The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-09 00:00:00

T H

and one ol them, the venerable Abbess, from whom this
story of execrable persecution and unmanly brutality
as been promulgated, to the astonishment and disgust
of Livilized nations, is at this moment in Paris. The
fer cious apostate, who thus signalised himself as the
immediate instrument of carrying out the Russian Em-
pi,- nes insane scheme of compulsory conformity, has
si7 co perished by a death, violent, indeed, but all too
ca y (according to our fallible notions of human retri-
bution) fur a criminal of guilt so desperate as his. He
wa drowned.

Now, we take it, there can be no difference of opinion
en.ertained among the Governments of Europe—among
an; Christian States whatever—upon the scandal as well
a, the enormity of the persecution which the Diocletian
of Muscovy is now waging against one of the manifold
rt I gious sections embraced in the many-peopled, mary-
rt I gioned nation over which he presides. It must
be the universal feeling, that the cross—the
sacred standard to which all of these Emperors
Kings, Potentates, Princes, and subjects have swcrn,
tt :der the most impressive obligations into which rational
linings are capable of entering, absolute allegiance—is
dishonoured, polluted, utterly desecrated by impious
violences of this kind. Why should not all the leading
States enter into a solemn and permanent convention—a
pledge of centuries of peace and improvement to the poste-
rity of nations, abjuring for ever, for each
and all of them, the infliction hereafter o;

all personal pains or civil disabilities on their subjects on
account of religious opinions and tenets, where they have
no immediate tendency to violate the laws or disturb the
peace and order of their kingdoms ? What would be the
inevitable results of such a convention honestly con-
tracted and honestly adhered to ? The present paci4-
cation of all heartburnings and discontents among men
on account of their diversities of religious doctrine
and ceremonial ; security against the recurrence of them
for the future ; and the establishment of a wholesome
check on their own imperceptible tendencies to relapse
into the criminal bigotry of clinker times. But such a
convention may touch very nearly the errors of our
own domeszie Government, and amount to a concession
of our own past offences to our Roman Ca,ibolic and
Dissenting subjects. So much the better. It may touch
as nearly some of our best and dearest allies, for the
same reason. It may come home to Prussia ; it may
reach Belgium ; it may affect France. So much the
better, again, we say. The past cannot be recalled: the
future may be controlled. Let all the Powers of Europe,
acting on the exigency which the carrying out of the
AUTOCRAT'S scheme of compulsory conformity has thus
ca eated, avail themselves of the opportunity to eradicate
from their political institutions, for ever, the fruitful
sources of incessant civil and foreign discontent and com-
motions, of endless sacrifices, torments, assassinations,
intrigues, plot=, conspiracies—all penal laws against
liberty of conscience and private judgment, subject ()ply
to the limitations above suggested in matters of doc•
trine and religious opinions and observances.

Were the case of the Eclair, horrible as it is, only a
solitary instance, or one even of three or four, of the
fatal effects of the plague which rages on certain parts
of the African coast, the public mind would feel less

anxiety, and the attempts of the Government to put I
down the traffic of slaves might be borne with fur some
years longer; but all accounts concur in stating the
contrary, and leave scarcely any doubt that the suffer-
ings inflicted on our gallant countrymen can never be
recompensed even by the attainment of the object in
view. All who are appointed to these stations enter on
a forlorn hope. They have almost certain death before
I their eyes, without the excitement of battle and victory,
or the belief that their cruel fate will benefit the African
race. But a few years since three vessels were fitted
out with every equipment for counteracting the malaria;
a certain proportion of black seamen were placed on
board each ship; most of the officers had been more or less
,essoned to the climate; the friends of the Africans were
in high hopes that the expedition would be success-
ful, though all persons acquainted with the
coast augured a very different result. And their
forebodings were but too literally fulfilled. Nearly the
whole of the European officers and sailors fell a sacrifice
to the disease, and only one vessel returned—with
more than one-half of the crew dead, and the rest
in a little more hopeful condition than those
on board the Eclair. This has been in vat i-
ably tho consequence of similar attempts, and
what rer.ders the task of putting down the trade more
difficult is, that the ships which keep at sea, and only
occasionally approach near the coast, are liable to nearly
the same calamities. Any communication with the in- I
fected spots spreads the contagion, and the unfor-
tuhate victims must either desert their, post,
nd seek shelter in a more healthy climate,
or die like outcasts from society. Foreigners
shun their touch,;they are rarely allowed to land on the
most sequestered nook of a French, a SI anish, or a
Portuguese settlement, and when they reach their native
land a fate only somewhat more mild awaits them.
Change of air and clothing and medicine, of itself but of
little avail, it is true, they obtain, but medical men of
eminence will not venture on the scene—they, in fact,
are left to themselves, and must recover or die as
pleases the SUPREME RULER of events. Were the labours
of the preventive squadrons effective; there would be
some consolation; but, so far from that, it is admitted on
all hands that the blacks are subjected now to
tenfold more horrors than in former times ;
that abundance of slaves are still imp, rted

yearly into Brazil and Cuba, and that so long as the
value of a slave remains high it is absolutely impossible
to prevent the traffic. Hopes are entertained that by
the new treaties with France and the United Stales
every outlet from Africa will be closed up, and should
any slavers escape, they will be caught by some of the
numerous cruisers that will swarm in these seas. The
proof, however, is to come. The French officers will pi o-
bab:y not enter very heartily into a cause without hopeiof
glory or much profit. The Americans, so much accus-
tomed to slavery in their own land, we fear, will be still
more lukewarm, and the whole burden, as at present, will
fall on the devoted officers and sailors of the British navy.
It becomes, therefore, the Government and the friends of
the Africans to inquire how long these calamities are to
be endured, and what is the probability of ultimate suc-
cess ? In our opinion there is no hope whatever. Smug-
gling cannot be prevented in England and France.
Though their shores are studded with custom-houses
and preventive service stations, tobacco and
brandy, and every foreign production charged with a
high duty, can be imported into England at a risk not
equal to one-half of the impost. In France, where the
regulations are still more strict, the task is equally hope-
less. English cutlery and cotton goods, and Belgian
lace, are smuggled into that country in great abundance,
and will be smuggled while the high duty holds out such
a tempting premium. What chance, then, have a few
eru.sers—for the numbers cannot be great, taking the
sick and lukewarm in the cause into account—to guard
a coast of two thousand miles, or capture the
ofr.nders on the high seas ? While there is a de-
m id for slaves in the New World, slaves will be
h: it ; and should the new treaties in any considerable
cle,..,ree repress the traffic, the price of the cargo will be
sed, end the temptation to smuggling only increa:ed.
W... give every credit to the good intentions of the An ti-
s:..very Society, but we cannot accomplish impoisi-
and before we be merciful to Africans we taut
be .Lerciful and just to the gallant defenders of our
co Jury.

The Madrid Gazette, of the 30th ult., publishes instruc-
t' o:.s, sanctioned by the QUEEN, fur the organisation of
a. pools of art. The Government seem resolved to take the
management of education entirely into their own hands.
They have displaced the rectors in most of the universities,
a.,(1 conferred their functions on the political chiefs of
ovinces, so as to have complete control over the
qudents as well as the system of education. This,
I,robably, is a move the right way. Power is not so
dangerous in any hands as in those of the Church.

No official business Ras done on the Bourse,

The Paris papers are chiefly occupied with the do feat
of the French troops in Africa, and the attempt at incur
rection in the Papal States. Few additional particulars
of the attacks made by ABn-EL•ItAUEst are given, but we
see, from the tone of the journals, as well as from certain
movements, that Marshal BIIGEAUD will be forthwith
dispatched to Africa, and probably with full powers to
carry on the war with vigour. We fear the Emperor of
Moßocco will be placed by it in a difficult position. He
cannot prevent Aan EL KADER from taking refuge on
the frontier, among tribes that will not recognise his
authority, and that he cannot subdue ; but the French
may insist that if he cannot preserve neutrality
in his dominions, they will do it fur him. It

appears that the experimental fleet, undtr Ad-
miral PARSEVAL DECHENES, was expected at Algiers;
and after a o§l3lMt C9Pncil held at the Tuileries, both
Marshal SOULT and :Marshal BUGEAUD had been sum-
moned by telegraph to Paris. A Marseilles journal, in
an article on the late defeats, insists that ADD-EL-KA-
DER should be hunted to the last, that no other banner
but that of France should be unfurled in Africa, and
that nothing but energy and rapidity can secure this
important colony to France. " The only way," it says,
of speedily terminating the war, is to carry it on with
vigour and lose no time, If the pacific reveries of a
few philanthropists, Nvhose hearts are better than their
understandings, were applied prematurely, our power in
Africa would be sadly compromised. We respect the