IRELAND.
The names of forty-four Noblemen, forty-four Members of the House of Commons, and ten Roman Catholic Bishops, were attached to the requisition for calling the meeting of Reformers which was to be held in Dublin yesterday. The names of the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Fitzwilliam, and Lord Milton, are at the head of the list, which extends through seven columns of the Pilot.
At the adjourned meeting of the Repeal Association in Dublin, on Saturday, the Secretary presented an account of receipts and expendi- ture. The total receipts from the commencement of the Association, 15th April 1840 to 31st December, were 2,688/. 5s. 10d. ; the expendi- ture, 2,5691. 8s. 3d.; leaving a balance in hand of 118/. 178. 7d. The amounts received from the provinces in Ireland exhibit a marked differ- ence in the extension of the Repeal agitation. The gross amount from Leinster is 1,949/., Munster 2561., Connaught 1041., and from Ulster only two guineas.
Mr. O'Connell made a public entry into Mullingar on Thursday week. The Pilot states that he was met by upwards of 50,000 persons ; and that the Reverend Dr. Cantwell and the Reverend Dr. Higgins, the Catholic Bishops of Meath and Ardagh, accompanied by a great number of their diocesan clergy, formed a prominent part of the procession. Mr. O'Connell, in his harangue, called particular attention to the question of tithes, as one of those inequalities between England and Ireland which would be removed by a repeal of the Union. In the evening, Mr. O'Connell was entertained by 400 gentlemen at a public dinner.
The Munster Repeal meeting was held in Cork on Monday. The numbers assembled are estimated at 150,000 ; Mr. O'Connell, in his speech, called them " hundreds of thousands." There was nothing new, however, said or done about Repeal. The only novel feature of the meeting was the passing a resolution, on the motion of Mr. O'Con- nell, that the Secretary should write to the Limerick Club to ascertain whether Colonel Fitzgibbon was sufficiently restored to health to at- tend to his duties in Parliament ; and if not, that some other fitting gentlemen should be selected to fill his place- The people dispersed quietly. In the evening, O'Connell figured again at a public dinner.
Mr. O'Connell has refused to accept a challenge, offered him by Dr. Cooke of Belfast, to argue the Repeal question with him in public at his visit to that town.
Mr. Sharman Crawford has written a long letter in reply to an invi- tation to attend the Repeal dinner which is to take place in Belfast on the 19th. It contains the following passage-
" But, independently of the Repeal agitation, I disagree from the policy which has been adopted by the Irish party since the Melbourne Government assumed office. The policy I allude to is that of acceding, in a certain degree, to'Tory demands, and abstaining from pressing on the Government the great measures of political liberty, lest their existence as a Government might be endangered by that pressure. British Reformers were called on to join in the same course, for the sake of Ireland. I am of opinion this policy has been the cause of the progressing weakness of the Melbourne Government ; that it has deprived them of the confidence of the people of England ; and that it has also deeply injured the cause of Ireland, by rendering the friends of liberty in England indifferent to the promotion or defence of the rights of the Irish ople, and thereby produced the present feebleness of the moral power of Ire- land, both in and out of Parliament. I am of opinion that no concession should be made in order to support the views or interests of any Government or any party, or to keep any set of men in power. Concessions should only be made by the friends of liberty towards each other, so as to unite the greatest body of Reformers in a common cause, and so to create that moral power which must then compel, and which could alone compel, both Governments and Par liaments to yield to the just demands of the people. For this purpose, but for none other, I am willing to make concessions. The rights of the people can only be maintained by the moral power of the people themselves, unencum- bered by any connexion with parties or Governments, other than the simple point of supporting those who support those rights, and opposing those who resist them, no matter whether the colours they hang out be Whig or Tory."
Sir William Jackson Homan, Bart., of the county of Waterford, has published a letter in reply to one from Mr. O'Connell, expressing " admiration for the extraordinary talents and ability " of Mr. O'Connell, but declaring his determination not to join in the agitation for Repeal.
The Northern Whig announces a gross majority of 34 at the Belfast registry in favour of the Conservatives ; who, it states, are in high spirits at the result ; while it attributes the defeat of the Whigs and Radicals to divisions amongst themselves.
The Dublin Evening Mail asserts that there is at this time an avail- able Conservative majority in Dublin, of 883, giving credit for every vote in existence. This calculation, it is said, rests upon data that can- not be questioned.
The correspondent of the Times in Dublin says, it was currently re- ported there on Monday, that the Attorney• General for Ireland had re- ceived instructions to prepare a bill for amending the registrations in Ireland, with a view to supersede Lord Stanley's- " It is said that the provisions of this new bill are of such a comprehensive nature as will be likely to insure the support of the Conservative party when its details are laid before Parliament. The opponents of the Government here attribute this proceeding to a ruse on the part of Ministers to induce Lord Stanley to withdraw his bill, from the alleged similarity of its leading features to the one now under the consideration of the Irish Law Officers."
The Council of the Royal Dublin Society, in their reply to Lord Morpeth's communication respecting the future regulations of the So- ciety, urge a variety of reasons for not immediately complying with the rules sent for adoption. In the first place, they express surprise at receiving such a communication, after having so lately remodelled their laws and proceedings to meet the views of the Government. They re- present that all the engagements and plans for the present year have been formed on the reliance of receiving the customary Government grant ; and that, according to the charter, the regulations proposed could not be finally adopted before the general meeting of the Society, in June. The Council, at the same time, express their intention to call a special meeting to consider the propositions. The rejoinder of Lord. Morpeth is dated the 6th January. He states that though the Society may not have power to give its final assent to the propositions of the Govern- ment before June, the Lord-Lieutenant "apprehends there is nothing to prevent the Society from coming to a preliminary decision mach sooner." He therefore proposes, in case the decision of the special meeting be not adverse to the proposed regulations, to direct half the accustomed grant to be included in the estimates ; the granting of the remaining half to await the final decision in June.
The Dublin correspondent of the Morning Post affirms that the majority of the members of the Royal Dublin Society are resolved indignantly to reject the Government propositions. One of the members has contributed 1,0001. as a donation, with an offer of an annual sum towards enabling the Society to do without Government support.
At the opening of the Dublin Quarter-sessions on Monday, the Re- corder, alluding to the small number of prisoners for trial, attributed the comparative absence of crime to the great improvement in the morals of the people produced by the Temperance movement.
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