The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENINGI, AUGUST `26, 1861.

STEPHEN, although a semi-barbarian, did
nobly for Hungary and its liberties, while
FRANCIS JOSEPH has been ill-advised enough to
trample on all her rights, to withhold them when
he can certainly only injure himself by doing it,
and thus presenting himself to the Hungarians not
only as the " living dog," in comparison with the
~ dead lion," but as a dog in the manger, too.
Besides being, as M. DEAK has so conclusively
shown, so completely out of court legally and con-
stitutionally, the EMPEROR is equally so by his
own acts, and in the eye of policy, too. Fresh from
the school of Solferino, the EMPEROR, issued his
edicts for the establishment of local and Imperial
constitutionalism. He addressed Hungary sepa-
rately and based his dealings with that country on
the Pragmatic Sanction. He has felt compelled
to repeat that treaty as the foundation of his acts.;
indeed, it seemed difficult to imagine any other ;
since from that dates the accession of his line to the
throne of Hungary in the person of MARIA THERESA;
either, therefore, he must acknowledge the Prag-
matic Sanction, or acknowledge that he has no
claim to the throne, but that given him by the Czar
NICHOLAS. Too humiliating that. He elected
therefore to claim the throne not as a conqueror by
Russian arms, but in virtue of his descent from
MARIA THERESA.
Bat, this line once taken, he was bound to accept
all its consequences: As a man of honour, he had
no right to appeal to the Pragmatic Sanction for
his throne, and then tear off the half which pre-
scribed the conditions on which it was given him.
The Hungarians, almost too magnanimously, have
agreed to admit his de facto possession of supreme
power and his hereditary claim to the throne, but
they have the clearest right, in return, to ask of him
a legal coronation and conformity to the constitu-
tion in his government of the country. How
can Hungarians, how can any one trust the man who
will appeal to the side of a compact which is in
his favour, and violently override the other which
provides what is fair to the second party ? Any-
thing more base, anything more entirely destroying
all confidence in word or in character we can hardly
conceive. The Emperor of AUSTRIA in truth says
—" I know no law to bind me but my sovereign
pleasure. If I convene a Diet, it is not that it
may deliberate freely as an integral part of the
Government, but that it may execute what for
politeness sake I term my requests, but which are
really my mandates, to be disobeyed, or neglected,
only at the peril of dissolution."
What a precious body must the Reichsrath be !
The EMPEROR formally tells them all his well
known doings, and these lacqueys actually thank
and praise him ! Mr. ROEBUCK, of course, has his
eye on the EMPEROR and the Reichsrath—what
can he think of them all now ? What can he think
of his blessed Austrian Constitution, when it con-
venes a Diet to which the grandis et verbosa epistola
is sent, and which must pay the same attention to
the Imperial mandate as the Roman Senate must to
one from TIBERIUS or DOMITIAN ? Is this the Con-
stitution which Mr. ROEBUCK so lauded as resem-
bling that of his own country, and as even in some
points better? What will Mr. ROEBUCK say to a
Sovereign who says to his Parliament, I sent you
my requests, you did not obey them. You sent me
in return demands which are inadmissible, though
I cannot deny they are legal. Therefore I dismiss
you. Is that the kind of Constitution which throws
our own into the shade ?
On the impolicy of the EMPEROR'S course,
beyond the narrow circle of Germans who in
this business are a part of himself, there
can hardly be two opinions. The EMPEROR is
now openly showing that he has no conception of
the first elements of constitutionalism at the very
moment when he is endeavouring to persuade his
subjects and the world that he has been arranging
to give his people their share in the Government.
To prove this he overthrows the first principle of
constitutional Government by prescribing what his
Parliament shall enact. Its fundamental idea,
that of giving effect as the head of the Executive
to the clearly ascertained will of his subjects, he
does not even seem to comprehend. In fact his
Parliament is merely convoked to give effect to
his desires. Very properly it refuses to
do so. And it will be for the loan-
mongers to consider what is their security
under a despot so ignorant or so wilful. He can-
not enjoy the credit of a constitutional Sovereign
and the pleasures of despotic role together.
And, again, what can he do? He can, it may
be said, make Hungary a Venetia. At present he
can, in part—but he will find 11,000,000 of people
ana 2,500,000 somewhat different populations to
deal with. In fact, by his present policy he will
have to collect the taxes of half his Empire by
soldiers, with the certainty that on the first attack
from without the whole concern goes to pieces.
He, and his tools the Reichsrath, make great
parade of the strength and importance of a united
monarchy; but what is the union worth which
requires but the touch of a foreign war, not to
unite, as it would in England or France, all parties,
but to prove the whole to be a House of Cards.

The advancement of Ireland appears just now to
be taken very generally and heartily into account.
Its interests are cared for by all parties alike,
whatever may be thought or said by Mr. VIN-
CENT SCULLY or others to the contrary. The story
of her wrongs has been dinned into our ears until
we are heartily sick of it. It is such an old story
now that it won't any more bear telling. Nous aeons
changeetout cela. Had Mr. O'CONNELL survived he
would have found some difficulty in discovering
a grievance—always excepting that one ever at
hand, and ready to break out afresh at the very ear-
liest opportunity through a collision of the conflict-.
ing interests of the rival creeds. Otherwise there has
really been effected to a very considerable extent
once more a clearance of social and political ills

upon the other side St. George's Channel, only
comparable to the legendary expulsion by ST.
PATRICK'S crozier, of all the venomous reptiles
previously infesting the land. Nobody hears now
of " Repale," heaven he thanked! Its day is over.
We are not very likely to hear any more about it.
Again—" Castle Rackrent" is nowhere to be found.
Formerly it was the type—almost one might say—
of a National Institution : at any rate, of some-
thing very like one. Now it can only be read of
as one reads about the mastadon and the mega-
thereum and other devouring monsters of the like
genus in the books of the geologists—just in the
same way one can only read now about " Castle
Rackrent"and so forth in such pleasant repositories of
the past as Miss MARIA EDGEWORTH'S works.
Improvidence of that systematic and wholesale kind
is no longer to be seen there in Ireland itself. It
has vanished with the change of the proprietary ;
and that change, as we all know, has been effected
under the auspices of the Encumbered Estates Act.
Something considerable has been done, too, for the
good of the people residing there in Ireland, through
the beneficent agency of the regular moving to and
fro, hither and thither, throughout the length and
breadth of the land (upon a wisely organised sys-
tem) of Mr. CHARLES BIANCONI'S cars. The ex-
tension of the yet more notable system of the rail-
ways has already done still more—promising here,
as everywhere else where it has once been intro-
duced, to do yet more and more with the lapse of
time. Nay—most lamentable and deplorable
though the diminution of the population was some
fifteen years ago by reason of the double scourge of
famine and pestilence, that dread calamity has
eventually proved in its consequence not altogether
unproductive of good. Those who were swept off
by the horrors of starvation and of a fatal epi-
demic, were precisely those who were on the
lowest round of the social ladder—those who could
least help themselves or be helped. Dreadful though
the fate that struck them down, they left, by their
very disappearance from it, a legacy of benefit to
their native land. And meanwhile, before that
mournful turning-point in the history of Ireland,
before then and (increasingly) since then, the popu-
lation of the country has been sensibly and very
considerably diminished by the effects of emigra-
tion to this colony and to that. Thousands, hun-
dreds of thousands, even it can be said, without any
exaggeration, if we but take a range of years wide
enough, one or two millions have left those (at one
time it almost seemed fated) shores. As there
are two sides to every question, so there were
undoubtedly discoverable two in the instance before
us. While it was indisputably a " heavy loss and
great discourageme neat first to Ireland herself, that
she should lose so many of her stalwart sons, and
that too at the time apparently of her direst need
—the result has proved only that they unconsciously
did a benefit not only to themselves by going, but
also (by their emigration from it) to the country
they left, and (by their immigration into it) to the
country into which they went. Their movement
beyond the seas conferred a twofold boon as
surely as the cardinal virtue of Charity does,
according to SHAKSPERE blessing alike him
who gives and him who takes. Benefitting, that is to
say, alike the old country and the new. It is, how-
ever, by all these and by other subsidiary aids that
Ireland has already become what she is. Her
mercantile and agricultural enterprize has advanced
for instance during the last momentous fifteen years,
—that enterprize in each instance has advanced with
giant strides under the beneficent influence of the
great and wise, and henceforth we may rest perfectly
well assured, in the world of political economy,
the indestructible and irresistible principles of
Free Trade. It will not be regarded as idle
if we add to this the fact that the social
condition of the Irish generally has during
the last score of years been at once elevated and
ameliorated by the benign agency of the Tempe-
rance Movement, and—its symbol—the Pledge.
One of the truest patriots and one of the most
practical philanthropists that ever breathed was,
without a doubt of it, good Father MATHEW : and
hence is it that his name throughout Ireland is
held, and ever will be held, so dear. From the
date of the commencement of the great Tempe-
rance Movement under the guidance of that great
Apostle of Temperance, Father THEOBALD MATHEW,
begins, in fact, the dawn of Ireland's happier
days. Before that period she was literally to all
intents and purposes sunk into the Slough
of Despond, without even the remotest prospect,any-
where to be seen, of her probable extrication from
it. While O'CONNELL, great man as he was in
other respects, was rendering himself intolerable,
and, so far as such a giant could, ridiculous, by his
preposterous babble about the Repeal of the Union,
Father MATHEW was vigorously setting himself to
work, heart and brain, body and soul, to the task of
administering the pledge. He died in the cause ; he
crushed any selfish ambition he might ever
have had for the sake of the cause ; more than
once, so that his cause might not in any way
be interrupted, refusing the temptation of
It would be difficult, indeed,
o exaggerate in any respect the benefits that the
Temperance Movement has conferred during all
these years upon Ireland and her sons. Nay, the
benefits it is still conferring down to this present
day. For the movement still actively goes on.
Though Father MATHEW has long since ended
his good and useful life, the movement he began
a score of years ago still goes on. What said
Lord BROUGHAM in fact upon this subject only
the other day ? Why, speaking of the advance
yet making in the good cause throughout Ireland,
" We find," he said, "various societies in existence,
and accurate persons—persons learned on the sub-
ject, have assured me that there is hardly a town in
the great province of Ulster in which there is not
an Abstinence Association. There are not so many
in the other provinces, but still they are scattered
abroad fully over the extent of those provinces.
There is a central association situated in Dublin,
and I understand that there is in Belfast a Temper-
ance League, the object of which is to unite by
affiliation the different Temperance Associations in
the various parts of the countoy, for the purpose
of ultimate support and communication, and
giving help one to another—affording each
other material assistance where it is wanted.
I understand that it has flourished, though
it is not long established—not above a
year or two ; but in that short time it has had a
very considerable success. All this is most grati-
fying, for it shows that the cause is going on and
succeeding, even at a time when there are many
other things of very great and material interest to
attract the attention and engage the sympathies of
the community—that this great cause is not only
not neglected, but is making sensible progress, and
I hope and trust that support will be given to such
associations as I have just mentioned. I strongly
recommend the Belfast League to the attention
of all parties in the country, because it seems to
founded on a good principle, and already,
as I have said, has made considerable pro-
gress." That is what Lord BROUGHAM says
only as recently as last week, in reference to the
I still onward advance of the Pledge. The remarks
we have here quoted fell from the venerable ex-
Chancellor's lips upon the occasion of his presiding

a mitre.

over a temperance meeting at Dublin immediately
after the proceedings of the Social Science Associa-
tion had been brought to a close. And the facts
alluded to by the noble and learned lord augur well
for the yet steady advance from one improvement
to another of the great mass of the Irish race.

p 4 0 N • %Iv 6
/-4

FRANCE AND SARDINIA.

PARIS, AUG. 26.

The Moniteur of to-day contains the following :
" Mr. Roebuck has recently affirmed that he
knew of the existence of a convention by which the
island of Sardinia would be eventually ceded to
France.

"We give a formal denial to this assertion. Not
only does such a convention not exist, but even the
thought of entering into negotiations on this subject
with the Cabinet of Turin has never occurred to the
Emperor's Government."

NAPLES, AUG. 24.

News has been received here that Col. Loren has
attacked Chiavone's band on the mountains near
Sellia, in concert with the French.
Advices from Sara to the 23d instant state that
it was rumoured that some French troops bad
arrived at Castanvita, in order to prevent Chiavone
from entering Roman territory.

FLORENCE, AUG. 25.

The Nazione of to day publishes a despatch from
Rome, dated the 23d inst., stating that a band of
500 Reactionists had set out from Rome in the
direction of the Tuscan frontier.

VIENNA, AUG. 25.

Both Houses of the Council of the Empire have
voted an address, acknowledging, in loyal and
grateful terms, the firmness of the Emperor in
maintaining the historical rights of the Crown, and
thanking him also for his intention of persevering
in the constitutional path upon which he has entered,
and for his policy in protecting the interests of the
non Hungarian provinces, without, however, neglect-
ing the means of bringing about some understand-
ing with Hungary.

PESTH, AUG. 25.

Two circulars addressed by the Hungarian Chan-
cellery to the Oberspans of Hungary arrived here
yesterday.
One of the circulars contains the assurance of the
Emperor's intention to maintain the Hungarian
constitution intact.

In the other hopes are expressed that the public
mind will remain tranquil until the assembling of
the New Diet, and that the attitude of the people
will be such as to render a reconciliation possible.
The Emperor also solemnly declares that he has
no intention of incorporating the Hungarian Crown
lands with the Crown lands of the Austrian empire,
but that he wishes to maintain the self government
and independence guaranteed to Hungary by the
imperial rescript of 1790.