The Express.
London, England, 1864-04-15 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 15.

Tax Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland has long been
condemned by the great majority of Englishmen
of all parties as being at once useless and mis-
chievous. It owes its continued existence solely
to our deference to what was supposed to be the
almost unanimous wish of the Irish people upon a
matter mainly affecting themselves. We are now,
however, beginning to suspect, from various inde-
pendent evidences which have reached us, that we
have hitherto to a great extent misapprehended
the true state of Irish opinion on this subject, and
mistaken the " importunate chink " of an inte-
rested and noisy, though really insignificant, clique
for the voice of the entire nation.

In truth, it is hard to conceive how any intelli-
gent Irishman can bring himself to the conclusion
that the manifest and manifold disadvantages,
administrative and otherwise, incidental Ito such
a form of government can be at all counterbalanced
by • paltry vote of some 30,0001. a year of public
money to be spent in maintaining the sham
pageant of " the Castle," and stimulating the
growth of an exotic imam monde amongst the na-
turally quiet and homely citizens of Dublin. To
us it has always appeared that, having regard to
the character and history of the Irish, and the
peculiarly delicate relationship in which they stand
towards ourselves, the Vice-royalty was about the
most pernicious contrivance that could have F In
devised—tending, as it does, to dull our sense of
duty, and encouraging us to shift our just respon-
sibility to other shoulders than our own ; while
it serves to impart a quasi-reality to the dresni of
national independence which so many Irishmen are
even still but too ready to indulge.
We all admit that Ireland is the difficulty of
England. There, centuries of misrule have to bei
atoned for. There, the passions of an irritated
and divided people require to be calmed and kept
in subjection as far as possible by a policy firm,
intelligible, and uniform—an executive thoroughly
active and efficient, and a pure and impartial
exercise of patronage. We agree with an
able weekly contemporary, that our first duty to
Ireland is to give her a "strong and vigorous
" government," which it rightly terms " the pri-
" wary condition of all prosperity."
Such being the work cut out for us, is it not I
amazing that we should be content, year after
year, in the teeth of unvs7ing failure, to employ
the same clumsy and antiquated macHnery for its
accomplishment ? We begin by delegating the func-
tions of government to some member of our cis.'
aristocracy, whom we select, not for his administra-
tive capacity or experience, not for his special ac-
quaintance with the circumstances of the people
he is to govern—indeed, we generally prefer some
one who is not " biassed " by such knowledge—
but for his pleasant axial qualities, his happy fa-
cility for making speeches upon any required
occasion, his dexterity in baffling • deputation, or
his cheerful endurance of late hours. Sometimes,
indeed, our choice is controlled by the necessity
of providing for some member of " the party" here
who is too strong in territorial or family influence
to be passed over, and yet too weak personally to
be accepted in any of the great offices in this
country. Within our memory, the Lord-Lieuten-
ancy has not been filled by any statesman of
mark (unless Lord CLARENDON is an exception), and
Ireland has been handed over to a succession
of noble empirics, each of whom has done little
else than substitute • new nostrum and a new
bevy of placemen for those of his predecessor.
Thus the continuity of treatment, so necessary in
a chronic disease, is interrupted, and a fresh impe-
tus given to that back-stairs jobbery, which in
Dublin has been elevated to the rank of a popular
science.

Every new Viceroy finds on his arrival that he
is surrounded by persons who know far more about
Irish affairs than he does himself. The magnates
of the liar have (in Ireland) • prescriptive right to
" a voice in the government of the country." Arch-
bishop CuLLE:v will perhaps remind the new
comer that the wishes of one who speaks as the spi-
ritual dictator of three-fourths of the population
deserve some attention ; while the Home-office will
every now and then assert its right to some of the
largest bon-ben.s at his disposal. Is it reasonable
to expect that any ordinary English gentleman
can single-handed encounter with success such a
complication of influences, or redeem the inherent
falseness of the poeitionl If favouritism and
abuses exist even here, under the very eye of Par-
liament, and in despite of a powerful independent
Press, wh►t must be the state of affairs in Ireland,
where matters of that sort can be managed com-
paratively " in • corner," and where criticism

feels itself continually disarmed Dy "the respect
"doe to the QUEEN'S personal representative"
It is the plain duty of all those who hawkao
purity and efficiency of government at heart, who
desire to see Ireland prosperous, and her union
with England thoroughly cemented, to unite for
the abolition of the Viceroyalty. We shall rejoice
to see Irishmen no longer regarding their country
as an isolated dependency, but as an integral and
vital part of "this fair realm of England." Steam
has bridged the Channel, but there is still one
barrier which separates us, which, though it be
but a only, tinselled structure, effectually man
the unity of government and impedes the free cir-
culation and interchange of national sympathies.