The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-05 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT.

Several of our contemporaries return to-day to
Mr. Bright's speeches in Ireland. The Times sums up the
blessings which the hon. member would confer on the
country whose cause he was seeking to advance, in this
rise : —As to politics, increased discord and disunion.
through embittering the hostility between the Orange and
the catholic factions ; as to her economical position, the
diminution of a capital already too small, the introduc-
tion of government in the character of the landlord and
creditor of a discontented tenantry, the recommencement
of that ruinous subdivision of land from which she has
already suffered so terribly, and the creation of a surplus
population, which oan only be disposed of by famine or by
flight.
To the Post it is plain that Mr. Bright entertains ideas
of government which are wholly incompatible with the
established institutions of this country. The Irish people
cannot but be sensible that the influence which they are
urged to extend to the cause Mr. Bright is advocating
should be husbanded and guarded in their own interest,
and not lightly exchanged for a political promise which,
as they will not fail to perceive, has yet to be endorsed by
responsible statesmen.
The Herald taunts the hon. gentleman with the alleged

failure of the Dublin demonstrations. By the catholic
clergy his scheme of reform was listened to with
freezing °oldness, and the sympathies of the working men
before him were with the Fenian'. In the opinion of the
Herald, the annihilation of the Irish establishment would
be a vital blow at the good old constitutional principle
which unites church and state, and makes the civil power
the handmaid of religion, and the proposed alteration of
the land tenure would be fraught with grave evil to the
social status of the people.
The Telegraph contends that the connexion between the
state and the high church could be severed in six months
were parliament wise enough to pass the requisite decree.
With the two gnat religious communities voluntarily
maintaining their respective clergy, it would be absurd to
continue the collection of the tax on land now applied to
maintain the establishment. As to agrarian discontent,
what is really required is a law that would encourage
landlords to give long leases, by making ejectments dila-
tory and expensive in the case of tenants-at-will. In ad-
dition, as the Irish government now lends money to land-
lords for agricultural improvements, it might lend to
occupiers for the saute purposes, securing itself against
loss, in the cases of tenants-at-will, by making the loan a
charge upon the land itself.
The Slur thinks it much that an audience of Irish

mechanics has been brought to receive with enthusiasm au
Englishman who is labouring for the advancement and
happiness of England, to listen with patient attention to
his warning that in union and combination, hearty and
vigorous, lie the best hopes of the toiling masses on either
side of the channel. But far more remains to be done.
The current of popular thought and popular feeling in
Ireland must be turned into a new and a safer channel.
The utility of a representative reform must be taught to
every Irishman, and a knowledge of the benefits which
would accrue from this must be widely diffused. Mr.
Bright has laid the foundation of the union.