FAR TOO PREVIOUS.
In the Agony-Column of the Times we now see daily the following Advertisement:—
TO IRISH LOYALISTS AND PROTESTANTS.—Death before Slavery!
Surely a most blameless sentiment. But the bearings of it lie in the application. And what is that? It seems as applicable to any existing situation as, say, "Lunch before Dinner," or "Business before Pleasure," or "Age before Honesty," or "Fingers before forks." Mr. Punch ventures to suggest a modification, less striking, perhaps, in an "Agony-Column," but more in accord with patriotism and common-sense:—
To Irish Loyalists and Protestants!
Be Loyal, and Protest—Constitutionally!
The flamboyant, melodramatic, "Death before Slavery!" may be applicable—when "Slavery" becomes a conceivable, proximate probability, or "Death" a possible alternative. Then let us have "Death before Slavery," by all means. At present, Punch would say, "Common-sense before either!"