The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE. PUBLIC JOURNALS.

• TlMES.—Nothing can be better than the spirit in
which the state of Ireland has been debated in the
House of Commons. There has been no invective
and recrimination,
or flippancy in reply.
very little acrimony in statement,
The Irish people must ac-
knowledge that there is in the British Parliament a
readiness to listen to whatever complaints may be
brought before it, and to discuss them with a sin-
cere desire to do good. But we fear .they must
make the most of these good wishes, for until
some more !practical scheme for relieving their dis-
tresses be presented for consideration they will re-
ceive little but barren condo' tOL ee-
The debate last
night was remarkable for the a.ence of any serious
attempt to charge the alleged miseries of Ireland to
ImPerial misgovernment, and by the authority
which was arrayed on the other side. It is, indeed,
an advantage that at last we should have had a
comparatively fair and temperate discussion on
Irish affairs, in which the principal Irish members
and some of the leaders of each party in the House
have taken part, and that on the eve of a general
election everybody should have had his say on the
state of the country. The result is what has been
generally the case in these discussions. The vague
complainings which pass unchallenged on the hust-
ings or the platform fail to meet the test of a Par-
liamentary debate. Seldom, however, ,has this been
made so manifest as on the present occasion, for
with every year the knowledge which English mem-
bers possess of Ireland increases, they are capableof judging for themselves how far the evils com-
plained of really exist, how far they arise from tem-
porary and how far from abiding causes, and how
far it is in the power of legislation to remedy them.
One feature, too; in this debate deserves notice.
It is the clearness of conscience with which the
House of Commons comes to the consideration of
Irish questions. Both sides of the House know that
though there may be Irish discontent or Irish un-
happiness there are now no such things as Irish
wrongs. For thirty-six years the Liberal party has
laboured in removing everything of which the Irish-
man could complain with justice that .it restrained
his liberty, wounded his pride, or harmed his inte-
rests. The Conservatives have acquiesced in this
policy, and under the enlightened guidance of the
late Sir Robert Peel carried out the new principle of
equality of race and religion. The old animosities
may remain in the country. Orangeman, Catholic;
Loyalist, and Fenian may eye each other with dis-
like ; but the House of Commons can afford to listen
to each with calmness, knowing that. it has done to
the best of its power substantial justice between
them. This feeling was manifested in the reception
of Mr. Roebuck's speech. The cheers which greeted
his pithy observations could not have been given in
days when each Member felt that there were evils
in Ireland which man had caused, and which 'man
could remedy. Ireland may complain as usual
her Members may want the Shannon drained, or a
" Transatlantic steam company subsidized, or they
may complain of the Chief Secretary, and denounce
his pictures of prosperity as fictions ; but they can-
not seriously deny that " now at this present moment
Ireland is as well goyerned as any one of the three
kingdoms." The law is as well administered as in
England or Scotland ; the Judges are chosen impar-
tially from among Catholics and Protestants, and at
present the great majority are Catholics. Every
Irishman has just the same liberty in his own country
as-- an Englishman has:--here,- and when he comes
among us he stands on a perfect equality with the
natives of this island. The taxation in Ireland is not
heavier, we believe it is not so heavy in proportion
to its resources as in Great Britain. In fact, the
injustice of England to Ireland is a mere tradition,
which has come down from days when all varying
races and opposing creeds were systematically un-
just to each other ; and it lingers, because it -fur-
nishes an easy subject of declamation to popular
speakers, and an easy solution of political questions
to hasty thinkers. Happily, this topic is now so
worn out that there has been hardly any attempt to
use it in the late debate. England is not denounced,
she is only supplicated ; it is not the perpetration of
some wrong which is complained of, but only the
failure to perform an alleged duty. Parliament is to
express a regret at the falling off of Irish population,
and then to set.to work to " stimulate" the industry
of those who remain. This was the subject on which
the House of Commons had to pronounce an opinion
last night, and it is satisfactory to find that at last
this matter also is examined calmly and reasonably.
Twofhhitehchdeewhciasesiigogrhntaodof
futahthlleyehsmopusaeedecehwietasss
motion, and these were dnaallatguuarainnlpsrrtees
unpreju-
diced u
_e
dbweul iatyv tehr
toee
influenced by the opinion,
diced minds, that the evils of Ireland are owing not
to political but to physical
and
economical causes.
The only thing existing towhich • •
the political mal-
contents of Ireland can now point as an instance of
English injustice is the Established Church • and
though we desire not to say f t ones word in avour o this
unhappy institution, or
time shall come, it is simply
war off
sfate when its
h absurd to
the suppose that
it can really be in any w
of Ireland. If the incomea[a
of
t causeofthe
e eßish poverty
of rty
reverted
to the State, and the tithes of
all
the clergy to the
landowners, would this o
mere transfer of a few hun-
dred thousand pounds a
year have the slightest effect
on the condition of the people? It is only minds
blinded by prejudice or led -
away by the declama-
tions of agitators that
can believe in such a
thing. We now find a more discerning spirit
in the • inquiry. That Ireland is still unpros-
perous we must accept on the nearly unanimous
testimony of its representatives. Sir R. Peel
denies the fact ; but the succession of three bad
seasons gives reason for believing that there
has been an absolute retrogression in some parts of
the country, and that the prosperity which was bud-
ding some few years back has been for the present
blighted. But the more clearly it is shown that not
religion or party feud, or undue taxation, but simply
the rains and mists of the Atlantic have caused this
distress, the more easy is it for the House to come to a
decision. How can it formally express its regret for
the decrease of a population which is clearly too large
to be fed sufficiently? As Lord Palmerston observed
—the complaint a few years since was that popu-
lation was redundant. Certainly, before 1847 it
was commonly declared that Government ought
to aid in establishing the Irish peasant in the
Colonies so as to relieve the pressure on the supply
of food. What the nation could not do has been
done by the natural progress of events. The Irish
difficulty of twenty years since has to a great extent
disappeared now, because two millions and a half of
the Irish population have emigrated. Between five
and six millions still remain, but even these have a
struggle to subsist on the fruits of an agriculture
carried on in a most ungenial climate. The land can
only maintain its population by the growth of cereals,
and these it can never be trusted to bring to perfec-
tion. The great evil is the dependence of the popu-
lation on the land alone, which is itself the conse-
quence of the
lack of industrial enterprise. If Ire-
land spun or wove, if, instead of one Belfast, it had
half-a-dozen, there would be no flying of the people
from its shores. We cannot give a new climate; we
cannot change geological formations. Legislation
can do but little in this matter ; but if there be a
political cause which conduces to these troubles, it is
to be found in the violence which drives away capi-
tal from the shores of Ireland. Whether it be for
the draining of the Shannon or the establishment of
Munster town, the great obstacle
a factory in a
rise will be found in the fear
to private enterp
which haunts every man of combination to de-
prive him of hisprofits, or conspiracies to rob
him of his life. Englishmen may exaggerate the
lawlessness of the Celt, but undoubtedly they have
some cause for their distrust, which it will be for
the benefit of Ireland to diminish.
-

w.
HERALD.—The " History of Julius Caesar," from
the pen of no less a person than Napoleon 111., is a
work of such extraordinary interest that we cannot
wonder that every one is looking forward with
eagerness to the appearance in all the great
capitals of Europe simultaneously, and in almost
every civilised language, of a book which concerns
the present as much as the past. This natural
curiosity has been redoubled by the publication of
the preface, in which the Emperor is at some
pain to confirm the correctness of the surmise which
has been hazarded in many quarters, that it is his in-
tention to establish a parallel between Caesar and
the First Napoleon. The modern era has been pro-