The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-16 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18, 1857.

The Liberal cause has triumphed in Belgium.
The appeal to the country has been completely
successful. The Ultramontanists have been left
in as decided a minority as were the Yert-ites
after the general elections throughout the United
Kingdom in March and April last. The people
have succeeded in displacing the majority of the
parti pretre, and sending 70 Liberals out of a
House consisting of 108 members ; so that nearly
two-thirds of the entire number may be ranked
as supporters of the ROGIER Ministry. Their
opponents were as decisively defeated as were the
Protectionists after the repeal of the Corn-laws.
The liberal party in Belgium had become com-
paratively apathetic. They did not fully under-
stand the designs of their sacerdotal opponents,
and could not conceive that their liberty was really
endangered by the triumphs of their priestly
"ninees. It was net until they found a domi-
nant body resolved to turn their temporary suc-
cess to the utmost advantage to obtain the une-
quivocal control of the educational establishments,
and to remove the safeguards previously esta-
blished for the families of dying
sinners, that
p
they awoke from their political trance. The
magnitude of the emergency w at once pereep-
as
possel-
tibia. The Ultratuontaniste had obtained
fEion of place and power, and Were determined
not merely to use it, but to abuse
.ar. as
practicable. The kingdom was in a ferment. It
was impossible to say where the matter would
terminate. In fact, there was an impending re-
volution, which, if once commenced, might not
easily be stopped.
It ifs but justice t,) King LEOPOLD to say, that
he acted with great diicretion arid
judgmentduring the crisis. He temporised with the
dominant party, giving them what is termed rope
enough, and then proroguing the Chambers just
at the nick of time. The dissolution followed in ,

due course, and with the most felicitous results.
The real aspirations of the party were at last un-
derstood, and the necessity for energetic exer-
tion rendered apparent, even to the meanest
capacity. The People would no longer submit to
the sacerdotal yoke ; but bravely and resolutely
stood up in defence of constitutional freedom,
against spiritual denunciations and priestly des-
potism. This victory was accomplished without
riot or disturbance. The Ralgian Electors proved
that they were worthy of the franchise they so
well know how to use. It was a high moral
triumph at which they aimed, and that they
obtained without anything that could occasion re-
gret or annoyance. It was the temperate, but
firm and indomitable, expression of the popular
will.

Every possible combination of the Ultramonta-
nist party had been tried before M. ROGIER wag
intrusted with the duty of forming a new Admi-
nistration. In every instance it had signally
failed. No modification could be formed that
would be acceptable to the great body of the peo-
ple. It was only at the eleventh hour that the
recognised bead of the Liberal party was sent
for, and his demand for an immediate dissolution
was at once admitted and duly acted on. We
have seen the glorious result. Throughout the
entire kingdom, in every district, the people ral-
lied round their legitimate leaders, and effected a
peaceful and bloodless -revolution--a revolution
that consolidates the national liberty, and places
it on a firm and substantial basis.

The disappointment of the priestly party is
very great. The choice morsel has been taken
away almost at the very moment of enjoyment.
It is, indeed, "a slip between the cup and lip."
They can no longer hope to abolish a free press,
the greatest possible safeguard and protection for
national freedom. They cannot get the rising
generation into their hands to be trained to 'order,
with all the sentiments of bigotry and intolerance,
ready to execute the behests of the priesthood
with blind and unreasoning subservience, but
far worse " than this, than these, than
all," they cannot dip their fingers into the dying
sinner's purse, and exact his fortune as the price
of absolution for exaggerated sins. It is " a
heavy blow and great discouragement," one that
cannot easily or speedily be removed. Nor was
it altogether their own fault. They had exhibited
great craft and cunning in playing uut their
game. They had set up respectable non-entities,
men not avowedly under sacerdotal influence,
but who could easily be led in any direction
indicated by the black-coated gentry. It was not
until the majorities in the Chamber showed the
full extent to which they were prepared to go,
that the voice of public opinion was heard, and
that the national mind thoroughly understood the
nature of the contest which should be encountered.
From that time forth they have acted well and
nobly, and heartily we congratulate the People on
the peaceful but decisive triumph they have
gained.

The Indemnity Session, then, is over. The
Bank and the Ministers have got all they wanted,
and Westminster lapses into its accustomed quiet.
We feel like the family after a short visit, when
we gaze from the windows at the carriages rolling
away, and all seems so dull again. We had been
contented enough before the arrivals, but the con-
trast between "the feast of reason and the flow
of soul" is felt in sinking back to ordinary family
life when our friends have departed. Had the
guests but remained longer, we might have whis-
pered to each other that their absence, perhaps,
would be a relief. We would not have our repre-
sentatives, therefore, flatter themselves too much
about it, if we complain of their quitting us so
soon—if we own that we should have enjoyed
their conversation a little longer, or at least have
been entertained by it. Indian details begin to
lose their racy freshness, and a passage at arms
between the opposed leaders in either house, with
the numerous battles between subordinate cham-
pions, and the struggles over an important mea-
sure or two, would now be tolerably pleasant
amusement. PALEY will have it that the enter-
tainment of so many persons all over the country
is no unimportant "utility" of our parliamentary
debates. So say we. Still, our Senators must
not forget that we generally get tired enough of
them and their talk by the time the dog-days ar-
rive. We wish them, therefore, a merry Christ-
mas and a happy New Year, and hope they will
come back, when field-sports are quite over,
determined to amuse us for four, five, or six
month, in first-rate style.
Of course, Ministers have had it all their own
way. If it came to a division they could beat
Mr. HEADLAM, or Mr. DISRABLI, or any one else,
' and by what may, perhaps, be called Palmer-
Aonian majorities. Yet the Ministerial victories
were by no means fair tests of their power. Their
opponents put themselves in both cases, tactically
speaking, in a false position. Very many members,
not Ministerialists, were unprepared as yet for Mr.
HEADLAM'S or fur Mr. DISRAELI'S UIUti()IIS ; the
Rouse was not in a position to apply the princi-
ples of free trade to money ; and it was especially
unwise in a party leader, at least in reference to
present effect, to propose a resolution far in ad-
vance of the knowledge of most of his own patty.
The House certainly, and perhaps the country
too, is more disposed to "inquire" than to legis-
late. True, as is said of some in the latter days,
our legislators, in regard to currency and banking,
seem to be " ever learning, but never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth ;" but if they
prefer to be for ever in statu pupillari, there is
help for it. The worst is, that the interminable
questions and answers of the blue-book are but
the skirmishes of a few, to whom the greater part
of the members and the country are content to
leave the contest ; the majority feel that they
know little of the subject, can never read up upon
it, and, waiting the issue of the struggle, keep
asking hopelessly, " Well, gentlemen, have you
settled the matter t for we are prepared to enact
any law when you can but agree as to what the
law ought to be."
Two trips, however, Lord PALMERSTON has
wade ; the last he has got out of better than the
first. He could yield a little with a good grace
on the question of continuing Sir HENRY HAVE-
LOCK'S pension to his sons It was of course easy
to say th at it gave him great pleasure to accede
to the wishes of Parliament. Yet smoothly as
this runs, we all feel that there is something awk-
ward for the aristocratic Premier in it. We can-
not forget that the whole Cabinet, with one ex
caption, belongs to what are called noble families,
and has little or no sympathy with the men of
real nobility, who, like OeuPr,tl HAVELOCK have
fought their way up by sheer merit from the
ranks of the people. The indecent haste with
which the two peers who destroyed their regiment
at Baleklava, who evinced the utmost want of
31till--iiideed,
of everything but vulgar courage,
wwil:inlie 'lei: utlrdo
oet7lnveres upo
er erischoitin)
gfutr.rtoamb l yo 0 il
dn
rii:yueacohft
ondtity—thehastewith h* •
w tch,tri, antieipatiop of in-
piry these almost worthless -
officers were pitchfork ed
into rewards and promotion, contrasts very (-Li-
magingly with toe paltry offer of 1,000/. a • -yehr
to a veteran of sixty-five, while living, too, if he

be still alive, amidst the bullets of the enemy.
Had HAVELOCK been the nephew or cousin of a
lord, " take care of Dowb" would have been the
first thought, and a peerage and 3,0001. a-year at
least, would have been the reward of far greater
deeds than the taking of Ghuznee, to which that
reward was assigned. Here is a hero who has
outdone any military feat of any aristocrat since
1814, certainly outdone immeasurably all the
Crimean generali, and the impression must remain
that the patrons of the " Dowbs" just tried it on
to see with how little the people would be content
for ene of themselves. All honour to Sir JOHN
PAIUNGTON and those who joined him in demand-
ing decent rewards for soldierly merit, although
the recipient was a man of the people, and an
honest Dissenter.

Then what, an unlucky affair that of the two
prisoners at Naples—the Cives Romani, whom
all England looked to the "spirited foreign policy"
of Lord PALMERSTON to rescue. It could surely
never be, that the Minister who blocked up the
little Piteous with his frigates, to get a few
dollars for the exorbitantly appraised chairs and
tables, and pots and pans, of the worthless
PACIFICO, should allow two notoriously innocent
British subjects to be tortured to death by the
miseries of Neapolitan dungeons ? Of course not.
So we were told that the two victims were living
very comfortably, no doubt in the Governor of
the gaol's apartments, and had about all that
heart could wish, barring, indeed, that trifle, per-
sonal liberty—a trifle itself compared with Don
PACIFICO'S furniture—a trifle, at least, not worth
the services of Lord LYON'S frigates. Forthwith,
however, the Premier has to confess that the
worst is true l That the men were imprisoned in
filth, damp, and stench—that handcuffs had
lamed their wrists ; that these cruelties had
driven one to attempt suicide, and that they were
long denied access to their natural legal advisers
—that all this has gone on for five long months,
and that they have not yet been brought to trial.
The only apology is that " they do things thus
at Naples ;" and that we can only ask for them
a fair trial. We utterly deny this. We
have a right to demand fair treatment
too. We can insist upon it. We need
not, indeed, mince matters with such an outlawed
brute among despots as the tyrant of Naples. We
might demand their liberation as a false imprison-
ment of men notoriously .innocent—notoriously
subjected to compulsion—at the worst, notoriously
unarmed servants of those whose orders they must
obey. If Lerd PALMERSTON does consent that
these men should undergo a trial before the venal
courts, the timid advocates and the perjured wit-
nesses of King BoMBA, at least, he ought to cer-
tify the R qal savage that he woul I take charge
of them till the time of trial on board one of Her
Majesty's frigates, and that a good line of broad-
sides would be ready for action all the time the
trial was proceeding. We are not writing mere
bravado. Mr. BUCHANAN would have had the
men by this time had they been Americans. The
great republican President who once ruled in
England and his Admirals would have blown
Naples into the water if the men had not
been forthcoming at a few hours' notice. Strange
that Lord PALMERSTON allows our Monarchy to
be degraded in the eyes of Europe by the sufferings
and disgrace of two of its subjects.
Well, the Bank is indemnified, and Parliament
has left us to " con over," as Lord PALMERSTON
says, the topics of the Queen's Speech. Indian
and Representative Reform ought to find the
country occupation enough, and it is to be hoped
the country will not fail to speak out before
February, on the former subject especially. It
would be well, too, to speak out upon India.
Lord PALMERSTON is, we have reason to think,
rightly disposed on that topic, but other members
of the Cabinet are not disposed to turn out Mr.
VERNON SMITH, while uo one, of course, could
tJlerate the Hon. Gentleman as the responsible
Minister for India. L )rd PALMERSTON must be
supported in kicking down the double Govern-
ment, and instructed cn the Reform Question.
Up to the 4th of February, lessens may be given,
for up till that day will import Int concessions de-
pend on the demand for them by the con-
stituencies.

The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland will leave Staf-
ford House, to-morrow, for Trentham Hall, S.affordshire,
where they are about to entertain a large family circle.
The Duke and Duchess of Argyll will leave Argyll
Lodge, Campden-hill, on Friday, for Trentham Hall,
Staffordshire, on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of
Sutherland.

The Duko of Northumberland's 65th birthday was
yesterday celebrated by his Grace's principal tlnants at
Alnwick and in Yorkshire and Cornwall. The noble
duke's tradespeople dined together last evening, at the
Freemasons' Tavern, to cehbrate the event.

The Duchess of Graltln left town yesterday for
Wakefield Lodge, Stoney Stratford. The noble duke
remains in town.

The Earl of CArlisle will leave town to-morrow, for
Trentham Hall, Staffordshire. His lordship returas to
Dublin at the close of the month.
The Earl and Countess of Lichfield arrived in town
a few days since, from their seat in S,afTordshire. Hie
lordship has taken a maneion in Grosvenor-square fur a
few months (late the residence of L rJ Canning)
The aiwager Lady Foley will return to town on
Monday next from Bath, where her ladyship has been
staying for some months past.
The Lady Howard de Walden has left Claridge's
Hotel, for Brussels.
The Hon. Spencer Cowper has very much improved
in health, and has been out one or two days for a few
hours.

Viscountess Palmerston has left town for Brocket
Hall, Harts, for a few dap. Tian Premier remains in
to Nil.

Viscountess Jocelyn and her youthful family have
left Cambridge House, on a visit to the Earl de Grey,
at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.

The Earl of Coventry left town some days since, for
Paris. The Hop. Baldwin Courtenay lett town this
morning, to join his lordship at the Hotel Bristol, Paris
They intend quitting that capital for Rome ala►oat
immediately, where they purpose passing the winter.
The Earl of Meath has left Clsridge's Hotel, for
Ireland.

Count Alexis de Villiers, who left the Clarendon last
week, on a visit to Count and Lady Cecil de la Feld, at
Torquay, bag proceeded from thence to Plymouth, where
he will embark for Spain, to rejoin the embassy at
Madrid.

LIFEBOATS FOR AIISTRALIA.-With the Australian
Mails, which left England on Saturday last, the Royal N-
ational Lifeboat Institution sent 15 working drawings of
the lifeboat adopted by it, to the five Australian Colo-
nial Governors. The packet contains also five sets of
four descriptions of carriages for transporting the life-
boat to the scene of wreck. The drawings are on the
scale of /of au inch to the foot. Being working draw-
ire;s on which are clear and distinct printed instructions,
any competent beat- uilfer, who will strictly and faith-
fully follow the drawing and instructions, cannot fail to
build a good lifeboat. The institet;on, however, recnin•
mend that the first lifeboat should always be built by its
experienced builder?, MO4SIT. Forreett, of Limehouse.
The lifeboat is on the design of Mr. James Peake, naval
architect in her Majesty's Dockyard, Woolwich. The
drawings are to be extensivtly circulated in all our
ctlonies cud iu foreign countries. Various expliseatory
lifeboat pepere, regarding the management of lifeboats,
are sent with the drawings. We, therefore, trust soon
to have the pleasure to record that the whole
of the Australian C has been supplied
with this excellent class of lifeboats, and that
hereafter it will he aeknowledged that the great boner
will not be the least that the mother country has con-
ferred On one of her rieltest and meet thi icing coloniee.
On our own coast the testimony front actual experience
in favour of thin class of lifeboat is almost universal.
They are constantly awl successfully used in saving life
from wrecks. These lifeboats possess great stability,
21 men being required to bring their gunwale to the
water's edge., thus shuwiug that it is almest impoesiale
ko upset them; but, in the event of such a casualty,
they posse..; the great quality of sell-righting imme
diately. They aieo eel'- jest any seas they may ship.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has between
thirty and forty of these boats on the coast of the United
Kingdom, and others are at present building by it for
Brighton, Haetiege, Holyhead ; and Greontsport, Bose-
iard, Aricuore, Coartniacsherry, and Kilmore, in ire-
'and. The society earnestly appeals to the public for
pecan iary support euinewhat cernmenenrete with its
xtensive ~.perationi, and with its heavy liabilitita ler
these lifeboats,