THE MAIL.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 307, 25 July 1868, Page 3

THE MAIL.

The news by the last mail is by no means of a highly important, though at the same it is of an exceedingly interesting character. The great struggle of tho present day in British politics has commenced however, and the Irish reformers, have won the first throw, in Mr Gladstone's resolutions having been triumphantly affirmed in the House of Commons by a large majority. These resolutions, however, arc but the affirmation of a principle, and though they point conclusively to the end, they accomplish nothing more at present than proving how public feeling is in reference to the questions therein raised. A British House of Commons has admitted beyond all question the right of the Irish people to their own church, and has owned by the same actiou that the existing church is, and has been for centuries, a wrong. Amongst those who thus expressed their opinions were men of all denominations, the representatives of the Catholic faith being but a fraction amongst them. Protestants of the present day can afford to confess a wrong to whatever church it may pertain, and the conduct of Parliament on this occasion will do mueh to restore good feeling amongst all classes. As might be expected, there are rabid church and state people in the woidd who can see no injustice in appropriating one man's goods to support a clergyman of a contrary belief, and who think that ninety of one sect should pay the expenses of the ministry of ten of the other, and as a matter of course, furious party cries will be got up on the occasion of the appeal to the country. The fact has, how r ever, gone forth, and before long one at least of the grave grievances of the Irish nation will be at an end. The news of Prince Alfred's attempted assassination had reached England, and, as might be expected, had created a profound sensation of mingled anger and horror. All classes, all persons, all places, had with one voice condemned the infamous deed, but the worst is that this has given a handle to the anti-reform party, that they will not be slow to use at the dissolution. The Bishop of Oxford set out the cry on a grand ceremonial, by publicly stating "that the revenues of the Irish Church were being confiscated to meet the wishes of assassins." This will be echoed far and wide, and as those at a distance have few opportunities of really judging, it will be largely believed. In spite of this, justice will, even if tardily, at length be done to Ireland, and there is every reason to hope that in a year or two, the curse of Eenianism may be blotted out, and that with equal laws and equal rights, with returning prosperity and contentment, Ireland Englandand Scotland may be in fact as in name truly a United Kingdom. A most extraordinary motion has been brought forward by a Mr Eeardon, in effect that her Majesty be requested to abdicate the throne, and make way for the Prince of Wales. The result was that it was indignantly rejected, but no details are to haud, so we can only wait and wonat the preposterous audacity of the mover. Whether he is a madman, or whether he has cast a deliberate insult on her Majesty, time only will prove. At any rate he has not taken much by his motion. The Clerkenwell exploplosion has proved more fatal to the innocent than the guilty, for whilst a large number lost their lives, and a far larger number are maimed for life, only one man, Barrett, has suffered the last penalty of the law. The other European news are singularly scanty, beyond one item that Russia has proposed a convention for abolishing explosive proj ectives in war, which Erance is rep ortedto have assented to, we have nothing whatever. By this it is probable that another year may run round before the grand struggle for European supremacy, which must certainly arise, will come off. There are several summer months before them however, and as speedy campaigns are the order of the d ow a " difficulty" may yet arise before the frost sets in—that can only be got over by an appeal to arms. As to the proposed convention no one has any faith in it, and war must drift down to the evident goal of present science, viz., the art of extermination. Erom America more hopeful news is to hand. The reconstruction policy of which the abused President is the active exponent, is being carried out in the face of the Radical opposition, and a bill for admitting the States of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisianato representation in Congress, has been passed. Concurrently with this, we hear that the Senato have refused to convict President Johnson on the eleventh article of impeachment, and it is quite possible that the next mail will bring us news of his entire acquit-

tal. For tho peace of the UnitedStates it is to be hoped such will be the case. In Canada the feeling of the people has been clearly shown in connection with the atrocious murder of D'Arcy M'Gee, no less than twenty thousand people attending his funeral. There is little reason to doubt that the actual murderer has been .arrested, but his paltry life is a poor compensation for the death of such au able, promising, and distinguished man. We have no South American news, nor, indeed any from many ot.:er points of interest, Crete, Rome, and other places, and we must wait for the arrival of the mails before our curiosity in reference to them is satisfied. Altogether, however, we have an interesting and varied budget to hand, and one that will afford the thoughtful section of the community much food for reflection.