New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-12-11
TIE CASE or KELLY.
wars.

There Is something IN the Dlahk D'"'i"'I-
mcnt and contempt with which England re-
yards each fresh freshness of her Fcnian sub
iccts. that reminds us of the attitude OF q
sedatc hen watching her duck ncstlings going
into the suicidal water. "Is this madness {.
IL not, what is it ?" from week. to week de-
mands the philOsophic Saturday Rcric'c, while
the inferior journals cacklc out unccasng
slIrill notes Of alarm and Indignation. 1t has
never entered into the average British nlnd
any more than into barn-yard fowls that
there can be inherent and uncOnqucrablc diff
rcrcnees of nature; that no amount OF lcgls-
laiion will turn the generous, hot, dOginatlc
Irshman into Il cool, just London shopkceper,
any more than a steady diet of chichen-mash
will remove the wc5-fect of waterfowl.
The last Outburst of surprise and wrath bids
fair to produce lasting consequences. An En-
clshman named Talbot of whose remarkable
career we give sketch elsewhere,
as our readers will remember, was employed
in Ireland, first as ad-cOnstablc, and after
ward as detective. In the latter capacity he
was accused, whether justly or not matters
little, of fcigning Catholicism to gain the con-
ii,lcnce of the Fcnians, praying so fcrvcntly in
crcgation, and of availing himself OF the
friendships thus gained to induce young men
to form IN organization criminal IN tho eyes
Of the law, and which he Immediately betrayed
to it. lie was shot by man named Kelly
in the streets of Dublin, tho murder beng
deliberate and public enough to give 1t the
character of bravery in the eyes OF the
Fcnians. Keys trial is just over, and
it is his acq,littal at the hands of an intell-
gent and respectable Dublin jury that has
moved the English to amazemcnt and rage.
The man WIS not only murderer, but the
murderer of the law il the person of It's officer.
John BULBS logic car'Ot 60 back OF that. The
indignant replies of the Irish press that Talbot
was an "informcr;" that "thc government
"whO employed him was base" and that
civilized nations spit ont such individuals to
" criminal sanctuarics." ard that Kelly, in
fact, deserves reward for Kidding the country
of him, are looked upon simply as evidences
of that alteration of intellect for which the
Irish mind is peculiar. What. they ask in
despair is to be done with this people!
The concessions lately made to tho Irish
would be received by any reasonable
Englishman gratefully as a chance for him to
earn HIS peel anu bucC puttulHS, dlu ~ w iIS
own church in peace; what more could any
rational human being dcsrc1 This fiery
bloodcd race, however, delight to gloat over
ancient gories and wrongs rather than beef
or buildings, and taunt Mr.. Gladstone by the
assertion that the concessions are duo to fear
rather than JUSTICE "a thing intOlcrable to be
"bOrnc."
There remain, say the leading English jour-
nails, now, but two courses: either to treat
Ireland as a conquered province and rule it
with a rod of iron, or make it a free country.
There is the chance, say they, that in the latter
case 1t would return voluntarily to the empire-a
case, we fancy, most improbable and hardly
to be desired. Nations as well as individuals
will learn that there can DO no permanent or
wholesome union based on interest alone,
without certain kinship of character, tastes,
and creeds. and that tho financial or CONF
mercial strength inhering to government
through provinces revoltcd in spirit is more
than cOunteracted by tho gradual weakening
and depression of that moral force, that esprit
de corps, in which lies the true power Of a
nation. If limb offend thee, cut it off and
cast it from thee, is better advice, even as re-
CARDS physical health, than the policy which
would clog the sound body with a burden of
dead or parasitic flesh.