
long article on the subject of this letter, in whicb,
after describing a few of the failures of Mr. OWENi it
thus proceeds—

" The National Assembly has amongst its members
several Socialist leaders. It cannot refuse to hear their
doctrines explained—it cannot be said that they have
not had a full freedom of discussion. Their chimerical
ideas are menacing when they can penetrate without
controversy into the minds of ignorant readers. But it
surely is enough to be obliged to have the dreams of
these gentlemen brought forward without being
obliged to endure those of Mr. Owen also. We have
said that Mr. Owen merited, by his personal quali-
ties, the great influence which he enjoyed before he I
delivered himself up to his deplorable Utopian ideas. We
know his patriarchal views and his disinterestedness;
they contrast with the subversive ideas which constitute
the groundwork of his system. It has been said of him
that he is a mixture of Abraham and Babceuf. Let Mr.
Owen enjoy in his old age the remembrance of the good
which he did to the workmen of New Lanark. As to
his dreams of social change, let him rejoice not to have
to support the terrible responsibility of applying them.
Mr. Owen desires the happiness of humanity; we are
convinced that his doctrines would let loose on society
incalculable evils. The mere doubt ought to stop a man
of worth in such cases; but neither the personal expe-
rience of Mr. Owen, nor the cruel experience which we
have just made in France of the influence of the Com-
munist systems, permit doubt on this subject."

r ---
The Constitutionnel itself is, however, not one whit
less absurd than Mr. OWEN ; the difference between
them is this—Mr. OR EN seeks to accomplish an im-
possibility by dividing the country into parallelo-
grams, and the Constitutionnel seeks to accomplish
the same impossibility by having recourse to high
bounties. The following is the plan of this journal
for finding labour for the ouvriers employed in manu-
factories. It is calculated, says the Constitutionnel—

" That the cotton, flax, woollen, and silk manu-
factories, which produce annually, on an average,
1,600,000,000 f. worth (64,000,0001.) of merchan-
dise, have within the last four months only pro-
duced a quantity equivalent to 360,000,000 f., or two-
thirds of their usual produce. Of those 360,000,0001.,
not more than 60,000,0001. have been sold. There
remain, therefore, 300,000,0001. worth which encumber
the market, and for which an issue must be opened.
With a drawback of only five per cent. pro-
mised by the present Government, the advantage
would na be sufficient to produce a rapid sale.
The export would continue to be slow and difficult,
and the commercial movement would not be sufficiently
active to give that energetic impulse necessary in the
present state of affairs. Suppose, on the contrary, the
drawback raised to 10 per cent., speculation would be- ,