NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE state of affairs in Ireland has again somewhat changed ; for though still pacific, the Repealer-in-chief has once more shifted his
ground. Last week it appeared that offers of alliance had been made to him from the Federalists of Ireland and some of the Com- plete Suffrage party in England ; and his words were generally . understood to imply that he was disposed to close with those offers.
He now says the very reverse—that he rejects them, and that he abides by the agitation for " unconditional Repeal." The appa- rent reason for the retractation is, that on examining the bargain he found it to be not worth his while : the party in Ireland was not sufficiently large or influential, and of that in England he speaks in
terms that almost imply contempt ; in short, he did not expect the quid pro quo, and therefore he " declares off." The manner of the retractation is characteristic. Mr. O'CONNELL does not say that he retracts, but he says that he did not mean what he was under- stood to mean. As it is often impossible to tell what he really does mean, it may be true that in his own mind he never enter- tained the idea of abandoning Repeal for Federalism and Complete Suffrage ; but the ease with which his Irish auditory tolerate this kind of " thimblerig," in which he can always shift the meaning from one set of words that cover it to another, says little for the con- scientiousness of the people. In England it would not be endured. A great deal has been said about the shuffling of the Whigs ; but every one knew pretty well what they meant, though their promises were too often unfulfilled. Sir ROBERT PEEL is sometimes twitted with the evasive obscurity of his terms ; but when once his meaning is stated by himself, there is no more trouble about it. The downright character of the English would make such prevarication as that which passes current in Ireland scarcely safe on this side of the Channel. Another trait of Irish fairness is the permission to the Federalists to help the Repealers for Repeal, though the Repealers will have none of Federalism. This is an offer which reduces to the absurd HORNE TOOKE'S illustration, often quoted to justify some compro- mise of principle between Whigs and Radicals : why should the man going from Manchester to Birmingham, it is asked, refuse to accompany him who is going on to London ? But Mr. O'CONNELL proposes that the man who is going to take up his abode in Bir- mingham should give a lift to the traitor who is making for London to compass the means of destroying Birmingham. It is, as in most such cases, not a question of degree in progress, but of final pur- poses. The Federalists who help O'Cositeia. to advance towards repeal of that Union which they seek to fortify, must be Irish poli- ticians indeed.
Poor Mr. STURGE and his Complete-Suffragists are dismissed by the Agitator with a promise that he will do what he can for them; as if they were profitless beggars for support, to whom he would fling a pod word in charity.
But there is one thing which implies a consciousness that the agitation for " unconditional Repeal" is not so much continued as resumed, and that is, that its name is changed. Taking a hint thrown out by some Whigs in England, who professedly oppose Repeal but at the same time give an insidious party aid to the agitation, it is no longer called agitation for repeal of "the Union," but for repeal of " the statute 40th George III. c. 38." It is the cue in Ireland to make a parade of intense loyalty to the Sove- reign, and profess hostility to nothing more than " a statute." In England the distinction will avail nothing : the practical English people will see, that, under whatever name, the unity of the British Isles is still the thing menaced. They will set no value on the pro- fession of servile loyalty to the person of the reigning Sovereign ; for they recognize something as superior even to the Sovereign—the institutions of the country, of which the office of the Sovereign is one, and, still higher, the country itself. England has not been accustomed to receive its fate at the decree of a Monarch, but rather in extreme cases to appoint its own Sovereign. As to the comparative respect to be shown to " a statute," the present dynasty is appointed by statute. If repeal of the Union is ren- dered no breach of the constitution by calling it repeal of " the statute 40th George III. c. 38," then the deposing of Queen Vie- w:mu would be made equally constitutional by calling that breach of the Act of Settlement repeal of " the statute 12th William III. c. 2." It is not in these quibbling distinctions of name that the merits of the case lie, but in the thing to be done. To sever Ire- land from England, and make it an independent dominion of the Sovereign VICTORIA—as Hanover was of her immediate predeces- sors—were a gross and fatal infraction of the constitution, call it what you will. The Irish have no more constitutional right to take
Ireland from the United Kingdom, to which it belongs, and give it to Queen VICTORIA, than they have to depose Queen VICTORIA and put DANIEL the First in her place. Under whatever name he prosecutes the new agitation, Mr. O'CoNNELL seems to have succeeded in isolating his party more than ever. The adhesion of Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN, indeed, is not to be overlooked ; and at first sight it passes for a growing influence among the Repealers. But the neophyte's letter is peculiar : there is no trace of approval of Repeal as a thing absolutely advisable or attainable ; though Mr. O'BRIEN resorts to it in the mean time be- cause measures which he endeavoured to force on the attention of the Imperial Parliament were disregarded. He is a neglected statesman, and may be reckoned among the class of the " discontented," who without definite objects always form an irregular corps attached to revolutionary armies. Of course it would have been more satis- factory had Mr. O'BRIEN not been, or had reason to be, discon- tented; but he is so, and he naturally falls to the share of the revolutionary force,—strengthened, no doubt, by his respectable personal influence, and that of his colleague and follower, Mr. CALEB PowELL. This accession, however, typifies the adhesion of no new party. Meanwhile, the rebuff of the Federalists has added them to the list of avowed opponents to Repeal; the Liberals of Ulster are not less averse from it than the Oranp- men ; so the Repealers stand opposed to three sections of the Irish political world, backed as they are by England and Scotland. It is not probable that the astute O'CoNNELL would of himself have desired to make that fact more glaring than before ; but it is plain that he is not altogether master of his own actions. The proposed alliance drew unequivocal marks of disapprobation from " Young Ireland," who threw the " responsibility ' on him in rather a me- nacing fashion. He dares not incur it. Leaders,of violent bands are commonly obliged themselves to seem more violent than they really are, in order to keep ahead of their followers.
The greatest mischief of Mr. O'CousELL's mode of seeking "justice for Ireland" is its effect in England ; where it throws an air of unreality over the well-founded claims of the Irish, and dimi4 nishes the interest which would otherwise urge the English to see them righted. Nevertheless, what may go far to account for the comparative indifference of this country, will not exonerate the Ministers—to whom the growinap dangers of our position are better known—from their duty to do for Ireland all the real good that she could receive from a separate Legislature sitting in Dublin. The very rumours of some remedial policy contemplated by Sir ROBERT PEEL, if they mean nothing else, attest the general feeling that no- thing less can be expected from the responsible advisers of the Crown.
