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

AMERICAN IDOLS.

All mankind seem to he imbued with a cert.sis s
amount of veneration, which must have a vent in (trust
direction or another. In this country a good deal or
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 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. Almostl
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,
I patriot like Kossuth, a woman of deserved cele-
brity like Jenny Lind, or of equally deserved no-
toriety like Lola Montes, seems 4almost equally
able to attract public attention and homage. If
tney credit the last accounts from -New York,
they bave now got a Lew idol,----who seems
destined to 0b1i4,-r.2,:e the r,coliention of those who
hove just preceded him —in the person of one of
the heroes of that revole.' tionary movement in Ireland.
which terminated its glorious Career in Widow Mar-
phy'e cablonge-gsrden. Insurrections have been dis-
tinguished at different times by verious qualities ; one
lapv be characterised no bloody, w.other vr-11 olannet,
a third as unfortunate.; and ' "
any of these rnay reason
ably raise the parties eogng.,-(i in thorn to some vele--
brity. But the only feature which 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 of Ireland—the fact being all the while, that
they bad 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 welt
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 he
must himself bave 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
rational being. This conduct baying 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 1 This Parole according
to his own account he seems to have broken ; and hay-
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-
passions 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-
ivvn
ngnladfteerwffthbneetr.m;
e,
theymanner
returning Ireland,themselves, might agaeinmprorovme mischevious to
gerous to oitthetrbeypehoapviee. noitnwthite eunnoiutegdh
stotabtees,clatbn;
only harm that would be likelyt:o befal them would
be, that of being rendered mor
moroueglithly ridiculous
bearing an acecmou. nt of a
than their conduct at borne 113 a,
We happen to remember
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 urther 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. 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 had been
safely effected.—Portsmouth Times.