Ireland displays an accession in the usual contrast of hetero-
geneous elements,—a turbulent and helpless destitution; a new burst of sectarian bigotry ; and a Government steadily enlighten- ing its subjects by firm and sage counsels.
The great tenant-right meeting at Kilmacthomas, in Galway, was painfully characteristic of the national levity.. The meeting summoned to consider the means of obtaining a law of tenaus,-right: it proved to be a monster meeting, only with a new pretext ; the tenant-right, so called, which the speakers claimed,
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was really fixity of tenure ; and in the midst of the business, the occasion became a Repeal meeting for the presentation of an address and some " rent " to Mr. Sohn O'Connell!. ' The new sally of bigotry is a fresh denunciation of the "god less Colleges," in the shape of a rescript from the Sacred College at Rome, bearing,-unfortunately, the sanction of Pins the Niatb the Irish Colleges aie condemned, and the Roman Catholic clergy are enjoined to take no share in promoting those institutions. It is possible that the head of the Roman Catholic Church is too much bound by the routine of the Sacred College to act with the liberality that might have been expected of him. It is to be ob- served that Pius has hitherto do'ne nothing which is not orthodox; and he may justly ask, whether he might not impair his own use- fulness if be were to raise any doubts among the faithful as to his own ecclesiastical infallibility. Besides, it is to be remem- bered that the English Government is without any real represen- tative at Rome, and that the Pontiff is thus left at the mercy of Irish statements touching the Colleges. However, in the present stage of the affair, it is not for British Ministers to question the course adopted by the bead of the Roman Church; still less is it for them to yield : it is for him to consider what he deems neces- sary for discipline within the pale of his church—it is for them to consider what is good and proper for British subjects. The .Colleges must go forward : the Roman Catholics will use them or not as they please. The clergy of the Church whose traditional usage enforces views so bigoted have waited upon the Lord-Lieutenant with a memorial, oddly ascribing the wretched condition of Ireland to the obsolete bigotry of the Protestant rulers, announcing the prospect of more famine in the winter, and asking for more help. Lord Clarendon replied with one of his admirable lectures on the duties of social order, industry, and self-reliance. There is no irrelevance about Lord Clarendon's reproofs : if he does not flat- ter, it is impossible that any sane mind could take offence at the perfectly decorous, plain, sensible, and benevolent advice which he gives. He tells the Irish, in unmistakeable language, that they cannot avoid poverty except by order and industry : and from such a quarter they cannot avoid hearing those salutary truths.
