The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-20 00:00:00

to

people living on the spot. The transit of the judges
and the Crown officials from 'Dublin to Cork was/
in fact, a brilliant military manoeuvre. As the train
carried its precious legal wares from one garrisoned
town to another, a pilot engine rushed on before
lest at some lonely spot in the hostile territory the
permanent way might have been broken up, and 3
fearful gulf should yawn to swallow the whole Irish
executive bodily ; the carriages were crowded with
armed policemen, and at every important station
along the line the constabulary were called out
force. When the legal party had providen;
tially arrived in Cork they were conveYeuti
through the city by a regiment of Dragoons, ara
we read that the judges' lodgings are guarue
day and night by considerable bodies of troops
i
whose numbers have been doubled since a Placard
was posted in the town, denouncing Judge Nogh
as " Norbury the Second !" We learn also that led
Court-house where the trials are conducted is fill
with constables to the exclusion of the public, 311
its approaches are blocked up by soldiery, while all
army of 4,000 infantry and cavalry, supported hYt
several batteries of artillery, are scarcely suffielein;,
to keep the peace of the city. Such a spasme"-
exhibition of executive vigour, however necessall
in the circumstances to which the country has been
reduced, can have no other ultimate effect than i°
bring the Government which resorts to it into con-
tempt. Such is the result of the policy that has fer
years traded in treason. To curry favour with eer-
taM classes of the rabble all displays of disaffeetil
have been winked at, while every exhibition 0.
loyalty to the British Crown, and affection for nrt-
tish institutions, was coldly received, or even disi"
countenanced. Rebels have seldom been prosecute'
at all, or have been prosecuted with half-hearte•d
'
sincerity, and when Convicted and condemned their
sentences have in most instances been almost in;
stantly remitted. Agitators have been encouraget
to talk and to print all kinds of sedition amongst
the people, till the latter have learnt to believe that
,
they are the most down-trodden race on the faze °'
the earth, and that resistance even to death is 3
sacred duty. It is one thing in the case of a pori-
lation innately loyal to prove the power and rag'
nanimity of the Government by showing that it can
afford to treat with contempt a few small traitors;
and even in. Ireland a lofty scorn of little enemies'
and a high-handed impartiality, honestly adhereut
to and firmly carried out, would no doubt have s'A
last made the Government that used it popular s°'
respected. But it is quite another thing ill 5
country where people have an hereditary Pre"
disposition for rebellion—an instinctive tendenel
to defy all laws whatever—that those vih°
preach discontent should be encouraged, and that'
those who openly proclaim revolution should
be suffered to go unpunished. This is in fact to
develop sedition into revolt, and to rear the rnallni;
kin conspirator into the full-grown rebel. M scf,'
get a better insight into the real origin of this 11
fortunate Fenian movement we wonder more a°
more with what judicial blindness the Irish Goverwo
ment can have been smitten, that a conspiracy sf,
wide spread and formidable should have been su
fered to permeate all the lower ranks of soeleol
without the smallest notice having been taken an
its existence, until it has been allowed to attain
importance that has rendered the ordinary aPPea
antes of executive justice insufficient, and has Pl.e
.the two principal cities of the island virtually, en
state of siege, We shall be curious to learn 14'4,
Parliament assembles what explanation will hei.„,-8,
tempted for such impolicy. Nor are the Irish
cutive much more fortunate in dealing with Fen'3
ism in its ripeness than they were in treatillgoe
during its growth. The acquittal of APAffertY, 0,
first prisoner tried at Cork, was an amusing b,
stance of the total breakdown of the legal eos-0,
but it has without doubt produced the worst ,P°3s
Bible moral effect in that city. This individual pis{
native of Ohio, in America, and therefore'
So
course, an alien owing no respect to her MajestYuci
long as he kept clear of her dominions. He s‘,3l,rs,
from New York for Ireland laden with rev°,-1
bowie knives, and Fenian despatches, but as he li
his luggage were seized before he toucked 131:1"of
territory he was not afforded an opportunity
committing any of those overt acts of treasq Iv be
he no doubt contemplated whilst in America ;the
was nevertheless solemnly brought up for trial, 4,0
indictment was duly drawn, and found by
grand jury. But when the prisoner had bee,,
arraigned and the case of the Crown had Pejo
fully gone into, the judge who presided Wet
it necessary to call upon the prosecuting. eetrileit
to explain how they meant to sustain
indictment. They seem to have been quite inji
by surprise, and to have been unable to give, my
explanation at all. The prisoner was accordle't'Do
acquitted. It is scarcely possible to exaggerllteal
evil which such a fiasco, combined with the 11:1`og
previous misfortunes of the Government darelont
these state trials, may effect amongst the good!, of
of Cork if they are really in the frame of min pll
which the Governmant seems to suspect thew. 0,05
the whole, this wretched Fenian business 5e...a1l
almost the saddest of the many evils that from eird,
to epoch misgovernment has inflicted upon Ireilloy,
At a moment when, for the first time iu a ten ell
prosperity seemed about to visit her shores' Dg
the beneficial effects of emigration were begill,i'iot
to be felt; when a series of good seasons had usta;
the labours of the peasant with plentiful IlarLeroi
when crime was rapidly diminishing ; when rote li~l►
energy seemed about to revive, and even Oboe
capital was almost tempted to venture illt°cof•
country ; then the masses of the people were went
fered to drift into rebellion. The Irish Govern
were, on their own showing, long aware of theoo
ture and extent of the movement, yet, either I' 00
folly or from weakness, they allowed it to g° for
and gather its present formidable proportions to
i
utterly powerless as is this Fenian conspiract 0
achieve the objects its leaders had proposed) 0,01
yet sufficiently important to do perhaps some °loll
physical mischief, and certainly to destroy, f°,ll:ociAl,
a year to come, all that sense of security anu,looo
confidence which are the first conditions of lift"
progress.