The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-20 00:00:00

;• -
EVENING-, DECEMBER 20 1848.

EDNESDA*

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TlMES.—Though the Indian mail has brought little
more decisive iiaelligeoce respecting the progress of the
war in the Punjaub, yet its contents go far to set at rest
any suspicions which might yet be entertained concern-
ing the plots in which the insurrection originated. That
there was any preconcerted plan of operations is now
shown to be as impossible as that any common under-
standing exists at present. Even the scene of action is
now likely to be changed, although the chances of suc-
cessful resistance are greater at Moultan than in any
other quarter of the country, and although Moolraj is
notoriously the ablest leader among the insurgents.
There is actually a fierce rivalry between the different
detachments of the enemy, nor is it at all unlikely from
the known peculiarities of Seikh character that they may
fall upon each other before a general engagement with
our own troops can be brought on. A little complica-
tion of matters seems to follow from the movements to
which we have referred, but in reality the position of
affairs is easy enough to be understood if the ruggedness
and tautology of Oriental nomenclature did not invest the
story with an obscurity not its own. A day or two back,
in anticipation of these tidings, we explained the old
distribution of the Punjaub into military governments or
provinces, and a reference to this sketch, combined with
a glance at the map, will enable any reader to compre-
hend the significance of the various reports which are
announced. Part, not precisely of the Punjaub, but of
the Seikh territory, lies to the west of the Indus. The
northern districts of this territory include the fort of
Peshawur and the province of Bunnoo, and as they con-
tain the high roads to the passes by which alone Aff-
gbaeistan is accessible, they are always strongly garri-
soned. On the opposite bank of the Indus, with Attock
on its eastern border, is the country known as the Ha-
zareh, which should be carefully distinguished from cer-
tain districts of Caubstl bearing the same generic name,
and from which we happen to receive advices of some
note by this very mail. Under the native Government,
eight battalions of the regular army used to be stationed
at Peshawur, and two in the Hazareh; the latter
force has been augmented during our administration ;
the former remains nearly the same. It if from
these provinces that the latest insurrections have
been reported. Chuttur Singh, it will be remem-
bered, commanded in the Hazareh, and he succeeded
in inducing all his troops to join him in rebellion.
Presuming his intentions to be directed towards the
capital, his line of operations lies along the high road
between Attock and Umritsir, on which, at about two-
thirds of the distance from the former place to the latter,
stands the city of Vizierabad, which thus becomes a post
of much importance. Chattur Singh's expectations of
support are twofold; one of his sons, Uttur Singh, is
at Jellalpoor, about thirty miles north of Vizierabad.
with some 1,500 men and three guns ; and another,
Shure Singh, is on his march from Moultan with his
54)0 deserters. It is against these insurgents of the
Ilizareh that Brigadier Wheeler's force is in the field,
which, in its advance to the scene of operations, demo-
lished the two forts, as we yesterday recorded. It is of
importance to remember that Chuttur Singh leaves in
his rear the fortress of Attock, which is stoutly held
by Lieutenant Herbert, and that Maharaja Ghoolab
Singh is fully competent, both from his forces and his
position, to descend upon Jummoo upon his left flank,
and crush him at once. This, it is said, he has offered to
do, but the reception given to his professions seems not
clearly ascertained. Meantime the province of Pesha-
wur, on the other bank of the Indus, seems ambiguously
disposed. The fort itself is held by Major Lawrence,
and is secure enough from anything but the treachery of
the garrison, an event of which the probability is greatly
lessened by the prodominance of Maliometans among
the troops, and particularly among the artillery. The
Seikh troops, however, stationed in the province are re-
ported to have risen, and to have murdered their com-
mander, a Mahometan General of some repute under the
old monarchy. After this inauguration of their revolt
they are said to have hesitated for some time while the
rebel chief in the Hazareh and the rebel chief in Moultan
were bidding against each other for their services.
Hitherto, through the precautions of our garrison at
Attock, Chuttur Singh has been unable to cross the
Indus and quicken the spirit of disaffection by his pre-
sence, and it is with a view to check any such
attempts that the services of Major Edwardes are
likely to be transferred from Moultan to Bunnoo.
No person conversant with Seikh politics during
the last five or six years could entertain an opinion
that Chuttur Singh and Moolraj were furthering
a common object in pursuance of a common under-
standing. The former chief represents none of the late
parties in the State ; he is the present head of a respec-
table Seikh family, and seems to have conspired with
his own sons to deal a bold stroke for the advancement
of the house. Moolraj is the son of Sawun Mull, who
held the governorship of Moultan uninterruptedly from
its conquest by Runjeet in 1818 until his death some
three bears ago. No member of the Moultan family
took any part in that exterminating strife of factions
which preceded the late hostilities ; and, indeed, they
were entirely disconnected by interest and position from
the Court of Lahore. They desired no ascendancy or
place in the capital, and aimed only at withholding their
tribute, or establishing their independence. At our ar-
rival upon the scene its the spring of 1846. we found the
debris of two parties of Lahore—that of the
Jutemoo family and that of the favourites of the
Rance, the intervening factions having been as
clean swept away as the Girondins or the
Dan tonists. The former of these we adopted,
in a manner, by the promotion of Ghoolab Singh to an
independent sovereignty; and the restless intrigues of
the latter were cut abort as will be recollected, by the
transportation of Lall Singh, an 1 the incarceratis-n of
the Ranee, a provisional administration having been
formed in the interval out of those notables who had
kept aloof from the strife, such as Tej Singh, Deena
Na b, and others. There is no single party in the tu-
multuous politics of the Punjaub with whose objects or
hopes the purposes of any one of the present insurgents
can be identified, nor is there any single person now in
arms with whom we have had any previous dealings
whatever. The operations before Moultan supply few
materials for further comment. Moolraj is displaying a
hardihood of character and a fertility of resources
which seem to increase in inverse proportion to the fa-
vour and popularity of his cause. He has been, in fact,
outbid by the attractions of more recent revolts, and the
choice of treacheries secured by a general dis-
affection appears actually likely to keep the
Seikh temper wavering between the allurements
of rival rebellions. The circumspection of our own
movements and the vast importance now attached to the
outbreak are somewhat singularly contrasted with the
apathy or misconception which permitted affairs to come
to such a pass as the present. It happens by a moat un-
usual piece of good fortune that the enemy is content to
measure his activity by our own, and is waiting with
signal patience for the blow which we have been so lei-
surely preparing. This, though slow, will at least be
sure, for Lord Combermere scarcely mustered under the
walls of Bhurtpore such a force as is now assembled for
putting down insurrection in the Punjaub. The Bombay
division, it was calculated, would reach Moultan about
the end of the present month, but it was much doubted
whether the fading popularity of Moolraj, and the de-
parture of his levies for fresher attractions, would not
have left him at the mercy of General Whish before
that period. It is true that in this case the war would
be only transferred, but the result would be so far fortu-
nate, that besides
i getting quit of one of our ablest an-
tagonists posted n one of the strongest forts in the
country, we should gain a field more favourable for
action from its proximity both to our own strongholds
and to the territories of an ally whose sagacity will
secure his good faith.

CHRONICLE.—What epitaph shall we write on the
tomb of United Germany? For unless present appear-
epees deceive us, the hopeful scheme, which has been
struggling into existence during the last nine months, is
already seised with the pangs of a premature dissolu-
tion. Prepare the pall, summon the mourners, toll the
great bell of that ancient cathedral pile which has wit-
nessed the coronation of a long line of Imperial poten-
tates! The spirit of German unity is passing away.
Ever since the Germans of Austria declared against an
organic union with their western kinsmen, it has been
manifest that the realization of the orignal scheme, hi
the perfect form and stately proportions which it had
assumed in the hands of Dahlmann and his coadjutors,
had ceased to be within the sphere of possibility. As
we have before observed, the step was, in our opinion,
one imperatively dictated by a just appreciation of,
position and resources Of the Austrian Empire.
Austria has a vital principle distinct
from that
which animates Germany, and she requires an in-
dependent corporeal organization; and the attempt
inorganic,
yet link together the two bodies with an
yet indissoluble, ligament, could never . have been
crowned with lasting success. New Austria and New
i Germany might have sprung
.nto existence as the Sia-
mese twins of the European family, but they could not
long have maintained so inconvenient a connexion. In-
evitable as it was, however, the secession of Austria has
hastened the crisis which we long ago foresaw. Her
name, whilst she continued to mix in the federal councils
cheered the heart of many an honest South German, who
regarded the successor of the Caesars as the natural head
of the Teuton race, and lulled the misgivings of many
more, who hoped, by keeping the system in equilibrium
through the reciprocal agency of the two great Powers,
to preserve a substantive independence for their own
local Governments. Her retirement changes altogether
the aspect of the case.
.Eliminate Austria and it would
be idle to imagine that, if Prussia is to remain Prussia
still, any adjustment of the system, however ingenious;
any combination, however skilfully contrived, of the
lesser Powers, could supply an effectual counterpoise to
the preponderating weight of that great kingdom. The
question reduces itself to this—wi Germany consent to
be Prussianized, in consideration of the grandeur and
elevation to which she may aspire when clothed with the
vast military resources which Prussia can place at her:
disposal? 'This change of circumstances necessitates, of
course, a corresponding change in the personnel of the
Central Government. The Austrian Minister, who was
the soul of the Archduke Johns Cabinet, and whose pre-
sence there enabled the Austrian Government to exer-
cise a powerful, though tacit, influence over its proceed-
ings, and to keep open a door to the advantages of a
subsequent union without encumbering itself with formal
engagements, must now retire. The direction of the
movement devolves upon men in the opposite intorest,
Prussians by extraction, or subjects !)f. tho small Rhenish
States, whose ideas of national unity are sober, unsen-
timental, nod practical; and who are ready to labour
with might and main for the consolidation they have at
heart, without allorting themselves to be diverted by
local jealousies, and without consulting the historic past,
except so far as its light will enable them to see their.
way through the future. At the same time the As-
sembly has gone far to cut the knot, by giving its assent
to the proposal for the election of a single hereditary
Monarch, thereby precluding the reintroduction into the
new system of that combination of checks and counter-
checks by which Wurtemberg and Bavaria, thirty years
ago, succeeded 'in frustrating the objects and marring

the efficiency of the old ones. Now, then, comes the
strain. The people of the smaller States would, probably,
discover no great aversion to being amalgamated in a
German Empire, governed by the House of ilohenzol-
lern, especially the more stirring and ambitious spirits
among them, who pant fur a wider field of action than is
afforded by the narrow boundaries within which they
are individually confined. A man like Von Gagern who
feels capable of ruling an empire, is naturally impatient
to emancipate himself from the petty provincialism
of an insignificant electorate. But what says Bavaria?
What says Wurtemberg ? hat Saxony ? What
Hanover? Has any chemical agent been discovered
potent enough to melt down the solid mass of obstruc-
tion which the. first three of the States be hare named
opposed, in 1815, to the sat me of union then proposed
by both Austria and .Prussia? The democratic impulse,
fm_ which the originators of the scheme mainly relied,
is indeed a pretty strong diluent, but it has been at
work, for the last eight or nine months, without pro-
ducing any very visible tokens of its decomposing
powers; and the infusion t f Conservatism, with which
it has of late been tinctured, is not likely to enhance its
efficacy in this particular. Were the Governments of
Bavaria and Hanover now to withdraw their representa-
tives from Frankfort, and refuse obedience to the man-
dates of the Central Power, as we are told they are about
to do, we cannot help suspecting that the populations of
both countries would regard the proceeding, if not with
approval, at least with indifference. Austria, for her
part, cannot be expected to eye with much cor-
diality the sudden aggrandizement of her ancient rival ;
aed doubts may, perhaps, be entertained in the political
circles of the west and south, whether the advantages of
a perfect Federal organization, and the use of the Prus-
sian army might not be too dearly purchased at the ex-
pense of a rupture with a Power which commands the
head of the Adriatic and the broad stream of the
Danube. For ourselves, deeply concerned as we are in
the issue of any experiment affecting the peace or welfare
of Germany, we survey the progress of the movement
with feelings in which curiosity mingles more largely
than either hope or fear. As far as regards the general
interest of the European commonwealth, there would,
perhaps, be no great cause for misgiving in the estab-
lishment of a powerful empire in the heart of
the continent, whether its flag bore the back eagle
or the old German tricolor. In fact, such a con-
summation would only carry the favourite principle of
the Vienna Congress one step further ; and, although the
internal changes which have lately occurred in Prussia
and elsewhere would doubtless materially modify the
views of the negotiators of 181.5, had they to do their
work over again, we see no reason to think that those
changes will so decidedly alter the general policy of the
States to which they have extended, as to render an
event which would have appeared desirable then, fla-
grantly objectionable now. But the interests of Europe are
not, in truth, very deeply involved in the matter, either on
one side or the other. For ourselves in particular, it is of far
more importance that Germany should be rich, thriving
and prosperous, and should be guided by a liberal and en'
lightened commercial policy, than that she should possess '
greater or less share of political power, present a mores
or less solid front to foreign aggression, or press with a
more or less concentrated force on the balance of the
European system. To enable her to attain the highest
prosperity of which she is capable, a cordial and amicable
union between all the nations within the geographical
limits of Germany appears to us indispensably neces-
sary; and should the politicians of 1848 overshoot their
mark—should the effort to tighten the federal bond lead
to its disruption, and the struggle for a more perfect or-
ganisation end in breaking up the German group into a
congeries of disunited peoples, or a cluster of separate
leagues, none would deplore thecatastrophe more deeply
or more sincerely than ourselves.
AD VERTISER—The belief has long been general
among those who are but imperfectly acquainted with
the principles of political economy, that in the inverse
ratio in which other -countries are commercially de-
pressed, England will be prosperous. It was easy enough
for those who took a more enlightened and enlarged
view of the subject to demonstrate the fallacy of this
theory; but it was not equally easy to insure the Re-
cess of the demonstration to the minds of those by whom
the fallacy had been advaneed. It is the moat difficult
thing imaginable to induce men to abjure a long and
fondly-cherished opinion, even when its unsoundness has
been made as clear as the noon-day sun to the minds of
others. Even now, in the face of plain, palpable facts,
which demonstrate the very reverse of the positions,
there are men who are blind enough and bold enough
to affirm, that in the commercial reverses of other coun-
tries will be found the elements of England's mercantile
prosperity. It is right that this fallacy should be so
clearly exposed as to prevent the possibility of its being
embraced by those who may not have paid sufficient
attention to the subject. The soundness of the notion
was never pore fully or fairly tested than it has been
during the last nine months. The French Revolution
of February was accompanied by the entire destruction
of the trade and commerce of France. All its manu-
factories were closed, and its larger workshops shut up
There was literally no competition with England, in arti-
cles in which France had long been our rival. What
was the result? Was the extinction of trade in France
followed by a marked increase in the trade of England?
When France ceased to manufacture goods, did she
open new and more extensive markets for our commo-
dities? The experience of our Lancashire and York-
shire manufacturers during the intervening period, fur-
nishes a conclusive answer to the question. But lest it
should be said that there is a natural disposition on the
part of manufacturers, as there proverbially is
on the part of farmers, to be alwa, a com-
plaining, we. beg to refer those who require
a more satisfactory d, scription of evidence on
the subject, to the returns of the Board of Trade.
These official returns consist of plain figures, at, rn facts,
which are not to be disproved, nor .got rid of by any
amount of ingenuity which may be employed for the
purpose. Well, then,what do they say i What is the
language which they speak ? A reference to them will
show, that so far from the export of our manufactures
increasing after February, in the ratio in which French
mabutaciures ceased to produce theirs, they fell off to
the extent of fully one fourth. As we gave the tabular
returns a few weeks ago, we need not reproduce them
now. Those who examined the returns in question will
have observed that there was a falling off in our exports
to the Continent, each month, as compared with the cor-
responding month of the previous year, down till Octo-
ber last. •It will also have been remarked, that from the
month of July, the time when trade and commerce began
somewhat to revive in France, there was a corresponding
increase in our Continental exports, down till the month of
October, when for the first time, since the French revolu-
tion of February, our exports equalled those of the
corresponding month of the previous year. This, then,
decides the question. Here are facts which cannot be
assailed—arguments which are unanswerable, in opposi-
tion to the hypothesis, that our commercial prosperity is
necessarily consequent on the ruin of the commerce of
other countries. If further proof were needed, that as
the trade of other countries prospers, that of England
flourishes, that proof would be found in the existing
posture of commercial affairs on the Continent and in
England. For the last six weeks there has not only been
perfect tranquillity in France, but a universal belief that
it would continue. Mark the consequence. There has
been a great improvement in the public funds of France,
and in the trade and commerce of that country. In both
respects there has been a cordial sympathy among our-
seives with our French neighbours. Our funds have
risen materially, while the increase in our trade and
manufactures has been so great, that on no former occa-
sion was so extensive a business known to be carried on
in the manufacturing districts at this season of
the year. These are stubborn facts. They speak
for themselves. They need not to be enforced by any
observations of ours. That, indeed, would only impair
the effect which the bare statement of them cannot fail
to produce. Out of evil cometh good. The French
Revolution was in itself a gigantic evil; though con-
templated in reference to its ultimate results, it is to be
hoped it will prove an immense good. One benefit which
has already. resulted from it is the complete exposure
which it has given to the fallacy, that the commercial
ruin of one country it the commercial prosperity of ano-
ther. On the contrary, all countries, especially adjoin.
ing countries, suffer or prosper together. They are,
like the members of a family: when one member suffers,
all, the other members suffer also. This is a great philo-
sophical truth. It is one, moreover, of vast social im-
portance. It is well that nations understood it. It

Would extinguish all unkindly feelings arising from mis-
taken views of their relative interests. It would inspire
feelings of mutual friendship, and create a reciprocal
confidence which would be productive of the happiest
results. When will the nations of Europe learn the great
truth, and act upon it, that their interests are identical,
and that in seeking the happiness of each other, they are
adopting the best method of promoting their own?

RETBRSE OF FORTUNE.--Little more than four
years ago there lived in affluence at Marton-in-Cleve-
land (the birth-place of Cook), a gentleman of the name
of Davison. Mr. D. was then the owner of two freehold
farms and other property, to the value of 10,0001. or
12,0001. Owing to some unsuccessful business transac-
tions, in which he unfortunately became concerned, he
wis'in a short time, completely divested of the whole of
his valuable property.. Subsequently hewas advised to
institute a suit in Chancery for the recovery of part of
his patrimonial estate, in which a large sum of money,
supplied by the kindness of two faithful old servants
(one of whom has since become his wife), was speedily
expended, without, however, attaining the object de-
sired; and in consequence of his inability to pay certain
costs, on a motion made on the part of the de-
fendant, in the suit, he was cast into pri-
son, his wife and two young children having
in the meantime been forcibly ejected from a humble
dwelling on the estate, in which Mr. D. had taken
shelter after the sale of the last remnant of his effects,
in utter helplessness. After being detained in York
Castle for a considerable period, without being able to
pay the costs necessary to the further prosecution of the
suit, he was compelled to take the benefit of the Act for
the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, whereby he necessarily
relinquished all claim to the property he had sought to
recover. Mr. John Davison is now living at Middles-
boro'•on-Tees, without any means of supporting himselfand family, and during a portion of the harvest months
of the present year he has been glad to obtain even occa-
sional employment as a labourer on a farm adjoining the
rich broad lands so recently his own. Yet no murmur
or repining is ever heard from him. Who can help ad-
miring such patient endurance, and commiserating such
misfortunes?—(From a Correspondent.)

TUB ANCIENT BOAT FROM THE CLTDE.—At the
meeting of the Society of Antiquaries held on the Bth
inst., there was presented to the society, through the
liberality of the trustees of the river Clyde, an ancient
boat, dug up in the autumn of 1847, at Springfield, op-
posite the Broomielaw. This most interesting relic is
hewn out of a single tree, and is in so rude a fashion
that we can hardly assign too remote a date to it within
the era of our island's la iatory.—Eclinburgh Witness.

trb MWtion

FRAN CE.

The bureaux yesterday examined the Bill relating
to thu responsibility of the President and the Minis-
ters. In general it was considered that it vvouid not
he prudent to insert in the Bill too many details and
definitions, particularly in what concerned the cases
of treason, attempts at infraction of the Constitution,
&c., on the part of the President. M. Vivien declared
himself to be of that opinion, and mentioned in sup-
port of his views, that the Amertcan law dealt alto-
gether in general terms as to reprehensible acts on
the part of the President of the Republic, making use
of the following expression :—" And all other acts
of bad conduct." M. Tassel declared, that whilst
he agreed with the opinion just put forth, he
thought Art. 4 of the Bill brought forward by M.
Creinieux ought to be preserved, enumerating, as it
did, as a case of high treason, and drawing with it
the immediate downfal of the President, any attempt
to prorogue the Assembly, or to throw obstacles in
the way of its exercising its right to act and delibe-
rate. Several other Members appeared to share in
this opinion.
According to the last accounts from Lyons the
price of silks has considerably increased, and busi-
ness, which was suspended during the election for
President of the Republic, has resumed activity. At
Lille also, and indeed throughout the department,
there has been a marked improvement in business i❑
general since the middle of last week, and particu-
larly in the beet root sugar manufactories. The rise
in prices is said to be about ten per cent.

A U STRIA.
The Breslau Gazette states that a rumour was cur-
rent at Vienna on the 12th, that the Hungarians had
proclaimed a Republic, with Kossuth at the bead of it.
The Voss Gazette gives the same news direct from
Perth. The Volkshalle, on the contrary, announces
that Kossuth had been proclaimed King, under the
name of Louis IV.

A letter from Prague of the 12th states that a
conflict between a Hungarian regiment of hussars
and the inhabitants had taken place at Klattau, in the
course of which frightful carnage was perpetrated.
The Prager Zeitung, under the date Knowsier,
the 10th of December, gives the following account of
the respective members of the differens parties in the
Austrian Diet :

" There are 109 deputies from Galicia, 35 of whom
belong] to the Sclavonian Club, which constitutes the
Right of the Assembly; 26 members belong to the Club
of the Left; the Germanic-Austrian and the Austrian
Clubs (the Centre) are not represented. The number
of Bohemian deputies amounts to 90. They are appor-
tioned according to the following scale:—Sclavonian Club
(Right), 50; Centre, 22; Left, 5. From Moravia there
are 43 delegates, 13 of whom belong to the Right, 23 to
the Centre, and 7 to the Left. Lower Austria has sent 37
members, none of whom take their seats on the Right;
the Centro is represented by 9
of them, and the Left
by 21. The number of Styrian deputies is 21—Right,
3; Centre 10; Left 4. Deputies from the Tyrol, 19—
SclaTonian Club, Right, none; Centre 12; Leit 2. De-
puties from Upper Austria 20; none of whom belong to
the Right; Centre, 6; Left, 12. Deputies from Elyria,
17—Right, 7; Centre, 5; Left, 1. The Coast Provinces
are represented by 12 delegates, S of whom belong to the
Right; 2to the Centre; and 2to the Left. Of the 11
Dalmatian members, 3 belong to the Right, and 2 to the
Left.

" Accordingly, the total number of deputies constitut-
ing the Diet amounts to 384. The Right numbers 114,
the Centre 89, and the Lett 82. The rest, of 99, either
belong to no decided political party, or are split into
small fractions. It must, however, be kept in mind that
the party divisions depends at least as much upon national
sympathies and antipathies as on general political prin-
ciples."