With respect to our own affairs, the assiduity of mankind
at present is devoted so much to the slaughter of grouse and other amenities essential to the enjoyment of the closing summer, that there is very little political matter for notice. With the exception of a formal election to substitute Lord Robert Cecil for Mr. Her- ries at Stamford—or the victory, of unknown value, which Mr. Starkie has obtained over Mr. Jonathan Peel at Clithero—or the appearance of the Messrs. Wilkinson to answer for a Parliament- ary accusation in the Lord Mayor's Police Court, and to be dis- charged—there is nothing for remark. We must look for political events to our dependencies ; and
there also, by favour of sensible government, the annals appear for the moment inclined to grow dull. Australia, for instance, only reports the satisfaction with which the Local Legislature is settling to the work of improving the authority to reconstitute it- self and to provide for local government. If the British tenure of the Fisheries and also of all the North American Provinces is threatened by the claim of an " Eail of Stirling " at Washington, it is not probable that Queen Victoria yet feels much apprehension on that score ; though it is probable that when the English in- formation respecting the said Earl is returned to Washington, American capitalists will entertain a different view from that which appears to have animated some of them as to the mercantile value of the claims.
Ireland furnishes the largest contribution of living intelligence. The whole island, as well as Dublin, is preparing to receive the Queen with a hearty welcome ; though the Royal wish seems to be to spare to her Irish subjects the toil and expense of mere show. Ireland can present to its Sovereign something better than illumi- nated streets—a really improving people. The current English es- timate, that the crops will be short by one-third, does not appear to extend beyond St. George's Channel. Party rancours are de- cidedly lulled—it is impossible to get up an " agitation " about anything. The surviving spleen of faction only serves to draw forth proof of the degree to which the Irish are soberly devoting themselves to the most practical and the broadest work of improve- ment—to an extent probably of which they are themselves but im- perfectly conscious. Mr. Whiteside declares, on evidence which he professes to draw from the College at Galway, that Cork College is distracted by divisions originating in the machinations of Pa- pists under a mandate from Rome ; which draws forth from the Principal of Cork College and his coadjutors an explicit statement that the Roman Catholic Professors have taker no part in divisions, and are under no inhibition to obstruct the performance of their duties. While the Roman Catholic Professors are refuting Mr. Whiteside's party imputations, Lord Chief Justice Campbell, who has an estate in Galway, appears among his tenantry, de- daring that it is impossible for them to get education only from Roman Catholic teachers, and, amid the cheers of his Romish hearers, commending attendance at Galway College. And all the while, the National system continues to conquer, by its success, both religious and party divisions, and even the serious mistakes at head-quarters : the numbers reported by the Commissioners ex- ceed those stated by Sir James Graham in Parliament, being not less than 544,000, with preparations still going. on for an increase in the present year. This, we opine, is a dainty dish to set before the Queen at her summer visit.
