The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE Ptran 3.otriums,

The American Fenians have lately addressed ti the
people of England a highly rhetorical appeal ror
syin their
pathy and support in the undertaking now in hand.
The Times is certain that the appeal is not likely to re-
ceive much attention. The English, with all their weak-
nesses, are not likely to take up conspiracy in the place of
open dealing, loaded revolvers in the place of.; walking-
sticks, infernal machines in the place of mutual amenities,
seditious harangues in the place of duty or work, and
.anarchy in the place of order and peace. Fenianism has
not shown itself lately in a light to win converts. But
,there are a few points in this address worthy of a passing
remark. In their over-anxiety to act up to the part of
an affectionate brother and fellow-sufferer, the American
Fenians hare tripped into some admissions which it is as
well to jot down. They admit, then, what, indeed,
we have often had to observe, that under our Im-
perial system and our equal laws there is no sub-
stantial and necessary difference between the case
of an Irishman and that of an Englishman. They
admit that the working Englishman finds neither less nor
more obstacles in his way than the working Irishman.
They admit that the difficulty of finding everybody a bit
of land to call his own is not confined to Ireland. They
admit—indeed, they make much of the fact—that there
are " millions" of Irish people mixed up with the native
Population of this island, sharing all their opportunities,
and naturally led to regard themselves as one with us.
They admit the fact of a social brotherhood in this
island vastly more important and real than any of the
Fenian ssrt. They admit that the country which
thus invites immigration from Ireland and the en-
tire fusion of races is much the more prosperous
of the two islands, much the happier, and much the
more powerful. It is England that is still the object
of envy, and England that is still the oppressor
in this appeal ; but it is not old England, not Eng-
land of the English, not the purely feudal England
or the England that kept out Irish manufactures, Irish
produce, and even Irishmen themselves. No ; the England
here confessed to be so prosperous is simply that common
centre and hospitable hearth which opens her doors and
her workshops to all the sons of toil from all nations, but
most of all to Ireland. By these admissions, hazarded for
the sake of getting up, anyhow, a common Republican
cause, the American Fenians abandon the case for special
Irish grievances. They admit the daily increasing soli-
darity of the two populations, their perfect community of
interests, and their mutual obligations. As they can be
candid for once, and for an end in view, perhaps they
would throw in a trifle of spontaneous candour. Will
they not confess that an Irishman presenting himself to
share the employments of the English working classes is
received far more kindly and unreservedly than an
Englishman who has to seek his bread among the native
Irish ? They must know how this question should be
answered.

In the opinion of the Daily News, the materials do not
exist in Ireland for an independent Parliament. A sepa-
rate Irish patriotism no longer animates her peers and
country gentlemen. The Leinsters, Charlemonts, and
Cloncurrys, the Floods, Grattans, Langrishes, Burrowes,
and Parsons of the close of the eighteenth century, have
left no political descendants. At the same time, we accept
the testimony of the Dean of Limerick and his friends
that a distinctive national feeling does animate the Catholic
population of Ireland, the farmers and shopkeepers, the
Artisans and peasants of the country. It is evident, and
we are glad to learn, that this feeling is shared by the clergy
who act as its interpreters. They have not become so
wholly Roman as to cease to be Irish. It is for English
statesmen to find some means of indulging, within the
limits of the Union, a feeling which cannot be eradicated,
and which may be wisely directed. A bad Irishman will
never make a good British subject. It is easy to declaim
about the faults of the Irish character. But that character
has in great part been formed under the influence of
seven hundred years of British rule, and by the alternate
use of two of the most debasing instruments that power
can wield—oppression and corruption. We have helped
to make it what it is ; and we ought in atonement to try
and make it better. In the meantime, certain wrongs
and abuses exist which can at once be grappled with.
Patriotic Irishman will commit a fatal blunder if they
allow impracticable demands for the Repeal of the Union
to divert their attention from the redress of the Church
grievance and the reform of the land laws ; or afford,
statesmen desiring nothing better, an excuse for inaction.
The Standard believes that if there be anything certain
in this world it is that the Government and people of this
country are even morbidly anxious to deal fairly, nay
chivalrously, with Ireland. We have griefs—if not
grievances—of our own, pressing themselves with impor-
tunate urgency on our attention, yet we elect to make
them wait still longer for a solution, in order that we may
dedicate our whole energies to discovering what is really
amiss with our sister island, and which of the multiplicity
of panaceas, passionately presented for immediate adoption,
is the one that will put her now and for ever to rights.
Our own trade is deranged, the employment of a goodly
part of our own capital suspended, and an alarming pro-
portion of our own mechanics and labourers thrown out of
work. Much as has recently been done by the present
Cabinet for the reorganisation of our poor-law system, the
public is crying out, not without something to chew for the
cry, that much yet remains to be effected. We are in-
fested
with an almost übiquitous plague which calls itself
trades' unionism, with whose pretensions we are already
acquainted, but whose genuine vitality we hare yet to test.
We have a rude scheme for introducing direct compulsory
education to resist,and a system of voluntary education , aided
by indirect inducements, to foster and amend. Our hands
would be full of our own affairs if we would but selfishly
postpone every other consideration to their settlement.
But, far from our being actuated by any such motive, we
thrust them aside, we bid them be patient, and tell them
that their turn for treatment will come round only when
we have dealt with Ireland's importunities, and made an
end, if it be possible, of Ireland's wrongs.
The Star thinks it worth while to ask whether we are or
are not to be a military people for the future—a people of
training and drilling and citizen soldiery? Certainly the
taste for this kind of thing seems immensely, some people
might say ominously, on the increase. The volunteer
movement itself, properly directed, may be made a grand
national organisation, the means by which patriotism, and
not pipeclay, may hereafter be the chief defence of our
nation. If the inclination for playing all manner of mili-
tary or semi-military parts should be turned to account
by enabling us to retain only a nominal standing army,
it will of course prove a blessing to the country. It is the
military caste, the distinct, isolated military body, whose
interest is in war, that is a danger to a country, and not
the mere practice of arms by citizens who, whatever their
love for uniforms and rifles, will assuredly have little incli-
nation for Crimean wars and Abyssinian expeditions. But
whether it be for good or evil, it seems to us that the
taste for arms and drill and semi-military avocations has
immensely grown among our population within the last
few years. It will have to be taken into serious account
by politicians and philosophers alike. If its tendency
should merely be to feed and swell the purely military
profession, it will prove one day an almost unmixed evil.
If, however, it tends rather to render the military caste
superfluous and obsolete, then it is a march in the way c

The Herald observes that the French Emperor, having
once utilised the new year's reception for a great surprise,
he has allowed it to sink back into its customary routine
of commonplace. He might be going to war with one of
the great Powers next month, but it is not, therefore, to
be supposed that he would deviate one jot from his usual
politeness in responding to the well-meant compli-
ments of the representative of that Power on the day of
the year. The sharp speech which, in 18.39, came like a
thunderstroke upon poor Baron Hubner, answered its
purpose well enough then. The manoeuvre has had its
day ; the trick is played out. Since that there have been
wars, and rumours of wars, heartburnings, and open dif-
ferences between France and other nations. If we may
except the Roman expedition, for these nine years the
sword of France has not flashed over Europe ; but if it had
been the secret intention of her ruler at tile commence-
ment of any year to vindicate her position or her supposed
rights by levying war upon any of the European Powers,
we can scarcely imagine that be would have again chosen
so open a method of proclaiming his design, and of en-
abling his opponent to be forearmed because forewarned
Men have not yet forgotten that New Year's Day which
preceded the Italian war and ushered in the first humilia-
tion of Austria. They have looked to every returning Ist
of January with ever fresh apprehensions. This anxiety
of theirs is perhaps the very reason of all others why the
utterances of the French Emperor on such occasions have
been so uniformly and so studiously polite us to be almost
unmeaning.

AN EXTRAORDINARY DEPUTATION.—ft is an-
nounced that an offer has been made by a distinguished
Anglican reunionist to convey to the Eastern patriarchs
the Lambeth encyclical and the Archbishop of Canter-
bury's letter. It is proposed to send them by a special
envoy, with appointed retinue. The subject is said to be
under consideration of the authorities of the Church of
,England.
THE PRINCE BIPERIAL.—One of the most in-
genious of the New Year's gifts presented to the Prince
Imperial is certainly that given to him by his father. It
neusists of a lilliputian engine so perfect in its construc-
tion that it can draw a train of carriages on a rail-
way of five hundred yards in length, the rails having
been laid on the terrace running along the reserved
gardens of the Tuileries. An engineer attends during
the Prince's
_recreation to teach him how to manage
tllrQti explaining the construction of )he