The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-03-17

st. Patrck's Day in the Morning. The proven
bal foul weather which the 18th of March usually
brings in its train is napt type of the chequered
and tempesuous fortunes of that gallant and inter-
estng people who to-day celebrate with religious
rites and social festivities the anniversary of their
Patron-saint. Sorrow and trouble have been the
ordinary portion of Ireland and Irshmen during
almost every period of their national history
The grey twilight of its earliest dawn reveals the
island divided into petty prncipaties and the
people split up into discordant septs and clans
These intestine divisions unhappily, have not pass
ed away with the age of barbarism. They have
been perpetuated in the faction fights the local and
personal feuds and the religions discussions which
to this day deform the annals and destroy the hap
piness of the nation. The whole history of Ire
land is an anomaly. Blessed with rare advantages
of soil and climate these have not Suiced to avert
the sufferings of famine prevent the curse of
poverty. The people more than ordinarily en-
dowed with generous qualities and intellectual
gifts yet have failed signally in every expert
ment of selfgovernment, and in every scheme of
relief from foreign misrue.
To find a practical solution of the problem of
Irelands misery has puzzled successive generations
of English statesmen and Irish patriots. That the
former have not been able to solve the problem is
not surprising. They themselves have been the
authors Of most of the evils under which Ireland
suffers. Unwse and unjust legislation a barbar-
Gus statute-book and oppressive laws, framed in
utter disregard of the feelings prejudices and inter
ests of the people whom they assumed to govern,
have been the chief characteristics of English rule
in Ireland. English stolidity had no sympathy
with Irish vivacity. British phlegm could not
comprehend the subtle spirit of Celtic wit The
two nations never learned to understand each
other and consequently failed to like each other;
mutual misapprehension grew and ripened into
mutual distrust; and distrust generated hate The
Saxon landlord came to look upon every peasant
as a secret rebel and would-be assassin; and the
Celtic peasant regarded every landlord rs foreign
interloper and oppressor
Measures of coercion were resorted to on the part
of the English government instead of measures of
Cancellation, and the ''pacifcaton'' of Ireland was
sought to be accomplished by means of the bayonet
and the sabre. As natural consequence the peo-
pie rebelled they rebeed in the reign of Elizabeth
and they have rebelled in the reign of Victoria;
and nothing but the exodus of the race from the
green land of their nativity to the shores of America
has produced even the comparative tranquility
which at present regns in the usually disaffected
and turbulent island. American emigration has
relieved England of thousands of rebeous SUBJ
jects and added to the Republic thousands of loyal
citizens What will be the effect upon the future
history and progress of Ireland of this exodus of
her people, and the consequent substitution of
English settlers, remains yet to be seen, but may
easily be conjectured What will be the effect
upon the destinies of this country, and upon the
formation of our national character of the infusion
of Celtic blood, is equally problem for hereafter