2 APRIL 1842, Page 5

IRELAND.

The merchants of Cork have, through the President of their Com- mittee, transmitted to the Vice-President of the Board of Trade a re- monstrance against the discontinuance of bonds on provisions shipped as cargo for foreign voyages. They say that it will virtually admit foreign salt meat to be used in the British marine generally duty-free ; and that it will destroy the Irish trade in salt provisions ; thousands of coopers, salters, labourers, and boys must be thrown out of employ ; warehouses must be abandoned to decay ; and the British Navy will in- cur the risk of being left dependent on foreign supplies in war-time.

At a meeting of the Repeal Association, on Thursday week, Mr. O'Connell spoke in desponding terms of his present enterprise— He was deeply affected with the state in which the public cause was at pre- sent placed. Was there no hope for public liberty ? were they to lie down in acquiscence and despair, and was the torpor which at present seemed to exist to continue ? There was unhappily apathy abroad—there was repose : but it was the awful calm presaging and preceding the storm ; and it should be their business before it arose, and during its progress, "to ride upon the whirlwind and direct the tempest," for no man could predict what would be the result of an outbreak of the human intellect, which would necessarily follow the con- tinuance of despair. What were the causes of the present desertion of the Liberal party ? As to the bar, it was at one time the noblest hope of Ireland, both for its patriotism as well as for its embracing a great part of the talent of Ireland ; and for a time it had shone a brilliant star in the galaxy of heavenly light, promising the dawn of a day of resplendent liberty. What was to be said of those Liberal Protestants and Catholics who had stood around them in the struggle for Catholic Emancipation ? Where were they now ? Alas, the Whig' a bad done all they could to put an end to their independence. From the attornies he hoped for assistance. Passing from the law, what had they to expect from the Whig nobility Where were they ?—taking dinners at the Castle, and figuring at balls. There was a day when the name of the Duke of Leinster would have a charm for Irish ears and for Irish hearts, and the family had the high honour of being designated ipsis Hibernes Hiberniores; but unless within six months they redeemed their political character, his man- date would be that they should be called ipsis Anglicis Angliores. To pass from the Whig nobility to the Whig gentry—where were they ? and echo answered "where?" Mr. O'Connell then condemned the project of the Ulster Association : he did not know what was the object of its formation beyond putting an impediment in the way of Repeal agitation. He condemned the new plans of taxation in Ireland ; and gave the additional recommendation of temperance, that it would enable Irish- men to avoid the payment of the additional ls. duty on spirits—" Peel's shilling." He announced another plan of Repeal agitation, to be deve- loped on Friday next— The objects in his plan were—first, the total abolition of the tithe rent- charge ; the second, the extension of the suffrage, so that any man of twenty- one years of age, who was not an idiot or a criminal, should have the suffrage, to put Ireland on an equalization with England; the third object was an equal and adequate Corporation Reform Act with England; the fourth object was an amendment of the Poor-law; and his fifth object was for the security of tenure for the tenantry of Ireland. These were the five grounds of his agita- tion, all of which were to be merged in the one great cause of the Repeal of the Union.

Mr. O'Connell arrived in Cork on Saturday ; and on Monday, with the Lord Mayor of that city, he joined Father Mathew's Temperance procession ; to which the whole country round sent its multitudes to receive the blessing of the " Apostle." On Sunday, Mr. O'Connell re- ceived a deputation to consult upon an agitation for the abolition of minister's money ; and he promised to make a motion for that purpose in the House of Commons. On Monday, he received a deputation on the subject of Irish manufactures ; but the chief object of his visit to Cork was to concert measures for defending his return.

At the Court of Admiralty, at Cork, on Thursday week, John Hart- nell was tried for stealing a quantity of goods and stores, intrusted to his care, in the Mary Ann, by George Thomas Whitington, and also for stealing the vessel itself. Mr. Whitington, a merchant, was en- gaged in colonizing the island of East Falkland. In 1840, he sent out the Mary Ann, intrusting her, with goods and stores, to the care of Hartnell, whom he employed as master. The voyage was to continue for three years. Some of the cargo was for delivery to Mr. Bull Whit- ington, brother to Hartnell's employer in the island ; but on arriving there, instead of delivering the goods, Hartnell claimed the whole of the cargo and the vessel as his own. He entertained all the captains at the islands with the provisions intended for the support of the colony ; and the distress was so great, that Mr. Bull Whitington was forced to buy from other captains what was called " sweepings " of flour, at the rate-of a shilling a pound. During the voyage, Hartnell had bales of goods taken out of the hold, and put into some of the oil-casks ; and had fine canvas made up into clothing for himself. A vessel called the Golston was wrecked at Success Bay; and Hartnell went there, had the goods taken out of the wreck, reshipped them, and went to Montevideo, where he sold them. He altered the paint on the vessel, so that she could scarcely be recognized ; calling himself the owner. He was ar- rested at Cork, where he came to dispose of some hides which he had bought at Montevideo. The evidence was conclusive, and a verdict of "Guilty" was returned on all the counts but the last, that which charged Hartnett with stealing the ship. He was sentenced to be transported for seven years.