It was only through O'Connell this party could be
reached; the Government, therefore, and the Government press, were not
slow in making advances to him. The _Times_, which can always see what
is right, and just, and true, when it is useful to English interests to
do so, commenced praising O'Connell; and that journal, which for years
had heaped upon him every epithet of insolence and contempt, now
condescends to call him "Liberator," and warns the Government to
coalesce with him: "Assisted by him," it says, "but not crouching to
him--it [the Government] may enlist the sympathies of the majority on
its side, and thus be able to do real good."[102] In its next issue it
follows up the subject, saying, "O'Connell is to be supported, if
possible, by the Government, but at least by the feeling and sympathies
of the English people, against agitation of the worst kind--convulsive
civil war." "Hitherto," it continues, "no Government had come into
immediate contact with the sympathies of the people. _The power of the
Executive has been felt in acts of harshness, seldom of beneficial or
parental interference_.[103] A Government which should employ itself in
improving the material and social condition of the Irish people would
awaken sentiments of gratitude, affection and joy, such as no people
hitherto had shown to their rulers.
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