The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-04 00:00:00

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The assertion hereis palpably that " the existing autho-
rities," promoted the spread ,ef famine and death in
Ireland ; and that the extent of such mortality " justifies
revolution." An ignorant reader, such as the bulk of
those to whom it was addressed, or a foreigner, would
nate4ally arrive at the conclusion that we hedged round
the unfortunate people of Ireland in their famine and
fever, and prohibited every effort of theirs, or of their own
fellow countrymen to snatch them from death. Not a
word about the eight millions of money spent upon public
works in Ireland, and in the gratuitous distribution of
food amongst them. Not a word of the bountiful exercise
of English benevolence to aid them, whilst the Mitchels
and Meaghers, the Smith O'Briens and the O'Connells
buttoned up their pockets, or expended their energies as
cheaply in brawling diatribes against the hands by which
that aid was brought. Such lying statements are not only
retailed without shame in the columns of the Repeal
prints, and from the platforms of Repeal gatherings, but
we are still more concerned to find that they meet with a
large amount of belief.
It is clear, from the tone of these prints and the ha-
rangues of the demagogues with whom Ireland is infected,
that the mask which treason has so long worn in that
Unhappy country is being torn aside. Repeal—a return
to the state of things existing before the Act of Union—
the regeneration of Ireland by means Af a native parlia-
ment connected with the British legislifure—is no longer
the object held up as sought. - Complete separation is
now the object spoken of. A Republic, in alliance with
France, or any other country willing to draw a sword
against Great Britain, and the confiscation of British
property in Ireland and its partition amongst the pea-
santry of Ireland, are now openly contemplated and pre-
pared for. We hear of arming and drilling—of the
formation of clubs and a National Guard—of signal fires,
which are to blaze out from every hill, and to announce
that the.work of blood has commenced. The ultimatum
which the rebel leaders seek has been pronounced ; and it
only remains a question of time when the word is to be
given and by whom. In the mean time, the people are
utterly misled as to the nature of the power which they
have to contend with and overcome. Their press tells I
them that Ireland is unanimous in its efforts to shake the
British connexion ; that all they have to do is to " smash
through the Castle of Dublin/' overpower the garrisons
and the constabulary in the provinces, and become at
once an independent people—or, as they interpret the
meaningni the words, to establish a mob dictation upon
the wreck of the institutions of the country. They have
never been told of the hundreds of thousands of loyal
men, who have declared their adhesion to the governing
powers, and are ready to meet force by force to put down
and to crush rebellion. Not a word of the recent
addresses of confidence presented to the Lord Lieutenant
is permitted to reach their ears.

Upon another point the peasantry generally are mis-
leading themselves, and a large portion also of the' Eng-
lish people are entertaining unnecessary fears. It is their
impression that the military force in Ireland cannot be
depended upon ; that, in the case of. an outbreak in Ire-
land, they will be disposed to fraternise with the people,
after the example set them by the troops of the line in
Paris. The parties to this mistake cannot have suffi-
ciently observed the difference in feeling and position
which exists between the two bodies. The French soldier
makes it his proudest thought that he is of the people;
and on every occasion of collision with the governing
power, he sympathises with the popular feeling and fra-
ternises with the people. It was so in the revolution of
1792 ; it was so in the revolution of 1830 : and we have
just witnessed another display of the same spirit. The
English soldier, on the contrary, regards himself as se-
parated by his duty from the masses oat of which he has
been taken. The humblest private imbibes, from the day
of his enlistment, a kind. of esprit de corps. 'He considers
himself as one of the hands of the executive power, and
looks down upon the mere "civilian" as. upon a being a
grade below his position. In num'oerless cases of out-
break amongst our working masses, when the hard duty
has been imposed upon our military of acting against the
turbulent, whether English, Irish. or Scotch, they have
invariably been found to do their duty, mildly and with
forbearance, yet without the slightest show of a disposi-
tion to make common cause with the disaffected, or even
to waver in their obedience to commands which may have
been distasteful to their natural feelings of humanity to-
wards their misled fellow-country men. And so; we are
confident, it will be found in the crisis which threatens.
A few exceptions there may perhaps be to the general rule.
A few unruly characters may be seduced from their duty,
and desert. But the hulk of the British army will be
found willing to do their duty, whether against rebels in
Ireland or a foreign enemy.
It is not to be denied, and we deplore the fact, that we
have serious difficulties to encounter in the effort to re-
Eore Ireland to a state o' peace and rest. We have first

an agitation to repress, which is harrassing the country
and retarding its progress towards a self-supporting posi-
tion. That agitation must be put down, for Ireland's
sake as well as our own. And when it is put down—
when ere have " unthread the rude eye of rebellion "—we
shall have none more ready to thank us for the effort
than the deserving portion of the population of Ireland
herself. Despite the howlings of treason which at present
salute our ear from amongst the turbulent and worthless
iu that country, we are assured that a feeling of strong
distrust has already been excited, and is spreading among
the industrious classes, of the sincerity of the demagogues
who seek to impress upon them a reliance upon outrage
and disorder for the removal of the evils which afflict
them. These classes are longing to be released from the
dictation of-their priesthood and incendiary advisers, from
Agrarian disturbance, and the insecurity of life and pro-

perty under which they are placed. For them the O'Con-
nell swindle has had its day. The more rabid confedera-
tion movement—the rebellious struggle of the men of
pikes and rifles—will, we repeat, have to be met with
force, upon whatever field may be chosen for the trial.