The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-10 00:00:00

4iltn

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1844:.

The safe arrival of Louis PIIILIFFE in this country,
and his enthusiastic reception by the people and their
SO,I,E4EIGN, hare already accomplished a great mars?
demonstration. The two events have thrown down
in an instant the phantom barrier of sleepless trea-
chery, of irreconcileable animosities, of unquenchable
jealousies, of distrusts, suspicions, envies, which the
ultra-Republican press of France has been busied fur
the last fourteen years in the attempt to establish be-
tween that kingdom and this. It has thus developed
all the unprincipled baseness, the reckless defamation
of the most wicked—and, we fear we must add, the
most able—partizanship which ever embarked in the
unholy enterprise of involving the two mighti...st
tuitions of the globe in a war of races—in a conflict
of political extermination. After a long and
tumultuous succession , of agitation, of crises
of alarins,of fierce denunciations, and elaborate hypo-
theses (all of them concocted or delivered with a view
to precipitate hostilities) ; the French people are
placed,. by the act of their KING,,in a condition to
judge for themselves of the truth or falsehood of the
appeals which have been- so skilfully addressed to
their pride, their passions, their love of military glory,
and the prejudices of their national honour! And
what attitude—now that this delusive barrier has
been overthrown—does "perfidious Albion" present
herself to their view ? What are the actions whicl
develop her alleged hatred of France ? After
whit fashion does she testify that ungenerous
and. depreciating estimate of the French character.
that sordid envy of French greatness, which have
been so loudly imputed to her by the anti-monarchial
section of the French journalists ? Let the event,
which have signalised the Bth of October, 1844, sup-
ply..the-answer to these questions. They will not bd
among the least glorious, or the least impressive asso-
ciations which posterity will combine with the recol-
lections of Portsmouth or of Windsor.

We pause for a moment, to acknowledge that
the rebuke which the incidents of Tuesday
last administer to the studied malevolence of
the Sleek, the rabid fury of the National;
and the unblushing frabrications of the Presse, is of an
intensity so stinging as to be almost proportionate to
the offences it is addressed to. What is the picture
which those incidents exhibit ? A KING of the PRENCE
escorted by a gallant squadron of his navy, arrives—
(on a mission of no higher political import than thitt
which attaches to the return or acknowledgment of a
similar visit last year, by the Queen of GREAT
BRITAIN to his dominions)—on the shores of this
country. In a noble and majestic confidence he sails
leisurely but proudly into the most formidable of our
seaports : that one which, of all others, during the last
and present centuries had been the most frequent ;e-

cipent of the trophies of our maritime prowess and
success, won in a fierce and protracted warfare against
the powerful navylofFrance. We rejoice in thegrateful
privileges of rendering to him the most signal homage
that can bespeak, in a time of absolute peace, the cor-
dial reliance of our SOVEREIGN, and the profound re-
gard entertained for him by her people. That floating
shrine of our naval renown—that Victory, whose
beacon flag and spirit-thrilling signal shone pre-emi-
nent amidst the glories even of the fight of Trafalgar
—now thundered forth an honest greeting of friend-
ship and hospitality to the ruler of its once competi-
tors for the empire of the seas. The great guns of
the Queen and St. Vincent—majestic representatives
of impersonations dear to all English hearts—pealed
forth their echoing welcome ; and on every side her
MAJESTY'S ships, and private yachts, decked out in
all their bravery—the ensigns of France waving in
happy harmony with those of Britain—vied with each
other in their manifestations of a hearty and sincere
greeting to the KING of the FRENCH. The Con-
sort of our QUEEN went on board his MAJESTY'S
frigate, and was received with the same
affectionate friendship which had marked his
Royal Highness's reception at Treport. But who
accompanied the Prince ? The Great Duke. The
hero of a hundred fights was hailed by Lours
PHILIPPE with all the warmth that animates one
brave soldier in welcoming another. The muni-
cipality of Portsmouth next congratulated the KING
on his arrival, and he 'replied to them in terms to
which distrust or misgiving would have known not
how to give utterance. But when we arrive at the
Royal Castle of Windsor, and there find our young
SOVEREIGN receiving, at the grand entrance of her
ancestral palace, the powerful KING of the FRENCH
and his son, With the most remarkable observances
of a dignified yet unbounded confidence and regard,
we are satisfied that the most angry prepossessions
~of party cannot distort such intelligible indications
of implicit good faith and regard. And when, again,
we turn from these contrasted embodiments of Royalty
—the one venerable alike for his age and the eventful
periods through which it has extended, for his adverse
and his prosperous fortunes, for his matured wisdom,
his various capacity ; and his career both as a warrior
and a statesman ; the other for her illustrious birth and
splendid elevation, her youth, her grace, her spirit,
and her ability ;—when we turn from the two Sove-
reigns to the Courts which surround them, we feel
the presence of those auspicia melioris cevi to which
the pomp and circumstance of sovereign power are
themselves but inferior accessories. Even while the
contemplation of his MAJESTY'S brilliant retinue
recalls some "historic fancies" of the gallant chivalry
of France passing through those royal portals of
yore, to do honour to the great EDWARDS and the
victorious HENRYS, the puissant progenitors of Vic-
TORIA, we check our wandering references to the past,
in order to concentrate them on a nobler and a hap-
pier future. If the France of our day can ever be
taught to understand the.genuine feeling, and charac-
ter, and policy of England as she is—to appreciate the
integrity and frankness of a country which is too rich
in all achievements of war, all the arts of peace, all
the triumphs of intellect, all the wealth and acquisi-
tions of commerce, to envy the growing prosperity of
a brave, though she may have been a less fortunate
rival—it will be largely owing to the high bearing and
wise confidence, and mutual respect, of Queen Vic-
TORIA and King Lours Parrarez that a consumma-
tion has been arrived at so important to the best inte-
rests of their respective kingdoms—so essential to the
repose and happiness of the civilised world !

Chartism and Repeal are now in the same predica-
ment. They are postponed, not for six months, as a
Bill in Parliament, but till a more fitting opportu-
nity. They are, in fact, dead letters, and will not be
revived unless Government falsify its promises, and
refuse justice to Ireland and the lower classes in

England. The advocates of these important changes
will probably wait for six months to see what Sir R.
PEEL'S healing measures are. In the meantime, it
may not be improper to point out the great defects in
the two schemes, as a lesson for the future. We have
ever been opposed to a repeal of the union between
England and Ireland, for a variety of reasons which it
is needless to recapitulate, but the very way in which
the Repealers attempted to obtain their object con-
vinced us more, than even the strong reasons against the
dismemberment of the empire, that their case was
utterly hopeless. Without the aid of Tory, Whig,
Liberal, Radical, Chartist, or any one political sect in
England and Scotland, they demanded the repeal
of an Act which has now existed for forty-four years.
They alarmed all men of property, however small,
by such a vast change in the Constitution or the
country; and what showed the height of political
fully, they did not even court assistance from those
that could help them. The English and the Scotch,
the Saxons and the Celts-, who would not join in

the agitation, were alike the objects of vituperation.
All who would not cry for Repeal were doomed
to excommunication—lreland, in fact, was to carry
the measure against the rooted conviction of the
English party in Ulster, and every native of Great
Britain. Seven millions were to conquer twenty
millions, with all the power cf. the Executive, an
established Government, a vast navy and army, and
all the prestige of strength. Never, in the history
of mankind, was there such an unfeasable attempt at
reform. We give Mr. O'CONNELL and the Catholics
the highest praise for their noble struggles in the
cause of Catholic Emancipation, but they know well
that they could not have carried that great and just
measure in the manner they now try to carry repeal.
The most enlightened men of the age, the majority
of the House of Commons, a vast proportion of the
[-louse of Lords, Tories as well as Whigs, fought for
many years in the holy cause ; they were manfully as-
sisted by Mr. O'CONNELL, and WELLINGTON and PF.2I,
were compelled to yield. But what could the Ca-
tholics have done even in a measure of justice like
this, unless they had been aided by Protestants like
CANNING, CASTLEREAGH, PLUNKETT, MURRAY, and
fifty other leading men, either in Parliament or the
counties and towns in England ? And yet Mr.
O'CONNELL, without such supporters, nay, in direct
opposition to their recorded votes and fixed resolutions,
'cells the Irish that Repeal is at hand. The Chartists
have acted on the same exclusive and ruinous
system, and have failed from the same causes.
They would not coalesce with the middle and
higher classes ; they would accomplish the great
work of regeneration 'by their own moral and
physical strength ; they broke into meetings assem-
bled fur the most beneficial purposes, disturbed the
proceedings, and alienated from their cause tens of
thousands who believed that many of their claims
were just. They know the result, and they probably
also now know one of the most important facts in the
history of reforms and revolutions, that an exclusive
class, unsupported by the aristocracy and the middle
classes, and opposed by the enormous power of esta-
blished authority, never attempted any mighty change
without certain destruction. We blame neither of
the parties for what we believe to be their real object
—the redress of grievances. We blame only the
means.

Madrid journals of the 2d in3t. have been received,
but they possess little interest. The Ministerial
papers contradict the reports in the English journals
relative to the QUEEN'S health, and state that it is
such as not to give the slightest uneasiness. We
,vould infer from this however, that her AIAJESTT iS
really not in the best health. Rumours of plots and
'orthcoming risings in the Basque provinces are given
,n some of the papers, and positively contradicted in
,)thers. There is no doubt however, that a Carlist
sroclamation has been generally circulated in that
luarter. The Count DE FONTAO has been appointed
by the QUEEN President of the Senate, and the Duke
DE Goa and General ESPELATA Vice-presidents.

MADRID BOURSE, 2D INST.—Three per Cents., 27
or Account; Five per Cents., 20i for Account;
Floating Debt, 66 for Account; Coupons, 26i for

Account.

The Journal des Debats publishes a list of the State
prisoners set at liberty by the late ordonnance•
Among them are MM. DUPOTY, DUFOUR, and Ileum,
implicated in the attempt made by QUENISSET on the
life of Louis PiiimurE ; seven who took part with
LOUIS NAPOLEON in hii ridiculous expedition to Bou-
logne, and BOURDON and seventeen others convicted
i)f illegal proceedings during the disturbances at Paris
in 1839. Several of the journals again comment on
chic act of clemency, and among others, 11w C'onsti-1
tutionnel, in the worst taste. After a brief reply to
an article on the subject which appeared in the Journal ,