The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

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T DON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1868.

Unhappily we do not now see the realisation of
old descriptions concerning the joyous aspect of the
season through which we are passing, and the
merry England of Christmas in the olden time has
been replaced by sad sights and dreary attributes.
The condition of the poorer classes in the metro-
polis just now is sufficient to damp the most san-
guine expectations, and to give rise to the darkest
anticipations. The worst of it is that the present
distress follows upon a long period of anxiety and
depression, and many Causes had combined to
render their condition most lamentable before the
present winter season had set in. This promises to
ba a. severe one, and hence those best informed on
•. -•
the so:abject may well look around them iu sorrow,
and regard the future with dismay. We
all know that the most unbounded charity
cannot do everything, and that all aid and
assistance, however ungrudgingly it is bestowed,
cannot
,proceed beyond a certain point. It re-
mains to be considered what will become of those
who are already destitute, and look upon this
inclement season with dread and horror. The
best thing to do, in presence of this calamity, is
to consider how to palliate the evil whose exist-
ence cannot be denied, instead of wasting time
and disputing upon the causes which have led
to the effect we all deplore. It will only re-
quire a week or two of bitter weather to bring
the misery, now prevalent in the eastern districts,
to a pitch of suffering difficult to describe, and
fearful to contemplate. It is to be regretted
that some persons, doubtless through mistaken
motives, have been representing that too much
has been made of the distress question, but such is
quite contrary to the actual truth. Let those who
doubt and hesitate see and judge for themselves,
and take the opinion of those competent to decide
in whom they can place credence. It would, in-
deed, be a mercy if any exaggeration or misrepre-
sentation could be detected in the reports that meet
the eye of the public concerning the distress now
existing iu London. It cannot need much reflection
to arrive at the conclusion that some decided steps
must be taken in order to meet the danger and
difficulties before us, and the sooner such a work is
begun the better for all parties. Endurance has
its limits, and it is idle to expect that
we will sit still when cold and want
present death to them in its most gtim aspect, and
surrounded by its harshest features. The crisis is
at band, and it behoves us to prepare to meet it.
The chief thing to do is to sink milior considerations
in the endeavour to serve the general interests. The
people of this country are never really behind hand
in any work of importance., and those who have time
and means must combine together, or the conse-
quences will be serious to their poorer brethren and
fatal to the interests of society. We have indeed
fallen upon evil days, but courage and patience
may do much to avert the worst consequences ; only
it will not do to lose time in unavailing regrets or
useless details. The evil is before us, and it remains
for us to do our best, under PROVIDENCE, to over-
come it.

THE manifesto on the state of Ireland and its
requirements, issued by the Roman Catholic clergy
of the diocese of Limerick, is put forth to the
world with considerable solemnity, and will pro-
bably receive the adhesion of a large propor-
tion of the Catholic hierarchy of the country.
In addition to this claim to a respectful considera-
tion, it possesses An.other. It proposes one
remedy, and only one, for Fenianism and
every other Irish grievance. In response to the
question bi the British people and the British
Legislature, What can we do for Ireland ? Dr.
O'BRIE.s. and the other subscribers to this docu-
ment reply, substantially-, Nothing. Or, to quote
their own words : " The very nature of the rem c-
dies required to make Ireland rich and contented
renders it impossible for a British Parliament to
adopt and apply them. Home aspirations and the
plea for Irish intervention from abroad can never
be met unless by restoring Ireland her nationality
—re-establishing the Sovereign and the Lords and
Commons of Ireland." These words contain the
sum of the manifesto. Those who subscribe it be-
lieve that Ireland is too closely attached to the
empire ; that if there were only a personal union
in the Sovereign, Ireland having "her own Legis-
lature and the management of her own resources,"
she could become prosperous and happy, and "her
federal amity be a tower of sireng th to the
enii)ire."

To the proposal of the clergy of Limerick there is
only one alternative. Either the nationality of
Ireland must be re-erected, or her identification
with the rest of the empire must be made more
complete. We it -1 ine to think that those who
have signed this manifesto have assigned too
great a power to legislation, and too limited a
sphere to the British Parliament. No laws can
make Ireland rich. Comparatively speaking, the
country is and must remain poor. She has
no such exuberant fertility as that of the
Western States of America, no such mineral
resources as those of Belgium, to enable her to sup-
port a donee concentrated population such as these
countries are fitted for. But good laws will help
her to be prosperous ; she is already flourishing,
and whatever may have been the case in the past,
no legislation of the British Parliament will be
purposely inimical to her prosperity. It has
ever been the ignis fatuits of those who de-
manded, as the clergy of Limerick do,
" exceptional legislation," to expect too much
from it. No exceptional legislation will feed
or clothe the population. Ireland has had too
much exceptional legislation already. The esta-
blishment of an alien Church, the destruction of
her manufactures and commerce by English laws
made for the express purpose, and the subdivision
of land resulting from these causes, are the
effects of exceptional legislation. '2. hey must be
remedied, not by defying political economy and
natural justice, but by enforcing both. The Lime.
rick declaration seems to regard political economy
as the JONAH which must be sacrificed to the ele-
ments. It would be difficult to say whether dis-
trust of science or the British Parliament was more
apparent. Without a trace of uncharitableness
towards the present generation of our statesmen,
they are presumed to be unwilling to accept the
remedies which Ireland needs. -Becaus'e they arc
wedded to political economy they are capable of
healing the wounds of Ireland but slightly.