The Express.
London, England, 1865-09-23 00:00:00

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LONDON. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 23.

IT does not often fall to the lot of England to
meet with the friends who are born for adversity.
The admiration which accompanies succor has been

her portion times without number, but when she
is threatened with any reverse there is usually no
lack of candid advisers throughout Europe who
are ready to point out to her that she is only
getting what she deserves. Nor can we pretend to
feel altogether guiltless in this matter. On the
whole, perhaps, we find as much sympathy abroad
as we have any right to expect. We take so little
trouble to understand foreign countries ; we are so
bent on estimating their people and their institu-
tions by the precise standard which we have se-
lected for our own use ; we are so severe when
they fall short of, so contemptuous when they
go beyond, the goal at which we ourselves
aim ; that it would be almost hopeless to look for
any forbearance from them when the game seems
going against us. A Constitutional Procrustes
must expect to got hard measure when he is out of
luck. It is with very sincere pleasure, therefore,
that we acknowledge the generally friendly tons
which has been adopted by the French press to-
wards England with reference to the Fenian move-
ment. Most of the Paris newspapers have recog-
nised with the utmost frankness the great efforts
which England has made of We years for the ame-
lioration of the evils of Ireland, and the exceptions
to the prevailing spirit have only served to make
its presence more conspicuous by giving the subject
&controversial interest. It is to the attacks of the
Siirle that we owe the defence of the A renir Na-
tional, and certainly Englishmen could not wish for
a more generous or • more intelligent advocate
than they have found in 11. Psraar. "For the
" last thirty years," he writes, " Ireland has been
" fres, absolutely free, free enough to make her
" the envy of the majority of the nations of
" Europe, ourselves included." And, with as
appreciation of the true position and function of
the English Government in Ireland which we could
wish to see more common among ourselves, he goes
on to point out that the hatreds and divisions with
which we are confronted in that country are chiefly
of home growth. "These hatreds, enfeebled
" but not destroyed, are felt by Irishman against
" Irishman, by the north against the west, by the
"Catholic against the Protestant, by the poor
" against the rich. In the midst of these passions
" the English Government plays the part of
" moderator ; it diminishes, it softens, it puts an
" end to them. A parliament in Dublin would
" only make them more intense ; it would en-
" gender • civil if not a social war."
Agreeable, however, as it certainly is to read
such hearty commendations, there may be more
profit to be derived from the discriminating, though
friendly, criticism of the well known correspondent
of the Temps. M. LOUIS BLANC concedes as wil-
lingly as M. PEYILAT the increasing justice and
toleration which has characterised the conduct of
England toward Ireland for the last half century.
" The evils which Ireland has suffered from her
" connexion with England belong now only to
" history." But he is startled notwithstanding
at the evidence afforded by the Fenian move-
ment of the "sentiment of aversion which

" Saxon domination inspire■ in the Cal
" race." Ireland, he admits, has only two legiti-
mate grievances against England now remaining,
the land question and the established Church; but
though the desire of independence may be un-
reasonable and imprudent, be believe, that it is
genuine, and that it is felt by the majority of
Irishmen. We think that in this respect our friendly
critic is somewhat misled by his own witnesses. He
quotes as evidence of the wide distribution of this
desire for separation from England the speeches
made by Mr. Pore Hauxusx and Lord Ness at
the Dublin meeting to protest against the im-
portation of cattle from Great Britain. We
thought at the tune that Lord Nays had hit upon
a singularly unfortunate phrase with which to
bring down the house, but we cannot seriously
suppose that his declaration in favour of
Repeal has any real bearing on the
question of Fenisnism. So, again, too much weight
seems to be attached by M. Lows BLANC to the
description given in the newspapers of the aspect
and demeanour of the prisoners. "Fine, able
" young men," need not mean very much in the
month of an Irish reporter, and the expression
does not lose any of its force when it is trans-
lated—beaux jeunes gens plains d'intelligence. Nor
to any one at all acquainted with the demeanour
of an Irishman in a court of justice would the
" defiant front" which the accused are said to
have exhibited convey any very formidable im-
pression. Whether the offence be high treason or
petty larceny, an Irish prisoner is not apt to look
abashed. There is more force perhaps in the
argument that the movement must have taken
some root in the country, or it could never have
made any way against the opposition of the
Roman Catholic clergy.
But after all, Englishmen have something else
to do than to listen to either praise or blame from
the other side of the Channel. To a wise Go.
imminent every outburst of disaffection, however
irrational, acts as a suthmons to a freeh investi-
gation whether there still remain any removable
causes of popular irritation ; and it is the mere
important that the Fenian agitation should be re-
garded in this light, because when it has once been