The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-20 00:00:00

TSB PVUAN 01.7111.A0L

The Times considers that it would be unwise to
treat the above occurrence as a mere isolated outburst of
Irish mob violence. It proves that the • ill and ability to
conspire still exist, and that thou Irish Americans who
prowl about the streets of Irish cities, or English
cities which aro partially Irish, are in treasonable
communication with some of the Irish population, and
can count upon them to do • desperate deed.
Being driven from Ireland the Fenian leaders have
probably, for the most pert, retained to America, or
are biding their time in English or Scotch cities,
and should evidently be well watched and sternly dealt
with. The event of Wednesday will unsettle the minds of
thousands of impulsive people, and inspire them with •
1 hope of doing something they regard as chivalrous. In
places where Irishmen are to be found in large numbers,
the force at the disposal of the local magistracy should be
increased, and a few hundred cavalry distributed in towns
where the Fenian spirit is known to exist would put an end
to raids and rescues.

The existence of a public enemy in the heart of one of
our greatest cities, striking a sudden, swift, and successful
blow, constitutes intenigence, says the Daily Arrica, the
importance of which is increased by reflection. One
element of security disappears in the secrecy which
was maintained. It is a terrible thing that society should
be exposed to attacks like these, as sudden as the spring
of the tiger, and as cruel. The peculiar difficulty which
Fenianism offers is its intangibility; and the fact is that we
have not to do with a mere enterprise, but with a spirit
of inexorable and undying hostility which is contest to
forego success if it may only find an opportunity for pea-
sionate gratification. Gaining an inordinate idea of their
strength from this recent outrage, the leaders of the
Penises will turn it to profit, and possibly the Canadians
may be the first to suffer. If punishment has any
deterrent effect, now is the time to make use of it ; but
when the penalty of this law has been inflicted, our great
work will still remain to be done. Fenianism can be con-
quered nowhere but in Ireland, and perhaps the grievous
social and economical condition of that country will be
considered in a more earnest and practical spirit when it is
found that a policy which breeds injustice and discontent
in Ireland is avenged in the thoroughfares of our prin.
cipal towns.
The PIN{ thinks it is not creditable to the police that an
armed band &build have met in the outskirts of Manchester,
and have lain in wait for a consider►ble time to stop a
police van, and yet that no inkling of such a plot should
have reached their ears It seems that information of
the threatened rescue was communicated to the Irish Se-
cretary iu Dublin, but the warning which he thereupon
transmitted to the magistrates at Manchester arrived an
hour or so too late. Every man who took a part in the at-
tack on the police and in the rescue of the prisoners is as
much guilty of murder as the man who shot Sergeant Brett
dead. This is the law, and if that law is enforced, those
who have violated it will have little title to sympathy.
More insuperable than any other exigency arising from
this deplorable Manchester event is the necessity, says
the Herald, of tracing down to its source, of con.
netting leader with followers, of mapping out the rani.
fications of the sanguinary conspiracy which has developed
itself into a crime so terrible. And then, if the whole of
the mystery be explored, and the hands engaged, indirectly
as well ae directly, in the assassination be exposed, the
action of the law cannot be too swift, cannot be too ex-
emplar,.
The nlegraph emphatically declares that any attempt
to confer the dignity of a political offence on this criminal