The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-31 00:00:00

cepted by the ruling powers of the State depend the
maintenance cf our mercantile supremacy, the con-
tinuance cf our maritime dominion, and the preser-
vation of our scattered possessions. For the principal
problems of a political nature now asking solution,
have reference to the marine sway of England, to her
trading prosperity, and to her colonial authority.
Almost every other object of legislation must be re-
garded as, for the time being, immeasurably subordi-
nated to these ; almost every other aim of the national
ambition must be viewed as placed in temporary
abeyance. Otherwise the affairs of the country,
already embarrassed by anxieties upon these heads,
will inevitably fall into deeper and yet deeper con-
fusion. Even the necessity for taking into considera-
tion the advancement of the beneficent labours of the
sanitary reformers is small when compared with
these other necessities already specified ; the more
particularly so when we remember that the chances of
success in the former instance are all but secured by
the propitious train into which every improvement
relating to the public health has been put through the
instrumentality of the Noble Earl at the head of the
Woods and Forests Department. With the
other subjects for legislation, however, which
are above particularised, it is altogether different.
There the want of legislative interference is imminent
in the extreme, no ameliorative effort of any value
having been of late adventured upon, and the causes
necessitating some such interposition being perpe-
tually and alarmingly multiplied.
Glancing, fur instance, at the want of improve-
ment in our Colonial Legislation, it must be suffi-
ciently manifest that something more is desirable
towards the dissipation of many sinister forebodings
than the temporary expedients adopted by the sagacity
of the Colonial Secretary. 'When we recollect the
disturbances which have occurred in the Canadas, at
the Cape, in Australia, and elsewhere among our
numerous and enormous dependencies ; when we re-
member the charges of misgovernment brought for-
ward against Lord ELGIN at Montreal, and Lord
TORRINGTON at Ceylon ; when we take into con-
sideration the circumstance that the origin of all
these outbreaks and of all these ill-feelings—feelings
tending to insubordination, and, if allowed to pass
unchecked, to a perilous and sanguinary demise of
the central Government—when we take into consi-
deration, we say, the circumstance that the origin of
these outbreaks and of all these ill-feelings has refer-
ence to the great questions of emigration and trans-
portation, of convict labour and cf provincislization,
we shall have reason enough surely to appreciate the
extent and depth of those anxieties which are at pre-
sent agitating the public mind, and h;mediately
affecting, also, the deliberations of the Legis-
lature. It is natural, it is surely rational
end comprehensible, that the settlers in

Southern Afdca should recoil with horror from
the notion of finding themselves jostled by a swarm
of reprobates gathered together from all the haunts of
depravity in England, and disembarked upon their
shores periodically in hundreds. It is re3sonable, it
is surely allowable and judicious on the part of the
aboriginal inhabitants cf Ceylon, to shrink with
terror from the permission of punishments regarded by
them as insults to the gods of their adoration and as
desecrations to the sanctuaries of their religion. Ii
is permissible, it is surely just and laudable in the
mass of the Canadians to aspire to a position worthy
ef an English dependency so capable of large
and rapid development. Yet it is precisely
against these elevating aspirations for progress, against
these honest instincts of self-preservation, against
this earnest and beautiful reverence for the august
and venerable, that the majority of the efforts of
British legislation in, regard to the British co-
lonies have, generally speaking, been directed.
True, doubtless there has been much occasion-
ally in the conduct of the population of Ceylon,
of the Cape, and of the Canadas, to justify the
most stringent efforts at the repression of rebel-
lion ; yet, after making every allowance for the
required exercise at times of a stern command over
those three divisions of our colonial community, we
do aver that there has been also much reason for the
heartburnings of those sections of the subjects of our
Most Gracious SOTEREIGN. They have felt themselves
at periods treated in a manner different, essentially dif-
ferent, from that which characterises the treatment of
the mother country. They found their local interests
despised, the rites of their religion contemned and in-
sulted, and as, in the instance of the Cape Colony,
the place of their residence threatened with an inter-
minable and terrible pollution, being rendered in fact
the dust-bin, or cloaca, for the moral refuse of Great
Britain. No wonder, therefore, that, at intervals,
they have found it impossible to preserve with their
accustomed serenity their attitude of loyal obedience.
No wonder they have found themselves, on one or
two occasions, driven to extremities such :as threat-
ened their violent separation from the English em-
pire. Every additional reflection upon this subject
only tends to increase our conviction that the preserva-
tion of our vast and widely scattered dominions
in both hemispheres is dependant upon the colonial
policy about to be adopted by the Imperial Legisla-
ture.

A similar attention to the necessities of judicious
innovation in regard to our Navy, and of the pur-
suance of a wi=e course of proceedings in reference to
our commerce, must inevitably lead us to a similar
conclusion. And this it is which fills the mind and
heart of every patriotic observer with so much and
such profound solicitude, now that these three
paramount problems for political elucidation are
coming formally under the scrutiny of the Parlia-
ment. That the policy about to be adopted
by the Legislature in regard to our mercantile
and maritime position is intimately associated with
those great and all-important topics, the Currency
and Taxation, must be sufficiently obvious to prevent
the necessity for any prolonged or detailed argument
in elucidation. One cannot be brought directly
under discussion without the other being indirectly
introduced likewise ; and this consideration it is
which so materially enhances their already consider-
able importance. Therefore, moreover, it is that a
session destined to witness debates upon three re-
forms of a character comparable to those above in-
dicated, must be considered as one calculated to be in
no small degree memorable; and hence, consequently,
we have been induced to mention this morning, as one
likely to be borne long in the national remembrance
a morning which has witnessed, under such extraordi-
nary circumstances, and with such remarkable aus-
pices, the re-assembling of the two Houses of the
British Parliament.

The long-expected and anxiously looked-for open
meeting, on the all-important subjects of Free-trade
and Protection, took place on Monday, at the
Rotunda, Dublin, and, if any doubt could have
existed as to the feeling of the great majority of the
Irish people on these question, after the results of the
Downshire, and other county " demonstrations," it
would be completely and fur ever set at rest by the
recent appeal to the inhabitants and visitors of the
metropolis of Ireland.

A. deep debt of gratitude is due to the talented
and patriotic LORD MaAroa, of Dublin for the
prompt and manly determination at which he
arrived to ascertain the real sentiments of the
citizens, of whom he is the efficient Chief Magis-
trate on these vexata questiones. It was manifest that
no reliance could be placed on the proceedings and
resolutions of the so-called National Demonstration,
from which all persons were studiously excluded
save those in favour of the re-imposition of a bread-
tax—and where, even if admission had been obtained
by a Free-trader, no voice could be uplifted save on
the side of protection. " Unanimity" thus attained
could be of no possible value as indicating the lean-
ing and tendency of public opinion. The advocates
of monopoly had dared to assert that a great change
had taken place in the minds of Irishmen, and that
they were now as strongly in favour of protective
duties, and of taxes on the chief necessaries of life, as
they had formerly been urgent for the abolition of all
commercial restrictions and an ut fAtered trade with
all the nations of the world. These statements had
been so often reiterated, so loudly and confidently
proclaimed on all occasions, that some, at least, of the
interested parties were induced to give credence to
them, and to believe that a reactionary policy would
be received with approbation at their side of
St. George's Channel. Undeceived by the nu-
merous and decisive failures that followed
every effort in the provinces, as well among. the
Orangemen of Ulster as the Liberals of the south and

wee, they determined to make a final attempt in
the heart of the metropolis. Sufficient, however, ap-
peared to induce the principal requisitionists—those
entrusted with the preparation of the arrangements
for the contemplated gathering—to consider " dis-
cretion the better part of valour," and to avoid the
inevitable defeat that must have been sustained if all
classes and denominations of the citizens of Dublin
had been admitted to " the Round Room." Hence
the care and attention bestowed upon the distribution
of the tickets, which rendered what might otherwise
have been considered a "grand national demonstra-
tion," a mere " hole and corner" assembly of no
practical value or efficacy.
The LORD MAYOR was, however, resolved that the
reactionaries should not escape so:easily. He would
not permit them to obtain even the negative credit,
which was all they ventured to seek. He was well
aware of the sentiments of the great body of his
fellow-citizens, by whom he had been so
honourably selected to fill the mayoralty of their
important city, thus exhibiting their approval of his
conduct in his private capacity as a merchant, and his
public situation as their chosen representative in the
Imperial Parliament. He could, therefore, entertain
noldoubt as to the result of a general appeal where all
would be at liberty to attend and give expression to
their cpinicns, whatever they might be. He accord-
ingly convened the great meeting, which took place
on Monday, and which might, indeed, be hailed as a
grand national demonstration with as much truth as
the flrmer assembly was falsely ard mendaciously so
denominated.

The proceedings on Monday fully confirmed the
soundness of his judgment. The " large room" WP S
crowded to suffocation, and every nook and cranny was
thronged by a dense and anxious multitude. The
Protectionists, indeed, showed some degree of fight.
Mr. BUTT, the eminent Queen's Counsel, incompa-
rably the most talented and elcquent member of the
party in Ireland, who as far exceeds his Irish asso-
ciates in mental capacity and oratorical power
as the distinguished Member for Buckinghamshire
surpasses the stolid herd of English Protectionists,
came forward to move an amendment to the original
resolteion. Although personally as popular as his
political creed is obnoxious and unpalstable to the
great body of his countrymen, even he was unable to
obtain a patient hearing. There was no personal
violence attempted, no stones or brickbats were re-
serted to, as exponents of public opinion In that
respect the meeting afforded a favourable contrast to
some of those recently held in this country ; but.
"groans, hissing, whistling, cockcrowing, and a
medley cf indescribable noises" prevented the as-
sembly from hearing the speeches of Mr. BUTT, the
Earl of MAYO, and of those who followed on the same
side. If any person could have obtained an audience
on such a subject, Ms.BUTT would have been the
man. The earnest zeal and professional ability with
which be defended the political prisoners—the
learning and research which he exhibited on these
occasions—the great and unexpected success
which bad attended his exertions on behalf
of Mr. DUFFY, and which, probably, saved
that gentleman from the melancholy expatriation
that awaited so many cf his political friends—above
all, his disinterested generosity to the unfortunate
PATRICK O'DoNoonun rendered him a general fa-
vourite, notwithstanding his political mistakes and
errors. lie is also generally believed to be infinitely
more sincere and honest in his views than the great
majority of those with whom, unfortunately for him-
self and for the country, ha is associated. lie is also
reputed to be a zealous " nationalist," anxious to
elevate his native land in the scale of nations, and
though the means he would resort to for that purpose
might not be productive of the desired results, still
the end and object of his wishes and aspirations are
deeply sympathised with by many who differ from
him widely in other respects. Stronger evidence
could not be afforded of the fixed determination of the
people to resist any retrogression in the commercial pos
licy recently adopted than the groans and interruptions
with which Mr. BUTT was received, end Which, not-
withstanding the creditable exertions of the LORD
MAYOR. and other well known and influential Free-
traders, were continued with rare intervals during
his entire address. The amendment which he pro-
posed, and which was seconded by the EArl of Alkiro,
was duly put to the meeting and declared by the
chairman to be lost, while the original resolution was
carried almost unanimously. A subsequent amend-
ment to the second resolution met with no better
fate ; the proposition that " any tax on human food,
having for its object the increase of its price, and
thereby rendering the sustentation of human life more
difficult, is wrong, ce,ntrary alike to Christianity and
sound policy, as has been too fatally illustrated in
the history of Ireland for the last half century,"
having been affirmed by a majority so clear, and of
such unquestionable authority, as to amount to all
but unanimity.

After these decisive defeats the Protectionists
appear to have abandoned the field. The remaining
resolutions and the petition to Parliament having
s
been adopted without anyhow of opposition, they
were carried ?amine contradicente, and with a spirit
and enthusiasm that reflected the highest credit upon
the citizens of Dublin and their excellent Lord Mayor.
Mr. REYNOLDS may well be proud of the valuable
assistance he has rendered to the good cause, by having
thus stripped the Protectionists of the argument which
they might otherwise put forward, " that the people
of Ireland were in favour of a tax on human food, or
that the prices of articles of primary-necessity should
be unduly increased, for the exclusive bensfit of a
small and insignificant minority."

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The semi-official Pattie has the following:—
" It is positively stated, that the Government has re-
c,ived an a^count that the English Cabicet had again
claimed from the Greek Government the payment cr
the arrears paid by England on the Greek loan, con-
tracted under the guarttatee cf the three Powers, France,
Russia, and England. In support of this demand, an
order had been given, it is aMel, t) the English fleet to
sail Cr the Pirmu.. The Greek Government is said to
have placed itself under the protection of the Minister of
France,"
We find the following in the Ordre :
" The news of an ultimatum having been signified to
Switzerland .by the Continental powers relative to the
taking of energetic measures against the manceuvres
of the refugees, was yesterday the subject of much
conversation in the Assembly. It is said that
the intended sending of a Russian Minister to
Paris to counterbalance the influence cf the English
ambassador is connected with this question. If these
rumours are confirmed, and if the Helvetic Cantons,
some accused of weakness, and others suspected of a
kind of complicity with the foreign radicals, who dream
of the overthrow of Europe, refuse to ray attention to
tho demands which have lesn or are about to be ad-
dressed to them, the French Government will find itself
placed with regard to Switzerland nearly in the same
situation as it was with regard to the Republic of Maz-
zini at the moment when the armies cf Naples and Aus•
tria threatened to march on Rome. The difference would
be that the present situation would be more serious, as
there would not be in this case the question ef protect-
ing a Catholic interest common to the different powers
who might be divided on the subject of political interest.
If the expedition, although founded on the most power-
ful considerations, was et'.ended with immense incon-
veniences which are even yet felt, we may judge of the
embarrassments and the danger which may arise from
this new complication in European affair:. Never had
our Government greater need of prudence and firm-
ness. We hope that it will pass through the trials
which are preparing for it with glory to itself and
to Us."

The Bill regulating the relations of operative
weavers with their employers, was read a second
time in the Assembly on Tuesday.
It is said that the election of Deputies to replace
M. LEDRU Rom.ur and his companions will not take
place until the 10th March. Copies of the judgment
of the High Court of Versailles were placarded on
Tuesday at the doors of the last residences of such of
the condemned as were Members of the Assembly.
M. Gordy DE ROSLAN, First Secretary of the Em-
bassy, and M. ALBERT DE DALMAS, attaché to the
French Mission at Buenos Ayree, left Paris on
Tuesday night for Brest, where they embark for
South America. They are the bearers of instructions
from the Government for Rear-Admiral PREDOUR
and for M. DEVOIZE, the Consul-General at Monte
Video.

The Committee on the Budget received a commu-
nication on Tuesday from the Minister of Public
Works of the treaty concluded betwen the Govern
ment and the directors of the St. Etienne and Lyons
Railroad. This treaty authorises the company to
construct a double line of rails from Lyons to Guion,
parallel to the Lyons and Avignon line. The ma-
jority of the Committee declared themselves fa-
vourable to the treaty. A Bill presented by M.
Dumas., the Minister of Commerce, authorising the
PRESIDENT of the Republic to dispose of the produce