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Anglo-Maori Warder, Volume 1, Issue 19, 31 August 1848, Page 2

No intelligence has arrived of a later date than that given in our last; but we have since been favored with the perusal of some English papers, which enable us to fill many gaps unavoidably left in the last summary of political In England there is much difference of opinion with regard to the state prosecution of Messrs. Meagher and Co. for sedition, or treason. The Chronicle complains that the Government has been u hounded on" into the decisive step vihlch Lord Clarendon has taken. declaring ,ts comic! ion that he l.n-. commuted, for the first time sims las arrisal in behind, a very lerious mistake in polic). JtbeVeves that tho only course to take «,th

the UnitedJlrisiiman is to let it alone; for that the party of which it is the organ had not the confidence of the great mass, even of the Roman Catholic population of Ireland, and that "the surest way to make the latter join it vrtnild , he the prosecution of its leaders; that they J would be less dangerous in the battle-field than in the printing office, and less dangerous in the printing office than in the dock." 1 We confess ourselves to be much of the same way of thinking. There is a ceitrain eclat' about a " state prosecution," which is irresistably attractive to the minds of vain and pushing men ; they feel that they are lifted by it out of their own sphere into a higher, and eagerly brave a couple of years imprisonment to purchase honour and glory, sometimes even more substantial benefits, at so cheap a rate. Mauyrdom has teen always courted, even • when it was burning and flaying alive. The risk of failure, too, become! another important consideration. A an indictment, or the interventidßpfi aisjngle friendly or timid juror, might entail Spon Government the disgrace of defeat, and turff loose again upon the country the same agitators, with|their power of working mischief indefinitely increased. We would have all such offenders " privately whipped." Any such ignoble and ridiculous punishment would be of more effect in putting an end to such demonstrations than trebled and quadrupled severity. And the efficiency of that course has been already tested; it has already put a stop to shooting at the Queen, which was hecoming dangerously frequent until stopped hy an Act of Parliament, passed for the special purpose of awarding the last-mentioned punishment for that offence. The Times, however, takes an opposite view of the case. It believes that it is too hazardous to leave one third of the empire open to the attempts of men clamouring for a republic, and of mobs shouting for " pikes." It dwells upon the censure and obloquy to which Lord Clarendon would be subjected, if Dublin were suddenly thrown into all the confusion of an cmeale, and blood were spilled. " Why had he not denounced the sedition? Why had he remained passive—encouraged the people to rise—and then massacred them in the license of a got up and foreseen tumult ? Such—at such a crisis—would be the language of the Viceroy's accusers." Nevertheless, the Chronicle seems to have much the best of the argument throughout. The French republic has been attempting to improve upon Robert Peel's distribution of the Income Tax. Unfledged legislators as they are, something better might still have been expected of them than the piece of financial nonsense which they have contrived. Here is the scheme ! —All men possessed of 1000 francs a year revenue are to pay 1 per cent, in the shape , of [income tax ; those of 2000 francs, 2 per cent.; those of 50,000 francs, 50 per cent., or half their incomes ; and so on in regular progression. So that if the calculation be pushed on, the man of 10,000 francs will have to as- ; sign his whole income to the exigencies of the state; one stage fuither, and it appears that [ the man of 200,000 francs, should pay 200 per [ cent, to the like patriotic pu.pose. I The first account which was received in ! England of the invasion of Belgium by the j •' Paternal Legion," as it was pleased to call itself, is to be found among our political ex- ] j tracts. More accurate details were afterwards J received, the substance of which is as follows. A band, or legion, of between eight or nine hundred men, professing to be Belgians, but decorated with French cockades, and carrying other French emblems, started from Paris by rail, and reached the frontier. Upon drawing near the Quievrain station, they were received by a regiment of infantry, two squadrons, a large force of gensdarmes, and armed revenue officers. Upon seeing this demonstration, which boded little success to the expedition, the leaders were seized with a sudden panic, and, springing from the carriages, sought to make their escape, with shouts of " nous sommes flumbes .'" The public force, backed by the peasantry armed with scythes and pitchforks, then closed round the convoy, and captured the whole body. Those who were armed were then deprived of their weapons. Those whose passports were not in order were arrested and escorted to prison: while those whose papers were " en regie," were immediately despatched to their respective parishes uoder the guardianship of the police ; so that in the course of a few hours the whole legion was safely disposed of. The only casualty spoken of is the leg of one of the panic-stricken leaders broken in springing from a waggon before the train arrived at the station. There is something irresistibly ludicrous in the idea of an invading army being stopped at the frontier for want of passports. A Polish deputation presented itself at the Hotel de Ville, to demand arms, and to take lea\e ere they pioceed to their nati\e country. The following is Limartine's answer.—" The French Go\ eminent feels fur the situation of jour glorious but unhappy country. The French Goverment las never ceased to express its sympathy f"r Poland. It has iicter ceased to frel the obligation imposed upon it by the I fall of soman} thousands of your noble count'Mnen in the • .inks of the French army. Y"U deiiii'ai.i in )onr present undertaking ; ! Li,:, nuir iill our desire for the independence

and happiness of Poland, our duties restrain us within limits which we cannot pass. We cherish the hepe that Poland will be independent and free, and we shall be happy to concur in her attempts to secure those blessings ; but the time for and the mode of displaying our regard for her must be left to us. I shall add, that a peaceable movement will advance your cause more quickly and effectually than an appeal to arms." The Poles in Berlin have formed themselves into a Provisional Government for Poland, and * have requested the protection of the Prussian Government in their design of regeneration of the Polish nation. " Amabilis insania, mentis gratissimus error," says a Prussian correspondent of the Times, (we will not affront The Thunderer by correcting its Latinity :) " The time was when Poland was as free as any part of Europe is, or ever will be ; but the Poles knew not how to appreciate liberty. The insane proceedings of the Polish Diet, or representatives of the nation, could only be placed on a"par with the National Convention of Iferls unde.r Marat and Robespierre. In every peribdof Polish history, from the end of the 16th century, down to the period of the glorious and immortal patriot Kosciusko, nothing but jealousy and disunion were to be found existing among them. Even the latter days of the glorious Polish King John Sobieski, who saved the Austrian Empire and all Germany fiom destrnction bj his acts of bravery, at the battle of Calenberg, even this man died after resigning his crown, beivailing his country's disorders— t a man, who as King, was challenged to fight by oneof his unruly nobles, and with him the glory of Poland descended to the tomb. A people failing so often to realize those great expectations entertained of their capacity to govern themselves, so often changing from one master to another, at the dictates of caprice, and with so little gratitude towards those great kings who had wisdom enough, combined with valour, to save them from internal convulsions and external dangers, brought upon their country by their own violent and insubordinate condnet, are not worthy enough to entitle any Government, desiring the maintenance ef the peace of Europe, to involve itself in their dispute with Russia." Hard words are these, with only too much truth in them. Let us hope that the long protracted sufferings of that high-spirited people, like those of the Jewish captivity, may have worked a change upon the national character, and have sobered down its temper enough to admit the quiet enjoyment of independence, should it be once more achieved. There are rumours afloat of forced marches of Russian troops, of a rising at Warsaw, of fighting at Posen, the capital of Prussian Poland ; but they are supposed to be premature. Prince Adam Czanoiyski with a large party of Poles, had passed through Aix-la-Chapelle, on his way from Paris to Posen. He hr.d published a stirring address to the people of Germany, entreating its co-operation, which cannot fail to give an additional impulse to the movement that is preparing against Russia. The Aix-la-Chapelle Gazette says, that a private letter from St. Petersburgh states that the greatest confusion prevails in the city ; that the Emperor was shot at in the street, and that the ball pierced his ha*. His Majesty immediately returned to the pal .ce, and adopted the most menacing measures of defiance against the city.