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    AGES OF TKANSITION—AND THE PRESENT IN PABTTQULA.lt.

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    a Cunart ) packet-station , unless the pioneer boats had been established at Galway . We are tolerably well assured that up to this date Ireland would not have been able to boast Or any line but for the experiment of Mr . Levek . Ireland now bids fair to-become the highway of Transatlantic intercourse with Great Britain - . It has long been- her due by geographical right , enhanced by her people ' s wants . The promoters of the Gal way Line might be pardoned , loolviii" - at the grand national results obtained , had they been guilty of a lTttle political stratagem , in this loose aye of public morals . They had to steer a difficult course between the Scvlla and Charybdis of the Post-office and Admiralty , with the rocks and shoals of the Treasury ahead . Sir S . Cunarjd was their Polypiiemus , and rival . interests their Lcestrygones , eager for their shipwreck and after all the

    ¦ destruction . But it is not proved , nor does it appear , cry that was raised , to have done any thins ? tricky or underhand in the matter . Mr . Lever's return for Gal way was , to say the least , an improbability long after the Government had exhibited a sympathy with the Irish scheme . The Irish members of Parliament were by no means so patriotic as to shape their votes in consideration of a measure being passed by Ministers , fraught with blessings to Ireland , or the reverse . That is not the practical way to catch the votes of Irish members . Look at the fact in this case . The ¦ Galway grant Was promised by the late Government , which found itself in a minority fatal to its existence . It was understood that the incoming Government was not favourable to the grant . Lord Derby did not gain , nor Lord Pat . merston lose a single Irish supporter on account of this transaction . Lord Duxkellix wiis an ardent supporter of the line , and how did he vote ? Lord BmtY , xi ij ' . w .. i :., i . ,-.-. « , » t 1 ^ i . ic o # 15 ror » t / M * -nF tlift liiifi z and how did he then lish memberis a director of the line : and how did he

    an Eng , vote ? As for Mr . liOEimcic , none will suspect him of voting against his convictions ; but since he saw lit to withdraw his support from Lord Pvxmxmiston , he therefore withdrew from the direction Of the Galway line . Whatever then the confusion , blunders , and want of harmony arising from the division of responsibility in the framino- of postal contracts , we have no hesitation in saying that , so far as Lord Derbt , Sir John Pakikgton , and Lord Eglintox are personally concerned , they appear to have been guided by pure and sincere motives throughout the whole transaction . Lord Derby ' s evidence before the Committee is in perfect accord with this view . He thougljJb the establishment of a Mail Packet Station on the West coast of Ireland of such great political and _ commercial importance—so clear an act of justice , that he did it irrespective of all minor considerations and official pros and cons- The Admiralty backed his , views . The Post-joffice alone was doubtful , if not hostile . Into the causes of this we shall not pause to inquire-. '

    . ¦ Our rule in Ireland has been olih ' gingly-epmpared by a French newspaper with the rule of Naples over Sicily . Not exactly admitting this , we are inclined to callthe originators and Directors of the Galway Line , and the persevering achievers of the contract , the social , political , and commercial emancipators of the sister island . Ireland had heretofore been deprived of her fair share of the pas * senger , postal * and carrying trade of the United Kingdom , and deprived of the advantages of her geographical position . It is not so now , and the ' " generosity" and fairness of other folks , which so long lay dormant , have been quickened by the determination of the ^ tlauticatoyjOJiluIlJ&eaniJ ^^ ¦¦ project , in spite of all temptations and difficulties . The temptations ; failed , and the difficulties have been happily conquered .

    Towards the close of this month , it is expected that the contract will bo inaugurated by the sailing of the . first new steamer of the Company , under the most flattering auspices . The promised visit of the Prince of Wales to America is an event which will mark this year as a most felicitous one in respect of increased , rapid , friendly , and commereisil intercourse between Great-Britain and the race who speak her language on the other side of the Atlantic . In the midst of all this , it is a pity to observe the petty jealousy and rancour exhibited by some Irish minds towards those who have incurred the risk , the trouble , and the difficulties of the whole undertaking . Some of the Irish journals and shareholders seem to

    be seized with a rabidly economical fit , and exhibit an antagonistic spirit , which is characterized by equal ingratitude and meanness . If miy of the Irish shareholders " fancy that the whole management of the line could be carried on in Dublin , we do not envy them the hallucination . Wo must say , that the petty accusations , made by such real enemies of the undertaking , are unworthy , us they might be mischievous , were such views likely to bo adopted on a large scale . Everything , at present , bids fair for the Atlantic Company , and it is too bad that a low disappointed persons should inflict pain and annoyance upon the real practical benefactors of their country , who have risked so much , worked so hard , und achieved so great an advantage for Ireland . In conclusion , wo would remark , that the writer of tlio article in lho Times on packet contracts , which appeared two or three days since , entirely leaves out of view tho difference between commercial and postal mail steatneraywhen he speaks favourablyof the -otters of old-Ofitablislnid companies to carry the mails . botweou . this . country , and Amoiica for the pvico of the letters . Would the Times bo satisfied with going backwards instead of forwards in our postal arrangements B _ . The money spent in subsidising mail steamers is but a trifle ' compared with tho expense of the navy , and is paid back ten-fold into tho British Exchequer . There is no doubt , on the part of the public , that the establishment of tho Galway line is an iuunenso advantage , not only to Ireland , but to the Empire , both home and colonial .

    Ages Of Tkansition—And The Present In Pabttqula.Lt.

    AGES OF TKANSITION—AND THE PRESENT IjST PAETrCULAll .

    " fflHIS is an age of transition ! " How frequently do we find X- these words recur in the leaders and mis-leaders of the press , daily , weekly , monthly . They are complacently repeated , as containing an adequate apology for the painful condition of present affairs . As such apology , moreover , they are put forth as of especial application . Let us inquire if these particulars and predicates are not too readily conceded . May we not reasonably ask , for instance , is not every age an age of transition ? Certainly . Then surely every age is entitled to the same apology ? Again , we must answer , certainly . Away at once , then , go the speciality of its application to any age . Nevertheless , what is lost in this direction may be gained in another . What is denominated " transition , " at any time , is an example of a universal principle which it may be worth while to investigate .

    Is it , then , a law that all times are states of transition ? It is ; and further , that all things , too , are the same . For every object of our perception is in a state of growth , and becoming older every minute . We , likewise , are in the same state and age even while we look upon the face of nature . Our very perception itself is but . an act of transition ; a passage over from some relations of an object to others about to be presented , by connecting which we may constitute a total , or that approximation to an absolute aggregate , which we are willing to accept for an image of the whole . Man himself is , as it-were , but a bridge of transition between a natural and a spiritual world . His various powers and faculties are but , so to speakthe steps of Jacob's ladder , on which the messengers

    , of Deity ascend and descend . That passage from the past eternity into temporal life which we call IJirth is but a transition ; so likewise is that which conveys man into the eternity of the future . Death is but the last change in a series of mutations ; aud the end is at all points correspondent to the beginning . As soon as we were born we began to die ; in the day wherein we first partook of the fruit of temporal knowledge , we most assuredly justified the threatening ; from that moment we were mortal , and mutability held dominion over the human being both in mind and body . ^ The former is in perpetualflow ; thought succeeds thought ; experience enlarges ; opinion supplants opinion ; and the aims and purposes of the individual mind alter with the amount of its information and much

    the coriditionsonts interest . The latter changes so ¦ that . the man has not a particle of the matter that composed the body of the child By a series of minute transitions the tiny creature that could scarcely toddle from chair to chair has ^ become a Tita n who would pile Pelion on Ossa to attain the object of his ambition ; and indeed can , by the force of limb and sinew , contendwith some of the mightiest agencies and subdue the wildest of opponents . _ So transitive is Nature in all her operations that the ancients resorted to a fable-to account for the fact , and endeavoured to explain the mvstery by a mythological ¦ fiction . They feigned that Neptune had an old herdsman , named Proteus ( whose appellation _ properly signifies " primary , oldest , or first" ) , who was a great diviner and interpreter of secrets , and who equally understood the past , the nresent . and the future . But they who wish to consult him had to

    bind him fast , when he , in his endeavours to escape , would assume nil shapes—fiery , fluid , and animal—returning at length to Ins own . Lord IJacox , in his famous explanation of these olcl mythologies , assures us that Proteus means the matter of the universe , that ever thus changes its form , and that hia . hard , or ¦• flock signify the several lands of animals , plant ' s ; and minerals , in .. .-which matter appears to diffuse and spread itself . " The custom ascribed to PKOTinrs of telling over his herd of sea-calves at noon , and then going to sleep , is also similarly explained , viz ., that , '' after having formed the several species of things , and as it were finished its task , otherwise to

    matter sec ins to sleep and repose , without attempting produce new ones . " The " universe , " according to lie same authority , " with the common structures and iabnes ot tho creatures , is the face of matter , not under constraint , or as the flock wrought upon , and tortured , by human means . Hut if any slaltul minister of Nature shall apply force to matter , and , by design , torture and vex it in order to its ¦ annihilation , it , on the contrary , being brought under this necessity , clmngea and transforms itself into a strange variety of shapes and appearances ; but nothing but the power oVtlie Creator can annihilate or truly destroy it ; so that at length , running through the whole circle of lran * torinjtions , and completing its period , it in some degree restores itselt it tho , force

    be continued . " , , « . « i . « , » Not only our poetical philosopher , but our poets also have taken note of the perpetual state ofdinnge and transition in which oil things arc . Si'kvsEit regards Change as a Titnneas , who Bought to obtain dominion even over the deities themselves . 1 ictures , accordingly , recur to his fancy of the moon and the vesper star , which mutability subjects to a temporary eclipse ; whereupon complaint h mudo to Jove , and subsequently the whole appeal re erred to Nature . The facts are stated . Even tho Earth , that only seoina ... » u » iOved . _ auA . uor . iwuion ^ I general ; while her tenants , man and beast , ntill vary their estate " from good to bad , from bad to wowt of all . " As to tho Water , that is still visibly in ebb and flow , and tho creatures m it range at random and vary their places of nbocb . Next , tho Airi that s still more uncertain , changed evoiy hour , now lair , now foul now hot , now cold—now stormy , now calm . And , last , tho X no , — ' ? Which , though it live far over . Nor can bo quenched qutto ; yot , every day , "We sco hia parts , so eoan aa they do aovor , To lose their hoat , and shortly to decay ;

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    June T 6 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 569

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1860, page 569, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2352/page/13/