The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The debate in the House of Lords on
the continuance of the Habeas Corpus Suspension
Act in Ireland, deserves notice on account of the
opinions expressed by the two chief speakers, Lord
Derby, the head of her Majesty's Government, and
Lord Kimberley, the Lord-Lieutenant who recom-
mended and put in force the Act which is to be re-
newed. Lord Derby could not add to the force of
the reasons which have convinced every prudent
man that it is absolutely necessary to maintain the
present powers of the Executive. A conspiracy
born and nourished in a foreign country, and at this
very time receiving new encouragement from the
Federal Legislature in the relaxation of the neu-
trality laws, has for more than a year past filled
Irish society with disquiet, and checked the rising
prosperity of the country. Those who are best ac-
quainted with it agree in the opinion that, though
it does not extend to so high a grade of society as
the treason of 1848, it is, or has been, more deter-
mined, vindictive, aud dangerous. The impulsive
people, whose only inducement to join these half-
alien agitators is a traditional hostility to England,
are likely to be kept in a ferment so long as they
see the apostles of treason coming and going and
plotting at will in the island ; when the Government
shows itself resolute in dealing with such people
they who would be their followers subside into tran-
quillity, and perhaps inwardly rejoice that they are
not called upon to act as well as to talk and threaten.
Lord Derby avows his sense of the responsibility
that weighs on a Government which assumes the
power of imprisoning without trial, and we may be
sure the Act will only be enforced with the same
good sense and moderation as heretofore. Lord
Kimberley has in the judgment of men of all par-
ties acted with singular discretion ; he watched the
conspiracy throughout the winter ; in spite of
the uneasiness which it caused him and
every one connected with the Irish Administra-
tion, in spite of the panic among the gentry
and the pressure of those who desired an
earlier and more summary action, be would not
depart from the ordinary course of law, or give an
occasion for disaffection by conduct that dema-
gogues might denounce as arbitrary. The most
audacious of the leaders were apprehended, com-
mitted for trial, and sent before a Special Commis-
sion, but it was not until the middle of February, at
a time when from trustworthy information it was
known that the Fenians contemplated an actual
outbreak, and when arms were being daily brought
into the country, that he urged upon the Ministry
the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in the
case of persons arrested for treasonable practices.
Since that time a large number of persons have been
imprisoned ; but more than half have- been re-
leased, and the whole might have been set at liberty
if they would give any reasonable pledge that they
would live quietly and abandon the conspiracy.
The moderation of these measures will no doubt be
strictly imitated by the present Ministers. Lord
Derby said, "It is the earnest desire of the present
Government to extend that system, and to allow the
dismissal from prison of all persons who can give
any security, and who can hold out any prospect
that they will act for the future as loyal subjects`of
the Crown." The most scrupulous Constitutionalist
need have no fear that the public liberty will suffer
by the continuance of the Act. Any man now in
confinement may walk out of prison on a simple un-
dertaking that he will cease to be a member of a
conspiracy for murder and pillage. That more than
three hundred desperadoes actually refuse to make
such a promise is sufficient proof that further secu-
rity for the public safety is necessary during the Pa-
rliamentary recess. The most important part of the
debate, however, did not regard the continuance of
the Act, about which there could be no serious dif-
ference of opinion. Lord Kimberley made a frank
exposition of his views, and there is no reason
to suppose that he spoke under the influence of
party feeling, or that any prejudices acquiredin
the land he has been governing blind his judgment.
In the first place, the late Viceroy fully confirms
all that has been said of the dangerous character of
the conspiracy. It had not people of property and
gentlemen at its head, like the rebellion of 1798 or
the noisy movement of 1848 ; but all the other
classes of Irishmen were more or less represented in
it. " The persons who were most active in pro-
moting the conspiracy," says Lord Kimberley,
" were not the poorer and more ignorant classes,
but persons I can best describe as belonging to
the artisan and small tradesmen classes." "As
regards the farming classes, of whom I have
frequently seen it asserted that they did not
sympathise with this sedition, I regret that in its
full extent I cannot repeat that statement." In the
south and west of Ireland the farmers, though they
did not take part in the conspiracy, would, in Lord
Kimberley's opinion, have been perfectly ready to
join a rebellion if it had proved successful. There is
nothing unreasonable in this view, and it i s confirmed
by the course events have taken. The active Fenians
may be few in number, and as long as the Govern-
ment can deal with them the country may be quiet.
But there is a large class of society ready to take ad-
vantage of any reverse diet may befall British rule,
and a still larger class, probably amounting to a ma-
jority of Irishmen, who would acquiesce, not unwil-
lingly, in any authority which might contrive to over-
throw it. Let us, then, fora moment suppose that the
Irish populationis alienated from its allegiance, and
would gladly, or, at any rate, without resistance,
see th 3 political connection of the two islands at an
end. It is an extreme supposition, but it is better
to look at the worst boldly, and to consider what is
to be done with a people who, living under the same
Government, are so unfriendly to us. If they could
unmoor their island and float two thousand miles
to the westward, the question would be soon set-
tled, and they might become a State of the Ameri-
can Union, or an independent Republic, one and in-
divisible, withouthindrance from us. But they are on
our coasts, and the political union between the two
countries must at all costs be maintained. There are
only two means of effecting this—coercion or con-
ciliation. There are thoughtless or unscrupulous
speakers who assert that British policy has exclu-
sively used the former means ; but such assertions
are hardly worthy of refutation. The removal of
all the grievances which were urged by the orators
of the last generation is a sufficient answer to such
an assertion. The wish of men of all parties in
England—we intentionally except Irish Tories:—
is to do justice to every class and creed in Ireland,
and to remove every real cause of discontent.
The difficulty is to find the cause of the admitted
disorder. Irish politicians have each their remedy,
and, whereas a few years since the complaint was
that Irish laws were not assimilated to those of
England, we are now told that it is an absurdity
to talk of "identical institutions" for the two
countries. We may put aside as trifling the ques-
tions of the Lord-Lieutenancy and the payment
by the nation of the creditors of insolvent Irish
railways ; but there is a large agreement of opinion
to the effect that the reform of the Irish Church,
and some legislation on the tenure of land which
shall protect the more defenceless tenants, would
conciliate the Irish people. On the merits of the
Irish Establishment we presume there cannot be
two opinions among impartial men. The Church
of 700,000 people, established amid a population
of 5,500,000, is an anomaly which no one on
this side of St. George's Channel attempts to
defend. But, strange to say, it has always
been more keenly felt by Englishmen than in
Ireland, and the Fenians professed an equal hos-
tility to the Ministers of both religions. The land
question is more difficult, and we doubt whether
any legislation will effect a solution which will
be just both for landlord and tenant. The real
evil of Ireland is the excessive competition for
land, arising from the existence of a large popu-
lation which lives exclusively by agriculture. So
long as there are half-a-dozen bidders for every
farm, landlords will be able to make their own terms,
and it is not in human nature that those terms
should be other than hard. The peasantry must
have land at any price, and if one will not consent
to the landlord's conditions, another will. The real
reform in the tenure of land will come when emi-
gration or new employments have allowed the oc-
cupier to drive a better bargain for himself. But,
undoubtedly, this question deserves all the conside-
ration Parliament can give it. We are bound as a
nation to do all that may be justly and reasonably
done to content the Irish people ; if they then still
continue hostile, we shall know that their antipathy
is beyond any legislative remedy.
lIERALD.—A public execution is one of those
scenes which society only bears from a conviction of
its necessity, and which it would very unwillingly
see heightened by the addition of unaccustomed
horrors. Sad and solemn as is the sight at all times
it is especially so when the culprit is in the prime of
life, respectable in position, and, up to the time
when he committed a capital crime, of fair character
and conduct, belonging to a class of society which
furnishes but few perpetrators of offences against
the person, and having taken upon himself those
social responsibilities which generally tend to deve-
lope the qualities of the peace-loving and law-ob-
serving Citizen. Humanity shrinks from the thought
of putting a fellow-man to a violent death, except in
cases of the sternest necessity; and even when that
necessity has been demonstrated, it desires to make
the mortal struggle as brief and as painless as possi-
ble. The unfortunate incident which took place .at
Stafford yesterday is therefore one especially to be
regretted by those who regard the infliction of the
death penalty in certain cases as a duty which
society owes to its peaceful and well-conducted
members. William Collier, convicted at the last
assizes of the murder of Mr. Thomas Smith, ionsbrought out to suffer his deserved doom. The
fatal noose was adjusted, the drop fell, and of

course the prisoner with it. IinhaPIN.IYI n the
ever, through some bungling of the executioner, ,
halter had not been properly secured to the beaam._
and the wretched man consequently did not rein
al!
suspended in mid air, but fell to the ground,
tae
thrill of horror from the spectators. He was
up
-
up again, the work of fastening the rope was Plled
formed a second time, and he was thus comp
twice to taste the bitterness of death—the crow.
meanwhile hooting and crying shame at the clan?,
ness of the official. The opponents of 0513,1_1'50
punishment will doubtless endeavour to create,
little capital in support of their favourite crotenco:
out of this untoward and unfortunate occurren
(e),
We must, however; protest against any attempt I_
this kind to make the abrogation of a partielnaj,
punishment dependent upon an occasional act °,
incaution or inexpertness on the part of the 1.11
tionary by whose hands it is inflicted. Sincerely
we should deprecate the repetition of such scenes 4
that which took place at Stafford, we regard it, nouts
as an argument for abolishing capital punishmews,
altogether, but for taking care that some more c_ho
petent person than the Dudley cattle dealer, me_.
officiated yesterday,shall be employed to inflict t,tl
in-
We must not allow our sympathy for Colliefb
advertently augmented sufferings to warp our jottio
went as to the great and peculiar atrocity of 25
crime which he committed. He bad been for
,ad
years a neighbour of his victim's father, and '-`Ol
known the unfortunate deceased from his inkfnini
upwards. His poaching propensities bad brougnu,
the
under suspicion, and on the 4th of July last rs
young squire" went out to watch his fathers ooy.u,s
While thus engaged he met his death at Colke_o
hands, under circumstances which show the nruci's,
to have been of the deepest dye. Hot 'Ora,
hasty blows, aye, even sudden shots, may
be c-
changed between' watchers who have been unexr a
tedly successful in attaining the object of InanYths
weary vigil, and poachers suddenly detected in. 0.
pursuit of their dishonest and lawless occupatl%,
No one, not even the most rabid game-4110
tionist, can justify their resort to violence, but se...at
slight extenuation may perhaps be allowed on acen;
of excited feeling and anxiety to escape, if 13°8steji
from apprehended punishment: But the crime W.
Collier committed was far more deliberate and,l;
tardly. An examination of young Mr. Smith's P 2
showed that he must have been brought down nYk
couple of shots which pierced his hat, and 5t111,,52
without piercing, the bone at the back of his head
An ordinary poacher would have been content 11.1,
this, and would have hurried away from the 0p0..,
quickly as guilt and fear could have carried inwm;
But Collier's purpose was more fell and his revenge
more deadly. While his victim lay before b111:1,
stunned, bleeding, and helpless, he appears to
attacked him mercilessly with the butt end of his _„„it
battering the head like an anvil until his weapon "„,
shattered to pieces, and the victim's skull was c04;41
pletely beaten in. The prisoner had borne a Vdea
character, and the jury on that account recomunein
ed
him to mercy ; but the judge very properly deel s
to give effect to the recommendation on behalf es,4
man against whom an act of such atrocious
almost incredible savagery bad been so conclusi'l7,
established. The bungling at the execution is, be a
ever, calculated to make us regret that among 11,
delays and disappointments, the late Ministry's iaos
advised conduct of their reforming campaign, the
involved the postponement of an alteration 01 ,ed.
law by which capital punishments are regulated.
Policemen, as we have had abundant evidenee,4llloo
ing the last fortnight, are never popular with la
mob; gaolers, we are assured, are still more thorong 8,
disliked; while, by the mass of spectators at an e,th
cation, the person of the executioner is regarded/Jo
undisguised hostility. The knowledge that this is Pt
must of necessity, have its influence upon the liardes,
nerves. Calcraft himself has been known on 0.11'31
occasions to tremble and become agitated at the critic°,
moment ; and if the master in the art of hangingisv
proof against such feelings his provincial disciPle t
not very likely to escape them. Hence —hapPilY;
distant intervals-we have to chronicle scenes 01,11 f
unusually distressing character when the n oose is Wel
constructed, when the rope breaks, or, as it hapPe.,loo
yesterday, it was insecurely fastened to the beam.
if executions took place within prison walls
element of disturbance would not be present. frh „
would be no howlings and hootiugs to distract attee.;
tion, no nervous anxiety to hurry over the ne„,c.ty
sary preliminaries, no shock to public sensibl'
from misadventures which no one has so much reas°
to regret as those whose deliberate convictions ncli,„111:
pel them to believe that society cannot entirely
pense with the death penalty consistent with its ovir
safety. The objections urged against private execis
tions would not apply to punishments inflicted 5
the same building and before the same officers
,ti,
are charged with the carrying out of severe tho'.l,lo
minor sentences ; nor would the suspicion of passe ',ii
impunity attach when proper precautions were tak%
for satisfying the public mind that the prisoners
doom was not a whit the less certain because it
performed within prison walls, and not in the ootijili
try market-place or the area in front of the v.g's
Bailey. The dangerous classes would of 005
lose a spectacle on which they are wont to look
an amount of gratification which it is hard to un"
stand or excuse, and the pickpockets would h,‘"l,ill
one the less opportunity for exercising their s*.tp,
and ingenuity. But the decency and dignity "tea
which every process of law should be conduca
would be greatly increased, while the exhibition
ell
a black flag and the tolling of the passing bt.
would give a solemn notification to the world ono
side the walls of the dread duty which the preser/ce,
of peace were discharging within. We trust, the„! g
fore, that early next session the bill for effectuat'''
this much desired alteration may be again in%
duced, and that the discussions of the last few we to
and the occurrence of yesterday may alike tena.
Booth its passage through Parliament, and to flic,‘
tate its progress towards a permanent place 0'0"
our statutes.