The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-01 00:00:00

December, when by a majority of six millions of
votes, obtained through the ballot, and under the
regime of universal suffrage, the French people volun-
tarily placed their new-born democracy under the
shelter of the most august name in their annals, the
imperial and royal name of NAPOLEON. Consequently,
almost half of the allotted period of the Presidential
power has already elapsed. Two out of the
prescribed. four years' tenor of office have wit-
nessed the direction of the affairs of the
Republic under the guidance of Louis NAPOLEON
and throughout the whole of that momentous period
the heir to the fortunes and the glory of the EM-
PEROR has shown himself not unworthy of the
confidence reposed in his integrity by his
countrymen. His actions from the first mo-
ment of his entrance into the Elysee have been
those of allegiance to the Republican institutions, for
the completion and maintenance of which he was
suddenly called from more than thirty years' exile to
the curule chair of the chief magistracy. He has ex-
pressly avowed again and again, in so many words,
his loyalty to the present form of goverment. Again
and again he has had the most tempting opportuni-
ties afforded him of adventuring upon a coup cretat,
which might not improbably have encircled his brows
with the imperial diadem. Yet again and again
has be allowed those opportunities to pass by un-
heeded, again and again has he resisted and van-
quished those temptations. With an army devoted
to the reminiscences of glory surrounding the me-
mory of the great E3IPEROR, with the rural
population blindly, and even fanatically, de-
voted to his cause, with the prestige ac-
quired for himself during the last two years
as a man of intellect and probity, and with the
authority devolving upon him continually from the
remembrance of his being the elected of two millions
of the population—Louis NAPOLEON might assuredly
long since have set at open defiance all the antagonism
of parties, all the animosity of intriguing adventurers,
and above all and beyond all the personal pride and
arrogance of General CHANGAB.PIES. None of these
things has the PRESIDENT adventured upon. His
policy has been that of systematic conciliation. He
has extended the hand of friendship to all classes and
to all factions as cordially as he did on the first
moment of his assumption of power, when he de-
scended from the tribune of the National As-
sembly, and, crossing the floor of the Chamber,
proffered the fraternal grasp to that of his rival
General CAVAIGNAC. While other statesmen,
statesmen too of resplendent genius and of irre-
proachable integrity, found themselves rapidly de-
prived of popularity after the exercise of an evanescent
dictatorship, Louis NAPOLEON has found his popu-
larity only increasing among the masses, among the
soldiers, and among the peasantry during the two
years which have followed his abrupt and astonishing
elevation. From this at any rate it must be argued
that he has acted judiciously, and that too under the
pressure of the most embarrassing and complicated
difficulties. Hence, moreover, it must be acknowledged,
even by his most prejudiced mad virulent opponents,
that he is a man of good if not splendid abilities, of
sound if not comprehensive judgment, of unimpeach-
able honour, and of indisputable magnanimity. Of
any individual who could thus maintain a position of
such extraordinary peril and delicacy, this at least
must have been said in approbation, but more espe-
cially of one whose entrance upon office was the
subject of almost universal ridicule and caricature.
Against the prestige, the power, and the popularity
of Louis NAPOLEON his enemies are endeavouring
then to raise up the egotism of the arrogant CuAN-
GARNIER. But for the pertinacity with which the
influence of the latter is being continually magnified,
the mere notion would be altogether too ridiculous
to demand from us any serious consideration. As it
is, however, all lovers of truth, all admirers of honesty,
all opponents of sham and illusion, should avow boldly
their contempt for this pretended omnipotence of a
subaltern in the administration of the French Republic
—one whose continuance in the post of Commander-
in-Chief is sblely one of sufferance, and who is conse-
quently incapable of dictating in any manner to a
chieftain of whom he is simply, as it were, one of the
lieutenants.

Whatever may be the course of events in France,
we are satisfied at any rate of this much, namely,
that England will regard those events with interest,
of course—with a profound and absorbing interest—
but without any di'position whatever to reive the
old, blundering, and iniquitous policy of foreign in-
terposition. Our Government now-a-days is happily
resolved upon those principles which, in 1848, were
expressed so nobly and liberally by Lord PALMERS-
ToN—those principles of sympathy which will hence.
forth be extecded to our neighbours in France, no
matter whether they choose for their ruler a Presi-
dent or a Consul, a King or an Emperor.

Unfortunately for Ireland, the prejudices and
passions of Archbishop -WHALE, to which we briefly
r.lluded yesterday, found a response at Rome. That
Prelate, whose mischievous advice was rejected
through the milder influence of the late lamented
Roman Catholic Primate, Archbishop CAOLLY, and
of the equally amiable and much respected Arch-
bishop MURRLT, whose inestimable services are still
preserved for the benefit of his country and his creed,
did not rest easy under his defeat. What " JOHN of
Tuam" was unable to accomplish openly he endeavoured
to promote by underhand and surreptitious means.
He proceeded to Rome, and stimulated the Papal Go-
vernment to the adoption of an aggressive policy very
different from that which had formerly been pursued
by the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, and which
(as we have recently stated) secured far the profes-
sors of that religion the esteem- and sympathy of their
fellow-subjects of every creed and class throughout
the British dominions; he was no longer satisfied
with " toleration," his aspirations were after
" domination ; not contented with " equality,"
he sought " superiority," and endeavoured to carry
forward a Papal propagandism in place of that which
had been abandoned by the Protestant ministers of
England. Unhappily his insidious suggestions were
received with but too much attention at the Papal
Court. The advanced age and increasing infirmities
of the pious and excellent prelates who had so long
and so judiciously presided over the destinies of the
Hibernian branch of the Roman Catholic Church
afforded him great advantages in forwarding his views
in Italy, and he let slip no opportunity of ad-
vancing -his projects. From time to time he
obtained new adherents on the Episcopal bench and
among the inferior clergy of the western province.
His opposition to the mild and sagacious principles of
his archiepiscopal brethren of Armagh and Dublin be-
came more energetic. His vituperative powers were
freely and unsparingly exerted, and fierce denuncia-
tions were hurled against all who ventured to oppose
his views. The " National Education " had been too
firmly established to afford any reasonable hope of
directly overturning a system which had brought
forth such fruits, but it might be indirectly assailed.
Its further progress was to be checked, before the re-
trograde movement could be commenced, and the
first assault was made upon the new colleges estab-
lished in the chid* towns of the different provinces by
the authority of our most Gracious SOVEREIGN, with
the sanction and approbation of the Imperial Parlia-
ment.

Never was there a boon that should have been
received with more cordial unanimity than the estab-
lishment of the new seminaries. They supplied
a waist that had long been painfully felt in Ireland,
a mode by which the middle and wealthier classes of
Roman Catholics could be enabled to receive a sound
practical education, qualifying them for the learned
professions and every species of intellectual pursuit,
without their being compelled to feel a painful sense
of degradation by being disqualified by their religion
from seeking or obtaining the highest collegiate dis-
tinctions to which their attainments might otherwise
entitle them. It is true that Roman Catholics might
study and obtain degrees in the University of
Dublin, that honours in classics and science, gold
medals and moderatorships, were open to general
competition—and among those who achieved those
honourable rewards of merit we might adduce the
honoured names of Chief Justice MONAHAN, of Mr.
MußruY, Master in Chancery ; of Sergeant O'BRIEN,
Sergeant MIIRPLIY, of the Honourable Gentlemen
the Members for Kerry (county) and Athlone, and
many others who have since risen to eminence in va-
rious pursuits—but the fellowships and scholarships,
which gave emolument as well as honour to the
holders, were restricted to the members of the Es,