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

AMERICAN IDOLS.

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1 All mankind seem to be imbued with a certain
amount of veneration, which must have a vent in one
direction or another. In this country a good deal of
it passes off in the shape of ioyelty and attachment to
the person of the sovereign; but our worthy cousins
on the other siess of the Atlantic, nut having any
such object Of regard, seem to need a succession of
Popular idols on whom they may expend that
excess of hero-veneration which would otherwise
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 RosEuth, a woman of deserved cele-
brity like Jenny Lind, or of equally deierved no-
toriety like Lola Montes, seems almost equally
able to attract public attention .and homage. If
we may credit the last accounts from New York,
they have now got a new idol,—who seems
&stifled to obliterate the recollection of those who
have just preceded him,—in the person of one of
the heroes of that revolutionary movement in Ireland
which terminated its glorious career in Widow Mur-
phy's cabbage-eterden. insurrections have been dis-
tinguished at diffeieht tiMes by Veriuue qualities ; one
may be characteriied as Lluody, another well planned,
a third as unfortunate; and any of these may reason -
abl.r9'ise
the v f
the
(Paslltieeteut'rgavih ageid in them to some cele-
brity. Bat ch distinguished the Irish
movement of 1848. from all others was that of being
supremely ridiculous and contemptible. A number of
foolish, 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 cf Ireland—the fact being all the while; that
they had neither men, nor arms, nor money, nor the
smallest modicum of judgment or conmaon sense to
use them if they had them, and were just as well
with the Go-
prepared to conquer the empire of Russia, or to trans-
port themselves to the moon, as to cope
vernment of England.
celebrity in such a struggle was by
Now, the way in which a man could acquire any
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 wee the reverse of a wise man, as he
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 then those of a
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
rpiat eiso nins it nh
8 colony glory
well as to tempt him to prolong his residence there,
following
dan. d we cannot say that we should feel very great
and
db
tehmer
iseppointment if we were to learn that his com-
his example. Not only would the autho-
eilftoervteudnoefhtande all
troublesuce
look-
ing
after them, but mannerth of their departure
eoefdedinwould effectually preventfrom returning to
Ireland, where they might againem
. prove miachevious to
themselves, if they have not wit enough to be dan-
gerous to other people. In the United States, the
only harm that would be likely to befal themwould
be, that of being rendered more thoroughly ridiculous
than their conduct at home has made them.
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 aur 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 urther trouble with them ; but the fellows
who have been sent to Derby geol 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 end 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 es much applause as
they like, without causing the slightest anger or ir-
ritation in this country. We dare say that the
Englith Government would have Much the same
feeling with ourselves on this subject. Indeed if we
may believe Mr. Meagher'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.