The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-10 00:00:00

the memory of Parliament Garibaldi's words,
and. argued that it was very bad taste to con-
sider such words, and endeavoured to make
his readers understand that they had been
wrongly interpreted. But the barrel of gun-
powder has decided the controversy; it has
deranged the happy quietude in which all
were living. The gentlemen and. the nice
ladies of England have lost all faith in Gari-
baldi. They have now more respect for the
delegate of Christ on earth, and they must now
know that it was a very great mistake to make
the people believe that he was the anti-Christ.
They are even surprised. that the Catholic
bishops of England and Ireland speak against
Fenianism. Such an order of thought, if it
had been carried out logically, would have
made everybody Catholic. Every gentleman
and lady saw the necessity of Conservatism,
mid even the people became more Conservative.
Both gentlemen .and people presented them-
selves to be sworn in as special constables to
preserve peace and order. During a few days
it was most consoling to notice the change that
had taken place. You no longer heard. Garibaldi
praised even in the humble walks of society ;
in those nice country seats so beautifully scat-
tered all over England, which make it the gar-
den and fairy land of the world, and in the
splendid mansions of London, you could hear
and enjoy conversations which in a degree
harmonized with the Catholic conversations of

the chateaux of France. But such harmony
could not suit Protestant ears. The teachers
of prejudice saw the danger. They had re-
course to another plan to darken the dawn of
reason and of good faith, but, at the same
time, to make Fenianism the highway to Con-
servatism. They puzzled the minds of the
ladies with an amalgam of words which left
Fenian, Irish, Catholic upwardmost. By such
means, in conversation, it was almost difficult
to distinguish one from the other. Was every
Irishman and every Catholic a Fenian ? It
certainly looked very much like it, when you
came to consider the logical meaning of what
you had heard. It is only by similar entangle-
ment of words that the Protestant faith can
exist. This new order of reasoning once
adopted in society, the special constables were
put forward to keep up the excitement created
by the barrel of gunpowder ; the excitement
was necessary to make the people more Con-
servative. The daily press came forward every
morning with three or more columns headed
Fenianism, Scotland-yard lent out constables
and detectives in plain clothes to many railway
stations, hotels, public buildings, churches and
chapels, to guard them against being blown up.
The French clergy, at the French chapel, more
accustomed to similar manoeuvres in their own
country, sent for the police to protect them
against the specials, told them that they were
not worth blowing up, went to bed as usual,
and awoke the next morning not blown up, and
saved the expense of tea, and pipes, and pots
of beer in their house all night. The fright

was general, and at its height when I left
London. What has become of the crisis since,
I shall be glad to learn on my next visit to
England. In what way it may affect the ad-
vance of honest logic, reason—say common
good sense—in religious matters, remains to
be seen.