The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-18 00:00:00

1228

T II

EDWARD Lrrros shows us the elder Caxton
trying to reform the unbelieving mind of a
sceptical politician, by enlarging on the value of
a saffron-bag worn at the pit of the stomach; but
the change was to take place, not from the bag
itself, but from faith in the bag. The illustration
is applicable to the spirit of Irish popular move-
ment. The United Irishman, the Agitator of the
O'Connellite type, the Young Irelander, the
Phoenix Club projector, each and all of them
have had their saffron-bags, and shown great
faith in them. " Something great" was always
to have come from open confederacy or secret
conspiracy. The thing, whatever it may be,
conspiracy or agitation, dark treason, or a
gigantic talk-shop, is set going, and several join
and support it, hoping that " something great "
will come by it. Even the attorneys' clerks in
Ireland join in the Phoenix Club, trusting, like
Mr. Micawber, that " something will turn up,"
by inducing anserine participators in alcohol and
agitation to turn out and learn the goose step.
Poor, silly, sanguine dupes, with over-credulity
in the saffron-bag, so ruthlessly ripped open at
Skibbereen! Little did they know that between
the Viceregal-lodge in the Phoenix-park, and
the anti-regal lodges in the Phoenix Club,
A t etty reilway ran -
And there thi ough twenty posts of telegraph
They flashed a sane, mesaage to and fru—
u the Poet Laureate has it. The work of'
Precursor-Treason is discovered, and its mis-
chievous manipulators are detected in the
full employment of phantom-coining. Stirring
speeches breathing of EMMETT and enthusiasm,
eloquence of a kind where reporters are "not
wanted," drillings by moonlight in unfrequented
places, and enrolment of members who arc to
be ready when the word is given—in short, the
rehearsal of a great plot which is to burst upon
the astonished world at a future time,—all this is
known and discovered, and the fact of the
Phoenix Club cannot possibly be ignored. Its
existence shows clearly that the Irish revolu-
tionary influences have lost all faith in the Plat-
form and in public spouters, and accordingly its
representatives hide their :doings, illustrating
that law of revolutions so cleverly pointed out by
Mad. de STAEL (and quoted for its sagacity by the
Duke of WELLINGTON), "On ne conspire pas sur
la place."
Anticipation of future emergencies is what the
projectors of the Phoenix Club calculate on, and
we must not place confidence in those Irish Li-
beral organs who know nothing at all about "what
has been going on." The beginning of a serious
plot, which might prove troublesome and grave
at a future time, has been discovered, and Lord
EGLINTOUN has acted with judicious energy in
treading out the first incendiary sparks which
threaten a future conflagration. The Whigs, if in
power, would affect constitutional scruples, and
when the country might be in aflame, they would
give notice of moving for a Committee in a future
session to consider the best means of extin-
guishing the fury of the fire.
Our private letters from various parts of Ire-
land give ample details for justifying the energy
of Lord EuLtyrourt, and we have no doubt con-
dign punishment will fbllow upon those who have
aided in fomenting this conspiracy, whose body
and tail are in Ireland, though its serpentlike and
cunning brains are in America.

HAZARDING A "BRIGHT" REPUTATION.
.TouN BRWIIT tells us in his explosion at Man-
chester, now a few days old, that in bringing
forward a Reform Bill "he is hazarding his
reputation." We want to know the value and
the nature of the article, and the amount of
the risk.

Is it his reputation as a Quaker ? We fear it
was never greater than the area covered by his
broad brim. He is as much a Quaker, we
imagine, as many people are Protestants or
Papists---a nominal adherent, retaining the phy-