Mr. Smith O'Brien held possession of Conciliation Hall this week
while he dilated on the dangers that threaten England from abroad ; ringing the changes on O'Connell's maxim that " England's necessity is Ireland's opportunity." In the midst of his speech, some coarse fellow bawled a few words about " France and America." Mr. O'Connell went through the motions of having the man turned out ; and then, after that ostentatious in- terruption, Mr. Smith O'Brien went on to insinuate in more ample
and stronger, if less " actionable " language, the selfsame threat which the brawler bellowed out openly. There is something ludicrous in the ostentation with which O'Connell affects to keep within the law, while he and his colleagues are weekly insinu- ating treason—hinting sentiments which, put into distinct words and overt acts, would bring them, deservedly, to the scaffold. Their proposition, least offensively stated, is, that when England is at war they will exact their own terms from her. What is that but a threat of rebellion and civil war ? Suppose England were even then to refuse terms so offered : would the Repealers at once give up their pretensions ; or would they join the enemy, or affect a still more treacherous neutrality ? The standing talk about " England's necessity" is either a despicably idle bravado, or it is a threat of rebellion. O'Connell is making the Irish pay dearly for the services that he formerly rendered to them : he is doing all he can to prove that they really are " aliens in blood, religion, and language "—in thought and intent. O'Connell and his fol- lowers repudiate our kindred. They may remember, that where the Anglo-Saxon race has possessed territory peopled by alien tribes, it has allowed to those aliens but one alternative—amalga- mation or extermination. The Irish, however, are not aliens, and O'Connell will fail in trying to make them so.
