The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY 'EVENING, AUGUST 19, 1868.

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.

leges, are now educated at home. The prin-
cipal clerical colleges are the Royal College
of St. Patrick, Maynooth, supported by dio-
cesan burses, legacies, grants of public money,
and by pensions from the students : the
Catholic University, Dublin, the Colleges of
St. Patrick, Carlow, St. Jarlath, Tuam, All
Hallows, and Clonliffe, near Dublin, by volun-
tary contributions."

The anxiety with which not politicians only,
but men engaged in business in every city of
Europe, hang upon the utterances of the Em-
peror Napoleon, has something about it very
painful. It shows more than anything else
that in Europe, under its revolutionary regime,
peace and war do not depend on causes that
can be foreseen or avoided, but upon the in-
scrutable and inevitable decision of one irre-
sponsible man. Whether war is to come in
October or not was uncertain until the Emperor
pronounced at Troyes the words that "Nothing,
to-day, threatens the peace of Europe," and
now men believe that they are safe for to-day,
to pursue their legitimate callings, or their ille
gitimate speculations; but they alsobelieve that
the absence of a warlike allusion is only a tem-
porary reprieve, and that the concluding words
of the speech, " Have confidence in the
future, and do not forget that God protects
France," forebode that the trial of strength
which people are looking forward to between
France and Prussia is only postponed. Such
anxious speculations, whether they have any
warranty or not, clearly prove that war is not
regarded as an event of terrible necessity, jus-
tifiable only on grounds of public justice, but
as a mere matter of political expediency to ad-
vance the interests of a dynasty or to avert
political discontent. That political discontent
is coming to a head in France it is vain to
deny. The causes of this growing discontent
are various. Some undoubtedly may be traced
to that fatal revolutionary restlessness which,
since 'B9, like a brain fever, has seized upon
France, and under the impulse of which she
has more than once been driven to suicidal
courses. But other reasons also exist to ac-
count for the increasing discontent. French
men are beginning to feel ashamed of being
treated as unmanageable children or as escaped
lunatics; they fret under the restrictions which
bind them and resent the jealousy with which
they are watched. As long as Napoleon's
policy, however, was successful in Europe their
vanity was gratified and they were willing to
sacrifice liberty to " glory," but no sooner did
reverses fall upon the Emperor, and they are
too well known to need enumerating, than
the critical and sceptical temper of the people
of Paris turned upon the idol of the nation
and laid bare to public mockery the hidden
feet of clay. The state of the public finances
is no small element in the distrust which is
gathering round the closing years of the Em-
peror's reign.
In another direction, the vacillation which
the Emperor manifested on the Roman ques-
tion, his evident desire to conciliate the Re-
volution, until the manifestation of the Catho-
lic feeling of France forced upon him a sudden
change in his policy, have not tended to in-
crease confidence in his rule. The man who
is forced against his inclinations and his na-
tural bent to support a cause in which he has
no heart, may be made use of and protected by
many, but is respected and trusted by none.
Such is the lot of the Emperor Napoleon. He
would go with the Revolution, like his cousin,
if he dared ; as it is, he is compelled to guard
the Papacy. Such a position is scarcely honest,
but honest or not it provokes ridicule. And
nowhere is ridicule more catching and danger-
ous than in France. Napoleon stands in dread
of the sarcasms of the French Opposition. This
sensitiveness accounts for the manner in which
the Lanterne, famous for its sarcasms against
the Government, has been prosecuted, and for
the zeal of the Imperial police in seizing upon
every stray copy, even those in the hands of
readers, that they can lay hold of. The Lan-
tem is not the organ of any political party,
nor does it represent any particular section of
French society ; it simply appeals to the sense
of the ridiculous, and shows no scruple in
launching the most stinging sarcasms against
the Government, the Imperial officials, and
Bonapartists in general. By such means this
small, mean-looking weekly pamphlet has
attained within twelve weeks a weekly circu-
lation of 120,000. Its success in arresting
public attention is a phenomenon, calling for
consideration ; it shows at least that the Pari-
sian mind, after all, is not so dead to politics,
The Temps, commenting on this popular ex-
citement, says :
" Strange return of human things ! Those
people who were thought so devoted to grosser
indulgences do still take an interest in affairs
of State. Where is now our prudent, judici-
ous, and timid Press—timid even in its ex-
cesses—of the last fifteen years ? Where are
your refined allusions, delicate irony, which
people said disturbed the slumbers of the
powerful of the earth ? Where are those
skilful reticences, those highly-polished darts,
the cause of delight to 3,000 Parisians, and of
avertissements to the Minister of the Interior ?
To the hundreds of thousands who are now
waking up a writer must speak out frankly,
strongly, and roughly. It is liberty which
is returning with all its frankness, and, if
you will, with all its excesses."
The Government which justly exposes itself
to ridicule, is in France near its end. Another
indication of popular feeling was the refusal
by the son of General Cavaignac (the Repub-
lican general who was thrown into prison on
the 2d of December) to receive, at the distri-
bution of prizes, his allotted award, at the
handa of the Prince Imperial. This sensa-
tional incident was highly applauded, and
caused a sort of commotion in the streets.

THE IRISHMAN.

We notice these incidents because they lead
up to one result--war. To escape from ridi-
cule, to recover a waning popularity, to enlarge
the already overgrown debt, without fear of
popular criticism, Napoleon has only to em-
bark in a campaign against Prussia. The
only condition imposed upon him is that it
must be successful. A brief and brilliant cam-
paign is the last card which Napoleon Bona-
parte has to play, and he is not the man, if
his destiny lead him on, to shrink from the
terrible game.—Westminster Gazette.

THE CA7IIOLIC CHURCH IN IRELAND.

The following is from Thont's Statistics of the
United Kingdom:—
" The Roman Catholic hierarchy consists
of four archbishops, whose sees are in Armagh,
Dublin, Cashel, and Thom, and twenty-four
bishops. The bishops are nominated by the
Pope, generally out of a list of names submitted
to him by the bishops of the province and the
clergy of the vacant diocese. In case of ex-
pected incapacity from age or infirmity, the
bishop names a coadjutor, who is usually
confirmed by the Pope. Every diocese has a
dean and an archdeacon, the former appointed
by the Cardinal Protector at Rome, the latter
by the bishop, but these dignitaries are with-
out jurisdiction or emolument. The whole of
the clergy are supported solely by the volun-
tary contributions of their flocks. The Epis-
copal emoluments arise from the parish in
which the bishop officiates, from marriage
licences, and from the cathedraticum, an annual
sum varying from £2 to £lO, paid by each in-
cumbent in the diocese. The 2,425 civil
parishes in Ireland are amalgamated into 1,070
ecclesiastical parishes or unions, being 440
livings less than in the Established Church.
The parochial clergy are nominated exclusively
by the bishop. The number of priests in
Ireland in 1854 was 2,291, of whom 1,222
were educated at Maynooth College. Their
incomes arise from fees on marriages, bap-
tisms, and deaths, on Easter and Christmas
dues, and from incidental voluntary contribu-
tions, either in money or labour. All the places
of public worship arc built by subscriptions,
legacies and collections. There are numerous
monasteries and convents ; the latter are sup-
ported partly by sums, usually from £3OO to
£5OO, paid by those who take the vows in
them, and partly by the fees for the edu-
cation of the daughters of respectable Roman
Catholics. The friars and nuns also devote
themselves to the gratuitous education of the
children of the poor. Caudidates for clerical
ordination, formerly under the necessity of
obtaining their education in continental col-

profits on the construction of evert mile of road
through the more level country. The stakes are
set well ahead ; and an army ranging from 12,000
to 18,000 men, we are told, will find employment
on the Central Pacific line this summer. There
must be on both roads an aggregate of 25,000 t 3
30,000 men, an army with shovels, picks, and other
construction tools, moving towards a common
centre, and battling only against the mountains
and hills.

" A correspondent of the Bulletin has recently
gone over the entire route, noting especially the
progress of the work on the Union Pacific line.
his testimony corroborates the reports which have
been current of late, that the work on the Union
Pacific is not done in so thorough a manner as that
on the Central Pacific. But the track once down,
so that supplies can be taken ahead for diitribntion,
the work of levelling up, ballasting and replacing
poor tics, would follow as a matter of necessity.
No doubt there are some evidences of ribbon '
work on the Union Pacific. This results from a
desire to reach out after the subsidies. But any
railroad across such a country involves finally a
solid, safe structure. If bridges are too frail, or
culverts are of perishable wood, they must give place
to something more permanent. A road which
answers for construction trains may present quite
another appearance when dedicated to through
passenger and freight traffic.. We know of no good
reason why the Union Pacific ought not to be as
thoroughly constructed in the outset as is the Cen-
tral Pacific.

"If this great work should be completed as soon
as now predicted, the Fourth of July, 1869, will
be a memorable day for San Francisco. A great
historic event, the greatest of modern times, would
be fitly associated with the grand fact of national
independence by the great multitudes congregated
that day in the metropolis of the Pacific."

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

We recommend any one who desires to exercise his
brains on both sides of a question to compare an
Irish Fenian paper with an Irish Orange paper, and
if he does not drop the Irish study in mystification,
he must have wonderful powers of perception. The
contempt of an Irish Orangeman for an Irish Rib-
bonman must be seen to be understood. It ex-
ceeds the contempt of a " mean white" for a negro,
and partakes of the same cause, a belief in the su-
periority of race. Au Orange paper discusses
Irish legislation in a spirit of great bitterness to
England, accuses her of sacrificing the Irish Pro-
testant, England's only true friend, to conciliate the
Papist, an enemy as irreconcileable as contempt-
ible. Glancing over the columns of a paper like
the Irishman, the last number of which is now
.6efore us, we see a train of thought so to-
tally different, aspirations, hopes and fears,
sympathies, prejudices, ends and aims, all so
opposite, as to be the exact reverse of the Orange
journal. The first thing that strikes us is that the
paper is well written, in a literary point of view,
and this we believe to be characteristic of Irish
papers, as it is a national gift to write fluently.
The next is that it has but one idea —Fenianism ;
up with the green flag and down with the Uniori
Jack ; up with the shamrock and down 'Pith the
rose. Extract that—and a page of advertisements
only remains. Of course the United States is the
country to which the Irishman turns, and so gene-
rally, that take out its American Fenian news, anti
but half the paper is left. The Fenians have a way
of putting things which bothers the man in search
of truth, although " Hu." from New York speaks
of the treacherous discourse of Madame Rumour as
abhorrent to his truth-loving inkstand. Touching
the invasion of Canada, the correspondent is sorely
puzzled, but inclines to the opinion that he will yet
be compelled to pronounce " every single prominent
member of the O'Neill wing' of the Fenians a disgrace
to poor Ireland and a libel on humanity." So
strong were the grounds from which , he derived his
information that the invasion of Canada would
positively take place this summer, and so unlikely
did it now appear, that " fin." evidently found it
difficult, without stigmatizing his brethren, to ac-
count for his positive,- as,ertions. But he has not
yet given up all hope, and the mysterious congress
of Fenian Senators at Buffa.to is an illuminating
ray. The Irishman, en voyageur, writing from Nev
York, July 25, is evidently bored by the Presiden-
tial campaign. We learn from him that Mr. Blair
is of Irish descent, and holds the maxim that "right"
must be "might," •which means that the might of
America is to be exerted to assert the rights of Irish
naturalized citizens against the insolence of any power
that may presume to claim their allegiance. Adams
w asa " hound" that dared not " beg it," and " the Irish
remain aliens and beggars still, sending up petitions
and deputations day after day, to the rogues in the
capital, to the money-changers in the temple, who
reject their petitions from day to day. Mark that,
my brothers, the German is now an American citi-
zen full and perfect ; and (oh ! Heaven) the Irish,
who built up this Republican empire, are only aliens
still. Yet nothing can be done without these Irish
—credulous fools as they are. Men tell me they
have the might to secure their right, if they would
only exert it ; yet, poor fools, all they want is simple
equality. Bah ! they die for the Democrats ; and
I think the Democratic party right in their main
principles ; but I am told that, the Democratic
Governor chosen for Jersey yesterday is a notorious
Know-nothing.' ".
Such " hotipda " as Charles Francis Adams sup-
pose that the great Republic was built up by their
progenitors agl: b‘y themselves, nearly all of English
descent. Iticb* O'Gorman is described as worth-
less and ungrateful, because he has grown wealthy,
and once enjoyed being feted by Mr.:Justice Keogh
in Dublin. The object of thepresent Congress is, ac-
cording to the writer, "to destroy the Southern claim
of Free-trade, and to enrich themselves by prohibiting
taxes against foreign products, and taxes which
make the New England produce poor and paltry as
they are, fetch the most startling prices in the mar-
ket. Here in New York you cannot get an article
of clothing worth wearing except at a price of five-
fold what the same thing would cost in Dublin."
All Americans the writer has talked with, " look
upon foreign war as the only means of staving off
an impending American trouble." It is not a little
amusing to note how Irishmen balance one trouble
by another trouble. The way to get rid of the
consequences of one war is to rush into another
war, and the evils of a heavy taxation may be neu-
tralised by a general bankruptcy. A military sup-
porter of Grant's urged the correspondent " to rally
the Irish around the General and the Republicans,
and we will have war with England on the Alabama
question in a year." But the correspondent was
too old a bird to be caught with this chaff—a De-
mocrat having just said the same thing. A young.
Irish policeman had been shot by a brutal drunkard,
and the writer naively -shows the difference between
shooting a policeman in New York and in Dub-
lin. Mr. Holland, who considers it the business of
the ruling American party to put Irish citizens
in a fair way to invade Canada or Ireland, or Eng-
land, or any other place, after abusing them for
their infamous ingratitude, turns with hope to the
Fenian pic-nic, and ends his letter with the follow-
ing postscript :—" Yet there may be something
bigger in this Canada row than either you or I
count on. Look out for trouble." In the " Topics
of the Week," we are informed that Mr. Gladstone
rushed to Liverpool to meet the great American
rebel Davis, and we must institute an inquiry into
the right hon. gentr,eman's conduct. Of course, an
Irish paper could not be an Irish paper without
" Omens of the war tempest," "Sullen subterranean
rumbles," " dis tan tan utterings and lo wering clouds,"
" irruption of wild. winds, stormy hurricanes; thun-
der, and the fatale flash of the red-forked lightning."
Thus the leading article opens, and our hair begins
to stand on cud. The Irishman suggests, in an-
other article. " Grub 'em," as the proper title for
the new duke 'who has earned it by signing
" a thousand warrants for consigning Irishmen to a
durance as bail as that of the Neapolitan prisoners."
The editor knows of no act which could " more
emphatically mark U 3 (the Irish) as a conquered
nation than the sealing of the patent for services
such as the new duke has rendered to oar masters." A
foreigner af iecting to despise Irishmen is soon taught
he is in 4 dangerous groove, yet Irishmen howl