The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-24 00:00:00

711 E IRISH IN AMERICA.

The following passage from the Nation has a
terrible significance, and strongly corroborates the
view of " Fenianism in America " we recently

expressed :
" Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, is the only
place in the world in which the Fenians have thus
far succeeded in establishing a territorial sovereignty,
and it is in virtue of their possession of that dis-
trict, that they are, if at all, entitled to belligerent
rights. It appears they have there inaugurated a
reign of terror, having during the past month mur-
dered fifty respectable and inoffensive persons with
impunity. The remnant of the decent people have
petitioned Governor GEARY for protection, and he
has laid their case before the Legislature."
It is, above all things, advisable for Americans, in
dealing with their large and constantly increasing
Celtic population, to discountenance the formation
of Irish parties. The natural tendency of that
population is, to join in secret societies. Nearly all
Irish who emigrate have been accustomed from their
birth to regard Governments as hostile, to hold
employers as enemies, and capital as a means of
oppression. There is no people who have nursed
and more tenaciously adhered to grievances. Where
no grievances existed they have manufactured them,
and where all wrongs have been swept away, they
have called up those of the past, to neutralise good
legislation by a stubborn adoption of the wrongs of
their fathers. Every attempt to introduce capital
into Ireland has been baulked by the attitude of
the people. Every effort to utilise the natural ad-
vantages of the country has been frustrated by
the opposition of the inhabitants. While the
priests led, in this, the natural bent of the
native mind, they commanded confidence and
respect. But when they ceased to lead in discon-
tent, they ceased to direct and control. Where
isolated from the influence which makes the atti-

tude of Irishmen one of hereditary hostility to con-
stituted authority, few are better adapted than they
for getting on in the world. But they gather
together only to plot and work mischief. It may
be that the wrongs of ages have affected thus un-
favourably the Celtic mind ; but we do not deal
with the cause, it is the fact we desire to notice.
Ireland owes a deep debt of gratitude to the United
States. In that wide land of freedom the Irish have
found their most genial, their most hospitable, and
their most profitable home. The liberty and political
rights gained by the blood of American citizens, have
been bestowed on them, in the same measure as on the
native-born inhabitant. The resources of the coun-
try are as open to them as to him, and their pros-
pects and career as hopeful and as untrammelled.
The States have been the champion of their cause,

their most liberal donor in times of distress. Let
the city of New York tell, how they have used the
votes bestowed, the abundance offered, and the
liberty granted—by placing and maintaining in
power, the most corrupt municipality known among
great capitals ; by drunkenness and vice ; by dyeing
the pavement with the blood of the police ; by
filling the thoroughfares with the victims of their
lawless riots. They have imported into the
fields of Pennsylvanian industry the blunder-
busses, so fatal to Irish landlords and agents.
To avenge themselves on the grandsons of those
who inflicted wrongs on their forefathers, they have
made war on the inhabitants of a peaceful colony ;
they have used the political power which the liberal
institutions of the States so generously bestows to
involve, if possible, the country which has sheltered
them in a fratricidal struggle, which, without pro-
ducing a single good result, could only impede for
decades the progress of the world. They invariably
combine for a hostile purpose, never for any phi-
lanthropic object. It is always against something
they conceive to be an enemy ; it is never to elevate
or to forward a grand or humane design. When
an Irishman trails his coat along Donnybrook Fair
he means " fighting," and if he cannot get an
enemy, he will bring his shillelagh in contact with
the head of his friend. When organised and armed,
the patriot band means war ; and if their enemy is
not to be got at, we would rather not be the friend
in their neighbourhood. If the United States en-
courage, instead of suppressing such an organisation,
they must be prepared for one of two events—per-
haps for both—either to supply an enemy, or to
fight the organisation themselves. There are no
people who respect law and order less than the
Irish, and more, than the American. There are
no people who require more government than
the Irish, and there are none who require less
government than the Americans. The indivi-
dual liberty of the one, leads to chaos of the
other to the fullest development of his industrial
powers. The same laws, therefore, cannot be ap-
plied to both, unless society exercises a strong con-
trol. The immigrants should be scattered over the
Union, where they would be quickly absorbed by
its industry. These societies and military displays
should be sternly suppressed. There is, beyond
doubt, a danger, in the gathering and drilling of
armed men on American territory for objects not
American. These men are either American citizens
or Irish citizens. If American, they have nothing
to do with the wrongs of Ireland ; if Irish, they have
no right to carry on their filibustering proceedings
in America, and the quicker they return to their
native country the better. These constant parades
have a tendency to blunt the sense of the American
people to the unjustifiable shelter they give these
unholy schemes. Reverse the position, and let the
nation consider whether they are acting on the
Christian precept of doing to others, as you wish
they should do unto you. Suppose a Southern con-
spiracy openly organised in England, embracing
hundreds of thousands of Southern citizens—sup-
pose great gatherings and drills in Hyde Park—
meetings in Exeter Hall and Trafalgar-square—
deputations to the Premier—addresses to the Queen
—denunciations of Northern tyranny in the Cham-
ber of the Lords and of the Commons—a revolution
stirred up by emissaries, and resolutions introduced
into Parliament to grant belligerent rights. A
Republican would say that the South had no justice
in his cause. The Englishman might retort that
Ireland was the most equitably governed country in
the world. The truth is, that the one case would
be as unjustifiable as the other. The North means
well by the South ; England means well by Ire-
land. English interference to create discontent
could only lead to injurious results, nor can Ameri-
can interference in the affairs of Ireland lead to
aught else. When people speak of the down-trod-
den Celtic population, they do not fairly consider
the position of the people in that island. For
instance, let them weigh this point alone. Suppose
that position to be as represented by the Fenians,
there is scarcely a man in Ireland who cannot
make America his home, if lie wills it. The United
States is the finest and freest country on earth,
therefore his home may be in the finest and freest
country if he so pleases. Those, with such an
alternative, are not the objects of pity they repre-
sent. When the Irishman does avail himself of the
opportunity, lie might at least leave his blunderbuss
at home, instead of carrying that forcible argument
into the peaceful haunts of Pennsylvania.—Anylo-
American 2in:es.