Swansea and Glamorgan Herald, and South Wales Free Press. — 1867-09-28 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

BRPTAMBER 28, 1867.  THE IRISH DIFFICULTY.  EVER since the union of Ireland with Great Britain, there has been manifested in the sister island such a rancorous spirit towards England and English institutions, that it would now seem an utter impossibility on the part of any Government to bring to that country any degree of peace and tranquility. Long years of past misrule, accompanied by the establishment of a church hostile to the feelings of the majority ot the people, and the absorption of the greater portion of the land into the hands of owners who have become notorious as absentee landlords : all these thing have produced a chronic discontent and hatred which seems to defy all ordinary political remedies. From the time when the late Daniel O'Connell commenced his successful career of political agitation down to the last exhibition of Fenianism at Manchester, the cause has been really one and the same. It is all very well for politicians to say that Fenianism is the last expiring effort of conspirators against British authority, and that the only and the true course is to stamp it out by vigorous, stern and decisive measures ; but it is easier to I proclaim such a policy than to carry it out. Every measure taken to check the evil has hitherto only recoiled on the heads of those who have devised it; and why should it be otherwise in the future ? Men, even in England, who have no sort of attachment to Fenian principles, and no sympathy for the men who hold them, would raise their voice immediately against any Government that sought to reduce malcontents in Ireland to subjection by the harsh policy which found favour in the reign of George 111. The arm of the Executive is in a measure paralyzed. Immediately it prosecutes, it is regarded as persecuting. We can never in the case of Irish political offenders, as with ordinary criminals, overwhelm them with degradation and render them ignominious. O'Connell, after the vast expense incurred in prosecuting him, came out of prison a greater hero than he went in. He was regarded as a martyr of political liberty, and Englishmen and Irishmen combined in congratulating him upon his defeat of the Tory Government. O'Brien, Mitchell, and Meagher were sent from this country as Felons; but the colonists in Australia received them as patriots, treated them with courtesy and respect, and facilitated their escape to America, where they were received by men of every race with fervour and enthusiasm. Again, the Fenians of the present movement, though not of the highest order of intellect, are associated with the cause, and can exert as much influence from their prisons as they could outside of them. Terror cannot be stricken into their ranks, because they feel that the bands of the Government are tied, whenever it attempts to resort to strong repressive measures. Great Britain has even been induced to forego her undoubted rights over captured raiders, out of deference to the friendly remonstrances of an American Minister, who thinks these offenders entitled to his interference as citizens of the United States. And when a sentence of death is pronounced at home, it lacks all deterrent effect that it might have, because the generous spirit of the British people will not allow it to be carried out. As yet, the Government has not ventured to execute one Fenian, and it remains to be seen whether the " extreme penalty of the law " will be carried out against the perpetrators of the Manchester outrage. Murder has been committed; and, if the guilt be fixed individually on one or more persons, and Government fail to carry out the sentence, it will seem like an admission of weakness; and should the Executive act with sternness and vigor, indig,nation will be aroused in many minds which detest the thing called Fenianism. Such is the last phase of that troublesome weed called the Irish difficulty, whose leaves and branches we have been so often and so long hoeing at instead of digging its deep roots up out of the ground altogether.