The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-24 00:00:00

ihe enireoo.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
liwartiannontB Intended for " Tbo inproou" London Evening
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•lock on the day of publication.

HATMARKIT.
Tutu Emma, THE RIVALS. Melnik Buckstooe, Moen-
deb. Howe, Braid, Rogers, !c.: Mesdames Chippendale, Burke,
Deli's. 'BiwaHans. itc.—AN UTTIM PEE-VERSION 01, THE
3BlL:AND.—Concluding with A KI&3 Di TILL DARK.

PRINCE/In.
Tars Erwin. GUY MANNEWICI. Mews. T. Bartleman.
C. WNA 0. Hooey, J. G. Shove, sad MI. Rebecca Iseacc—A
CONCERT.—And A LITTLE PLIRTATION.—Commeace at 7.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE
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to-Mo now—Moraine. lb. 3820—....Atkim000, lb. Ohs.

CHRISTMAS-DAY.

To-morrow being Chris tmas-day, the Express
will not be published.

LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24.

THE first impression which arises from a re-
view of the great Fenian crime at Clerkenwell is
that the history of conspiracies does not record a
more conspicuous failure. Apparently its authors
have not accomplished a single one of their ends.
BURKE and CASEY are more closely guarded than
ever : a feeling of revulsion from the terrible
aspects of the crime, aided by the offer of
a substantial reward, has brought forward
informers, and led to numerous arrests ; and,
above all, the national spirit of the commu-
nity has been inflamed to a pitch which
makes all toleration of anything resembling
Fenianism simply impossible. Not only have all
classes of Englishmen closed their ranks and
moved up nearer to one another, but an excitement
against all that is Irish is spreading amongst us.
Persona accustomed to observe the ways of our
working men assure us that the position of the
Irish labourer and mechanic in our large towns is
becoming extremely uncomfortable. Employers
look upon them with suspicion, and their fellow-
workmen regard them with distrust. Rumours
of new outrages are spread, and discoveries of
what look like silent preparations for further
dreadful deeds of bloodshed aro reported. In
vain the peaceful Irish protest their horror of
aeta so diabolical. They gain no credence ; and
as day succeeds day the prospect of an up-
rising against the Irish among us becomes
more disquieting. Looking at these facts, and
their evident bearing upon the present and
future relations of the English and Irish people,
we are inclined to ask whether it may not be
that this, after all, is the very thing that
the organizers of this wretched plot have
been working for. We acquit the miserable
wretches, whom it was reserved for a VAUGHAN to
unearth, of any far-reaching schemes of action :
such as they are made to be the ignorant tools of
men of greater scope and deeper policy. Whether
the movements of Fenisnism are directed from Ire-
land or from America, its cunning leaders have never
shown any regard fur the suffering of the poor
people whose patriotic sentiments they have
abused ; if it appeared to them necessary for
the success of their ultimate designs to adopt mea-
sures which would expose the Irish in England to
the utmost inconvenience, and even distress, we
may be sure they would not shrink from doing so
from any feelings of compassion for those whom
they claim as their countrymen.
A very little reflection will show that whatever
may be the desires of the Fenian leaders, all their
actions must be subordinate to one chief aim, that
of effecting a permanent breach between the
English and Irish people, and making it as
complete and wide as possible. Whatever and
whoever makes Englishmen and Irishmen distrust
one another does their work. To make the Irish-
man as much disliked in England as the Hebrew
was in Egypt ; to associate him with our recollec-
tions of calamity and terror, was a point to be
gained at any expense of suffering. The advantage
of this policy was that it was one in the execu-
tion of which the assistance of a large class of
Englishmen, obeying only their blind instincts,
might be relied on. Nature has made the two
countries to be useful to each other, and the bonds
of interest are not to be cancelled in a day ; but
if, by the acts of a few Irishmen, the hostility
of the English people could be kindled against
them as a race and people, and be stimulated to
express itself in deeds amounting to persecution ;
if Irishmen as such were pursued with suspicion
and hatred, and made to feel that they could
no longer expect common justice at our hands,
a very important point would be gained. Ap-
parently this step on the appointed road may
very soon be reached. The occasion calls
for the exercise of reason and self-control
Now, more than ever, it is necessary to punish the
guilty and protect the innocent. Crusades are
barbarous and obsolete, but a crusade to
be conducted in the interior of civilised society
would be the moat barbarous of all. And it would
be the most foolish. Suppose that the Irish in
England are not, as a whole, of so sound a loyalty
as we could wish, while they are at work they are
at least under superintendence. To turn them
into the street would be to throw them bodily
into the hands of the Fenians, with a spirit exas-
perated by a sense of injustice. The wiser course
is to encourage them to remain at work, and let
them see that, while we are able to detect and
resolved to punish crime, so long as they conduct
themselves well they will not fare the worse for
being Irishmen.

Tun resignation of the Mr:fauna Administra-
tion after the rejection of Signor Borrwaannti's
Order of the day would be regarded in all constitu-
tional countries u a matter of course. That it
should have been thus precipitated is nevertheless