A Hundred Years Ago
" THE SPECTATOR," JANUARY 16TH, 1836.
THE war of the parson against the peasant is raging in Ireland. The minister of the gospel of peace with his own hands loads the pistols of his bailiffs, and marches them on tithe-gathering expe- ditions. It was not to be expected that the winter would pass over without bloodshed in the quarrel between the Catholic pauper and the Protestant divine : nor has it. The intelligence from Ireland this week is such that no other country, civilized or savage.
• could furnish. Two lives have been sacrificed in the attempt to serve the processes obtained by a Beresford, preliminary to the collection of tithe from his Catholic parishioners. The Irish peasants do not wait now until the time of actual seizure arrives, but wreak their vengeance on the men employed by their oppressors to give them the warning of future mischief required by law.
* * * *
In France, the principal feature of political interest is the dis- -cussion in the Chamber of Deputies on the address in reply to the King's opening speech. The American question and the treatment of Poland by Russia are the main topics on which the orators of the Chamber have prepared their harangues. M. Bignon described General. Jackson's last message as a bitter satire on the conduct of the French Government, and declared that he looked upon it as convoying " a lesson from a free people to a nation who know not wherein freedom consisted." This seVere remark irritated a number of the Deputies, who called upon Bignon to modify it : and he did so with the air of one who knew that he should be called upon to apologize, and was satisfied with having spoken the truth, however disagreeable it might be to his audience. He proposed that all past engagements should be cancelled, and a new agreement entered into with a view to reduce to some trifling extent the amount of the indemnity-money. It is difficult to believe that in this suggestion M. Bignon was not covertly reproving the shuffling conduct of the Chambers and the Ministry ; he could not have been serious. M. Cirardin, one of the editors of the Journal des Debate, spoke at length on the subject of Russia, and avowed himself willing to support an amendment calling upon Ministers to maintain the balance of power in Europe against
Russia. But he proposed no such amendment himself. • -
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