25 APRIL 1840, Page 6

IRELAND.

Mr. O'Connell emplees himself in organizing his new plan of agita- tion, wen elihmeteri energy. Scarcely a day pa.;,;-es in which some public ineeting is nut held in D-htin, r.t %Odell he is the principal speaker ai.e. sole director of prow:. On Sattird.:-, he procured the eta,: of a meeting at the Corn Ex- chanee to put elf a " great itega.asa, electing or the Province of Leinster " until after Mr. Drumnime ars funeral, which was to take place

on Wednesday. This was intended e ' mark of respect to that excel-

lent and lammesel eentlimee." 'lid; preliminary business having beer' d'aeecsd of a ,,else sll's ,,ver-ready corps of chair- knell :rr -.1;; ;- • o' : and another meeting fore ; •!1< J, sties or Repeal." The usta:.1 n.ittitr l readbig, letters were per- fora, : of ....L. from the Count De Sali-, !.;, ,;;. in ir : •;.-.111, proo.Liug neophyte in the -e!,:: , d 11.-,pra:— " It' so has, a Colon, L r :• mn, in : let it be an identity, of is ter,• .

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1l That, Sir, is the letter of a young gentleman of large fortune and high rank, who has lately come into the possession of extensive estates, and has Da triotically come to reside in his native country. Sir, we cannot cherish sad compliment too much a gentleman who comes forward as he has done, with sentiments which must prove acceptable to his country—favourable as they are to her liberties, and hostile to her enemies. I, therefore, Sir, move the in sertion of that letter on the minutes. It concurs so completely with the view which I have taken of the position in which Ireland at present stands, with the exception of our claims to an increase of representatives—it points out so clearly the deficiency of interest in Irish affairs taken by the Imperial Pula. ment—the tone of it is so admirable, and the sentiments so well and so New, expressed, that I own I have more than ordinary pleasure in moving its melon on the minutes of this association, and at the same time offering to iq writer our congratulations upon his arrival in this country, upon his weak; to his splendid fortune, and upon his avowal of those admirable seeennosi which lie has embodied in his letter. By this proceeding, Sir, I do not mean to commit him to the course of action which shall be adopted by this association: on the contrary, I leave him that perfect freedom of actien which be Limed(' concedes to others, to adopt whatever line of conduct may be most Oceans to him ; but I cannot allow the occasion to pass over without congratulating 1dra on the manliness and propriety of the sentiments contained in his letter. I, therefore, Sir, move that the thanks and congratulations of this association be given to the Count De Salis."

The motion was of course carried unanimously ; and Mr. O'Connel explained the objects of the National Association, and stated the terms on which he would forbear to press for Repeal- " I now rise to call the attention of the meeting to the steps which it will b. necessary to take in consequence of the organization of this National Maxi. ation. I mean, Sir, in the first place, to propose the formation of a committee in order to work out its object. That object is Repeal, and nothing else, That is the object ; but, at the same time, we give to the Imperial Parliament, and to England an alternative—let them do us Justice, and we will give up the object we have in view ; but if they do not comply—if they persevere in treats big us with their usual injustice—then must every honest man form time reso- lution to join in the cry for Repeal. I am perfectly convinced, in my own mind, that nothing substantial will ever be done for our country except by domestic legislature. 1 am so convinced of this, that I confess, even it there

were a clear prospect of justice being rendered to its—after all that we have suffered—after the many disappointments and wrongs to which we bare been subjected—I would almost regret the alternative. Nevertheless, I mean, sin- cerely, to act honestly by the EnglishParliament. I mean to try the experi- ment fairly ; and if they act honestly by Ireland, they shall take away all ar- gument from me—they will, by so doing, disarm me; pblaucte,.atItl:leisstianme they will not convince me that Repeal should not take etlytimdee:

dare, that if they concede to us that religious equality enjoyed in the other portions of these dominions, and to which, undoubtedly, we are not less entitled than those other portions—if they effect a thorough Corporation Reform—if they grunt us an extension of the franchise, and an adequate number of repre- sentatives in proportion to our population and our importance in relation to the

rest of the kingdom—then, but not till then, will 1 abandon the Repeal Rea, tion. I wish to give them this alternative, at the same time knowing full well

that they will not adopt it. Let it not be thought that there is any thing equivocal in this Association : and I now say, let no man come forward tojom this body, who is not an unequivocal Repealer; and any one who has joined us, and is not for Repeal, let him at once withdraw his name, for I tell him and the country that this is a Repeal Association." —

He then proceeded to reply to some arguments against Repeat in Atr. Sharman Crawford's letter, published some months ago •, but said they were too important for a single speech, and therefore he moved for 4 committee to draw up a reply to Mr. Crawford. This motion was carried ; so another dissertation on Repeal from Mr. O'Connell may be shortly expected.

It was agreed to establish a Repeal rent—every subscriber of a shil•

ling to be a registerered as a Repealer. Committees to prepare petitions were named; and Mr. T. Ray was appointed Secretary of the Association. Mr. O'Connell announced the receipt of some money- " Sir, I beg leave to announce the first collection of the Repeal Rent. The first announcement which I made of the Catholic Rent in the old Catholic Association was only 41.; the first announcement of the Repeal Rent, after two days' meeting, amounts to no less than 441. That's a good beginning."

Considerable opposition will be raised to this Repeal movement. Father Toni Macguire having boasted that he could put himself' at the head of three millions of Teetotallers, Father Mathew rebuked him, and denied that he could make use of the Temperance movement for political purposes.

The Dublin Monitor, though all for the Ministry and much for O'Connell, disapproves of the Repeal agitation; and the Belfast Whig, the principal organ of the Liberals in the North of Ireland, after slat- Mg the professed objects of the National Association, describes it as a mischievous repetition of the Precursor scheme- " At the time that abortive agitation was projected, a solemn declaration was nude, that, unless concessions similar to the above were obtained in the then approaching sr-sion, the Repeal flag would be hoisted immediately of:cm/ads. But that session came and went; the concessions were not made; and the Repeal flag, nevertheless, was not unfurled. Why arc we to have a renewal of the sonic mischievous nonsense? Does Mr. O'Connell imagine, that we have any chance of getting the Tithe-settlement, for example—in which be himself joined, by voting and sprshino—overtorned during the present session, or the next one into the bargain ? course he does not ; and be says sic. Then, does he expect t hat Parliamenl, from is hieli several comparatively small and just measures Salina be eNtill'11,11, will, as if' by a miracle, be induced to pass a bill for repealing the Act of 1111011 ? Ile has no such idea. Does he propose an appeal to bore: Ile repudiates any such attempt. Ilow, then, does ice bops to carry Repeal 's The simple truth is, that he has no hope, whatever, of carrying it. " Lt loot part of his speech, he makes an observation which may throw some light upon the real object of this new agitation. Ile says, lie 'lora not think that this agitation will Hum NIMisters. What ! an agitation for Repeal not injures Mini:try determined to maintain the Union, prfmnict/ that agitation Le made ill ! 131It he 81141,--' The Tories, however, might come into (lire; and let me ask any mom of sense, in what condition would! Ireland he, if the. Tories came into power ? l want this to be ready for them if

they do so. / am preparing Jrb the Tory adrunt, if it should come Tube

sure, he says, that ' he is preparing for the struggle thr Ireland, let it be Whigs or Tories wha vide in the ("Menet; ' but it is obvious, tint it is a preparation for a Tory advent' that he has in view. " We conks+, we are not without a feeling of uneasiness on account of the apprehension Mach Mr. O'Connell manifests of a Tory restoration. If, how- ever, lie really see cause fin- alarm, nothing could be more desirable than that timely preparation should be matte thr giving them a warm reception; but we

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,regret that the juggle of a Repeal agitation should he the plan resorted to. Vie very fact, that the insincerity of the proceeding is virtually admitted by Mr. O'Connell himself, will render the agitation feeble. But, in the next lace it is an considerable eagteitnatt ;i ofno which thweir seifnfeccerteu aoly nspntc eure, th muLiberal dpisacrotyu ratgoe da by a large body of the most honest and most influential Reformers in Ireland. Time it will place weapons in the hands of the Tories; and we fully agree with Mr. O'Connell when he says, ' I know, and feel it strongly, the delight i this movement will give in the Orange Lodges, and to the entire of the Orange faction: Why does he milord. them that delight? And why, too, does he rush forward, with ascheme which is, at the same time, absurd and mischievous, as calculated injuriously to affehct the union of Reformers? Let us prepare, if need be, fin, a "Fory advent e ut let the preparation be one of reason and sincerity, which will be hacked by the whole Liberal power in Ireland." Mr. O'Connell appears resolved to punish the Northern TVIng for its contumacy ; and he has sent a letter to the Vindicator, a Roman Catholic paper published in Belfast, denouncing the conductors of the Whig by name, A spirited protest and rejoinder appears in that journal of Tuesday; and, without going into the details of the confl'oversy, we may say, that the Agitator has the worst of it, as far as argument goes. Many Liberals will sympathize with the concluding sentences of the Belfast writer's ankle- t, We cannot he charged with having placed implicit confidence in him, or any other public man; but, as he possesses rare abilities for forwarding the in- terests of the public, we were always anxious that he should lie used, so long as he continued in the right course. He has turned aside, just now, in one of

his wildest ; though he may consider his present pranks as useful means of 'raising the wind,' we are not to be deterred, by his slanders or his de- nunciations, from the straightforward and conscientious discharge of our public duty,"