Who shall ever say that tragi-comic absurdity has reached its
climax in Ireland ? The ludicrous blends with the shocking in a manner so grotesque, that amusement is irresistible, even while one is humiliated at the feeling of levity which the spectacle con- genially provokes. The Irish nation is acting nonsense, and doing so with a complicated elaboration the most surprising. The Physical-force men of the Confederation go down to Lime- rick to show their strength; they are mobbed by the Moral-force men, and very roughly handled ; and at last, they, the Physical- force revolutionists, hold their seditious meeting under shelter from the violence of the Moral-force party, being protected by the soldiery belonging to that Government which they are seek- ing to subvert, and which is prosecuting them for sedition. The main cause of quarrel appears to have been some disrespectful words written by Mr. Mitchel against the political conduct of the late Daniel O'Connell; the riot was instigated by a priest ; and in its pious fury it sought to burn down the building in which the "soiree" was held, although among the inmates were one or two hundred women. It short, it was a Milesian faction-fight, in which broad cloth was allied with frieze on both sides, and blood flowed. Some London politicians have assumed that so disgraceful an exhibition would break up the Young Ireland party. Far from it. Mr. Smith O'Brien, indeed, lost a few teeth and exhibits a black eye ; but Mr. Mitchel escaped with a hooting ; and Mr. Meagher repaired to hold forth at Cork with unabated treason.
The same game at dodging between authority and treason was played in the Court of Queen's Bench at Dublin. Mr. Mitchel has succeeded in obtaining time for the discussion of a barefaced " dilatory " plea ; the effect of which virtually is to prevent any effectual dealing with him till winter. The Judges, it would seem, could not resist the oblique force which any perverted in- genuity so powerfully exercises in Ireland, for the bad precedent of the O'Connell trials. So while the wounded O'Brien manfully takes his trial at once, the thrasonical Mitchel is free till No- vember.
The Irish Executive has issued a proclamation prohibiting the intended " Council of Three Hundred " and the enrolment of " National Guards ": but according to all Irish precedent, the Council will contrive to meet, and the prohibition will only serve as a zest for the new stage of the game. How harmoniously the Irish would work together if " left to themselves "! how discreetly and wisely !
