The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-18 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, SEPT. 18, 18G5.

It is not very often that we in England are
troubled by political arrests within our own domi-
nions. Whether in the immediate vicinity of the
British isles, in our Eastern empire, our Australa-
sian colonies, or our transatlantic provinces, we are
accustomed to find that the free circulation of speech
and thought so speedily disperses any threatening
clouds that. the general good sense of the body
politic is quite sufficient to restrain the eccentricities
or intrigues of the disaffected. Of course before
free speech can secure tranquillity, it is necessary
to premise good government and general laws, and
such happily is the case amongst ourselves, for,
although the law has indirectly some respect of persons
by reason of its exorbitant cost it makes no distinc-
tion legally. The poor duke as well as the poOr
tradesman may well shrink from a protracted law-
suit ; but it is not the fact of his rank which assists
or hinders him, but his poverty, and all classes
meet on common ground in abusing the law
and the lawyers. However, it seems that
we have still something to complain about, that the
grievances which remain unredressed in our social
systein. have 'become absolutely intolerable, that
there is no cure for them but the total overthrow Of
our clumsy constitution, and the erection on the site
vacated by the three old-fashioned estates of Queen,
Lords, and Commons, of the unadorned throne and
the unmeasured eloquence of a President and a
CongresS after the American fashion. Such, at least,
is the opinion of the brotherhood of the Fenians,.
who, not content with the cattle plague and the
cholera as the sensations of the season, are inclined
to provide us with another mental stimulant during
this glowing month of September. At all events,
they appear to have carried their political fanaticism
beYong the very wide range which English states-
men Nviaely permit to malcontents of all descriptions,
for the police have fairly suspended a weekly
Dublin paper,news
and twenty-two arrests have
been made in Dublin alone. These strong measures
are not likely to have_ been taken without very
positive evidence, and there is no doubt that the
news from America has tended. to
increase rather
to diminish the natural uneasiness felt by the
authorities. By the last mail we heard that meet-
ings of the Fenians are now being held in all parts
of the Northern States, and that large sums are
being collected and sent to Ireland as well as spent
in the purchase of arms in America. This report
is confirmed by, the statement that two of the
parties arrested at the People office were Americans,
though it is not authentically asserted that such was
the case. The first intimation that the public re-
ceived that strong measures were about
to be adopted was the visit of several
police constables to the office of the Irish People.
The house was. surrounded, the door broken in, and
several prisoners were. taken to the Castle. There
was a good deal of excitement about the affair, as
might have been expected, but no disturbanee, .and
even ;the arrests Which were subsequently made
in all parts of the City provoked no active opposi-
tion. We may, therefcire, reasonably conclude that
Fenianisrd has less diseiples than was supposed, and
that the conspiracy is not very widely spread or
deeply rooted. At the meeting of Cork magistrates,
held on Thursday, some curious revelations where
made. It seems that one gentleman was
stc.)ppedouthe h!ehway and bid to give the password.
Thanks to his horse he escaped without injury, but