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

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES. —Nothinc, can be better than the spirit in
which the state of 'lreland has been debated in the
House of Commons. There-has been no invective
and recrimination, very little acrimony in statement,
or flippancy in reply. 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 condolence. The debate last
night was remarkable for the absence of any serious
attempt to charvs the alleged miseries of Ireland to
Imnerial misgoy o.7ament, and by the authority
which was arrayoirthe 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 sapable
of 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 liot 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 governed 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 Bri6in. 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
th© 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.
The decision of the house was but the natural result
motion, and these were m'
of the weight of the speeches delivered against the
minds, that the evils
which has gradually mad
floufelrnceeladndbyartehoewoinpinginonot,
made its way to all unpreju-
diced English injustice is the toEswtahibel
to political but to physical and economical causes.
The only thing existing
mal-
contents of Ireland can now •
time shall come, it is' Eh
stablished
pcoilimrticnahl ;
and point as an instance of
though we desire not to sa
of Ireland. If the any
one word in favour of this
toy .
to the State, and thet tithesway
unhappy institution, orward off its fate when its
simply absurd to suppose that
it can really be in theof
acause
eo f
clergyt he povertyto the
on the condition of tahe
income of all the Bishops reverted
landowners, would mere transfer of. a few hun-
dred thousand pounds year havele thelt sislightest
ieffect
ds
Lionsg. of agitators tantox
blinded by prejudice or people?
dopaway by the onlyel na-
fithnadt
acaninorbeeldieisvceerninin
gsucshpiriat
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
geological formations. Legislation
butlittle in this matter ; but if there be
.a
political
to be found in the violence which drives away capi-
taldocannotcause which conduces to these troubles, it is
change
from the shores of Ireland. Whether it be for
the draining of the Shannon or the establishment of
a factory in a Munster town, the great obstacle
will be found in the fear
man of combination to de-
prive him of his
profits, or conspiracies to rob
him of his life. Englishmen may exaggerate the
lawlessness of the Celt, but undoubtedly they have
wtohi privatethhan ntesnteervperrisye
some cause for their distrust, which it will be for
the benefit of Ireland to diminish.
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-