The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-12 00:00:00

Spirit of the Public Journals.

( From the Times of this day.)
We have now had an opportunity of learning,
and have learnt with very lively interest, the man-
ner in which the intelligence of the attack levelled,
we must say, not only at the press but at the inde-
pendence of Belgium, has been received by the
Legislature of the menaced State, and we are proud
to say that it was in every way worthy of a noble
country and a glorious cause. With a deliberate
and measured calmness, with a studied moderation
of tone and an elaborate candour which did not,
however, conceal the deep emotion that lay beneath
it, M. Orts, a member of the Belgian Chamber,
rose to question the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He drew attention to the 22d Protocol of the recent
Conferences, which contained accusations against
Belgium and the Belgian press offensive to the na-
tional feeling and dignity, and spoke of the future
as full of apprehension. He did not seek to deny
the excesses of some members of the Belgian press,
but he denied that their hostility was shown to
France alone, or that there was the slightest dispo-
sition to guarantee impunity to such offences. He
pointed to the law of 1852 as having been intended
and having been sufficient to suppress the licen-
tious writings complained of in prints so obscure
and so despicable that their accusers did not even
venture to mention their names, and concluded by
asking the Cabinet three questions :—" Whether
they had replied to the charges brought forward
in the 22d Protocol ? Whether the French Govern-
ment had demanded any changes in the Belgian
Constitution ? and whether, if such changes
should be demanded, they would bo acceded to ?''
The answer of M. Vilain, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, to these three questions was equally ex-
plicit, firm, and satisfactory :—" An answer had
been prepared, which would be sent as soon as the
proceedings of the Conference had been received.
No request had been made by the French Govern-
ment for a change in the Belgian Constitution ;
and, if such request were made, it would never be
complied with. The Chamber did not weaken
the impressive nature of the scene, as our own
House of Commons probably would have done, by
following up this short dialogue with a long and
rambling conversation, but adjourned at once, leav-
ing to the nation and to foreign nations to estimate
for themselves, without any impertinent comments
of its own, the dignity of its demeanour and the
firmness of its attitude. We congratulate the Bel-
gian people and the Belgian Government on the
manner in which they have received the attack so
needlessly levelled against their dignity and inde-
pendence. This is the character and this the de-
meanour which it is the habit of self-government to
create. When adverse ,circumstances threaten,
the Ministers of a despotic Government feel isolated
in the midst of the people whom they govern. They
may guess what the sentiments of the nation may
be, but there is no tribune to draw them forth,
and no press to express them. Reports and procla-
mations, communicated statements, and essays that
have passed through the scissors of the censor, but
can ill supply the want of free utterance to a free
audience. We hope that Belgium will go en as
she has begun, and that, whatever perils her liber-
ties may be subjected to, betrayal by her chosen
and appointed guardians will never be added.
What makes the conduct of the Belgian Ministry
and Chamber in this Matter the more creditable is,
that the Ministry is Conservative and Roman Catho-
lic, and that, of course, the majority of the Chamber
that supports them is of the' same political and reli-
gious opinions. Were the Belgian mind less deeply
tinctured with the noble sentiments of national
independence and aversion to foreign influ-
ence, such an occurrence as the publica-
tion of the 22d Protocol might well have been
laid hold of by a party Conservative and Roman
Catholic for the purpose of levelling a blow at
their political opponents. " See," they might
have said, "what comes of your Liberalism. Your

doctrines are inconsistent with the very existence,
not only of the Constitution, but of the country.
A great and powerful nation throws her sword into
the scale and deraancli from us the repression of
that unbridled licence which you and such as you
liave contributed so much to establish." Instead of
adopting this ungenerous but not unnatural tone,
the Catholic and Conservative Ministry of Belgium
steps forward in the very manner and with the
very feelings which Mr. Macaulay delights so much
to attribute to the Tories of our own infant consti-
tution, who never failed to evince a generous in-
consistency whenever the independence of the

country was threatened by the foreign allies of the
very cause and King to which they were in the
habit of drinking and swearing the most unswerv-
ing and uncompromising allegiance. While the
larger States of Europe are divided into parties de-
riving their names from their predilections for
foreign States, Belgium seems to know no party
but a Belgian party,. and to recognise no internal
differences when itsforeign relations are concerned.
We cannot dismiss this subject without once
more expressing our strong conviction that never
was a more unfortunate time selected for a most
injudicious act than the conclusion of a general
treaty of peace for an attack ou the liberty of the
press on the continent of Europe. We had just
terminated a series of events in which the Emperor
of the French had shown himself to the world as

a faithful ally, a wise and resolute counsellor,
a magßanimous Sovereign, and a man who, pos-
sessed of great power, had shown a disposition to
UAO it with singular equity- and moderation.
He took up arms for the defence of European
liberties ; ho allied himself with two constitu-
tional Powers, and, having fought and con-
quered, scorned any vulgar material recompence
for his services, and was wise and generous enough'
to content himself with the respect and approba-
tion of mankind. How unfortunate that at this
auspicious moment the over-eager zeal of a Minister
(for such we prefer to consider it) should have
shadowed forth the commencement of new troubles
just as the old were ceasing, and taught the world
to look for a ern:m(le against human liberty in the
West as a sequel to te coniict against Russian
&valuation in the East ! How unfortunate that
we should thus be forced to remember that the
present alliance is "magis inter pares quantsimiles,"
and that the union which has braved so many
storms unscathed may be at any moment dissolved
by an attempt to extend over neighbouring States
that system of oppression and coercion which is so
foreign to our feelings and habits ! We are well
content to leave those matters in which the inter-

nal government of France differs from that of
England without comment of any kind; Lut our
silence must not be interpreted into indifference.
We are content with the happiness we enjoy under
our own institutions, and have not a particle of the
proselytising spirit among us ; but our sympathies
are quite as warm for the West as for the East, for
the Christian as for the Turk, for the free citizen
as for the serf ; and we cannot witness without the
liveliest solicitude and anxiety an attempt to im-
pose on a free and independent State that repres-
sion which France has, indeed, chosen for herself
by the votes of 8,000,000 citizens, but which she
has not acquired the right to impose upon States
which have made a different choice.

(From the Morning 'Pose of this day.)
The Italian question becomes daily more inte-
resting—hourly more exciting. It has been
thought, no doubt, by many that after some little
stir in the Congress the matter would fill to the
ground, as many political questions have before
fallen ; but in this case interests too vital are at
stake to be disposed of and laid aside after result-
less discussion. Strong passions are enlisted, too,
in the great question of Italian freeaom---passions
which do not now appear, but which may burst
forth at any moment. From one end of the
Peninsula to the other, a deep, a living excite-
ment prevails, and every move in the political
world is noticed with anxious attention. The
hour is come when misgovernment and oppression
must yield to the paramount force of public
opinion. Yet sufficient.% not promised in Naples.
Rome makes no attempt
her at improvement. Aus-
tria tries to consolidateeiusthiofild justified
uinpon
ethue pnro-
vincess which she is
not
nder these circumstances, Sardinia—tee?' ongo.
constitutional kingdom of the Peninsula the one
representative of progress and freedom steps
he
forth, and in the important note Which will
found in another column, boldly declares the
necessity of active exertion, and calls upoti
land and France to concert with her t"0.0
means of remedying the present disastrous state
of things. The Sardinian Government is really
forced thus to -act, for it is acutely see_
Bible of the agitation which prevails throughout
Italy ; and, indeed, is awake to the perils which
itself incurs, from the danger, on the one hand, of
the outbreak of a wild and desperate revolution ;
on the other, from the continually encroaching
ascendancy of Austria. Resisting despotism on
the one side, and discountenancing demagogy on
the other, the Government of Victor Emmanuel
announce themselves beyond everything anxious
for liberal reforms in the various Italian States,
and for the withdrawal from them of the foreign
i troops whose presence s at once so mischievous
and hateful. Our counsel and aid are asked for,
and will, no übt, as far as practicable, be afforded;
but it were idle to conceal from ourselves the diffi-
culties
ofa cause in which, though our heart may
be in it, it is of little use unless our hand be there
too. The relations between Austria and Sardinia
are at the present moment hostile in the extreme ;
and when we look at the state of affairs in Par-
ma and elsewhere, and remember the passions
that are cherished at Milan, it is impossible not to
perceive that at any moment the slightest spark may
get fire tQ.tha.rowlY olcquort oi'expleßiQn, Iti haW