The Press.
London, England, 1853-07-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

PARALYSIS OF LAW IN IRELAND.
LET no man despair of painting ebony black
when it is found possible to deepen the gloom
which broods over the horizon of Ireland.
Among the occurrences of last week are two
of so disheartening a character as to lem'e us
in doubt whether we ever before appreciated

the extent of Ireland's ealamity. Our readers
will forestall us in calling to mind the separa-
tion of the jury without coming to a verdict in
the case of the Bateson murder, and Lord
PALM ERMTON's declaration Of the intentions of

Government, or rather of the absence of all
intention, with respect to the prosecutiim of
the reverend gentlemen engaged in the Six-
mile-bridge affray.
It is not merely that in Ireland those
cherished institutions of Englishmen, without
which we cannot live ourselves, and can

scarcely bear to let any one else live—the
safeguards of our liberties, trial by jury and
representative government are found to
break down under their own weight, but, by
the peculiar infelicity of that unhappy country,
a blessing is turned into a curse, and trial by
jury becomes an engine for depriving inno-
cence of its shield, and securing impunity to
crime ; while the representative system is
employed to impose a yoke such as no Govern-
ment in modern days would have the power
or the boldness to inflict on an unrepresented
people—"Comptio optimi est pessima "—and
this double corruption, reciprocally connected
as alternately cause and effect, has worked
with fearful rapidity, till at last the reign of
law is over, and the course of ,justice, which
has long been clogged, is entirely stopped.
It argues a high average of sense and
honesty in the community when the law can
safely summon from the ranks twelve ordinary
citizens and bid them sit in judgment on
their fellows. But in Ireland each one of
these twelve needs the courage of a hero and
the devotion of a martyr to enable him to ful-
.fil his duty, and if one fails the ends of
justice are defeated. As the juror enters the
box, the voice of sad experience rings in his
ears, " If you persist in refusing to falsify your
oath, you will be deserted by your customers
and ruined, you will be shunned by your ac
qunintance and persecuted by all; and, if you
are not cruelly beaten, and perhaps murdered,
you must owe your escape to your own
strength and vigilance, for the law can neither
protect you while living nor avenge you when
dead." Truly we think it highly creditable to
Irish courage and honesty that so many in
each panel are found undismayed by these
terrors, and ready to encounter an attenuating
fast. and an arduous struggle with their weak
or ill-disposed brethren, in order to satisfy
their consciences and do their duty. What
right has society to require to he served at
such cost of s If-sacrifice ? What right has it
to impose duties in the discharge of which it
affords no protection?
This is no exaggerated statement, as our
renders know well ; and to this condition Ire-
land has been brought by the expedient first
reluctantly adopted by the Whigs, and now
deliberately continued by the present Admi
nistration, of governing by means of the priests.
In pursuance of this same system, Lord
PALMERSTON announces the resolution which
must, in fact, have been taken when office was
offered to Messrs. KEOGH and Co. of abandon-
ing the prosecution of the two priests concerned
in the riot at Six-mile-bridge. And, strange as
this course may appear. it is less extraordinary
than the statement and the reasoning on which
it is grounded. All the Irish priesthood, Lord
PALMERSTON tells us, have interfered with
the freedom of election ; and, as all cannot
be punished. he argues. it would be unjust
to single out these two criminals as exceptions
to the general impunity. What ! does Lord
PALMERSTON mean that imperfect justice is
synonymous with injustice, and, as all human
justice is necessarily imperfect. would he
abandon the attempt to administer justice
altogether? If two pickpockets are taken
in the fact, would he discharge them scot
free because the police have a moral cer-
tainty that in the same neighbourhood five

SATURDAY,

hundred others as bad are pursuing their voca-
tion unmolested? It used to he supposed
that, if a crime was common, the necessity
of making an example was proportionably
urgent; and justice, in selecting the subjects
for punishment, pursued " the good old rule,
the simple plan, of amercing those whom
she could catch, or, if the delinquents are too
numerous for her sense of humanity, she
obviously would and ought to choose the
most criminal. Where, if this rule were fol-
lowed, could two be found more guilty than
the reverend ringleaders on this occasion?
11l as we know the Irish priesthood behaved
in the late elections, we think Lord PALMERS-
TON does them injustice when he ranks them all
with Fathers BURKE and CLINE. They had
coerced their flock—they had headed an
attack on the Queen's troops—they were
responsible for the loss of life, unhappily very
considerable, which ensued. Their punish.
ment was required to vindicate our free insti-
tutions, to prove that the Rornish religion is not
incompatible with representative government ;
it was required to protect the people, and to
vindicate the honour of the troops, whose
admirable conduct on that occasion had
brought upon them insult and persecution,
such as would disgust and intimidate all other
troops but our own. But nothing is to be done !
Is it that no jury will convict, or that Govern-
ment dares not prosecute ? Alas ! to the public
it matters not what answer is returned. The
little that remained of law in Ireland is
abolished : the priesthood are left to insult
authority, to threaten the people, and to pur-
sue their revenge if they please in perfect
safety. Let them only be bold enough and
violent enough, let them only take the pre-
caution of offending in a body, and Ministers
offer them impunity.
We are, indeed, descending the hill rapidly.
The horses are running away. Fertur equis
auriga—but not retinacula tendene—the coach-
man has dropped the reins in order to hold on
by the seat, content to shut his eyes till he is
aroused by the inevitable crash.