The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-01 00:00:00

-1

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY

directed volleys of the police, withdrew from the on-
slaught. In vain their General called upon them to
return to the attack. The warm reception they had
already received appeared to have quite paralysed
their energies, and convinced them of the hopelessness
of their enterprise. The prayers and entreaties of their
clergymen appear to have confirmed the prudent resolu-
tion which the resistance of the police had originated,
and Mr. O'BRIEN, finding that his ranks were melting
away by continued desertions, and that the police
force might speedily be in a position to become
assailants in their turn, sought safety in flight.
Thus ended the battle of Boulagh, where several
thousand rebels were successfully repulsed and
eventually put to flight by fifty policemen—leaving
several of their companions (it is said eighteen in all)
hors de combat. Considerable reinforcements of
military and police subsequently arrived at the scene
of action, but their work had been performed, and
no enemy appeared to provoke a contest or to resist
their progress. We believe that not a single man of
the police was killed, or even seriously wounded ; so
that this formidable demonstration was suppressed
without the loss of a single man on the side of order,
and although the misguided peasantry have suffered
in some degree, they have received a valuable lesson,
which will teach them the absolute insanity of sup-
posing for a moment that they could offer any effectual
resistance to the overwhelming forces at the disposal
of the Government. Indeed it may reasonably bo
supposed that it was the knowledge of the gigantic
scale on which the preparations had been made for
the suppression of the rebellion that discouraged the
clubbists, and prevented a much more sanguinary and
formidable outbreak. The insurgents may therefore
be said to have been defeated rather by moral force

;han by any physical power that was brought against
them.

Meantime the Government are persevering zea-
lously and efficiently, and are taking measures to ex-
tirpate rebellion from the land. New proclamations
have been issued placing several other districts under
the operation of the recent Act. The counties of Kerry,
Westmeath, South Wexford, Carlow, Queen's County,
Kildare, and Wicklow were yesterday proclaimed, as
well as certain baronies in Cork, King's County,
Cavan, and Monaghan. These vigorous proceedings
will effectually prevent any temporary 67/lute that
might otherwise have taken place. The cause of
anarchy has received a blow it will not speedily re-
cover. The Government now have the game in their
own hands, and if it is played out judiciously and
discreetly they will have to boast of what no former
Ministry could venture to assert, viz., that Ireland
has been tranquillised, and that it will no longer pre-
sent the chief difficulty to any English Government-
But how is this desideratum to be attained ? Simply
by first effectually suppressing the insurrection
and punishing firmly, but temperately, and without
cruelty or bloodshed, those who, by their open and
advised speaking, and inflammatory writings, have
goaded the excitable population to a state of insanity,
and then by introducing large and comprehensive
measures of relief, by which every well-grounded
cause of complaint will be removed, and
the Irish people placed on a footing of
equality with their English brethren. Let
this be done—the waste lands reclaimed—those
already under tillage brought into a proper state of
cultivation—the fisheries, deep sea, coast, and in-
land, properly encouraged—the natural capabilities of
the country fully developed, and both nations will
long have cause to speak of the happy results that
succeeded the abortive rebellion of 1846 ; the names
of Saxon and Celt will no longer be bandied about
as terms of reproach, but English and Irish will be
connected together in the bands of amity, and pre-
sent the appearance of one happy and united people.

It is unquestionably the duty of a Ministry to
practise a wise and prudent system of economy, to
discountenance every unnecessary expenditure, and
to resort to every legitimate means to mitigate the
enormous burden of taxation under which the indus-
try of the nation is paralysed. If, however, a wild
and reckless extravagance is to be deprecated, there
is another extreme that should likewise be avoided.
An undue parsimony and meanness is not be-
fitting the Government of a mighty nation.
A just and happy medium should be observed.
The national establishments should be main-
tained in an efficient condition. The public ser-
vants should be fairly and liberally, but not ex-
orbitantly, remunerated, and a provision should be
made by a grateful country for those who have de•
voted their best years to its service, or who, in a
private capacity, have refined the public taste or
introduced improvements that entitle them to be
ranked amongst the national benefactors. The help-
less dependents on such persons may also justly be
assisted in the event of the death of those who had
established a claim on their country that could not
be liquidated, and which might, therefore, properly be
transferred to the credit of their surviving relatives.
We venture to say that few Englishmen would be dis-
posed to cavil at, or object to the application of a fair
and moderate sum to such purposes, or desire that
any retrenchments should be introduced into that
branch of the public expenditure. Every claim
should be rigidly scrutinised, but if well founded the
British nation should never reject the prayers of the
applicants from any paltry or niggardly motives.
The grants that are made on behalf of education,
or for the support of institutions established for the
diffusion of scientific information amongst the
great body of the people, by means of lec-
tures delivered by well-qualified men, or for
the fostering of arts and sciences, should be made in
a bountiful and liberal spirit. A small assistance may
often enable parties successfully to maintain local
establishments, calculated to purify and refine the
tastes and habits of the people, inducing them to cul-
tivate new pursuits, directing their energies into the
most beneficial channels, enabling them to with-
stand vulgar temptations by the rational enjoyments
thereby opened, and, in fact, becoming bless-
ings to the surrounding districts. It would ma-
nifestly be an unwise economy to endeavour
to effect some insignificant reduction in the
amount of the estimates by withholding or
even reducing the aid heretofore extended to those
popular institutions ; and yet we regret to say that
there are indications of such an intention on the part
of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, which may
be carried into execution, unless the voice of public
opinion should be heard, and indignant remonstrances
poured in to the Treasury against the injudicious and
impolitic saving.

In another column will be found an article ex-
tracted from the columns of an esteemed contempo-
rary—the hull Advertiser, in which it is announced
that the small sum of 1501. per annum, which had for
the last few years been voted for the establishment of
a school of design at Newcastle, is about to be with-
drawn. Our contemporary forcibly points out
the vast advantages that have been conferred
upon the lc Nility by this trifling assistance ;
without it the school could never have been opened,
and if it should now be discontinued, the establish-
ment must immediately be closed, and 104 stu-
dents deprived of the instruction they are now
receiving. It is not by such a course that the people
will be satisfied, or believe that their interests are
duly attended to in the Imperial Parliament. If a
real desire exists to reduce the public burdens, there
are many charges that may altogether be lopped off,
and others in which extensive reductions may be
made. How many " Schools of Design" could be
maintained for the 11,9461. per annum received
by the Duke of GRAFTON for so many years.
The heirs of the Duke of SCHOMBERG, of DE GIN-
KELL, of the Duke of MARLBOROUGH, and a host of
other hereditary pensioners, may justly be called upon
to show cause why they should still be permitted to
levy contributions on the over-toiled operatives.
Here, indeed, is an ample field for economy and re-
trenchment. To show what amounts have already
been extracted from the national Exchequer by
claimants of this character, we shall select one case, as
affording the strangest illustration. In 1675, the
then Monarch, CHARLES the SECOND, granted two
pensions to his natural son, whom he created
Duke of GRAFTON, and to his heirs for ever, the
one of 8,5391., charged on the Excise duties ;
the other of 3,4071., charged on the Post-office
revenues. Those pensions, amounting together to
11,9461., have been paid ever since, during a period
of 173 years. These payments have, therefore,
altogether amounted to more than two million pounds
sterling, without any allowance whatever being made

for interest. If, however, compound interest should
be calculated, it will appear that the support of that
single peerage has cost the nation upwards of twelve
hundred millions sterling, or one-half more than the
National Debt. This may appear incredible,
but it will easily be ascertained by calculating
what a single hundred pounds per annum
would amount to in that period, taking
the rate of interest for the entire period at 6 per cent.,
which was far below the average. This simple fact,
will, we trust, not be lost sight of, but will direct
the attention of our Legislators to those crying
grievances which have so long reflected discredit on
Ithose entrusted with the management of the national
finances.

The new Roman Parliament has shown little hesi-
tation in following out the principles which they re-
cently set forth in their inaugural address. That ad-
dress, as we remarked on its first publication, not
only breathed a spirit of nationality and independence,
but it also manifested the existence of an indomitable
resolution which should triumphantly vindicate that
nationality and assert that independence. The pro-
mises of the Roman Parliament have been realised,
their words have been followed by their actions. The
POPE'S Government having failed to take those steps
which the Parliament and the people deemed neces-
sary for the preservation of their national indepen-
dence, the Parliament and the people have themselves
appointed a Provisional Ministry to assist them in
carrying out such measures as the imminence of the
danger impending over Italy renders immediately
imperative. In a prima facie view the conduct of
the PorE, the Parliament, and the people of Rome
appears on the present occasion most extraordinary,
and perhaps reprehensible. It appears, to say the
least of it, most extraordinary that Pius IX.—Pius
IX., whose hand gave the first impetus to the crusade
of constitutional liberalism, whose voice was the first
to give utterance to the popular yearnings, an utter-
ance which, awakening long silent echoes, has refer-
berated throughout the whole European continent—it
appears extraordinary, and well nigh incomprehen-
sible, that Pius should for one instant swerve
from that liberal and patriotic course on
which he had nobly and voluntarily en-
tered. Thus, as we have said, the conduct
of the POPE in a prima facie view—in a prima face
view, be it well remembered, appears most extraordi-
nary and almost reprehensible. And the same may,
without doubt, be said of the conduct of the Roman
Parliament and the Roman people—the Roman
people, indebted to Pius for so many benefits, the
Roman people, who have already received such innu-
merable proofs of the tenderness of his paternal affec-
tion for his temporal subjects and spiritual children,
and the Roman Parliament, inaugurated under his
auspices, and in fact
.indebted to his enlightened pa-
triotism for their very existence. It appears extraordi-
nary and most reprehensible for a people so deeply
indebted to their Prince to take upon themselves

the task of appointing his advisers ; but let
us examine a little closer the conduct of
tho POPE and his people, and the anomaly
disappears. Recent events only give us new cause to
admire the excellence of Pius, and to sympathise
with the patriotism of the Romans. The great re-
volution of 1848, although, unhappily, it has been
defiled with blood, is essentially of a pacific nature—
its principles have been most beautifully and
truthfully set forth by one of its noblest
apostles, ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE, when he pro-
claimed not only "Liberty and Equality," but
" Fraternity " and Peace among nations and
citizens. These principles, however inadequately
they may have been recently carried out, are essential
characteristics of the spirit of the present age, and
these principles, in their highest beauty and sub-
limity, have been worthily impersonated in the
Roman Prince and the French Republican. Li.
berty anti Peace was the burden of every
sentence which fell from LAMARTINE'S eloquent
lips, Liberty and Peace is the ruling principle of all
the action and all the inaction of Pius. Zealous in

the cause of liberty, the liberal Prince has voluntarily
bestowed upon his subjects privileges which, without
his instigation, those subjects would never have
sought ; but also zealous in the cause of peace, the

Christian Prelate refuses to sanction even an in

dubitably legitimate war. The number is very few
who do not consider the Italian war of independence
as a just and almost a holy war, but their number is
yet fewer who do not consider the pacific resolution
of Pius as honourable and becoming to a Christian
Priest. In ancient days it was too often a matter of
scandal that the Pope was forgotten in the Priitco, the

rulers of the Vatican seemed to consider it of more

importance to aggrandize their temporal than their
spiritual dominions, and a similar spirit occasionally
animating the lower orders of the clergy, the crosier
has not unfrequently been laid aside for the sword.
What a striking and noble contrast does the conduct
of Pius offer to such acts as these ! He is ready

when brought to the trial to sacrifice his civil to his
spiritual duties, or rather he has found a means of
reconciling those apparently antagonistic claims. Me
individually refuses to sanction the war, but he
suffers his people in this matter to act as their
patriotism impels them. The people have
understood him, they have readily and gratefully
availed themselves of the implied permission, and
relieved their Prince from his onerous burden. The
Parliament chosen by the people have, with the con-
sent and co-operation of the people, appointed a Mi-
nistry net opposed to or independent of Pius, but only
opposed to his pacific views, and independent of him
in the carrying on of peace or war.

The apparent insubordination of the Roman people,

strange as it may appear, is not an evidence of dis-
loyalty. Their insurrection is strictly loyal. So
at least it has been pronounced by a high
authority in such matters ; for the Minister
of Police declared to the Parliament that
he had received notice of the popular demonstration
the day before it took place, but that, as it was per-
fectly legal, he had not thought proper to interfere.
We shall await with anxiety the result of these
somewhat extraordinary proceedings. At present we
cannot but regard them as fresh instances of the pa-
cific and Christian spirit of Pius IX., and of the
patriotism of the Italians, and hence these events only
augment our admiration and our sympathy for Pius
and his people, and increase our anxious aspirations
for the speedy emancipation of all Italy from a foreign
yoke, and her consolidation, as one free and inde-
pendent nation, under the auspices of him who has
shown himself in every way worthy of the high and
holy duties imposed upon him.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 26th ult. have arrived.

The QUEEN is expected to return from La Granja
immediately, in consequence of the spirit of insu-
bordination which has become manifest among the
troops quartered there. It appears that a soldier of
the Engineer Regiment was ordered to recive twenty
blows with a stick, by an officer who was inspecting
a portion of that force, for some act of insubordina-
tion when on parade; and the company to which the
soldier belonged immediately mutinied and took part
with him. The officer reported this to the Minister
of War, who, with General SNARVAEZ, soon presented
themselves with other forces, and the company was
disarmed.

A plan for the settlement of the debt is said to be
on the tapic, and to be as follows :
" The overdue Coupons of interest to be exchanged in
the proportion of 100 of Coupons for 40 of Three per
Cent. Stock.

" The Five per Cent. Stock to be exchanged thus :
For each 100 of Five per Cent. Stock 30 of Three per
Cent. Stock to be given, and 70 of tho Deuda Siu Intone,
in other words Passive Debt.

" The interest on the New Three per Cents. to com-
mence in January, 1850."

The Deuda Sin Interes is receivable for the pur-
chase of some kinds of national property, should the
sales go on. The interest offered is equal to rather
more than 1 per cent. on the Coupons, and rather less
than 1 per Cent. on the Fives, after 18 months' time.

The Funds are again somewhat lower. Three per
Cents., 181 buyers, 1 sellers; Five per Cents., 10 to
k buyers, k sellers ; Coupons, 7 buyers ; Passive
Debt, 3; buyers, 4 sellers; Bank Shares not quoted.

POST. OFFICE NOTICE.—The Postmaster-General
has just issued a notice and instructions to postmasters,
letter-receivers, tv., and the public, by which the town
i
of Ferryport-on-Craig, n Fifeshire, North Britain, is
constituted a post town, and the post-office there viillbe
opened for the issue and payment of money-orders on and
after tits eh of August inst.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Fren3h papers of yesterday.
The news from Lombardy and the probability of
an intervention on the part cf the Republic in the
affairs of Italy are discussed is all of them.
The Cousiitutionnel thus comments on the probable
results, military and political, of the drawn battle

fought at Villa Franca between CHARLES ALBERT

and the Austrians :

" Without giving a decided opinion as to the result of
the battle, we think we are able to point out the general
plan of it. The importance of the event, the multiplicity
of the trifling skirmishes, and the wide extent of the
theatre of war should induce our readers to turn to a

chart of Upper Italy.
"It is known that the Austrians had taken, as the

basis of their defensive operations, the double line of the
Mincio and the Adige; that the first had been forced at
Goito, a little above Mantua, by the Piedmontese troops,
and that since that time the two armies had occupied the
following positions :—The Austrian masses concentrated
in Verona and Mantua, with detached forts on the right,
to maintain the communication with the Tyrol, and on
the left towards Ferrara. The Piedmontese army ex-
tended from the left bank of the Po, which had even been
crossed near the lake of Garda, blockading Mantua,
threatening Verona, having its head-quarters at Villa
Franca, and its left on the famous position of the Corona
de Rivoli, under Moaat Battle.
The intention of the AuStrian general had been to
take advantage of the concentration of his forces in Ve-
rona and Mantua, in order to act at once against the
left and the centre of his enemy, and to break through
his too extended line. For this purpose two attacks
were combined, the one on the left wing of the Pied-
montese, to drive them to the foot on the heights, and
the other to drive back, in a contrary direction, the
corps posted at Somme Campagna and Villa Franca.
The first operation was attended with a certain degree
of success. A strong body of Austrian forces made
their appearance, on the 23d, on the Plateau of Rivoli,
drove the Piedmontese from it, after three hours' fight-
ing, and were only stopped by the brigade of Pinerola
maintaining their ground at Bosco. Tho threatened
wing, however, fell back towards Peschiera, and did
not lose its communication with the centre. The second
attack was directed by Radetzky in person, but led to no
marked result, as the Austrians could not succeed in
reaching the Mincio to throw a bridge across, and thus
effect the separation of the Piedmontese army.
"Charles Albert, who immediately repaired to the
centre, sent pressing orders to his right wing, a strong
column, detached from the blockading force of Mantua,
immediately put itself in march, and on the 24th made
its appearance between Villa Franca and bole, in the
rear of Radetzky. The position of the Austrian General
became very critical ; his corps was placed between
three fires, since the troops which he had attacked in
front still held their ground against him, and the division
of the right wing of the Piedmontese were now ready to
attack him in the rear. Radetzky had already ex-
perienced severe loss. The whole success of the move-
ment he had made depended on the fate which attended
the division which had gained the Mincio near Salvenge.
As it was preparing to make a rapid movement on the
rear of the extreme left of the Italians, where a body of
Lombardians were stationed, a pirtial reverse was to be
dreaded in that quarter, but it was probable that Charles
Albert would have acted promptly in that quarter by
the bridge of Goito, and leave the enemy no alternative
but to persist in an unequal struggle or to lay down its
arms. The offensive movements of tho Austrian troops
will not have been confined to this fruitless attack of the
Mincio ; the report is that other affairs took place on
the same day, the greater part ending in favour of the
Italians. On this subject, and on that of the nettle of
Villa Franca, we shall anxiously look for farther in-
formation."

The Journal des Debats says :
"It results from all this that Marshal Radetzky, wish-
ing to put an end to the blockade of Mantua, has just
assumed the offensive against the centre and the lett of
the Italian army, threatening to carry the war into
Lombardy. In presence of the feats of arms which
Charles Albert has already performed, and of the incon-
testable proofs of skill which he has given in conducting
military operations, we shall not hesitate to make an ob-
servation which can in no way injure his reputation as a
general. The line occupied by the Piedmontese army
was too extended, since it reached over a space of 20
leagues from Corona, to the south of the lake of Mantua.
At the moment that Radetzky, leaving Verona with his
army en masse, wished to fall on the centre of the Ita-
lians at Villa Franca, he drove them forcibly back on the
Mincio, and he, at the same time, compelled the left
wing to fall back on Peschiera, and the right wing to
weaken the blockading force of Mantua, in order to as-
sist the centre. This is, in fact, what has happened.
"If the Piedmontese army really wished to besiege
Mantua, it should have concentrated itself at Villa
Franca and Reverbella, abandoned all attempt on 'the
Upper Adige, strongly established his left at Castel
Nuovo, near Peschiera, and at Mozembano, en the
Mincio, without pretending to make expeditions towards
the Adige; for at operation like the seige of Mantua is
of sufficient consequence to employ all the forces of an
army. Now that Marshal Radetzky, roused from his
long inaction, shows an intention to keep the field, and
he has received considerable reinforcements, Charles
Albert must watch closely to maintain his ascendancy.
This Prince has sometimes entertained plans which his
generals would not entertain. It is thus, for instance,
that he was prevented from crossing the Adige below
Verona, where Marshal Radetzky marched into Vin-
cenza—a manoeuvre which would have prevented the
Austrian general from re-entering Verona, or would
bare forced him to a battle under very disadvantageous
circumstances. If the King should again contemplate
any of those decisive steps, we hope that the generals
will be able to comprehend their meaning, and we
counsel them not to spread their troops over too vast an
extent of ground, but to concentrate their efforts to
some grand operation without wasting time in trifling
episodes."
The general opinion appears to be that no interven-
tion will take place if intervention can possibly be
avoided, although it is not at all improbable that a
French corps d' armee may take temporary possession
of Ancona, or some other Italian town, as was done
on a former occasion. by the Ministry of CASIMIR
PBRRIER. It is said that M. L. MURAT, who left
Paris on Sunday night, has been dispatched to the
Courts of Turin and of Rome on a mission connected
with this Matter, and that General OUDINOT is en-
gaged in choosing the troops that are to be employed
in this special service.
It will be recollected that M. MAUGUIN gave notice
of certain interpellations on the subject of foreign af-
fairs on Monday. The National thinks any dis-
cussion on the subject at the present moment inop-

portune.
" We do not understand," says the National, " what
interest so pressing, at the very moment when so many
questions are in suspense, and are agitated like particles
in the mortar of a chemist, before baying obeyed their
law of affinity—what interest, we say, the Chamber
would have in commencing a useless or compromising
discussion—for there is no choice—across the events.
The policy of the Republic is not mysterious; and we
know as much of the facts as the Government itself.
It cannot, therefore, be from curiosity that persons wish
to discuss with the Ministry. Does M. Nlauguin pre-
tend to dictate the future conduct of the Minister? In
M. Bastide's place we would seek our counsellor else-
where. Does be wish to criticise the past? So be it.
But as we have much to complain of our position in
Europe, perhaps the blame of M. Mauguin will find no
very strong echo in the Assembly. As regards the pre-
sent, we repeat that there would be imprudence in the
actual state of affairs in bringing on a debate. The As-
sembly is too mindful of its dignity, too careful of its
time, to open a career for vain words, and to use a sitting
in seeing a joust of orators; at the same time it is too
wise, too intelligent, to consent to the Government com-
promising negotiations commenced on the demand of
any Member whatsoever. It is, therefore, possible that
these interpellations will end in an indefinite adjourn-
ment. For our part, we shall not be either discon-
tented or surprised at such a result."
Our readers remember the furious rage of BLANQUI
at the accusation brought against him, in the Revue Re-
trospective, that he had been at the very time he was
professing the reddest republicanism a spy of the
Orleans Government. In consequence of the furi-
ous attacks of BLANQUI on M. TASCHEREAU, the
editor of the Revue, the latter brought an action for
libel, and in the course of the trial it was satisfactorily
proved that the document, on which the accusation
was grounded, was in the hand-writing of M. LA-
LANDE, secretary to the ci-desoant Duke PASQUIER,
Ex-Chancellor of France. The tribunal has given
the following judgment :
"It having been proved that the document published
in the Revue Retrospective was not a fabrication for the
purpose of attacking the character of M. Blanqui, and
that the imputation directed by M. Blanqui to that effect
against the plaintiff is completely devoid of truth ; it
having also been sufficiently proved that A. Blanqui has
rendered himself guilty of libel and public injuries
, against le Sieur Jules Taschereau, we do decree that the
I said Auguste Blanqui do appear before the tribunal of
Correctional Police, to stand his trial according to
the law.
" Given at Paris this 18th July, 1848.
(Signed)
" lIUA. CAREE DE VAUX AND FILIION."
Here, then, we have a* additional proof of the
complicity existing between the Communists and the
Royalists—between the ignorant and those who
would fain keep them ,ignorant in order to exploiter
them.
At the sitting of the National Assembly yesterday
M. MAUGUIN persisted in spite of all remonstrances in
delivering himself of his speech on foreign affairs,
the which M. BASTIDE had previously declared he
should not under present circumstances feel himself
called upon to answer, and the Assembly, after a few
personal explanations, passed to the order of the day.
BOURSE.—PAnss, MONDAY, JULY 31.
THREE O'CLOCK.—Tho same cause which has created
a fall in the value of Rentea for the last three days,
namely, the Loan and the news from Italy, has had a
further influence in the same direction to-day. The
Loan is nearly all subscribed for. The Coupons of the