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 CATALINE to GUY
FAWKES, 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 R ome, alien= appetens, suiprofusus.
They are of a-piece, these scheming, plotting, marau-
ders. 1 hey 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 magsnnen, 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.
Inoffensive, 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 suck means was
the calculation as of a half-witted savage. And so,
also, in the instance of the late absurd and pre-
postk rous 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.
The 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.
George's Hall, Liverpool, convened for the purpose
of supporting the movement for the restoration of
Chester Cathedral. Lard DERBY'S speeches have
one substantial claim on our regard—they
are always of a practical character. They
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 tue 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 through out
Europe." Everyone would feel that the thing at-
tacked was the common property of the human