THE O'DONOGHUE AGAIN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 149, 8 May 1862, Page 3

THE O'DONOGHUE AGAIN.

:Ci i|romThe :Times, ITeb" 25.) ~

The p'Ptinoghue, has been making one of those, exhibitions which can only be made in just such a place as the British Parliament, and at just such A time as. this -middlerctt. tlie nineteenth century. With the. perfect certainty of no unpleasant cousequences, he has been ajjle'to tamper with his allegiance, to defy his' Sovereign, and finally to insult his opponent On the floor, of the House.of Commons. Jn the reign of Quiien' Elizabeth singular personages appeared In tlie," streets of. lid-' don.uuder quaint lmh denominations, with bands of retainers in barbaric accoutrements., The Court connived atjaiibreach .otj the Jaw that.would not have been:tolerated in any rational-Englishman1, and which only:amused'the'rjibble, for^there was no surer way to lay-the' ghost' of Irish •independence: than to let" it show itself in the' streets atmidday. The O'Donogliue does not walk down Parliament-street with' "ti score or two of halfnaked, savages at his heels, carrying axes and crossbows, or Sir li. Mayne would certainly in-., terfere.; : So .he is obliged to content himself with a standing appeal to the equally obsolete usage j of trial by battle. It is only v, form, but it is effectual for distinction. JTor those vho like the sort of thing the recipe is simple and sure, i Abuse a whole nation and the Government in par- j tieular ; provoke some just remarks in Parlia-! ment; walk out of the House with an indignant i fling ; _send a friend to demand an explanation; and, when finally called on to apologize for the breach of privilege, take the opportunity for any further remarks that, may occur to you upon the head, or the heart, or the person, or, the history of the man you wish to annoy. There is only one way in which this process can possibly; be disappointed, and that is if ydur man has the wisdom to say nothing about you, or to content himself witli the barest allusion. This requires more self-command than everybody possesses. It would have been enough if the Irish Secretary had merely called attention to the failure of the meeting at the Kotunda, as admitted by the Chairman himself. Ho did more. He said, "what was perfectly true, that the authors of the demonstration did not succed in getting any respectable people to attend. It was only too true, and so it gave the O'Donoghuc an opportunity of performing on the stage of Parliament an old Irish farce of as thoroughly fictitious a character as the "Colleen Bawu" or" the " Lilly of Killarney. With the O'Donogliue we find no fault. It is the best thing he can do. But it is wisdom to allow him as few occasions as possible, and to sec that he confines himself to the proper time and place. Only the other day the O'Donogliue was a magistratrate, and as such was pledged'to support the authority of the Qeen r obedience to the laws and the peace of the realm. Bat his notions of honor are, to.say the-least- peculiar. No sooner had the Government of "the Northern States of America insulted ourflag,and so created a strong expectation, of war, than the O'Donogliue and I his "friends took their side and their measures | accordingly. Assembling a nfbb in the Kotunda, tliej denied the Queen's flag to be the Irishman's flag, they.denounced Englishmen as their natural foes, they claimed sympathy with, the Irshmen in the American Federal army, and they invited Ireland to seize the opportnnity of shaking, off the English yoke. JFor a man in her Majesty's commission of the peace, bound to enforce the law, and personally representing the Queen, this was rather strong... The only result was that the O'Donbghue had to abandon, the movement for want of creditable coadjutors, and the Irish Secretary was obliged to. request an apology. Of course, the O'Donoghue wold not j apologize, and, of course, there was no other j alternative but to remove him from the commission of the peace, for the counties of Cork and. Kerry. In our humble opinion, the slightest possible allusion to the Rotunda, to the language held therein, and the speedy collapse of the movement would have been enough. It is always better to let people speak and act for themselves, and do for' themselves. The! O'Donoghue had done this with a vengeance. He was a self-declared enemy of the British flag, the British law, and the British people, all the tima bearing her Mejesty's commission for- the p»«----tection of her people and the enforcing of her laws.. This, was enough. _ The Rotunda folks had a grand demonstration under his leadership, and had suddenly stopped short. But Sir Kobert added an epithet. This drew out again the man whose misery was that he had shut himself up ! The proceeding of last night, however, is as much an illusion as if any Englishman, wishing to reestablish his ifonor, were to challenge another to the Japanese rite of Happy Despatch. Of course, the ceremony would not be permitted, and the challenged. person, whatever his own feelings, would have no choice but to decline the ordeal. The refusal would be anticipated by the challenger, whose challenge therefore would meanInothing at all.' An ordinary English gentlemanfeels that, as duelling is obsolete, a challenge can never, come to anything ; so he carefully shuns what society would set downas a" piece of ungentlemantly bravado. As he knows that this appeal is now wholly antiquated and ridiculous, he takes double care of his tongue ; at least, he ought to do so, for it must be confessed there are people on whose tongues an occasional duel might hare a salutary ctte ct. But it is so certain that no disagreement will ever come to a duel that the slightest allusion to such a result is now simply bad taste. The O'Donoghue claims the liberty of bad taste ;he is treated accordingly. The Speaker let him have his swing,"and tolerated in him last night a freedom of language that he would not have expected, and certainly would have rebuked, ■■ in any English gentleman. .