22 NOVEMBER 1845, Page 3

IRELAND.

The Dublin correspondent of the Morning Chronicle explains the objects of a recent appointment— "Lit connexion with the appointment of Mr. Twisleton as the fourth Poor-law Conrnissioner, letters have reached town this morning, [Monday,) in which it is stated very confidently that the condition of the people of Ireland formed the sub- ject of anxious deliberation at the recent meetings of the Cabinet; that it has been determined to send Mr. Twisleton to Ireland, with extensive powers, in order that depots of food should be secured sufficient to meet any contingency arising from the failure of the potato crop; and, in order that the peasantry should have the means of purchasing this food, that public works, especially drainage on a large scale, should be encouraged and facilitated, by advances in the way of loan from the Consolidated Fund."

The Orange Society has at length been fairly reorganized. The Dublin .Evening Mail reports- " At the meeting held at Armagh on the 7th instant, at which a large number of influential noblemen and gentlemen from the various counties in Ulster were present, one of the resolutions adopted on that occasion was to the effect, That a society, under the name of the Protestant Alliance, should be formed to meet the increasing dangers by which our Protestant interests are threatened.' A Committee was subsequently named, consisting of the following noblemen and gentlemen, (many of whom were present,) with power to add to their num- ber. The Duke of Manchester; the Marquis of Downshire; the Earl of Roden; the Earl of Enniskillen; the Earl of Erne; Viscount O'Neill; Lord Edwin Hill, M.P.; Colonel Verner, M.P.; Mr. N. Alexander, M.P.; and the Hon. S. Maxwell, D.L.; Mr. Roger Hall, D.L.; Mr. Waring Maxwell, D.L.; the Reverend William Forde, D.L.; and Major Waring, D.L., Justices of the Peace."

The collection of the O'Connell Tribute commenced throughout Ireland on Sunday lost; and the Repeal papers publish, from time to time, partial results of the collection: they infer that it will exceed that of last year in amount.

The Repeal Association met as usual on Monday. Mr. O'Connell pro- duced a pa:nphlet or some publication of the kind, said to bear the imprint of Messrs. Pilkington, of Great Turnstile, Holborn, which he denounced as an incitement to assassination: it was headed "Landlords and Tenants— Tyrants turning Tenants out "; and it suggested that the tenants should kill the landlords. This publication was extensively circulated in the North parts of Dublin. The moment he discovered it, he sent a copy to the Commissioners of Police; but it appeared that they had not taken the slightest notice of it.

"Captain" Broderick moved a resolution suggesting that a Railway. Committee of the Imperial Parliament should be sent over to Dublin in order to decide on Irish railway schemes; by which means 200,000/. of Parliamentary expenses, that would otherwise go to London, would be spent in Dublin. Mr. O'Connell objected to the motion, as asking for an instalment of Repeal; which he would not take by instalments: but he permitted Mr. Broderick to make a notice of motion, in order to put the suggestion on record. Mr. John Augustus O'Neill moved that a Committee be appointed to sit permanently during the pervading scarcity, in order to collect information and issue advice. Mr. O'Connell seconded the moticn ; and took the opportunity to attack the Government— They bad made this famine a party question. How base was thus proceeding— how heartless! Famine and pestilence were at band, if due precautions were not taken. If the precautions proved unnecessary, the loss of expenditure would be inconsiderable. He arraigned people connected with the Bank of Irelandas beingguilty, knowing this point. He would try one more meeting of the citizens, and have it proclaimed, as he knew it to be fact, that one-third of the potato crop was at this moment totally destroyed. If Peel did not attend to their warning, he would be chargeable with murders innumerable. Why did he not open tl a ports? Every Foreign Government did so; even the tyrant of Russia did so.

• imy would address the Queen on the subject. The extremity of the distress of

the country was proved by the fact that the gentry of Meath were forgiving the people the comae rents. This was a great sacrifice, but it had been indis- pensable. A question of life or death was now impending. Mr. O'Connell adverted to the new Colleges—

The Association was now unanimous in condemning this scheme of bribery and corruption. He regretted that Galway was not coiiperating with them. Galway was always a drag upon the march of improvement. He was ashamed of the name of Irishman when he heard talk of Galway. The Galway press was a base, mercenary concern, always trafficking for some paltry interest. The Bishops were to meet immediately in Marlborough Street, and no attempt should be made to prejudice their minds. He would solicit from the Bishops a hearing from a lay deputation; but if they refused to receive it, he would acquiesce. As to Dean Kirwan, he had been sadly disappointed in him, and now their friendship was severed for ever.

Mr. O'Neill warmly defended Galway. There was more speaking, by Mr. O'Connell de omnibus rebus, and by Mr. Smith O'Brien against Riband Societies. Mr. O'Connell announced that a successor for Mr. Sergeant Murphy in the representation of Cork had been found, in Mr. Alexander M'Carthy.

The rent for the week was 178/.

The Times Commissioner has extended his tour to Mr. O'Connell's own domains. The results of his visit are described in a letter written from Kenmare, in the county of Kerry, on the 10th instant, and published in the Times of Tuesday- " Until I came into Kerry and passed over the estate of Mr. Daniel O'Connell, I never could divine the reason of the hubbub of the O'Connells---' of their screeching and cackling and hissing,' [in Conciliation Hall,] when the neglectful conduct to his tenantry of the Marquis Of Conyngham was exposed. Why should men who are eternally prating about absentee landlords, and neglectful landlords, and who are ever using the destitution and discontent of the poor tenants as a means of abuse of English legislation, fall foul of me for exposing a marked instance of neglect, whilst at the same time I pointed out the benefits which had accrued to tenants from the attention and encouragement bestowed on them by Lord George Hill, a neighbouring landlord? But my eyes are open

• now. The murder is out.' There was an apprehension that the turn to have their decent feathers plucked off might come round to the occupiers of Darrynane.

"At and in the neighbourhood of Cahirciveen and Darrynane, Mr. Daniel O'Connell possesses an income from land of about 3,000/. a year. A small por- tion of this is his own fee-simple property; another small portion he rents on lease renewable for ever, and about two-thirds of the property he holds on ter- minable leases, under the Dublin College, Mr. Hartop, Mr. Bland, and Lord Cork. He is,. in fact, for two-thirds of his property a middleman, living on a profit-rent derived from small tenants: and we will see presently how he manages them. The bulk of this property is held on a lease for his own life. With his private affiiirs, however, I have nothing to do; nor will I meddle with them, though I had queer stories enough related to me. I have no business with any- thing but the manner in which, by his treatment of his sub-tenants, he bene- fits or injures his countrymen and the country. A gentleman named Butler, residing at Waterville, mentions a lease of land, let by his father to the father of Mr. Daniel O'Connell. When old Mr. O'Connell died there were not twelve tenants upon it; and in 1841, when the land came out of lease, (fifteen years afterwards,) there were fifty-four tenants upon it. (Land Commi sioners' Report, 895.) His general character as a landlord or middleman is, that any tenant who applies to him may have leave to erect a cabin where he pleases. He permits subdivision to any extent. This wins a certain degree of-popularity; but the land under lease by him is in consequence in the most frightful state of over- population. The competition for land is therefore intense, and they will offer almost any rent for the most miserable fragment of land. In this condition they are left in a total state of neglect. They have no agricultural schools, no encouragement, none to lead or to guide them; and the poor creatures are left to subdivide their land, and to multiply., and to blunder on, until, in the words of Mr. Keane Mahony, their principal feature is distress.' (lb. 898.)

"I entered several of the cottages at a place called Darrynane Beg, within a mile from Darrynane. The distress of the people was horrible. There is not a pane of glass in the parish, nor a window of any kind in half the cottages.

Some have got a hole in the wall for light, with a board to i stop it up. In not one in a dozen is there a chair to sit upon, or anything whatever n the cottages beyond an iron pot and a rude bedstead with some straw on it; and not always that. In many of them the smoke is coming out of the doorway, for they have no chininies. In one that I entered, the door was taken off the hinges and made a table of, by placing it on two turf-baskets. Unaided and unguided, the poor creatures are in the lowest degree of squalid poverty I have yet seen: and this within sight of Darrynane House ! As one of the tenants told me they were eat- ing one another's heads off; and if they did not get some assistance, they would starve and the gaols would be full.' Wretched as are the tenants on the Marquis of Conyngham's property in Donegal, their condition is fully equalled by the condi- tion of the tenantry of Darrynane. The hissing and the screeching' is thus fully accounted for. In future, however, it will be remembered that, among the most neglectful landlords who are a curse to Ireland, Daniel O'Connell ranks first—that on the estate of Daniel O'Connell are to be found the most wretched tenants that are to be seen in all Ireland. Ha middleman is execrated as a useless drone who squeezes the very life's-blood out of his miserable tenants, the name of Daniel O'Connell will not be forgotten. Though not the worst among middlemen, he lives by the system.

"Adjoining the cottages on this property are neatly-thatched and roomy cot- tages on the Marquis of Lansdowne's estate, who takes some pains to encourage his tenantry.

"in fart, wherever there is ordinary attention paid by any landlord to his tenants there are signs of improvement and comfort. Wherever there is a mid- dleman, and utter neglect of the people and subdivision is allowed, there the misery which marks the Darrynane property is observable."

In one of his earlier letters, the Times Commissioner asserted that the Irish in the wilder parts are in the habit of pawning money—gold coin or bank-notes !—thoughmerely to change them and take as much as they need would save the interest. This was denied by speakers at Concilia- tion Hall; but a correspondent of the Times corroborates the fact—

"I was a pawnbroker in Ireland for twenty-one years, and carried on the busi- ness in the South and in the West; and during that time I have had several scores of persons pawning their money, both notes and gold. I have often sold both the one and the other; and it is not in the wilds of Galway alone that such things occur, but, to my own knowledge, it was a common occurrence in the beautiful city.' of Cork; where I know several persons in that business who in- formed me of the circumstance."