New-York tribune., 1867-06-19
rEyfAKlSm IND ENGLISH RULE IN

Y
TO any approval of Che plans by which Font
ansm has sought 20 accomplish ITS prolesscd
ends, we have not hcsitafed to avow our
sympathy with the movement as q national
protest against mOnstrous injustice, ana 10
express our conviction that it must ultimately,
in one way or another, have the effect OF
securing redress for the gricvous wrongs
which Ireland has suffered, and is stu
suffering, undor English rule. IL rs not 10 DC
denied that some of the FeDian leaders nave
committed grave mistakes, and That Otheis
have proved themselves unworthy OF inc con
6dcnce which was reposed in them by their
countrymcn. Doubtless there have been some
thincs in connection with the movement when
could not bear tho light OF searching
scrutiny. and we all know that there are
otl,cr things chat have been simply ridiou-
Ions. When ono calls TO mind the grand
d0ines at tho Fenian headquarters ln Union
souarc, some eighteen months ago, one mas no
difficulty in believing that a,great deaf OF the
money contributed by lrishmen ana HlSh
women in this country out of their hard earn
ines 10 the Fenian treasury was foOlislily, u
NOT criminally. squandcrcd by men whose pa>
trotism. to cay the least Of il, was not proof
against the temptation to which they were ex-
posed in having large sums placed ut thclr
disposal for whose disbursement they were not
responsible to any proper authority. But III
spite of al this we have felt that there Is
mucb in l,e Fcnian movement itself to com
mend it to every true friend of liberty and
Justice. II represents the claims OF right against
the unjust domination of might 10 had It's
origin in patriotic sentiment worthy OF the
highest respect. Aud, above ALL 1t - unqucS-
tionaby national movement We know what
the feeling is among the Irish population OF
the United States as TO the wrongs OF Ireland /;
and wo may Judge what il must be in the
"grcen isle" from the fact that the British
Government have been again Obliged to apply
TO Parlamcnt-the Third timc this, within q
neriod OF eighteen months-for further sus-
pension Of the Habcas Corpus act in that
country.
There arc persons, who, looking simply nt
the upslIot of the military enterprises which
have been undertaken 10y the more ardent ahd
enthusiastic of the Fenians, are ready TO pro-
nounce the whole movement n miserable failure.
But no conclusion could possibly be more crrone-
ous than this. Fenilnism, il it hns done nothing
victory i'm awakening the conscience of the
people of England, Is it had never before been
awakened. to the great injustice OF which Ire
land has been the victim at the hands ot her
English rulers And what stronger evidence OF
this awakening can we have than the exhibit
ton Of feeling witnessed on the announcement
that the Government had determined upon al
lowing the law TO take its course IN the case
Of the condemned Fenian prisoners lately tried
for high treason, and that Col. Burke would
certainly be hanged 2 No sooner had
the decision Of the Government in Burkes
case become known than a largo depu-
taton OF Members of Parliament, Of
all parties and shades of politics, Immediately
waited upon the Premier, to plead for mercy
to urge the Communication Of the sentence OF
death. And they performed their sef-imposed
task with an earnestness, we may say with a
feryor, which showed how kecnY alive they
were to the importance to the nation at large
of the issues involved in the question, whether
that man was to die at the hands of the exc
cutioner for having attempted to redress what
he honestly believed to be the wrongs of his
country. The same day on which the deputa-
ton waited on Lord Derby a Reform meeting
was held in the Guildhall in London, attended
by some three thousand people, and on that
occasion John Stuart Mill, referring in his
speech to the case of the condemned Fcnians,
and to the efforts that were being made on
behalf of Burke, evoked an Outburst of feeling
in favor Of mercy such as no Govern
ment could afford to disregard. The newspaper
press, too, took up the subject in q spirit beit-
ting its gravity, earnestly and unanimously
echoing the peoples demand that the lives Of
Burke and other condemned Fenians should be
spared, even the truculent Times suddenly re-
lenting, and, i'll strange contradiction of all it's
previously expressed sentiments on the subject
OF Irish grievances, admitting that the people
of Ireland had wrongs to complain Of which
might well be pleaded in pallatiOn of the con-
fessedly great crime of rebellion. To our think
ing there is deep significance in all this. II
shows that public opinion is being formed on
the subjectof the government, or the misgoycrn-
ment OF Ireland which will ultimately demand
and insist upon justice for the people of that
country. Nor is the hopeful change confined
to the masses for even in that fossilized and
intensely Tory body, the House of Lords.
there are indications of the approach of the
period when Ireland shall have her own. Dur
ing the debate which took place in that branch
of the Legislature on the 2Sth ult., when Earl
Derby moved the second reading of the Ha-
beas Corpus Suspension act, Lord Kimberley,
the late Lord Lieutenant Of Ireland, gave il
as his opinion that the state of Ireland was
not merely question Of difficulty, but one of
danger to England, and that nothing would
meet the case but such course of legislation
as would romove the existing causes of irrita-
ton among tho Irish people and Earl Russell,
.