The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOITRNALS.

The Times remarks that the more we hear from Ireland
the more clearly does it appear that the shocking murders
in Tipperary are to be ascribed to exceptional causes, and
must not be taken as bearing in any way upon the general
relations of landlords and tenants. From all sides we
have evidence that Mr. William Scully had been an
extremely "hard man," that he had borne no pleasant
reputation among either the tenantry or the gentry of his
county, and that he had broken one of the few links which
would still have unid him to h poorer neighbours by
abjuring the Romaten Catholic faisith. The terms of the
lease Mr. Scully proposed for his tenants were outrageous.
Mr. Scully, however, offered the alternative of accept-
ance or eviction ; on refusal, he proceeded to carry out his
'threat of ejectment, and as if to produce the greatest
possible amount of personal exasperation, he proceeded
to serve the notices of ejectment himself. The consequence
was, that a long-standing personal animosity was inflamed
to passionate hatred; and hatred, at an unhappy opportu-
nity, broke into murder. It will not be supposed that we
are saying a word in palliation of a crime which is, under
any view of the case, nothing less than a murder. We
are only pointing out that it is a murder, and nothing
else, due to similar motives with murders committed in
any other country, and not to be mixed up with agrarian
,outrages and ordinary tenant-right questions. Members
of a fiery and violent race were subjected to gross provoca-
tion, and took a murderous revenge. That is the history
of the affair—a history which is common to many amurder
committed under totally different circumstances. The
matter is, of course, discussed by the Irish press as eluci-
dating the question of tenant-right, but it really has no
practical bearing on it.

Fully recognising, as the Standard has always done,
that property has its duties, and admitting that Mr.
Scully has neglected or refused to perform them, it still
must be remembered that upon this occasion he was but
asserting his legal rights, and that the opposition he met
with was all the more unjustifiable, inasmuch as serving
notices to quit is but a preliminary step, and that eviction
could not take place at soonest before April, and
not even before the July of next year in case the
intervening time between the 25th March, when the
notices would expire, and the date at which the
quarter sessions may be held in April, did not consist of
the number of days requisite to render the process of eject-
ment valid. During those months the pressure of public
opinion might have changed Mr. Scully's intention, and
induced him to act with becoming moderation. We own
that under such circumstances we are astonished at the
unaccustomed hardihood with which the peasantry acted,
And that we can only attribute it to the doctrines ex-
pounded in and out of Parliament on the land question,
which lead them to hope for perpetual occupation of their
farms, and induce them coute qui coute to retain possession
until they shall become proprietors or obtain fixity
of tenure under an anticipated Act of Parliament.
However unjustifiable or reprehensible this gentleman's
conduct towards his tenantry may be, he must be sup-
ported while limiting his actions within the bounds of
law, if we wish to avoid an universal " Jacquerie "—for
successful resistance qn the part of an armed tenantry to
the acknowledged rights of a landlord who even harshly
exercised his powers would form a precedent for its being
resorted to in other instances which would admit of no
justification, and ultimately lead to the organisation of a
widespread system of organised assassination, in compa-
rison with which the past murders of obnoxious Irish
landowners would appear as nothing.

The Times wishes to give every possible publicity to the
fact that all the opportunities and privileges of the Uni-
versity of Oxford are now open upon payment of the
entrance fee of five pounds and the yearly payment of
three pounds ten. The candidate must bring with him a
character, the consent of his parents, and as much
preparation as is implied by his having risen to the
second class of a second-rate grammar school under
a respectable second-rate master. Every town in
the kingdom ought to have dozens of young men
qualified to avail themselves of this most liberal offer.
The Times remembers that we are inviting to the university
young men with a very mixed past, and utterly unknown
future. The " unattached " undergraduate has everything
done for him that a university can do, and snore than is
done by many universities. The " delegates " license and
regulate lodging-houses, of course specially in the interest
of the inmates ; they are charged with the good behaviour
of the new class ; they also license " tutors," in order to
protect the helpless strangers from mere pretenders,
sordid adventurers, or other had guides. The
tutors thus licensed by the university and
selected by the " unattached " undergraduates become
answerable for theirigeneral guidance, and specially to
see that they are under actual and proper instruction.
The tutor is the man to whom the youths are to go, on all
occasions of difficulty, for information or advice, and he is
to be really responsible for their continuing at Oxford for any
good purpose. His relation to them is that of the head
of a college to its undergraduate inmates, and in that
capacity he has to see that they have proper instruc-
tors, and are going through a regular academic
course. The licensed tutors are houseless " heads," as their
charges are " unattached " undergraduates. The tutors
licensed by the delegates under the new statute may be men
of ability. The case of the " unattached " undergraduates
under him will be that of college undergraduates under a
firstrate " head," assisted by a staff of tutors whom he
has been able to select without regard to any college
routine. The paltry payments mentioned are not mach
less than the undergraduate now pays for the same consi-
derations, but he will be able to live as cheaply as he pleases,
as much alone as he pleases, or with what associates he
pleases, subject, of course, to rules of good discipline.

The Post says that the question of the mismanagement
of railways, in point both of construction and wcrking,
has of late years been forced on the attention of the public
by the virtual collapse of the companies themselves, and a
most important step toward:: new condition of railway
affairs was taken by the action of the Government, pre-
liminary to its assumption of the Irish railways. This
experiment will be probably one of the most important
ever undertaken in this country, for, if successful,
not only will it be an immense boon and material
assistance to Ireland, but it will doubtless be but the
immediate forerunner of the similar assumption of the
whole British railway system by the State. Another, and
perhaps even a more important experiment—that of the
Governmental management of the telegraphs—will, of
course, have a direct and powerful bearing upon the ulti-
mate course to be adopted on this question, for in the
event of its success and that of the Irish rail-
way scheme, the barrier of prejudice against Govern-
ment undertakings, already greatly shaken by the
splendid success of the Post Office, will be mate-
rially, if not totally, removed ; one of the first
results of which would, no doubt, be the expression of the
urgent desire of the people of this country for the State
management of the entire railway system—a desire which
even now is being called into existence by the perversity
and shortsighted conduct of some of the companies. Until
the railways are under the control of the Government, the
defence of the country must remain dangerously incom-
plete. The Post thinks the Government would effect a great
economy in the management, and would not have to run
in opposition to rival lines. Supposing, then, that the
railways were to pass into the hands of the State, we can
imagine the station in every town and village would
become the centre of all the Government agencies. There
'would be collected the telegraph-office, the post-
office, the savings bank, and the insurance-office,
and there perhaps all the taxes might eventually
be received, which now cost the country such
enormous sums to collect ; and it would then be possible to
place over each station, as the controlling head, a man of
ability and position, who could be entrusted with the
development of the extensive local system under his
charge. It would, in short, be a step in advance which
might prove of equal, or even of greater importance than
the adoption of the penny postage.

The Herald commends the judicial appointments of the
Lord Chancellor. Had his lordship been swayed merely
by political or personal considerations, it would be mere
affectation to deny that some who have just been passed
over would have been preferred to those whose names
have been announced as the new judges. On the
Ministerial side of the house of Commons it would
be easy to find men, occupants of the front benches
in court, and who have long filled a prominent
place in the public eye, each of whom might not
unreasonably have expected that one of the newly-created
honours would have been conferred upon him, supposingit
had been deemed right to follow the precedents set by
those who chafe and fret because of their involuntary rele-
.gation to the cold shade of opposition. Nor do we pretend
to say that political claims ought not to .be considered at
all, or that, cceteris paribus, the man who has served the
State in Parliament is not entitled to some acknowledg-
ment of the additional labour which such services render
inevitable. The danger is lest claims so based should be
treated as paramount, to the entire supersession of such as
are grounded purely on the distinctions won during an
arduous professional career. The difficulty, of course, is
0 draw the line so as to combine the maximum of public
good with the minimum of rational individual aggrieve-
=nt. Neither to Prime Ministers nor to Lord Chancellors
is it given to please evtrybody ; but it is well whcn
their bitterest antagonists can find so lit*. to say as
is to be said against this latest bestowal of judicial
dignities.

A Te Daum was sung at Vienna on the 13th
in the parochial clugoll 04 St! 4nue in Ippor Qt Et
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A RUN OF LEG.AL PATRONAGE.

Tho following is a list (according to the Daily News) of,
the legal appointments of the present Government :

IN ENGLAND.

Bovill, Rt. Hon. Sir W Chief Justice of Common
Pleas.
Brett, Sir W. B. - Puisne Judge of Common
Pleas.
Cairns Lord Lord Justice of Appeal; now
Lord Chancellor.
Chelmsford, Lord - Lord Chancellor.
Cleasby, Mr.
Giffard, Sir G. M. - Chancellor.
Hannen, Sir J.
Bench.
Hayes, Serjeant . .....
Bench.
Kelly, Rt. Hon. Sir F. Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer.
Mathis. Sir R. ... Vice-Chancellor.
Phillimore, Rt. Hon. Sir li. Judge of the Admiralty
Court.
Rolt, Rt. Hon. Sir J.
Selwyn, lit. Hon. Sir C.
Wood, Rt. Hon. Sir W. P Lord Justice of Appeal.