NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE is a good deal of miscellaneous matter from Ireland this week ; for the hubbub continues in the "first flower of the ocean." The phmnomena are the oddest assortment of triflinv,s and empty boasts and emptier shows. In the first place, Mr. O'CONNELL has been crowned at Mullaghmast—crowned with a velvet cap, which it seems resembles the ancient Milesian crown. Would not that, by the by, suffice to establish some intimate connexion between the ancient Irish and the other Prince who was crowned with a cap, the Doge of Venice ; and if so, why does not Mr. O'CONNELL adopt the title—Doge of Erin ? His train are terribly in want of a title for him. But to return to Mullaglimast—By dint of some shifting and touching-up of history, people have managed to plant a tradition of a massacre at the Rath : from that massacre Mr. O'CowNam. borrowed some of the most effective points of his speech : he supposititiously described in detail the parting of an Irish chief from his wife, and his return in all the "inanity of . death "—an Hibernian Hector and Andromache; and so potent was the great orator's eloquence on this home-felt reality, that it is said to have produced " sobs " in his hearers! At his bidding, a convivial party in 1843 will deplore the traditionary wrongs of nameless persons of old ; and then, when he passes from those wrongs to broad hints of fighting the perpetrators, they are as ready to snatch the brand as the drunken Alexander at the singing of Timotheus. Thus the Repealers assemble, magnify their own numbers, work each other up into a phrensy by talking about blood and flames and so forth ; issue military-looking orders for the parade of " Repeal Cavalry"; and in the midst of it all, their leader ostentatiously recalls them to moderation, and acknowledges a fear that they will go too far and too fast : he stirs up the " wild Irish," displays their numbers, their eagerness for fighting, their training ; and then avers that there is to be no fighting at all. 'Why display the belligerent resources, then ?Oh! to show that they can be used if necessary ; the necessity being a thing which Mr. O'CONNELL is to proclaim at the proper time. England is to be intimidated; but the intimidaters are to keep and be kept out of' danger. This, however, is a dangerous game. John Bull, like the mastiff; may while it pleases him be patient under the attack of weaker animals ; but he can be surly ; and how is the extent of his patience to be meted? or wha can tell that the impulsive Irish will not begin in earnest—will not have provoked, struggled, and been prostrated, before they can be stopped ? With this strange mixture of defiance and deprecation, is still odder treatment of foreign countries : the Liberator has anew twitted America with her slavery—has declared that the young heir of CHARLES the Tenth may have an Irish brigade on certain conditions to dethrone Louis PHILIITE! American and French sympathy and subsidy are pocketed with immense sang froid; and the Sympathizers are rewarded with a fillip on the nose. Is it pure fun ? or has the O'CONNELL lavished flattery on the Irish so much as to have persuaded himself that foreign peoples will be equally proud to serve that, the greatest of nations, and to submit to the slights which she vouchsafes—as the French soldiers used to glory in boxes-on-the-ear from NAPOLEON? He will use those great countries to frighten England withal, and then insult them to turn a period. Another vagary is the institution of " Arbitration Courts" to supersede the usual Magistracy : they are a kind of Brummagem Petit Sessions, in which there is much parade of the trumpery technicalities of justice-courts—distinctions in the wearing of hats, affectation of legal language, and the lawyer-like disguise of sense. It remains to be seen how, if Government leave them alone, they will stand the ill-temper of disappointed suitors, who cannot be forced to submit.
But there are soberer stories from the land of passion. We have an account of a "monster meeting" from a witness who did not share in the intoxication. He confirms the suspicion that the
numbers have been grossly exaggerated; and he adds the information, that the excitement is not at all what it has been painted. The mass of the people are pleased and chatting holyday-makers; glad to share in a display, but not in earnest enough to stand out the proceedings of a public meeting. It has been said that the Repeal crotchet is not a national but only a popular project ; which seems to mean, that it is confined to the poorer classes, and that with them it is rather the fancy of the day than the necessity of their condition. The new description of the people's behaviour confirms the distinction. But it does not prove the agitation to be harmless. The same idle, holyday-making carekssness, might have been observed at the Anti-Poor-law and Chartist meetings in the height of those agitations. When FEARGUS O'CONNOR poured forth as effective harangues as any demagogue of the day, many of his disciples lounged about, giggled, talked nonsense, and behaved like a half-attentive audience in a theatre, amused but not engrossed. Yet the English insurrection of 1842 followed. In like manner, the Irish are not all and severally possessed by the enthusiasm of their leaders, but they are ripe for mischief.
Such is the state of idle excitement to which the country has been stirred up ; all the talk being about the wrongs of the past. At no former period had complaining Irishmen so little of actual present infliction to set forth against the Government : at no former period of Whig or Tory administration would such stimulants to sedition have been so quietly tolerated. It is a striking feature of the civilized mildness of our times. Mr. O'CONNELL gloats over England's weaknesses : if she were not conscious of strength her repose would not continue. She desires not to move to hurt, but rather to benefit, the feebler country. Mr. O'CoNsEt.r. denies the validity of the Union, because the Irish Parliament was instituted not to make legislatures, but laws. Who gave the' Irish Parliament authority to make laws ,—England. Who gave to Ireland all her institutions, used by Mr. O'CONNELL himself to magnify Ireland's power ?—England. The institutions which gave Ireland a particle of power are AngloSaxon. If there is superiority, it is a geographical necessity. Could some supernatural being exchange the inhabitants of England and Ireland, the two peoples must either exchange their relative political importance also, or else the English would rush back again. The centre of power in these islands must ever be in the South of Great Britain ; and Ireland must derive her benefits—her political improvement and social progress—from England. Not to separate from England, but how to use England for the greatest advantage of the Irish, should be the aim of real Irish patriots.
