The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-21 00:00:00

THE NUN,

VAIGNAC, must necessarily be for the benefit of
the Young Republic and for the security of
the New Constitution, from the difference of
the tone in which their names are mentioned
by the Socialist journal, called the Reforme, and the
Moderate organ, called the Bien Publique. While
the latter affords them a cordial and unaffected wel-
come, the former enumerates them together as the
nominees of General LAMORICIERE, and cries out
with an expression of sarcastic and sardonic abhor-
rence—Merci ! The deduction from all this cannot
be less manifest to the population than it will be en-
couraging and consolatory. It was essential, indeed,
after the bloody and melancholy days of dune, and
prior to the inauguration of a Republican
President, that the more distinguished and
unblemished politicians of the old regime
should exchange the grasp of fellowship with those
members of the new regime who were most conspi-
cuous for their sincerity and moderation. To employ
the cant but expressive term of the day, it was neces-
sary that they should fraternize. Without some
direct movement of the kind, the Constitution would
have been built up upon quicksands, and the Presi-
dent would have had to commence his Government in
the face of doubt, and reservation. Thanks to
the decision of the Cabinet and of the A ssembly, the
requisite measure has been accepted; and the
participation of the present provisional power
between such men as CATAIGNAC and VIVIEN,
as MARIE and DUFAIIRE, as FRESLON and
LAMORICIERE, affords a solid and splendid guarantee
to France of the consolidation and permanent security
of her young Republican institutions. No wonder
that in the presence of this guarantee the repre-
sentatives of the nation expressed their confidence in
the Government by a sudden and brilliant majority !
No wonder that almost immediately afterward-,
as a conclusive manifestation of their confidence,
they abrogated the decree which has so long main-
tained a state of siege over the capital!
Everything, we should imagine, must tend to im-
press upon the convictions of the ultra-Democrats the
futility of their mad attempts to propagate the priz.
ciples of insubordination. The People—and by the
People we mean the vast mass of Moderate Repub •
licans—have twice disclosed to the Terrorists their
enormous superiority both in strength and numbers.
First of all they revealed their physical superiority
by trampling out the fires of rebellion under the iron
hoofs of war in the very midst of the great city of
Paris, and in spite of the gigantic barricades and the
preternatural cruelties employed defensively and
offensively by the insurgent rabble. Subsequently
they have demonstrated their moral superiority by
blending together the honest Republicans of the
Veille and the Lendentain in open defiance of the
sentiments entertained by the ultra-Democrats.
Events such as these cannot fail to assure the Pari-
sians, and not only the Parisians but the thirty-five
millions of people who inhabit France, of the solidity
and durability of the Republic and the Republican
Constitution. Hitherto it has been asserted by those
who have secretly reserved their allegiance for one or
other of the fallen dynasties, that the Republican
was strictly and essentially a mobile, intermediate,
temporary, *Nye, and perishable form of govern-
ment. In answer to this assertion, and in refutation
of this charge, the true and patriotic Republicans, no
matter whether they be of the reale or of the
Lendentain, need only point to the successive epochs
which have marked the history of their country since
the Revolution of February—the seventeenth of
March, the sixteenth of April, and the fifteenth of
May, the conquered barricades of June, and the
modified Ministry of October. By these events it
will be seen whether or not there is durability
in Republicanism. Since the complex machinery of
civil society was first commenced there is not on
record any comparable triumph on the part of a
Monarchical Government—a triumph over such an
appalling succession of difficulties within an interval
of such marvellous brevity. Having accomplished so
much, the Republicans of France have now only to
crown their labours by the judicious selection of a
great and patriotic President.

Although it is our anxious desire to witness the
adoption of a wise and prudent system of economy
in every department of the public service, to see
those reductions in the national expenditure carried
into execution by which an oppressed and impover-
ished people can alone sustai❑ the enormous burden
of taxation under which they are ground down, yet
there are certain points in which the feeling, praise-

worthy in itself, may be carried to too-great an
extent, and incalculable mischief may be occasioned
from a desire to effect a paltry saving. There is a
consideration that should be deemed paramount to all
others, that should never be lost sight of by our
statesmen and financiers, when calculating the
amount required for the due performance of the pub-
lic service, and ascertaining in what respect the
same may be rendered more tolerable. The first
question to be resolved is, whether the desired
reductions can be effected without in any respect
endangering the national honour, or the national
safety. There is no Briton, however humble his
rank, or unceasing the toil by which alone he can
provide his family with the mere necessaries of
existence, that would consent to see his country
degraded from the proud position she has acquired
and maintained through so many years, and with so
vast an expenditure of blood and treasure,
or to witness the desecration of its soil
by the footsteps of an invader, if the
calamity could be averted by any sacrifice, or
by any increased exertion on his own part. The
most strenuous financial reformer qualifies his de-
mands for economical reductions in the national ex-
penditure by adding, " so far as may be consistent
with the due efficiency in the several departments of
the public service." There is no desire on any side
that economy should degenerate into meanness, or
that temporary savings should be effected, that might
possibly occasion a vast additional expenditure on a
,future day.

The navy is, perhaps, of all others, the branch of
the public service which it is most essential to
maintain in an efficient condition. Its achievements
constitute the pride and glory of our country. We
claim for ourselves the empire of the seas, and the
national chorus, " Britannia rules the waves," has
ever found an echo in the heart of every Englishman,
We would not see the national flag—
" The flag that braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze,"
degraded, or its lustre tarnished. It has descended
to us from our ancestors without stain, and we will, in
like manner, transmit it honoured and immaculate to
posterity. We regret however to observe, under
the head of "Naval Intelligence," during the past
week proceedings which, if persevered in, may well
make us tremble for the maintenance of our maritime
supremacy. We find that since the 13th instant no
less than seven vessels of war, mounting in the
whole 136 guns, and manned by 1,350 seamen, have
been or are announced to be paid off into ordinary,
and their hardy crews, now in the highest state of
discipline, about to be cast loose upon the world, and
suffered to seek in a foreign clime, and under a strange
flag, the employment which they cannot obtain in their
own country's marine, under the cherished union-jack.
Is this right or as it should be ? Can we afford to
send so many of our most useful men into the service
of other nations whence they cannot be obtained
when the exigencies may arise that would render
their assistance truly valuable ? Is it, after all, a real
economy to discharge our tried and experienced
sailors, that in a brief period they may be replaced
by new, three of whom would not be equivalent to
one of those who are so recklessly cast away ? A
landsman may be obtained perhaps for a few shillings
cheaper in the month than an A.B. seaman, but his
maintenance and clothing will cost just as much. The
difference of expenditure in the wages of a crew of
raw and undisciplined recruits, and one consisting
of thoroughly-trained sailors, would be very trifling
(not perhaps equal to the salary of some sinecure
office that might easily be dispensed with), and yet
how different would be the services of these crews in
a period of difficulty and danger. It might change
saving—to
the event of a day, the fortunes of a nation, and yet
enable the
in
Cohradnereelltoor eofff. ct
the some
paltry
s wilfullyaving_ casto
Ex-
chequer to state that a few thousand
pounds have
been cut off from the amount of the ' estimates for
the wages of our seamen.

It is not the amount of sailors' pay, or their
maintenance and support, that swells our
naval estimates. That pay does not amount