The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-13 00:00:00

,
THE

Ireland. It contains no provisions cesitemphiting
the execution of any warrant issued under ft b
e,
the Irish Channel. And it is, erefore,
extremely doubtful whether any such novel and
extraordinary warrant falls within the rule which
was established in contemplation of warrants is-
sued ;1 ordinary prosecution of the law, and sub-
ject to every constitutional objection and remedy
in the place where they were issued.
But whether this legal doubt be well founded
or not, there can, we apprehend, be no doubt that
the Legislature could not have contemplated ex-
tending in this way the suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act to England. We in England are in no
peril of outbreak, and if we have any Irish con-
spirators among us we can afford to try them in
due form of law. If we cannot find any evidence
against them, we can afford to let they
dangm
us
continue
at large. Here, at least, theynoero
while doing nothing which can be proved against
them. If they go to Ireland voluntarily, and
there become dangerous, they will then have sub-
jected themselves to the consequences, and may
be imprisoned on bare suspicion. But it is enough
to convince us that Parliament cannot have in-
tended to sanction their arrest here on an Irish
warrant., followed by their transportation to Ire-
land and imprisonment there without legal remedy
or protection, if we reflect that such a rule, sup-
posing it to exist, must apply as much to English-
men as to Irishmen. Any man, whatever his
nation, his rank, or his innocence, may by this
principle be arrested on an Irish Government
warrant, on mere suspicion of " treasonable prac-
" tires "—a term vague enough to include any-
thing from declamation to drilling—he may then
be carried off to Ireland, and there locked up for
months on no evidence at aIL This is the actual
pretension which Dizirres case sets up. Such a
stretch of prerogative will have a bad effect, not
in Ireland alone. If Parliament ted in, it must
make the Imperial and the public
more reluctant to grant or continue powers capable
of so unexpected a construction. For their own
sakes and ours, we must trust that Government
-ill see the danger, and repress the unwise zeal of
officers.

Tilt letter of Mr. SORTON PARRY, the steam-
ship outfitter, of Camomile-street, which will be
found in another column, ruthlessly destroys the
best piece of news we and our contemporaries
printed yesterday, and cuts short a story which
with its natural developments might reasonably
have been expected to have " run" at least
to the end of the week. It is truo that the
war steamer Bolivar has been seized in the Med-
way ; that all the suspicious circumstances related
by our Chatham correspondent were quite as he
described them ; that large quantities of gun-
powder, shot, and shell, with Blakely guns,
swords, revolvers, and rifles, were found on board ;
and that the ship is still held by a strong guard of
Royal Marines, and closely watched by the police.
But the short and simple explanation of all
this is, that the Bolivar has been built
for the Government of the United States of
Columbia, under the sanction of the SECRETARY
of STATE for Foamier; AFFAIRS. Her duly com-
missioned Commander is Captain Lima, who has
prc-ented himself before Admiral Sir BALDWIN
WALKER, and the whole transaction appears to be
perfectly regular. We wish the Admiralty better
luck next time, but they could hardly expect to be
so fortunate as to catch a Fenian steamer—if there
is a Fenian steamer—in the Medway. We hope
the naval authorities w :ll not feel discouraged by
a first failure, but continue the exercise of a vigi-
lance which is highly creditable to them.