The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-09 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1870.

Fenianism, it is to be hoped, if not as yet stamped
out, must by this time be very thoroughly disheart-
ened. It is not merely, wherever it has attempted
to raise its head, a failure, but far worse than that,

it has rendered itself at once ridiculous and con-
temptible. Conspiracy never succeeds, says one of
the fine ladies in " Lothair." The remark is super-
ficial, if you will, is trivial, is " flippant"—but, for
all that it is true. From LUCIUS CATALINA to GUT
F.awiEs, conspirators have always blundered. The
Cato-street conspirators can hardly, from this point
of view, be regarded as travesties of their historical
and classical prototypes. They merely vulgarised
the fiascoes that had long previously become pro-
verbial. In one sense they were not a jot
more ludicrous, secreting themselves in the hay-loft
at the back of those miserable mews, than was the
Spanish fanatic, hiding with his dark lantern among
the barrels of gunpowder in the cellarage of the
Houses of Parliament. THISTLEWOOD was but a
trifle more ruffianly than that profligate Patrician
Adventurer of old Rome, alien= appetens,suiprofusus.

They are of a-piece, these scheming, plotting, marau-
ders. They are visibly of a genus. A family likeness
runs throughout them from generation to generation.
And they are all bunglers. As of old—so now. As
with the intriguers, who failed two thousand year
ago—so is it during these last half-dozen years
with the lawless promoters (covertly and on the sly)
of the no-principles of Fenianism. Ostensibly they
are all that—while flying at high game, at the subver-
sion of the Empire, at the undermining of the Con-
stitution. The liberation of Ireland is their watch-
word : but, as to their acts, they are the mean and
despicable acts of the lowest class of magsmen, they
are the most wild and wanton caricatures of the crimes
of burglary and assassination. Than the Clerken-
well explosion, there was no baser or more despicable
atrocity ever conceived and pitilessly perpetrated.

noffensive, harmless standers-by—men, women, and

little children of the humblest class among
the industrial, population—were brutally struck
down, blinded, mutilated, many of them destroyed
—and all for what? Simply to tear a hole through
a prison wall on the chance of aiding a Fenian
prisoner or two to escape, in the confusion of the
moment, from incarceration. The calculation
arriving at such a result through such means was
the calculation as of a half-witted savage. And so,
also, in the instance of the late absurd and pre.
posterous invasion of the two Canadas. It was an
exploit imagined by BOBADIL, proclaimed (as already
half accomplished) by BOMBASTES FURIOSO, and
carried out to its ridiculous result by PAROLLES.

`lle whole logic of Fenianism, such as it is, is
arguing in a circle. And hence, appropriately
enough at the core and heart of every movement
there is a Head Centre—BOBADIL, BOMBASTES and
PAROLLES all rolled into one.

THE Earl of DERBY has come valiantly to the
rescue during the dull period of the Whitsuntide
recess, and has furnished the public with subjects of
reflection which have been alike interesting and im-
portant. On Tuesday, he presided over one of the
largest meetings that has ever been held in St. 1
George's Hall, Liverpool, convened for the purpose
of supporting the movement for the restoration of
Chester Cathedral. Lord DERBY'S speeches have
one substantial claim on our regard—they
are always of a practical character. They i
say enough, and not too much, about the
subject under discussion and put the merits of the
case fairly before the audience. With respect to
the question before us the noble lord truly said the
facts were "few and simple." Chester cathedral, one
of the oldest buildings in the north of England, is in
such a state of decay that many repairs must take place
unless it is allowed to fall to pieces altogether. The
necessary repairs will entail a cost of thirty thousand
pounds or perhaps fifty thousand pounds, but in a
case like this expense is not the first consideration.
Lord Derby gave expression to the feelings which
must animate all men of sense and spirit when he
said that to repair a building of this kind was a duty
which the residents of that part of England owed to
their country. The Englishmen of to-day have
duties to discharge, which are not confined to the

present generation, but extend to posterity, and they
must not permit the destruction of a national
memorial which can never be replaced if once

destroyed; but which, on the other hand,
can be of service to those who, five hundred years
hence, may endeavour to search into the past history
of their race. No pursuit is more interesting than
that of researches into the past, and as the world
becomes richer in the spoils of time, it is pursued
with increased ardour. Architectural work is rightly
considered to be of the greatest importance as repre-
senting the style and characteristics of a generation,
and it is also the most durable among the memorials of
antiquity. An apt illustration or an appropriate quota-
tion will often impress the mind and strike the

fancy when more prosy arguments fail to convince,
and Lord DERBY'S speech afforded an instance of
this when he referred to tae structures of Egypt. If,
said he, any ruler of Egypt were to pull down one of
the pyramids for the sake of the materials, "there
would be an outcry of remonstrance throughout
Europe." Everyone would feel that the thing at-
tacked was the common property of the human

race.

To apply this argument,Lord DERBY pointed out
that the middle ages had left us two sets of buildings
esssentially typical and characteristic of the time that
produced them—the feudal castles, and the cathedrals.
We have few specimens of either at the present day,
but their worth must not be decried if not for their in-
trinsic merit, at least for their associations and attri,-
butes. They are types of an age which is past, and
which can no more be revived than the Roman Em-
pire can be restored. In conformity with the utilitarian
spirit of the present day, it has been the fashion to
sneer at those who reverence the past and urge the
preservation of the records of its grandeur. These
cavillers may learn a wholesome lesson from one who
if he is the descendant of an old historic
house, is also one of the most practical men of his
day. Lord DERBY admits that we do not live in
feudal castles, and that our worship is carried on in
buildings which bear slight resemblance to the
ancient cathedrals, but that is the more reason
why we should preserve what we have,
and guard from destruction what cannot
be recreated, " the more reason why, as in-
heritors of the past, we should feel that we are
trustees for the future." This is the right spirit in

which to regard the question of the rest&
ration of an ancient cathedral; it is tin

common property of the country, and neither
the man of progress, nor the man of refine-