The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
nom THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—On Friday we communicated the grati-
fying intelligence that her Majesty contemplates an
early visit to her Irish subjects. We added, upon the
same well-informed authority, that in the event of
the decision of the House of Lords being against
the defendants, and the judgment on which they are
incarcerated consequently affirmed, that the Royal
visit would be deemed a fit opportunity for extend-
ing to them the clemency of the Crown, by a remis-
sion of the portion of the sentence then unfulfilled. We
are gratified to find that similar information to
that we communicated has been received in Dublin,
-where it is regarded as true. The anticipated release
of O'Connell and his co-agitators is, of course, a sub-
iect on which the Irish journals express themselves
an terms of praise or blame, accordingly as the poli-
tical party to which they are respectively attached
are favourable to coercion or conciliation. The
-Evening Mail deprecates any such act of clemency ;
and positively raves, in maniac phrase, at the bare
idea of such a course. To release O'Connell by an
act of royal grace and favour, would, in the opinion
of this consistent organ of Orangeism, be fraught with
the most calamitous consequences to Ireland. The
royal prerogative of mercy would be prostituted—
the Queens royal title and dignity would be dis-
honoured—the public peace would be perilled—and
the interests of Protestantism be injured, if not de•
stroyed !—The Repeal journals are equally disap-
pointed at the prospect of this heavy blow and great
dliscouragement to agitation. The release of
O'Connell, by an act of the royal will, would go
far to neutralise the virus of disaffection. The
generous spirit of the Irish people would recog-
nise in the Queen the deliverer of the most
popular of her subjects in that part of her do-
minions. The law having decided that the proceed-
ings of the Association were illegal, the dissolution of
the repeal confederacy would follow. Gratitude for
an act so signally appropriate in connexion with the
royal visit to Ireland, would effect more than a hun-
dred proclamations would be able to secure. The
mandate of authority may compel a temporary external
obedience. The impulse of generous feeling not merely
prompts to an abandonment of acts which the law
threatens with punishment. It tenders the loyalty of the
heart, and is a better security for obedience than fear,
though fear be produced by the presence of an armed
host. Such, we believe, would be the result of this well-
timed act of conciliation. At all events it is worth
trying. If it succeed, the recollection of it will
be sweet. It will be " twice bless'd" the do-
nor and the recipients would, in their relative posi-
tions, be advantaged by the deed. The Times
adopts a similar view, and recommends the course
as one well calculated to strengthen the public safety
by conciliating the people :—" After the Judges have
delivered judgment, and affirmed the conviction
of the conspirators, her Majesty's royal clemency
will then, it is said, exert itself; and the royal visit be
a signal for their release. This course seems a digni-
fied and consistent one. The majesty of the law has
been vindicated by the conviction of the prisoners,
and by the temporary confinement they have had.
The meetings are suppressed, and Ireland is tranquil.
A continuance of the imprisonment would have the
appearance of vindictiveness rather than of justice ;
while the generous release of the Irish leaders will
cripple their powers afterwards, and put them so much
the more in the wrong in case of any future outbreak."
STANDARD.—Our anticipation of the effect that
would be produced in France by the Tangiers corre •
spondence of a morning Contemporary, has been fully
verified, and our impression of the fallacy of the
statements which it contained, as completely con-
firmed. The Paris journals received this morning
comment, almost without an exception, in terms of
natural indignation upon those letters, and the re-
marks by which public attention was directed to
them. "If the writers," says the Journal des
Debats, " had confined themselves to criticis-
ing the operations of the French squadron,
the orders of the admiral, the manoeuvres
of the ships, or the inaccuracy of their gunnery,
there might have been permitted so inoffensive a
gratification of their ill-humour; but to accuse a
French Admiral, French officers, an l in fact, the
French navy, of cowardice, was, indeed, contempti-
tible." De!)ati asserts with justice that neither
the British Government, nor a very great majority
of the British people, have the slightest sympathy
ith the authors of such mischievous attacks.
Indeed, the anxiety displayed by a large and
respectable portion- of the British press to disclaim
the slightest participation in such attacks has
'been received as evidence how much they have
been condemned in this country. Several of our
Paris Contemporaries, judging from the style of the
letters, appear to have inferred that they were not
writrten by naval officers. The use of the editorial
plural personal pronoun by one, and the designation
by another of his letter as his " article," would cer-
tainly appear to have favoured such a conclusion.
The confusion between the language of naval and
military men supplied an additional argument
against their authenticity; for although the im-
pression conveyed by the words " another officer,"
prefixed to a communication which is immediately
preceded by a letter headed " From a Naval Officer,"
would imply that the whole of the letters were from
officers of that arm of the service, such is not pre-
tended to have been the fact ; and however erroneous
our belief, arising from the internal evidence supplied
by their style, that they were of home production, we
were not far wrong in assuming that they were not
the productions of sailors. The Journal des Debuts
publishes a letter from a French naval officer, which
affirms that " the ignorance of naval manoeuvres
in these letters" forbids the belief that they
were written by naval officers, so that we were
not singular in our opinion on the subject. All
that now can be said is, that they must have been
the productions of very
.young officers, whether
naval or military ; or their authors would have
known their duty beiefer than to have given cir-
culation to representations which, setting aside
the insulting language in which they are couched,
are in all important particulars unfounded.
One of the charges brought against the Prince
de Joinville in these letters is, that he was deficient
in daring in not having advanced nearer the town
than 800 yards. The letter of the French officer,
to which we have already referred, states a fact that
fully confirms the opinion we expressed on Wed-
nesday last, and which must have been, or ought
to have been known to every officer, military
or naval, connected with the British squadron.
Previously to taking up his position, the Prince
had had the channel for his ships carefully buoyed
out, in order that he might place them as close to
the works as the depth of water would allow ; when
it was discovered that it was impossible for
them to take up their position nearer than
some 800 yards. The flag-ship, indeed, is said
to have had only five feet water beneath
her keel during the bombardment ! That this sta-
tion, however, was sufficiently close to be one of
considerable danger, may be gathered from the fact,
confessed by the " Naval Officer" of the Times,
that the Sufiren received fifty cannon shots in her
hull ; and surely the deliberation with which the
squadron took its station, in the face of an enemy
who, according to these authorities, might have
destroyed the greater part of it during the opera-
tion, would, if shown to be imprudent, reflect any-
thing but discredit on the boldness of the move-
ment. The fact appears to have been, that the
Moors permitted the French ships to take up their
position unmolested, in the belief that the shallow-
ness of the water would protect them from too near
an approach. It cannot be doubted that it was the
duty of the Prince to profit by this delusion, a
blunder which enabled him to bring up his force at
}.is leisure. Of what consequence was it that, in exe-
cuting this manoeuvre, some of the ships may have
been placed in a raking position if he was satisfied that
the enemy had no intention of firing upon them, lest
they should divert him from the difficulty into which
they supposed him to be hastening ? So much for the
imputations on the daring and nautical experience of
the French Admiral. Equally unfounded would
seem to be the account of these green-eyed " naval
t
rne 51" of the ineffectiveness of the French fire.
The fortifications of Tangiers, instead of being, as
was affirmed, only slightly injured, were, in most
instances, reduced-to ruins, and the guns dismounted.
The total destruction of the town formed no part of
the intentions or instructions of the Prince.

MOST DISTRESSING CASE.
Two young persons, named Mary Ann and Sarah
Ann Ann Johnson, of lady-like
manners, and evi-
dently of superior education,
about four months ago
engaged an apartment at the house of Mr. Stai.nsbury,
No. 27, Charlotte-street West, White Conduit-fields,
at the rent of 43. per week. They commenced
small school, and obtained a few scholars, butt they
were not enabled to support themselves or to pa
their rent, and they became involved in arrears to the
amount of 21. 10s. They were pressed for the money,
csr a portion of it, but were unable to answer the de-
mand, and kept their distressed and starving condi-
tion a secret until it was discovered by their landlord,
who told them if they would leave the lodging he
would forgive them the whole of the rent. This,
towever, they declined doing. The younger sister,
Sarah Ann,' whose previous system had been wrought
upon by grief, want of nourishment, and the anxieties
attendant upon the school, fell into a state of con-
sumption and insanity. Every step she heard she
fancied to be a fresh application for rent, and she in-
dulged in loud exclamations to her sister, such as
Here they are; they are coming for the rent." Last
Saturday week a noise attracted the attention of
Mrs. Ftainsbury, who proceeded up stairs to the
young ladies apartment, and found them struggling
violently togetahesriateThoef'you.nger. sister sprung upon
the other in
and
wouldravin madness, pulled and
dragged her about,have. choked her had
abe not been prevented by timely assistance.