KENYON ON THE CONSTITUTION.
IT has often been remarked, that no man could for an instant ride a horse if the brute could only once conceive the real differ- ence between the strength of the two. It has been somewhat the same with peoples ; only that in this case the idea of relative strength has sooner or later dawned upon the bestridden. No sooner does a people, or any class of a people, really attain to a clear conception of its own capacity, than power comes to it, not as a concession' but as a fact. In England it is by the extension of intelligence that "the humblest classes" as they are called, are gradually rendering the suffrage a question, not of concession, but of recognition. The same process is extending in Ireland, more rapidly because there were more fearful arreers in that county. Feuds between the people and the Government had posi- tively forbidden anything like a mutual understanding : the go- qerwng classes remained powerful, but hated and incapable of taming the subject race ; while the native Irish, refusing to study the character of that tyrant race, equally refused to iden- tify themselves with the rising power and wealth of England, and thus remained deprived of political power, poor and starving in the midst of the plenty that they created. It was a. warfare to which "centuries of wrong" had, as it were, condemned the un- jst English, it was for the English to begin the business of re- brmation, and they did begin it. The emancipation of the Irish, the work of an energetic and persevering Irishman, was also pre- cisely as much the work of intelligent and candid Englishmen. The consequence has been that coercion has already to a great extent been superseded by the self-government of the people ; while the industrious classes, accepting the aids which England has extended to them in the way of capital, and even machinery, have assisted in removing con-acre and starvation wages; and now Ireland is beginning to "repeal the Union," not 1; a sepa- ration from England, but by a thorough amalgamation. Thus Ireland is to share, not the government simply of her own island, but of the three kingdoms ; and many generations of better-paid, better-fed, better-educated, better-trained men will not have passed away, before the onlyi distinction between those three kingdoms will be the different impress of their genius ; their me- thods, their wealth, their power being undistinguishable. But no such transition can take place without damage to vested interests. In Ireland, not very long since, the business of the demagogue was one of the best trades in the country. He was a sort of political middleman, who could contract between riot and government, and supply the want of either customer on demand, while he himself got amusement, fame, and shillings. Late in life men cannot change their business, and there are still some who sigh over the orgies of agitation. Amongst these is the Reverend John Kenyon, who spoke lately at a semi-monster meet- ing at Nenagh. The object of the meeting was as legitimate as it is possible to be. Two men had been executed for murder ; there were great doubts as to the evidence, though the jury af- firmed the charge, and the judge left the men for execution. We have had such cases in England, and there can be no doubt that men and women too have suffered unjustly. Notwithstanding the old rebuke of the complaint that a man "died innocent," the hu- man heart revolts at the cruelty inflicted upon the sufferer who is condemned to ignominy and torture on account of a crime un- committed. To demand even a retrospective inquiry, to call for a reinvestigation of the evidence, for a posthumous justice, for an admission of wrong towards the departed, and for a better ex- ample to the future, is precisely the function that patriotic citi- zens may meet to perform ; but here the errors of the Executive are to be met by an appeal to fact, to the plainest form of com- mon sense, and the very principles of the faith which is under- stood to preside over our law and to correct it. The Reverend John Kenyon, however, whose whole speech is a metaphor, can- not be content with facts. Scorning to petition the Saxon Par- liament," he consents "to demean himself for a little fraction of justice." The Saxon Parliament may condescend to do justice, in a mere matter between man and man," "that is just pos- sible": "more than that if you expect—if you expect real justice, universal justice you shall surely be disappointed." Mr. Kenyon has not yet perceived, what he might have learned from the whole history of England, that the substantial guarantee of "universal justice " in a human sense—that is justice for all men—consists in securing means to attain positive justice "between man and man." There is not a great public right in this country which is not guaranteed by being reduced to that simple form; not one which is not to be ascertained and established by some trial at law in the name of Roe versus Doe.
In order, however, that the guarantee shall be absolute, it is
necessary that the bench shall be equally removed from the in- fluence of the Parliament, the Legislature, and the mob. The Crown will protect them with its arms, against intimidation ; the people will protect it against the Crown by universal support ; and against being hampered by legislation,—the law of the fu- ture,--the Bench will be protected by the jealousy of Parliament, whose function that is. But the business of the judge is not to render justice—it is the law which does that. The business of the judge is to ascertain and point out what is the actually exist- ing law. It is the business of the jury to ascertain the facts ; of judge and jury combined, to determine how far and in what manner the law is applicable to the facts. If men make their appeal to the tribunal without success, or if other men suffer im- prisonment, fine, ruin, or death, it is no business of judge or jury; and the very essence of independence in the Court of Jus- tice is to larded judge and jury alike from the instigations of the Crown, the suggestions of the Legislature and the prohibitions of the mob. Yet for the result of a trial, the Reverend John Kenyon proposes that the judge shall be " hanged " ; and if he were able to have his way he would have the men of Tipperary "Petition Parliament to hang him" ! One fact he has discovered that "the people have the liberty to petition Parliament " ; and ha takes so practical a view of the constitutional privilege, that he would apply it thus ! He likens it to "the renewal of bap- tismal vows" which "conduces to recreate the primitive fervour of Christians." As for the prosperity which has come over Ire- knd he scouts it. "What is prosperity," he asks, "if you can- not be free " ? at the very moment that by his outrage on every existing influence, from the executive to public opinion, he is proving the rampant freedom in which Ireland excels both 5o land and the United States. He abominates the Savings B , but he has discovered another treasure which is to be store. "Let us," says he, "treasure up our wrongs." In England we have an opposite process, which is to treasure up our rights. Since we have done right to the Irish, they have intelligently enough adopted the same more profitable process ; but still, for love of the good old times, amongst their public amusements they will consent to attend monster meetings and to hear the Reverend John Kenyon, who can recite an old speech as deftly as Sir An- drew Aguecheek can sing his old song. Only it helps to show us what Ireland might have come to, if she had adopted the views of such legists as Kenyon.
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