CORRESPONDENCE.
DUBLIN CASTLE AND COURT.
[To THE EDITOR OF THY " SPECTATORri SIII,—One thing is pretty certain,—namely, that if a Crom- well were the arbiter of the destinies of the United King- dom, that bauble," the Castle of Dublin and its Court,. would have been taken away as an anachronism that had lost its raison d'Stre, and was no longer in accord- ance with the sweet reasonableness that justifies most of our institutions, but was opposed to the common-sense and better taste of the inhabitants of the Green Isle, and indeed powerless for good and potential for evil,—and this proposition I venture to maintain, though by no means an indiscriminate admirer of Cromwell either as a subject or a Sovereign, yet with much faith in his statesmanship and capacity of adapting means to ends. With the object of elucidating these views, let me glance ever so cursorily at part of the history of Dublin Castle, and suggest the reason of the misgovernment that weighed so heavily on the mind and conscience of the great Liberal leader that he was forced to throw himself into the arms of the national representatives of Ireland, and undertake to guide them into Home-rule- or autonomy, though a very short time previously he had denounced them and all their works, and prayed the con- stituencies of the Kingdom to grant him such a decided majority as to make him independent of their manceuvres.
Since the introduction of government by party and Cabinet Councils, the Lords-Deputy have practically been the Irish Secretaries of their Premiers. Some of them have been men of learning and culture, like Lords Carteret, Chesterfield,. Carnarvon, Kimberley, and Houghton ; others, as Lord Clarendon, have proved, like the Horatian exemplar, propositi tenaces, and very virile Viceroys under difficulties ; some have encouraged the sports and pastimes of the country, as did Lords Spencer, Abercorn, Zetland, and Londonderry ; a few have been eminent as 2Ediles, like Lords Esser, Bedford, and Chesterfield; a few have been ban vivants, like the Dukes of Richmond and Rutland ; others re- joiced in the echoes of the popularis aura, like Lords Fitzwilliam and Normanby ; and one or two were singu- larly unfortunate in the matter of addresses, like Lords- Houghton and Townshend ; but none were called on to exercise much independent action or undertake individual responsibility like their predecessors,—the Duke of Ormonde, for instance, who had only two thousand available soldiers to oppose the levies of the whole country, amounting to more than twenty thousand men. And now that the Castle of Dublin is actually within talking distance of Downing Street, the Secretarial element becomes more pronounced than ever ; in fact, every man of common-sense must ask himself the question, Cai bono a Lord-Lieutenant who is little more than a social Sovereign, an at-biter elegantiarum, an entertainer of guests, with whom in most instances he has little• sympathy, and who is ganged more by the bouquet of his. Bordeaux and Burgundy than by the breadth of his brain. Le Viceroy regne mais it ne gouverne pas, this faculty having been handed over to his secretary, who, having often a seat in the Cabinet, is the real ruler of Ireland,—the fountain of honours, place, and patronage. Contrast the position of the modern Viceroy with that of Sidney or Sussex in the Tudor times, who had to take the initiative in matters of Chuich and State, lead the levies in war, and, with a most inadequate force, keep under control the native chiefs, of whom some openly defied their Sovereign Lady, and who had some thirty thousand armed followers in a country not yet pierced by roads or cleared of primeval jungle ! One can hardly be surprised at Sussex, in his extremity, having yielded to the temptation of getting Shane O'Neil murdered: The modern Viceroy is like a Samson in the bower of Dalilah, shorn of the locks in which lay his power, with moire de palais to organise and execute, a chancellor to lay down the law, and a commander of the forces to coerce and compel if the ultima ratio be necessary. Lord Cornwallis alone among moderns was called on to act decisively in a. great emergency when, for a few months, the stability of the State was imperilled.
On the 8:1 last, an Anglo-Irish nobleman of proved hx- 'tellectual capacity took the oaths of office, escorted by Aides.- de- Camp, Gentlemen-in-Waiting, the Athlone Pur- suivant of Arms, officers bearing maces, Chaplains, Cham- berlain, Gentleman Usher, Comptroller of the Household, Stale Steward, Private Secretary, the Ulster King of "Arms,' in Tabard and Collar with his sceptre, bearing her Majesty's Letters Patent of appointment, the Secretary bearing the Sword of State, and the Lords Justices,—a mediaeval show almost worthy of the Savoy Theatre.
The question is obtruded, ex necessitate rei,—are there the materials for a Court in Dublin existing at the moment in Ireland ? The territorial aristocracy, titled and untitled, has -of late been well-nigh financially ruined. A commercial aristocracy is rising up fast, but has hardly as yet reached what may be called Court form. We know that the peerage and wealth of Ireland as naturally gravitate to London and its real Courtly society, as water rises to its level. How is it to be brought back and made to spend in Ireland the revenues -drawn from its soil ? Why! simply by the establishment -of a Royal residence in Ireland, and the holding of a short season periodically in the capital by the Prince and Princess of Wales, in her Majesty's absence, or by the Duke and Duchess of York. Irish loyalty to Royalty has stood the erucial test better than even English or Scotch, as history tells us, and modern experience has confirmed. Ireland should, like Scotland, be governed de jure, as well as de facto, by a Secretary, with an increased allowance for table-money ; and an Irish regiment of Guards should be added to the six existing battalions. Ireland should, we think, be incorporated into England as Scotland has been ; she has helped to make England, why should not she share the rays of Royalty and the solid blessings that come in the train of Royalty P O'C. M.
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