The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-11 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1851.

Now that the session has terminated, that the
legislators, hereditary or elective, have departed in
all directions, we desire to express our anxious hope
that the politico-religious excitement that has for
some time prevailed may be suffered to subside.
Since the public attention was first directed to the
" Papal aggression," and the gross invasion of the
undoubted prerogative of the British SOVEREIGN
and the cherished independence of the British
nation, all other questions have been comparatively
disregarded. The wanton insult thus reck-
lessly inflicted, for the time being, swallowed up
all minor differences. All classes, from the Peer
to the peasant, were equally moved, all were animated
by a like feeling to repel the wilful outrage. The
Government necessarily took up the case, necessarily
we say, for any Ministry that endeavoured to evade
the subject would have been forthwith burled from
place and power amid the hisses and denunciations of
the indignant people. They did so temperately but
efficiently. Contented with defending their own posi-
tion, they did not attempt to carry the war into the
enemies' camp, or to procure the restoration of reli-
gious tests or penal laws. This laudable moderation
should have excited the gratitude of the Roman
Catholic party ; but, unfortunately, a'very different
view was taken of the subject. A course the most
unwise and impolitic was adopted by the party who
have been styled " the Brigade," " the Spartan
band," and a variety of other soubriquets. In place
of regarding the matter in its proper light, they en-
deavoured to impede all legislation, to produce the
greatest confusion in every quarter. Like the
Ishmae'•ites, their hands were against all men,
and they were quite prepared to vote black
white, or white black, if it could annoy or injure the
Minister. Nay, they carried this amiable doctrine to
such an extremity, that rather than support the
Government in any point, they withdrew from the
House pointedly and offensively, showing a pre-
arranged organization, when the division was about
to be taken on the proposition of Sir FREDERICK
TIIEsIGER. It was to this sagacious and well-de-
vised system of strategy that the increased stringency
of the measure should he attributed, and if a " com-
mon informer" should disturb the slumbers of one of
the prelates by dragging him into court, to account
for his communications with the Vatican, the Right
Rev. Gentleman may thank those faithful sons of the
Church—" the brass band"—for, the annoyance and
inconvenience to which he may be subjected.
Despite their exertions, however, the measure was
carried through both Houses by decisive and over-
whelming majorities. It has become the law of the
laud, and nothing that they can do can possibly alter its
provisions or repair the mischief they have effected.
Might not it be expedient to let the subject drop into
oblivion, and not to keep the public attention perpe-
tually on the strain.? The Catholic DefenceAssocia-
tion may appear a very brilliant society to those
"one-eyed men "—as our respected friend and cor-
respondent, Mr. RIGBY WasoN used to designate the
short-sighted iodivieuals who took erroneous and
distorted views on any political question—but it may
possibly give occasion for the creation of a Protestant
Defence Association, likewise, in which rather
unpalatable topics may be discussed. For instance,
the respective degrees of toleration, the full and free
permission to carry on all their religious rites and
ceremonies without let or hindrance, allowed to
Roman Catholics in this Protestant country, may
possibly be contrasted with the ungracious denial of
the Romish authorities of the privilege of establishing
a place for Protestant worship in Rome. St. George's
Cathedral may be compared with the "granary" out-
side the walls of " the Eternal City," or the com-
plaisance with which the erection of the contem-
plated churches of St. Patrick and St. Peter
are regarded in the British metropolis, with the
steadfast refusal of the PONTIFF to sanction the erec-
tion of even the most humble temple in Rome in
which the tenets of the Church of England may be
advocated.

We do not desire to adopt measures of retaliation.
It is not because others are the slaves of prejudice
that we would also lend our assistance to bigots,
to enable tl: to carry their unsound opinions into
practical op'ration. If once the tide of religious dis-
cord surmounts the banks within which it has been
restrained, it is impossible to calculate within
what limits it may subsequently be re-
strained, or what amount of mischief may be
occasioned. GOD forbid that the fiend should be un-
loosed on the British soil. 'We, at least, shall do all
to prevent this formidable evil ; but if the contest be
forced upon us'; if no exertions of ours can avoid the
painful alternative ; if we must be oppressors or op-
pressed—persecutors or persecuted, we must only
once more buckle on our armour, and raise our an.
cient war-cry, " GoD, defend the right." Althougb
we may deprecate, we do not dread the result.

The intelligence from Cuba, received by the Ame•
rican mail, which arrived yesterday, is of a nature
to create, if not alarm, at least anxiety. It
appears, according to an official proclamation, issued
by the Government of the Havannah on the 18th
ult., that in the neighbourhood of Peurto Principe, a
town containing a population of upwards of 35,000
souls, and situated in the central department of the
island, there had been two attempts at insurrection.
In both instancea the insurgents were defeated and
dispersed, and so rapii was their flight that they left
behind them on the field their arms and ammunition.
None of the inhabitants, white or coloured, ap-
pear to have joined in this revolutionary movement,
and there would be no occasion even for anxiety,
were it not for the evident connexion of this move-
ment with the designs of certain lawless ma-
rauders who have located themselves in Texas
and the other recently annexed States of the
American Union, who are land-stealers because they
are slave-breeders, and who have determined by fraud
or force to gain peesession of Cuba in order to secure
a market there for American-raised slaves. It appears
that the recent attempt at insurrection in the neigh-
bourhood of Puerto Principe was exclusively the
work of agents from the United States. Chief in
command of the insurgents were Don JOAQUIM
AGUERE 0 Y SANCHEZ and Don WALDO Y JUAN AR-
TEAGA, both of whom had recently arrived from the
United States, and in the official proclamation of the
18th July the Governor-General of Cuba attributes
the outbreak to " the efforts of some mutinous young
men, pushed by the Zemissaries recently arrived
from the United States." Although we are
not inclined to attach overdue weight to the asser-
tions of Spanish ministers, generals, or governors,
yet we cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that in
the present instance the assertions of the Governor-
General of Cuba are well grounded. Those American
journals which are the organs of the Cuba annexers
all endeavour to exaggerate the importance of the
outbreak, and some of them go so far as to announce
that the Spanish troops have themselves joined the
insurgents, an assertion the falsehood of which is
self-evident, to all those who understand any-
thing of Spain and her colonies, but
which is well calculated to induce ignorant
and profligate young men, to whom con-
tinuous and honest industry is hateful, and who are
fond of a life of adventure, to join the band of pirates
now organ:zing in Florida for the invasion of Cuba.
We entirely acquit the Government of the United
States, not only of all participation in, but of all con-
nivance at, this projected piracy. We believe that
the Federal Government is exerting itself to the
utmost of its power, and in all sincerity, to
prevent this invasion and to arrest these marau-
ders; but we also know how weak and im-
potent the Executive of the United States
and al‘":ia must be, for the repreEsion of such
attempts; and
when we remember that the an-
nexationot Texas, repudiated as a dishonest act
by one P RES! made by his succ..ei ;r the step-
ping-stone to pc 'N_.; and that his successcr, in onitr
not to be distanced in the race for popularity,
embarked in a war with Mexico as wicked and as un-

justifiable as it was successful, we confess that we en-
tertain fears, that unless some decided steps be taken
by the Spanish Government itself, the day is not far
distant when the Queen of the Antilles will cease to
hold allegiance to Spain. That the Spanish Govern-
ment is really desirous of introducing reforms and
improvements into the administration of the govern-
ment of Cuba we sincerely believe; but there is one
great reform—one great act of justice—to be done,
which would secure to her for ever her em-
pire over Cubs, and enable her to laugh to
scorn all the efforts of the lawless marauders
of the Southern States. Their object in seeking
to annex Cuba is to obtain a preponderance in the
Legislature for the southern slave states—Cuba, a
slave state, would be to them invaluable ; Cuba, a
free state, would be by them refused admission into
the Union. The true, the just, and the most economic
policy for Spain, therefore, is to emancipate the
slaves, and thus to secure to herself the support of
the 641,670 blacks who at present inhabit the island
of Cuba, and who, while defending their own liberty
against the man-stealer, would at the same time de-
fend the cause of Spanish right against the land-
stealer.

Accounts from Ireland once more contain the
painful intelligence of the appearance of the potato
disease in that unhappy land ; it is, however, fortu-
nately in a mitigated form ; and although there will
be some individual sufferers enduring heavy losses,
there is every reason to hope that there will be more
than an average crop retained for the use of the
people. The vast importance of the " potato" to the
labouring population in that country can scarcely be
adequately understood on this side of St. George's
Channel. It is to them literally the " staffof life." It sup-
plies not only the place of "corn" but also of the "small
currency ;" wages are paid and debts liquidated in
the favourite esculent. Before " the famine" every
peasant considered that he was provided for the year
if he had secured a few roods or even perches of land,
at the conacre rents of 101., 121., or 141. per acre.
No matter how exorbitant might be the price, be
was contented if he could "work it out," and such
things as rents at 12/. per acre, liquidated at 6i. per
diem for the wages of adult men, were of but too
frequent occurrence. The produce of the dearly-ac-
quired garden not only constituted the sole article of
food forming the staple at breakfast, dinner, and
supper, but it acted as the " circulating medium."
It satisfied the travelling pedlar for the scanty ar-
ticles of decency, we cannot call them of comfort or
luxury, supplied to the humble household, and
afforded the alms to the wandering mendicant. It
was in fact all and everything to those who, having
it, required or sought nothing further. It was the
alpha and omega of their aspirations—the beginning
inci end of their desires.

The mysterious dispensation of PROVIDENCE which
suddenly destroyed the entire crop produced the most
Lamentable results. Even the eight millions of pounds
sterling, supplied by Saxon liberality, although it in
some degree mitigated the evil, could not by any
means afford adequate compensation. Many lives
were preserved, but the working classes—
more especially the agricultural labourers—were more
than decimated. The census of the past year affords
the most unequivocal testimony, the most incontest-
able
evidence of the melancholy and fatal results.
Famine, and its twin-sister pestilence, reigned
supreme, and all those who could by any possibility
succeed in doing so, fled from the fated soil, and
sought refuge on the other side of the Atlantic. Year
after year the pestilence has returned, but happily in
a mitigated shape. This is the seventh year, and we
trust that after the present season the potato disease
will only be spoken of as a thing of the past.
Ireland may then be regenerated and as-
sume the position to which she is entitled.
The prices of land will again come to something like
a fair rate, and those who have purchased at
present rates will find that they have made
really profitable speculations. The legisla-
tion that should have been passed during the pre-,
sent session, but for the proceedings of the "Brigade,'
will at length be carried, and all will be as prosperous
in the sister kingdom as it hag hitherto been unpro-
pitious and miserable.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC,

We have received the Paris journals of Saturday
and yesterday.
The Legislative Assembly adjourned for the holi-
days on Friday, and on Saturday the Commission of
Permanence sat for the first time. It was resolved
that the Committee should hold a meeting every second
Thursday. M. DUPIN presided.
On Friday morning, while the Municipal Council of
Paris were sitting, the LORD MAYOR of London was
introduced by the Prefect of the Seine. His Lord-
ship, who was about to quit for England, came to take
leave of the council, and to thank them for the wel-
come he had received. Addressing the President, he
said—

Gentlemen,—l am happy to be admitted amongst
you, and to be able to offer to the municipal body
here assembled my thanks and my gratitude for the
cordial and gracious welcome which has been given
to me. I am happy, Gentlemen, not only on my
own account personally, but also because I feel that
the honours with which you have surrounded me are the
expression of your lively sympathies for the alliance of
,he English and French nations, and that the city of
['aria honours in me the magistracy of the city of Lon-
don. I have no doubt that the bonds of friendship
which we have just formed will contribute to consolidate
that fruitful peace, under the shelter of which our two
nations are equally destined to prosper in arts and in
manufactures." _

M. LArQUETIN, the President of the Council, re-
plied in the warmest terms to this address, in which
the members of the municipality heartily concurred.
After partaking of a dijeliner, the LORD 11.1.1..y0u took
leave of his hosts, and, accompanied by the Prefect of
the Seine, proceeded to the Northern Railway termi-
nue. During his route he was several times hailed
with warm salutations by the people.
The Marquis of NORMANDY has addressed the fol-
los% ing letter to the French Minister of Foreign
Affairs

" Monsieur le Ministre,—lt is with particular satisfac-
tion that I address your Excellency, charged as I am to
express officially to the President of the Republic, to the
members of the Government, to the Prefect of the Seine,
and to the Municipality of Paris, the profound gratitude
of Lord Granville, of the other members of the Royal
Commission, of the jury, and of the persons who are
attached by other title s to the Great International Exhi-
bition, for the cordial reception which they have found
everywhere, during their recent visit to Paris.
" They will for over preserve a lively recollection of
the kindly and flattering care taken by the authorities to
offer them, during these few days, a specimen of all the
curious wonders of this splendid capital; and they have
taken their departure, profoundly sensible of the ami-
cable feeling with which they were, on all occasions, re-
ceived by all classes of the Parisian population.
" They are, besides, happy to consider these fetes,
which originated in the desire to do honour to the Great
International Exhibition, as a fresh and satisfactory proof
that that useful enterprise will realise, without doubt, the
object of its Royal Founder, by tending to favour that
cordial good feeling which ought always to exist between
civilized nations.

" Permit me, besides, Monsieur le Ministre, to assure
your Excellency that it is to me an extreme satisfaction
to have to transmit to you the expression of these sen-
timents, knowing as I do, from the amicable relations
which have so long subsisted between us, both before and
during our official intercourse, how much your Excel-
lency will partake them.
" I think I can with every confidence call your prede-
cessors during the period, so fruitful in events, that I
have resided here as the representative of my Sovereign,
to witness that my most ardent efforts have always tended
to favour the best understanding, the most cordial rela-
tions between these two great neighbouring nations,
which have so many interests in common.
" I tako advantage of this circumstance to renew to
your Excellency the assurance of my high consideration.
" NORMANDY."

Colonel BERRYER, the brother of M. BERRYER,
the Legitimatist representative, has been promoted
by the PRESIDENT of the Republic to the rank of
General of Brigade. _ _

The funeral of Marshal SEBASTIAN' takes place
to-morrow at the Invalides.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, AUG. 9.
The only transaction reported today was—Namur and
Liege, GA.

SPAIN.
Madrid journals of the sth have arrived.
The new French Ambassador, General Auric, was
on that day presented to the QUEEN.
The rumours of the retirement of BERTRAND DE
LYS from the Ministry were again revived.
MADRID BOLSA, AUG. s.—The Three per Cents.,
were done at 3Gi for time ; the Four per Cents. at
; the Five
per Cents. at 17 ; the Debt without
interest at 6 7-16 ; and the Coupons at 81.