The Press. — London, England, 1856-09-27 00:00:00

SEPT. 27, 1856. The question now arises, have not the Roman Catholics received an undue amount of official patronage in Ireland ? Is it upon the principle of mere numbers that patronage is administered, or is it on the proper principle (as enunciated by Mr. WOULFE) of the ratio of superior property and intelligence to num bers counted by the gross? There is, unfor tunately, abundant evidence to show that a most unfair and disproportionate influence has been given to aspirants from the Roman Catholic side. Take the case of the Judieature. Since 1838, a period of twenty years, the Roman Catholic Bar in Ireland has received a Mastership of the Rolls, a Chief Baronship, a Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas, two Puisne Judgeships, several Assistant Barristerships—and at the present time two out of the three Crown Sergeants of Ireland are Roman Catholics. As matters now stand, eight out of the twelve Judges have been promoted from the " Liberal" Bar, and four out of the whole number (in cluding two Chief Judges) have been exclu sively taken from the Roman Catholic Bar, which, even in mere numbers, is greatly in ferior to the Protestant Bar. Does the learning, and eloquence, and ability of the Roman Catholic Bar, as it now stands, entitle it to all those great appointments ? We think not, and we can give reasons for our opinion. When great cases are to be argued before the courts or before juries, we observe that it is from I he Protestant Bar that " special " counsel are always selected. In the State trials, Protestant counsel were retained specially ; " and we believe that it would be impossible to cite the case (since the days of O'CONNELL and Sir MICHAEL O'LoOHLAN) when a Roman Catholic practitioner was taken " special." In the recent Mountgarrett Peerage case, the " special counsel" were Mr. BREWSTER at one side, and Mr. BUTT upon the other, and so in several other important trials. In Parliament, also, a glaring disproportion can be seen between the eloquence and brilliancy of the Irish Protestant barristers, and the Roman Catholic lawyers returned by Ireland. Let us now turn our attention in another direction. The official influence given to the re presentatives of counties is very great, and here, just as in the corporations, the Roman Catholic electors have succeeded in returning a disproportionate number of their body. There are twenty-seven seats for Munster, and there are only six Protestants returned for that province ! There is only one Roman Catholic (Lord liEtimARE) in the nobi lity of Munster, and only a couple of Roman Catholic Baronets. In the county of Limerick, two perverts to Roman Catholicism (Messrs. MONSELL and DE VERE) have been elected, though there are O'Gradys and Fitzgibbons of rank and fortune in the " Liberal" Protes tants of that county. In Tipperary, the claims of the SADLEIRS were preferred to Protestants of untainted honour, although the reputation of the SADLEIRS was never of a high sort. And so on elsewhere. But it may be said that the Liberal Cabinet is not responsible for the choice of the repre sentatives of Ireland. We reply, that if Go vernment make it a good speculation for persons of inferior social pretensions, for attorneys and second-rate barristers, to go to London as Members of Parliament, and take up politics as a trade, in that case Govern ment is undoubtedly responsible. Before the Act of 1829, the representation was nearly equally divided between " anti-Catholics" and "pro• Catholics." But, since 1829, the pri vileges gained by the Roman Catholics have been used as weapons for assailing the Pro testant interest. In 1822, and subsequently, the late Marquis WELLESLEY was convinced that the county Members of Ireland absorbed too much of the of f icial patronage of " the Castle," and that great statesman boldly interfered, and made appointments in the Law and Magistracy on public considerations alone. This policy, more or less, was followed for many years, but after the " Lichfield-house Compact" the old system was restored, and now " Ascendancy" in Ireland threatens to be revived for the benefit of Roman Catholic adventurers. Recent appointments in various depart ments in Ireland have drawn much attention THE PRESS. to this question, and it is impossible that so important a subject can be allowed to rest. When the late Mr. FiTztmox died, his lucra tive post of Clerk of the Hanaper was given to his brother-in-law, Mr. Jolts O'CONNELL ! An other of Mr O'CONNELL'S brothers also holds a valuable place of two thousand pounds per annum; and there were peculiar circumstances in the recent history of Ireland why such a system of patronage should give much offence to those interested in the peace and order of society. Certain it is that the Roman Catholic aspirants for office have become singularly virulent in their politics, and that they seem to think that zealous sectarianism would be their best recommendation. The public ser vice should be kept free from such sordid par tisanship; and the evil habit of catering to Roman Catholic demagogues must be aban doned, unless it be seriously intended by the " Liberal " Cabinet to undermine and over throw the Protestants of Ireland. There are other aspects of this question, to which we shall direct notice at a future time. NATIONAL REFORMATORY. WE have received the complete Report of the proceedings at the late Reformatory Meeting at Bristol, as published by the Law Amend. anent Society; and as the principle of these institutions is now established beyond danger of controversy, and their cause adopted by all the ablest philanthropists in the country, we shall take the present opportunity of noticing what appear to be the salient points of diffi culty which the reformers will have to en counter. We observe that Captain CROFTON, Chair man of the Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland, and, therefore, specially qualified to speak to this particular point, expresses his unqualified conviction that the system of transportation cannot be wholly abandoned. He advocates, however, a new classification of offenders, by which we understand him to mean that all convicts whose crimes are the result of confirmed depravity, rather than of sudden passion, or a (wild and unsettled character, should be retained in our penal prisons, such as those at Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Dartmoor; and those only sent to the colonies who would be likely to benefit both themselves and society by the change. By this means, no doubt, the objection of the colonists to receive our criminal population would be materially weakened, if not alto gether removed, and an outlet be provided for that class of characters whom a very short experience has convinced us it is impossible to keel► at home, either with advantage to themselves or with safety to the public. The difficulty of providing for the boys after they leave the reformatories is admitted to be the most formidable obstacle to the success of these institutions ; and if so, certainly the difficulty of providing for adults must be admitted to be ten times greater. In point of fact it is next to impossible. "It is," says Captain CROFTON, " a principal element in the " reformatory system that there should be a " large and new field, with a paucity of labour." What transportation is to the grown-up con vict, emigration, succeeding the reformatory, is to the youthful one. It answers all the purpose of transportation without any of its evils. For, say what we will, and whatever be the means adopted, it is absolutely necessary that as much of our criminal population as possible should he got out of the country. And, manifestly, it is far better for all parties that they should be sent from a reformatory than from a gaol. As regards the offender himself, the further he is sent away from old associates and familiar scenes the better. This is found, as might be expected, to be one of the primary laws of reforma tory treatment. The colonist, for his part, will obtain for a servant an active lad of seventeen or eighteen years of age, in structed in agricultural or other labour, and in whom the germs of self-respect have been carefully reimplanted, instead of ! a ruffian ; while our home population will be spared the spectacle of prosperity founded on transgres sion of the law. These are the three argu ments in favour of making emigration the principal, if not the only. outlet for the inmates of our reformatory institutions. 915 In the paper read at Bristol by Mr. SYDNEY TURNER, the importance of emigration is fully recognised. ' To me," says that gentleman, " this seems in every way the best of all out " lets, if proper means of training be adopt od, " and proper care and discrimination exercised " in the choice of those who are allowed the " vast advantage it gives." But it seems to us that the full weight of the last of the the ee aiguments we have above adduced, namely, that it would remove all risk of exciting ti.e jealousy of the honest poor, was not fully at - prehended by any of the speakers, with tl e exception, perhaps, of Lord STANLEY. His Lordship recurs to this point more than once in the course of his address, and seems to be deeply sensible of its importance. Yet eve n he, we think, is rather too sanguine in his ex pectations of our being able to escape this stumbling•block. We hold it to be wellnigh impossible to carry out any plan for the em ployment of young criminals at home which shall not be a constant e)esore to the honest and industrious labourer. Of those districts where seven or eight shillings a week can com mand the service of a man with seven or eight children to support, can it with justice be said that " there is ample employment and good " pay for all who can and will work "? Yet the exclusively rural districts where this scale of wages prevails are those specially selected for the employment of reformatory protegees. It is not to be wondered at that Mr. SYDNEY TURNER should view this question in the light most favorable to that system of which lie is so eminent and successful a promoter. Every man loves the work of his own hands ; and if Mr. TURNER seeks for the youths in whom the fruits of his own exertions are most clearly manifested—a destiny which strikes us as rather unduly advantageous—it is simply in accord ance with an eternal law of human nature. But it is impossible to read that portion of his pages in which he discusses the four different methods of providing for the young penitent without something like a feeling that the claims of honest poverty are unduly disre garded : It has been suggested that home colonies might be formed in Ireland and even in England, with the object of reclaiming and improving the waste and common lands, and on the principle of the labourers attaining a share in the land, and that boys from reformatory schools would be induced to work on these with such a prospect before them. T give the suggestion as it was given to me, cer tainly thinking that the general idea of getting the boys apprenticed and employed as farm labourers in some of the more remote and newly-purchased estates in Ireland, is one worth inquiry and thought. Why, pray, what would be the hardship in such a lot as this, which would induce the poorest cottager to exclaim, " my children are " better off than this "? Would not thousands of poor men in this country, whose ideas have never yet soared beyond perpetual servitude, and meat once a month, absolutely jump at such a chance of securing an independence ? We must have justice before generosity. We must not kill the fatted calf tor the prodigal while the elder son is starving. Mr. TURNER is also of opinion that a military reform school might be set apart, and that "in such " a school as ltedhill a military class might be " formed." But this plan is open to precisely the same objections. For the education there received would infallibly render the reforma tory recruit superior to the rest of his com pany, and cause him to be selected for promo tion over the heads of those who have gone through no previous course of criminality to insure them similar advantages. There is therefore, we maintain, but one eligible plan of providing for this class of persons, and that is by emigration. And the supporters of reformatory institutions would do well to bend all their energies to the accomplishment of some organised system by which it may be made regularly and universally available. Labour is wanted in the colonies, and the criminal is not wanted at home,—not because he has once committed a crime, but because there are plenty who have never done so, who would be glad of all we could give to him. He will be acceptable in other countries where he will be more able to persevere in his good in tentions, where his antecedents are unknown, and where fuller scope is available for the innocent gratification of restlessness and love of adventure and excitement.