The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-14 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Feb. 13.

We had made up our minds in this country
that there was an end to the Fenian alarms, and
that the time had happily arrived when the suspen-
sion of the Habeas Corpus Act might cease without
danger to society. We were confirmed in this
comfortable opinion when we read that the once
formidable and mysterious Stephens was hors de
combat, and had a narrow escape from the wrath of
his followers. What, then, must have been the sur-
prise of the public yesterday on reading the account
of a march of Fenians on the city of Chester,and the ex-
traordinary precautions taken there and in London to
guard against the threatened attack ? Of course, we
felt something more than surprise in Dublin when
we learnt that 70 persons had been arrested yester-
day morning on board the Alexandra from Holy-
head, and the St. Columbia, from Liverpool, as part
of the Fenian army of invasion. The first intima-
tion of the danger the public had was from the ap-
pearance of a body of police drawn up on the quay
at the North Wall, armed with cutlasses. This was
the result of telegrams received during the night
about the movements at Chester. It was stated that
when the Feuians found they could do nothing
there they pushed on for Birkenhead and Liverpool,
intending to come to Dublin. When the Alexandra
came alongside soon after 7 o'clock a.m. 31 persons
were arrested, chiefly young men. The steamer
was a considerable time swinging round, and during
that time the supposed Fenians were grouped to-
gether, apparently in earnest consultation. Of course,
they had seen the police with their cutlasses, and
they took the hint, and it is said they threw their
revolvers and ammunition into the river. When
arrested they had no weapons, no documents, nothing
to criminate them, and they pleaded the Habeas
Corpus Act, which they said was in force again. It
is said that some of them are Americans. None of
them gave a satisfactory account of themselves.
They said they belonged to the following classes :
Dock labourers, discharged soldiers, bakers, tailors,
mill workers, &c., and that they came from Liver-
pool, Bolton, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, and
Birkenhead. Later in the morning the Columbia
arrived from Liverpool with about an equal number
of suspected characters on board, and they were
arrested under similar circumstances. The prisoners
were first conveyed to Sackville-place station, and
then lodged in Richmondßridewell-67 altogether.
Three loaded revolvers were found in the first
steamer, hidden under ropes where the prisoners had
been standing. It is said that the bed of the river
will be dragged in the hope of finding the revolvers.
These arrests have produced great excitement,
and the detectives are everywhere on the alert.
Until this occurrence the interest in Fenianism
seemed to have almost died out, even among
sympathisers, a significant proof of which was the
gradual falling off of voluntary supplies of food from
friends to the inmates in Mountjoy Prison, who
were at last left to depend on the gaol allowance.
The law officers of Lord Derby's Government in
this country are very fortunate, as they get into
Parliament without opposition, trouble, or expense.
Mr. Morris, the Attorney-General, was again re-
elected for the borough of Galway yesterday, this
time without a shadow of opposition. In the course
of a long speech, the learned gentleman dealt with
several topics of local interest, and then passed on to
the consideration of imperial questions. He said the
Government had such confidence in the inherent
loyalty of the great body of the Irish people as to
announce their intention of dispensing with the fur-
ther suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. He dis-
claimed anysympathy with extreme political opinions
and stating that the only hope for Ireland was in the
development of her material resources, quoted cer-
tain speeches made by Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Glad-
stone, with the view of showing that the former was
anxious, by improvements in the land laws and rail-
way system, to check the tide of emigration, which
lie had so powerfully described as " hemorrhage of
the life blood of the nation," while the latter did no
more than make political capital out of sentimental
and theoretical grievances.
Mr. Chatterton, the Sulicitor- General, was elected
in a similar manner for Dublin University. He was
proeosed by the Rev. Dr. Casson, F.l .C.D., in very
eulogistic terms, and seconded by the lion. and Rev.
',V. C. Plunket, who spoke at some length, and ably
on the Irish Church and education. He expressed
himself in favour of a better distribution of Church
property, without interfering with the parochial sys-
tem, or alienating any portion of it from Church
purposes, which he regarded as spoliation. On the
difficult question of education he thought it was
possible to devise a plan by which the State would
give only secular education, leaving to the several
Churches to give religious education. But that is
the principle for which the national system was
from the first denounced as " godless." Nothing
would satisfy the Church clergy but forcing religious
instruction into the regular school business. They
were forewarned that this would throw the secular
education into the hands of the priests, and now,
when too late, they would gladly accept the princi-
ple they reprobated a 4 " godless." Mr. Plunket re-
gards the Solicitor-General as the sort of defender
the Irish Church requires in these times. He said :
" When they looked about for others to fill the
places of those who had gone before—to tread in the
steps of such men as Whiteside, Napier, Hamilton,
and Shaw—when they looked for one to send to
Parliament who could be worthy of a place beside
their trusty, well-beloved, and honest representa-
tive, Anthony Lefroy—they could point to Mr.
Chatterton as the man best fitted to occupy such a
position." Mr. Plunket did not go back to his own
grandfather, who represented the University when
he was Attorney-General. It was well, perhaps, he
did not remind his audience of the difference between
his mind and the minds of those he enumerated.
The Solicitor-General returned thanks in a modest
speech. Nobody can blame him for not being a Re-
former, for he can see nothing wrong in any of our
institutions. With regard to the University he said
she needed no defender, and asked—" Can any one
say there is anything illiberal in her arrangements,
her regulations, or her education? Can anyone point
to anything sectarian in this institution? Can any
one say that there is not the most liberal hand held
out by her to every person, no matter what his re-
ligion or politics may be? I perceive that Mr.
Lawson, the late Attorney-General for Ireland, has
given notice of bringing forward a bill to open some
of your medical and surgical professorships to
men of all religious denominations. (" Hear, hear,"
" No, no," and hisses.) Gentlemen, in the year
1852 a Commission reported on those professor-
ships in reference to the very point that is
now about to be the subject matter of discussion in
Parliament, and reported in favour of the relaxation
of the restrictions upon the occupiers of those chairs,
and what was the consequence? In the following
year a letter was written by the Provost, expressing
the
unanimous opinion of the Board in favour of
throwing open those professorships to members of
all religious denominations. I ask you, therefore,
did it require a statutable enactment to be brought
forward by Mr. Lawson to open the doors of this
institution in that respect to persons of different
religious persuasions."
With regard to the Irish Church the new member
for the University will have no sort of difficulty, be-
cause nobody in Ireland has the slightest objection
to the Establishment. Ile said:—..“ There never was
a more miserable sectarian, partisan cry than that
got lip by political demagogues arrainst the Esta-
blished Church. I have lived among and mixed
with men of all religious creeds, and I do most con-
scientiously affirm that I believe in my heart that
there is no antagonism in any creed or any body of
insii against the Established Church of this country.
(Oh.) I have mixed with Roman Catholics', and I
believe there is in reality no hostility to the Esta-
blished Church in this country. And, gentlemen,
there is no ground for that hostility if it did exist.
As to the property of the Established Church we
took it from no one ; we owe it to no one. It is here
as much ns the acres of the lord, or the duke, or the
Roman Catholic proprietor, who either inherited his
lands or purchased them in the Landed Estates Court.
The revenues of the Established Church are as
much her property and right as the revenues of any
landed proprietor in the country—(hear, hear)—
and it is an empty complaint to say that there is