The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-21 00:00:00

AMERICAN L DOLS.
All mankind seem to be im tied with a certain
amount of veneration, which muK t have a vent in one
direction or another. In this co,untry a good deal of
it passes off in the shape of loyalty and attachment to
the person of the sovereign; but .our worthy cousins
on the other side of the Atlantic, not having any
such object of regard, seem to nee& a succession of
popular idols on whom they may expend that
excess of hero-veneration which would otherwia e
render them uncomfortable. Not by any means that
these idols need to be very heroic people. Almost
any peculiarity, whether of celebrity or:notoriety, by
which a man or woman is distinguished from the rest
of man or woman kind, seems to answer the purpose
about equally well. A novelist like Dickens, a
Patriot like Kossuth, a woman of deserved cele-
brity like Jenny Lind, or of equally deserved no-
torliety like Lola Montes, seems almost equally
nh
they have
now got
thae r aece
wab ma
.e e to attract public attention and homage. If
y credit the last accounts from New York,
un stined to o
have just preceded him ' ' ,—in the person of one of
the heroes of that revolutionar (71. 1e ci tdi oo In' —6
fwtblaao s e seew alh
os
y movement in Ireland
which terminated its glerious career in Widow Mur-
phy's cabbage-garden. Insurrections have been dis-
tinguished at different times by various qualities ; one
may be characterised as bloody, another well planned,
a third as unfortunate; and any of these may reason-
ably raise the p3rtiea engaged in them to some cele-
brity. But the only featurc Which distinguished the Irish
mwenaent of 1848 from all others was that of being
supremely ridiculous and contemptible. A number of
foo!ish, prating, empty-headed men talked and wrote
themselves into the belief that they were prepared for
a rebellion which would expel the Saxon from the
shores of Ireland—the fact being all the while, that
they had neither men, nor arms, nor money, nor the
smallest modicum of judgment or common sense to
use them if they had them, and were just as well
prepared to conquer the empire of Russia, or to trans-
port themselves to the moon, as to cope with the Go-
vernment of England.
Now, the way in which a man could acquire any
celebrity in such a struggle was by showing himself
more conspicuously foolish and absurd than his asso-
ciates ; and in this way, most assuredly, " Meagher
of the sword" was abundantly distinguished. Poor
Smith O'Brien was the reverse of a wise man, as be
must himself have discovered long before this time ;
but he seems to have been a model of prudence and
discretion when compared with Mr. Meagher, whose
speeches and actions were far more like those of a
man just escaped from a mad-house than those of a
i rational being. This conduct having naturally and
necessarily brought him under the purview of the
law, Mr. Meagher was conveyed at the public ex-
pense to New South Wales, where he was allowed to
remain at liberty on giving his word of honour that
he would not leave the country! This parole according
to his own account he seems to have broken ; and hav-
ing thereby succeeded in making his escape from the
colony, he comes invested with additional claims and
recommendations to the esteem and admiration of the
people of the United States.
Well ! we have no objection at all to the adulation
which they are lavishing upon Mr. Meagher. Having
got him amongst them, we hope they will use him so
well as to tempt him to prolong his residence there,
and we cannot say that we should feel very great
disappointment if we were to learn that his com-
panions in glory and misfortune had all succeeded in
following his example. Not
only would the autho-
rities in the colony be relieved of the trouble of look-
ing after them, but the manner of theirdeparture
would
would effectually preventh them from returning to
y g
Ireland, where they might t again prove rnischevious to
themselves, if they have
n:
gerous to other people. noltnwthite enough to be dan-
only harm that would be likely to
be
nrite
al cl States, the
be, that of being rendered more thoroughly
n the.md. would
than their conduct at home has made them iculous
We happen to remember hearing an account of a
very violent attack made upon some gamekeepers in
Derbyshire, by a large gang of poachers, some three
or four of whom were afterwards captured and pu-
nished, whilst the remainder, though known to the
keepers, made their escape and left the neighbourhood.
Somebody conversing on the subject with one of
the keepers some months afterwards happened
to say that it was much to be regretted that men
guilty of such an outrage should have escaped
punish-
ment; when the keeper said, " Quite the contrary, I
assure you. It is much better as it is. We could
find the men anytime if we chose to look for them,
but we know better. With such a charge hanging
over them, they dare not come here, and we shall
have no further trouble with them ; but the fellows
who have been sent to Derby gaol will be out again
shortly, and then we shall have them upon our hands
again. I wish they had all run away." And we
wish, in like manner, and for a similar reason, that
Mr. Smith O'Brien and his fellow-convicts would
all contrive to escape, and present themselves to the
admiring citizens of the United States, who may
give them as many dinners and as much applause as
they like, without causing the slightest anger or ir-
ritation in this country. We dare say that the
English Government would have much the same
feeling with ourselves on this subject. Indeed if we
may believe Mr. Meagber's account of his escape, the
officer who had charge of him seems to have been by
no means anxious to prevent it, and was most pro.
bably very glad when he found that it bad been
safely effected.—Portsmouth Times.