The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

So far as an answer to Mr. Maguire is concerned Lord
Mayo's speech on the Irish question was, in the opinion of
the Times, as conclusive as could be desired. Mr. Maguire
drew a long indictment against the Irish nation ; Ireland
was governed by a hostile force ; the villages were held by
fortresses ; the condition of the people was one of aggra-
vated and increasing distress; the agricultural wealth of
the country was diminishing ; the manufactures of Ireland
had been destroyed by English legislation ; education was
defective, and the Irish youth nursed the memory of the
days of their great-grandfathers, when, ninety years ago,
the celebration of mass was a [crime punishable by impri-
sonment, or when seventy-five years since Catholics were
denied the franchise. Lord Mayo in his solid way had an
easy task in demolishing the figures of Mr. Maguire's
rhetoric. It is, of course, true that the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act places the liberty of all residents in
Ireland at the discretion of the Government ; but this
power has been conceded to the Ministers of the Crown,
with the unanimous consent of the Irish members, for
the protection of the peace of the country against a
movement foreign in its origin and in the elements
whence it derives strength and support. The actual
government of the sister kingdom is, as Lord Mayo proved,
wholly in the hands of Irishmen. The Lord-Lieutenant
is habitually an Irish resident, and his sons represent Irish
constituencies. The Chief Secretary, Lord Mayo himself,
is an Irishman of unmixed race ; the Lord Chancellor, the
Lord Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the twelve
judges of the common law courts are all Irishmen, and
a very large proportion are not merely Irishmen, but
Roman Catholics. Nine out of the twelve judges belong
to the religion of the majority—a proportion, it may be
remarked, almost the reverse of that found to prevail
14.,4-eig the members of the bar. The constabulary, whose
military character Mr. Maguire magnified, are all Irish-
men, drawn indiscriminately from all creeds and persua-
sions ; and a very large part of the army itself is
made up of Irishmen. It must, then, be acknowledged
that the tyrannical rule of England, if it exists at all,
enjoys the countenance and support of the population of
Ireland. It is only by putting aside altogether the remem-
brance of fervid eloquence that the Irish difficulty once
more assumes its true importance. Then we remember
also that Administration after Administration has con-
fessed by the introduction of successive bills upon the sub-
ject the necessity of some intervention between the land-
lords and tenants of Ireland for the protection of the
tenants against those landlords who misuse the powers
the law has given them. We recall, also, that singular
and absolutely anomalous institution which has been
denounced by every statesman of eminence from the days
of Mr. Burke and Mr. Pitt to the present, but which
still exists in all its essential features, having suffered no
greater change than some amendments in the collection
and the distribution of its revenues. These are the points
to which it behoves Parliament to address itself, forgetful,
as far as possible, of Mr. Maguire's harangue. The
Government, according to Lord Mayo's explanation of
their plans, have no policy to recommend with reference
to them. They would have Parliament wait, and in the
interests of liberal government it is perhaps desirable that
their desire should 'be granted. But the occasion has its
appropriate uses. If nothing is to spring directly from
the discussions of this week, they should reveal to the
country the ideas and the courage of the statesmen pre-
pared to meet a new Parliament.

The policy of the Irish Government is, the Post points
out, substantially the same which, two clays since, we laid
before our readers. The law of landlord and tenant calls
for amendment, and the Irish Secretary will at an early
opportunity introduce a bill. The Government will issue
a commission to inquire and report on all matters relating
to the tenure of land and landed property. An inquiry
will also be instituted into the condition of the various Irish
railway companies. The claims of the Roman Catholic
University in Dublin will be recognised, and an indepen-
dent charter will be granted to it. The Earl of Mayo
avoided all allusion to the Irish Church until the close of
his speech. This reticence prepared the House for the
course which the Government propose to follow. Thi
question will, if the Ministry have their way, be shelvet
for the present session. A commission to inquire into the
state of the Irish Church having been issued last session,
at the instance of Earl Russell, it would be equally dis-
respectful and impolitic on the part of a Conservative
Government to attempt to deal with that Church until
the report of that commission has been published. Mr
Disraeli has thrown. off the mask, and acknowledges tha
his real policy is to gain time.

Lord Mayo the Daly News declares to be a master of
prolixity. He succeeded in expanding over four hours a
statement which a moderately diffuse speaker could not
possibly have spread over more than one. Lord Chester.
field declared, in condemnation of one of Lord Chatham's
great orations, that a good three hours' speech lay beyond
the scope of human capacity. This oratorical boundary
has in our times been greatly extended, but there are few
who can venture to trespass over its narrow limits. Lord
Mayo was apparently inspired by an ambition to make a
great speech. He succeeded only in making a long one. So
tedious an harangue was probably never delivered in any
assembly without interruption, or suffered to reach its
natural close. Ceaseless iteration, a continual returning
upon his own steps, preambles that introduced nothing,
and arguments which refuted the conclusion they were
intended to establish, protracted a performance wearying
almost beyond human endurance. The insufficiency of
the Ministerial programme from beginning to end is clear,
and the positively objectionable character of many parts
is apparent even in the bald sketch set forth last night.
How far it contains any element out of which useful
legislation may be developed, further explanations and
later discussions may disclose. It affords little chance o‘
a settlement, but it may he the first step of an advance.
We are asked by Mr. Maguire, the Herald observes, to
profoundly irritate something more than a million of
Irishmen, who are undoubtedly loyal to the Queen, and
attached to the English connection, on the chance—no
very great one—not of conciliating, but of obtaining for-
giveness from the other three or four millions. But, then,
if there is no positive gain from obeying Mr. Maguire's
behests, there is to be a negative one. The honourable
member believes "in all bitterness," that if we do not, by
the adoption of his nostrums, the exact recipe for which
he is ungenerous enough still to retain, satisfy the
Irish in Ireland—i. e., the South of Ireland—we shall have
to suffer fearful things at the hands of the Irish in America.
Our contemporary declines to discuss these points with
the member for Cork, but it says that the attempt to extort
from the fears of England measures which her good sense
refused, is evenmore " crackbrained" than any proposal ever
made by Earl Russell. Vulgar intimidation of the kind
resorted to by Mr. Maguire and his friends may promote
their personal ends, but it will not aid the measures which
they advocate.

Last of all, Lord Mayo spoke of the Irish Church ; and,
fairly summarised, his words were to this effect : that as a
commission was sitting to inquire into the whole subject,
it would be unwise to adopt any decided legislation until
the business of the commission had terminated and the
report had been presented. The public says the Telegraph,
will still miss—as the House.evidently did—an answer to
the crying question of the day. In what spirit, and with
what intention, does the Government approach that most
urgent task—the settlement of the Church problem? The
first night of the great debate leaves this momentous topic
involved in tantalising if riot hazardous mystery.
Those who are incredulous of political panaceas ; indis-
posed to believe that a change of laws can change the social
condition and material prospects of a country, or that
legislation can accomplish in a few years the work of gene-
rations of patient toil and unsparing thrift, had Mr. Neate
for their champion. Lord A. Clinton represented the
unheroic school of Irish Reformers—a school whose argu-
ments and suggestions might deserve a more careful atten-
tion if we could believe that they really expressed the
ideas or would satisfy the wishes of any considerable
number of the discontented and suffering masses of Ireland.
Sir F. Heygate expressed a conviction widely entertained
among sensible and thoughtful men, that the real nature
and causes of Irish trouble are very imperfectly under-
stood. Thus, as the Standard shews, at least three distinct
views of fact and policy were, at the outset of the debate,
placed distinctly before the--House; each of them held by
men sincerely anxious—as all honest men are now anxious
—not only to do justice to Ireland, but, at any cost save
that of actual wrongdoing, to put an end to a state of
things which is a reproach and a misfortune to the empire.
This wide divergence of opinion as to means among men
who cordially agree as to the end, may serve to show
some eager enthusiasts that the matter is not so simple as
they are wont to represent it, and may, perhaps, induce
them to listen with patience and candour to the proposals
of the Government as stated last night by Lord Mayo.
The Star does not canvass the Government policy,if
such it deserves to be called. Let it have the advantage
of at least one day's law. It is enough to record that the
Minister of the Crown who announces an Irish policy
armed that he could afford to go on with the mere mecha-
nical device of coercion which serves to repress that purely
American conspiracy which gratuitously disturbs a
country which unites in its capabilities and the kindly
s:Aleitude of England all that contribute to establish
national felicity. Lord Mayo's speech affected to be
strong with facts, but it was incurably infirm, through
proving, if it proved anything, the absurdity and gratui-
tousness of the whole discussion. It must be observed,
however, that the policy of governing Ireland, with
reference to the maintenance of territorial influence, is
obsolete.

Earl Russell will on Monday next call attention
to the commission on the neutrality laws, and ask how
80011 the reply of the C0M1111,34011 will be laid before Par•
liameAt.