IRELAND.

St. Patrick's Day was unusually quiet in Dublin. The ward meetings were none of them very exciting; some were even thinly attended. Reso- lutions to petition for Repeal were adopted at all.

So in the provinces: no violent stir has occurred at any one town. There was much apprehension of collisions between the Orangemen and Repealers in the North, but nothing happened: the newspapers agree that as in Dublin so in the country the 17th was a more than usually calm St. Patrick's Day.

There were some slight riotings, more of a sectarian than political origin, on the 17th in the North,—namely at Downpatrick, Ballynalsinch, and Castlewillan. In the first place, the processionists were wantonly set on by a mob of butchers and others from the Shambles. Offenders have been arrested, and the disorders everywhere put down.

On Monday, there was a meeting convened by the Confederates and in- tended to be a great " demonstration." A platform was erected on a build- ing.ground in the rear of a public-house at the North Wall; it was thronged with Confederates, and the open space was filled by a very miscellaneous crowd of both sexes, with a large proportion of sailors and boys; but among the multitude there were also some respectable tradesmen. Mr.

Hodges, the Government reporter, was present. The principal business was to adopt an address to the French Republic, in which the meeting professed to speak " as slaves should address freemen "; " foreign dominion and distraction among ourselves" choking "the best and noblest feelings of our hearts," and turning " into empty wind the voice of millions "-

"Receive from ne, citizens, all the congratulations we can offer; and be assured that beneath them there is much that cannot be uttered—behind them the long. ings and passions of suffering and enslaved men. You, who have only but y- day broken through even a mild despotism, and yet who were compelled to hide in your hearts for eighteen years the hate of that despotism which now you have so nobly vindicated—you, citizens, you can understand us."

Resolutions were also voted declaring the Union " a nullity," and author- izing steps "for carrying out the projedt of the late illustrious leader of the Irish people, namely, the assembling of a council of three hundred persons in this city to concentrate the national strength, and to devise meaanres for raising this country from her present position of servitude and misery." The oratory was of the usual fustian; such as the following specimens.

Mr. John Mitchel.—He would feel the deepest shame in attending that meet- ing, had he not felt within him an assurance that their own day of delivery was fast approaching. They had met that day to congratulate the French people with " bated breath and whispering humbleness"; but the day was near at ham{ when the French would have to congratulate Irishmen on freedom won. * • •

He would call those noble workmen of Paris "loyal fellows," because at that time in the capital of France the labourer was the only King; and he would term the burning throne of the late tyrannical stockjobber of France a bright bea- con to guide oppressed nations in the path to liberty. * * *

By the third revolution, that of 1848, the rights of liberty were fully and finally established in France; and the people of that country had specifically affirmed the great right of workmen combining in order to secure to themselves a fair remuneration for their labour and Christian usage. In France, henceforth, the man who weaved the cloth would have some of it to wear on his own back; the man who raised food for his fellow men would have some for himself and family; and the men who raised the state to her present proud position would be the rulers of the state. Political economists, and other persons in the interest of the slaughtering English Government, would tell them that he was describing an Utopia, and that free competition was the only way in which business and trade in general could be carried on with success. The Archbishop of Dublin had told them that; but he was nothing less than an impostor. Mr. R. O'Gorman junior.—Irishmen look to France: she groaned under a despotism but a week back, she is now a glorious republic. Sicily was a province one month since, she is now a nation. They talked of themselves as a nation having courage and manliness; but he would say that Europe was actually shaming them into action. In 1782 an opportunity arose for Ireland, and Mese,- cepted it: once again an opportunity might arise. " Before the harvest moon grew pale," the day of deliverance might be at hand, if they were only fit to use that day when it arrived.

Mr. Barry.—Monster meetings should be held in the spirit of the times; not like the old monster meetings, all smoke and no fire. Mr. S. Gordon.—it was the wish of some that a resolution should be proposed that day for the formation of a volunteer army, or national guard; but, upon consideration, it was thought better to postpone it until the return of the deputa- tion from Paris, after presenting the address read by Mr. Mitchel. It would be then brought forward; and, if no one else would do it, Mr. Gordon pledged him- self that he would attend for the express purpose of doing so. Mr. lir Gee.—They should wait a little longer, until Great Britain was engaged in foreign war. They should wait until French steamers were letting off their steam in Falmouth and Portsmouth. Then he would call upon the people to stand together; and when their opportunity was ripe, if the Irish people did not then grasp at it he would say, may they be slaves for ever.

Mr. Meagher.—They might rest assured, that if an arm was stretched out to strike them in Ireland, another would be stretched out in England to revenge them. He owed it as a loyal subject to the Queen, to announce that if one drop of blood were shed by the armed Government whilst the citizens assembled to as- sert a constitutional right, there would be ten thousand shed in England; and the workhouses of the chief cities in England would be burnt to the ground in revenge. [Mr. Gordon.—" A cheer for the English people." Laud cheers.] Let there not be such bold words as bold acts. Let them put bold words into resolute and determined operation. Let each man be prepared for the worst; let him be equipped for the worst. *In conclusion, he could not better close than by quoting the words of a fair poetess— "From evil thought to mar the cause,

From falsehood to the eternal laws, From heedless rush or coward pause, God save the people."

Mr. Smith O'Brien [on the subject of a National Guard].—He conceived that such a demand could be made legally and constitutionally; but he thought it would be advisable to postpone the matter until his return from France, where he would have an opportunity of consulting with the members of the French Pro- visional Government as to the best mode of organizing such a body.. If the Re- peaters of Ireland came boldly forward and made a manly front in the faceof day, to tell her Majestythat they were ready to lay down their lives, if necessary, for the defence of their country, but that an Irish Parliament should be obtained for Ireland within a definite period, such a demand could not fail of suceeee

After the speaking, the immediate supporters of the Confederates, to the number of about a thousand, marched through Dublin, shouting and cheering.

The United Irishmen continues such addresses as the following to the Lord-Lieutenant- " Though the articles of the United Irishman can draw together an army of ten thousand men, they have hitherto failed to provoke a simple information or indict- ment. The reason of course is, that Ireland is governed, not by '1aw ' but by the sword; and that you are not a Lord-Lieutenant, but a butcher. And as for the same warlike and treasonable articles in this newspaper, they will he steadily con- tinued and improved upon, week after week, until they have produced their effect —the effect not of a street-riot to disturb a peaceable meeting, but of a deliberate and universal armament to sweep this island clear of British butchers, and plant the Green Flag on Dublin Castle."

The same paper now writes of Mr. John O'Connell in this strain-

" Mr. John O'Connell has flung away all hypocrisy at last. The stupidest Moral-force dupe, the paltriest coward within the seas of Erin, must blush to hear from his leaders lips the confession of cowardice and treachery. At the very time when the citizens of Dublin are threatened with sack and slaughter should they dare to hold a public meeting, this poor poltroon and basest of Castle slaves prey fern to decline joiniog any demonstration held for the purpose of expressing sympathy with France. This is the fellow that has been preaching 'union,' that is, union' under him, for his base purposes: this is the etherial dodger, who, for the last week, intriguing with the Castle, making a puppet of an old woman of a Lord Mayor, working with tools as base as himself, has striven to retard, balk, make impossible, that meeting in which all Repeaters are anxious to unite. Yes, he is the man who, at the eleventh hour, coincides in the views of the Castle— yields to it the right of the citizens, for which he has a thousand times lyingly declared that he would risk his' drops of blood,' &c. Lord Clarendon should raise

agent statue to this ent of his. What Irishmen should do with him, we forbear to suggest"

Informations were sworn on Tuesday evening, against Mr. W. Smith O'Brien, M.P., Mr. John Mitchel, and Mr. T. F. Meagher; and formal no- tices were served on those gentlemen, to give bail next morning, for their appearance and trial on the first day of term. The messenger found Mr. O'Bnen in the act of packing his portmanteau for a journey to Paris, as roe of a deputation to the French Republic from the Irish Confederation. mr. O'Brien gave his parole to obey the summons. Next morning, the three " martyrs " appeared at the Head Police-office is Dublin, and gave the required bail. The charges against O'Brien and Meagher were, that on the 15th of March last, they delivered speeches in the Music Hall " calculated to excite unlawful opposition against the Queen's Government." The charge against Mitchel was, that on the 19th of February, and the 4th and 18th of March, he published articles in the United Irishsnan headed " Striking Terror," " French Fashion," and a letter addressed to the " Lord Clarendon, her Majesty's Butcher-General and General Executioner in Ireland," with a similar illegal object. At the Police-office, Mr. Maurice O'Connell and John O'Connell officiously volun- teered to be bail fur Mr. O'Brien or Mr. Meagher: those gentlemen ex- pressed thanks for the courtesy, but said that they had already provided themselves. Sureties then joined the prisoners in recognizances, of mode- rate amount, to secure their appearance for trial. The crowd in the office shouted their accord when Mitchers new style of Lord Clarendon was read aloud. They bore the three patriots on their shoulders out of the Police-office, and did not give even a recognition to the O'Connells.

A crowd of several thousands was afterwards addressed in the streets: Mr. O'Brien declared, that he would say and do more than ever to gain a native Parliament. Mr. Mitchel avowed the articles he had been charged with writing; explained that they were written to cause disaffection and discontent in the people; and threatened to write more with the same object. Mr. Meagher said, as he should not see them again till his return from France, he announced to the " bloody " Govern- ment that he was not afraid to meet them in the Queen's Bench, or in any wider field. These proceedings will give the Government five millions of United Irishmen to deal with, in place of the three individuals they had now engaged with.

The Confederates have commenced a subscription to defend Mr. Smith O'Brien and the rest.

The signatures to the declaration of confidence in the Government have reached beyond a hundred thousand, and have received many more dis- tinguished lay and clerical additions. Dr. Kennedy, Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, and all his curates, have signed; and so have the Earls of Erne and Clonmel, Lords Doneraile, Riversdale, and Mountmorres, and above a score more of Baronets. In many instances the Protestant rector and the Catholic priest head the list of a parish side by side.

The Dublin College of Surgeons presented an address to the Lord- Lieutenant, on Thursday, declaring their abhorrence of attempts at excite- ment, and their approval of the wise and determined preparations made to preserve order.

The majority of the medical students also presented addresses stating their willingness to help the authorities in the maintenance of good order. The parishioners of St. Anne's parish assembled in vestry, and declared their support of Government and confidence in the Lord-Lieutenant.