kept them in harmonious action by the exercise of a vigorous and despotic repression which he had nevertheless the art to disguise as liberty, and make amiable as such. He had to deal with a people that had often been unanimous but never harmonious; whose individuals, unless under pressure of the severest description, exhibited repulsion the moment they were brought into contact; whose history is a homily upon the evils of division, and who if left to themselves would certainly never have united. And yet for forty years by the bare force of his will, without any outward appliance of power, through the instrumentality of that association or some of its offshoots, he ruled that people with the simplicity, the unity, and the dispatch of absolute authority, wielded it as a single weapon, achieved with it victories of the most unlikely kind, and but that the famine, his own decline and death supervened, was on the eve of victories more astonishing yet; for had the revolution of 1848 found O'Connell in the plenitude of his influence, and the Irish people in the robustness of its strength, the multitude of its numbers and the compactness of its organization such as he had lately ruled it; we should have seen the legislative union substantially if not formally repealed, or else changes in the constitution and government of Ireland so radical and organic as the wildest speculation could not dream of now. The Catholic Association was the model of every political association that followed or in all probability that is destined to follow in these countries; but the failure of the most powerful of them all, the Repeal Association, and of the abortive swarms that succeeded it, is a proof that however excellent the instrument, it required the master's hand to deal with it. The bow of Ulysses was stubborn and unmanageable to the stoutest of the pretenders, and events have proved that the combined and harmonious action of the Irish people depended on their leader, for no association, however small or sectional, has been able to keep together in its integrity for six months since O'Connell's death. In the working of that mighty engine, the Association as it is emphatically called, Sheil, we have already observed, held the second place. Mr. M'Cullagh therefore, it seems to us, might with advantage have gone more at large into the history of that body, for its history is inseparably connected with that of Sheil, and we think too that had he made more copious extracts from his speeches previous to 1829, the effect would have been more striking and the interest more sustained; but everything considered we have reason to be satisfied with Mr. M'Cullagh's labours. He has written in a friendly spirit the history of one who took a foremost part in a struggle that was national in the best sense of the word, and who belonged to literature no less than to Ireland. He has succeeded to a great extent in vindicating his memory not so much from direct imputation, (a comparatively easy task) but from the obscure and impalpable hostility of what are called impressions, that offer nothing to grapple with, and are consequently almost invincible. He has caught the features of a peculiar and interesting epoch, he has given them permanence, and set before us a career which we should not wish to see emulated generally, but in which there is 'something to imitate, much to admire, a great deal to excuse, and many an instructive lesson. He has written faithfully, moderately, and with animation. The work has been generally successful in England, and we wish it could be said, that some of the principles for which the distinguished subject of the biography contended were still as vigorous and popular as formerly, but we fear it is not so. From causes, or alleged causes, into which it is not our province nor our wish to enter, the principles of rational liberty, whether civil or religious, seem to have lost ground in England. Unless it be looked to in time, the main struggle will be not between Conservatives and Liberals, but between obstructives and levellers; between those who resist all reform and those who are the enemies of any rule; and as to religious liberty, the various acceptations of the word as supplied from public meetings and parliamentary debates, will inevitably be. the death of future scholiasts, when English becomes a learned tongue; and Mr. Macaulay's Traveller from New Zealand takes his stand upon the broken arch of London Bridge, to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's. Meanwhile, according to our view of Sheil's life and times, they should be a warning to men of genius, who either through modesty or faintheartedness, contract the horizon of their ambition, bartering future greatness for small but early advancement, and satisfied with the diyor Te Qiλov TS, when a little longanimity might elevate them to eminence, the ascent to which is always less steep than it appears. How many intended for different things, fascinated by the glitter of a showy appointment, or charmed by the distance that lends enchantment to a third rate embassy, give up their own future, and perhaps a future still more important. The obvious duty of those who have at heart peace and civilization properly understood, is not to film the sores of the commonwealth, but to cut deeply and cautiously; not to compromise their principles, but not to exaggerate them; not to let their ambition overleap itself, but still less to qualify and dwarf it; above all things, when reasonably conscious of worth, and qualified by services to resent subaltern advancement as more odious than exclusion, and condescending patronage as the most intolerable variety of insolence-to have faith in the triumph of right, but not to set faith above works; and whatever they may win by concession, never to look upon any thing as quite secure that they have not been able to enforce. If there were somewhat of this spirit in all parties, we should have better hope for the country. It is hardly to be expected in Ireland, where public opinion never perhaps had a secure footing; but we have at least this consolation in reading Sheil's memoirs, that whatever be the faults of the Irish people, and they are many; whatever be their follies, and they are not to be denied; the country that is susceptible of so perfect an organization, and so uniform an action as were communicated to it by O'Connell and Sheil, will always be capable of great things under great But it would be a fatal mistake to trust to the turning up of a great man. Ireland must for years to come, and probably always, be more under the dominion of personal influence than other portions of the Empire, and while a heavy responsibility is thus thrown upon those whoever they may be from whom that influence emanates, and particularly upon her governors; it will be all the more necessary for those who are conscious of worth, to cultivate in themselves the qualities of self-respect and self-reliance, that will enable them to exercise, with dignity and effect, whatever influence they may derive from high position or commanding talents. The man that can save us from our own contempt will be a great deliverer; for people seldom are wrong when they despise themselves, and they cannot earn their own respect without commanding that of others. ART. IX.-REFORMATORY SCHOOLS FOR IRELAND. Thirty-Third Report of the Inspectors-General on the General State of the Prisons of Ireland, 1854. With Appendices. Presented to Both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty. Dublin: Thom and Sons, 1855. I am of opinion, writes one who was intimately acquainted with his subject, and who to great experience added the earnestness of a Christian and the thoughtfulness of a philosopher, "That most effectually to carry out the objects of imprisonment, and that at the least cost to the country, and with the nearest approach to justice in the apportionment of the cost, it is requisite that the whole power and duty of providing and regulating prisons be placed in the hands of Government."* Of the wisdom and truth of this opinion expressed by Mr: Frederic Hill no more patent proof could be afforded than that furnished by the able, careful, and elaborate Report before us. Wherever good can be traced it springs from Government intervention; where blunderings and errors produce evils, all have their origin in those fruitful sources of mischief→ Grand Jury stupidity and the incapacity of local management. Commencing with that important topic, the number of criminals in all Prisons on certain days in each year, and taking the period of five years, from January 1st, 1850, to January 1st, 1855, we find a gradual but steady decrease. Thus, in January 1850, the numbers were 10,967; whilst in January 1855, they had declined to 5,080, being a decrease, in the latter year, of 675 from the year 1854 and from the year 1850, of 5,887. The following table will show the abstract, distributed into Provinces, of the Committals during the years 1853 and 1854, with the sexes : See "Crime, its Amount, Causes, and Remedies." By Frederic Hill, Barrister-at-Law, Late Inspector of Prisons. London: Murray. 1853, p. 368. Referring to this table, the Inspectors-General remark :"The relative proportion of females in the foregoing table, we regret to state, has advanced to 43.4 per cent; that of 1853 having been only 418, an advance, which is the more to be lamented, because, in the majority of our Gaols the department assigned to prisoners of this sex rarely contains one third of the entire accommodation. We have frequently endeavoured to impress upon the local authorities the policy of combating this evil, and we cannot venture to entertain hopes of any amelioration, until fitting provision for carrying out stringent discipline shall be furnished,' Another error in local management is that glaring one which gives to the prisoner a better description of food than that furnished by the Union Workhouse; and thus young paupers are led to prefer the Gaol to the Poor House as an asylumthe allowance in the Gaols exceeding that of the Poor Houses, by 3 oz. of meal and 2 oz. of bread daily. With these inducements to select the Gaol as a home, it can hardly surprize one that re-committals should swell the returns. But the evil does not end here. There is little effort made to introduce Separation, Industrial Training, or School Teaching. We first insert the observations of the Inspectors-General : Our gaols at present comprise 4,762 single cells, 409 other cells, and 476 rooms furnished with beds; the two latter, as their name implies, being allocated exclusively to associated' imprisonment. Of the single cells, however, there are but 3,323 of the foregoing size, or which contain in the aggregate the same number of cubic feet, the remainder being of lesser capacity. Again, of the 409 double cells, there are 77 capable of subdivision into two or more, whose space would be equivalent to the above measurement. Some additional accommodation, though to an inconsiderable extent, might, doubtless, be further obtained by the conversion of the day These figures include the City of Dublin committals-viz : To Richmond Bridewell-Males २ 7,287 10,488 } 17,775. |