or question-until the truth of such grounds of interference was manifested to the world. The moment this period arrived, but not till then, it was right for the executive to interfere. The Mullaghmast meeting put it beyond doubt that this crisis had come. We know that the impatience of some persons in Ireland demanded an earlier interference of the ministry with the progress of the repeal rebellion. We do not wonder that it should. But still we are justified in saying, that cheerfully and readily the loyalists of Ireland acquiesced in the apparently passive policy of ministers, in the assurance of protection. Murmours of discontent there might be. Timid men, incapable of comprehending the real boldness of the ministerial policy; rash men, the temper of whose minds incapacitated them from appreciating its wisdom; disappointed and unscrupulous intriguers, ready to seize on every pretext for assailing a ministry that have disappointed their ra pacity, and giving tongue to every various feeling of discontent-all this, indeed, there was; but we venture to say that never did people repose with more implicit confidence in the policy of a ministry than did the loyalists of Ireland in the assurance of ultimate protection during the trial of their confidence in the ministry, by their apparently inactive policy. Now indeed it is apparent that this confidence was not misplaced. The policy with which ministers resolved to meet the repeal agitation in Ireland is now fully explained by the progress of events. They are now to be judged by that policy as a whole: resolute enough to satisfy the most unflinching loyalist-temperate enough to command the approbation of the most moderate and cautious. The declarations of ministers in parliament-the speech which they advised the queen to address to her parliament at the close of the session-their unostentatious but most effective military preparations throughout Ireland-the dismissal of the repeal magistrates—their apparent determination not to interfere with the repeal movement until they were compelled to do so-and their last decisive and most effective interference, are all now apparent to be the consistent parts of a plan in which every thing was arranged with the most consummate skill, and every thing provided against with the most minute foresight. To suppose the recent activity of ministers to be a departure from their previous policy, a sudden movement to which they were urged by any new conviction, or-still more preposterous supposition to which they were impelled by the grumblings of their disaffected followers, is to shut one's eyes to every fact and every indication of their policy. Their wise forbearance was no less surely laying the foundation for the irresistible moral force of their blow, than were their provident military precautions securing to it the physical means of vindicating the authority of the law. The statements of the proclamation as to the character of the previous meetings, involved the necessity of directing prosecutions against the persons who had taken part in them. Accordingly several of these persons, including Mr. O'Connell and his son John O'Connell, the member for Kilkenny, have given bail to answer any charges preferred against them by the attorney-general in the Queen's Bench. On the subject of the pending prosecutions it is not our wish to enlarge. Indeed the limits of our space warn us to draw to a close. One or two words, however, we have still to say. So far the policy of the government has been successful beyond the most sanguine expectations of their friends. In nothing is this success more manifest than in the altered and humbled tone of the repeal party. When Mr. O'Connell abandoned the Clontarf meeting, he gave up and gave up for ever the position he had previously assumed. This step is irretrievable. Other modes of agitation he still may have in reserve other expedients and resources may still suggest themselves to his fertile mind; but the position which he held on the 1st of October, that of the leader of the physical force of the people, ready to do battle for his country's cause-in the strength of his assembled thousands, bidding defiance to the government that position he has abandoned, and abandoning it at the critical moment has abandoned it for ever, Whether this were all that was really formidable in his position, time, perhaps alone can determine. A more deeply interesting question is, whether his abandonment of that position is calculated to secure the tranquillity of the country. Hitherto the excited multitudes of the rebels had looked upon him as their general far more than their mere political leader. His political influence for the last year has been indeed the influence of the commander of a great army. The meetings were nothing more than exhibitions of the strength of that army. Of speaking there was but little, and even that little few of the people heard or cared for. They came there, not for the purpose of hearing O'Connell speak, but for the purpose of manifesting their numbers, and testifying their devotion to him as their chief. They believed that when the time came, he would lead them to the conflict with the Saxon invader-a conflict in which he himself had taught them to believe they must triumph. They cheerfully obeyed his commands to be tranquil and peaceable, because they regarded this as a part of the military discipline necessary to insure ultimate success. Mr. O'Connell felt his position, both as regards the government and the people. He acted like one whose influence was to be that of the general at the head of great physical force. He abandoned parliament-he neglected all the ordinary modes of securing political power, and he confined even his arguments to the successive exhibitions of the overwhelming masses under his command. To the people he spoke in the spirit of his position--as the leader of enormous physical force. The Clontarf proclamation brought all this to the test. He had not foreseen the trial that awaited him he had no time for deliberation, and he gave way-gave way not only for the moment, but abandoned his threatsaltered his tone-and appears no more as the general of the physical force of the Irish people. A dextrous parrying of the blow at Clontarf might have enabled him to play the game of defiance a little longer. A bolder movement might with perfect safety to himself and his followers have enabled him to preserve the appearance of daring the government, but his submission was unequivocal and complete. The question can only be answered by time what effect this will have on the people who have looked up to him of late not so much as a political as a military leader. Will his powers of control continue those of excitement are not now needed-or will the loss of his influence, while it breaks up in a great measure the enormous political confederation, of which he was the head, leave the peace of the country at the mercy of some bolder and more daring spirits, who may choose to avail themselves of the military spirit and the physical organization that formed a part of its arrangement. Government have been assailed for the late period of the day or rather of the week, at which the proclamation issued. Mr. O'Connell himself made this the gravamen of a charge against them in the corporation of Dublin, that the want of due notice might have led to a collision of the military and the people. The answer of Mr. Butt to this part of the charge was complete: : "But then, it is said, why not issue the proclamation two or three days earlier? He (Mr. Butt) did not hesitate to say that he believed the government had done right in not giving time for any plans of opposition to be matured. They had taken the humane course-the prudent-the course that best guarded against collision. The honourable and learned gentleman, indeed, now talked as if all that the government had to do, was to issue their proclamation in time to make it universally known, to be universally obeyed; but he (Mr. Butt) believed that, if they were to proclaim down that meeting, they secured obedience by leaving no time for preparation either to resist or evade the authority of the law. What right had the government to expect that, if they gave time for maturing plans, their procla mation would have received the ready and the submissive obedience that it had received? Were they to forget the threats and defiances of the honourable and learned gentleman himself-how he had dared them to interfere with one of the meetings-the boasts that the female repealers of Ireland could drive the British army into the sea- -the menaces of fierce resistance when they dared to molest one single meeting? Could they forget the attitude of defiance at Mallow, an attitude, now happily for all, preserved only in the marble of the immortal sculptor to which it has been peaceably transferred. They have acted wisely in leaving no time for organization. Had there been but a few days employed in excitement of the passions of the people, there might have been the real muster and march of the repeal volunteersnot, perhaps, under the command of Attorney-General Morgan, but of some general who would have headed the charge, as well as the muster and parade. Who could say, had there been time, that the honourable and learned gentleman himself might not have been detruded from his leadership by some bolder and less pacific spirit? Now, the charge of risking bloodshed by the shortness of the notice was directly contrary to the fact. The only possible danger of collision was, by giving time for fierce and angry spirits to organize resistance. That danger had been avoided. But if there had been time, might not the honourable and learned gentleman have found some means of evading the authority of the law? He (Mr. Butt) must again refer to 1831, and in doing so, of necessity, in discharging his duty to the cause of his country, it was his earnest wish to do so with as much as possible of that courtesy which it was always his wish to preserve towards the honourable and learned gentleman; but did they remember that, in that year it was no uncommon thing to see the proclamation from the Castle in the morning, forbidding a meeting in College-green, answered by a counterproclamation in the evening, from a gentleman who had since called himself viceroy of Ireland, fixing a meeting for a different time, in Merrion-square? Would it have been wise in the government, again to expose their authority to be thus trifled with at such a crisis? Had there been but a few days' notice, instead of the pacific, the submissive proclamation that issued from the Corn Exchange, there might have been a proclamation transferring the meeting from Clontarf to Balbriggan or Howth, and the country might have witnessed the spectacle of a disparaging contest between the authority of law, and the ingenuity of the honourable and learned gentleman in evading it. If the blow was to be struck, the government did right in giving no time to organize plans either of resistance or evasion; this it was which made their movement so completely, so triumphantly successful as it has been-this was the wise, the prudent, and the humane course-and by this every possible danger of a collision was avoided. In nothing was the wisdom of government more vindicated, than in the time chosen for the issuing of the proclamation." Certainly if the wisdom of plans is to be judged of by their success, the advocates of government have reason to point with pride to the result of their recent movements in Ireland. More has been done in a few short days to vindicate the authority of the law-to give confidence to the loyal, and bring down the tone of the disaffected and done without any interference with the rights of the peoplethan the most sanguine could have hoped to have accomplished in months of the most vigorous and determined measures of severe coercion. But still all this is only "the beginning of an end." The government are now committed to a contest, in which it will be impossible for them to go back. So far as they have proceeded, their success has been decisive. On themselves it depends whether that success is to continue. On the unequivocal, the unconditional support of every loyal man in the country, they are entitled implicitly to rely and they may rely. The same firmness and temper that has so far triumphed, if persevered in, will triumph to the end and peace and its sure consequence, prosperity, at last visit our too long disturbed and distracted country. WHEN I look at the heading of this chapter, and read there the name of a little town upon the Rhine-which, doubtless, there is not one of my readers has not visited-and then reflect on how worn the track, how beaten the path, I have been guiding them on so long, I really begin to feel somewhat faint-hearted. Have we not all seen Brussels and Antwerp, Waterloo and Quatre Bras? Are we not acquainted with Belgium, as well as we are with Middlesex-don't we know the whole country, from its cathedrals down to Sergeant Cotton-and what do we want with Mr. O'Leary here? And the Rhine-bless the dear man-have we not steamed it up and down in every dampschiffe of the rival companies? The Drachenfels and St. Goar, the Caub and Bingen, are familiar to our eyes as Chelsea and Tilbury Fort. True, all true, Mesdames and Messieurs-I have been your fellow-traveller myself. I have watched you pattering along, John Murray in hand, through every narrow street and ill-paved square, conversing with your Commissionaire in such French, as it pleased God, and receiving his replies in equivalent English. I have seen you at table d'hote, vainly in search of what you deemed eatable— hungry and thirsty in the midst of plenty; I have beheld you yawning at the opera, and grave at the Vaudeville; and I knew you were making your summer excursion of pleasure, 'doing your Belgium and Germany," like men who would not be behind their neighbours. And still, with all this fatigue of sea and land—this rough-riding and rail-roading-this penance of short bed, and shorter board-though you studied your handbook from the Scheldt to Schaffhausen-you came back with little more knowledge of the Continent, than when you left home. It is true, your son Thomas, that lamb-like scion of your stock, with light eyes and hair, has been initiated into the mysteries of "rouge et noir" and "roulette ;” Madame, your wife, has obtained a more extravagant sense of what is becoming in costume; your daughter, has had her mind opened to the fascinations of a French "escroc," or a "refugee Pole;" and you, yourself, somewhat the worse for your change of habits, have found the salads of Germany imparting a tinge of acidity to your disposition. These are, doubtless, valuable imports to bring back: not the less so, that they are duty free. Yet, after all, "joy's recollection is no longer joy;" and I doubt if the retrospect of your wanderings be a repayment for their fatigues. 2 U VOL. XXII.-No. 132. "Would he have us stay at home, Pa?" lisps out, in pouting accents of impatience, some fair damsel, whose ringlets alone would make a “furor" at Paris. Nothing of the kind, my dear. Travel by all means. There's nothing will improve your French accent like a winter abroad; and as to your carriage and air, it is all-essential you should be pressed in the waltz, by some dark-moustached Hungarian, or tight-laced Austrian. Your German, will fall all the more trippingly off your tongue, that you have studied it in the land of beer and beet-root; while, as a safeguard against those distressing sensations of which shame and modesty are the parents, the air of the Rhine is sovereign, and its watering-places an unerring remedy. All I bargain for is, to be of the party. Let there be a corner in a portmanteau, or an imperial, a carriage-pocket, or a courier's sack, for me, and I'm content. If "John" be your guide, let Arthur be your Mentor. He'll tell you of the roads-I, of the travellers. To him belong pictures and statues, churches, chateaus, and curiosities: my province is the people-the living actors of the scene-the characters who walk the stage in prominent parts—and without some knowledge of whom, your ramble would lose its interest. Occasionally, it is true, they may not be the best of company. Que voulez vous? "If ever you travel, you musn't feel queer," as Mathews said or sung-I forget which. I shall only do my endeavour to deal more with faults, than vices-more with foibles, than failings: the eccentricities of my fellow-men are more my game, than their crimes and therefore, do not fear that in my company, I shall teach you bad habits, nor introduce you to low acquaintances; and above all, no disparagement--and it is with that thought, I set outno disparagement of me, that I take you over a much-travelled track. If it be so, there's the more reason you should know the company, whom you are in the habit of visiting frequently; and secondly, if you accompany me here, I promise you better hereafter; and lastly, one of the pleasantest books that ever was written was the "Voyage autour de ma chambre." Come, then, is it agreed-are we fellow travellers? You might do worse than take me. I'll neither eat you up, like your English footmen; nor sell you to the landlord, like your German courier; nor give you over to brigands, like your Italian valet. It's a bargain, then-and here we are at Bonn. It is one o'clock, and you can't do better than sit down to the table d'hote-call it breakfast, if your prejudices run high, and take your place. I have supposed you at "Die Sterne," the "Star," in the little square of the town-and, certes, you might be less comfortably housed. The cuisine is excellent, both French and German, and the wines delicious. The company, at first blush, might induce you to step back, under the impression that you had mistaken the salon, and accidentally fallen upon a military mess. They are nearly all officers of the cavalry regiments garrisoned at Bonn, well-looking and well-dressed fellows-stout, bronzed, and soldier-like-and wearing their moustaches like men who felt hair on the upper lip a birthright. If a little too noisy and uproarious at table, it proceeds not from any quarrelsome spirit-the fault, in a great measure, lies with the language. German, except spoken by a Saxon Mädchen, invariably suggests the idea of a row, to an uninterested bystander; and if Goethe himself were to recite his ballads before an English audience, I'd venture long odds they'd accuse him of blasphemy. Welsh, and Irish, are soft zephyrs compared to it. A stray Herr Baron, or two-large, portly, responsible-looking men, with cordons at their button-holes, and pipe-sticks projecting from their breast |