ionic Society the following works :

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Von. II.-—No. 21.

  

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SPIRIT OF THE EUROPEAN PRESS.
From the Dublin Irishmatr.
THE ADVANDE or FBAKC.

England is evidently stunned by the great fact of the rean
nexation of Savoy to Imperial France. It is now a fact; a fact
not to be got over. England must make the best she can of it_:
and she begins to feel that her best, indeed her only course,‘ is
simply to submit to fate, and to abide by the prudent maxim
that the least said the soonest mended! .Accordingly the Eng-
lish Foreign Minister congratulates an obsequious, yet ferment-
ing House of Commons, upon the “ modei-s.tion” with which
they have abstained from touching the sensibilities of a too ter-
rible “ ally ;” and promises, if it but trusts its executive gov-
ernment with unquestioning confidence in future, that he -« even
he, Lord John Russell—will take better care next time. For
there is to be a “ next time !”—“ such an act as the annexation
of Savoy.” says the puzzled little minister, “is one that will
lead a nation so warlike as the French to call upon its govern-
ment from time to time to commit other acts of‘ aggression!”
And so poor little Lord John is fain to abandon the proud poli-
cy of isolation and “ non-interference ;” and he already pro-
claims as loudly as he dares that he will lose no further time

roviding for the security of the nation of shopkeepers of enter-
ihg into a new “ holy alliance” against France! The advance
of France must be checked, per fas aut nefas ; who knows what
the next step be! For is not the great principle of trade itself
at-stake——the very gospel of the God of England 2 “The pow-
ers of Europe, if they wizh to maintain that peace [which we
have been enjoying so balmily of late 1] must respect each
other’s rights, must respect each othcr’_s limits, and, above all,
restore and not disturb that Commercial Confidence, which is
the result of peace, which tends to peace, and which ultimately
forms the happiness of nations” [!! I]. We submit to our au-
gust ally about Savoy ; we can get no satisfaction from him for
that; but for heaven’s sake let annexation end there—and let
us in time enter into friendly alliances with the other “ powers”
to make sure that it does so! _

It is too late, Lord John! The Advanczg-. of France is no
longer to be prevented by a conspiracy, even 01 the Kings of
Europe! For France advances now not by force or in the way
of conquest, but by the arms of reason and right, and in the
sole interest of the Nationalities. Nor is Savoy the only; Na-
tionality that shat shall find a place within the bosom of the
great leading‘ nation of the Celts? ‘

Already, this week, we hear of minors of negociation between
France and Bavaria, about that Palatinate on the left bank of
the Rhine, which has so long desired to follow Alsace—Palati-
nate which like Alsace, like Savoy, did already taste the bene-
fits of national connexion with France, and taste so sweetly of
them that they have never been forgotten. And the trembling
press of England sees no escape even from so direct a ste to
wards the Rhine on the part of France; already asks what is to

be’ the "equivalent/’ of Bavaria, and wonders whether the se-
cret negociation may not perhaps stipulate to give Bavaria the
Tyrol! Even a year ago England would have trusted in con-
genial Protestant Prussia against France; but Prussia gives no
longer any sign—she hates Austria, and never will draw sword
for any German “unity ” but a Prussian one! The Emperor
plays in German the very game of the English themselves; he
acts on their very motto. divide et impem! One of those days.
doubtless——thankful for the princ€ple—India and Ireland will
pray for the English, when their turn comes!

Savoy and Nice-—the passes of the Alps——the completion of the
of the Italian frontier of France—these are all but the first step
to the inevitable discovery of the Empire. The Palatinate next.
After that, bit by bit, all the left band of the Rhine ; for the
Rhine is the natural frontier of the Gaul, and the population of‘
the Rhenish Provinces notoriously longs for re-annexation to
France almost as anxiously as Savoy had longed for it. After
that, again comes Belgium : and those who have attentively
observed the coarse of events in Belgium for the last ten years
will scarcely feel surprised to find that even‘ Belgium—prospe-
rous and free as she is-—even Belgium will gladly rejoin .the‘
Catholic France of to-day, and get rid of her selfish Coburg dy-
nasty, with its Austrian‘ alliances and its perpetual European
intrigues. Antwerp. above all, must eagerly look forward to be
again the Antwerp of the First Napoleon —to exchange the-de-
sert dullness of her vacant streets, and the emptiness of her
magnificent but now useless docks and harbor, for the bustle and
life of‘ a grat port‘, formed by nature itself to be'the chief north-
ern emporium and outlet of an empire whose immense seaboard
opposite commercial England owns no other harbor capable of
being the London or Liverpoolxof the Continent. .

Holland is not needed ; nor would Holland. probably, desire
to be French. But Belgium, and all the Provinces on the left
bank of the Rhine, will probably be parts of the Empire now
within five years more- and that in the ordinary course of na-
turo, and with the full consent of the populations.

Therefore does England tremble! And ‘ she trembles with a
purely selfish fear. The principles of modern England are mer-
cenary without the alloy of a single just disinterested or manly
aspiration. She is truly the modern Carthage, And she feels
at last that she is opposed to a greater than Rome; for France

is the reprpsentative of principles far difierent from those either
of Rome or of Carthage-—she is nothing less than-the represen-
tative of Freedom and National,i,ty,iu modern_Enrope. The ad-
vance of France is useful to all the world‘; and all the world
secretly feels that it will be all -the more useful should it be
made directly at the expense of England.

Let us pray again for a blessing upon her arms and her pol-
icy forever!

run Gist. ABOVE, rim sixes DOWN.
From the London Times.

The debate last night in the House of Commons is, if we mis-
take not, a point of departure for new combinations in Europe.
Lord John Russel has almost in terms announced that the mimic

land and France is again—we hope we may say only for a mo-
ment —brcken. He, the minister directing the foreign relations
of England, has from his place in Parliament deliberatly de-
0l'3.l‘:}i th .t he no longer feels any confidence in the moderation
or peaceful intentions of the Emperor of the French. He has
expressed his conviction that, after this consummate act of the
annexation ,of Savoy, the Emperor will be called upon from time
to time to commit other acts of aggression, and he suggests that
the Emperor will accede to the call He pi oclaiins to the world
that this act must estrange England from the side of France,
and must induce her to seek safety in the society of the other
nations of Furope. “I do feel,” said Lord John Russell, “that,
however We may wish to live on the most friendly terms with
the French Government—and certainly I do wish to live on the
most friendly terms with that Government-—we ought not to keep
ourselves apart from the other nations of Europe, but that,
when future questions may arlse—-we should b -ready to act
with others, and to declare, always in the most moderate and
friendly terms. but still firmly, that the settlement of Europe,
the peace of Europe is a matter dear to this country, and that
that settlement and that peace ‘cannot be assured it it is liable to
perpetual interruption, to constant fears, to doubts and rumors
with respect to the annexation of this one country, or the union
and annexation of that other.”

This is a very important declaration. Both the Emperor of
the French and the Minister of England have now kept their
words to each other. The former shadowed forth his intention
of pushing forward the present frontier of France in a certain
contingency; the latter warned him that whenever he should
carry out that intention he would forfeit the confidence of his
ally. It is done, and lord John Russell tells his ally frankly
that, although he continues him as an acquaintance, he shall go
elsewhere to seek his friend. The allusion to Prussia is scarce-
ly equivocal,-and we have not now to inquire where the present
Government proposes to make its closest alliance; while the
‘confession that Russia has declared that “ the King of Sardinia
was free to give away his province, and the Emperor of the
French was free to receive it," leaves it clear that there is no
intention or hope of forming a hostile European Confederation,
such as the Tory party recently counselled.—-Thus ends, as we
very much fear, that strong hope of mutual confidence and good
will based on commercial intercourse which we were all only
yesterday taught to anticipate with such eager credulity. When
these words are--—as they are at this moment—-—telegraphed to
Paris, and when it is known with what loud cheers the House oi
Commons rang as they were delivered, and with what welcome
they were received by all except one speaker, we cannot but ex-
pect that such zeal as has hitherto been shown to remove difficul-
ties will be somewhat cooled, and that the strictest interpreta-
tions of the Comrnertial Treaty will be enforced. On our side,
there is a possibility that the treaty may hereafter be read with
a different gloss. It will now be more calmly seen that we have
yielded everything upon the spot, in the expectation that some-
thing that has never been promised might be generously given
to us. The Emperor of the French may be magnanimous, and
may yet fulfil the hopes of those among us who stooped to think
with such motives. But it is not now likely. It is an unhappy
time to declare ourselvesslighted and betrayed. The Emperor
has gained all his objects. He has crippled Austria, neutralized
Russia, and conciliated Italy. We arise from our dream of con-
fidence, and tell him that we have been deceived and that we
intend to trust him no more. The time is past when such a re-
proach or such a declaration would have had weight. These
bold words will not make Napoleon the third relax his grasp
upon Savoy,-‘or delay in the choice of the site for his palace at
Nice.‘ They only tell him authoritatively—what we told him
long ago—-that by this act we are offended but not outraged,
estranged but not provoked to enmity. The instincts of the
people of this country are truer than those of her rulers. They
have never trusted the Emperor, though they have not thought
it necessary to be constantly telling him so.

IsELANi)’s NA'l‘IONALlTY—-—'l'HE CURSE r EMIGRATION.

Last week we gave from L’E9pemzce, of arch, says the Irish-

.;orJia.Ze which has so long intermittently existed between ring-.

man, the letter of “J. P. L.,” in reply to a correspondent of that
paper, who had assailed the Nationality of Ireland. Here is
another letter upon the subject, which we translate from
L’E~perance of the 22d March:—

’i_"o run EDITOR or ran L_?Esi>siuNcu: Sir—I was sorry to
rem the letter of M. Ivan Golovine which appeared in your
jouriial of February 20. It is not under the motto “Patrieet
l.3bei-te” that we might expect to find sentiments of hostility to
the .ri.~.se of Ireland and counsels to the Irish to accept the
English dominion. For my part as an Irishman, I have only
to sriy to M. Golovine that the question of resistance or submis-
sion 20 foreign rule is one which every people must decide for
itself That is a right and a duty which we are not to discuss
with M. Golovine. ‘

‘The observations, Mr. Editor, which you append to that letter
were in a very kindly spirit, and they shewed an intimate ac-
quaisitance with the Irish cause. Were theclaims of oppressed
nationalities to be measured by the evils they undergo from
foreign rule and the benefits they have to expect from inde-
pendence, there is no country in Europe which would deserve
greater sympathy than Ireland. Other peoples——the Poles, the
Hungarians, the Italians — desire independence because they re-
fuse to become Russians or Germans. because they would keep
and cherish their own customs and literature, because they am-
bition a national career of their own, because, in one word,
they are too strong and too proud to endure a foreign yoke.
But Ireland needs self‘-government. not merely to satisfy such
legitimate aspirations as those—-not merely in order that she
may he enriched by her own industry and embellished and
honored by her own genius: she needs it in order to put an end
to the religious hate and social anarchy implanted by foreign
rule, to let her children “eat bread in the sweet of their brow,”
to prevent famine from raging in a country whose harvests are
the richest of Europe. Other nations, such as the gallant Hun-
garians or the happy Italians. require independence for the sake
oft their honor; the Irish need it for the sake of their very ex-
is ence.

It was, I think. a remark of Napoleon the First, that the
Opprefiion Of a subject people under the yoke of a constitu-
tional (nj a democratic state is always more grinding than when
the rull gstate is a despotism. The history of Switzerland gives
us a at king instance in the case of the subject bailiwicks of
Berna and other cantons. In fact, while a despot thinks only
of governing his foreign subjects, a people or a great oligarchy
like Englniid thinks of‘ exploiting theirs. The more numerous
the oligarchy may be, the more heavily will the subject people
be oppressed’. And the genius of the English being eminently
com‘mercigl, it has created a system of pillage so complete that,
whilst score! of thousands of our people emigrate every year

is   ' v
nmph! _ And if ever Ireland become a free nation, believe me,
Mr, Editor, she will deserve a welcome into the family .of mi.
tions. The qualities of her people are not inferior to those of
any other people in Europe, and the natural resources bestowed
by God upon Ireland are almosjr unparralleled in the world.
Wasted or perverted as are those qualities and resources to-day,
strangers may readily entertain a sentiment of disgust in be-
holding the abject misery of the mass of our people, and the’ low
state of civilization which prevails in our country. But what
churches and palaces and structures of public utility, what, oi-ts
and ships and manufactures and trade, what science and a' and

literature, what luxury and what general comfort we might have,

if we had back those twenty millions a-year and had the service

of the arms and heads and hearts of our own people!

Far be it from me, Mr. Editor, to refuse my sympathy to the

cause of the Italians, or to that of any people struggling for

their independence. I pray ardently for the day when no

foreign flag shall wave in Italy, from the Alps to the Adi-iatio;

I honor with my whole heart the generous Emperor of‘ the

French and his gallant people for the part they have taken in

helping the Italians to drive out their oppressors. Could my

desires be realised, the Poles, the Hungarians, the Greeks, and

and all the countries of the world be left to rule their own
destinies. ' .

And let me also say that, notwithstanding the inconsiderate
expressions that have been heard at meetings held lately in
Ireland to sympathise with the Pope, it would be wrong to con-
clude that the Catholic people of Ireland are hostile to the
national cause of‘ Italy or would wish to see the Italians sub
ject either to aforeign yoke or to a government which they
disliked. I do not believe that the Irish Catholics would delib-
erately approve of any injustice. Unfortunately, the Pope is
for the moment in antagonism with the national movement in
Italy, and the Irish Catholics, whose affection for the Head of
their Church has been intensified by the long persecution they
have sufiered at the hands of England, think only how to demon-
strate their sympathy for his sorrows. J, M, ’K_

ran nirnnsr or run DAY IN fiurnaus.

The Wexford people thus concludes an article on St. Patrick.
We hope the descendants of the Shilmaliers will take the
hint :—-“But the great lesson remains, to hold no terms with
cant or compromise, but to speak the plain truth plainly, and
do the good deed well, leaving the issues to a higher Power,
and giving no heed to the suggestions of cowardice and selfish-
ness, which are 2-lways retained as Counsel by the Devil, and
must look to him for their reward. Another idolatry is new
among us, the worship of English supremacy, with all its con
rupting influences, and all its false advantages. And the great

in order to escape starvation or pauperism, and whilst the pop-
ulation of Ireland are the worst-fed, worst-clothed and worst-
lodged in Christendom, over twenty millions sterling are
annually extracted from Ireland as the English profit out of
that p~"~_=~cssjo;_s,'- jigneggto say that l‘J1ef{!"l‘.fIL,"“*.W€eIlEngl§.fld
an I .lI?'l.\ild 'o7.:sto'«\' ‘so no-h"evEi-y‘ year to the English and
gives them, besides, the use of our people for soldiers, and sail-
ors, and laborers ; as well as enables them to appropriate Irish
intellect and genius. And I mean to say that our independence
would put an end to that exploitation, and would give Ireland
the value of her harvests and her productions of all sorts, her
own revenue, her own commerce and manufactures, and the
services of her own citizens.

, The separation of Ireland from England would be a gain of
above twenty millions sterling a year to the former country,
and a loss to that amount to the latter. Those twenty millions
a year represent the tribute exacted by England: our people
starve in order to pay it, and the nobles and capitalists of Eng-
land are gorged with the plunder.

It may be thought that a people which suffers so grievously
under foreign rule must surely be an inferior race of men, un-
less it is in constant revolt against the oppressor. Perhaps it
is so that Mr. Golovine has reasoned. It‘ is true that whilst
other nationalities have been rising sword in hand against their
oppressors, in Ireland there has been no considerable insurrec-
tion thése sixty years past. But let it not be concluded thence
that oppression ,has been lighter in Ireland than it was in P0-
land or Hungary or Italy. Alas! it is just becauseof the more
baiieful characters of English oppression—-because of the pov-
erty and the social discord it indicts upon us, to enfeeble and
disorganize us——thst we have scarce stirred in our chains whilst
Poles, Hungarians, and Italians have been pouring forth their
generous blood upon glorious fields. In 1848, when four-fifths
of the people of Ireland had been struggling peacefully for
several years to obtain a Repeal of the Union (that is a distinct
government for Ireland), England challenged us to decide the
question by arms. We did not fight: and our failure, I confess
with pain, must seem to the world ignominious.

Yet, let it be taken into account that, in addition to the
ordinary means of oppression, such as Italians or Poles have to
contend against, in our case there was the Famine.. And this
also is to be considered, that it is much more easy for the Irish
to escape, by emigration, than for the Poles or Hungarians.
This facility to escape from under the. English oppression is a
great obstacle to our natural means of defence. How many
strong arms and noble hearts Ireland loses in the emigration
of each season! A , far heavier loss than the tribute sent of
yore by Athens to the Minotaur. It is our youth of spirit and
energy, the elite of each generation, that Ireland thus loses con-
tinually.

.M. Golovine asks us Irish, have we not our share in the liber-
ty, riches and power of the United Kingdom? I ask you, Mr.
Editor, do you think that the English Church Establishment
could stand one week in Ireland,’ if we were really represented
in the English Parliament? I say nothing of the Volunteer Ri-
fle clubs, encouraged in England and forbidden in Ireland; nor
of the laws continually enacted to prevent the Irish from hav-
ing arms or learning the use of them; nor of the authority held
by the English Viceroy to proclaim martial-law in any district
of Ireland, or over the entire country, when he pleases; such
measures are only what we ought to expect in any country un-
der a foreign yoke. But our constitutional liberty is a delusion
and a cheat. Our part in the riches of the United Kingdom is
general poverty among all classes of our population, and a loss
to the amount of above twenty millions sterling a-yegr. Our
share in the English power is to serve for its tools.

Since 1848 there has been in Ireland neither any insurrection
nor any important agitation in favor of independence. Both in
the upper and the middle classes many of those who were Re-
pcal zrs up to 1848 seem to have ceased to look upon our libera-
tion as attainable, and are disposed to accept the English domi-
nation as'a necessity. It may be, even, that a generation must
pass away before the country will again assume such an attitude
as it had under O’Connell. The effects of the famine still re-
main, and the evils it wrought upon our people, both morally
and physically, are yet in operation. .
Nevertheless I do not believe that Ireland will definitely con
sent to become an English possession. I believe that the na-
tional sentiment will revive. God grant it may awake to tri-

heresy of the day is Liberalism, that perverted word and per-
verting reality, which means a generous readiness to forego or
betray the right of yourself or your neighbors for a reasonable
consideration, and a heroic resolve to say and do on all occa-
sions, not that which i:i'~ ‘?.".,€ .=1;!_t1 zig-ht-,-but that whi'cii‘Ts"proflt¢
able. It is an unholy doctrine which says, “it is expedient
that the people should die for the living of one.” And the
incense of this foul worship is offered up in high places, as the
Baal-fires used to be kindled on the hills long ago, Who 1.
there in Ireland to do the work of St. Patrick?”

rnxxcn AND ENGLA-‘.iD.

The tone of the French government journals, in regard to the
debate in the British Parliament, is rather sneerin g than openly
hostile. They affect to pity Lord J. Russell as a martyr to par-
liamentary government, and insinuate that he does not mean
what he says. The Debuts professes to have no unes siness re-
garding the fnture relations between England and France.
England will only act in strong and numerous company, and
the best security for peace. the Debuts says, is in the obstacles
which she will now find in effecting coalitions. Le Nord, the
Russian organ, established at Berlin, has a violent anti-English
article. It says the friendship of England would be a very poor
equivalent for the dangers to which they would be exposed by
adopting the policy of Lord J. Russell.

run O’O0NNOR nosn.

The Dublin Irishman says:-—We cannot compliment the people
of Roscommon upon their knowledge even .of' their own clans,
still less upon their recollection or appreciation of the history
of their country. Perhaps it were best, by way of excuse, for
them to assume that the part of Connacht has not yet recovered
the traces of civilization which it is supposed to have lost during
the miserable era of Cromwell’s invasion. At any rate it.would
seem that they have have brought up yet another O’Connor {in
succession to at least two equally oblivious owners of what was
once a great title), in ignorance of the name that is his own.
This yon.ng gentleman might as well, or rather better. call him-
self “Mr. O’Conncr,” as "the O’Conor Dou”—-a title wholly
unknown to history, or even to the sense of the language! and
the poor barbarous Roscommon folk are by the penny-a-liners
said to love to “call him ‘run Don’ ” (I ! l), as if to make the
thing still more ridiculous! Is it possible that the Gaelic has
perished in Roscommon‘! - ‘

This young Charles O’Conor is THE O’Coxon—-the head of all
the royal clan--the direct representative of that King Rudh-
raidhe, who was Monarch of Erinn when the Normans landed
in 1169. If the young man knows at all what it is to own such
a lineage, let some kind Irish friend tell him to wear the true
title that is his ; but let him remember that it carries a respon-
sibility with it, if the last O’Conor is to prove a man at all.
Would that we could hope for the best in witnessing the early
entrance into public life of this new scion of the ‘old race of
Milesians! Gladly would we excuse the youthful mistakes of a
boy whose credentials are such as those he brings. But it is
impossible to read the iindignified and unmanly nonsense put
into his month by the lvreeman reporter of the hustings proceed-
ings at Roscommon on Monday last, without shame even greater
than our indignation. “ I sincerely think,” O’Conor is reported
to have said (and in so far rightly and naturally) “ that the
Holy Father should be left in possession of his dominions.” “I
wish that he should be free from all foreign interventlon,” he
adds (and we heartily wish the same); but he adds yet more:
“ and I would even go so far as to say that he should be left
perfectly at liberty ro WALLOP HIS OWN NIGIGERS I” If such lan-
guage is to be taken to express the gentlemanly tone, the good
breeding, or the dignity, any more than the political principles
of the young O’Conor—-alas! may God defend his race from the
dishonor that is to come! The specimen is a very sad one;- and
the occasion, unfortunately, one on which it is impossible to
stop the eyes and ears of the young chieftain’s fellow-country-
men. And for us it is equally impossible to pass over without
the expression of our sorrow and astonishment-—we might use
yet a stronger word, in truth—the report of a speechfwhich
must excite all over Europe so much of scorn and derision at
the expense of Ireland. -

PRINCE ALBERT, THE POLES AND THE IRISH.

following scrap from a London contemporary._ It is interesting
as showing Prince Albert’s antipathy to us Irish, and the Great

0

every other people subject to a foreign yoke,_would soon be free, '

A correspondent in England, says the Irishimm, sends us the

,4