The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-31 00:00:00

~~~'
~~,~

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, (;CT. 31, 1866.

Mr. BRIGHT thinks thinks that he is bound to
distribute his favours in an equal manner, and ac-
cordingly, having honoured the meetings of Eng-
land and Scotland, he has now gone to Ireland to
allow the sister kingdom to have the benefit of his
eloquence. We see very little difference in his
speeches, however, whether they are delivered to
English, Scotch, or Irish audiences. There is always
the same spirit of contention manifested, the same
hatred and contempt for the powers that be,
the same sympathy expressed for the wrongs,
real or imaginary as the case may be, of
the people whose cause he professes to advo-
cate. His speech of yesterday, however, is more
calculated to give rise to regret than those he
has uttered on previous occasions among a dif-
ferent auditory, because it is always a pity
to address an Irish audience after his fashion,
and this year more especially it is most in-
considerate on the part of Mr. BRIGHT to do
so. It would not have been expecting too much
that he should be content to forego indulging in his
most vehement strain ; but as it is, we really do not
see how he could have said more or gone further,
unless he had counselled his hearers actually to rise
in rebellion. A3cording to his showing, they
have every grievance under the sun to complain
of, and after having endured oppression and tyranny
in every form, they have now the misfortune to be
placed under the rule of a party most inimical to
their progress and prosperity. Mr. BRIGHT is very
fond of talking about progress, but his acts belie his
Professions, and if we ransacked the archives of past
uaYa we should find that the most bitter partisan
orators that ever thundered forth to the edification
of an earlier
generation are (rite equalled in bitter-
ness and
by these fanatic ebullitions in which
lie is continually indulging. Right and wrong get
hopelessly confused in the tangled skein of his dis-
course, until we lose the sense
of the real injustice
that may exist in any particular he alludes to, in the
feeling of indignation that naturally arises when
so distorts and misrepresents things,
Thus, when he dilates upon the .manyorkeci
crimes and
w
errors of the Tory party as having
all the
mischief and misery that has arisen in Ireland, he
chores to forget the long period of years during
which those whom he calls his own party have been
in office. But what can we expect when Mr.
BRIGHT so far forgets himself as to become
the champion of Fenianism. We really did
not think that even his blind infatuation and
extreme prejudice would have gone so far;
but we arc told that it is owing to the principles of
the Tory party having been carried out in Ireland
that " the kingdom has been continually weakened,
that harmony has been disturbed, and that the

chief has spread to the most remote colonies of the
empire; in fact, the Government of Lord DERBY is
at this moment doing exactly what the Government
of Lord NORTH did nearly 100 years ago : it is
seen sending troops across the Atlantic to fight
Irishmen, who are bitter enemies of England,
on the American continent." The conclusion he draws
from this is that the law is bad and the people good.
Nothing can justify a public man talking in this
strain ; it is alike dishonest and dishonourable. But
let us mark how inconsistent Mr. BRIGHT can be,
for he leaves out what he pleases, and only
comments upon what he dislikes. Of course Lord
DERBY is to take all the blame of putting down an
attempt at rebellion which did not originate during
his Ministry, but not a word is said about the
energetic measures taken by the American Go-
vernment to suppress the Fenian movement.
It redounds to their honour that they should do so,
but why is it not recorded here
In an eloquent passage Mr. BRIGHT refers to the
feelings of devotion entertained by the Irish for
America, and declares that he does not wonder at
it. " You will recollect that the ancient Hebrew
in his captivity had his windows open towards
Jerusalem when he prayed : you know that the
follower of MAHOMED when he prays turns
his face towards Mecca ; and the Irish
peasant, when he asks for food, and freedom,
and blessings, his eye follows the setting
sun. The aspiration of his heart reaches beyond
the wide Atlantic, and in spirit he grasps hands
with the great Republic of the West." It is
the best proof that the man who is discontented and
repining in one place will not settle in another, that
the disaffected spirit and agitating race of the Irish
should have found vent in plots and conspiracies
when they had nothing to irritate them any longer.
Mr. BRIGHT had better be silent just now about
the connection between the Irish and Americans.
It is of that character which all true patriots and
right-minded citizens of other States abhor and
condemn. Mr. BRIGHT, of course, knows
every one's business better than they do them-
selves, and takes Sir HUGH CAIRNS to task for the
tenour of his speech the other day at Belfast—
" there was much said of the enforcement of the
law, but there is nothing said about any change or
amendment of the law." " With the English
party," he declares that terror is the only specific,
and they have no confidence in allegiance except
where there is no ability to rebel. Sir HUGH
CAIRNS took a more elevated view of things,
when ho said that a just and generous
policy towards Ireland was nowadays obtaining
favour in England, and that prejudices and national
jealousies were fast disappearing. Mr. BRIGHT
considers otherwise, however, and declares that at
the root of all discontent there must be a grievance,
and quotes some fine lines of the greatest of Italian
poets descriptive of a vision h 3 saw on the Stygian
Lake as illustrating the state of Ireland for gene-

rations ;

" This, too, for certain, know that underneath
The waters dwells a multitude, whose sighs
Into these bubbles make the surface heave,
As thine eye tells thee, wheresoe'er it turns."

Fine language and powerful expressions may
impress for a time, but something more
is required when a man who calls himself a states-
man addresses a great nation in the centre of her
capital. We hear of wrongs, but nothing of the
spirit which should endure and rise above the
temptation to rebel against the law.
There is nothing to admire in the lawless de-
meanour of the Fenians, and the more Mr.
131:IGHT thinks them the exponents of their coun-
try's wrongs the more injustice he does to
the Irish nation, and the more injury to his own
reputation as a far-seeing statesman. " Ireland
is a country of many wrongs and many sorrows,"
he declares—but the one will not be remedied
nor the other alleviated by having recourse to vio-
lence, and the sooner this great truth is recognised
the better. Above all, it is most blameable to incite
those who are already irritated and excited, to con-
tempt of existing authority ; and the worst of all
the outbreaks and disturbances that arise is that
they hinder and retard the spread of improvement,
cause the lovers of justice and order to look with
doubt and apprehension upon any change being
made, however much the spirit of the country may
demand and desire it. Ireland is deserving of better
things than to be a land of plotters ; and AIr.BRIGHT
pays no compliment to the Irish people when he
seems to think that they are all animated by a spirit
of towards England.

The catastrophe which has lately occurred off
the coasts of America is one of the most startling
and terrible in the records of naval disaster. It is
not many months since the loss of the London filled
this country with consternation, and cast a gloom
over the busy community of our Australian colonies.
But the loss of the London, though heart-thrilling
and mournful in the extreme, did not possess the
elements that invest the loss of the Evening Star
with such especial horror. The passengers had full
warning of their fate. For two or three days and
nights the danger had been culminating, until at last
those who had any experience in sea voyages knew
what the end must be before Captain MARTIN told
them that all hope was over. Terrible though the cir-
cumstances of such a catastrophe must always be,
there was nothing in the freight or company of the
London to add bitterness to the closing scene.
There was mourning and lamentation, no doubt,
mothers weeping over their children, and friends
grieving for the sorrow of those far away whom
they were never to see again ; but there was prayer,
resignation, and fortitude, manly courage and
womanly patience, and the alarm and agitation
which were manifested were no more than was natural
to frail human nature when so suddenly summoned
to its final scene. Indeed we have the unanimous
testimony of the survivors that when Captain MAR-
TIN entered the cabin and told the passengers assem-
bled there that all hope for this world was over, the
intelligence, whether from exhaustion or resigna-
tion, was received with calmness. The spectacle
on board the Evening Star was painfully different.
The motley company which it carried were only
fitted for the gaieties and vanities of life, and
seemed sadly unequal to cope withtrhecah erwofpula
realities
of such a time. There was a Fen
com-
pany on board, and a negro minstrel
amongelt
roup
thee.rl lerewas also a large number of females
pas-
sengers, for a hundred unfortunate women were fol-
lowing the fashion, and journeying from New York
to New Orleans. Upon such a group we may ima-
gine the terrible effect of the intelligence that the
days of vice and gaiety were over for ever, and that
the day of reckoning was at hand. It reminds us
of the scene in " Lucrezia Borgia," where
the sound of the tolling bell breaks in on the gay
carols of the revellers. It was not to be expected
that such a company would show the calmness and
presence of mind which characterised the passengers
of the London, but the end came to bothalike, and
the great ship, with her crowded decks, went
down into the dark waters, leaving only a few sur-
vivors to reach, after enduring the most fearful hard-
ships, the distant coast of Florida.
pre can never hope to hear the last of these great
oceans maritimet
oa
traverse
disasters.erse
So long as there are great
and dangerous coasts to be passed
by, so long as there are hurricanes and tempests,