The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-11
Oh A RI ES ON.
TUESDAY MORNING. MAY il. 1869.
The Mayor OF Cork.

II
Mr.. Gladstone and his colleagues are
doubtless irritsted by the conduct Of the
Mayor Of Cork in abusing England and
threatening sympathy with Fenianism, at
the moment when the attempt is. making to
remove one of the greatest evils under
which Ireland suffers. tits, however, more
than likely that the introduction Of q bill
to remove the offender from the bench Of
magistrates will do the Liberal party, as a
whole, more harm than good. III: -.
The speeches Of the Mayor will serve to
point moral in the discussion Of the bill
to dissstablish the Irish Church. Conser-
.vatiye members Of the Upper and Lower
House, who believe that any interference
with the church, at least is saorilege, will
also take the ground that the man who is
guilty Of wrong doing should be tried and
condemned by the courts, not punished by
an act of Parliament. Their leader, Mr..
Disraeli, has already announced his oppo-
sition to the bill proposed, and it will be
made the occasion Of showing the danger
Of interfering with vested rights and the
constitutional privileges Of the subject
These Southern States know the facility
with which legislative body will gather
all power into its own hands if the first en-
croschment is allowed to pass unchsl-
1enged. The authority Of the English
Parliament is practically unlimited. 1t is
restricted and confined by no written con-
stitution, and yet the ministers would do
well to be ehary Of interfering by special
legislation with the possessions and iiber-
ties Of an individual whose only crime seems
to have been wild and intempsrate speaking.
u the bill is pressed it viii probably
pass; for thera, will be no desire to break
up the party in power upon what Is, in'sp-
pearSnos, d minor question. Many will
vote for the bill as an admission that Ire
land is not psoi6sd, and there will arise the
feeling that all that is doing is Of no svaii,
and that, notwithstanding the Disestablish-
ment bill and . probable rearrangement Of
thatsnant-right system, the Irish still cheer
The violent deolsmstiou Of . Feniah Mayor,
'whae' they have nothing but the cold shoul-
der ior England and the English ministry.
k u It,would have been better to allow the
Mayor Of Cork to talk himself out. Polit-
issl sffervesoenoe rarely lasts for long.
Man tire even Of patriotic aloqnenoe, and
before long the Mayor would either have
subsided into peaceful state, or have COM
mitted some open act Of treason which
would have enabled the government to pros
eouts him With reasonable hope Of success.
+ It is, he is threatened with political mar.
tyrdom. The penalty will give him the
| force which ia wanting now, and he will
stand before his oountrymsn as one who,
for exercising the right Of free speech, has
been degraded and hamiliated by ''the base
s'and perfdious Saxon" This will make
him q power in the cOuntry-a power which
will not be exerted in fostering kindly feel
ing or allsying indignation.
All this is the more to be regretted be-
cause of the great doubt whether the most
that the Gladstone Cabinet propose to do
in the way Of reform will calm the Irish
heart and allay the thirst for complete in
dependence. The dream Of the Irish is,
an Irish ruler governing Ireland under
Irish laws. They complain that England
now reaps all the advantages Of the Union,
that their spirit of Improvement is chilled
and numbed, and that agricultural progress
is impossible while the land Is owned by
sbsentees and managed by middle, men
They believe that if they were an indepen-
dent people their commerce would revive,
manufactures would spring up, and period
icsl famines would no longer decimate their
people. This is the Irish political creed,
and it is only famed to intensity by the
endeavor to punish by an act of Parliament
q man whom the law, as it stands, cannot
touch. No concession short Of indepen-
dence will, in our opinion, paeify Ireland.
Liberal reforms may bring about quiet ior
time; but they will not produce lasting
tranquility. Therefore is it most unfor-
tunate that at this time an affair should
have occurred, which, at the least, may Sc
riously retard even that temporary pacif-
cation which is so much desired England
will not willingly give up the Emerald Isle.
Every effort will be made to satisfy the
Irish; but as small things often produce
great results 80 may the turbulence of the
Mayor of Cork cause England more anxiety
and Ireland more fervent excitement than
would have been brought about BY continu-
ing the Irish Church Establishment in the
old form for ten years to come.