The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1868.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2217, 29 January 1868, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1868.

Even more than Feninnism itself, the state of feeling which it has excited iu England is a matter of grave concern, There is a very considerable reluctance on the part of Englishmen to interfere with the course of justice. 8o much respect is usually shewn for the constable's baton, that it is an invariable source of astonishment to find it defied or resisted. But this very feeling of quiet confidence and submission in, not unnaturally, apt to develop into anger and alarm beyond all bounds when once it is seen that the authority of the law has been deliberately set at nought. The Fenians have overstepped every limit. They have, rescued prisoners, instead of trusting to the result of a fair trial. They have shot down a constable, and have fired a prisonhouse to the serious injury of many harmletis persons and the death of some. Aoove all, these things are done in England, under the pretence of securing certain political advantages to Ireland. The result of all this is an excited state of feeling, which may yet lead to many serious outrages—all in the cause of peace and good order. Still we have a hope that such lawless proceedings may be prevented, and that the chief result will be a hearty determination on the part of the mass of the people to support the duly constituted authorities, and to aid in the detection aud punishment of those who have caused all this alarm.

As one sure means of promoting this end, and of turning the public indignation in a right direction, we trust that all national feelings will be eliminated. National feeling has little or nothing to do with the matter, except in bo far as it is practised upon and deceived by a few designing and selfseeking leaders. "Were the questions agitated by the Fenians to be decided by the votes of the inhabitants of Ireland alone, it is well known that the decision would be to leave Ireland as it is, a free and independent constituent of the Empire, with certain special privileges, and also with certain special grievances which a few years are sure to see swept away. The two main grievances are, the existence of the Anglo-Irish Church, the last relic of the power of a dominant minority, and the question of land tenure. The lat- ' ter is the result, to a considerable extent, of the application of Saxon laws to a ' Celtic community, whose feelings and habits are repugnant to them. But Ireland is not the only place in which these grievanceshaveexisted,norarefchey without remedy. As we have said, a few years of a reformed' Parliament are certain to see them settled in accordance with the principles of justice and the wishes of the Irish people. Nor can we regard Fenianism as the offshoot of American jealousy and hatred of England. It is scarcely fair to the United States to recognize the prevalence of any such feelin : s. An intimate acquaintance with the state of American society discloses the fact that there are several communities within the territories of the United States, which have actually renounced tbeir allegiance to the Government, and indulge in practices deliberately violating its principles and its express enactments. Winn these things are pointed out to American statesmen, with the natural enquiry why they are tolerated, the invariable answer is,— "We will cure all , these " things in time. Education, and the " spread of population, will put an end " to all these anomalies far better than " any immediate officious interference " would do. There is room in our " territories to let these communities " spring Hp and decay, without any " great hurm to our people or our " Government." And we believe this explanation to be true and sound. Who, then, are the Fenians ? They are the scum and rascality of the disbanded American armies, both of the North and South. Since time immemorial, the termination of a great war, and the disbanding of a great number of soldiers, have been followed by outrages, more or fewer, perpetrated by the worst portion of the men thus throtvn into a state of sudden and almost compulsory idleness. The British army itself has not escaped the consequences of such a change, Even the victories of the Spanish Peninsula and of Waterloo could not throw dignity or respect over the character of many disbanded soldiers,'who retired, on the termination of the Napoleonic wars, to their own Tillages, and exhibited there all tbeir iugrained habits of debauchery, drunkenness, and pilfering. In the Middle Ages, when Europe was less populous and more closely resembled the States of America than it does now, formidable bauds of marauders were often formed who kept whole districts under terror of their arms and their outrages. It is not, then, to be wondered at that a war, conducted upon the gigantic Bcale of the lain American coullict, should cast abroad upon society a certain proportion of the like worthless characters, whowould gladly seize upon any passing political cry or national discontent us a mask for their own mischievous designs. ' Wo sincerely hope that neither in Britain nor in any of its colonies will the least countenance be given to the idea that Ifeniiinisin has anything national or political about it, save the pretences of its originators. The lew honest men, who have been misled by the liberal promises and specious schemes of these designing incendiaries, will probably soon discover their error. England, which has so long been happily free from any of the immediate consequences of war, must be content to endure some share of the evils resulting from the wars of her Anglo-Saxon relatives in the United States. The prisons of England, the armies of Europe, and the backwoods of America will doubtless soon absorb the last of the Fenians.