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    quarrelling with Ms audience . The dispute between , tke disciples who objected to taing crammed to death for the . sake of Roebuck , and the teacher who refused to be dictated to as to where and when aadi how he ought to speak > . proceeded to such leiigtli ^ that , the prophet stuck his , hat upon his head and : prepared to * leave the room . At last , a compEomise was agreed upon , the meeting was adjourned to a . larger room , and the benefit ; of . Ro . erv Duck ' s counsels was happily not lost to an ungrateful country . The oratoavnad taken the chief , pact in the great . GuUdhall meetings at which , the standard : of Reform was raised ; it was his voicethat had

    psocQnimed Mr . Bright the leader : of the cause ; . his hands that had placed- upon the shoulders of the member for Birmingham , the mantle which he himselfhad . worn . as . ex . high-priestj . Neither , he * thecefene ^ nor * we suspect ,. Mr , Bright , were surprisedI-at leajanng-from Roebuck ' s inspired lips that Reform was . a . mistake , that the agitation had been a . failure , and that the sooner we all washed our hands of the concern the better . After demolish-Bright ^ fite speaker next turned the . flow of his invective against the constituents and the . members of the manufacturing districts . The electors were all seuvile . adulators of wealth without brains . The

    elected Were all ignorant and tuft-hunters . The members carried no weight in the House , and ¦ did not deserve to carry it . The constituencies had no influence , and had nobody but themselves to thank for ¦ the loss of it . There may be truth in tMs , but then in justice to tite-metropolitan andmanulacturing constituencies it should' be remembered ihaJt there are some hundred . of seats and only one Roebuck ; . This graceful and appropriate compliment to the merits of his fellow-members was oiily a parenther iical ebullition . The main object of his Wangue was a repetition of his peculiar creed . England , merits of hisfellow-members was only aparenther iical ebullition . The main object of his Wangue was a repetition of his peculiar creed . England ,

    we learn from him , has been insulted , is being insulted now , will be insulted again ; and , worst of . alk we . are not aware that we are insulted ; indeed , like " Uriah Keep , " we rather like to be despised . Heaven help us . if we had not a Roebuck to remind = us of our wrongs ! We can sleep in peace . ' Tear er » " is biting the heels of every passer-by , and even if his bark is not melodious , we must put up with the annoyance in consideration of the security . One . word , however , in sober earnest . We are-no admirers of Louis Napoleon , or of the French empire , but we assert unhesitatingly that the language used at Sheffield with reference to a Government with which we are in close alliance is most , unbecoming an Eagli . sli statesman . At any rate , the Queen of England is able to preserve her

    personal dignity unsullied , even without the counsel jqI Mx ,. Roebuck-W : e confess ,, too , that Mr . Roebuck ' s braggadqcia-and indignation is less offensive to us than lus perpetual assertion of his own honesty and independence . He may be a sort of unrecognised Ari&tides > for ; all we know to the contrary , still the very fact of this constant seiMaudationjEbrces upon us the recollection that the position of a paid agent pf tlxp colonies used not to be considered the most independent of political positions , We are also ^ unpleasantly reminded that Mr . Roebuck appears to complain of the exclusion , of the Radicals from office with more personal bitterness than is consistent with . his . boasted contempt for all parties and WLuiisters , We would remind him , once for all , that Lucretias should not be too much in the habit of talking of their chastity .

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    THE . NEWEST IRISH CONSPIRACY . 'Tele latest conspiracy in Ireland , regarded from an English point of view , is the moat characteristic of -ailj its malignity is relieved by its good intentions , its mischievousness is frustrated by the disclosure of the scheme beforehand . It is a plan for ameliorating Ireland by coercion ; and in order to carry it out , a body of , noblemen , gentlemen , and others interested in the peace and prosperity of Ireland ,, have endeavoured to form an organisation for the Eu rpose of relieving the pivil oonlliots of the Green aland . The , conspiracy' is qharaeterisfcio at every ( stage ; it seems , to have begun with those , who racant'something different ,, and it is about to end apparently jn , a , row , between : its promoters . Last week appeared * a circular signed George A . IfyU and J . yV . L ., Naper , honorary secretaries ; and appended , to it was a draft of resolutions , bearing the names of , the honorary , secretaries and of Downehire , cJwtfnnaa . Ijord jDownshire , as everybody knows * is ft Tory nobleman , distinguished for , his

    hearty good feeling and his general kindness as a landlord . George A . Hill is the well-known Lord George Hill , of Gweedore , also a very improving landlord ; iind the J . W . L . Naper is Mr . Lennox Naper , of Loughcrew , again an intelligent _ and active agricudturalisti with the best objects in view . The professed , purpose of the agitation is "to cour sider the propriety of forming a permanent associa ^ tion for obtaining such amendments iu the law as may appear from time to time necessary for the better protection of life and property in this country . ' : ¦ - . .

    To carry out the object , the committee , whose officers we have . named , propose to convene a meeting on the 37 th instant , and the resolutions . to . which we have alluded sketch out the plan of action . They declare that the law needs to bo amended in order to render it more effective for the protection of life and property against the most atrocious agrarian crimes , with the recent revival of Riband societies and other illegal combinations . The alterations of the law suggested . are : power to change venue in trials for agrarian crimes ; to give the Crown the right of requiring a special jury ; to

    avoid small shopkeepers , publicans , and others who sympathise with the lower classes ; to select more competent stipendiary magistrates ; to give the commission 61 the peace only to gentlemen of station and character , with immunities and privileges equal to those of the stipendiary ; to strengthen the police ; impose more effective . restrictions on public-houses ; grant compensation to families in cases of murder , or to the individual in cases of malicious personal injury ; to declare those who harbour and conceal accused persons shall be guilty ; of felony ; and to improve cottage ¦ dwellings . This last is the lump of sugar which is to make the poison go down , and . as we shall see presentl y ^ the sugar was quite effectual to make the poison atresolutions lies

    tractive . Now , this set of imp a description of the Irish- 'by ' . Irishmen , of Irish law by Irish legislators and magistrates ; but anything more confused and illusory it would be difficult to compose . There is scarcely a paragraph that does not imply something that only avoids the name of falsehood / because evidentl y it is not intended to be false . Perhaps it would be better to make a more careful selection of stipendiai-y - magistrates , gentlemen heretofore chosen for their political antecedents ; and it would be well for the Tories to begin a better system iftheycau . It is not true that the Irish : trading classes syinpathise with the lower classes , or have any leniency for agrarian criines ; on the contrary , Irish juries have rather a tendency to convict where the evidence is at all conclusive .

    The idea that the unpaid magistracy are more efficient than the stipendiary , which is insinuated , is simply reversing-the facts . The unpaid , no doubt , are more unpopular than the stipendiary , and for several reasons . The old Irish dislike of the Saxon and the landlord still exists , though it is dying out , and the stipendiaries are not landlords ; next they represent constituted authority , towards which the Celtic mind inclines to bow ; thirdly , whatever may be their deficiencies individually , they busy themselves exclusively to carry out the law , and cannot generally be chargeable with involving themselves in local conflicts . These traits render the

    stipendiaries not unpopular , Howover , amongst the unpaid there prevails a certain blind , blundering notion that unpopularity is in itaelf a proof oJt efficiency . But it is in the description of Ireland that the Sreject of the new conspirators is most falso ; they escribe the land as being rile with murder , unsale for property , with conspiracies reviving , and do-, manding coeroion laws , The law which they proposo is about the severest whioh has over been suggested for any country—that , those who harbour , not tho conviotcd but the accused , shall bo

    ipao facto guilty of felony . It is a . law that would be oonsidorod severe even nt a time of oivil war ; and this is uttered by Irish landlords at a lime when Ireland is more tranquil than it has ever boon before . In the county of Westmoath , for example , tho number of prisoners in gaol averages 70 , against ; 300 as the average of past yenrs . It is tho same in the oounfcy of Longford . Everybody knows that wages have risen in Iceland from Ss . Gel , or so , with Conacre , to Os ,, / s ., 8 s ., or oven 9 s . ' But a olass which is riming in tho world is never seditious . If ltibbandm . cn attempted to revive old superstitions , ifc is because they think tho Irish people aro forgetting the art '; and thoro are some antiquarian conservatives amongst the Gaol who . rogret to see

    an ancient institution passing away . If men of the Mitchell and Nugent class have provoked the same kind of sympathy aiid ambition in Irish youth , they belong , not to the Ribband order , but to the trading class in tbwns ; they ^ represent exclusively the sect of theoretical politicians in-most countries who go by . the title of "Young ; " and because of this folly , —because " a few reactionary conservatives amongst the Irish labourers , who cannot accommodate , themselves , to high wages and peace , are vainly endeavouring to make a fuss with partial success in a few counties , and total failure in most , Lord Downshire and his friends conic , forward to

    proclaim Ireland so seditious , murderoiis , and unsafe , that there must be a recruited police , a strengthened magistracy ,-and . the severest coercion laws of Ireland ' s dark ages . Nothing save the bitterest party ^ animosity could have made any considerable portion of the Irish nobility , gentry , and others , join a movement conceived in such a spirit . Party feeling has died out in Ireland eVen as it has in England . In Ireland we see the Government offering appointments , on occasion , to Liberals . The Ministers themselvesthe Lord-Lieutenant , or the Lord Chancellor—are quite as liberal as many who claim the title . The progress that the island has made towards ' tranquillity has called forth better feel ings amongst landlords as well as labourers ; and this

    proposal to go back to . the dark ages , ni order to fetch out light , is met by the strongest protest from many an independent landlord . Some letters to this effect have been published . The Duke of-Leinster has declined to join the movement ; Mr . Levinge , Mr .. Morgan Tuite , of . Sonua , have done so ; Mr . Bland and Mr . Bagwell have announced amendments which they intend to move on the 2 ; 7 th—one aseribing the improvement , of . Ireland to the relaxation of coercive measures ; the other

    declaring the existing laws sufficient for the preservation of" life and property . In fact , men of business and sense perceive how ' suicidal it is to proclaim that Ireland is unsafe . Mr . Ralph Qsborne , wno married an Irish , property , comes forth with a very pointed exposure of the whole scheme . It . turns out that Mr . Naper himself agreed with the Duke ol" Leinster in disliking coercion , and only contemplated an association' for the improvement of eott . age property by means of a public loan . Imagine a public loan to carry out a Coercion Bill ! Just ask what the stock would fetch in the moneymarket of London .

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    VIRTUE AND ITS REWARD—IN THE HAYMAKKET . Wje have been told , till the saying lias become trite , that " virtue is its own rowurd ; " yet it is impossible to repress a feeling of sadness and humiliation when we read of the ingratitude with which a vain and callous world has treated its greatest benefactors . The Marquis of Worcester spent n million and a half of money iu the cause ol the St . uarts ; yet it wa 3 not without difficulty that he obtained from Charles the Second tho trifling concession of a patent for some hydraulic inventions . Captain Coram founded an hospital , and died without a penny . Italy banished Dante , and locked up Tusso in a madhouse ; Portugal suffered Camoens to starve , and Scotland allowed Burns to earn his bread by the ignoble oocunntion of spirit-gaugiug .

    A Castillu y Leon Nuevo monUodiu Colou ; yol ; Christopher Columbus was transported , loaded with chains , from tho Spanish main to the Havana . Jacques Coeur supported at his own charges the monarchy of Franco , yot in his lattor duya was brankrupt and proscribed . Tho descendants of the innocent Lcsurqu ' ca still vainly p lead for justice to their ancestor ' s namo ; Caxl . on is without a statue ; and Nelson ' s monument is incomplete . It is truly refreshing , gratifying , enoournfring , when wo find , onoc iu a way , that justice lias boon

    done l , o a morilorious individual during his hlotimc ; that his admiring contemporaries Uuyo not oven to wait ) for his death to roud tho p lowing punotfyrica on his virtues , to oontcmpluto the " labours of an ago in , piled stones , " created over his honoured bones . This ago bus not boon without ; such bright and ploaaing oxainplea . Mr . Richard Cobdou unil Sir Joseph Puxfcon both roooivod goodly lumps of " solid pudding" of many thousand pouuda' value , for demolishing 1 , ho corn-laws and designing the Crystal Palaco . Mr . Moon , tho prmtsollur , has boon matio a Baronot : and tho inofl ' ublo Pliippa , ot the Privy Purso , has boon gratiuod with tho Oraoc

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    HI THE LEADER , [ No . 461 , January 22 , 1859 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1859, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2278/page/18/