The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-11 00:00:00

LONDON,

the official, if any, to whom the fault can be traced.
A thousand indignant prosecutors are ready to step
forward to enforce the fall measure of his responsi-
bility, and the voice of public opinion pronounces a
judgment more stringent than any that would be
delivered from the bench of justice. But in poor,
unhappy Ireland thousands, tens of thousands, and
hundreds of thousands withered away day by day and
week after week, without attracting attention or
notice. One of the most warm-hearted and hospitable
people in the world had become callous and indifferent
to the miseries in which they themselves were parti-
cipating. It was the common lot, to which all should
succumb, from which none were exempted. The
aged and infirm, the young and helpless, were asso-
ciated with companions in the bloom of youth and
vigour and physical strength. The fell destroyer was no
respecter of persons, the more powerful were among
the first victims; and the early release of the fathers
and providers brought despair on the surviving
members of the doomed families. They perished
without complaint in their wretched huts,
patiently awaiting the fate which they were
unable to avert. Their names were unheard
of, and the discovery of entire families lying
dead or dying, beyond the possibility of receiving
any benefit from tardily administered restoratives,
scarcely elicited a passing observation from the
finders, who had become but too well accustomed
to such heartrending exhibitions.
In order to estimate fully the actual loss of life, as
well as the other causes tending to diminish the
population, we must take into account the probable
increase that would have taken place under ordinary
circumstances during the ten years that elapsed since
the preceding enumeration of the people. Never was
there a country in which the command to " increase
and multiply" was more religiously observed, or in
which the Malthnsian doctrines were in more intense
detestation. Celibacy was a state to which none of " the
boys or girls" inclined, and the moment a young couple
could muster sufficient to pay the necessary fee to
the priest by whom the bonds were to be rivetted,
they plunged into matrimony, utterly reckless of the
consequences that might result, or the numerous
" responsibilities" that usually followed the union.
Their wants were few indeed. A mud hovel, with a
few rough chairs, a table, and bed, afforded the ne-
cessary shelter; a small patch of potato-ground, taken
in conacre at the most extravagant price, the only
stipulation being that the rent should be worked out,
provided the onlyfood that was desired; and an occasional
day's labour for the squire or some neighbouring
farmer, who on extraordinary occasions, at harvest
time, &c., paid in specie, enabled the cottier to pay
"dues" to "his riverence," and to obtain the addi-
tions to the family wardrobe which decency required.
Under such circumstances the population increased
in an almost geometrical ratio, and it is not too much
to assume that but for the mysterious blight that
destroyed the potato crop, we should have had a re-
turn of at least TEN MILLIONS of inhabitants in
Ireland, or an increase of twenty per cent.
on the returns Of the 7th of June, 1841.
In place of such an augmentation, .however, the
actual result shows a falling off of 20 per cent., the
average in the south and west being more than
25 per cent. reduction. This, then, exhibits
the catastrophe in its true light ; and when
we consider that the wealthier classes escaped
comparatively scathless, but that almost the
whole of the mortality fell among the pea-
santry, we shall find that the deaths of a moiety of
the people, or at least 40 per cent. of the entire in the
coast districts of the south and west of Ireland,
is not by any means an exaggerated estimate of the
mortality during the last five years.
The actual figures show that, in 1841, there were
in Ireland 1,384,360 inhabited houses. That num-
ber was reduced to 1,115,007 in 1851—no less
than 269,353 cottages being levelled to the
earth while the number of families have
fallen off to a nearly equal extent, there
being 265,785 families less than in 1841, the
number being 1,472,787 at the former, and 1,207,787
at the latter period; the population also stands at
6,515,794 in place of 8,175,124, a diminution of
1,659,330 individuals under that head. There
is no doubt that the clearance system,
which was so eagerly carried out, and the flight
across the Atlantic, contributed in some degree to
these results ; but the operation of these latter causes
was trifling indeed when compared to that of the
famine and its twin-sister, the pestilence, that
tracked its footsteps. On the whole, perhaps,
so melancholy a picture of affliction and suffering
was never depicted—never had we authentic records
of such destruction in any kingdom as those dis-
coverable in the census returns for Ireland in the
ear 1851.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.
We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Prefect of Police has just issued the following
ordonnance relative to foreigners in Paris:—
" Paris, Sept. 8.
_ _

We, the Prefect of Police taking into consideration
Art. 5 of the decree of 12 Messidor, year VIII; and the
law of December 3, 1849, concerning the residence of
foreigners in France; considering also that a certain
number of foreigners, abusing the hospitality ♦ouchsafed
to them in France, engage in culpable manoeuvres
against the internal and external safety of the state;
feeling, moreover, that it is incumbent on us to pre-
scribe measures necessary to neutralise such proceedings,
order what follows:

" Art. 1. Henceforward, every foreigner arriving
within the department of the Seine for the purpose of
residing there or exercising any profession or calling
shall be bound to present himself; within three days
after his arrival, at the Prefecture of Police, to obtain a
permission to remain. This provision is not applicable
to foreigners travelling for their pleasure or business,
without any intention to reside, and provided with a
passport from their Government, regularly vise.
" Art. 2. Foreigners at present residing in Paris, and
not placed in the position alluded to in the last paragraph
of the foregoing article, shall be bound to appear, within
a delay of a week, at the Prefecture of Police (let divi-
sion, 2d bureau) to there regularise their position.
" Art. 3. Any foreigner who shall contravene the
preceding provisions shall be expelled from the French
territory. " P.CA.RLIEU, Prefect of Police.
"Approved of : LEON FAUCHER,
" Minister of the Interior."
The Slick has the following on this act of subser-
viency to the Emperor of AUSTRIA:—
" Has the Prefect of Police well weighed the oppor-
tuneness of applying the law relative to foreigners? Is
it at the moment at which commerce is making powerful
efforts to dominate the crisis, that the position of a great
number of foreigners, established in business at Paris,
should be disquieted? M. Carlier will allege the reason
of State. So long as the jury shall not have pronounced
on the Franco-German plot, people will have the right
not altogether to believe in that reason of State. As
to the question of reprisals—will not the Ministry, by
the embarrassments with which it surrounds with us the
residence of foreigners, excite to our countrymen abroad
embarrassments and persecutions? There is also the
danger of denunciations, bat we will not insult our fel-
low-citizens by insisting on that point. We shall return
to this measure, which deserves the most serious atten-
tion of the press of all opinions, and which has caused
an indescribable sensation among the Parisian popu-
lation."

We find the following in the Constitutionnel:—
" In a letter which we copied from the Times, on
the conferences in London, mention was made of one
of the colonels of the Rational guard of Paris,
who is said to have declared to the Duchess
of ORLEANS that if he supported the candi-
dateship of the Prince DE JOINYLLLE as Presi-
dent of the Republic he should not be able any
longer to reckon on more than a hundred votes
for his re-election as chief of the legion. The
colonel alluded to is M. GUILHESI. That gentle-
man feels hurt at having such language attri-
buted to him, and he begs us to insert the contradic-
tion which he gives to the allegations contained in
the correspondence of the Times. We have published
the letter of the English journal, and justice makes it
a cluty for us to give that of M. GUILREN, which is
as follows :

" have just road in your journal an article taken
from the Tipres, in which an account is given, in terms
which do not allow me to pass it over in silence, of a
conversation which I had the honour to have with the
Duchess of Orleans at Claremont. I declare that
every thing in that article with regard to the Duchess
of Orleans is false, as N the rude and absurd reply which
is attributed to me.' "
The Bourse evinced at first a tendency to rise, but
subsequently became feeble, without any cause being
assigned. The Five per Cents. opened at 921. 40c.,
rose to 92f. 50c., and closed at 92f. 25c.; the Three per
Cents. closed at 56f. 20c. ; Orleans Railroad Shares,
870 f.; Rouen, 5951.; Havre, 235 f; Great Northern,
4631. 75c.; Avignon, 205 f.; 433f.Vierzon,11
775.; d
sßtaraslse:
1481. 75c.; Bordeaux, 386 f. 25c.; Paris
burg, 357 f. 50c.; Tours and Nantes, 266 f. 25c.;
Amiens to Boulogne, 261 f. 25e.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT TBE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, SEPT. 21.
East Indian, 21—Namur and Liege, VA—Northern of
France, 14% Orleans and Bordeaux, 4 -- Tours and
Nantes. 6%.

A LINZ roa a YOUNG LADY'S COPY.BOOL.—The
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