20 MARCH 1841, Page 8

IRELAND.

A great meeting was held on the Curragh of Kildare, on Sunday last , for the twofold purpose of agitating Repeal and supporting the Govern- ment Irish Registration Bill. The meeting was very unanimous in sup- port of Lord Morpeth's bill, which Dr. Kelly, the first speaker, described as "more than ever was attempted by a Minister of the British Crown in favour of Ireland "; and very energetic in hooting Lord Stanley's name, and in cheering Mr. O'Connell, who attended and delivered one of his most effective speeches. After dismissing the old story, that Ireland is the only one among civilized nations which has not a go- vernment of its own, and drawing forth a few groans by the incidental mention of the King of Hanover, and a few -cheers for the Queen- " the first of her race or family that is disposed to do justice to Ireland"— Mr. O'Connell launched into his main subject, Repeal. It had from the first been the object of his life-

" My struggle is to repeal an Act of Parliament, and to have a native inde- pendent Parliament in College Green. I saw it there; I was in the gallery of the House : Dublin was flourishing at the time; there was trade and occupa- tion for every person. They extinguished that Parliament in my presence ; and I then recorded a vow, that to the latest hour of my life 1 would struggle for its restoration, and give Ireland its protection again."

A writer in Blackwood's Magazine, counting up the obstacles which. kept Orangemen and Tories from power, had thrown Mr. O'Connell in as one ; and, stating his age at sixty-five, had given him three more-

years to live. He himself, however, reckoned upon a good remainder of working-time ; his family were long-lived—ten or eleven of his aunts

and uncles lived to be above ninety ; and at all events he should work every day for Repeal, so that lie could make as much of three years as most men would of thirty. Mr. O'Connell then took a survey of our foreign relations, from which Ireland might profit-

" Before the next month elapses, it most probably will be known whether England will want the assistance of the Irish people or not. If they do not

want us, why then they will continue to treat us with neglect ; if they do

want us, they shall have us—but on our own terms though. (Loud cheers.) I. do not blame that man for staying at home from the struggle until he knows

the condition of the bargain he is to make. Let England but give us our own, and there never were more faithful allies ; let them but do us justice, and there never were homes so well defended as ours will be. Let them call up the spirit of the old Volunteers, and then let America, and France, and Russia take arms, for England shall be safe by doing justice to Ireland. There are two ways of using a man's hands : he may put them in his pockets and look at the fellow he dislikes ; and if I put my hands in my pocket and look on at the

struggle, if England does not do us justice, I don't see what harm there is in it. it is no harm for a man to put his hands into his own pocket. (Cheers and laughter.) But let England be just. I tell the writer in Blackwood, that although I am sixty-five years old, my hand is vigorous still; and I tell him also, that we will have four millions of brave Irishmen helping England in her struggle if they but do us justice."

The first thing which he wanted was "the other three-fourths" of the tithes-

" I want in the first place, that as they struck off one-fourth of the tithes, the other three-fourths should follow. Is not that fair? (Loud laughter.)

When they were giving me the one-fourth, I told them I hated the other three-

fourths as much as if they were altogether; don't you ? (Cheers, and cries of " We do !") I pay my own priest ; and is it not very unjust that Protestant friends of mine should pay theirs nothing? No man comes and says, have got a suit of clothes of Irish man ufacture—you must pay my tailor. (Cheers and laughter.) No man says I employed an attorney, and you must pay the rogue. (Laughter.) Whether he was an honest man or a rogue, you would not, I 8111. quite certain, wish to pay any debt you did not contract. A fellow says, 'I am a Protestant, and a clergyman prays for me, but you must pay him.' Na, thank you,' says I. (Laughter.) But your father did it,' is his reply, ' Yea,' I answer, 'because be was obliged to do so; but I have a trick of an- other kind.' (Cheers and laughter.) I'll have the people of Ireland to stand by me; and the moment a single cannon is fired over Europe, the other three- fourths shall go after the one-fourth already struck off." (Loud cheering for several minutes.) The next thing wanted was, a vote for every householder; and the next, Repeal ; to which Mr. O'Connell has now tacked a rider- " My friends, the Repeal of the Union wiligive us the franchise; it will en:- able us to get corporate reform, perfect equality of rights; and with respect is ecclesiastical revenues, they would be disposed of for the education and in- struction of the people. But, my friends, it would give us much more ; it would have the incomes of the country spent in it. I now come back to my plan, one which I told you I was long devising in my mind, con- nected with Repeal, and following it ; and one, too, absolutely necessary for the peace and prosperity of Ireland. I insist that the occupier of laud shall have a tenant's right, and that he should not be removed from possession without full compensation for every penny lie laid out ; nay, more, that he should not be so removed without a jury of his neighbours being summoned to ascertain what rent he ought to pay, or, in other words, what was the fair, rea- sonable value of his holding; that, should his removal take place, compensation be given for any money laid out on the farm ; iu fine, to say on their oaths what the man's land was worth."

After the meeting on the Curragh, a public dinner was given to Mr. O'Connell, in the Stand-house. Mr. O'Connell again dwelt upon the dangerous position of our foreign relations, and the prospect of some good befalling Ireland in the hurlyburly-

" I could not point out any one single period when our haughty mistress, i England, stood in greater peril than at this moment ; and I only regret that that which is calculated to create hopes in us must beget fears for her. Yes, any friends, the clouds hover when tempests threaten • and if we can judge of futurity by ordinary portents, without affecting a prophetic vision, I prophesy this, and I think truly, that so sure as England's peril is coming on, so sure you will be free." (Great cheering.)

[Mr. O'Connell's speeches are growing to be the converse of Lord lyndhurst's notorious denunciation of the " aliens."]

In a letter to the freeholders of Kildare, Mr. Henry Grattan an- nounced, partly on the authority of . Parliamentary paper, that there Bras been a decrease in the Irish Parliamentary constituency, since 1835, of 20,000 electors. The total number of electors at present is estimated to be 84,000. In a letter to the meeting at Kildare, he says the gross effective constituency may be reckoned at 70,000.

A Nonintrnsion deputation from Edinburgh, consisting i of two clergy- men and a writer to the signet, are on an agitating tour in the North of Ireland. On the evening of Wednesday week, there was a public meet- ing in the Third Presbyterian Church in Belfast, which was addressed by the three delegates. From the account given, the chief of the party seems to be a very fervid orator. Here is a specimen- " Our opponents, in their headlong advocacy of the civil law, assert that, -even though all the people of a parish should protest, we must ordain ; that, though not a solitary communicant should attend the church, we must ordain; that, though the bayonets should bristle in the churchyard, we must ordain ; that, though the carbines of the cavalry should lie discharged amonr, our as- sembled people, we must ordain; that, though the dragoons should cut their way to the church through Scottish hearts, we must ordain. This is what our enemies say. And what is my reply ? It is this—Before my God, before my church, before the people, and before the world, I never will ordain. ( Vehement

cheering.) * * * *

" I have stood in a wild castle, on the sea-shore of my native district, in the dungeons of which the martyrs of the faith lay till they rotted—where they heard no sound save the howling of the winds, and the roar of the billows of the German Ocean. 1 have descended into those dark cells, and placed my -fingers in the walls where they were confined. Chains were scarce in those times—they were in urgent demand; and, instead of fettering the captives, they tied their arms above their heads, and, forcing their thumbs into two holes in the wall, wedged them fast with pieces of wood, crushing them till the blood and marrow oozed out. I have stood, my friends, in those places of horrible recollection : but, sooner should these hands be crushed by those re- volting processes of cruelty, than they should be placed on the head of an Ed- wards." (Great applause.) At the half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of the Ulster Railway -Company, on Thursday week, a favourable report was made : it showed a clear yearly profit of 4 per cent. per annum. The gross receipts for the half-year were 4,345/. ; the surplus of last year was 361/. ; the expenditure was 2,537/. ; leaving a clear profit of 2,1691.

The jurors who refused, at King's County Assizes, to convict Dogherty and Colgan of shooting at Mr. Biddulph, having been accused as ` perjurers and co-conspirators," they have published a defence. They adduce the evidence of three witnesses for the prosecution, who were familiar with the personal appearance of Dogherty, yet could not iden- tify that one of the assassins who most resembled him ; and the evi- -deuce as to the dress which the man supposed to be Colgan was described to wear was totally different from the dress which Colgan was proved to have had on at the time.

Some remark has been excited by Chief Baron Brady's anti-Orange zeal, on his first circuit at Enniskillen: he made a difficulty of riding in Sheriff Nixon's carriage, because the livery of the postilions was blue turned up with orange. He appears, however, to have allowed .himself to be driven by the postilions in Orange livery ; but he forbade certain beadles with Orange capes to appear before him ; and he .refused to dine with the Grand Jury unless they abstained from toasting " the glorious memory."

- At Sligo Assizes, on Tuesday week, Daniel Gallagher senior, Daniel Gallagher junior, and John Gallagher, were indicted for a violent assault on Honor M'Donough. A servant in the employ of Mr. John F. Blake, of Ballina, had endeavoured to obtain access to Mr. Myles M'Donnell, of Doo Castle, for the purpose of asking for some money which Mr. M'Donnell owed to Mr. Blake. The tenantry of the neigh- bourhood attacked the messenger, and beat him so dreadfully that he was obliged to fly for his life. A retaliatory Irish row took place, and the prosecntrix was struck in the fray. Mr. Baron Foster told the Jury, that if an assault had been committed at all, the prisoners must be found guilty of a grievous assault; but in that case he should not sentence them to transportation, but only to a term of imprisonment. Mr. Bourke, the counsel for the defence. objected to the Judge's charge, because it evidently went to lead the Jury to find a verdict, not upon the evidence, hat upon the consequences that might be superinduced upon that -verdict : such a charge was without precedent, and he called upon the Judge to unsay it. Baron Foster declared that such a line of remark was altogether uncalled-for and unprecedented :- he dissented entirely from the positions laid down by Mr. Blake. The prisoners were acquitted.

At Tyrone Assizes, John Rogers was convicted of Ribandism. He was Secretary to the Association for the county. The sentence was seven years' transportation.

.00 the Queen's County Assiees, PA old man named Richard Sandes,

was charged with marrying a couple, both of whom were Protestants, on the 29th December last, he being at the time a degraded clergyman. of the Established Church. The indictment was laid under an act of George L, a part of the penal code which prohibited Popish priests and degraded clergymen from marrying, under penalty of death. The unfortunate old man was degraded by the Bishop of Ferns in 1828. He was not present at the trial. The Jury returned a verdict of " Guilty" without leaving the box, and judgment of death was recorded.

An inquest was held on the 16th instant upon the body of Mr. Brew, of Kilrush, who was murdered on the night of Sunday week, on his way from Kilrush to Shyan, where he held a farm. The body was found in a ditch, shot through the heart, and mutilated with an axe or a scithe. A gun recently discharged, and shot similar to what the deceased was wounded with, were found in the house of a man named Hickey. He and four others are in custody on suspicion. Mr. Brew had ejected some tenants shortly before his death. The Jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder against some persons or persons unknown." Mr. Brew was twenty-seven years of age, and married but lately ; and Ms widow is expected soon to become a mother.

A very unaccountable murder has come to light. About a fortnight back, Mr. Heather, employed on the Ordnance survey, was out making drawings in a remote part of Galway, when he was set upon by a party of country-people with sticks and stones, deprived of sense, and thrown over a wall. He was found, and taken to the village of Kinvarm ; but he died on Friday week.