The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-21 00:00:00

Olivrtinty

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1848.

Plunder and robbery seem to be the chief objects
of the participators in the new Irish insurrection.
The " boys " do rot manifest the slightest inclina-
tion to encounter a military or police force, or to
try their chances in the field with the troops. The
lesson taught by Inspector TRANT and his gallant
associates, at Boulagh Common, too clearly proved the
impossibility of an undisciplined and unofficered mob
coping with a well-trained and organized body of
men, however inferior in point of numbers they
might be. The decisive defeat which the rebels
sustained upon that occasion must have convinced
any sane man how utterly hopeless was the attempt
to extort concessions by force of arms, or to maintain
an armed force in the field in opposition to the con-
stituted authorities. The leaders, who up to that
time suppaaed that something might have been

effected, were then convinced how utterly fallacious
were the expectations they had cherished. The mis-
taken but chivalrous and high-minded SMITH
O'BRIEN, thereupon virtually surrendered himself to
the authorities. He despaired of carrying out
his views; he saw that his continuing at
liberty could be productive of no advantage to the
country, that it could only involve those who might
afford him shelter and protection in the.most serious
consequences, and with an utter disregard of self he
adopted a course that could only end in his appre-
hension. So long as he was at liberty property was
strictly respected—no robberies were sanctioned by
him—the food that was required for his associates
was paid for to the uttermost farthing. Matters,
however, now assume a very different aspect; there
is no recognized leader of the misguided men who
have joined the insurgent ranks. Various bodies
move from place to place, carefully avoiding
any conflict, and flying before the parties
of military and constabulary that are in daily
pursuit. The range of mountains in the
disturbed districts of Tipperary and Waterford
afford every facility to the fugitives to baffle any
pursuit
that can be instituted, they send forth their
spies and scouts, who bring them the fullest intelli.
gence of the movements of the police, and are pre-
pared to make predatory excursions on any point
where there is a probability of obtaining a good
booty. Notices are sent out to the neighbouring
farmers, requiring them to bring in provisions of
every description to the camp,!.and threatening the
most stringent punishment if their commands should
be disregarded, or if the produce of the farms
should be sent to market, and not retained
for home conscription. Cattle, whether belonging to
friend or foe, are unhesitatingly carried off, and
cooked in a summary manner for the use of the
" patriots." Iron gates taken off the hinges are con-
verted into gigantic gridirons, over which whole oxen
and sheep are dressed, and the rebel encampment for
the time being is a scene of carousing and revelry.
If a movement is made by the police, their camp is
broken up for the time being, the insurgents disperse,
and remain sheltered in ravines and bog holes until the
wearied troops return to their barracks, when they
re-assemble again, and the feasting and robbery are
again commenced. Domiciliary visits are paid to
those who have not forwarded their contributions and
arms, money, and provisions are plundered without
seiruple or ceremony.
Now, although there may be nothing very dan-
gerous to the State in all this, it is intolerable that
hordes of idle and reckless vagabonds should thus
preyv upon their better disposed and more orderly
neighbours. The brigands must be put down, and
protection be afforded to property in the coun-
try. The " black mail " system cannot be
permitted to flourish in the middle' of the 19th cen-
tury. The nuisance has reached to too great an ex-
tent, and it must be abated at any cost. Simulta-
neous movements should be made so as to prevent the
escape of the banditti, and stringent punishment
should be inflicted upon those who
may beca captured,
Each day some of the robbers fall into the hands of.
the authorities, but the, arrest of a few scoundrels is
not sufficient to put an end to the system. A strik-
ing example must be made, that will instil terror into
the minds of those who cannot be taught to respect
their neighbours' goods. The Irish Government have
the full power of doing this, let them not slumber
bbeir posts. If the constabulary force is not suffi-
cient to scour all the ravines and mountain passes, to
protect property, and enforce submission to the laws,
let it be augmented to any extent that may be neces-
sary. The district where the additional force is
tmutred must bear the entire expense thereof. It ,

quiet."

will not fall upon the tranquil and peaceable locali-
ties; but were it otherwise, and that the amount
should be satisfied out of the national exchequer, far
better that such should be the case than that cow-
ardly miscreants should be permitted to carry on
their atrocious doings with impunity, and hurl a
contemptuous defiance at the law and the authorities.
The majesty of the law must be vindicated, and its
habitual violators must be promptly and efficiently
put down.

The Chartists, by mixing themselves up with the
Communists, the physical-force plunderers et hoc
genus omne, have thrown back the cause of the en-
franchisement of the working classes by a quarter of
a century. They have enabled their enemies, the
sticklers for exclusion, to give them " a bad name,'
and we all know how the world is misled by a
name. The more sensible among the Chartists
themselves are aware of this fact, and have
carefully abstained from mixing themselves up with
" the physical-force" leaders, who are, we may ob-
serve, en passant, monopolists to a man, and whose
aim appears to be to make the Chartists be con-
sidered only as the legitimate successors to the
old Tory mob—that mob which obeyed the orders
of Lord GEORGE GORDON in 1780, which sacked
Dr. PRIESTLY'S house in 1790, and which has
formed the staple of the " meal mobs" of Scotland
from time immemorial. In fact, we strongly sus-
pect that the majority of these physical force advo-
cates are Tories in disguise, who have joined the
Chartist movement solely for the purpose of betraying
it. Under these circumstances it cannot but be
gratifying to all those who are true friends of
liberty, and who have the cause of the enfran-
chisement of the working classes at heart,
to find that there are men of thought,
men of talent, and men of influence, who are willing
to consider the demands made by the the People's
Charter, to discuss the document on principle with-
out reference to the misdeeds of many of its misled
supporters, and to reason upon a great constitutional
question after a constitutional manner.
'We congratulate the friends of peaceful pro-
gress, the " moral-force Chartists," those who
seek to obtain their ends by reasoning, and by rea-
soning alone, on the circumstance that so high a
constitutional authority as Professor CREASY, the
Professor of History in University College, London,
should have discussed the subject of the People's
Charter in his recently-published and most valuable
work, entitled "The Text Book of the Constitution."*
In this book, after giving verbatim the Magna Charta,
the Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights, that
code which CHATHAM called the Bible of the
English Constitution, and after deducing from
them those great principles which may be called
par excellence constitutional, Professor CREASY pro-
ceeds to consider the People's Charter, and first he
asks—

" Is this new Charter constitutional ?
" In the first place we may observe that in its terms
in no way violates the constitution. It neither pro-
'esses to attack the Crown, nor the House of Lords.
The letter of no one of its articles contravenes any of
those primary principles which we have deduced from
the original Magna Charta of King John, and traced
through our subsequent constitutional history. But the
litter of a proposed measure is not solely to be consi-
dered. We must examine its spirit also ; and if we
find that its certain effect would be to render the future
peaceful working of our constituti.in impossible, we are
bound to reject it as unconstitutional."
He then proceeds to discuss the various points of
the Charter. Ile considers the abolition of the pro-
perty qualification and the payment of Members as un-
objectionable, but unimportant. He prefers triennial
to annual Parliaments on the score of convenience
only, but considers that annual Parliaments are not
unconstitutional, and will never produce a revolution.
He approves of the ballot as an attempt to make
elections quiet, pure, and harmless to the voters, and
adds, " to call such an attempt un-English and un-
constitutional is one of the worst pieces of ig-
norant cant ever canted in this country."
He objects to the equal representation by equal
electoral districts as being "a gigantic development
of the principle of centralisation, to the jealous restric-
tion of which our capability for free government is
considered to be mainly owing," and also " as destroy-
ing the repreentation of the landed interest." There
remains the claim for universal suffrage—a claim
which Professor CREASY thinks every lover of the Con-
stitution is bound most peremptorily to oppose,
as incompatible with the existence of either a House
of Peers or a SOVEREIGN. But while rejecting uni-
versal suffrage, Professor GREASY admits that it is
unjust to refuse to those of the hard-working mil-
lions who do not possess a 101. house in some
favoured borough, or hold a forty-shilling freehold,
all voice and influence in the choice of the
People's Parliamentary representatives, and he pro-
poses to meet the difficulty after the following
manner :

" Let the present representative system of counties
and boroughs be in the main preserved; but out of the
representatives of the smaller and notoriously corrupt
boroughs, and of the smaller counties, pare away fitt)
members. Divide Great Britain into fifty electoral
districts, according to the population, and let each
of these districts return one Member, for whom no pro••
perty qualification should be required. Let him be paid
wagt s by his constituents, in order to give working men
the chance of becoming Members. Give a vote in the
election of the district member to every male aged
twenty-one years, who has no vote for any county or
borough, who has resided for a year in the district, who
has not been convicted of any criminal offence for the
last seven years, or received parish relief for the last
year, and who is able to read and write. Let there be
an annual registration of district electors, according to
these qualifications, and require of every district elector,
at the time of registration, the payment of sixpence, to
defray the Member's wages, and the expense of re-
gistration and election. Let the voting he by ballot.
" This would give a vote to every man in the corn-
tnunity who is really desirous, and really fit to possess
one."

We by no means desire it to be understood that we
coincide on every point with Professor CREASY. We
think his objections to equal electoral districts are
untenable, and we also think he greatly exaggerates
the effects of universal suffrage, but we have felt it
our duty to direct attention to this work of
Professor CREASY, in order to show to the
thoughtful, and honest, and high principled among
the Chartist body, that their physical-force leaders
are wilfully deceiving them when they state that the
middle and upper classes deny them a fair hearing,
and that if they are willing to discuss the principles
of the Charter calmly and dispassionately, there are
those who will enter into the discussion with them ;
and we are firmly convinced that such calm and
dispassionate discussion cannot but result in the
adoption of measures which shall benefit all classes
of the community.

LATEST FROM IRELAND.

The Electric Telegraph Company's express of this
morning contains the following extract from the
Dublin Pilot of the 20th inst. :

" At a late hour yesterday we received a commu-
nication from our correspondent, giving details of the
meeting of the peasantry on the hill of Mealiff after
the withdrawal of the troops on Monday. We are
assured that the hill was covered with people.
" An immense meeting was to take place yester-
day at Drombane, and a gentleman who travelled
that part of the country yesterday assures us that
the chapel bells of the districts were ringing for the
purpose of assembling the people. Other meetings
are spoken of in the district of Castle Ot way, &c.

" iVe have heard that many of the persons at
yesterday's meeting were armed.
" The guards of the trains report everything

THE PARISIAN NATIONAL GUARD IN WESTMINSTER
ABBEY.—This morning, the visitors to Westminster
Abbey were astonished at the appearance of some officers
of the Paris National Guard. On entering, their eyes
were fixed on its lofty construction, and the monuments
and its beautiful stained glass windows, but for a mo-
ment were surprised by the gownsman requiring some
of their party to leave their sticks and canes till leaving
the sacred edifice, a rule laid down for all for preventing
the disfiguring of the monuments; ultimately an expla-
nation by their guide removed their surprise. They paid
particular attention to the monuments of our naval
heroes, and examined most minutely the various neatly-
cut naval and military figures on them. Their arrival
here has been through the liberality of the South-
Eastern Company only charging them half-price to and
from England.

• "The Text-book of the Constitution. Magna Charta,
the Petition of Right; and the Bill of Rights ; with
Historical Comments, and Remarks on the Present
Political Emergencies." By E. S. Creasy, M.A., Bar-
rister-at-Law, Professor of History in University Col-
lege, London, late Fellow of King'a College, Cambridge.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

'We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
It appears certain that Prince Louis NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE, M. ACIIILLE FOULD (the Ministerial
candidate), and one of the Socialist candidates (either
RASPAIL or TuoRE), will be returned for Paris. The
National gives the following as the result of the poll-
ing within the arrondissements of Paris :
Louis Napoleon ... ••• ... 74 727
,
Fould ••• ••• •.. ... 58,761
Raspail
••• ... 55,273
Thor 6
... 53.963
Cabet
... 53,490
Roger (du Nord) ... ••• 46 130
Adam ... 39,770
Bugeaud
••• 36,794
Delessert
••• 35,388
Girardin . . ... 21,011
Gervais (de Caen)... ... 7,897
The votes of the Banlieu, however, have yet to be
reckoned, but the only variation they are likely to
cause is the substitution of one Socialist candidate for
another—of TIIORE for RASPAIL. The Deniocratie
Pacifique gives the following as the latest statement :
Louis Bonaparte ... ••• ... 76,641
Fould ..• ••• ... 61,776
'Chore
••• ... 59,462
Raspail
... 56.337
Cabet ••• ••• ••• ... 55,685
Roger (du Nord) ... ... 45,467
Adam ... •... 40,055
Bugeaud
••• ... 39,157
Delessert
... 38,135

Girardin 20,249
LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE has also been
elected in the department of the Moselle, in that of
the Yonne, and in that of the Orne. M. PAILLET
has been elected for Charente. Nothing positive is
known as to the result of the elections in the depart-
ment of the north. In some of the arrondissements
Colonel NEGRIER headed the lists by a large ma-
jority; in others Louis BONAPARTE and the Abbe
DE GENOUDE were nearly on an equality with him.
The sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday
was devoted to the discussion of the proposition
of General LAMORICIERE for a vote of 50 millions
of francs, to encourage colonization in Algeria. The
vote was agreed to.
The walls of Paris were on Tuesday placarded
with a proclamation, purporting to be addressed by
Prince LOUIS NAPOLEON to the French people, and
announcing his arrival at Boulogne. The Prince's
cousin, N APOLEON, has published a letter in the
Prease, declaring this proclamation to be a forgery, as
the Prince has not left London.
The Constitutionnel says that the Government has
received dispatches from Admiral BAUDIN, asking for
instructions as to the course of conduct he is to pur-
sue towards the Austrian forces, which he knows for
a certainty are preparing to occupy Venice. It was
reported (although not upon good authority) that the
Government, in reply, had ordered the Admiral to
proceed with all his forces to Venice, and to defend
that city against the Austrians if necessary. It
would appear, however, that the Government enter-
tains no apprehensions of any disturbance of the
present tranquillity, as all preparations for war have
been ordered to be discontinued, and the army of the
Alps is to be reduced by one-half.
The Government has sent orders to the Commander
of the fleet off Sicily to prevent the continuance of
hostilities in that island.
According to the Democratie Pacifique, Toulouse
is at this moment the focus of numerous Legitimatist,
intrigues. The conspirators are endeavouring to
make Toulouse the centre of a Royalist movement
which shall extend over the south of France. They
have agents in numerous towns, and among the most
conspicuous of them is a notary of Toulouse, who
has long been " the man of business" of the clergy
and the aristocracy of the neighbourhood.
The Committee on the indemnity to be granted to
the colonists for the emancipation of their slaves have
completed their labours, and have appointed M. CRS^
MIEUX reporter. The Government proposed to grant
an indemnity of ninety millions of francs. The Com-
mittee propose an indeminity of a hundred and twenty
millions, eighty millions in money and forty millions
in stock. The proposition of the Committee was
warmly opposed by the Minister of Finance.
The state of the Paris poll at four o'clock yesterday
was reported to be as follows :
Louis Napoleon ... ... 111,192
Fould
••• 75,518
Raspail . . ••• 66,815
Cabet ••• ... 64,815
Thole ••• 64,449
Roger (du Nord) ... 61,218
The following is given in the Cours iluthentique of
the Paris Bourse as the state of the poll for the first
three candidates on the list, or in other words, for the
new Members for Paris :
Louis Napoleon 100,000
Achille Fould 78,900
RasPail ••• 77,000
M. RIVET, a member of the Thiers' party, has
been returned for Lyons.
The Patric says—" 'We are informed that fresh
disturbances occurred last night at Elbeuf, on the
occasion of the law respecting the hours of work. A
battalion of the line and another of the Garde Mobile
have been sent off to that town."
PARIS BOURSE.—WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 20.
THREE O'CLOCK.—The election again occupied the
attention of the Bourse to-day, and general satisfaction
was expressed at the success of M. Fould. An uneasy
feeling is, however, prevalent here; and it is generally
believed that we are on the eve of another political
crisis. The coupon on the loan was detached to-day,
which explains the apparent fall in that species of
security. The Rentes close 4 per cent. below the clos-
ing prices of yesterday. Bons du TI Cur are at 21i dis-
count; Bank of France Shares have risen 51'.; Roman
have risen per cent.; Rothschild's Receipts are the
same as yesterday. Exchange on London (30 days), 25
27k; ditto (90 days), 25 221. Railway Shares are with-
out any material change.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, SErr. 20.
Orleans and Bordeaux, I—Paris and Lyons, 41)