IRELAND.
On the authority of the Limerick Chronicle, the Dublin Monitor says that the new Income-tax will press heavily on absentees from the county of Limerick. One nobleman is mentioned, who, with a fortune of 35,000/. a year, (of which a large portion is drawn from Limerick,) contributed 10/. or 20/. towards the relief of distress in the city : he will now be called upon to pay a round thousand for the exigencies of the state. Limerick absentees are numerous; and the Monitor esti- mates the produce of the Income-tax on absentees from Munster alone at 30,000/. a year ; from all Ireland, at 100,000/.
Mr. O'Connell prepares to defend his seat for Cork with a zeal as if he feared for the result. He has invited the Liberal electors to meet him in Cork on Monday next to make the necessary " arrangements "; and he says to them—" I do implore of the electors to complete our pre- parations for the defence on that day. We must not sacrifice our vigi- lance to the sentiment of contempt of the paltry and most untenable attack made on the free choice of the electors of your county."
At Queen's County Assizes, Mr. O'Connor was found guilty of sedi- tious libel, for violent, but according to the reports at the time, vague language repecting the probable results of the ejectment system in Ire- land. He was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and to give se- curity, himself in 5004 with two sureties in 100/. each, to keep the peace.
At Lifford Assizes, on Saturday, Thomas M`Teague, James Redden, and Connell Boyle, were tried for conspiracy to murder John Marshal of Whitehall, in the county of Donegal; who was acknowledged to be 4' a harsh and stern landlord." An approver named Doherty was the chief evidence against the three men ; and he swore that he saw Boyle and Redden give a sum of money to M`Teagne as part payment to- wards shooting Mr. Marshal ; they at the same time promising more money when he was dead. He also swore that he heard the shot fired which deprived Mr. Marshal of life, and that shortly afterwards he met M`Teague with a gun in his hand. On his cross-examination, he said that he heard the shot, but that it was a miss, and he allowed that the money paid was a debt due to 3PTeagae. The Jury, after being locked up for the night, were discharged on the following morning, without agreeing to a verdict, At Monaghan, on Thursday, Samuel Gray was indicted for having on the 26th November 1840 fired at James Cunningham, with intent to kill. A son of Gray had been ejected from his house ; and Cunning- ham, who was put in possession of it, was met, with two other men, by Gray ; and he fired athim, but missed his aim. He then took out a second pistol, and shot one of the other men dead. For the murder he was tried at the last Assizes, and acquitted; and now the trial for the minor offence was postponed till next Assizes, on account of the illness of one of the Jury ; [for Irish Jurors are such a sickly set !]
The Jury appointed at Nenagh to try Patrick Byrnes for shooting Mr. Hall, in May last, could not agree to a verdict ; and they were dis- charged. The trial of Byrnes was deferred till the next Assizes, as well as that of William Kent, for conspiracy in the same case.
An extraordinary charge was preferred at the College Street Police- office, on Monday. Mr. Robert Caldwell, a solicitor in good practice, was charged with a felonious assault on the wife of Mr. Corbett, a bar- rister. Mr. John Adye Curran was counsel for the prosecution ; Mr. Fitzgibbon, Q. C., for the defence. This is Mrs. Corbett's account. On Monday the 7th, Mr. Caldwell, who had been intimate with Mr. Corbett for about a year, dined at his house ; and on Saturday the 12th, be called to make the usual complimentary visit to the lady of the house. He inquired if Mr. Corbett was at home ; and the servant replied that he was not. Mr. Corbett, not being dressed, had given orders that he should be denied to visiters. Mr. Caldwell then inquired for Mrs. Corbett; and he was at once ushered into her presence in the study. He entered into ordinary conversation ; then began a strain of high- flown compliments, and throwing himself on his knee, made an hypo- thetical offer of his heart to Mrs. Corbett if she had been single. Mrs. Corbett was crossing the room to ring the bell, when Caldwell seized her, stifled her cries with his hand, and proceeded to the most infamous violence. The lady resisted the ravisher with desperate strength, and snatching a knife from a bread-basket on the table, made a fierce plunge at his breast. He drew back, and succeeded in wrenching the knife from her ; but she got free, and with loud shrieks rushed to the door. Mr. Corbett came up as she ran out of the room ; and, crying "The knife! the knife ! look to Caldwell !" she fell in a swoon. Caldwell escaped ; for a servant, fearing bloodshed, tripped Mr. Corbett up when he tried to overtake the fugitive. The defence was, that Mrs. Corbett had encouraged undue familiarity on the part of Caldwell ; and letters were produced purporting to be signed by her, containing professions of passionate regard. Both the lady and her husband declare them to be forgeries. The prisoner was liberated upon giving bail, himself in 1001. with two sureties in 50/. each, to answer the charge at the Assizes.
Another " delicate affair" came before one of the Police-offices, on Saturday. Mr. F., a gentleman of property, charged Miss M., a lady, with a conspiracy to rob his house. The prosecutor did not appear to support the charge. Miss M. then explained, that Mr. F. had been paying his addresses to her ; when she found that he was already married, and broke off the intercourse. He then proposed to settle- 1,000!. a year upon and to marry her after his wife's death, should that occur within a certain period, upon conditions which she indig- nantly repelled ; and in revenge he instituted the present accusation. The lady was discharged from custody.
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