6 OCTOBER 1849, Page 5

IRELAND.

An autograph letter from her Majesty to the Dutchess of Leinster records in striking terms the favourable impression left on the Queen's mind by what she beheld of Ireland and the Irish. The letter to which we take the liberty of thus alluding is entirely of a private character; but if it could be published, her Majesty's Irish subjects would recognize in its language and sentiments the genuine feelings of a real friend to Ireland, who tho- roughly appreciates the kindly and generous qualities of the Irish people. One or two of the Irish aristocracy have been favoured with a perusal of this letter, and it is from their account of it we derive the information con- veyed in the present paragraph—The Press.

The death of Mr. Daniel Callaghan leaves a Parliamentary vacancy for Cork city. Mr. Callaghan was a wealthy provision-merchant, and had been a Government contractor. He entered the House of COMITIOns in 1829, as an avowed supporter of the Reform Bill and opposer of Repeal; but at subsequent elections, he pledged himself to vote for Repeal; and these pledges are said to have stood in his way when the Whig party pro- posed him to Lord Melbourne as Vice-President of the Board of Trade.

Mr. Alexander M'Carthy, formerly M.P. for Cork, Mr. Isaac Butt, Q,.C., and Mr. Sergeant Murphy, are mentioned as candidates for the seat.

- Mr. John O'Connell has reappeared on the political stage, and addressed a letter to the people of Ireland, intended as an announcement and a be- ginning of the Repeal agitation upon new bases, and probably with new friends.

"Shall we," be asks, "perish as a nation without a word? Shall we make no effort to save ourselves? to force upon our reluctant rulers the tale of our in- creasing miseries—our renewed and aggravated perils, and to show that we are worthy of the sympathy of Europe and of the world?" Choosing the other horn of the dilemma, he continues—" First let us have peace among ourselves. Be bygones bygones! Let us only contend with the common enemy"; or at least, "if unhappy differences may yet prevent a total union, those who cannot, or who will not join the great body of their countrymen, let them at least, as they love Ireland, abstain from seeking to impede our efforts and our struggles." For in- deed, "what have we gained by silence and inertness? Did not the English Par- liament, which promised us its favours if we were but quiet to receive them—did it not violate, shamelessly and grossly, our constitution ? Did it not refuse all redress of the monster grievance of the Church Establishment, and take argu- ment from our silence that we were base enough to be content with the endurance of this insult and outrageous wrong? Was not all protection denied, and with scorn and scoffing, to the wretched tenant from his tyrant landlord ? and thorough impunity allowed to the horrible exterminators of the people? Was not even the dole of relief given to a portion of our starving multitudes, accompanied with bitter words of insult and contumely upon us Irish beggars and Irish helpless slaves?" With a passing denunciation of the "hideous galvanism of secret societies and secret oaths,' he refers to the effect of the rising of the Catholic Association at a time when twenty-two counties were already in a state of insurrection; and he augurs that the labours of the Repeal Association should bring about a like remit, "and save our people from the last misery—that of a wild and hopeless and most criminal insurrection."

The ends that Mr. John calls on every friend of Ireland to work for are then enumerated. To wake the Ministry to the danger imminent from the renewed failure of the potato crop; to check and arrest Ribandism ; "to contradict the audacious assertion that we are content with the endurance of the monstrous in- justice of the Church Establishment; and to call on Parliament to apply the Church revenues to the support of the poor, and thereby to the lessening of the grievous burden of the increasing and all-devouring .poor-rate"; to estop the horrid eviction system-12,000 families have been driven out in nine months; "tenant-right—plain, unmistakeable, simple, equitable tenant-right !—the tenants right of the North; an amendment of the Poor-law—if amendment be possible; and a real, and not a mock amendment of our Corporations." Not that these are all the ends Mr. O'Connell would attain; for "there is yet one other reason why we should be up and doing. Catholic Emancipation is being reversed while we are silent and passive. Already we are being excluded from the jury-box; and the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland has protested even against our having the right to meet constitutionally and complain of our wrongs I . . . . I will not dwell on his calumnies upon our priesthood, sedulously propagated at home and abroad; upon his „filthy intrigues at Rums, and other acts of more distant date. But did not the man show himself in his true colours of insolent and reckless bigotry and spite; *hen he chose the verymoment of our beloved Queen's happy visit to M- suit our Bishops by_the exclusion of Catholics from the Historical chairs of his new Colleges, in direct contravention of their unanimous demand ?"

In conclusion, be points to "unhappy Hungary—unhappy Sicily—unhappy Italy—unhappy France"; exclaiming, " What woes and miseries, what bloodshed and what desolation would not these countries have escaped, if they had not pre-

ferred the ways of violence to those of peace and of order! Those are sins to be shunned. " We will stand firm to our glorious principle of peaceful amelioration; we will commit no crime, we will break no law, we will shed no blood; but we will forego no right, we will abate no constitutional effort; and, whilst we work earnestly and determinedly for our rights, assured hope wel cheer us on—our hope in the good providence of God, and his mercies to those who seek his bless- ing on their struggles, and who would rather fail utterly and perish than violate the least one of his Divine commands!"

In a postscript he adds—" I trust to be allowed the honour of attending the Committee of the Repeal Association early next week in Dublin; and if they ap- prove of it, we shall resume at once the usual meetings of the Repeal Association.'

The Standing Committee of the Repeal Association met in Conciliation Hall on Wednesday, and resolved on the reopening of the Association. The first of the regular weekly meetings is to be held on Monday next.

A. large space in the Irish journals is filled with details of the removal of crops by fraudulent tenants, just on the eve of Michaelmas Day. The

Dublin Evening Mail says—" The system of combining against the pay-

ment of rent, so far from abating, is spreading with rapidity throughout this and the neighbouring counties; and it is not confined to the smaller class of farmers, for we find men hitherto respectable and in comfortable

circumstances joining the League,' and availing themselves of the assist- ance given them by strangers to plunder the landlords." The Mail gives

at tw000lumns length "a list of agrarian robberies committed within a

week" in the metropolitan county alone. One of the cases is the following. " Oldtown.—This is the property of Colonel Bruen, M.P., and is situate near Bagnaletown. The lands were held under an old lease by Mr. Rossiter Kehoe;

who, on Friday last, collected a number of men, all strangers to that locality, and swept away the crops in the presence of Captain Cary, the agent, who was on the !pot, but could not make any seizure, as the rent was not due till the 29th. It is to be regretted that the class of respectable farmers to which Mr. Kehoe be- longed should have recourse to a system of combination which will not only deso- late the country but destroy all confidence between the owners and occupiers of land in this country. As the parties engaged in removing the crops were strangers, the act of Mr. Kehoe was not only coolly planned but systematic. How fir he will succeed in his worldly prospects by this plan of paying a lawful debt, remains to be seen. It is gratifying to know that none of the neighbouring farmers or labourers took a part in the act."

But in many other instances there has been collision between the tenants with their partisans and the law-officers acting for the landlord. The Kil- kenny Moderator describes an affray at Butler's Grove, near Gowran, arising out of a seizure for rent by Captain Watson, the landlord of one

Cloony. The peasantry attacked a strong posse of armed bailiffs; who, under the command of the Captain's two sons, defended the corn. The peasantry acted in concert; a part of them manceuvering, and making the attack with pikes, scithes, &c.; others rushing on the fields with cars, and

rapidly tossing up the corn. Cloony's party succeeded in loading their cars, and were getting them off the ground, when the young Watsons used

their guns. William Butler was shot dead, and another man was wounded in such a way that a doctor who passed said his cue was hopeless. Yet the contest continued; for the describer of the fray says in conclusion- " Notwithstanding the fearful circumstances which have resulted from the

attack, the corn is still being removed, though one man lies dead in the gap, and another is dying in the neighbourhood." The Kilkenny Jourfial

states that the young Watsons were both seriously wounded. In another instance, near Blarney, a party of police were totally worsted, and driven from the field whence they canna to drive the rievers; and the corn was borne off by thirty-six cars in a long line, under the convoy of one hun- dred armed men. Two troops of Lancers were despatched in pursuit, and the cavalcade was overtaken. Resistance being thought vain, the expe- dition fled in all manner of directions; each man hoping that the troopers

could not pursue and detain all. Several carte got safely away, and, several teams of horses were got off by drivers' unharnessing them when the

pursuers were close. About a dozen men were arrested; and it was found that some teams had journeyed nearly twenty miles to assist in the raid: nearly all came from a place thirteen or fourteen miles off.

A letter from Cloony himself has appeared in the Kilkenny Journal. Cloony states that his rent was 21. 2s. 6d. per acre, though two Govern-

ment agents had valued his land at but 25s.; that there was nothing due but the March rent, when his wheat crop (six acres) was seized in sheaf, and a notice served on him demanding to know whether he would wish it threshed or sold by auction? he agreed to have it threshed; the landlord, however, sent men who scutched it, threw out the sheaves, giving credit for "only 23L," and then seized a large quantity of other corn and goods.

Cloony proceeded to replevin the corn; coming under the Sheriff's author- ity to take it, he was resisted by an armed party under the Wateons, with the fatal result recorded above.

An inquest on Butler's body has resulted in a verdict of " Death from a wound made by some person unknown."

The consequences of such proceedings are already manifesting them- selves in some districts. The Clare Journal inserts a communication from Miltown, Milbay, which pictures some of these results- " It would astonish you to see what tracts of land are tenantless in the country about Mullogh. Many tenants who were hitherto looked upon as being rather

independent, and 'sure marks' for the rent, and who had what might be called

cheap holdings, being old takes,' have run off. And land which if it were un- occupied a few years ago would set so high as 2/. an acre, will not now be taken at 15a., though offered at that So little value is there set upon land. This is a Bad state of affairs, and will, if it continues much longer, reduce proprietor as well as tenant to a state of pauperism."

The sufficient cause of this depopulation is supplied by the Cork Re- porter, which gives as melancholy facts these statements on emigration- " We have just been informed by a most respectable emigration-agent, that the largest number of persons that ever left our quays as emigrants, in a single day, has fallen short considerably of those who are leaving on this day. One of the steamers, which is allowed to take the large number of 450 passengers on board, has not nearly sufficient accommodation for applicants. The class of persons emi- grating, we understand, is very respectable, and we have been told of one party who takes with him the sum of 4001?

The Limerick and arre Examiner complains of "clearances" in the union of Kilrush, referred to by Sir Robert Peel in his speech on the con- dition of Ireland— "Our correspondent's last two communications detailed to the public the ex- termination of over one thousand four hundred human beings in the same union. Another, ;which we shall publish on Wednesday, furnishes details of the dis- possession, from a single property, of one hundred and thirty-two occupiers; ani now the legal :preparations are all made and takeil for the extermination in one fell swoop of eighteen hundred more. We again ask the Government, in the sacred name of God, will they not interpose? Will they do nothing to deas_ mate and defeat this murderous persecution? Secret associations are springing up in Clam. What then ? Can we pretend, or hope, that any species of dis- suasion will prevail with a people who are thus mercilessly persecuted ?"

The same journal has accounts of evictions at Newcastle West and Shanagolden, county of Limerick. There are, however, several estates on which a totally different system prevails.

The Limerick Examiner has, in pleasing contrast, an account of the re- joicings of the labourers at Trevoe on the arrival of "their esteemed land.. lord and friend," Mr. Monsen, M.P. A considerable number of landlords are readjusting their rentals with the intention of enabling their tenants to bear up under the distress of the times.