The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-18 00:00:00

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SPIRIT OP THE FOI3LIO JOURNALS.

It is necessary, as the Times says, to meet firmly tae
bangers with which we are threatened, all the more as it
is pkobable that due precautions and proinpt action will
speedily bring it to an end. The Fenian leaders are
so doubt prepared for any violence, but we cannot but
think that their very atrocities will lessen their hold
en the restless and impulsive but generous people they
delude. It may be predicted that the Clerkenwell
massacre will cause many an Irishman to draw back
from the conspiracy which is stained with the blood
of women and little children. No sentiment will be
possible this time, should the perpetrators of the outrage
meet a well-deserved fate. The Limerick or Killarney
ladies will hardly array themselves in a tasteful mixture
of black and green to honour the memory of those who
have filled the wards of St. Bartholomew's with burnt
and blackened patients. Nor is the setting fire to unof-
f ending people's houses in various parts of London, with the
view of exciting general terror, a very noble and romantic
kind of warfare. It is no flattery for the Irish people to
say that we believe Peniaaisni to be making suicide of itsel f
by its wickedness ; it would be an insult to them to sop.
pose them capable of putting trust any longer in such
leaders. This foreign conspiracy, in which a few God-aban.
doned men do the work of Transatlantic plotters, taking
up their devices, and possibly using materials furnished .
from abroad, will hardly fail to appear in its true light to
the eyes of an undeceived people. If this be so, those
Irish who have unfortunately allowed themselvei to be%
led away by misplaced sympathy with guilty men r aed
have no shame in abandoning the impious faztion
which pretends to he working their deliverance. They
certainly cannot do better than follow the advice
of the Roman Catholic clergy, who have all along,
and never more vehemently than during the last
few days, counselled them to abstain from treasonable.
doings. The Roman Catholic bishops especially have done
both their flocks and the nation an eminent service by the .
spirit in which they have met the crisis. Though some
priests did seem to have drawn nearer to the disaffected,
class after the execution at Manchester, we are yet bound--
to say that the clergy, as a wh )le, have shewn that therare
well-disposed to the cause of law and order, and that the
Government may count on them in combating the delusions
of the hour. They now have the opportwnity of pointing •
out to their flocks, by the light of recent events, how vain
are the hopes of the traitors, and what misery a persistence
in this enterprise will bring on Ireland.
The Daily News is disposed to question the soundness of
Mr. Disraeli's position that the linfrerers by the Clerken.
well explosion should look to private charity for their sup.
port. A voluntary subscription is better than a grant of
public money where opinions are divided as to the obiect
sought, as has happened when a vote has been proposed
for a statue of a public man ; or where a special sentiment
needs to be stimulated and developed ; or where a demon-
stration of feeling is needed to remove doubt and uncer-
tainty as to a sentiment already existing. On the othez
hand, where a public sentiment is strong, unanimous, :old
is clearly manifested, there are decided advantages to be
gained by making the Government its organ, and this we
submit is now the --ase. It was worth while to make
the provision for thr.Je poor people public and inational, in
order to shew to all who may be exposed to.danger in their
country's cause that the honour, power, and resources of
the whole State are pledged to their succour and relief.
And if one could suppose the egotists who plan such out:
rages as these accessible to instruction, the spectacle of
the easy, instant, and certain action of the Government in
repairing the mischief they have done, is calculated to be
more impressive than the labours of committees and the
parade of fragmentary subscriptions. It is satisfactory,
however, to know that in every ease the sufferers will be
well cared for. Many of them have sustained by bereave.
ment losses which are irreparable, but the country will
with heart and soul do all that is possible for their comfort
and welfare.

The Herald believes that the policy inaugurated at
Manchester, with the general support of the country, will
in a little time bring the real Fenians to their senses.
The very nature of the attempt at Clerkenwell is an
evidence how necessary the Brotherhood feel it to reassert
their proud boast that British law had no terror for them.
Towards the other portion of the disaffected our duty is
equally clear. We must guard them from the conse-
quences of their own folly. We must remind them con-
tinually that if they transgress those limits within which
contempt makes them secure, the law will be vindi.
cated with the utmost energy and decision. Where such
wild work as these processions exemplify becomes the habit
of a multitude the excitement is contagious and spreads
to quiet people, who under ordinary circumstances would
make tolerably good subjects. The proverb exhorts us
when we are at Mine to do as Rome does, and if it
became the right of every Irish town to parade its dis-
loyalty, what had been the violence of a few would soon
become the recognised public opinion of the place. The
idle and illogical might be content with such contemptible
displays, but the earnest minds among the crowd would
be apter pupils for Fenian recruiting sergeants, and the
countenance of such displays would swell the Fenian
exchequer. The circumstances of Ireland make the
course adopted by Lord Abercorn imperative. The irn:
mediate success ,which has attended his measures are a
furthersrittmeiit—eq-nvniting-pror-ortrieir propriety.

The Stani4rcl asks whether, after the evidence of
Inspector Thomson, that as far back as Wednesday a coin.
rannication was received to the effect that an attack would
be made on the prison walls, the police are not to blame in
not better looking after the House of Detention. If it
be so, there can be no question that there is grave cause
for complaint against the department which, having been
forewarned, should have been forearmed. If the do-
tectives were previously notified, as we believe it will
prove they were, that the attempted rescue would take
';the form of an attack upon a certain portion of the
'boundary wall of the recreation ground between three and
four o'clock on Friday afternoon, measures should have
been taken to render impossible the catastrophe which
ensued. Not a man, woman, or child should have
been allowed to pass through or linger in Corporation-lane,
save under the most rigorous espionage. The conferences
of the woman Justice with Allen and Desmond should at
once have excited suspicion, as well as the furtive appear
r.nce of the four men pecrlng over the wall from a top
window. With a vigilant and intelligent look-out the
planting of the barrel against the prison wall at the very
spot indicr ted would have shown the precise nature of the
danger to be anticipated, and the delay in fixing and light-
ing the squib would have afforded ample time both for
defeating the plot and arresting its agents. It is fearful
to contemplate the loss of life and the amount of suffering
and misery which may be chargeable to the carelessness
or want of intelligence displayed in this matter. One
good result, at least, may accrue from that disaster of
Friday. It may lead to a reform and reorganisation in
our detective department.
If, observes the Telegraph, it should be pleaded that the
deed was transcendently unexpef ttd, we are obliged to
admit the fact, and to excuse a great deal of neglected in-
formation and "lazy" movements ; but the apology must
only serve for once. We know now with what we have to
deal ; the mood which impelled those four or five truck-
laid-tub Fenianwill blench at nothing that we may tVink
ncredible. Doath met in -the act or upan the gallows will
tot daunt them ; we have tried that, and, to say the
least, the experiment has not had absolute and perfect
success. It will not suffice to fulminate tlireats against
the Fenians, or to declare that we shall hand them over
to Judge Lynch. We must punish such human tigers
like tigers when we are sure that we have them ; but we
must also set keen wits to work against those mad, quick
Celtic devotees of murder. Bungling and blundering will
not atop the infernal programme. And this really is not
the first nor the second time that the police have been
forewarned. Informers—always plentiful, strange to say,
among these desperate and fervid assassins—will be die-
couraged about Scotland-yard if their hints are perpetually
thrown away. It is no time for paying compliments to
the force. We want proofs of its sagacity and forethought.
By-and-bye, when the craze of murder is over, and we
begin to talk of legislation, vigilance and activity will not
fail to receive their reward.

The instantaneous connection of the men and the
woman with the explosion seems to the Star irresistibly to
suggest that the goodwill and shrewdness of the officers
might have been put to much better use than they were.
This is confirmed, too, by the evidence of Inspector Thom-
son, who gave notice to all the Clerkenwell stations to
watch every likely point of attack on the House of Deten-
tion that afternoon. Why was there not at least one
policeman in uniform at each likely point in accordance
with this hint ? Several non-police witnesses detailed the
manner in which the barrel was placed and fired; and
one of them deposed to having called the attention of
a policeman to it. The evidence of next Friday wi;l be
watched for with great interest as likely to connect these
two branches of the story more exactly than they are
united by the evidence of the policeman Sutton. In the
meantime rumours are abroad of a foiled attsmpt upon
Illilbank, and of the presence of a barge of gunpowder on
the Thames near to certain gas-works. All our contem-
porary deems it necessary to say on these reports is, that
the lesson of the House of Detention ought to have effec-
tually taught the police how best to reassure the public,
and how best to frustrate the public enemy.
The Post makes some severe comments on a case of pro-
motion in the Foreign Office, where the aggregate services
of 1t 2 years have been neglected to make way for one Mr.
Burnley—eighty.seven years' seniority among the con-
suls-general, an..l ninety-five years among the secretaries.
The senior Cons:II-General having entered the service in,
1824, and counting consequently forty-three years' ser-
vice, • while the senior Secretary of Legation was ap-
pointed in the year 1816, and has served fifty-one years
without promotion or oven an honorary reward of
any kind ! Supposing the Admiralty or the Horse
Guards were to au such things as these, what would be
said? Briefly, the complaints of the diplomatic and
consular service may be thus summed lip. The promo-
tions are independent of merit, rank, length of service, or
any other motive than interest or caprice. Arbitrary
fines are imposed ; accounts are refused payment or exami-
nation ; deductions are made from salaries without justi-
fiaj)le reason. Officers are suspended and degraded without
cause assigned. Protest and appeal are useless, and cause
a man to be marked down for punishment of a vindictive
kind, amountin,, in many cases to persecution ; while the
only definite rule understood throughout both services is a
system of open mid undisguised favouritism by a clique,
which seems to set all public opinim and right feeling at
defiance.

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