The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

APRIL 5, 1856. principle, is to make that a bad paying pro vince which in native hands was a very well p a ying one, simply because it locks up capital, and especially frightens it away from land. It was the same in France at the end of the last century ; it was the same to a certain extent in England in CROMWELL'S time; and if a revo lution took place again here, it would be the same to-morrow. The estates of many of the French seigneurs brought them in most mag nificent incomes, but what did they sell for by auction at Paris when their owners had been disposed of by the guillotine? What would the lands of England sell for if in the same predicament? What would Grosvenor-square sell for, and Belgrave-square, and Eaton-hall, into the bargain, with all their furniture and contents, if England was unfortunate enough to be annexed on the Dalhousie principle, and if the titles of all property that was not confis cated, and the nature of all tenures, were with one stroke of the pen destroyed ? What were we told over and over again was the principal cause of the misery in Russia arising from the war, but simply that, owing to the stoppage of commerce, the usual advances to the cultiva tors and landed proprietors were put an end to for the time ? And what capitalist makes ad vances now in the Punjaub—what in Bur ? what capitalist will, for the next five years at any rate, make any in Oude ? Why here have we been seeing some speech of Count Dm, or some declaration of Count NESSELRODE, making our own funds vibrate daily during the past two years, and can we suppose that such an enormous revolution as an annexation on the Dalhousie principle will have no effect on capital, and on all who exist through its employment in the kingdom of Oude? The thing must he plain to the meanest comprehension, and, if it be not, it will soon, unless the Legislature interpose, and come home to our feelings very tangibly in the shape of an Indian deficit tax. If India cannot pay its expenses, it is quite clear that England must pay them for it ; and then, perhaps, when too late, people will begin to regret that they neglected to listen to the re peated warnings of THE PRESS 011 the subject. THE SADLEIRITES AND THEIR PATRONS. THE way in which the principal Sadleirites escaped from a Parliamentary investigation of their extraordinary proceedings is very curious. Art and accident made a temporary " coalition" to screen them from political justice. The subject is far from having lost its importance, and we shall proceed to its elucidation. In the spring of 1851, the Brass Band had not actually been formed, but there was a collection of Irish Members, mustering about a score, who were call e d "the Irish Br igade." These Members had been returned at the election of 184, and most of them had gene rally voted with the Whigs. Some were Re pealers, others were Nationalists, and some were Liberals. Their status was neither above nor below the average pretensions of those Irish M P.s who had been virtually subsidised since the days of the Lichfield-house com pact. But the opposition of many of them to the Russell Cabinet was of a sincere character. They dreaded the approach of a general elec tion, and they resolved to make themselves conspicuous by their hatred to the writer of the Durham Letter and to all his friends. When they found themselves encouraged by the Duke of NEWCASTLE, the Earl of ABERDEEN, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM, their violence knew no bounds. They constantly occupied the floor of the House of Commons, and the debates of 1851 were a prolonged series of brawls, in which not one of that party made a speech worthy of the land whose genius and eloquence they so miserably mi sre p resen t e d an d so igno miniously caricatured. The Peelites, however, wanted votes. At that time their own connection in the Lower House mustered only about thirty members, and they took up the notion that another transaction of the Lichfield-house character would be vastly to their Parliamentary ad vantage. Is a word, they picked up those APE princir vsnee paying and e. was di , centur in Eng lution • same ti French nificen' auction dispose the lot predice sell for into th conten' to be a if the t. cated, one str we told cause war, bu COMMe tors an for the vances mah ? years a here h Count VESSEL daily d suppos , an ann4 have n( throng] Oude? 'wanes will so and coi the shu cannot Englan perhap regret I peated THE THE ss escape( their curious " coalil justice, its im] •lucida In tl not ac collecti a score These electio rally v peelers were L nor be Irish since pact. the Ru They tion, ai conspi, the D When the Du and Si] bounds of the 1851 I %hid' Worthy they s c minion The that tit House and tb transac would 'ratan( THE PRESS. Irish Members whom the Whigs had con temptuously dropped. They accepted votes of thanks from miscellaneous assemblages in Ireland, and wrote letters of thanks to the Roman Catholics containing sly taunts at the Whigs. They did not care about the storm of English disapprobation which greeted their conduct. " Organisation " was on their lips, and to grasp power was in their minds. The Irish Members flattered and fooled them, and talked loudly of the three score of votes which the next general election would give them in Ireland. They were boastful of what they could perform, and the Duke of NEWCASTLE and his friends were at once coarse, credulous, and rash. All through the summer of that year it was impossible to go to the House of Commons without being struck by the Irish Brigade. If not famous, they were certainly conspicuous, and they made as much noise in the lobby as a dozen railway coninuttees. To and fro between the House of Commons and the Erectbeum Club in St. James's-square, there might have been met at that time a gentleman with a long blue frock-coat and velvet collar. His face had an embrowned complexion, and it had several handsome features, marred in effect by the downcast look about the eyes. There was generally a roll of papers in his hand, and he might have been mistaken for a subordinate surveyor connected with the Irish railways. It was EDMUND OTLALIERTY, the " whip " of the party, whose speeches were " done " by Mr WILLIAM KEOGH, and whose contracts were "arranged" by JOHN SADLEIR. The latter person was not so frequently visible as many of the other associates in the connection. He was intent on " the City," and used Parliamentary pawns merely as his means for helping him to be a capitalist ill votes and cash. Shrewd, keen, and self collected, his manner was that of a negotiator, and not of a brawling tribune. A sinister expression loured over his face which re pelled confidence, and a less fascinating per son to play so desperate a part could scarcely have been conceived. It was matter for reflection to think upon the lamentable degeneracy of the Liberal party in Ireland, when it bad fallen under the control of the " Irish Brigade." Forty years since, its Parliamentary connection boasted of such names as GRATTAN, Mr. PLUNKET, Mr. PONSONBY, Sir JOHN NEWPORT, Sir HENRY PARNELL, the HUTCHINSONS, and others worthy of senatorial place. Even in our own time, the popular representatives of Ireland were vastly superior to the Brass Band faction. O'CONNELL was a giant amongst tribunes. Mr. SHELL had brilliant powers for splendid declamation. Mr. WYSE had ail the accomplishments of a philosopher. Mr. BURKE ROCHE (Lord Fer moy) had birth and fortune, and a tried cha racter. But the extraordinary thing about the Sadleiraeogh party was its want of all ante cedents. Our readers saw last week Mr. KEOGH'S own account of his position. But there were some political circumstances in that position which were then highly advan tageous to himself. Since the Lnion Irish barristers have rarely entered the House of Commons. Forexample, Mr. PLUNKET was Attorney-General of Ireland during the Fox-Grenville Ministry, and dis tinguished himself highly in 1807 ; but when he found that his friends were out of office, he quitted the House of Commons, avowing that he could not afford to remain away from his practice, and scorning to play the part of an adventurer; nor did he return to St. Stephen's until, by the death of his elder bro ther, lie had inherited a considerable fortune. If, however, the Irish Bar has less scope now than formerly for rearing orators, its habits have become more purely forensic, and it counts a far greater• number of deeply-read lawyers than in other days Though the names of BLACKBURNE, PENNEFATHER, and WARREN have never been enrolled in the Senate, they are familiarly appreciated in Westminster-hall. In 1848-9 it is a fact that the Trish Liberal Bar had not one member in Parliament. Mr. KEOGH was then a " Con ser•vative," and Mr. NAPIER, in the first rank of his profession, was chosen by the University of Dublin to fill the place of the distinguished orator Mr. SLUR. 315 Such, therefore, was exactly the state of affairs which would give vast scope to mob " leaders," as those of the Brigade. They were on the spot in London; they had access to a credulous Duke and his facile friends ; they could affect to be the chieftains of the peo ple of Ireland; they could get up a mighty "party"; they could "destroy the Whigs", they could set up the Peelites to the tune of civil and religious liberty; they could—there really was no end, according to their boasts, of what they could not do Yes ! there was one thing that those men could not do. On the 6th of September, 1848, not long before bis lamented death, Lord GEORGE BENTINCK wrote from Harcourt•house to an Irish gentleman the following remark able words:— It is not the Repeal of the Union that Ireland wants. She wants men to represent her who, understanding her material and substantial interests, are willing and able to promote and maintain them, and will not, on the one hand, to g .in the shouts of the mob, divert public and Parlia- mentary attention to phantom reforms that have no real virtue in them; or, on the other hand, sell their votes to win the smiles, or maybe something more valuable in the gift of the Ministers of the day. To realise that want of Ireland was beyond the power of " the party " which the Duke of NEWCASTLE and his friends took unto their hearts. It is worthy of note that the instinct of the popular party in Ireland told it that really independent members were its great want. At that time, as now, large classes of the ten antry in Ireland were most anxious that there should be legislation on the land question. The Tenant League had considerable influ ence in elections; the Catholic Defence Society was at work ; and a general desire was preva lent in the Roman Catholic interest that a great popular party should be created, which should have the same representative efficacy as the connection formerly led by O'CONNELL and Mr. SREIL. Accordingly, an " Indepen dent Irish Party " was formed, which was to stand in the same position as the old Catholic Association ; and that party could not have been constructed if it did not pledge itself to be independent. We have previously described the operations at the general election in 1852. For months the leaders of that party had been actively at work. How loudly they promised to be inde pendent we need not repeat. But of these promises there was the greatest distrust. There are grounds for believing that even in the autumn of 1851 there was a submarine connection, of a most peculiar kind, between this " independent" Irish party (or some of its chiefs) and certain Peelites in England. It is not a little remarkable that Mr. FREDERICK LUCAS, the late Member for Meath, actually sketched out even then the plan of the Coali tion. He propounded in print a sagacious surmise that the Solicitor-Generalship for Ireland, the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland, and a Commissionership of Stamps, would, in case of a Coalition, suit the Secretaries of the Catholic Defence Association. For having uttered hints of a similar character at a public dinner at Athlone, Mr. LUCAS, on the 28th of October, 1831, was called to account by Mr. KEOGH : You ( Mr. Keogh) used the strongest language that could come from human lips for saying that if a Coahtion Government were formed of Whigs and Peelites you would accept the office of Solicitor-General.-1725—Rep. Prir. Coven., 1854. And again (1727) :-- You (Mr. Keogh) called me to account with conduct most dishonourable, base, and disgraceful, when I said that if a Coalition Government were formed, such as that which now exists, you would take the office of Solicitor- Genera, and you insisted upon those Catholic bishops then present disclaiming any participation in that charge, because you said it was so disgraceful to you. Now, before going farther, we must entreat of our readers to lay aside the notion that these matters, and the most serious questions arising from them, have ever been inquired into before. We can assure the►x that such is not the case. Out of the extraordinary facts of the proceedings in 1851-2, in Ireland, and of the subsequent junction with the Coalition Cabinet, there spring the gravest questions of public morality, and the whole facts have never yet been investigated. We must remind our readers that, when all these matters were partly mooted in 1854, there was not as much