The Express.
London, England, 1848-12-26 00:00:00

d.
ninolmetamerminomttoiof 04:1.40:41.101;00:tdb):
particular facts or statements e xis's, such a discerning.
vs
r, huffy
tion may be easy ; but where a latent purpose prevail
"rici:en:tt Pi
ts
medvi bitoedlicitetbi;:nnepedt.duirrnajotlltw‘iist:e rebbt hyysenth
wiorntheii
partial and premature publicised] have frequently
the
judges. We do not impugn the int-neon that e•-•
be tried t but we are ittliasd to think that it weed
have been better had they confined their probibitionto
commentary direct or indirect, and thus poised
public attention to tl.e ir estimable value of full, fair,
and colourless reporting.
Nut even the novelty of this initiatory ineidett,
howev r, nor all the powers of abuse and denancie
tion which have been thee by called into activity,
seem to have prods,,. d any perceptilie effect upon the
public mind. No symptom of popular anger, nor lodged
of popular concernehas been displayed in favour oft •
ci-derent editor of the Notion, or against Isis juke,
The Irish people of every class are evidently geld
the se stem of alternate sett:Net ing and epeeist plate
Me, bullying and quibble g, by which the firm.,
who ranted about " physical force" kept thrower,*
for a time in queetisnahl.. notoriety. 'I hi- hollowcaar,
egotism, and puerevy of this noisy and turbulent
clique has happily been demonstrated by their ova
miserable admissions and noire miserable evukes;
and any attempt during the lifetime of the present
generation to trade similar elements of mischief in
Ireland would infallibly tw met with loud and scornful
laughter.
In truth we are m. re than ever confirmed in the
belief, that at no per od were the disciple,, of MIL
CURL and MLAGIIIIR formelable. Their
nonsense was re et mieeense : it did not in general,
go down. The working classes in Ireland, and tame.
chilly the peasantry, a keen of insight into character,
and shrewd of judge . • se to political and salad mat-
ters that professedly affect their condition. Thoroughly
imbued with suspicion • d they know hoe
to listen to all who pi eff them guidance and con.
eel ; but they likewiee it. ow well bow to discriminate
between those who are wnetht of tear confidence and
those who are not. treils s ULT. could have led then
anywhere, not by hi. 41. tio• nor—that wan but s
means—but by the i, Hu. nee of the filed belief
in his sagacity, foe-fight, and common erne,
O'BRIEN could not et. Ltd. any considerable flambe
for a single week to below tee be atm flag, became,
amid all their discontent and d'ssfferion, they In.
atinctively discern• d the incapacity, Ihlly, and weak.
raw of the man, and of id. et ntimental and meanie.
making staff.
From Hest to last " 11, tang Irelandism" vss
crotchet and a cone, e. I was, at starting, to
attempt at dandy item erste ; and its " sae depart.
moue' of which it lose d to spout a-el tang,
was so engrosai d vi it 'he care of pee.
ning picturesque urtiferme, as to be wholly nn.
able to provide arm.. ne ammunition. The whole
scheme was one ?greet us ..ffectation; and thereon
few deceptions more e,ietly .e m through than polite
cal coxcom'ry. Helve• the burlesque ending of
the mock revolution it. Jury last. Wh,t had bet
prophesied in rhapsody. slid was to have been moue
plished by• riot, epperririatelv ended in a shabby rout
When taken at their Wt.ll it, testead of a numerous w
a powerful facticei n ady to do ha tie for country and
for kindred, nothing eenld he discovered bat a mall
and insignificant knot el precocious boys and half.
cracked men. But over chi• people or any important
class or section of tee petpie, it is plain that. they
never had acquired 111, hold. They lacked, in
truth, every attrthue by which ascendancy
is gained and preserved. They had ammo
11,cm, neither religion enmigh to win the cm
Hence of the clerct, peneeru enough to give any
assurance to the middle Ideates, nor weeded sympe
thy enough with the real wants and wrongs of the
multitude to attract or attach them. They theorised,
strutted, and got up political theatrical'.
While this lasted they were talked of as all
oddities and shows are wont to he. In dell
acd disheartening tian-e, they afforded matter of
gossip, curiosity, and ezeit' ment of a certain kind.
Weil° there was no oiler to be had, people were
found to pay for it—riot because they considered it
good, but because they were offered uo better. When
it ce-ased, nobody seemed to 'nuttier or care.
forArelrebelanttder
?thingstycon counsels in
pam away—
Youngstore Ire:sadism is extinct. What a to maw
Next ? Cajolery and *val.:geeing-0o rival ways of
f,and—have earl, in turn been tried, sad
found wanting. The tayuLtr party in Ireland has
achieved and accompliehrd reithing, during the be
ten years. In all frtendithete, but in faithtisheas, vs
are compelled to add, they have ei ri Italy and soberly
made no attempt to accoetpliett anything. Surely, a
is time to try sums other ,entra- than tha disamers
tee which hitherto hart left every practical grievance
uierotred
pardreynsedas,itawnads evertw, .
nt
..pov.,pur,lar,urnielit in as tench

Tin apology which is wads fur the purchased
commissions in the army is the same excuse that has
been urged for every polltieal defect—the system
works well. And this apology, is illustrated by et-
enriles the most opp e and even antagonistic.
Now, it is said, that the practice eecutes gentlemen
for officers ; then, it is p ir.terl tar, how under its ope•
ration privates become majors arid artistes. At one
time it secures the British army from democracy; at
another it secures democracy advancement is the
British army. This apologist sweets that without the
system the aristocracy e oifol Conte to be soldiess;
that apologist argues thnt by its iisstrumentality the
army ie officered by the middle ranks of misty.
With this system, it is contended, the British army
heat NAPOLEON'. beet Moor, forgetful that during
the last war the system of parches, was very much
in abeyance. Without this sv.tem, where, it li
added, should we have beam daring the temnt ludas
campaigns, regardless of the fact that the advent of
every new regiment in India is marked by sales of
commissions? In short, :here is no end to the shard
illustrations which are unceasiegly given of this absurd
and mischievous entails.
Nobody denies the merits of 'he British army; on
the contrary, every one is proud ig its me its and of
its achievements. Bat its virtu-s were as rat, Ind
its victories as glorious, before the systeinof pasehme
was known as they have ever been "km Tam bane
their origin in some hing deeper and far more cre-
ditable to us than any stet paltry and insufficient
came as rank dep ndei t money. The mi n who
Bret into the service by purchase, and who rhe by
purchase when they are in it, are linglishinea, and
possess the common el nracterietice of their race.
Poaseseing these they sa..eted iu great emergenchies.
Success, however, is mit the cormequence of their
length of purse or their leeigtb of anew?) but of
something superior to either; tnough natter parte
uor descent is an uhimportaut Blom eat in a mans
worldly career. They are succeostal as soldier, whits
the nation requires their services, toe the annereasta
that those vulgar spinners are cut- isrul at Man
che..
ter, or that those disagreeable wesval are suceelial
at Paisley—'or the acme cause that our sailors are
even more suoceaslul at ars. Just as we all managed
to live, some of us, and even to prosper, in 1441 e.
corn laws, so does the British army entiquer in settee,
notwithstanding commiesiens are bu' mwtets of bar
gain and sale. And exactly as we are all now in
much better plight without corn laws than 0
would have been wi.h th-ni, so the artily would be
infinitely better commanded and much more effluent
without than with purchase. It wadi, st all irate,
cease to conquer " under the cold shade of ensue
cmey."
The notion that our army is commanded by
men because of this spas in, is the pietist -slidot
The officers of all armies stand in th,: same relation
to the manners and habits of the best
iiiitiotml society, as do ofil• era in the British army 10
British society. It' they have tewer of the chars&
teristim of .eutlemen then British officers, kt bfr
cause their national standards of what constitute'
gentleman ate loser than Tire. Prile,i ffieell
Clit on the floor ; B, Web (Afters don't ; but in Prue
.ian society expeotoration is not the inexpiable offense
it is with us. And the way to banish thus bad pr
tier from the Prussian army is rot sorely to make its
officer,. pay for their oomusieeionn. Offieere in the In'
dMn army are gentlemen, though they don't buy their
wey step by step. And Prince ALBERT WINO,' •
gentleman, thou,rh he did not obtain the baton ors
field--marshal or the.cinumand of a regiment by melt°
of parohase. We may yet have a command, rote
chief of the British Army who never paid a doit for
single commission. Will the service be in any doe
then ?
'inn truth realiy is that this system of enrchllie
works very badly. It seduces young men ol 1004