The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-01 00:00:00

or 'lung 1;
z

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1848.

Never since the memorable ensconcement 0:

CHARLES 11. in the oak•tree has the twenty-ninth of
Allay witnessed royalty in such an extraordinary and
forlorn position as it is at present. The circum-
stances of the various European Sovereigns are, it is
true, extremely diversiEd, nevertheless they all
resemble each other in one particular ; the circum-
stances of all, or of the majority at least, are most
embarrassing and hazardous. The two sovereignties
which alone at the present moment appear tranquil
and secure are • two which are dissimilar in every
other respect, namely, those reigning at London and
St. Petersburgh. The one is secure in the enduring
power of right, and is strengthened and supported by
an unanimous people ; the other is secure only in the
temporary strem,th of might, and is only upheld by
. the despotic will of one and the servile fear of many. In
the one instance the nation is tranquil and the Crown
secure, because the battle of popular liberty has been al-
ready won, and the rights of the people consolidated, In
the other there is a calm, but it is the calm which
precedes the storm. Excepting, however, in these
two instances, the crowns are indeed " uneasy " on

the royal heads of Europe. Embarrassing and I
hazardous as is the position of the majority, that of
the Emperor of AUSTRIA is, perhaps, the most pecu-
liar and extraordinary. He has endeavoured to recon-
cile irreconcileable elements. He has endeavoured, as
we have already said, to wield the sword of the usurper
and the sceptre of the constitutional sovereign. He
has, through the instrumentality of RADETSAY, de-
luged Italy with torrents of blood, and perpetrated,
on the plains of Lombardy, horrors and outrages
that would have disgraced the darker ages. He has
done this in pursuance of his iniquitous reso-
lution of retaining possession of his Italian
usurpations. He has done this, and at
one and the same time he has affixed his signature to
a constitution for his hereditary subjects—a consti-
tution more liberal than even the famous declaration
of ROBESPIERRE—a constitution as liberal as that
which the English people have obtained after years
of unprecedented exertion. This liberal constitution
FERDINAND has bestowed on the Viennese, even
while pursuing his arbitrary policy towards the
Venetians. The conduct of the KAISER, from these
circumstances, appeared a while ago incomprehensible.
But the solution of the mystery is now revealed
—it is revealed by the imperial flight from
Vienna, and the self imposed exile at Inspruck.
The key to the conduct of the Emperor of AUSTRIA
is cowardice. That cowardice which tyrannises over
the weak and cringes to the strong, and shrinks back
in alarm at its own movements. FERDINAND be-
lieved the Italians to be weak and powerless, hence
his ruthless conduct with regard to them. He knew
the Austrians to be strong, hence he conceded to
them a constitution. But cowardice has not suffi-
cient courage for concessions. The ESIPEROR
will
concede no further. He is afraid to give, and afraid
to refuse—hence his temporary residence at In-
spruck. Most assuredly, if the European Sovereigns
were called upon to personify the Passions in Collins'
Ode, the part of Fear would be unhesitatingly
awarded to FERDINAND. He came forward with
apparent eagerness to play his part on the Repub-
lican lyre, but no sooner had he touched the strings
than he

" Back 'recoiled, he knew not why,
Scared by the iound himself had made."

The people of Vienna have issued an address, to
the EMPEROR earnestly beseeching him to return to
the capital, and the members of the Constituent As-'
sembly have signed a petition to the same effect. In
answer to these exhortations, the EMPEROR has pub-
lished a very pretentious " manifesto to my people"—
a manifesto as truly regal in spirit and form as though
it had been penned from the dictation of Merrell,-
Mal. In this manifesto the EMPEROR has the gra-
tuitous kindness to declare that he will neither curtail
nor retract his gifts to the people in March,
which declaration may be almost considered
as the indication of a contrary desire. It
is, however, a declaration somewhat tantamount
to his expressing a wish to preserve his
crown, which most certainly would not long
adorn his brow if the constitution of Vienna were
abrogated. The ENIPEROR further declares his
willingness to listen to the " reasonable" wishes of
his people if they come to his notice in a legal way,
but he will grant nothing to unauthorised and armed
individuals. It was, he adds, in order to impress
this fact upon his " painfully excited people" that he
withdrew from Vienna. He withdrew also, says the
magnanimous but incomprehensible entence which
concludes the manifesto, " to remind them of the
paternal love with which he is ever ready
to receive his sons, even though they be
prodigal ones." How the Austrian insur •
gents may have enacted the part of prodigal
sons, and how the EMPEROR'S flight can indicate his
readiness to receive them, we must confess we are
totally unable to understand. One thing is, however,
sufficiently clear. FERDINAND regards his recent
concessions as acts of amazing generosity on his part.
The constitution was a free gift of his bounty. But
in this supposition he is considerably mistaken. A
concession of popular rights such as that which the
Austrians have recently obtained, however rm3lb it
may reflect honour on the Sovereign who voluntAly
assisted in•,its promulgation, cannot be regarded purely
as a gratuitous gift on the part of the Sovereign. We
talk of restoring people to liberty, not of giving them
liberty, for we cannot give them what is theii own.
And FERDINAND, by conceding the rights and liberties
of the Austrians, did not confer a boon upon them,
but only restored to them what was their own. Still
that act of restoration covered him with glory—we
were almost inclined to forget, or to endeavour to forget,
his Italian policy on perusing the articles of the con•
stitution, and remarking at their conclusion the signa-
ture of FERDINAND of Lorraine. Our admiration for
his conduct in that particular is, however, consider-
ably
dimiaished by his recent acts ; for by them we
are induced to think that, as we have already said,
itswas cowardice, and not liberality, which prompted
the liberal measure of the EMPEROR. It is to be
hoped that the seclusion of Inspruck will
awaken him to a sense of the peculiar
duties of his position. This is a matter
which concerns himself more than it does the
Austrians ; for, according as he advances or retro- ,
grades in the cause of liberalism, it depends whether
he shall continue Emperor of AUSTRIA, or follow
METTERNICH into perpetual exile. To him, therefore,
his future conduct will be of momentous import. To
the Austrians it will be comparatively immaterial ;
their rights will inelitably be secured, and their
liberties established, for when the impulse of liberal-
ism is once given to an entire nation, it cannot be
put down by force of arms, nor arrested by the
manifesto of King or Emperor.

We have never been amongst the advocates of the
extensive and indiscriminating system of emigration
so urgently demanded by a portion of the landed
proprietors. of Ireland. Those gentlemen, in sub-
mitting their schemes for the expatriation of millions
of their countrymen, appeared to be actuated but by
one feeling, viz., an anxiety to clear their respective
estates from the hordes of wretched occupants, at the
smallest possible outlay to themselves, without the
slightest consideration for the future welfare of the
miserable outcasts, or of the country to which they
might be driven for the shelter and support denied to
them in their native land. They would fain cast
upon the national Exchequer the greater part of the
necessary expenditure, and, as they might be called on to
contribute some portion thereof from their private
resources in return for the peculiar and personal ad-
vantages thereby afforded, they prefer the shortest
and least expensive voyage, and thus " the United
States," or the British dominions in North America,
are recommended as the localities to which the flood
of emigration should chiefly be directed. In this
respect they are influenced by the cheap rate at
which the voyage across the Atlantic can be made;
but they do not consider that already well-founded
complaints have bop put forward by our colonists on
account of the multitudes landed on their shores in dis-
ease and destitution, who, in place of having been found
valuable and efficient auxiliaries, only brought pesti-
lence and famine to the thresholds they had invaded. In
fact, the labour market was and is overstocked, em-
ployment could not easily be obtained, and unless
the emigrants brought with them the means of sup-
port for a considerable period, the scene of distress
was only changed, and the unhappy victims endured
sufferings at the other side of the Atlantic similar to
those by which they had been afflicted previous to
their departure from their native land. The autho-
rities of the United States have already adopted the
most stringent regulations by which the debarkation
of the class which it would be the interest of
this country to send abroad, is practically prohibited;
while, as we have already stated, indignant remon-
strances have been addressed from the Canadas at
the cruelty and. injustice of which we have been
guilty. If, therefore, (migration is to be at all en-
couraged by the Legislature, it must be to other lands
to which these grave objections do not apply, and
where the arrival and settlement of the emigrant
will be alike beneficial to himself, to the former in-
habitants, and to the mother country. These points
should all be maturely considered ; if they can be
united, then a moderate amount of emigration may be
sanctioned, as auxiliary to, but not as a substitute
for, the full development of all our internal resources,
more particularly of those to be derived from the re-
clamation of our waste lands.

Our Australian colonies undoubtedly possess pe
culiar advantages in all these respects. The first cost

of sending out emigrants will undoubtedly be greater