The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALL

The Times says that an illusion is steadily kept up 00
"the great national holiday." Why disturb this gloriel°
Utopia by introducing into it the stiff commonplace' 4
everyday etiquette? Let it have a congenial code, or fl
code, of its own. Let there be.a reign of misrule, every
body doing what seemeth to him right in his own eles'
providing only that it be done for the sake of jovialitlslPl
fun ; and if these limits are occasionally overstepped, lei
the sin be forgiven in consideration of the great fact thetit
was committed on the Derby Day. But, unluckilY• the
innocent freedom thus claimed for the Derby Day is I'll,:
another creation of imaginative minds. Practically,
degenerates into the assumption of an unlimited right t 0
get drunk—almost the only notion which many Engl"
men have of unrestrained fun. To tell them that thel
may do what they like in the way of jollity is virtually te
tell them that they may drink what they like, without
being held responsible for all that they do afterwards,
an average Englishman's notion of fun when he hes
drunk too much is apt to take any but agreeable.
amiable forms. The reign of misrule which theoreticelll
offers such a chi rming abandonment for once of aisle
conventionalities and stiff etiquette, and which gives even
the most solemnly decorous of Englishmen a chance s'
thoroughly enjoying himself, becomes practically an excuse
for those exhibitions of unmannerly and brutal buffooneln
that so frequently disgrace " the great national holidal,
and furnish some ground for the opinion which foreigni
are already too prone to form of us. The remedhs
course, lies in an appeal to public opinion. Decent English'
men do not get drunk in the streets or in the dining-rousi
now that such conduct is considered disgraceful. r,s/
would be equally careful to observe this rule even on tele
great annual day of misrule if its violation were generelll
considered to involve the same disgrace. Nor can we see
that such abstinence would at all spoil the national holiday
If so, it must spoil all the dinners and balls at ',AO'
people are now-a-days content to drink enough for heailh
and geniality, but riot enough to make them oblivious °`
reckless of the ordinary decencies of society. Even the
Derby Day thus observed would not necessarill
lose any of its really characteristic fun and chaff, 1011°
it would greatly improve by losing what we still MI
we may consider its uncharacteristic coarseness WI
brutality.
The Herald says that the great Turf festival has hesii
watched for in the remotest corners of the kingdora
weeks beforehand. If the influence of the race is übigul.
tons, permeating through each one of our social layers'
not less true is it that the race itself and all its acc°lll:

ponying phenomena are such as you could &Ynowhere
else, intensely English, thoroughly national. Long Wei
the race live as an English holiday ; and happy will it lie
for all concerned when that holiday ceases to be purchase;
by the frustration of so many ambitions, the shirr/re:
of such high hopes, the loss, partial or entire, l"
princely revenues so lavishly mis-spent, the tarnisbe"
prestige and dimmed lustre of names which, as they 0
a national possesion, should be a national pride. Yet, $6
we have just said, be certain of its accessories what the.',
may, the Derby is, as it will remain, pre.eminentlY
national holiday. Dr. Johnson was in the habit of saYill
that no one could pretend "to have received a liber''
education who had not seen Rome." Assuredly no 0131,e
can flatter himself that he has perfected his Engli
training until he has seen the Derby. National ebara°ler
to be studied should be studied ea masse. But the conduct
of the crowd is unimpeachably decorous. Good hurOir
reigns everywhere, and even those continental critic/
who impeach us on the ground of our phlegmatisra are
frank enough to admit that you may search Etat
through and through before you come across such In
concourses as you see in England, persistently preserrleh
such a high measure of good nature..
The Standaql does not anticipate the rejection of the
Irish Church Bill in the House of Lords. It says 0;
the majority of the Peers are fully convinced that it:
iniquitous and dangerous; that it threatens alike the
religion and the peace of Ireland ; that it violates alike tc`"
Constitution of the realm and the rights of propertli
Their consciences as legislators, their interests as laude
proprietors, their feelings as Englishmen and Protestantsi
are all against it. Yet it does not think that they illil
,
deem it wise to reject a measure which has not ow
received the sanction of an overwhelming majority of the
Lower House, but the antecedent approval of the coal.
try. There is a reaction of feeling, provoked by th
manifest injustice of certain clauses and the high-bearded
violence of the Liberal Government, which will in 'll,
time bear fruit ; but nothing could so effectually °beef 1.
its progress, and reanimate the zeal and passion ee
Liberals, at present lukewarm and disgusted, than t;
peremptory rejection of the bill on the second reading "
the Upper House. By such a step the Lords would fat
to negative the decision of the constituencies upon
question submitted to them at the elections; and tile,
can be no doubt that this would provoke the cot.
tuencies to reassert a decision of which they are h%
inclined to repent. It thinks, therefore, as it has thong°
ever since the second reading made it plain that the
Liberal majority were determined, that the bill must P 354,
But though it neither expects nor desires that the LOP".
should reject the bill, it looks with hope and intermit .o
their action upon it. A most important part of the clalt),l-
the Legislature still remains to be performed, and can °Pi
be fulfilled by thc Peers. The decision upon the principle
of
bill was given at the hustings. It was there deeiclea"
that the Irish Church should cease to be established, °
should be deprived of such part of its revenues as it do
in virtue of its establishment. The shaping of the °
was the office of the Cabinet. Every vote on the Libel
-side was assured before the amendments were made WO'
and the bill reaches the House of Lords with no 10,1
authority, no more sanction of its details, than it 110,
received when it was read a second time. It is the bimoi
not of the country, not of the House of Commons, 11°t
the Liberal party, but of her Majesty's Government,.
more accurately speaking, of Mr. Bright and Mr. Glad
stone. The duty of criticising, correcting, and modifl'
it in detail rests with the House of Lords. at
me
The Daily News says that the promoters of the gee
Prot. meeting at Belfast succeeded in bringingrd,
great number of people together—ninety thousand acc° to
ing to one computation, thirty thousand accordingo
another. The former estimate is probably rhetorical• of
authors, if we may parody and reverse what Pope saiu,o
himself, deal in numbers, even when the numbers
not come. The more moderate estimate is more conscia,
tious, critical, and probable. But whether ninety thou n 0
persons or thirty thousand attended or hung about trt°.
outskirts of the meeting is a matter of very small ila°
ance. Great masses have an attractive power, 010
individual atoms gravitate to them. Thousands power,
doubtless summoned by curiosity to the Botanic Gardem
They went less to uphold Protestantism than to see e
show, just as hundreds will go to Epsom, not to see 7.
race, but to see the crowds assembled to see the race. Oc;
Johnston, who was the hero of the occasion, has declared' a
the House of Commons, that Protestantism in Relit,
will not receive any serious injury from the Irish Ch
Bill; and that though he dislikes Mr. Gladstone's 13°1;8
he much prefers it ro Mr. Disraeli's. The real ie:Ji
which Parliament and the country have clothe
is, Shall we level up or level down? and if
.:;,8
Belfast meeting could have been polled, tue,d
can be little doubt that it would have endorsed the vie".,
of its chairman. The orators at Belfast put their truet
the House of Lords. Those who put their trust in prip_d°P.
are not more foolish. The House of Lords does not OP;
Mr. John Thomson's contempt for " Gladstone's th
jority." It is not strong enough to keep the Irish en Claul—b
afloat; though the Irish Church might be strong t
to keep the House of Lords under water. Knowing
that august assembly is little likely to venture out oftlx`i
depth. English and foreign politics have always ao
and reacted upon each other ; and the storm Walla
which are signalled to us from France are good reasons

not beginning the policy of resistance at home.

• -- 11
It is said that Mr. Justice Mellish has strong
recommended that no further proceedings should be ti°

to have the Sauriu case re-heard.
IRISH NATIONALISTS AND THE FENIAN rl2l'.
BONERS.—At a special general meeting of the costal%
of the Amnesty Association, recently held in their rata
at the Dublin Mechanics' Institute, a statement was,/
by the secretary, and on the motion of Mr. J. K. C7,_,Y
seconded by Mr. E. Carey, was unanimously acl°l3:l
and ordered to be issued as an address to the Irish Pefct-ea;
It entered at some length into a history of the ea°.
which had been made to procure the release of the P°lii
tical prisoners, and expressed regret that the whole °,
the Fenian convicts 1a 1 not b( e liberated. lbef
committee, however, do not abandon all We
seeing the captives in the enjoyment of
and thus conclude their address :--f he continued -;
prisonment of the high-minded men who are still
ig
in English convict prisons is an act of persecution for P°:;
tical opinions which cannot be warranted either by
policy or justice. Perseverance in it can only embitter tb
future relations of the two countries, and Dave in ,t11,,,°t
minds of Irishmen the rankling consciousness t'za.
they are still treated as the conquered race. It IS e t
ciliated to bring discredit upon the English Govern 1p
and country. It is the high-handed refusal to colnPu,
eci
with the universal prayer of the Irish nation upon a suPf
which most mainly concerns themselves. We do not belle
that we would yet be justified in giving up the efforts
_7
impress those reasons upon the English Governra.e:b
and people ; and even under the discouragernents
e teal w
S
at this moment surround us, we confidently invit
co-operation of Irishmen of all classes in our Pyr.
0,
against the adoption of a course of unrelenting 111104
tiveness towards men who are admitted by thnse
most strongly condemn their actions to hrl Pe"
SLoueilce,tep and • rs e