The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-08-01
France and Ireland-The,r RsSpsosivs rosl-

and honorable positions as do France and Ire
land II is but few months since the first named
threw off CALLING tyranny, and IN one mighty
bound jumped from the lowest servitude into
state of the most perfect freedom. Errors the pro-
visional government did, doubtless, commit-and
dearly they have been atoned for, by the blood of
the people but we cannot, in charity impugn
them with impurity of motive, or desire of self
aggrandisement.
Apparently, Lamartlne was not the man
for the emergency in which he was placed.
Apparently he lacked that calm resolve, and
cool and firm determination, which were ne
cessary, under the circumstances. He or his
compeers committed a fatal error in hsten-
ing at all to the sophlsms of the socialists,
and especially in identifying himself with Ledru
Ron-which was intended, no doubt, as peace
offering the dsafiected, and was looked upon by
them in the hight of a concession, and recogni-
ton, TO a certain extent, of the absurditles which
they MAINTAIN in regard to the rights OF labor.
This, we are satisfied, was one OF the main
causes of the bloody insurrection in Paris, which
flooded the cutters of that capital with the blood
of its citizens. Not satisfied with these conces-
slons, and the establishment of national work.
shops, they demanded more; and being in state
of poverty, receiving wages not sufficient to sup
port them and their families, and being at the
same time inhamed with the doctrines nstilled
into them by their leaders, they became desperate,
and determined to better their condition, even at
the expense of other classes of the community,
and If necessary, at that of the government itself
The conflict at last came, and order prevailed over
disorder. Right triumphed over wrong, in one of
the bloodiest encounters that are recorded in
history; and at the termination of the struggle the
government found itself much stronger and more
powerful than 1t was previously.
Such was the position of France before this last
outbreak its position al the present time is honor
able, strong and powerful. Having defeated the
insurrecuonists, the power of the State has been
centered on man who appears more capable Of
welding it to the advantage of the republic than
the associates of Lamartine. General Cavaignac,
In whom is vested supreme power, appears to
unite all the qualities necessary for the position he
occupies. Himself thorough republican, he has
confidence in the ability of the people to govern
themselves and possessing power to protect the
legitimate representatives of the people-the Ma
tional Assembly-he has evnced his determination
and ability to exercise it for the public good, until
a constitution shall have been adopted, and the
National Assembly are progressing In the task for
which they were elected. The peoples chart will
soon be completed; and before many months
France will be a regularly organized republic IN
the centre of Europe, respected and revered by
the friends of humanity, and feared and dreaded
by despots and by tyrants.
Such is the glorious position which France &C.
cuples at the present time. A little longer, and she
will be the first nation in Europe, if indeed she
is not so already.
We wish we could say as much for Ireland.
That country is pregnant with revolution. The
clash of arms has not yet been heard but the busy
note of preparation has. Come veal or come
woe, her sons seem TO be determined to rise
from the political degradation in which they
have been for centuries stepped, and to throw
of by one gigantic effort, the chains of al
most thousand years. She, too, can boast
of men who seem equal to the emergency. She,
too, has patriots-men who are willing to shed
their blood to the last drop for her; and men who
would brave the Judge on the BENCH defy the power
that passes despotc laws to Cypress them, and will
lIngly sacrifice themselves for the good of the
great cause In which they have enlisted What
more beautiful or sublime spectacle has the world
ever presented than that exhibited by John Mitch
ell in the felons dock! "Iknew would drive the
government into courts of Justice, as places of this
kind are called" said he, " or else would walk
out of this court a free man, and provoke 1t to a
contest IN another field. / knew that in either
event the victory should be with me- and it is with
me-" There he was, surrounded with the myr-
midons of tyrannical government, with Judges
and baihffs and sheriffs' officers around him; but
there was no quaIling, no regrets, no tears, no
sobs.
But this is not the only noble example which Ire
land has exhibited recently. The friends and con-
fidants OF Mitchell have been arrested, and are
about to be tried, and, perhaps, torn from their
homes and families, to spend the remainder of their
lives among felons. Do they quail do they sue
cumb to the tyranny that Expresses them do they
repent and promise to sin no more ?-do they con-
cede they were wrong and seek sympathy from
their oppressorsl No. They WELD their pen still
for "feonious" purposes. From their barred
and grated cells in Newgate, they continue to
preach the right of the oppressed to destroy their
oppressors--the right of man to labor for himself
and not tor an aristocracy-ln aword, they preach
the sacred right of revolution against oppression
No tyranny could subdue such men; their spirit is
unbreakable. They may be tortured and confined
for years, but the sentiments which they teach will
live forever, and their magnanimity will incite
thousands to rise and free their country or perish
in the attempt.
Such now is the position of Ireland--as glori-
ousas honorable-as proud as it can almost be;
but not SO glorious as the position which we hope
and expect it will soon present to the view of an
admiring world The time will come, and shortly
too, we hope, when the farthest bounds of that
island will resound with the clash of arms, and be
lumined with the flashes of the contendlng steel
When it shall come, the friends of liberty and hui
man rights in every country will breathe a prayer
or lrelands success, and, to the extent of their