The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-12-13
COLUMBIA. J.
Friday morning, December IS, 1857.
The BrItish. Gsvernmcnt sna the
. sEG lHA 1rish. .s.SA

~ EOAiabASA AS puI tu0 uhluo VI q
piebald political organization, divid-
ed into petty cliques, under various
partizan and, we believe, unworthy
leaders. The outbreaks at. .Manohes-
ter and other places, said to be the
offspring Of Fenianism, have caused
considerable excitement, and have
resulted in the criminal execution of
some of the members of tue organ
ization. But no man who has read
the history of the unnatural connec-
tion between England and IRELAND
can fail to perceive that these dis
orders, no matter under what name
they occur, result more from the
chronic condition of discomfort pre-
! vailing among certain classes of the
Irish people. = The situation of Eng
lish society is most unnatural, and
the poor and uneducated can see that
as clearly as the best economists.
The enduring contrast between the
extremes of wealth and poverty to be
!, noted almost; everywhere. in England
and Ireland, as matter of course, is
severely felt by the poverty-stricken.
When mans labor. cannot bring
bread enough for himself aud those
depending upon him, his necessity
knows and cares nothing for law.
Weagree, therefore, with cotem-
porary, that the fault in these dis
turbances rests with those who have
made and would keep English socie-
ty what it is. The blood shed in
these disturbances, is split by the
power that Furnishes the law-break-
ers English law is the criminal.
The poor, goaded to despair by o sys-
tem they cannot improve, are the
victims from first to last. How much
more enlightened, merciful and Just
would be the attitude of the Queen,
were she to demand of the British
Parliament thorough reform of the
old abuses of the law, which create
and support in afauence, privileged
and non-working classes, taking
away opportunity Tor tine ameliora-
tien of the situation of the poor.
Fenianism could do nothing in Eng
land, were it not for the law of primo
geniture and of entail, and for other
similar rules of mi-civilized time.
Repression and punishment, no mat
ter how severe, will not cure the evil.
A discontented populace is political
element, full of grave danger to the
body polite. The history of the
year 1889, in France, should teach
British legislators something.
And SO the history of Ireland, from
Queen Elizabeth's day 20 ours. should
be to English statesmen full of warn
ing. Justice, majestic from its
mercy, venerable from its utility,
should always make part of politics
and of law. But we will let the past
history of Ireland go, and turn with
relief, even if we turn hopelessly, to
The future. Whatever may be its
political vicissitudes, Ireland will re.
main; and if it is to remain an inte-
, gral portion of the British empire,
and the British policy of severity and
injustice is TO be persisted in, there
can be little doubt but that the abso-
lutte determination of the Irish race,
or It's complete removal from its
natural soil, will be logically neces-
sary. Let it be remembered as q
leading historical fact, that the Irish
people, enslaved, starved, and mas
sacred as they have been, are to-day
unconquered and, in the truest sense
of the word, unconquerable. Let us,
therefore, look forward with hope
that q reformation in the laws and
the social condition of the people in
the "old country will yet bring con-
tentment and peace to the Irish