IRELAND.

Another Liberal, Mr. William Tighe, of Woodstock, has declined to act on the Land Tenures Commission. It is said that Sir Patrick Bel- lew, of Barmeath, was invited to act, but declined; and that Mr. Reding- too, the Liberal Member for Dundalk, has accepted the appointment. It is understood that the remaining vacancy will be filled up by Lord Carew.

The preliminary proceedings in the State trials have occupied a great deal of time. An abstract of the indictment was laid before the Grand Jury ; but they thought themselves bound to hear the whole read,— extending over ninety-seven feet of parchment! On Saturday, the Grand Jury came into court, and stated that the name of " Tierney " had been written twice in a pl.ce where the second name should be "Tyrrell." The Attorney-General wished to have that manifest clerical error corrected. Mr. M.Donough, as counsel for the Reverend Mr. Tyrrell, objected to the insertion of his name in the indictment at that stage of the proceedings. The Attorney-General retorted by asking to see the licence given to Mr. M`Donough (who is a Queen's counsel) to act against the Crown. It was not in Court, but there appeared to be no doubt of the fact that the licence had been duly taken out ; and Mr. Brewster intimated that the objection was waived. The Attorney-General then objected, that counsel could not be heard at that stage, on an indictment which had no legal existence until it had passed the Grand Jury. This doctrine was sustained by the Court ; and the clerical error was corrected.

Another blunder then came to light. One of the Grand Jury was a Quaker, and he made affirmation accordingly ; but of that no notice was taken in the indictment, which ran thus—" That the jurors afore- said having been sworn, on their oath say," &c. ; instead of the proper legal form in such cases provided—" That the jurors aforesaid having been sworn and affirmed, on their oath and affirmation say," &c. Judge Perrin threw out an opinion that an act of last session made the dis- tinction no longer necessary : but, after consulting the statute and duly deliberating, the Attorney-General prayed the' Court to direct ch amendment of the indictment ; which was done, says the Drag& Monitor, in nine different places.

The Monitor observes- " It is well-known, that after the informations were sworn a rough draught of the indictment was sent to London, with an outline of all the evidence on which the Crown relied; and that the indictment was then carefully prepared under the personal superintendence of the Attorney and Solicitor-Generals of Eng- land, with the aid of the high professional ability of Lyndhurst, Sugden, and others. The indictment, thus drawn up and duly prepared, was intrusted to our Crown-officers: and a pretty mess they have made of it. In the mere initiatory proceeding they broke down, and had to come into court to pray for permission to mend their hand!" At a quarter to four o'clock on Wednesday, the 'Grand Jury entered the court, then much crowded, and brought in the indictment as "a true bill." About the same time, all the defendants came into court; the Sheriff's assistance being needed to make a way for Mr. O'Connell through the dense crowd outside. The names having been called over by the Clerk of the Crown, Mr. Thomas Steele stated that he defended himself without the aid of counsel; and he objected to being prosecuted by the Attorney-General, who had prejudged the case! Immense laughter was elicited by this protest. The Attorney-General then applied to the Court, under the Act of the 60th George III. c. 4. s. 1, to make order that the defendants should plead within four days. The defendants' counsel objected, that they could not plead until they were properly charged, which could not be until the indictment was read; and it was threatened that if further time were not allowed, it should be forced, by requiring the enormous indictment to be read at length. Eventually it was understood that the time for pleading should be reckoned from the following day ; and on that understanding, the in- dictment was read briefly ; and copies were served to the attornies for the defendants in the afternoon.

One object of the defendants appears to be, to throw the time of the trials over the revision of the jury-panel; which the Liberals are en- deavouring to alter so as to include many of their own party who have been irregularly excluded. The revision begins on the 15th instant. Among the devices for delay, is said to be an intended protest against the existing jury-panel, as illegal. An application is also to be made to delay the trial, on the plea that more time is needed for preparations, in consequence of the immense length of the indictment. It is reported that the Attorney-General has insisted that Mr. Henn, Queen's counsel, who had taken a licence to act against the Crown, and been retained for Mr. John O'Connell, should nevertheless serve as counsel for the prosecution ; and a correspondence on the subject is said to have been going on.

On Monday, Mr. M`Donough applied for an order obliging three of the divisional Justices of the Peace for Dublin to receive the informa- tions of Mr. Barrett and others against Mr. Frederick Bond Hughes, for what Mr. Barrett, on his oath, said he believed to be "wilful and cor- rupt" perjury! Mr. Justice Perrin remarked, that the prosecutor might have gone before the Grand Jury at the last commission ; and the Chief Justice added, that a bill might be sent before the present Grand Jury. Mr. M'Donough would gladly accept the proposition. The Attorney- General interposed. He said that the proceeding was evidently ntended to influence public opinion, and to prejudice the proceedings already instituted. He called upon the Court not to sanction so mon- strous a proposition, by which, in a criminal process, persons conscious of guilt might turn witnesses into accused parties. He would say why no bills were sent before the commission Grand Jury—because there was such a thing as ignoring a bill. The Chief Justice thought that there was no substantial difference between the counsel- " Sending up bills in the way proposed at this juncture against Mr. Hughes, would be in violation of the ancient and well-known rules of law. I suppose there is no instance where a serious case is expected to be brought before the Grand Jury, in which the Judge, in delivering his charge, has not told them that, in the investigation before them, they could not be permitted to receive evidence against the Crown. They are not to decide upon the innocenceor guilt of the party accused. Their province is to see that, if the charges re- mained unrebutted, enough bad been established to warrant a Petty Jury in finding a verdict of guilty. If the Grand Jury were to receive evidence against the Crown, that would he trying the case; which it is not their province to do. When the existing hills are disposed of, it will be competent for the parties to prefer bills of indictment against Mr. Hughes or any other witness ; hut the Court, in the present stage of the proceedings, cannot consent to allow the ac- cused parties to become witnesses in their own case."

The Carlow Sentinel states that inforn:ations have been laid against a Roman Catholic priest, for a seditious speech delivered from the altar of the chapel at Leighlin Bridge, on a recent Sunday. The Kilkenny Moderator says that such addresses are common ; and that during part of the proceedings in the chapels, women and children, and such as cannot be intrusted with secrets, are excluded by the priests and Repeal Wardens.

The usual weekly meeting of the Repeal Association was held on Monday ; Mr. Patrick Lalor, of Trinakill, Queen's County, in the chair. The first business was the passing of a resolution moved (Mr. O'Connell being duly absent) by Mr. Clements-

" That the Loyal National Repeal Association holds it as a paramount duty, at this moment, to apply all its means and influence to the successful further- ance of the national collection for the O'Connell Compensation-fund, fixed for Sunday the 19th instant. On that occasion, the members and associates of th's national body are especially expected to cooperate personally and ener- getically with the respected and patriotic clergy of their several parishes, in se- curing results for this imperative measure worthy of the crisis and the cause." That business disposed of, Mr. O'Connell appeared. He moved that the words of Edmund Burke, which the Banner of Ulster selected for its motto, be adopted by the Association,—namely, " Religion is the basis of civil society, and the source of all good and comfort." Mr. Daniel O'Connell junior read the draught of an address to the Queen, to be presented by each parish in Ireland : it protested against the military array by which the Clontarf proclamation was supported, as needless to insure obedience ; inferred that the disposition of the Irish people had been misrepresented to the Queen ; pointed to the peaceable conduct of large meetings; affected to abstain from complaining that the right to meet had been violated, but remarked that troops had been prepared to attack persons congregated " in utter ignorance of the almost nocturnal proclamation "; adding, "yet such was the respect for the law, that very many thousands of people dispersed on the mere rumour that the meet- ing had been made illegal by an act of almost midnight legislation" ! With some further complaint of the carnage that might have ensued, the address winds up- " Your Majesty's petitioners, deeply solicitous for the integrity of the empire, respectfully and humbly assure your Majesty, that mere force, however aug- mented, cannot continue Ireland as an appendage to the British Crown ; but, according to the memorable words of the Earl of Bristol, Lord Bishop of Derry, in 1782, allegiance being due to protection,' your Majesty's Irish subjects, confidently trusting in your Majesty's royal and maternal protection from the aggressions of any Minister, give as a pledge of their loyalty the guarantee of eight millions of human beings, devoted in their attachment to your Majesty's Boyal person and to the Imperial Crown."

This address was adopted. Mr. O'Connell then proposed another address, which, with the permission of a Committee, he had prepared himself: it was in point of fact an address to the Protestants of Ire- land, though it purported to be generally "to the people of Ireland "; and it was intended to combat the notion that dismemberment of the empire or Catholic ascendancy would result from Repeal. In its terms, this address resembles scores which have emanated from the same writer. One of the baits held out as a result of Repeal is the monopoly of all the Government patronage for Irishmen-

" If the business of Ireland were transacted in Ireland, it would he ne- cessarily transacted by Irishmen. All the offices in the law in Ireland, from the Lord Chancellor to the tipstaff, would be filled by Irishmen. All the offices in the Excise in Ireland would be filled by Irishmen. All the offices in the Irish Customs would be filled by Irishmen. In fact, if the Parliament were Irish, all the Government patronage would belong to the Irish." Is there, asks the wordy document, "one human being in Ireland, with intellect beyond that of a sea-calf, who does not admit the intense value to Ireland of the Repeal of the Union, if it could be achieved without creating at least one of two evils "—namely, separation, and Catholic ascendancy ? Among a variety of quasi-arguments, these are the principal. As to separation—during the American war, a separate Parliament preserved Ireland to the British Crown ; and Ca- nada was rebellious while trampled on, is loyal with self-legislation. As to Catholic ascendancy—the Catholics would have no motive to desire it, as there would be no state payment for their clergy ; it would be im- possible, because there would be many Protestants in the Irish House of Commons, twenty Protestants to one Catholic in the Irish House of Peers, and a Protestant Sovereign : moreover, the practice of passing Persecuting laws on the score of religion has gone by in all countries ; Irish Catholics never have persecuted Protestants ; and the object of the Repeaters is threefold—freedom of conscience, of education, and of the press. Every section of the address closes with a mere reassertion that there is no such danger as that apprehended, until the iteration becomes ludicrous. This address was of course carried.

The rent for the week was 1,3031.

Mr. Smith O'Brien was entertained at a public dinner, at Newcastle in the county of Limerick, on the 1st instant, to celebrate his accession to Repeal. A number of persons escorted him from his residence to the town, a Temperance band heading the procession. In an open square he addressed the people from his carriage. He avowed himself heart and soul a Repealer ; and denounced the suppression of the popular voice and right of petition by the Clontarf proclamation. Mr. Caleb Powell, Mr. O'Brien's colleague in the representation of the county, followed ; and the meeting separated with loud cheers for the Queen, O'Connell, Repeal, and the County Members. In the evening, says the Dublin Pilot, "the Courtenay Arms Hotel was the scene of delightful conviviality and sound political declaration." Upwards of sixty gen- tlemen and Roman Catholic clergymen entertained Mr. O'Brien at dinner. The Venerable Dean Coll filled the chair. In returning thanks for the chief toast of the evening, his own health, Mr. O'Brien defended his motives for joining the Repeal. He remarked, that while differing with him on particular points, his constituents had always given him a general and cordial support- " I tell those who accuse me of motives, that there was not a man in Ireland so fairly, FO generously treated as I was with reference to the Repeal question ; and when base motives are insinuated with regard to my conduct, my answer is, that I always felt it a matter of pride to coincide with the great mass of my countrymen ; and if that be base, I acknowledge it is to me a source of gratifi- cation to be united with them in our struggle for the benefit of my native land. If I am to regard my own position on the prospects which an ordinary ambition might fairly entitle me to look forward in obtaining, I say I have gained no- thing, but made a sacrifice in joining your ranks. Educated in England, I associated on equal terms with those of my own rank and my own class. I lived the greater portion of my life in that country. I found myself surrounded by friends and connexions. I felt that my position in the House of Commons was higher than that would warrant under ordinary circumstances; and if I united myself with parties, my career would have been as high as any man of my standing in the country. Nay, I do say, that if I devoted myself to English questions exclusively, I might hope to see some result for my labours. But as an Irishman, as your representative, I felt it my solemn duty to give up my best energies, exclusively, chiefly, and ardently if you will, to Irish questions."

Mr. O'Brien's reasons for joining the Repeal ranks were given at sufficient length in his letter to the Repeal Association, which we re- printed. To those reasons he now added arguments against any appre- hension of evil from the measure. He asked what Ireland had gained by the Union which she could not have obtained without it? and, as one with a stake in the country, and a Protestant, he argued against the probability that the Irish mould seek anarchy or Catholic ascendancy. Mr. Caleb Powell and several other gentlemen also addressed the company.

The Conservative papers report a visible decline in the Repeal ex- citement; and their assertion derives countenance in some passages of a speech delivered by Mr. Daniel Callaghan, the Member for Cork, at a dinner giveu to Alderman Fagan of that city- " Gentlemen," said Mr. Callaghan, " I am sorry for having so long tres- passed on your time : but, representing, as I hope I do, your opinions in Par- liament, I am bound to say, that I do not observe that feeling now among the people themselves that would enable me to say in my place in the House, as I did in 1834 when presenting your petition, that seven-eighths of my consti- tuency demanded the Repeal. I have no evidence of that feeling now. If it does exist, I say that something should be done to call it forth. Such a state of things is not creditable to us as a community ; and I am sorry to observe that Mr. O'Connell does not, or cannot, now acknowledge that support from us which he was wont to receive ; and I know it has given him pain. • • I am sorry that in this city there is not more unity of purpose in effecting this object; and that some of those among the hierarchy, and a few among the clergy, through Ireland, have thought lit up to the present time to hold hack in this movement. (Father Matthem Morgan—' Mors shame for them') It is not for me to cast any censure upon them for it, nor do I presume to do so. I believe that their hesitation in not having already pronounced for WI is not owing to a want of patriotism."

The Banner of Ulster publishes several more letters from Presbyte- rian ministers in the South and West of Ireland, drawn forth by the letters of " Philalethes " to the Morning Chronicle, and contradicting the ap- prehensions of that writer, that the Catholics contemplate a war of ex- termination on the Protestants. One of the ministers, however, Mr. Joshua W. Collins, of Kilkenny, somewhat qualifies his deuial- " I am fully convinced the Roman Catholics have no such evil intention towards us as that writer would make appear. There may, indeed, be some wicked spirits among them, who, did they expect to profit by the death of their Protestant fellow-creatures, might not scruple to undertake the task of remov- ing them out of the way : but that such a thought would be revolting to them as a body, I have the strongest conviction. • • It is true, notwithstand- ing the apparent quietness of the people—and I know no district of country more peaceful at present than Kilkenny and its neighbourhood—that there exist disaffection and uneasiness. This has been produced by the continued excitement to which, during the summer, they were exposed on the subject of Repeal. They were confidently told, Repeal was certain ; that the Govern- ment would be compelled to grant it ; and that this would be a panacea for all their ills ; that poverty and want would be succeeded by an abundance of all good things; and the Irish, ever credulous to the representations of their de- magogues, became impressed with the belief that such would be the case : they readily entered into their views, joined with them in the agitation of the ques- tion ; and, now that they are likely to be thwarted in their expectations, by the measures of the Government in suppressing the Repeal question, they feel keenly the disappointment ; and hence the increased disaffection and excite- ment which at present exist. 'Want and poverty are at the bottom of all this. These constitute the sources of their discontent. Let these be removed, and you displace agitation." The Dublin Evening Mail reports an extraordinarily increased facility of collecting rents in Ireland- " We have just seen a letter from a laud-agent in a Southern county to one of his employers, from which, by permission, we make the following extract. Previous to the proclamation putting down the meeting at Clontarf, it was impossible to get a farthing from the peasantry in payment of rents or any thing else : since that event, there is no difficulty about the matter, and the rents are paid freely and quickly everywhere.' It gives us great satisfaction to be able to corroborate and generalize the foregoing statement, so as to include the length and breadth of the land. For the last twenty or thirty years, rents were never so easily collected as now, nor to any thing like the amount, at this early stage of the November gale. The fact is easily ascertainable; it appears on the face of the leading bankers' books."

The examination of the Chelsea out-pensioners in Dublin, which has been carrying on for some time under the superintendence of Major Tulloch of the War-Office, has now terminated. The whole who were found fit for local duty were inspected on Monday last by Sir Edward Blakeney : they amounted to about 500 men, who are to be formed into six companies. Half-pay officers are engaged in forming several other districts in Ireland.

" To the military portion of our readers," says the Dublin Evening Mail, "it is well known that soldiers are generally placed on the pension-list at the age of forty—often much earlier. At the time of being so pensioned, they are generally suffering under some of the numerous diseases contracted in service in the Colonies, and which it requires only time and their native air to eradi- cate. Those who survive generally recover their usual health in the course of a year or two : indeed, it has been found by statistical investigation, that after the first year on the pension-list they are healthier than the general average of persons of similar age who have never served at all. Out of the 95,000 pen- sioners borne on the pension establishment, there are always from 20,000 to 30,000 of this class who are for the most part under fifty years of age."

The Cork Reporter published a story of a letter from the Duke of Wellington to the Earl of Glengall, of the following purport ; supposed to be in answer to some previous letter from the Earl-

" That almost all the British army, certainly every regiment which can be spared and made available for service, will be concentrated in Ireland. That camps will be formed in different parts of the country, and particularly in the neighbourhood of cities and towns ; that the army will occupy these camps ; and that such barracks as they now occupy will be made available for the re- ception of such families and persons as may consider, or be in apprehension, that their lives or properties are or may be in danger. That also all possible facilities would be afforded to those who may wish to avail of them, for quitting the country, and taking refuge in England or elsewhere, until the troubles are over and the rebellion subdued; and that, pending events, supplies of arms, ammunition, and subsistence of every description would be continued to be sent into the country from England, for the use of the army, by-and-by, so as to make it independent of or not dependent upon the Irish peasantry and people." This letter naturally created an extraordinary " sensation " in Ireland. The Dublin Evening Mail puts forth a contradiction of it, in these terms- " We are authorized by Lord Glengall to state, that no such letter as that referred to has been received by his Lordship. The report probably originated from the well-known fact, that in the event of a rebellious outbreak, the bar- racks are to be open to such persons as are apprehensive of molestation; a fact which his Lordship has frequently mentioned to many of the gentry in his neighbourhood, and one which, it is scarcely necessary for us to say, we have great pleasure in recording upon such authority, as affording evidence of the wisdom and forethought that have originated such precautionary measures, should they become necessary for the preservation and succour of her Majesty's loyal Protestant subjects."

The Orangemen of the North of Ireland are reorganizing their Society, but without secret pass-words, tests, or other signs which have been pronounced illegal. The reorganization is said to be rapidly ex- tending.

A disgraceful and fatal affray took place at Cork Patent Saw-mills, on Saturday. There was some kind of dispute at law between the two partners, Mr. Wilson and Dr. Quarry ; and Mr. Wilson kept pos- session of a part of the mill, to the exclusion of the other. Dr. Quarry, with four of the workmen, endeavoured to obtain admission ; but they were opposed by Mr. F. Delany and two brothers named Carroll, men in the interest of Mr. Wilson ; who took a position on a flight of stairs that the entering party had to ascend. Thomas Carroll knocked Dr. Quirry down the stairs with the butt-end of a blunderbuss, and afterwards beat him with a saw-buckle, a large iron instrument. Donoghue, one of Dr. Quarry's men, had his head cut open with some sharp instrument, that left a wound like a sabre-cut. Dr. Quarry expired on Sunday evening. A Coroner's Jury have re- turned a verdict describing the facts, and incriminating Dr. Quarry's three assailants. They have been committed for trial ; and also Mr. Wilson, on an information charging him as an accessory to the murder before the fact.

The mills have acquired a bad notoriety : a party of sawyers once threw vitriol in the face of Mr. Wilson, which destroyed an eye ; and he himself once stabbed an unoffending soldier, who happened to be present at a riot among the workmen. A rack was kept over the fire- place in Mr. Wilson's room, full of guns, blunderbusses, and swords, and inscribed, "Keep us clean, and we will do our duty."