The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-04 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1868.

Mr. BRIGHT has been " starring" iu Liverpool,
and taken advantage of the opportunity afforded
bim, by an invitation irom the Welsh National Re-
form Association, to dilate upon Church matters in
his usual style. According to his statement, how-
ever, the hon. member was not very ready to ap-
pear on this occasion, for he sent a refusal, in the
first place, to the invitation that he received, and it
was not until the Welsh had shown their persever-
ance, by sending a deputation to him in the House
of Commons, that he finally acquiesced. In look-
ing at the matter comprehensively, Mr. BRIGHT
asks, " What will happen if we are defeated ?" and
in replying to the interrogation he hints pretty plainly
that an attempt will be made to separate Ireland
from England. It is much to be regretted that
Mr. BRIGHT will not be more measured in his lan-
guage when he is speaking on Irish questions. It
may be all very well when he is descanting upon
affairs more immediately connected with this
country, but surely after all that has occurred
lately he might be more circumspect than to ex-
press himself so incautiously. He actually goes
so far as to exclaim, " Now I have never said
that Irishmen are not at liberty to ask for, and,
if they could acconarlish it, to obtain the repeal of
the Union." Quite apart from the merits of the
question of the disestablishment of the Irish Church
we may protest against this sort of argument
being employed. It is not at all the thing
for any public speaker to use threats, or even
to indulge in insinuations of this nature. Let the
wrongs and grievances of Ireland be redressed by
all means, but not after this fashion. A little while
ago Mr. BRIGIIT was descanting upon the great
want of Reform in Parliament, and accounting for
Fenianism, if he did not excuse it, and now the
Repeal of the Union is to be held in terroron over
those who will not comply with the requests of Mr.
BRIGHT and his friends. As may be expected the
Ministry did not fare very well in the speeches
delivered by the hon. member for Birmingham.
He did not employ much variety of language
is discussing their vices; virtues, of course,
they have none, and the word " offensive" figures
very prominently in the matter. There is a
"shuffling and offensive Cabinet," and the language
of the Prime Minister is offensive and impudent"
to match. Besides this, the Premier is skilful at
phrases that are likely to deceive, and he offers bribes
right and left to the Catholic and Presbyterian
Churches, but all to no purpose, for Mr. BRIGHT
has detected his errors, and held them up to general
contempt and reprobation. A great part of the
discourse of Mr. BEIGHT referred to the Church
meeting in St. James's Hall the other day, and he
exhausted his powers of description in quizzing the
' bishops and others who took part in it. It was a
meeting of shareholders who have to lose their
dividends, and it was also a meeting of a trades
union. All this is not argument, however, though
it may serve the purpose of it in the opinion of
some ; and it is perfectly hopeless to expect that
Mr. BRIGHT will be molerate in his style or tem-
perate in his lauguige when he is addressing a
meeting of the description referred to.

We are not surprised to find that Mr. EYRE has
written a letter to the various journals, in which
he makes known to the public some few passages
from the Report of the Royal Commissioners, and
some short extracts from a despatch of the present
Governor of Jamaica which throw more light upon
the affair. Hitherto Mr. EYRE has scrupulously
refrained from taking notice of the " malignant
and monstrous calumnies and misrepresentations"

which have been made during the last two years.
Notwithstanding all the un-English proceedings
that have been taken before two " different judicial
tribunals," now a jury of his fellow-country-
men have refused to entertain the charges brought
against him, and have thus declared them to be
unfounded. Now that a competent judicial tri-
bunal has pronounced its verdict, Mr. EYRE
has thought fit to lay these statements before the
public, and certainly he is perfectly justified in
doing so. These extracts show the difficulties with
which Mr. EYRE had to grapple in the months of
October and November, 1865. The Commissioners
declare that in the great majority of cases the evi-
dence before the court-martial was unobjectionable
in character, and quite sufficient to justly the find-
ing of the Court; and they also state that the Coun-
cil had good reason for the advice they gave to pro-
claim martial law, and the Governor " well justified
in acting upon that advice." Not a few of the
negro.2,B contemplated the attainment of their ends
by the death or expulsion of the white inhabitants
of the island, and though the original design for the
overthrow of the constituted authority was confined
to the parish of St.Thomas-in-the-East, yet the dis-
order spread with great rapidity over a large tract
of land ; and, they also add, which it is important
to notice, that the state of excitement was so great
that if the insurgents bad attained a mere momen-
tary success a great loss of life and property would
have been sustained before their ultimate overthrow
would have been accomplished.
Sir PETER GRANT, the present Governor of
Jamaica, in writing to Lord CARNARVON in Oct.,
1866, reports, in reference to certain evidence that
was taken before a Special Commission of Oyer and,
Terminer that was held at Kingston, that he con- .
siders this judicial evidence, so far as it goes, to be of
more value than any evidence obtained before the
Royal Commissioners in their inquiry. It is proved
that the " march and attack upon the Court-house
on the 11th of Oct. were premeditated, as part of an
intended insurrection, and that the murder of cer-
tain persons who were murdered on that occasion
was premeditated, and was afterwards boasted of."
" This proves," adds the writer very significantly,
" that the assailants proclaimed, on making their
attack, their object to be war, that the war com-
menced was a war of colour, and that they them-
selves understood, the day after the slaughter, that
what. they had undertaken was war." The opinion
of Sir PETER GRANT is one that has great weight
attached to it, and he must have had many oppor-
tunities of judging the case from his own observa-
tions, and the public will thus see for themselves
what is the conclusion arrived at by an unpreju-
diced man, and one well qualified to pass
his opinion on the case. Mr. EYRE adds
to this brief but authentic enunciation
of the broad features of the rebellion and
is suppression, " that though insurrection had
actually occurred in but one district of the colony,
the Government had reason to fear that seditious
feelings were rife, and open rebellion might speedily
break out in other parts of the island ;" and, in con-
clusion, be reminded the public of a very important
fact, that, during a state of warfare such as that
created by open rebellion, " many things must
always occur which are to be deplored, and by none
more than the civil and military authorities in com-
mand at the time, but which it is as impossible to
foresee as to prevent." We are glad to meet with
this spirited vindication of his policy from the ex-
Governor of Jamaica, and its arguments are as con-
clusive as its tone is moderate and impressive.

The Conservatives throughout the country are
busying themselves during these Whitsuntide holi-
days in holding meetings and organising associations.
A day or two since we heard of a demonstration
of some importance at Grantham, and now we
nave an account of the first anniversary dinner of
the Bedworth Conservative Association. BA worth
is a name not very familiar to metropolitan ears,
but it is a place of some importance nevertheless,
being the centre of the mining district of Warwick-
shire. The Black Country does not deal much in
festive g itherings, but on Tuesday last its high-
ways and byeways presented a gay and animated
scene, being thronged with vehicles of all kinds
degrees, and dignities, most of them gaily decorated
for the occasion. Two or three M.P.'s honoured the
meeting with their presence, and among them Mr.
NEwDEGATE played a conspicuous part. The
Chairman was Mr. SAMPSON LLOYD, who made a
brief address in favour of the Ministry, on the
ground that they had been called upon to face great
and unusual difficuities. The Fenian conspiracy
was a serious thing, and the difficulty of dealing
with it had not been lessened by the avowed sym-
pathy of some persons in this country. Mr. LLOYD
' referred to an expression used by a Mr. ODGERS,
at a meeting of the Reform League, who had
said that he hoped Fenianism would "go
on and prosper till the Irish people had
knocked down their rulers as the Leaguers
had knocked down the Hyde-park palings."
The party who tuok up this line of argument
were, however, extremely limited in number, and
the general feeling of the country strongly sup-
ported the Government in its efforts to repress
Fenianism. No high-flown language or verbal pro-
fessions could undo the effect of the Clerkenwell
atrocity ; and the common sense of the English
people convinced them that it was absurd for men
so cruel and unscrupulous to talk about liberating
a nation. If the oppressed Irish were to trust to
the tender mercies of men who could deliberately
destroy a hundred houses, and maim and injure
scores of helpless women and children, they had
not much prospect of relief. In one sense the
Fenian conspiracy has been a source of strength
to the Government of the day, since it has
rallied round them the sympathies of the middle
ranks, which are always on the side of law and
order. Mr. BROMLEY DAVENPORT, M.P., who
followed the chairman, set himself to analyse Lord
RUSSELL'S recent attack on the Ministry. He
said that Lord RUSSELL'S charge of procrastina-
tion of public business reminded him of the accu-
sations of the wolf against the lamb. Lord Rus-
SELL'S own party were the procrastinators. They
had impeded the course of public business, and
stopped the Government from bringing in bills
which they were really anxious about. Mr.
DAVENPORT suggested that the real cause of offence
on the part of the Government was that they
had kept their own opponents so long in the cold
shade of Opposition. For his own part, added
the speaker, he had at first regretted that
the Government did not resign, but he had
since changed his opinion, since the Opposition
dared not bring forward a direct vote of want of
confidence, and the Ministers were not, therefore,
bound to yield to their machinations. Mr. NEW-
DEGATE, as may be supposed, dwelt chiefly upon
the merits of the ecclesiastical questions of the day,
but the whole affair passed off in good part, with
little difference of opinion. We are glad, however,
to see these evidences of political life in those parts
of the provinces which have hitherto been absorbed
in local disputes and local interests. One of the
great remedies for the bitterness and obstinacy of
those quarrels between employers and employed
would be an enlargement of popular sympathies and
an extension of the are% of interests. Dien who