16 AUGUST 1851, Page 4

IRELAND.

The Dublin correspondents of the London papers announce with ex- citement, that Dr. Paul Cullen has fairly thrown down the gauntlet to the Government, by a bold transgression of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act. In a correspondence with Mr. Reynolds, the Member for Dublin, (pub- lished in the Neetnan Tournal,) Dr. Cullen accepts the invitation to pre- side over the forthcoming aggregate meeting of the Roman Catholics of the United Kingdom, at the Rotunda, on the 19th instant ; and signs himself " Paul Cullen, Archbishop, Primate of all Ireland." Perhaps, however, it is intended that the Popish Primate should have all the ad- vantage of an apparent defiance to the law, while sufficient precautions have been taken to prevent the possibility of proving his offence in a court of law.

As we anticipated, the Honourable Charles Stewart Hardinge has been returned without opposition as Member for the borough of Do wnpatrick, in the room of Mr. R. Ker, resigned.

The general hopes entertained till the present advanced period that the potato-crop would escape the blight this year are now disappointed. The Dublin correspondent of the Morning Chronicle conveys the spirit of the best information received on the subject-

" Where such great interests are at stake, people are naturally disposed to take alarm, and in this way exaggerated statements are readily propagated, even those which assert that 'the potatoes are all gone ' in certain districts. There is no real ground for such representations. The simple truth is, that the blight, in a less virulent form than hitherto, has set in, and is now be- coming pretty general in various localities. I know that the Poor-law Com- missioners have instructed their inspectors throughout the country to make strict personal inquiries as to the state of the crop, and that already some un- favourable reports have been received at the central office in 'Dublin, es- pecially from Fermanagh, Tyrone, and other districts in Ulster, which had suffered comparatively little last year. As yet, the symptoms are confined to the stalks and leaves, the tubers being affected in very few instances ; and as the early kinds are now full-grown, it is hoped that they may escape. Mean- while, the markets are largely supplied with potatoes of the finest quality, and considerable quantities are exported to Scotland."

There has been a great diminution in the number of persons in the workhouses : at Cashel, a thousand left the house. Moat, no doubt, have quitted it in the hope of obtaining work at harvesting, while others have received funds from relations in America to enable them to emigrate.

A very destructive flood in parte of the county of Armagh, last week, carried away eight bridges, and destroyed much other property

Two murders are reported, which seem to have sprung from the usual homicidal motive, the possession of land. David Moore, a man employed under an agent of Colonel Pratt, of Cabra Castle in Donegal, was attacked by two men on the road, and so beaten and mutilated that he died in a few hours. Colonel Pratt had revaluations of his estate made twice, each time reducing the rents greatly ; but the tenants were still dissatisfied, and pretty plainly intimated that they meant to hold their lands free of all rent. The body of Kennedy, a herdsman on Lord Clonmel's estate in Tipperary, has been found in a pond, with the head cloven asunder. On the night he was missed, his house was fired, and his. family had a narrow escape from de- struction. Several evictions had occurred within the preceding five months.