The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-13 00:00:00

The Holy Father, ever an object of tender and profound
veneration amongst all Catholics, excites my constant inte-
rest aLd my filial solicitude. I have succeeded in obtaining
this point, that the Governments of those countries which
are placed under his holy direction should unite to find the
means of giving him, within his own states, that peace and
security which are indispensable for the independent exer-
cise of his holy ministry. My sentiments stimulate me to
continue these exertions. Thus I satisfy the wishes of my
subjects, who nourish in their hearts the religious faith of
their ancestors.

If " peace and security" be all she has obtained

for him, we doubt his gratitude will be small ; but
if she means that she has obtained this for him in
States which not only are " his own" just now, but
will remain so, she may be sure that neither RICA-
SOLI, RATTAZZI, nor any other possible Italian
Minister has conceded that. In her own dominions
she shows a love to the Holy Father worthy of
PHILIP 11. himself ; it was she who cleared the
little island of Fernando Po of some Christian mis-
sionaries, who went there to convert the negroes,
because even on an uncivilised island belonging to
her, Protestants might not profess their religion.
And at this moment, we believe, the worthy men,
in whose case Sir ROBERT PEEL and his ladies took
so much interest, are still rotting in gaol for dis-
tributing—Bibles 1 The Holy Father does not
like Bibles—and the virtuous daughter burns them,
and imprisons the distributors.

The rascally affair of St. Domingo looks very
pretty in a Queen's Speech, however the fact might
have appeared to the poor Dominicans, who found
themselves betrayed, doubtless for a consideration,
by the leader of a faction. What trace of political
corruption and military violence can be found in
these maternal sentiments :

That Spanish island the first discovery of which immor-
talised the name of Columbus forms once more a part of our
monarchy. The inhabitants of St. Domingo, menaced by
foreign enemies, wearied by internal disorders, invoked in
the midst of its conflicts the august name of the nation to
which it had been indebted for civilisation and life. It
would have been unworthy of us to contemplate its suffer-
ings without emotion, to disown its appeal, inspired by
great recollections and by an inextinguishable love for Spain.
Convinced that this appeal, that these wishes were sponta-
neous and unanimous, I did not hesitate to welcome them,
more attentive to honour than to the convenience of my
people.

The inhabitants of St. Domingo have seen their wishes
realised. The elements of riches which their fertile soil
contains begin to be developed in the bosom of profound
peace, and the zeal as well as the justice of my government
and of the authorities will efface the traces of past discords.

The QUEEN has some pleasant sounding sen-
tences, 'about order and liberty. It is reasonable
matter for gratification that the disturbances in
Andalusia were repressed without resort to extra-
ordinary measures. But constitutional freedom is

to be advanced, and the suffrage is to be extended
till " every legitimate interest will be represented
in Congress"—Mr. JOHN BRIGHT could hardly ask
more; a new electoral and administrative law are
to be proposed, and
The people and the provinces will obtain, by means of
the law in harmony with their remarkable progress, that
considerable share which belongs to them in the direction
of their affairs, and in the care of their interests, but these
measures will not diminish the means which authority re-
quires to preserve public order—that prime necessity of
states.

For one thing which her Majesty proposes we
should suggest that she instruct her Ambassador
here to confer with the hon. member for Bristol—
for she tells the members that,

Those measures which experience counsels will prevent
fraud end pressure from impairing the purity of elections.
The law which represses violence and fraud guarantees the
free expression of public opinion.

The press is of course not forgotten: What the
words she employs can mean it would be hard to
guess, unless we could guess first the speaker's
thoughts. She says,

My Goveiament desires that the liberty of the press
should be protected by a law which, in leaving the field
open for the expression of thought, may repress the excess
of passions.

Happy Press of Spain ! The pure stream of
thought is not to le made turbid by the pollutions
of passion. A " protective" law is to act as our new
sewers will do in London ; political feculence will
be carefully drained and pumped away, and the
lieges of ISABELLA will sip in safety of thought
free from passion. With heresy swept from the
soil, or into prison, with a pure unimpassioned press,
with an Exchequer which no longer needs a loan
Spain will soon become the Eden of Europe.

Perhaps the most telling sentence that was
uttered on Saturday evening at the LORD MAYOR'S
Banquet in the Guildhall of the City of London was
the one in which it was intimated by H.R.H. the
Commander-in-Chief, that there is not the slightest
intention in high quarters to reduce our military
armaments, simply by reason of the success achieved
by the Volunteer Movement. Economists though
we are, we cannot possibly be otherwise than
heartily rejoiced at such an intimation as this.
For economy, so begun, would be the merest folly,
the sheerest absurdity. As the Duke of CAM-
BRIDGE admirably well remarked, the Volunteer
Force is chiefly and above all things valuable as an
auxiliary to the Royal Army. We should effectually
destroy all the good secured to the nation by the mar-
shalling together of an army of riflemen numbering
already from 150,000 to 200,000 Volunteers, if we
were rashly to celebrate the fact by disbanding a
considerable part of the disciplined army, to which
this Volunteer farce has assuredly from the first
been simply supplemented. And this more paiti-
i cularly when it is borne in mind, at the same time,
that the standing menace to En,rland which called
the Riflemen from their homes to rally tog
in vindication of our national independence, isether re-
cognisable yonder, upon the o
English Channel pposite shores of the
, quite as vividly still as at the very
inauguration of this great movement. NAPOLEON
has still at his beck and call a vast and formidable
army of from 500,000 to 600,000 of the most ad-
mirably disciplined troops in Europe. Nut a force,
observe, of 100,000 c.r 200,000 soldiers, hut a huge
body of armed men
very little
peace—but pinena-
dtiomuse oafgg
When there shall have
aggregate of 600,000 men, infantry, cavalry,
artillery, and engineers.
been visible a diminution in that direction—then,
but certainly not sooner, we may begin to meditate

but much of it is changed, Spanish finance, as we
have experienced, is in a far better state than it was,
a respectable army has been created, which whatever
it might do against regular troops of a great mili-
tary power,cuts a respectable figure in a conflict with
the race whom she drove to their own side of the
Mediterranean ; and Spain is actually now about to
join in an expedition with two of the greatest
powers in the world. She may well, therefore,
congratulate herself on her progress. Indeed, it
seemed not many years ago as if resurrection were
impossible, and that this fine country was, politi-
cally and commercially, dead and buried for ever.
Spain is, however, at least alive again,
The piety of the Spanish monarchs, even of
the most cruel or dissolute, has always
been a point of honour with them. With
the blood of heretics they atoned for the
blood of patriots, and fidelity to the POPE
was the satisfaction to Heaven and earth for femi-
nine infidelity. ISABELLA does not dishonour her
ancestry—Almost the first paragraph in her speech
says—