The Standard will perhaps be surprised to learn, that we
aban- don freely to its censure, the line which it picked out of one of the paragraphs of Irish news in last Saturday's Spectator, compiled hastily from the papers of that morning, and on Monday elevated by the Standard to the dignity of a leading article. DELANY, it is true, seems a perfect firebrand ; and there is little doubt that lie did his best to excite a breach of the peace, from which the inhabitants of Ballyconnell, as was evidenced by the sworn testi- mony of some of them, apprehended serious danger. Still, it appears that Mr. DUFF, the Stipendiary Magistrate, overstepped the limits of strict law in arresting the disturber. The familiar English case of Boatswain SMITH is not exactly in point: the pious Boatswain obstructed the public streets and thoroughfares, whereas this DELANY did his mischief under cover of a place of worship. The pulpit itself affords no privileged protection to the defamer or the incendiary: but punishment should follow con- viction, and conviction trial upon a specific charge.
The Lord-Lieutenant has announced, through his Secretary, that be does not sanction Mr. DUFF'S method of preserving the peace at Ballyconnell. A removal from that station, if not a dismissal from office, is the penalty which the well-meaning and
otherwise efficient Magistrate pays fin his error. It would be of evil example to overlook; the violation of legal forms, by one charged with the execution of the laws, in a country like Ire- land—even though the motive was none other than an ardent desire to avert riot and bloodshed.
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