The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-22 00:00:00

266 " the City." He had the stamp of Downing street affixed to his pretensions. Ministerial approbation was given to his character. Who could suspect the faithful ally and confederate of men so high in public life as the Duke of NEWCASTLE, the Earl of ABERDEEN, and Sir JAMES GRAHAM? When made Lord of the Treasury, so great was the prestige of SAD LEIR'S name, thus accredited by great official persons, that two English gentlemen gave hiw the manipulation of One hundred and fifty thousand pounds to trade upon for them. Their case, and that of many more besides, is painfully familiar to us in all its dreadful de tkils, which ere long will be made public to the world. But the folly shown in taking Mr. WILLIAM ICEouu as Solicitor-General for Ireland was even still more egregious, and redounds still more to the discredit of his patrons. We shall refer to patent and public facts iu that "Right Honourable" Gentleman's career which will convict his " patrons " of having acted with extraordinary rashness. 1. It is a singular fact in the career of Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH that almost every step he has taken has always been attended with questions of some personal odium. The first occasion on which he was brought before the Irish public was in the spring of 1838. His entry into notoriety was certainly most in auspicious. It was upon a motion as to whether he should not be turned out of the College Historical Society for having used most scandalous language in its public debates. The language was, indeed, most shocking, and we have an attested copy of it before us as we write. The question as to whether he should be expelled was discussed in public, before a vast crowd of " strangers," nut mem It-I.s ot that society, which was then " extern," and met in an hotel. Mr. KEOGH appealed to the mercy of the Society, and implored them not to brand him for life and blast his prospects at the outset of his career. More than half of the society were averse to grant ing his prayer; but, owing to the vacillation or excessive amiability of the mover, the notice was withdrawn, and Mr. KEOGH es caped. 2. When he made his first elaborate Parlia mentary effort on the 21st July, 1848, to attract attention, it is most remarkable that the debate should have turned on the character of Mr. KEOGH himself. The discussion is reported in Hansard (third series, vol. 100, p. 189), but in the Times and Daily News reports there are other speeches, bearing severely on Mr. KEOGH, which are ommitted in Hansard. The gist of the remarks which fell from several members is fairly stated when We say, that they spoke of him as one who had better cre• dentials for having acted as auxiliary-general to a JOHN SADLEIR, than as Attm ney-General to Queen VictornA. Sir GEORGE GREY sneered and scoffed at Mr. KEOGH—then a " Conserva tive Catholic"—in a most peculiar manner. " The Government (Lord J. RUSSELL'S) had " failed to recognise the services of the Honour " able Gentleman"; and again Sir GEORGE GREY said :—" Pending the petition presented "against the return of the Honourable Mem " ber, he had not given her Majesty's Govern " meat any reason to suppose that they would " find him an opponent, provided the petitions " were witlulrawn" There was a volume of inuendo in that taunt ; but these matters shall be more amply elucidated by us on another day. 3. But in the meanwhile we must direct attention to the fact that Mr. KEOGH'S career has hitherto escaped, what we shall call a condign scrutiny. A great delusion prevails about the " Right Honourable " Gentleman. It is supposed by many that of the charges brought against him in 1853 he was acquitted by the Breach of Privileges Com mittee. Now, the fact is that he was not then even put upon his trial as to the gravest of all the charges preferred against him. Here is what the Committee said on that head. "It " appeared to the Committee that the charge ." resolved itself into an impeachment of the " public and political conduct of the Honour able Member referred to, matters upon which " they do not consider it their duty to offer 4 . 4 . their opinions to the House." THE PRESS. Just so. The " Right Honourable " Gentle man has never really been tried. Here is the charge plainly stated. When SADLEIR and Mr. KEOGH organised the Brass Band, their antecedents and prersions were called in question by the Catbo to Agitators ; and even their political integrity, " ind something moi4," was disputed. Mt% Kll4ou perpetually alluded to his "balumnAtors" during his Brass Band oration*, and litt Itierd J OHN SADLEIR, alb% had a prodigious Artpp these " calumnift tions." Au " Indepidtdcid Irish Party" was formed. The Bishtkig; the Brass Band, the Tribunes, and the newspapers formed it. A great festival was held at Athlone, on the 28th October, 1851, and Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH spoke as follows : As long as I have the confidence of the people, I declare, in the most solemn manner, before this august assembly, I shall not regard any party. I know that the road I take does not lead to preferment. Ido not belong to the Whigs. I NEVER WILL BELONG TO TILE WHIGS. Idu not belong to the Tories : I never will belong to them. I have read in the newspapers this morning that Mr. Frederick Peel has joined the Whig Government, and that it is likely men of whose acquaintance I ass proud (Duke of Newcastle, Sir James Graham, &c.,) will become component parts of the Administration. Here, in the presence of my consti tuents and my country, I solemnly declare that if there was a Peelite Administration in power to-morrow, it would be nothing to me. But he went still much farther, and said, as if contemplating a Coalition, "If all the " Peelites in the House joined the Whig " Administration, I would be their unmitigated, " their untiring, their indefatigable opponent, " until we obtained full justice." Ay! and let us see how this " Right Honourable " Gentle man defined justice. He said : I can state the terms of it well. I will not support any party which does not make it the first ingredient of their political existence to repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. Do not imagine I am the man who, for the sake of exciting a momentary cheer, or gaining a temporary triumph, would say the thing to be done is easy. Jt is not an easy work. Years may roll by before it is accomplished. But 1 believe it will be finally accomplished. I will not join any party which does not go much farther than that. 1 will have no• thing to do with any party which will not consent to remove from off the Catholics of this country the intoler- able burden of sustaining a Church Establishment. These declarations were contained in a printed report of Mr. KEOGH'S speech, and circulated in a pamphlet form, which he took out of his pocket at some meetings, and re ferred to afterwards. Now, with reference to his anterior and subsequent conduct, those declarations are most extraordinary. Such were strange opinions fur a " Conservative Catholic " to have uttered—one who had en- tered Parliament under the auspices of a Tory capitalist. But he even confirmed that speech by his address at Cork, when he distinctly re ferred to it. On the Bth of March, 1852, ‘‘ hen in company with JOHN SADLEIR, the " Right Honourable " Gentleman canvassed fur Mr. SCULLY, and said : I declared, in the presence of the bishops of Ireland, and of my colleagues in Parliament, that, let the Minister of the day be who he may—let him be the Earl of Derby, let him be Sir James Graham, or Lord John Russell—il was all the same to us; and, so HELP ME GOD, no matter who the Minister may be, no matter who the party in power may be; I never will support that Minister, or that party, unless he comes into power prepared to carry the measures which universal popular Ireland demands. I have seconded the proposition of Mr. Sharman Crawford in the House of Commons, so HELP ME GOD, upon that and every other question to which I have given my adherence. I shall be, and I know every one of my friends is as determined as myself, an unflinching, an undeviating, unalterable sup porter of it. All must see that these speeches, and Mr. KEOGH'S subsequent acts, do substantiate a most grave charge of political Sad leirism against him. Was it not strange that Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT, in 1852, gave a candidate like that the su►n of 1001.? Is Mr. HERBERT in the habit of giving subscriptions to candidates who have "no party " claims on hint? But was it not still stranger that a candidate for a high Crown office in Ireland should have re quired a subscription from several English gentlemen? Why could he not have applied publicly for it amongst the Catholics of Ireland, as several popular Irish M.I s. have done Why all that secrecy? Why was EDMUND O'FLA HERTY selected to ask for funds in England for the return of an Irish Catholic barrister? Then, when he vaulted into power as Solici tor-General, charges came against him from various quarters. We confirmed some of them last week. The Whigs, to their shame, SATURDAY, dropped Mr. HATCHELL and Mr. HUGHES, who had been Irish Crown officers in the Russell Ministry, and they took u t i t — s -WILLIAM KEOGH! When that did aid a rush mad e b y Irish Parfititers tnt conitituencies, a n d there is A whole t hg Irish " Libe ra l" l a %ve t" noW in Pa ineft and ab sen t f rom their irofliiiiional p ice it Dublin. I Th sitf tlit,t iei* al guards had b een i t lavish ' dii i. a palti l c 11i venturer, when th e declai4ier b the p A PAH4I had been unjustly promotd4 over the learning and purely forensic talent of their Bar. They knew how limited was the status of Mr. KEOGH, but his want of legitimate pretensions for such elevated posts as he audaciously attained shall be amply proved by us as we proceed. Such is the man that the Sadleirite organs would like to see a judge. For our parts we do not like even to see the " Right Honourable " Gentleman acting as Attorney- General. A committee of the House of Commons declined to try him on a charge of political and Parliamentary Sadleirism. We think him obnoxious to such an indictment; and as other Crown officers have been passed by, the same thing might possibly occur again. Trying Mr. KEOGH'S conduct, even by the low standard of political morality in our time, we think it flagrant ; and we think, like " all " abnormal careers, it tends to its own ruin and " exhaustion." We shall illustrate in more detail that career at a future time ; hut in the mean while we must press upon the attention of our readers how serious has been the respor.• sibility of those high political parties in Eng land who gave the lustre of great official posi tion to such persons as JOHN SADLELR, EDMUND O'FLAHERTY, and Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH. THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. THE Roman satirist denied the existence of Fortune, and maintained that her worship was based upon the weakness and follies of mankind. Yet it is in the annals of his own country that we find some of the most striking examples of the mutability of fate; and even those who concede the widest range of possi bilities to the combination of intellect and genius, are unable to deny that they cannot create opportunity. Seven years ago, Prince Louis NAPOLEOg was an exile, with a doubtful reputation He had no share in the accomplishment of those events which so rapidly conducted him to empire ; and the house of Orleans might have been reigning at this moment had its expulsion depended upon him. Doubtless, the mind of the banished Prince was visited at times by dazzling visions of future power and glory, yet to sober minds their realisation must have seemed as impossible as a tale of the Arabian Nights. Suddenly, when he had just attained the full maturity of manhood, when his enthusiasm had been tempered by experience, and his mind disciplined by adver sity, the imposing fabric of constitutional monarchy dissolved like vapour: the wall erected against his race was thrown to the ground, and the city of promise laid open be fore him. - - Carried away by political excitement, the French nation determined that a republican form of government was best suited to their genius, and, owing to the magic of his name, the Prince was chosen President. But. in an inconceivably short space of time, the National Assembly had proved itself unfit for the per formance of its high duties, and had taught the people to regard the representative sys tem with contempt and dislike. But, though his own judicious conduct placed him in marked and favorable controst with the dele gates of the nation, Louis NAPOLEON was not the cause of the weakness and vacillation they displayed. Of these opportunities the Prince took ad vantage with consummate ability. Success followed success—each more brilliant than the last—till at length, amid universal rejoicings• and by the sutlrages of two-thirds of France, he assumed the diadem of his uncle. While thinking men were still uncertain to what cause they should attribute the astonish ing elevation of one whom they had but recently