5 OCTOBER 1867, Page 7

THE ENGLISH PANIC.

A BOUT eighteen months ago, immediately before the first suspeision of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, when the Irish landlords and the propertied class generally had begun to perceive how inveterate and deep-seated a malady Feniardsm was, a panic of a very dangerous kind threatened more seriously than any conspiracy the security of the sister island. The ruling caste, always fretfully suspicious, was excited beyond reason and humanity, and had the squires, as they demanded, "been left to settle their own affairs,"—of course, with the aid of English artillery and bayonets,—the bloody carnival of 1798 would assuredly have been enacted over again. But we in England boast of unmoved equa- nimity, even when " Proximo ardet Ucalegon ;" we lectured the Irish landlords and magistrates on the ridiculous and degrading character of their fears, not without good effect. Partly in consequence of our sarcasms and denunciations,— partly in consequence of the vigilance with which we watched the conduct of both civil and military authorities in Ireland, —the suppression of the outbreak and the trials of the con- spirators were brought to an end without any material in- fringement of common justice or English law. We have not been slow to take credit to ourselves for all this ; yet, in the light of what is happening everywhere around us to-day and for the past fortnight, we can scarcely in honesty claim the praise of courage and coolness in the presence of a formidable danger. Since the memorable attack of the Manchester Fenians on the police-van, the rescue of Kelly and Deasy, and the murder of Sergeant Brett, the public tone has entirely changed in regard to Fenianism. Hatred and indignation have taken the place of contempt ; and the transformation has strangely made discovery, sincere because unconscious, of the way in which the English Philistine has been accustomed to regard Ireland and Irish rebellions. In the 2'iines of Thursday morning this revelation takes a precise and tangible form ; we are told that "Englishmen have been wont to make some allowance for the lawless outrages which from time to time disgrace Ireland ;" and people that one meets in the club or the railway carriage repeat the same thing in more naked language. If the murder of poor Brett or the outrage in Bloomsbury is discussed, one is certain to hear, "Oh! this sort of things is all very well in Ireland, you know, but we can't stand it here." And there is something of savage determination joined with the words which is painful to see.. There is, in fact, no admission in its kind more dangerous or more discreditable than that which the Times and the class for which it speaks thus make. If we declare ourselves in a measure careless of peace in Ireland so long as we have power to crush insurrection with the strong hand, and are only moved from our apathy when our personal security in this country is touched, the policy which the extreme party among the American Fenians have throughout advocated, the "Scipio Africanus" policy of forcing upon England her- self some of the perils and miseries of the social war that has become chronic in Ireland, receives its most effective confir- mation.

It is not our purpose, however, at present to dwell on this point, though ibis one that deserves notice. We wish to refer more particularly to the spirit which is revealed in the phrase, "We won't stand it here." This spirit is neither more nor less than that of panic. The state of feeling which prevailed among the Irish landlords and parsons in the early part of 1866 is represented accurately at the present time in London and Manchester, and, it may be said, every populous English town where there is a large floating population of the lower class of Irish. It is quite as likely to break out in violence as it was at the other side of the Channel, and it seems to be the more dangerous because it has got nothing to check it. English opinion kept a tight rein a year and a half ago on the conduct of the Irish squirearchy, but " Quis cuotodiet ipsos custodes?" The press in this country is as rabid for strong measures as ever were journals in Calcutta during the mutiny, or in Jamaica while Mr. Eyre was "suppressing the rebellion." The Times of Tuesday denounces the outrages at Manchester and in Bloomsbury in the most violent language. We have not a word to say in extenuation of them, and we are as anxious as anybody can be to see the law vindicated, and its most rigorous penalties applied to punish acts which strike at the foundations of our social order. But we protest empha- tically, in the interests of order itself, against the notion, which the Times endeavours to excite and exasperate, that -because the offence of rescuing prisoners from the grasp of the law is uncommon in this country, we are authorized, in our endeavours to prevent its repetition, to go beyond the common securities which the law itself provides. To talk of these Fenians, however dangeious and wicked their crime, as of vermin, that may be and ought to be hunted down with determined and malignant vengeance, is unworthy of England. To hint, as the Times hints, not obscuiely, at the possibility of an unchecked outburst of mob violence and lynch law, is criminal in the highest degree. "The case," we are told, "was indeed an unusual one, and we fear that things still more unusual are likely to occur if the Rublic opinion of the country is outraged in this audacious manner." Mr. Hallam translates an "I fear," of Dr. Lingardle, into "I wish to insinuate might we translate the "we fear" of the Times into "we wish to suggest ?" The lower class in our great cities bear no love already to the Irish ; they are jealous of them as disturbers of the rate of wages, they despise them as paupers, and aliens, and Papists. Already in London, and Manchester, and Liverpool, and Glasgow an inextinguishable feud subsists between the English labourers and lower artizans and the inhabitants of "the Irish quarter,"—a feud which needs only occasion to be kindled into a fatal war of races and creeds. There are many parts of this metropolis where the impulse of national hatred once fairly aroused would carry a fury of fire and blood. What is it that holds these passions in check now ? The respect for law, in the first place, which all classes of Englishmen have been taught under all circumstances to cherish ; and next, the condemna- tion which the higher classes pass beforehan4 on all violations of public order. But once let the impressicaA be disseminated that the people for whom the Times speaks believe the Irish to have placed themselves outside the pale cif the law by their outrages upon it, and the Lord George Gordon riots would be repeated with this aggravation,—that the Irish would not be too weak to make, at all events, a most destruc- tive and desperate stand against those who might assail them.

On matters of this kind the Times does not usually speak unless it feels that it is supported by a certain section of public opinion. That this support would be given to what are called strong measures, is evident from what has taken place in Manchester, at the trial of the men charged with the rescue of Kelly and the murder of Brett. The Manchester people, apparently, are thoroughly frightened, and "won't stand that kind of thing here." Prudently enough, at the examina- tion of the Fenians, or supposed Fenians, arrested for compli- city in the attack on the police van, a display of military force and of police took place, which has been sufficiently common in Ireland, but hitherto has been little resorted to in this country. The precincts of the Court House were guarded by cavalry and infantry ; every part of the building was well watched by bodies of police, and admission was regulated by the order of the magistrates. It might be supposed that these wise precautions would be enough to deter the culprits, however rash, from attempting anything so mad as an escape ; not so, however, in the opinion of the Manchester Bench. It was thought necessary to revert to a precedent, which even Blackstone declares to be only "laid down in our ancient books ;" for the common law is, that a prisoner "must be brought to the bar without irons, or any manner of shackles, or bonds, unless," it is added, "there be evident danger of an escape, and then he may be secured with irons." Upon this exception, which had fallen into complete disuse, the police authorities at Manchester acted ; the prisoners Were brought up for examination handcuffed, two and two together, and in this constrained and degrading position were compelled to undergo the necessary pain of a long and minute inquiry into points, on the proof of which their lives depended. In asking unprejudiced men to condemn this return to the evil precedents of a tyrannical and lawless time, we might appeal to the fact that after the first day's examination eleven of the men subjected to this insulting and painful treatment were discharged as free from all suspicion of com- plicity in the attack upon the van ; and that since, many more have been released from custody. But we prefer to take higher ground, to point out, what the Times seems to forget, that our law holds every man charged with crime to be innocent until he has been proved to be guilty, and never sanctions the infliction of punishment in the place of necessary restraint on an unconvicted prisoner. Mr. Ernest Jones, counsel for some of the men charged, having appealed repeatedly in vain to the magistrate, refused to hold a brief for men who, while untried, were treated as convicts. Perhaps in so doing he allowed the punctilious regard for the honour of the Bar to carry him beyond his duty to his clients, but, the examination being merely preliminary, this was of less importance. It is more worthy of notice that the Manchester Examiner, the able organ of "advanced Liberalism" in the cotton metropolis, has shown itself so much affected by the general terror as to approve of the treatment of the prisoners against which Mr. Jones protested. In reply to a letter from Mr. Jones, pointing out very fairly the folly of handcuffing a handful of unarmed men in the middle of a building vigilantly guarded in every part by police and soldiers, the Examiner is content to make the very silly reference of the points in dispute between itself and Mr. Jones to the judgment of the public. What is this but the most unworthy abnegation of its duty by a journal which professes to guide and teash ? The public is not now a fit judge of any such question ; it is in a panic ; and what is wanted is remonstrance against the conduct to which that panic is certain to lead. If those whose duty it is to tell the public when it is in the wrong, shrink at the critical moment from doing that duty, and, being challenged, appeal to the bewildered masses as to an impartial tribunal, it were better that no voice should speak at all. When people in a panic hear themselves ap- pealed to as calm, judicial authorities, they are apt to mistake their prejudices for just and deliberate opinions. In the pre- sent state of feeling, these appeals to the public can only excite passions more and more, until some accident brings on the explosion. There is too much of a tendency to deal with unusual crimes in an unconstitutional manner ; and every- thing that may be done should be done to check this. Let us remember that we are strong, and though such crimes as those of the Fenians are undoubtedly atrocious and startling, let us not be shaken out of our manhood by them. Nothing would be gained by casting aside the restraints of law ; we should, in all likelihood, ruin ourselves as well as degrade ourselves, by giving free scope to the passionate outburst of a cruel and craven fear.