The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 11, 1858.

866

attempt to deprive of arms, by legislative enact-
ment, those very Romanists for the sake of whose
alliance he had betrayed his Protestant sup-
port ers.
Next came a period of Whig-Radical rule,
during which the whole island was kept in a
state of alarm and consternation, in the daily ex-
pectation that a rebellion would burst forth. A
crisis, however, of a different kind was then near,
whereby the whole face of the country was
changed. Statesmen had tried their hand at it
in vain—man's weak efforts had proved abortive
in solving the difficulty—but solved it was
destined to be. The finger of Providence was
laid heavily on the devoted people : first
famine—then pestilence—and then an "Exodus,"
stimulated by the notion that Gon's curse was
upon the land, swept clean away the starving
multitude ; and the Popish priests and dema-
gogues (suddenly as it were) found themselves
deprived of the tools with which, till then, they
had worked—the destitute and disaffected paupers
all disappeared.
- - -

By those who visited Ireland when the work of
destruction had been completed, the impression
produced by the aspect of affairs can never be
effaced from their minds. It seemed as if the
country had been overrun and ravaged by a con-
quering army. There was, indeed, a sort of
peace, but it was the peace of desolation ! Soon,
however, a brighter day began to dawn. Fright-
ful as was the ordeal through which the country
had passed, it soon became manifest that Ireland
had ceased to be a " difficulty " to British states-
men. From all quarters of the island was heard
the note of unprecedented prosperity ; troops
were no longer needed; capital flowed in;
pauperism had almost disappeared ; and, for the
very first time in her history Ireland could be pro-
nounced to be happy, prosperous, and contented,
a source of strength, instead of weakness, to
England.
And so Ireland continues to this day, and so
she bids fair to continue, if British statesmen
have learned wisdom from the experience of the
past.
But this state of prosperity and peace ill suits
the purposes of Rome. That Ireland, the very
hotbed of Popery—the perpetual thorn in the
side of Protestant England—should not only
cease to be that thorn, but should actually serve
to increase the power of Great Britain, is a state
of things which makes the Roman Pontiffs
tremble for their influence and authority in a
land of which they once almost fancied that they
were the actual rulers.
Hence the visit of the Cardinal to Ireland—
hence the desperate efforts which are now being
made there to preserve what remains of the
authority of Rome, and, if possible, to increase it.
English Protestants may smile at an old man
in a scarlet dress, with olden crosses, and a
peculiar shaped hat, getting out of a railway
train, and receiving more than royal homage on
the platform of a railway station ; but they are
blind indeed if they cannot perceive the important
significancy of these proceedings, and that they
have a very potent influence over the minds of
the Popish portion of the Irish people. There is
one grand principle which it is the main object
of the Cardinal and his coadjutors to impress
upon the Irish Romanists ; and that is, that
theirs is the dominant faith—that their Church
is above their Sovereign—that the Queen is
second to the Pope. Hence the deliberate insult
to her Majesty in omitting her health at the
banquet at. Balhnasloe, and the not less deliberate
insult in drinking at Dundalk the toast of the
Pope before the Queen. Hence the illegal Popish
processions in the streets; hence the ostentatious,
illegal assumption of territorial tides by the
Roman Prelates ; hence the presence of the Car-
dinal at the Lord Alayor of Dublin's dinner
being preferred to that of her Majesty's Repre-
sentative, the Lord Lieutenant, and the other
members of her Irish Administration; and hence
the meeting at Limerick with Mr. O'DONOGHUE,
M.P., as chairman, to denounce as unjust the
execution of the CORMACKS (who were hanged
for murder), in order to shake the confidence of
the Irish Romanists in the fair administration of
justice. All these proceedings are the result of
deep calculation, and are done for a purpose.
They are done to show the superiority of the
ecclesiastical over the civil power, and to teach
the people to tremble before the Roman priest-
hood.

Now, if these proceedings of the Popish party
are to be allowed to fulfil their objects, if the
party of the Priests is to be allowed again
to become rampant in Ireland, the inevitable
result will be that the old state of things will
be reproduced it; 4440. It has pleased
Providence, iit tslyWom, to deprive the
priests owl they agi toting supporters of tie
weapons which rendered them really formidable.
There is nothing alarming in the crowds which
now surround the Cardinal, although there was
enough to appal the stoutest heart in the hostile
bearing and disaffection of the tens of thousands
who formerly surrounded O'CONNELL.
The game of Rome and her priesthood, then, is
this—to create an appearance of turbulence in
Ireland, in order to frighten Protestants so as to
prevent them settling in the island; then by the
encouragement of early marriages, and profiting
by the wild and listless nature of the remaining
Irish peasantry of the old breed, to rear up (as
they reared up before) a population similarly de-
graded to that which has been swept away.
MACAULAY truly says, in his English history,
that it is a general rule, to which the past history
of mankind, whether in the Old World or the
New, affords scarcely a single exception, that
under the almost infinitely varied circumstances
of different ages, different races, and different
clinics, wherever Popery prevails, or has pre-
vailed, there the mass of the population are, or
have been, in a state of mental degradation and
physical poverty. But this is not the result of
chance ; it is, beyond a doubt, the result of the
standing policy of Rome.
To effect the reduction of the Irish people
again under her almost unlimited influence—to
make Ireland again a source of weakness to de-
tested Protestant England—these are the pur-
poses of Rome, and of these purposes she will
never lose sight. She can only effectually ac-
complish them by keeping her votaries in a
state of "mental degradation," and reducing
them once again to great " physical poverty.'
The improved condition of the remaining Irish
peasantry has been viewed with dismay at Rome.
What has now been passing in Ireland is the
first step in the path of its overthrow.
Will England, then, sit tamely by and allow
this scheme to triumph ? as assuredly it will
ultimately triumph, it' the old policy of the
Whig-Radicals and Sir ROBERT PEEL is to be
persevered in—viz., governini, the Roman Catho-
lic laity through the intermediate agency of the
priests, instead of knowing no distinctions, and
dealing with them as British subjects, teaching
them to look up to the British Government for
protection from priestly oppression, and gaining
their affections by deeds of direct agency. It'
this wise course of policy be pursued, as we feel
very confident it will be, by the present Govern-
ment, we shall hear of no mawkish tenderness
for Popish priests, who violate the law. The
Roman laity must learn to repeat with confidence
and satisfaction what they once repeated with
wonder, on the occasion of a priest, some fifteen
years ago, being cast in heavy damages for
curses uttered at the altar. " The law, then, is
" stronger than his Reverence." These were
their words, outside the Court-house, and they
went home publicly rejoicing that it was so.
This is the spirit in which we have no doubt
the present Irish Government will act. If they
do, Ireland will long remain the brightest jewel
in the British Crown, and a great source of
strength to Great Britain.

rather followedseiagaanidteossonif
hearts
benighted race, England has
the precepts of MAIIOMET than obeinyeedouonuttrh
pre-
cepts of CHRIST. Our zeal for the opa
gation of the Gospel amongst the heathen
fervently
iew
assuredly burns quite a,4
as in those of our boasting fellow- -
but,. nevertheless, we are free tp:gacotninfesg
thnianttionthsem.
soil
veb.ti:
giving effect to our zeal, we do entertain confess that,
in
jections to all attempts at pro
faith according to the injunctions of the
in opposition to all the injunctions of the GOBlllrilin'Y;
and we. for that, when neighbouwriinllg
us actl like soldiers of the Crescent, and hseeet
like soldiers of the Cross, they
selves justified in apostrophizing Englishmen
the Blessed Founder of our religion apos-
trophized the broad-philactery men of old.
Such an apostrophe, we gladly admit, would not
apply to all.. For. there have been, and there
are, two parties in this country, which look upon
.British proceedings in China in totally
lights. The onenmtwoe tpet
hreah
treat
party
epcas
reatllexra
ment
nedefnaoa
tsrr
contempt,ii
standard
nations
snt
ohfltei
hnns
sega
civilizedn. butFl P t
the
tainnhnocadt increase afhts eeha ofr
powersufficientlycoowm
h
humanity to be entitled to the privileges of civi-
lized nations. These men hold that in our dealings
with such as the Chinese any adherence on our
parts to the acknowledged laws of nations is quite
unnecessary. These men lay it down, as an
inevitable law of human nature, that "barbarism
" must recede before civilization," and thus are
perfectly indifferent, provided that the recession
takes place, whether it is justly brought about,
or whether it results from civilization employing
the power which knowledge confers according to
the maxims of barbarism. Accordingly, when
civilization, outraging justice, applies force, the
eyeballs may indeed be uplifted to heaven to indi-
cate the shock that is given to the moral sense;
but the moral sense is very loon consoled, nay
more, extinguished, by calling to mind the
aforesaid " inevitable law of human nature,"
whereby the mind is easily reconciled to atrocities
of the deepest die. But when, in addition to the
consolation which this law affords them, some fine
phrases about introducing Christianity amongst
the heathen can be paraded, then they turn their
devilish deeds into Christian deeds, and ostenta-
tiously chuckle at the anticipated triumphs of
the Faith : they compass heaven and earth to
make proselytes, but they omit the weightier mat-
ters of the law, justice, mercy, truth. These per-
sons (and we blush to think how vast are their
numbers) could see nothing wrong in the pro-
ceedings of British authorities at Canton, when
they spread fire and desolation through a thickly-
peopled city, under the false pretence of avenging
an insult to the British flag—an insult which
never was !oily offered. And some day or
other, when 1!/re truth comes out respecting this
iniquitous aggression, we strongly suspect that it
will be found that that miserably vain man,
Sir JOHN BoWRING, obtained authority from the
Government at home to pick a quarrel with the
Chinese, per fas ant nefas, in order to secure an
entry into the city for British subjects, and to
obtain, on a flimsy pretence, the fulfilment of
treaties which had been negligently permitted to
remain in abeyance. These men, who sanctioned
and approved this shameless outrage, are now the
very men to profess such extasy of delight at
the way being opened (as they call it) for
Christianizing the Chinese.
Thanks be to Gon, however, there existed, and
still exists, another party, whom no views odf
commercial gain, no greed for filthy lucre, coul
deter from denouncing in just and fitting terms
the whole of our proceedings, from first to last,
in the Canton waters. Had those proceedings„
been certain to pour into our laps "the wealth of
Ormus and of Inde," they would have been
equally held up to public execration and abhor-
ence. And let it be gratefully remembered that
the majority of the then existing House
Commons censured those atrocities, and that a
large minority of the House of Lords, headed by
the present Premier, endeavoured to fix on them
a similar brand of condemnation. This Pall
combined their Christian professions
Christian practice, and those who belong to this
wit h
party are, we maintain, the only ones who
of
a right to avow pleasure at any real rospecta ve
introducing Christianity into China.
But we confess that we have little faith
the religion Of
in the possibility of propagating

h,

CH orr by the sword. We do not believe that
Goes blessing will attend such an attempt,
utterly opposed as it is to every Christian
principle. The followers of MAHOMET have
indeed propagated their creed by the sword, but
then this mode of action is in perfect consistency
with the doctrines which their Lawgiver laid
down and their Koran inculcates. These men
act with perfect consistency when they offer to
their conquered foes death or the Koran ; but
Christians cannot do the like. Supposing that those
stipulations should be fulfilled, and the utmost
extent of good contemplated should result from
them, they would no more palliate or justify the
first unjust aggression, than Lord PALMERSTON
could justify (as he attempted at the Mansion-
house) the original hostilities, by appealing to the
outrages of the Chinese, which were afterwards
done by them in revenge, when exasperated by
those hostilities.
We confess, however, that we attach but little
value to these stipulations. We believe that it
will turn out that the Bible will be allowed just
as much circulation, and no more, and Chris-
tianity will receive just as much toleration, and no
more, as would have fallen to their lot if the
treaty contained no clause of the kind in question.
The Chinese authorities, in those spots where
they may come into contact with Englishmen,
may perhaps conform, when compelled, in parti-
cular instances, to the words of the treaty ; but
how, unless we can undertake to control the
police, and the jurisprudence of the vast
empire of China, we shall be able to secure,
for the Bible or for Christan converts, the
stipulated privileges, it will require wiser
heads to devise than any that yet are known to
grow on British shoulders. And as for regu-
lating the police and jurisprudence of China,
though doubtless there exist many presumptuous
fools who would undertake the task, yet between
the attempt and anything approaching to its
realization the distance is infinitely great. Those
who have studied the official reports on the
Bengal police, and have ascertained the actual
results of our endeavours .to establish peace and
security in that vast province which has so long
been under our immediate rule, and within whose
limits we have established the seat of our supreme
Government—those who know that that police is
a source of terror to the peaceful and honest—a
source of protection to the thief and to the
dacoit—will look down with a smile of pity or
contempt on those who entertain the idle idea
that we can accomplish in China what we have
so utterly failed in accomplishing in Bengal.
Let us, then, estimate this much vaunted and
bepraised stipulation at its real value. It is just
worth nothing at all,
,save as a peg on which
Pharisees may descant, and save as dust to blind
the eyes of the honest and the good to the real
character of the
dealings of Great Britain with
the people of China, which Sir JOHN BO WRING
initiated, and Lord PALMERSTON, for mere party
Purposes, recklessly endorsed.

OCEAN TELEGRAPII COMMUNICATION.
THE partial success which has attended this
glorious endeavour to annihilate time and distance
in the intercourse of mankind induces us again
to bring forward the subject, which seems as yet
to be imperfectly comprehended by all but scien-
tific men.

When the great desideratum of ocean tele-
graphs 11
was first started and the first experiments
made, it appeared clear that in the waters and
the channels on both sides of Great Britain a
firm protection to the precious wire which car-
ried the electric fluid should be provided ; and,
accordingly, the copper wire was inclosed in a
gutta-percha case, and that again covered with
Spiral cord of iron wire sufficiently stout to bear
the rubbing against the bottom of the sea, and
to resist ordinary risks of fouling, &c. But when
it became necessary to bridge over the deeper
waters of the ocean, a question arose whether the
Specific gravity of the iron would not sink the
cable too fast in paying out, so as to cause severe
pressure on the machine and wire, and cause it
to snap. Any one who has seen a chain-cable
nin out at sea would readily appreciate the
danger. And so it happened. The cable from
iardinia to Africa met with numberless mishaps
from this cause, and broke continually in paying
out from the vesseL