The Press. — 1858-12-11 (London, England)

HOW TO DISCOVER RIBBONISM.  LORD EGLINGTOUN has not been idle. Action has  followed sharply and closely upon the heels of his  Proclamation, and the strong hand of the Execu tive has already grasped and dragged into day -- _ light a considerable number of the members of one  of those Secret Societies which are the bane of  Ireland and the clog on her onward  The Society to which these persons belong, how ever. appears to hp rathor a politic& than a so cial one, a revolutionary rather than a murderclub, and its object is said not to be so much the slaughter of landlords as the handing over of Ireland to some enterprizing Filibusters from the other side of the Atlantic. We trust that the  hand which is stretched out will not be withdrawn  till it has the Ribbon Association, as well as the  Phoenix Society, within its grasp. The time has come when some vigorous and skilful effort must be made to extirpate the secret murder-club which during the last thirty years has been a pest in Ireland, and whose existence is a sort of standing defiance to the cause of peace, civilization, and order. Not only bas the character of society in Ireland been blasted, but the prosperity of the sister country has been cruelly injured by the existence of a sanguinary association—a lodge of assassins, sworn together in secret, setting in conclave upon the awful question "Who is to be killed? " pursuing their fell career with impunity, and baffling the justice of the law. The long existence of this diabolical association, and the rumour that it is spreading its pestilent branches into quarters of Ireland where it was hitherto unknown, ought to make all the authorities prompt to use the most stringent remedies against this nefarious body; and we are satisfied that we can show a means  by which Ribbonism can be successfully dealt with.  The first plan which we should recommend is a simple but an efficacious one. It is to institute a new species of detective police force in Ireland. At present the detectives in Ireland are clever enough in dealing with thieves or burglars, or the cases of ordinary criminality ; but they are not suited by any means for unkennelling the miscreant agents who are hired by their bloodthirsty employers in one part of Ireland in order to commit a murder in another part. Observe how the facts stand. An unfortunate gentleman is sentenced by a court of secret conspirators to death. They employ some agent to have recourse to a Ribbon Lodge in some county—whether near or remote makes no difference. Funds are subscribed; the  murderer is hired ; he is taken from Westmeath to kill a gentleman in Tipperary, or vice rend. The horrid act is accomplished ; and what then ? The crime remains undetected ; a reward of  1001. is offered by the Lord Lieutenant, and the neighbouring magistrates treble or quadruple that sum. There is much indignation abroad, but  jected to a regular training. Men with a faculty for simulation should be employed. They should be able to disguise themselves as labourers in search of employment, as farm stewards looking for an engagement, as servant-men, or, better still, as beggars seeking for alms. When employed in a particular district, it should not be told even to the ordinary local police that the detectives are in the neighbourhood. The secrecy of Ribbonism should be encountered with superior secrecy by authority. The horrible discipline of the secret murder-club should be met by a deeper skill and artifice which should outweigh the cunning Thugs who at present commit their crimes with impunity. Half a dozen of those  specially-trained "murder-detectives " should be dispersed in the district where Ribbonism wu developed ; and the certainty that novel, speedy, and secret means were employed against them would after a few examples completely paralyze the efforts of the Ribbon Conspiracy At present, for the reasons already stated, the Irish detectives are unequal to their work. They are not sufficiently sharp, and they are not specially trained. A great improvement could ' L them, and we have warrant of the police anthorities are  for saying  . :