MR. O'CONNELL AND THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
THE Moaning Chronicle has just made the grand discovery, that Mr. O'CONNELL'S representations of the condition of England are " not in the least like the truth ;" and the Standard, charmed with so uncommon an instance of ingenuousness in a Whig journal, is shouting out a miracle ! Our only surprise, on the contrary, is that for five good years the Chronicle has failed to observe to its readers, that Mr. O'CONNELL is in the habit of amusing the prejudices of his hearers with what we shall call, for the sake of civility, the grossest misrepresentations. There is, indeed, no orator of the clay, or of any other day with which we are acquainted, who is so inventive in the province of fact. About three years ago, he de- liberately declared, in one of his speeches, that the navy of Eng- land was no more, and that an American cock-boat would sweep our proudest fleets from the seas. In those days the Chronicle haul not begun to consider how like the truth the learned gentleman's declamations might be. Mr. O'CONNELL is now delighting- in the ancient Irish reproach to which we lately referred. He vows that England is called " mane baste" by the whole world. She looks well, he admits ; but to employ the jockey's elegant illustration, " though seeming as sound as a bell, she is as rotten as a pear." " Her busy streets, her crowded marts, her gorgeous luxury, her apparent power, are found but a hectic resembling health—a seeming wealth, and a gambling industry." Two years ago, we remarked (in the Atlas) on the folly and mis- chief of indulging in this kind of rhodomontade. The power of England is impaired by the dissension of Ireland ; she loses the use of her left arm, but with her right alone she is more than a match for any nation in the world ; and her very strength renders her injustice to Ireland the more shameful. We can well afford to be just: we can admit the Catholics to an equal participation in all advantages, and maintain whatever state of things is agreeable to us in despite of them, should the improbable dispute ever arise. Instead of amusing himself with disparaging the strength of Eng- land, it is Mr. O'CONNELL 'S obvious policy to admit it to its fullest extent, and to make the abundance of power an argument for the safety of concession.
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