IRISH HATRED OF ENGLAND.

Grey River Argus, Issue 74, 3 July 1866, Page 3

IRISH HATRED OF ENGLAND.

(From the Examiner.) The reason why Dr Fell was hated could not be fathomed, . but hated Dr Fell was, not a jot the leas thoroughly and bitterly. And Dr Fell's care is the case of England in the feelings of the 'lower, and not a few of the "upper, Irish. Now a hatred without reason is a hatred the most stubborn* and lasting, for nothing that can be done can operate on it. Not that the Irish hatred of England was originally without cause, as for many years the English yoke was a heavy, galling yoke to Ireland ; but the juster rule of the last forty years, which has left few grievances uniedressed, has not eradicated the animosity which was provoked by previous niisgoverninent. The effect survives the peccant cause. But this is not all. There is a want of affinity .between the Irish and English, and genei-ally they* do not like each other. The Irish is a wanner, niore genial, more impulsive temperament, and antipathetic to it is the English coldness and phlegm. And the. Irish are not singular, it must be confessed, in their dislike to us. Most people' have the same prejudice, and call us* sullen, proud, and airogant. If they knew us better they might judge us. less unfavorably, but tins remiuds us of the. argument of Charles Lamb,' who, when asked" how ■he could hate a people he' did' riot know, answered, "And pray, how could I hate them if I did' not know them 1" ill-will is best nursed in ignorance. Sixty years ago how* we hated the French ; it was a point of patriotism, and the greatest warrior of the time, Nelson, held the then common opinion that we were natural enemies. Wellington, of a later date, and who had more knowledge of the people, with whom he had battled in Spain, had none* of the national predudice; and with the improved intercourse between the two people, it may be said to have passed away from us \ what lingers yet ; being on the French side, where it is a tradition' kept up by several causes. Our prosperity is resented, and the English demeanour, which is supposed to be encouraged by it,'- is exceedingly obnoxious to people whose pride takes another turn, and who revolt against what they call our insular aiTogance. That there is some fault of this kind is not to be denied, but for the most part we believe there is more awkwardness than arrogance in the case. As for the highly-bred people, they are much, the sarhe of all nationalities. If in France traditions of hate are kept up by dislike to manners and deportment, the case is different in America, where there is prejndi.ee against the nation but none against individuals, who are sure iof -a -warm hospitable reception if they deserve it. Also in Ireland, the Englishman 1 who conducts himself well, and gives himself no airs of superiority, is respected j and perhaps something more, though his country is charged with every ungenial, and ungenerous, and unjust habit. But is not all this prejudice on the wane 1 and are we not seeing the fag end of it? Is it not, as it were; going downhill, or, as Sydney Smith, said of ghosts, descending from the drawing room to the kitchen I Hatred of England moved to rebellion, in 1798, men. of all classes — gentlemen, priests, lawyers, scholars, as well" as ignorant peasants. But there is none of this leaven in Fenianism and the impulse of hatred does not operate above a veiy low level. And so rebellion >secrns in process of, wearing out, sinking lower arid lower though with an extensive surface. Probably there has never been more disaffe^ic^ii-Il^l^d, but' the stratum is of sandj whose'^ia^lj^ 8 have no cohesion.; There are noneoHfei^^s of 1844, much less of '98. The ThaW fly from it. We are not without hopes, therefore, thot the present may be the last occasion for coercion, and it should be followed^ as - soon; as circumstances will allow,. ;by measures for the removal of the few remaining causes of complaint! First and foremost of these stands the Church, not of Ireland, and though it is not a practical grievance, nor one so much taken to 'heart by the Catholic peasantiy, it is a sign of subjection that ought to be pulled down. Every intelligent Irish Catholic sees written on the Protestant Church Establishment, " Sic vos non vobis." It is a standing affront,* a memorial of conquest in the shape .of the gross injustice that the strong can do the weak.