This week again, Ireland is one of the topics in
our political summary. On Monday, the Lord Lieutenant issued a proclam- ation of the following tenor.
" Whereas, by an act passed in the tenth year of his late Majesty's reign, entitled 'An Act for the Suppression of dangerous Associations or Assem- blies in Ireland,' a power is vested in the Cord Lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, by his or their proclamation or order, to prohibit or suppress any association or assembly, or meeting of persons in Ireland, which he or they shall deem to be dangerous to the public peace or safety, or inconsistent with the due administration of the law, or any adjourned, renewed, or otherwise continued meeting of the same, or of any part thereof, under any name, or pretext, or device whatsoever.
"And whereas it bath been made known to us, that an association, or assembly, or meeting of persons is formed, or is about to be formed, in the City of Dublin under the name of the Irish Society for Legal and Legislative Relief, or the Anti-Union Association.
" And whereas we deem the existence of the said association, assembly, or meeting of persons to be dangerous to the public peace. " We, therefore, the Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of Tideland, being resolved to suppress the same, do hereby prohibit the meet- ing of the said association, assembly, or meeting of persons, and all ad- journed, renewed, or otherwise continued meetings of the same, or of any part thereof, under any name, pretext, or device, whatsoever ; and being determined and resolved strictly to enforce the law and the penalties thereof against all persons offending in the premises, do charge and com- mand all sheriffs, mayors, justices of the peace, and all other magistrates, officers, and others whom it may concern, to be aiding and assisting in the, execution of the law, in preventing the meeting of said associa- tion, assembly, or meeting of persons, and in the effectual dispersion and suppression of the same, and in the detection and prosecution of those who, after this notice, shall offend in the respects aforesaid."
We are persuaded that a great deal more has been made of the proposed Disunion Society that it deserved; and also of O'CoN- NELL, who, like Mother Carey's chickens, may indeed be the com- mon accompaniment of foul weather, but he has no more power to raise a storm than he has to lay it. He carried the Catholic ques- tion, it is true ; but, in modern times, one miracle generally suf- fices for one man. The very fact of his having done so much already, on the plain doctrine of chances, takes from the pro- bability of his doing much more. The Disunion scheme is too absurd for discussion ; nor was it ever meant to be discussed. It was chosen as a debateable ground, where notoriety was to he conquered by minor aspirants for fame, and secured by its veteran possessors. The wilder and more impracticable the question, the better was it fitted for such a purpose; there was the less danger that the hopes of those who sought honour by its agi- tation would be quenched by its settlement. The Society as been justly and wisely suppressed. The attempt to dissever the por- tions of an empire after they have been joined by common consent, does not come within the range of permissible legalities; it is one of those things which, though not forbidden by statute, is con- demned by the general sense and feelings of the community. If a law be wrong, let it be petitioned against ; if a grievance exist, let it be remedied; if the franchise be too restricted, let it be extended ; if the representatives be too few or partially distributed, let the number be increased and the distribution amended. Give us practical re- medies for practical evils. But if, when the least matter in the management of the empire happens to offend, we are to call for a dissolution of its parts, where is the disintegrating process to stop? If Ireland were separated from Britain, we must next, in common consistency, proceed to release Scotland from the thraldom of its Union ; in a few years Wales will prefer its claim (taking Sir JAMES Scanacrfs Bill for a text) ; and the next step, we sup- pose, will be the restoration of the pure Saxon constitution of our ancestors in all the glories of the Heptarehy. The Times thinks that the putting down of the Society in pub- lie may lead to the propagation of its principles in private. "There is no end," says our contemporary, "to the varieties of mode by which the stimulus of discussion may be administered to a susceptible people, where the theory proposed is one on which they feel a rational and substantial interest." Assuredly there is not ; but we apprehend that there is an end, and a short one, where the thing proposed is at once irrational and vain ; and that the proclamation in the present instance has attained it.
There is another class of politicians that aggravate the symptoms of disquiet which Ireland exhibits—those who were opposed to the emancipation of the Catholics, and who have persuaded them- selves that all the disturbances that have happened since are a consequence of that measure. "See," they constantly tell us, "the issue of the Ministers conduct ; this is the peace which they anticipated for Ireland':"—Now, whether Ireland be peaceful or the contrary, we think the Catholic concessions effected one good—they took away a great ground of unexceptionable com- plaint. People who have got into a habit of e,implaining, may go on for a long time after their cause of trouble has been removed ; but that is no argument for refusing them relief when they really suffer. The seine motives which induced us to listen to O'CoN- NELL when he pleaded for the Catholics, induce us to turn away from him when he pleads for a repeal of the Union : he was an honest creditor, in the one ease, who had a right to demand pay- ment of his debt—he is a sturdy beggar, in the other, to whom the stocks and a whipping are a fitting reply.
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