The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-08 00:00:00

THE " NATIONALIST" PRESS.

The Dublin' correspondent of a contemporary, sum-
marising the contents of the Fenian newspapers last
week, says :—The "raid" of the Fenians on the tenant-
right meeting in Limerick is the subject which chiefly
occupies the Irish weekly journals. The Irishman repre-
sents the meaning of the demonstration thus :—" It is not
that they (the Fenians) love the cause of the tenant-
farmers less, but they love that of the prisoners more."
In the passionate desire of the nation on this one subject
(an Amnesty), it grudges every thought that is given to
anything else." The people (the same journal says)" will not
tolerate a revival of the trade of agitation under the pre-
tence of advecating the rights of the tenant-farmer." The
Irishman says also, ".We strongly incline to the belief that
most Irish farmers are sufficiently shrewd to' see that if
fixity of tenure can be got from the English Parliament,
not agitation, but Fenianism will get it." "Some men
may try to persuade themselves that they aro discharging
the debt they owe their country by attending tenant-right
meetings, and assisting to send representatives to the
foreign Parliament, pledged to support fixity of tenure,
but in theii inmost souls they know the only real tenant-
right movement is Fenianism, and nothing but Fenianism."
The Flag of Ireland says that "from Limerick the decree
of the Irish nation has gone forth with both manliness
and dignity. That decree is, that constitutional agitation
is dead and buried for ever—that there can be no peace
in the land, and no toleration for English government
or its friends until the restoration of the political
prisoners." Fenianism (it adds) has "set up a new
political gospel. . . . . The occupation of the

is
agitator for ever gone." This journal likewise attacks
Cardinal Cullen for his jubilee pastoral, describing
his Eminence as a "propagandist of English misrule in
Ireland." The People of Ireland has an essay on "Sepa
ration," ending thus : "De Lolme said a hundred years
ago, The Irish and the English are as different as if they
inhabited, not distinct islands, but distinct planets'

Differing as we do so completely, Nature, like the sea which
rolls between the two islands, seems to proclaim in unmis-
takable tones the necessity of separation, and the centuried
struggle between the two nations must continue until that
separation takes place." The Nation and Weekly News, on
the other hand, complain bitterly of the injury done to
the tenants' cause by the violent proceedings of the
Fenian party at Limerick. " How," the Nation asks,
" can any end of theirs (the Fenians) be served by
exhibiting the Fenians as a party distinct from
and antagonistic to the peasantry of Ireland ?"
"The Irish tenants," it continues, "have this week been
set upon by their own fellow-countrymen in a manner
which must fill the hearts of their landlord oppressors
with rejoicing." The Weekly News speaks of the conduct
of the Fenians as "a poor requital to the Catholic clergy
for the noble part they have taken in the Amnesty move-
ment." " The tenant-farmers of Ireland are in a cruel case
if they are to be butchered by Orangemen in the North
and threatened and opposed by Fenians in the South."
The Flag specially reminds its readers that the 23rd of
November is the anniversary of the Manchester tragedy,
and calls for a solemn mass in every chapel in Ireland
"for the repose of the souls of the martyrs." This, it says,
would be, "in the crisis which has arisen, one glorious and
unanimous profession by the Irish nation of faith in the
principles for which they offered their lives on an Englisk
scaffold."