The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-04-16 00:00:00

LORD EBRINGTON'S PUPILAGE.

(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)
It was the silly vanity of Lord Ebrington's predecessor to
affect an entire independence of Mr. O'Connell, and to deny
that his government was in any respect influenced by that
hon. gentleman's dictation. This is, of course, one of the
lessons which our new viceroy has adopted from the code of
his " guide, philosopher, and friend ;" and, in consequince,
we find his advocates already anticipating the charge of ser-
vility—and, with a haste which " testifies of guilt and looks
suspicion," asserting the true autocracy of the new regime.
This is one of the ways of walking in one's predecessor's
footsteps.

But was Lord Normanby's affected independence a verity ?
Had Mr. O'Connell no weight or authority at the castle?
Was the government conducted on his principles, and the
patronage bestowed at his suggestion or not ? Whoever may
have read the admirable letters of our correspondent L, in
- recent numbers of the Dublin Evening Mail, and particularly
that which appeared in our last publication, is already con-
vinced of the fallacy of this vaunt ; and whosoever, not
having read them, may still doubt (on the credit of a noble-
man's word) the overruling influence of the agitator, let
them turn to the numbers of this journal of Wednesday,
April 3, and Wednesday, April 10, and he will be no longer
able to resist the conviction that Lord Normanby was the
puppet of Mr. O'Connell's administration ; and that through,
and by the agency of the viceregal deputy, the sovereign de-
magogue carried on the government of this country.
Nor are we unprepared to show that the vaunts of Lord
Ebrington's friends (for his lordship has been hitherto very
far from rebutting the soft impeachment) are equally vain and
deceptive—and that his lordship's profession of political
faith (for we have not yet come to his practice) is in rigid
submission to the dictation of the demagogue.
The appointment of Lord Ebrington to the Lieutenancy
of Ireland was first announced in this paper, on the autho-
ritoty of our London correspondent, upon the Ist of March.
Up to that day, nothing was known in Ireland as to the per-
son who as to succeed the late deputy.
Now, upon the 18th February preceding, Mr. O'Connell
held, in this city, a meeting of the Precursor Society, and
(as reported in the Morning Register of the following day,)
delivered himself in the following terms :
" I can tell the new Lord Lieutenant, whoever he is to be,
that the popularity which covered the mistakes and errors of
Lord Normanby, will afford no protection to-him ; and, un-
less the incoming vicegerent be prepared to follow in the
footsteps of his predecessor, he will not leave the shores of
this country, ar his predecessor has done, with the lamenta-
tions, cu......p.aaca wale w tultco,
blessings of Ireland."
Lord Ebrington's appointment, as we said, was made known
in London on Wednesday, the 27th February, and in Dub-
lin on Friday, the Ist March. His Lordship, under the
style and title of Baron Fortescue, assumed his dignity and
place in the House of Lords, on the 4th of March. His
speech on this occasion is almost a literal transcript ofiMr.
O'Connell's, and demonstrates the prompt facility of the
docile pupil to copy the dictation of his master.
" I have," said his Excellency, " the satisfaction to know
that I have before my eyes thelixample ofiny predecessor, in
whose footsteps I am determined to tread; and happy in-
deed shall I be. if, ON MY DEPARTURE FROM IRELAND, I
RECEIVE THE SAME EXPRESSIONS OF REGARD, AND THE
SAME FERVENT WISHES FOR MY HAPPINESS, THAT
MARRED THE DEPARTURE OF MY NOBLE FRIEND."
Now, it is in the highest degree improbable that two per-
sons, though speaking on the same general subject, should
have connected, as in the foregoing extracts, two sentiments
not naturally connected or arising one out of the other, vi
consequentice, in the same order of delivery, and very nearly
in the same words—if the latter speaker had not read and
adopted the views and expressions of the former ; and per-
haps the address of courtiers could not, in all its refinement,
furnish Lord Ebrington with a mode so delicate, so flattering
and respectful, of giving in his adhesion, and securing the
protection of his powerful patron_, as that very one adopted
by his Lordship on this occasion of swearing to the ipsissima
verba of his master. It has evidently given the utmost satis-
faction ; and Mr. O'Connell is now in Dublin countenancing
the appointment of his new deputy, and rivetting upon him
the chains, strings, rings and pullies, by means of which he
must work his instrument to his own good purposes.