The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The secondary symptoms of Fenianism
are now setting in, and promise to be not less dis=
tressing and more intractable than the original at-
tack. The " conspiracy of bagmen" has collapsed,
but a sense of distrust and insecurity has been effec-
tually diffused throughout Ireland, and long after
the "Omen of 1865" have been consigned to some
lower region of the same limbo as the "men of
1848," the effects of this fatuous and purposeless
movement will be felt by the whole country. If the
evidence already taken has revealed the want of any
reasonable aim amongst its leaders, of military or
political strength among its adherents, and of that
dash of true patriotism in its spirit which has en-
nobled many a wild and abortive insurrection, it has
also disclosed the extent of its popularity in the
lower ranks of Irish society. It is consolatory to
know that neither the peasantry, nor the farmers,
nor the artisan population of the towns, nor the well-
to-do shopkeepers are, as a body, Fenians, and it is
most satisfactory to find the priests ranged with the
landlords on the side of order. But then it is dis-
couraging to hear that among the Fenians already
in custody are persons of unsuspected character be-
longing to all these classes, and especially to that of
young employe's in shops and offices, while the in-
fluence of the priests, so powerful when exerted
against the Government, has proved inadequate to
check the spread of these revolutionary doctrines.
The most remarkable, because the rarest, feature of
Fenianism is the quiet and businesslike manner in
which it has been organised and propagated. There
has been, of course, a vast deal of noisy bravado on
the part of its younger recruits, but the secret springs
of its elaborate machinery have been worked by no
unskilful hand. Within the last few weeks the in-
telligence communicated to the Government by the
informers has been verified in most essential re-
spects. The very sort of men for whom the police
were on the look out have duly made their ap-
pearance by the American steamers. They seldom
bring with them any papers which are worth
seizing, they commit no overt acts of treason, and
they successfully disguise the bearing of soldiers
with the air of inoffensive civilians. There they
are, however, with no good account to give of them-
selves, ready for mischief as soon as they are wanted.
The same generalship is shown in the distribution
of arms. No large depots have been discovered,
but here, there, and everywhere five or six muskets,
or a consignment of pikes, keep arriving from
Dublin, Cork, or Liverpool. All these and similar
tokens of complicity with the plot in unexpected
quarters naturally excite and partly justify the
feeling of alarm which still prevails among the
gentry. This alarm may be more or less reasonable,
but it is a fact in itself, and a fact which may con-
tinue to bear evil fruit when the very name of
Fenianism is almost forgotten. Until we learn how
the news of the Dublin arrests was received by the
American Fenians, we cannot judge what further
measures of repression may be needful. At present
there is not the slightest sign of a Fenian fleet
coming to the rescue, and the reports of Fenian
cruisers on the Atlantic have turned out to be the
merest canards. It will greatly surprise us if the
200,000 American Fenians give their Irish brethren
anything beyond moral and pecuniary assistance ;
and for the sake of the latter we heartily hope it
may be so. It is impolitic, as well as unfeeling, to
employ more force than is necessary in crushing a
rebellion or a mutiny, but there is no real kindness
in employing less. Napoleon always denied that
his artillerymen fired blank cartridges before open-
ing with grape and canister on the memorable 4th
of October, which ended the French Revolution,
alleging that it would have involved more bloodshed
in the end to do so. He was doubtless right, and
if, after the lesson already given, a Fenian out-
break should take place in any part of Ireland,
public opinion would support the Government in
putting it down with the utmost vigour. Such
an outbreak, however, appears to be highly im-
probable. In addition to the Irish constabulary, to
which no police force in this country is equal in
efficiency, some 18,000 regular soldiers are posted,
by troops and companies, in all parts of Ireland.
The demands for military protection which have
been received from the great Protestant landed pro-
prietors would, indeed, overtask the resources of
the whole Empire if the Lord-Lieutenant should
accede to them, but the truth is that, surrounded
as they are by an atmosphere of suspicion and dis-
affection, the panic of these loyal gentlemen is very
natural. In the North the apprehension of a Fenian
rising on a certain day seems to have been compli-
cated by the rumoured intention of the Orangemen
to attack the Catholics beforehand "in self-defence."
Probably this fear was at least equally well-founded,
and it is one salutary consequence of the Govern-
ment intervention that it has diminished the danger
of a Donnybrook Fair on a large scale, wherever
the two parties were pretty equally matched. As
it is, we may hope that Fenianism, though not ex-
tirpated, will have been thoroughly discredited by
the exposure of its objects, and the ease with which
most of its chiefs in Ireland have been taken into
custody. What is wanted is not so much a display
of military power by the Executive, which would
only give the movement an artificial prestige, as a
display of determination to uphold the law by the
wealthier and educated classes in Ireland. The
Chartism of physical force never survived the de-
monstration of superior strength made by the re-
spectable householders of London, as special con-
stables, in 1848. If these Fenian Socialists could
once be made to feel that all their own country-
men are against them, except those who have
little or nothing to lose, they could not but
awake to the desperate nature of their enterprise.
Hitherto we are not aware that a single journal or
politician of respectability, English, Irish, Conti-
nental, or American, has seriously embraced their
cause. One of our Italian contemporaries, adverting
to this very circumstance not long ago, invoked the
sympathy of Europe for the " long martyrdom of
poor Ireland," but even this stanch advocate of op-
pressed nationalities candidly warned Ireland that
she would gain very little by separating from us.
Such practical advice, however, may possibly be lost
upon the credulous readers of the Connaught Patriot,
who were informed in the article read by Mr. Barry,
as " an undoubted fact," that " on the Continent
every Irish lady or gentleman that can supply un-
doubted proof of her or his Milesian blood is admit-
ted into, and accepted by, royal families as acquaint-
ances and as marriage alliances." It must have been
from an equally veracious source that the Fenians
derived their reliance on the aid of the Emperor
Napoleon, whose base desertion of them is said to
be deeply resented by the fraternity. Now, there
is just one consideration which ought surely to be
intelligible, even to those deluded persons, whether
in America or in Ireland, who can believe such stories
as these. This consideration is the peremptory and
inevitable necessity of the connection between Ire-
land and Great Britain. We entertain the firmest
conviction that it is identified with all the true inte-
rests of the weaker country, but we also recognise
and do not scruple to state plainly, that it is of vital
importance to ourselves as a nation. For good or
for evil the destinies of the two islands are inextri-
cably bound up together, and the maintenance of
that tie must ever be to us a matter of State policy.
There are many open questions with regard to the
government of Ireland, but it is not an open ques-
tion whether Ireland shall continue to stand to
England in any political relation whatever. The
so-called independence of Ireland would be neither
more nor less than anarchy under a foreign protec-
torate. If such a state of things did not lead, as it
infallibly would, to a clamorous reaction in franr
or annexation to this country, it is one which it
would be impossible for us to tolerate. He who
would establish an Irish republic must first conquer
England. This is perfectly well understood abroad,
and is the reason why no one but an Irishman
has ever indulged the idea of Irish emancipation.
We can hardly believe, indeed, that any sane Irish-
man has ever indulged in it in earnest, nor do the
Fenians themselves appear to have considered for a
moment what was to become of Ireland after the
plan of confiscation and extermination should have
been duly carried out.

PosT.--No society professedly desirous to pro-
mote the introduction of legal reforms could N enture
to peril its reputation by remaining silent about the
numberless defects of the law of bankruptcy.
Chambers of commerce, municipal corporations, and
mercantile boards, have all united to deplore the
evils from which creditors are now daily suffering,
and to make suggestions, more or less valuable, for
their mitigation or removal. It is therefore only
natural to find that considerable prominence has
been given to this subject by the friends of social
science assembled at Sheffield. Lord Brougham
touched upon it in his opening address, and Sir
Robert Phillimore had a few words of lamentation
to bestow:upon it when he took the chair of the
jurisprudence department. After these incidental
notices the matter was formally brought before the
association by Mr. Moffatt, the newly-elected M.P.
for Southampton, a gentleman, it must be admitted,
who has some claim to be heard with respect upon
the working of the existing law. He took part in
the deliberations of the City men who gave Lord
Westbury the benefit of their advice and assistance
when preparing his unfortunate measure, and he
has had ample opportunity as a merchant in exten-
sive business of testing the value of his own recom-
mendations. The experiment has probably been
tried by only too many of his " shaky" customers,
greatly to the prejudice of his own cash balances,
and he must have been exceptionally fortunate if he
has not had very good reason to understand the way
in which the changes introduced by the act of 1861
have affected the interests of creditors. He has for
two sessions presided over the House of Commons
committee of investigation, and that he has paid a

great amount of attention to the subject was suffi-
ciently evident from the carefully prepared paper of
which we gave an abftract in our Saturday's. im-
pression. We are not much surprised, and but very
little disappointed, to find that all this research has
added nothing to our previous information. Mr.
Moffatt, it is true, mourns over the miscarriage
of successive Administrations in their endeavours
to provide a good code of bankruptcy. He sings
a jeremiad over each abortive attempt, and con-
fesses by implication that Lord Westbury's bill
has made confusion worse confounded. He sees in
our present system a constant inducement to reck-
less trading, fraudulent concealment, and positive
dishonesty. He mourns over our multiplyingbank-
ruptcies, our geometrically progressing deeds of
assignment and composition. He furnishes some
highly edifying statistics showing how the law now
works, and he only too strongly fortifies his posi-
tion by an imposing array of figures. In 1863 six
hundred and thirty-five debtors wound up their
affairs by means of composition deeds, and 331 of
these paid not more than ss. in the pound. But in
the following year the results were still more un-
satisfactory. the number of compounding debtors
was 1,176, and in only 468 instances, or little more
than one-third, did the creditors get one-quarter of
the amount of their debt ; while out of three hun-
dred of these deeds 12 were for less than Is. and
ten of that number less than 2s. in the pound. But
bad as are these results " they may be counted
honest and desirable, compared with the frauds per-
petrated under the deeds of arrangement and assign-
ment" introduced by Lord Westbury. No pre-
liminary proof of debts is required to render valid
these precious instruments. A. dishonest debtor
may always make, and virtually compel, a settle-
ment which shall virtually benefit no one but him-
self. The creditors grumble, the meeting is
adjourned and adjourned again, till the debtor gets
his own way, because no one will take the trouble
to sift the matter to the bottom. The trustees are
often in collision with the bankrupt, and the result
of proceedings to compel them to do their duty is
not encouraging. The fruit of all this is shown
by a Parliamentary return made last session. In
the year ending 11th October, 1864, there were no
less than 7,224 bankruptcies. The assets realised
were only £677,000, or less than £94 in each case,
while the official costs of collection came to
£140,000, leaving only £530,000 available for
division ; 6,600 persons were made bankrupts on
their own petition, and 848 of them paid
less than half-a-crown in the pound, while
5324, or three-fourths of the entire number, paid
no dividend at all. But the closing figures of Mr.
Moffat's statement are, as he truly says, even more
startling. A return obtained at his instance shows
with what frightful rapidity the facilities of dis-
honesty are sapping the foundations of commercial
morality. The amount of debts due from bankrupt
estates wound up under deeds of assignment was,
in 1863, £1,015,000 ; in 1864, £5,725,000 ; and in
six months of 1865, at the rate of £13,450,000.
Composition and inspectorship deeds show a corre-
sponding increase, and the totals for the respective
years show an increase of debts dealt with under
these three kinds of instruments of from £1,586,000
in 1863, to little short of £9,000,000 in 1864, and if
the existing rate be maintained, to the astounding
total of £33,000,000 in 1865—a sum more than
sufficient to pay the interest of the national debt,
and about half the total expenditure of the nation !
Though our readers will not be altogether surprised
to learn that Lord W estbury's greatly puffed but
ill-advised measure has introduced these evils, they
will, perhaps, be somewhat astonished at their alarm-
ing extent and development. But our wonder is
that Mr. Moffat should now announce them as if
they had not from the first been foreseen by many
whose judgment was entitled to respect. Again
and again, while the bill was before the house, did
we indicate its weak points. Actual experience has
shown that our apprehensions were within the mark,
and the only error was in somewhat underrating its
multiplied mischiefs. We know not whether Mr.
Moffat was able to preserve his gravity when attri-
buting the failure of the act to satisfy the commu-
nity to the refusal of the House of Lords to sanction
the appointment of a chief judge in bankruptcy.
Certain it is he discreetly avoided any endeavour to
show how a judge of appeal was to have remedied
the mate defects of the measure, to have exacted proofs
the law did not require, to have exercised powers the
law did not give, and generally to have kept debtors,
trustees, and every one else in order, without any
proper machinery for the purpose. And after the
late Lord Chancellor's endeavours to abolish
county court commitments it is rather rash to de-
scribe him as having indicated a conclusion at all
likely to satisfy the mercantile community. The
fact is, as we have often asserted already, each suc-
cessive bankruptcy bill has been more or less a
scheme of Whig Administrations to make fresh
places and grant fresh pensions. That Lord West-
bury's measure was no exception to this rule has been
more than abundantly shown by the disclosures
which involved the present Government in disgrace
and brought their highest legal dignitary to his down-
fall. Really to ameliorate the law of bankruptcy
we must in a great measure reinstate the system
which the first Reform Ministry abolished. We
must leave the settlement of affairs as much as pos-
sible in the hands of the creditors, and must give
them a ready access to the Court whenever it shall
seem desirable to invoke its powers. The plan pur-
sued in Scotland, of leaving issues in bankruptcy to
courts of ordinary judicature, is productive of delay
and injury there, and if introduced here would still
further impede the trial of causes in our courts of
equity and common law. What is wanted is that
business details should be left to business men, and
that questions of legal or equitable doctrines, of
fraud, concealment, or other misdeeds, should bo
administered by a court with ample powers, perma-
nent sittings, and competent judges. When once
these essentials are secured the growing love of
bankruptcy will be effectually checked, and the
reproach now cast upon our law will be speedily
removed.