The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

Jt No. 215.—V0L.V. Vress. LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1857. between pence and disturbances. At Dublin, with its fermenting population, great diffi culties might occur if her Majesty's troops were left to the command of the Lord Mayor of that city. He might be a great agitator, like Mr. O'CONNELL, or a man of still less loyalty and far more audacity. What the Duke of WELLINGTON said on this point should never be forgotten by the advisers of the Crown. In a political point of view the scheme can be looked upon only as a fresh attempt at more centralisation. Even in that respect the measure would fail. A new political organisation would be founded at Dublin on the ruins of the Viceroyalty. A large ingress of Irish politicians certainly might he looked for in London, and feelings similar to those so harshly excited by WILKES and CHURCHILL against the Scotch would, possibly, be raised against a new, noisy, and exasperated settle ment of those whom Lord JOHN RUSSELL in his peculiar style called " Irish immigrants." We deprecate all such unsocial feelings ; but we believe that the extinction of the Lord Lieutenancy would be the prelude to a new series of feuds. It is far more fitting that the agitators should surround Dublin Castle than that they should besiege Downing street Upon this latter point the late Lord MEL BOURNE, who had been Chief Secretary in Ireland, once gave the House of Lords some shrewd and sensible advice which is not yet forgotten. The propertied and professional classes in Dublin, and generally throughout Ireland, are strongly opposed to the abolition of the Vice royalty. The patronage and personal influence now wielded by her Majesty's representative would be transferred to the Irish Members of Parliament. That body, we are happy to record, has greatly improved in tone, rank, and dignity of late years; but we say it without offence that many of the Protestant and Roman Catholic gentry of Ireland do not place confi dence in some of the Irish Members of Parlia ment. Both Protestant and Roman Catholic gentlemen seeking to serve the Crown, or with just claims to its notice, would feel far more confidence in a local and dignified Executive, with a Court at Dublin, than if they were com pelled to solicit the interference of political " persons " accidentally in Parliament, and without just social pretensions to that rank. The aggression of Cardinal WISEMAN in 1850, the subsequent proceedings of agitators in Ireland, and other transactions on which we shall not dwell, combined with external considerations (not here to be discussed), have seriously changed the complexion of this scheme since last it was crudely brought for ward. It is erroneous to assert that the two great sections of the Irish population are now assimilated into one. They aro still divided and antagonistic. We may regret that such should be the case, but we cannot deny it ; and while, as Lord LIVERPOOL phrased it, " there are two Irelands shut up in one island," it will be of the highest importance that oral communication on the spot should take place between the leaders of Irish parties and the chief personages of the Queen's Executive. A Court at Dublin, also, is a valuable counter poise to the arrogant ascendancy of aspiring agitators. But the higher reasons of State ought to de cide this question. The scheme, i f accomplished, would be utterly delusive, and would be dan gerous in many ways. The Viceroyalty was STAMPED .... SIXPENCE. UNSTAMPED ..FIVEPENCE. left standing in 1688, in l 782, in 1801, and 1829, and from the days of King WILLIAM to those of the Welle.leys it has potently aided in preserving the connection of the countries; while the discharge even of its subordinate duties has helped to complete the education of the rising statesmen of the empire. Its existence is doubly beneficial to England and Ireland. " SIR BENJAMIN THE MAGNIFICENT." " No. 9, Great Stanhope•streot, Mayfair," is a house likely to receive literary commemoration from the Mr•. Peter Cunniughams of the next century. Its remarkable inhabitants will be duly chronicled in sterotyped ana, and a distant posterity may be told:—" It was at " No. 9 in this street that the lighthearted " statesman Lord PALMERSTON lived, while " taking part in the deliberations on the " Reform Bill of 1832, by which his former " friends the Tories were so injured. His " Lordship was then a bachelor, and many " excellent things were eaten and said at his "pleasant little parties. (Vide that scarce " work, ' Luttrilliana.') It was while he was " residing in this street that Lord PALMERSTON " composed the protocols, abont which there " are so many amusing particulars in the " memoirs of the famous Prince de TALLEY " RAND, who so often duped the gay Viscount, "as he has so charmingly recorded. It was a " standing reproach to PALMERSTON that he " bad served under ten Prime Ministers, of " opposite parties and politics, before accident, " aided by a shabby intrigue, made him a " Prime Minister himself in 1854. (Vide 7th " vol. of the Stanley Papers' for an exposure " of that intrigue, the particulars of which " were not known at the time) While living " at No. 9 in that street Lord PALMERSTON " was serving under his seventh Prime Minis " ter. Ample illustrations of the inconsis " tency and levity of the debonair Viscount's " character and politics will be found in " BARROW'S edition of WILSON CROKER'S Per " sonal Recollections of My own Times.' " ( Vide the sixteenth volume of the Anecdotes.') " It is curious to observe how little is now " (1957) thought about the character of the in " consistent PALMERSTON. He is now seen in " a true light, stripped of his false colours, " &c. &c." Here we may skip the moralising topo grapher, and take him up a little lower down. " Another political notoriety of the days of " the good Queen VICTORIA lived at No. 9, " also. This was HALL, the Marylebono " demagogue, the licence of whose railing " tongue has been chronicled in the journals "of the time. The 27th volume of 'Barrow's " Croker's Memoirs' (already quoted) has " some odd particulars about the way in " which HALL obtained his Baronetcy. But " he was remem' " titie given to " (the third eal " in' idable in " mock-patriots " Benjamin the " to the finale " enjoying his , " 9 in this stree, " grasped at mbered for a longer time by the to him by Lord MALMESBURY earl, who made jainkeelc....e . for- exposing Ille/anee .4 ,s in office).lllo, Igo_ ESC Sir 4 Le Magnificitit" 4'4:p.c.'. .e of his J&r ; OIL& . 0 wig I pension. 121 s .:.. i i n ,l'ir.a. t ) eet when irca 1.4. .' 37. 1 0 the prerogtk -W. -., ..... ~ tv . , : c 6...4 Inmt " , /,`,............_ :.< 4\ l• • oninq ss ' ' 1 1: r• MO ...V...4.. E"4 P :N LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1857. As, in consequence of the Reform Bill an nounced for next year, all measures involving Parliamentary changes must be adjourned for the convenience of the Premier, it has been deemed proper to revive a dropped and de feated scheme for revolutionising the Imperial Executive in its relations with the sister country. The abolition of the Lord Lieu tenancy of Ireland is again mooted, and a leading Ministerial organ has given its vehe ment support in favour of a measure which Conservative influence previously defeated, and we trust will signally defeat again. Reasons of State should peremptorily forbid any indiscreet tampering with the Union settlement of 1807. It was then arranged that Ireland should retain a local Executive and a local Judicature, and if the Viceroyalty be removed a dangerous precedent will be laid down for loosening the whole obligations of the Union. It is idly said that times have changed so much that a Lord Lieutenant at Dublin is not needed. We think otherwise. A movement of a new and profound kind, of which the springs are not yet visible, appears to be taking place in the Roman Catholic body. In England the attitude of its Peers and Gentry is remarkable, and in Ireland the ambition of the Roman Catholic party appears to be concentrated on obtaining possession of the Judicature. Any Roman Catholic barrister, with tolerably pre sentable claims to judicial promotion, finds no difficulty in gaining a seat in Parliament. He may be a weak Whig or a sturdy Radical; he may be a dummy in politics or a scold in a silk gown ; so that he be likely to gain the Bench, no troublesome questions are asked by his priestly patrons. The object is obvious ; it is a new method of carrying out an old design. Now, it was part of the fundamental arrange ments of 1829 that the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Lord Chancellor of the sister kingdom should always be of the " Estab lished Church." Let the Viceroy be removed, and what Protestant check would exist upon the artful and aspiring intriguers who, w►th the language of " Liberalism " on their lips and the principles of Roman Catholicism in their minds, might Endeavour to use their official influence for ulterior purposes? We see how Parliamentary privileges are bran dished by the Roman Catholics in the face of the Queen's Ministers when the question is one of relieving certain other sectarians. Is it politically wise, when a new course of in ternal policy is gradually being unmasked by Rome, to remove from Ireland one of the chief Protestant securities left standing in 1829? Considered with reference to the practical action of the Executive, the scheme might be followed with consequences not anticipated by its rash promoters. Though Ireland is quiet now, the history of that country shows that we must expect vicissitudes alternating