The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-05 00:00:00

Dublin University Magazine.

The first paper is on " A Great Country's Cheap-
est Defence," and in it are some sensible remarks on
the volunteer forces. It states that " from first to
last the volunteer movement in these realms has been
one long surprising success," The following sug-
gestions as to the propriety of the Irish joining the
volunteers are very fairly put, and all candid critics
will coincide in their justice. It says that the
idea that one portion of the British Islands should
be deemed unworthy a privilege freely accorded to
all the rest, is a conclusion which nothing short of
moral certainty should befit any one seriously to
affirm." The fact is certain as here affirmed that
it is not the way to create truth by constantly sus-
pecting others of falsehood.
" The only way to make men trustworthy is to show
that you trust them, and the surest way of making Ireland
loyal is to treat her as if you reckoned on her loyalty. Let
her feel that England expects her to share the honour and
the risk of defending both countries from foreign invasion,
and there are few of her sons who will not readily and
warmly answer to the call. To keep up any needless die•
tinction between realms so long united under ono Crown,
is merely to strengthen the hands of the riotous and ill-
affected few at the expense of the loyal and peaceful many.
"We Irish are a sensitive people, and the most loyal
among us will net be the last to resent so sweeping an ex-
elusion from privileges open to the mass of our fellow sub-
jects across the water. We will ask for better reasons than
have yet been shown, why the same people whose blood has
been shed like water in the maintenance of British arms
throughout other parts of the world, should still be declared
unworthy to aid in guarding their own hearths and home-
steads from foreign defilement. We may ask if Ireland is
no better now than she was ,before the Union—than she
was even twenty or thirty years ago We can point to
numbers of loyal men—Protestant and Roman Catholic—
who would as soon think of turning their arms against each
other as of joining in a plot to murder the Lord Lieutenant
and blow up the Castle. Have the Irish militia proved
generally dangerous io the public peace, or peculiarly prone
to quarrel among themselves ? Do the bulk of educated
Irishmen really desire nothing better than a reign of uni-
versal bigotry ? Surely there is no lack of good men and
true in Ireland, if only a fair effort be made to find them
out. In our case it is useless to argue by the past alone
during a period of continuous change. It will be wiser, as
well as more generous, to draw a bill or two upon our future
history. England is trusting somewhat to chance in her
new mode of arming and building her ships of war.
Let her consent to throw a little more bread upon the
waters, in the shape of a small experiment at Irish volun-
teering. Begun with caution and carried on with a just
regard for all rival claims and feelings, such an cxpe-
rinient could hardly fall through in the long run. A be-
ginning might be made with companies of artillery in those
districts where the people have hitherto been more pros-
perous or less divided against each other. Power might
be given the lords lieutenant to enrol only men of proven
good character and peaceful habits. Protestants and Ro-
man Catholics might be encouraged to serve together in
the same ranks as readily as they often serve together in
the ranks of her Majesty's regiments. The step is worth
taking, and a failure will do the Government at least no
harm."
A " House divided against itself," is concluded this
time, and it is a most melancholy tale, yet there
is much to attract in the pathetic style in which
the sad facts are narrated. Courtenay North met
her death in a brave spirit, and she made glorious
the cause she had at heart by her trust and her
courage. The conflicts that ensued within and
without are here very ingeniously denribedl And