IRELAND.

The Lord-Lieutenant received a deputation from the county of Clare, on Tuesday, with a memorial, calling upon the Government for a loan from the Treasury to enable the gentry of the county of Clare to complete the roads which had been left in an unfinished state by the Board of Works under the Labour-rate Act. The deputation was composed of Mr. Robert Studdert, High Sheriff, Sir Lucius O'Brien, M.P., Sir Edward Fitzgerald, Colonel Vandeleur, Captain Francis hi`Namara, and Mr. William Fitz- gerald. Lord Clarendon received the gentlemen with his usual courtesy. The conversation, which is briefly reported by the Dublin correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, is highly curious. " His Excellency commenced by saying that he was not aware whether it had been the intention of the deputation to discuss the resolutions in the memorial seriatim, or to speak upon the general subject therein contained. They might have some remarks to make upon them, and he would refer to the first resolution, in which the deputation said-

" 'We have been deputed to lay before your Excellency the disastrous condition of our country, in connexion with the Labour-rate Act, which has left us with present- ments unfinished, highways obstructed, life endangered, and past heavy apencliture more than neutralized.'

" His Excellency said, he hoped it was not quite the case that the highways bad been impassable. It was the intention of the Government that all the mad- coach roads should be put in a passable condition; and he wished to be informed whether that paragraph applied to all the principal roads in the county? "Mr. W. Fitzgerald said, that it did not apply to mail-coach roads in particu- lar, but it applied to all public roads. The mail-coach roads had been put in re- par, but the common highways had been left in a dangerous and impassable state. He spoke of that part of the country where the works had been carried on to a great extent, and left unfinished. At present the fields were open, and the lands were trespassed upon by cattle passing from one farm to another; and the farmers were put to great inconvenience by those trespasses, the consequence of which was that the lands were left uncultivated.

"His Excellency said, that a very little amount of labour on the part of indi- viduals would repair those fences, and prevent the trespasses complained of. For his part, he would not allow his cattle to stray, nor would he suffer his lands to be trespassed upon by his neighbour's cattle, without putting up a stone wall or some other fence to secure his cattle from straying, and protect himself from trespass. "A lengthened conversation ensued; in which the deputation urged upon his Excellency to use his influence with the Government in order to procure a loan of about 5001. a week for a few weeks, by means of which the roads which had been commenced by the Board of Works might be finished, and a source of employment created thereby for the labouring population of the country. " His Excellency recommended the deputation to furnish him with a form of application stating what they required; and when they would give him data for 5001. a week, it might make their claim the stronger, and he would forward it to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he ....Lively refused to give them the slightest ground, of encouragement as far as ,e was concerned, that the Chancel- lor of the Exchequer could comply with their request."

The Lord-Lieutenant received on Tuesday last a deputation from the Irish Fisheries Company; who laid before him a statement of their ob- jects. His Excellency expressed much interest in the success of the Com- pany, and signified his desire to become its patron.

Several English members of the Society of Friends are at present in Dublin negotiating for the purchase of a tract of waste land in Donegal, with the view of establishing an extensive lobster-fishery on the coast. The intention is to convey the fish from Donegal to Londonderry for shipment to England. The sum named as the purchase-money is 40,0001.

The murder of Mr. Roe at Boytonrath has given rise to a meeting of the Magistrates of Tipperary; which was held at Cashel, on Thursday week; and attended by the High Sheriff, Lord Suirdale, (chairman,) Lord Glen- gall, Vice-Lieutenant of the County, Lord Hawarden, ana Lord Dundrum. The chairman warmly defended the landlords from attacks by speakers and writers-- Mr. Roe's crime bad been that he was a landlord. "Gentlemen, it is a remark- able fact, that Mr. Roe had, during the late period of scarcity, made every exertion that was possibly within his power to make, to alleviate the prevailing distress of those dependent on him, and the poor residing in his neighbourhood. He esta- blished at his own expense a kitchen for the purpose of providing food for the poor: that establishment was conducted and managed by Mr. Roe's two sisters; who, from coming in daily contact with the destitute, caught epidemic fever; from which, happily, they recovered, and are now alive. One would have imagined that conduct and charity such as this would have created an affectionate regard for Mr. Roe among the peasantry." Lord Suirdale called on Government to stop mid-day assassination "in our unfortunate but fertile country." The landlords also found an earnest champion in Lord Glengall: he moved a memorial to the Lord-Lieutenant, which was carried unanimously.

After setting forth the particulars of the murder, and Mr. Roe's worth, the memorial claimed for the landlords of the county the merit of having done their duty towards their dependants. The memorialists acknowledge their liability to repayment of the relief advances, and pledge themselves to use every exertion to discrge their just debts. They decline to state their opinion of the new Poor- law: being the law of the land, they will respect it. Lastly, they complain that the possession of fire-arms by the lowest classes of the population is a serious evil.

To this memorial the Lord-Lieutenant has replied through the Under- Secretary— The " atrocious assassination" of Mr. Roe is deplored. No landlord, it is re- marked, unless prepared to surrender his property, could submit to have his land held by a tenant who would neither pay rent for it, nor cultivate it, nor give it up. It is to be feared that all landlords have not been alike mindful of their duties under the late pressure; but the exceptions have only served to exhibit more strongly the excellent conduct of the great majority, who have sacrificed their comforts and exerted themselves for many months with an energy and zeal beyond all praise. The Lord-Lieutenant views the acknowledgment contained in the memorial, of the liability to repay the relief advances, as affording an important and highly beneficial example, which will tell throughout the country; and he "gratefully accepts " their cooperation in the arduous task which devolves upon him. "It is, however, the duty of the Lord-Lieutenant to uphold the law; from the performance of that duty he will not shrink; and all the powers with which he is invested shall be put forth on every occasion when it is necessary to repress violence and outrage, and to protect the lives and property of all classes of the community."

Sir John Burgoyne has made out a formal statement on the actual con- dition of Ireland, to serve as an apology for the collection whioh is to take plat* tomorrow in the churches of England and Scotland; and the state- ment has been forwarded to the Times by Mr. C. E. Trevelyan, with a letter introductory and corroborative. Sir John declares that further assistance is imperatively needed. " Absolute famine still stares whole districts in the face; and we must not allow ourselves to become callous to the horrors of such an evil because we have bad it before us for any given period." The reasons for this he makes out at considerable length; going back even to the causes why the occupied lands of Ireland are overpeopled. The three main points of his statement are put with great compactness and clearness in Mr. Trevelyan's letter—

"First, that the new Poor-law will be enforced in Ireland to the utmost extent of the power of the Government; that no assistance whatever will be given from national funds to those unions which, whether they have the will or not, un- doubtedly have the power of maintaining their own poor; and that the collection of the rates will be enforced as far as it can be even in those distressed Western unions in which some assistance from some source or other must be given.

"Secondly, that there are certain unions in the West of Ireland where the social system was so entirely based upon the potato, as described by Sir John Burgoyne, that it was impossible that the habits of the people could be so suddenly changed, and new modes of subsistence so suddenly established, as to allow of the crowded population which had grown up under the potato system supporting themselves without assistance in the second year after the failure.

" Thirdly, that the change from an idle, barbarous, isolated potato cultivation, to corn cultivation, which enforces industry,. binds together employer and employed in mutually beneficial relations, and, requiring capital and skill for its successful prosecution, supposes the existence of a class of substantial _yeomanry who have au interest in preserving the good order of society, is proceeding as fast as can reasonably be expected under the circumstances; and that if the rich and highly- favoured portions of the empire give some further temporary assistance to these distressed sections of our population, to enable them to tide over ' the shoals upon which they have fallen, the harbour will ere long be attained."

One passage in the original statement describes with some distinctness the actual state of Ireland- " It may be assumed, perhaps, that the people having now gone through the periods of dearth of the two last years, ought to be sufficiently provided for by the abundant produce of the present season. " Undoubtedly, the especial hand of Providence has been thus mercifully ex- tended towards the relict of the people, in a manner that will greatly mitigate the general distress; but it still leaves a large amount absolutely requiring a great extent of human and humane exertion.

" Although the potatoes have succeeded better this year than on the two former, not above one-sixth of the usual quantity has been planted; and that not by the small occupiers, as usual, for their support, because the case appeared hopeless, and even otherwise the seed was wanting. The lands of many were ill adapted to other crops; or they had no means of tilling them; or even where they have put in turnips or oats, &c., the produce will be quite insufficient for their support: for it must be observed that it requires three times the quantity of land laid out in corn to what would be necessary in potatoes to feed for the year any given number of persons.

" Thus it must plainly appear, that Ireland in all parts is still in much distress; but along the West very active and extended benevolence is required to be ex- erted from elsewhere to prevent the most horrible scenes: that this calamity is continuous, and can only be gradually removed by a new order in the social sys- tem, which it will be the interest and must be the effort of all parties to intro- duce and to accelerate."

In a long letter to the Times, Mr. T. Campbell Foster has examined th soundness of the views propounded by Mr. Trevelyan and Sir John Bur- goyne. He enforces, he absolute necessity, now that there is an adequate

poor-law, of withholding further contributions, if it is meant to force • upon the Irish people an effort for their own deliverance-

" The spur of necessity to labour by the providence of God, which ought in truth to be regarded as a blessing, 'has been increased to the people of Ireland. If the labour of the people, urged on by this necessity, be given, there is no shadow of doubt but the return will be sufficient for their wants. But experience teaches us that they will not voluntarily give this labour without the spur of ne- cessity; their 'contentment' with mud huts and potatoes, with 'a very little labour,' proves this. What, then, do we, in our mistaken humanity, propose to do? With a stupid blindness to the character of this „people, under the name of charity to the poor Irish,' we would thwart the providence of God; we would lighten that necessity under the pressure of which and to meet which they alone

will work; we would, in fact, cast the greatest stumblingblock that the most perverse ingenuity could devise (looking at the character of the people) towards the progress of the country out of that'slovenly cultivation' and that misery and wretchedness with which, and 'little labour, the people are ' content'; we would degrade them into contentment' with subsistence on charity. * • •

"The qualities wanted to make the people of the West of Ireland as prosperous are simply industry and enterprise. Will giving them English alms and sup- porting them on charitable donations promote either of those qualities? They will take our alms and live thereon in 'content.'

"At present—and I do not speak as a mere theorist, for I have been over every part of it, from Dunfanaghy Head in Donegal to Cape Clear in Cork—the West of Ireland is a disgrace to the British empire, for its neglected capabilities, and its poverty and wretchedness, in the face of every natural advantage that can lead to wealth. There are to be found neglected the finest harbours, magnificent rivers, an almost continuous succession of lakesaffording natural water-carriage of the cheapest kind, unlimited water-power, rich and discovered mines, thousands of uncultivated acres, and a sea teeming with fish. • • •

" Oh, let every man who loves Ireland sternly refuse to advance to her one pen- ny, and compel her, in spite of herself; to do more than labour a very little to convert into many sources of wealth her almost boundless natural advantages; and let every soft-hearted Englishman, impelled by his humanity to contribute a sovereign for the relief of the starving Irish,' feel assured of this, that be has contributed towards the removal of that necessity which will alone impel the Irish of the Western coast to work, and in so doing has helped to perpetuate their poverty and wretchedness and their degrading content.'"

The Guardians of the Kilrush union, at their last meeting, unanimously weed upon a memorial to Lord John Russell, calling upon him to feed the people during the ensuing winter. The memorialists set forth- " That having learned by the fatal heart-rending experience of last year the ab- solute necessity of making a State provision for an apprehended famine, we implore of your Lordship not to leave the lives of millions of our countrymen depending on mercantile caprice for subsistence. • • • " That we record as our unequivocal opinion, that all the money in the Imperial treasury is valueless compared to the thousands of lives lost in Ireland last year by starvation, that could have been easily prevented by a liberal policy on the part of her Majesty's Government. • • a "That the experience of last year clearly demonstrates the Imperial policy of Government noninterference' with mercantile speculators and consumers, by the plain, undeniable fact, that unrestricted speculation has effected ruin on both speculators and consumers. That we implore of your Lordship, as the head of her Majesty's Government, to take a lesson from the melancholy experience of last year in Ireland; to no longer leave the inhabitants of this devoted country depending on chance sub- sistence. Let not the never-to-be-forgotten scene of starvation and cruelty of that memorable rem be renewed during the ensuing year."

Poor-law Guardians are becoming more reasonable and tractable, and few Boards now refuse to strike the rate (three shillings in the pound) re- quired by the Commissioners. In the Omagh union, which held out so long, the Guardians have struck the rate of three shillings in the twenty- two electoral divisions.

Complaints of resistance to rent are still made in various districts, even in Fermanagh—

"The order given," says the Erne Packet, "is that no rent is to be paid. Any

eirviolating that law is to be punished according to the extent of his offence. cil disobedience be of a minor nature, he may only be subjected to the de- struction of his property; but if it be of an extended character, death will be the penalty which he will be obliged to suffer."

The Kilkenny Journal announces that the Earl of Besborough has for- given his tenantry on his Kilkenny estates, at Leitrim, a full year's rent, besides reducing the amount of their rent ten per cent.

A meeting of the Irish Council was held on Tuesday, in the Rotunda. The 4th of November was fixed for holding a meeting of Peers, Members of Parliament, and Commoners of Ireland, to consider the measures which ought to engage the early attention of the Legislature. A resolution was adopted giving an outline of the points requiring special consideration. They are stated to be—first, whether the only means available for the sup- port of the people, private employment or the Poor-law, are of themselves sufficient for the purpose; secondly, in what manner public employment, if feund to be necessary, can be given with the greatest advantage; thirdly, the law of landlord and tenant; fourthly, the terms on which loans have been advanced and the means of repaying them; and fifthly, how far fa- .cilitating the transfer of property would tend to the introduction of capital. A petition to the Legislature was adopted, praying that a reduction be ,made of the import-duties on timber, glass, earthen-ware, hard-ware, and haberdashery; and that measures may be taken for opening foreign mar- . kets to linen yarns and fabrics and machinery.

At the weekly meeting of the Repeal Association, the murder of Mr. Roe was commented on by Mr. Scully, the Member for Tipperary: that gentleman, he said, was very much beloved last year for his acts—he had distributed food to the people—and " no man had less right to be mur- dered!" Rent about 501.

A large body of the friends and former supporters of Mr. D. R. Ross, one of the late Members for Belfast, dined last week in honour of Mr. Ross, in the Music IlalL One of the toasts was " The health of Pius the Ninth, and success to his efforts in the cause of human liberty "; and the respon- sive thanksgiving on the Pope's behalf was made by Dr. Montgomery, head of the Remonstrant Synod of Ulaterl-

Although a Protestant, he claimed for Roman Catholics the same right of pri- vate judgment which he enjoyed himself. On that ground, he could return thanks for the Pope; and he had another reason besides—the Pope was one of his own particular church—he was a "Remonstrant." Eighteen years ago, Dr. Mont- gomery had remonstrated against ecclesiastical tyranny; and the Pope was a re- monstrant against the political despotism of Austria, and had raised the standard of liberty in connexion with the religious enthusiasm of the bulk of Europe. He did not care who was the man to establish public and social freedom among the nations, and with liberty to promote prosperity and peace; but, believing that the Pope would yet become the regenerator of Europe, he felt that he was guilty of no breach of consistency in returning thanks for his health. (Much cheering.)

A number of outrages are reported from the county of Mare, mostly against persons who had been concerned in bringing corn to market. One man, named Patrick Frawley, was waylaid and beaten to death, for serving ejectment-pro- cesses.

It tarns out that the report of the murder of Mr. John Lowe, first published in a Limerick paper, was a mere fabrication.

A desperate and resolute attempt at prison-breaking has been male at Mary- 'borough Gaol. On Thursday week, when the men were returning to their yards from school, No. 3 class, twenty-six in number, seized successively two turnkeys, and locked them up; they then armed themselves with stone hammers, and two shoemakers' knives, which they fastened on poles to serve as pikes; having got more hammers at the smithy, they made for the visiting-gate. The Governor of the gaol met them, and after about half had passed through the gate he sue- ceeded in shutting it. Those who had got through rushed to the gate at the porter's lodge, which they attempted to force; the gate-keeper fired a gun, but no one was hit; he and the Deputy-Governor proceeded to load other fire-arms, and a gun was handed to a turnkey who was among the prisoners; the turnkey xe. seated it at the rioters, but it missed fire: one of the fellows then attempted to wrest the gun from the gaoler's hands, and in the struggle was three times stabbed with the bayonet. This man's fate disheartened the rest, and the revolt was quelled. The whole occurrence did not occupy eight minutes.

A frightful explosion occurred last week at Lissanoure Castle, near Ballymoney, the seat of Mr. George Macartney. Previously to the reduction of the Yeomanry corps, Mr. Macartney was Captain in the force, and in that capacity the cuatodier of a quantity of gunpowder; about a dozen barrels of powder remained in a dark and narrow passage of the castle, leading from one wing of the building to the other. Recently, some of the combustible bad become damp, and it was spread out in the passage to dry. On the morning of Tuesday week, Mrs. Macartney, having occasion to go through the passage, took a lighted candle with her; in a minute there was a tremendous explosion, cafe wing of the castle was a masa of ruins, and the unfortunate lady was destroyed. No one else was hurt; the ser- vants were in a part of the building which was not damaged. Mrs. Macartney was universally esteemed.