The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-26 00:00:00

GLOBE THEATRE-ROYAL.

TITIS EVENING. at 7, A HOUSEHOLD FAIRY. At 7.i5,
NOT SUCH A FOOL AS HE LOOKS: Mr H. J. Byron. And
BREACH OF PROMISE. Mr J Clarke and Miss Hughes.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HOLB ORN.

THIS EVENING, at', THE LOTTERY TICKET. After which,
TIIN A MESTER : Mr. Barry Sullivan, Mrs.llermann Vezin,
&c. And THE WATER VAN.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough,

Tins EVENING. at 7.30, A:NIONG THE BREAKERS: Mr
Clarke. With THE TOODLES. And TIIF FIELD OF THE
CLOTH OF GOLD,

OfIRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 3
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 3 all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL G &RDENS, Regent's-pack, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, is.; on Mondays, 6d. Children
under twelve, 6(1.

ROYAL AL if AMB RA PALACE. THREE BALLET:3
Promenade Concert. Band of GO. Begin at 8. Is. Box-office
open from 11 too.

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.N.411-1t

LONDON, 7UESDAT; OCT. 26, 1869.

The Emperor NAPOLEON 111. has now been very
nearly twenty-one years at the head of the French
Government. Throughout the whole of that time
he has been surrounded by the very perils that are
presumed to threaten him seriously only to-day.
Under the surface there has been all this time seeth-
ing or smouldering in Paris and, in a more scattered
way, here and there, throughout France, the latent
volcanic flame of insubordination against all autho-
rity--the slumbering elements of revolution. Only
five months before his election to the Prpsidency,
the Red Terror, as it is sometimes, by a sensa-
tional figure of speech, designated, appeared in
enormous numbers, armed to the teeth, in the streets
of the capital, and there had to be mowed down by
thousands upon thousands under the deadliest fusillade
that has startled Europe since the last battle of the last
general war on the field of Waterloo. This, as the whole
world remembers, occurred immediately prior to Vie
elevation of Prince Lours NAPOLEON to the Ch.ef-
tainship of the State. It was while the Government
of France was in the hands of the most formidable of
his rivals, the military leader who was then at
the head of the Republican party, wielding a

sword fora sceptre by right of his Dictatorship.
General CAVAIGNAC, and not Prince Louis NAPOLEON,
it was whosi,vept the streets of Paris during the days of
June with blinding discharges of musketry and with
the deadly explosion of artillery. Thirty thousand men
were in three days put hors de combat. 'fen thou-
sand a day—the last life sacrificed at the close of the
massacre being that of the heroic Archbishop of Paris,
who fell gloriously struck by an assassin's bullet
when appearing as a peacemaker between the comba-
tants on the summit of one of the barricades. All this
was antecedent by nearly half a year to the election of
Prince LomsNAroLEoNas head of the French Govern-
ment. Since then, for one-and-twenty years, he has
presided over the destinies of France as Chief of the
State. He has maintained peace. he has made war,
he has negotiated treaties, he has developed commerce,
he has himself led the armies of France to victory in
the most memorable of his campaigns, he has, at
different times, received all the Sovereigns of Europe
as his guests, he has, himself, visited the Emperor of
AUSTRIA and the Queen of ENGLAND in their respec-
tive countries, besides traversing Lombardy, he has
crossed the Mediterranean and visited Algeria, he
has been the nominal head of France, first as
Republican President, afterwards as the real head
of France under the same title, and, last
of all, the reviver of the Empire, as one both
reigning and governing—but all this while under the
soil of France, as it were, under the foundations of
Paris, as if lurking in the catacombs, there has been
that same revolutionary element lying there perdu,
precisely as in the days of CAVAIGNAC, prior to the
date of that terrible June insurrection. The element
is there, independently of NAPOLEON 111. It was
there before him. He has not created it. He has
simply to deal with it whenever it may chance to
manifest itself. CAVAIGNAC hesitated not to grapple
with it and trample it under foot. One may feel
tolerably certain, that NAPOLEON 111., if any
similar emergency arose, would act with pre-
cisely the same determination. It is in
keeping with the whole course of his career since he
was first called from exile by France and elected
by her the chief of her Government, that im-
mediately upon the approach of a day regarded
as, in every sense, very critical, the Run-
ROR hastens back to Paris from his autumnal
retreat at Compiegne—bent upon being in the midst
of it, whenever or wherever there is supposed to be
danger. He has never been more completely master of
the situation than he is at the present moment, when
he is in the very thick and crisis of his constitutional
transformation of the Imperial Government.

A WEARY public may now reasonably expect that
Sunday's grand procession to the " Reformers' Tree "
will terminate for the present the agitation on behalf
of the Fenian prisoners. The number who took part
in the demonstration seems in no way propor-
tionate to the extent of the preparations, and the
vigour of the " whip ;" but the display was in
one sense a success, for a large crowd of
idlers assembled to gaze upon the mournful spectacle—
as they would have gazed upon a show of any other
kind. And now it is fair to anticipate that the sym-
pathisers will rest from their labours and leave the
Empire in peace. No doubt the ringleaders, the
rulers of the future Hibernian republic, will continue
their policy of more or less open treason. But of
the thousands who swelled the amnesty meetings in
different parts of Ireland, as well as in London, the
large number who agitated for amusement must be
getting weary of the fun; and the many who fancied
the Government was to be successfully bullied have
received their answer, and discovered their mistake.
It was quite natural that this movement for the
release of the Fenians should have been a firstfruit
of the conciliation policy. In interpreting as a sign of
fear the desire of the Government to do justice to
Ireland, the Hibernian populace has only followed
the example of most peoples and parties to whom
voluntary concessions have been made. It is
not at all surprising, therefore, that hundreds
of Irishmen who have an interest in
the preservation of order, and thousands
of peasants who never thought of risking their lives
and liberties in Fenian raids should have entered heart
and soul into this amnesty agitation. The sudden rise ,
of the movement after the unfortunate result of
releasing one batch of Fenians can be explained
solely by this popular tendency to conclude that
concession is only the offspring of fear. Compared
with similar agitations in England and France, the
Irish are, on the whole, to be congratulated on their
moderation. The leading patriots and their eminent
journalist supporters have, it is true, upheld
their ancient reputation for political rant.
Mr. G. 11. Moon E's effusions would do credit
to any son of the Green Isle. But the large
crowds of people which gathered at these meetings
indulged in no excesses, and some of the demon-
strations were creditably conducted throughout. It
is clear that a mob of patriots is to be much preferred
to a mob of Orangemen. Indeed, it is doubtful
whether any popular effervesence of so potent a type
was. ever let off so gently. Very possibly a species
of fun so safe and harmless will not readily be aban-
doned. But it is noticeable that the reply of the
PREMIER has produced a general calm—save in the
ever-raging sentiments of the national papers.
Certain meetings which were held in Ireland on
Sunday were models of propriety.
But whilst the tone of this amnesty agitation as a
whole compares favourably with other popular move-
ments, it is impossible to congratulate the sympa-
thisers on the logic of their object. It is difficult
to call to mind any demand so utterly
absurd, so completely without the pretence of
reason. The agitators, true to their notion that
the Government was to be bullied, seem to have
thought that they had only to ask in order to have.
It is usual to preface such requests for clemency by
an acknowledgement that the prisoners did wrong,
and, if possible, by a promise that they will
amend their ways; but the sympathisers neither
confessed nor promised. They upheld the
release, not as a concession, but as a right. The men
had committed treason, had endeavoured to make
war upon the English nation, but their friends have
never pretended that this was an error, or that the
same course would not be repeated. It is true that
the "patriots" and their friends are at liberty to hold
their own opinions as to the propriety of overturning
the Government of the Empire in Ireland, but if they
act upon these opinions how can they expect an
amnesty ? If the French Republicans got up
an unsuccessful insurrection in Paris, is it likely
that those who escaped would present memorials
to the Government demanding as a right the imme-
diate release of their companions who were captured ?
In no contest for supremacy does the beaten party,
except in Ireland, look for the immediate and uncon-
ditional freedom of the prisoners taken by the victors.
If the thousands of farmers, peasants, and priests, who
clamoured at these meetings do not hold with the
Fenian rising, they should straightway follow the
example of their wiser brethren and ask for clemency
in the terms usually employed. It does not follow that
the request would, in that case, be successful, but it
would be rational, which is something. Hitherto
the demands have been mostly accompanied by
a pretty plain intimation that in case of
release the prisoners would at once take
the field again ; and it is probable that
the worthy agitators would abandon the game
if it were not understood that the Fenians when set
free were to do their best to get back into gaol.
The movement is Irish in every sense, but it may
bear some good fruit if it serve to define more clearly
the relations between the Ministry and the Irish
people, and to establish once for all the truth that a
desire to do justice does not imply a disposition to
make a :servile surrender of the functions of govern-
t nnnt.