IRELAND.

Although the Lord Chancellor is convalescent, it has been found neces- sary, for the present, to place the Great Seal in commission. The Com- missioners, named on Monday, are Barons Richards, Pennefather, and Le- froy, Mr. Justice Moore, Mr. Justice Jackson, and two of the Masters in Chancery—Messrs. Henn and Brooke.

The Special Commission has kept steadily at work. On Friday the 7th, - Andrew Dee was tried for shooting Edmund Murphy: found guilty, and .sentenced to be hanged. Dee is about nineteen years of age, but looks con- siderably younger.; is of small stature, with fine features and an intelligent and pleasing countenance: he stood in the front of the dock, and through- out the trial evinced not the slightest emotion.

Several Whiteboy offences, and cases of minor importance, were disposed of; convictions being general.

On Monday, between twenty and thirty prisoners were sentenced. With one exception, the men who attacked Molony's house and carried off his daughter were condemned to fourteen years transportation. The ex- ception was one Looney, who bad been recommended to mercy on account of some little humanity exhibited by him in carrying the girl on his back when her naked feet were lacerated by stones of a newly-mended road: he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. Four men convicted of at- tacking Slattery's house received ten years' transportation. Several were sentenced to seven years' transportation for similar offences. Thomas Hickey received two years imprisonment with hard labour. He was con- victed of attacking a house and discharging a pistol through the window; and he had been secured by the intrepidity of a young girl in the house, who rushed at him and held him until her brother and father came up. The Judge commended the intrepid girl: "that young girl," he said, "is entitled to the gratitude of her country for the fortitude she displayed; and if the same spirit were prevalent iu other ranks and classes, where it might be expected to be found, is it possible we should see our oonntry de- graded and disgraced as it is? "

The Court then proceeded to try John Rerulan, one of a party of nine accomplices, for murdering John ?4'Eniry, on the 3d October. The mur- der, a most brutally conducted affair, was detailed by the wife and daugh- ter; who swore to Renihan's identity. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death.

The Grand Jury were released for a few days; the Special Commission- ers proceeding to Ennis on Tuesday.

Though actual assassinations are not just now abundant, preparations are evidently making for a fresh batch of murders. Threatening notices continue to be sent in great numbers through the post.

Three men have been committed to Ennis Gaol, for conspiring to take the lives of Colonel Vandelenr and Captain Kennedy, the Poor-law Inspector of the Kil- rush Union; both of whom bad been served with notices. The men were appro. beaded while larking near Kilrash Workhouse, one having a pistol concealed on, his person.

On Tuesday sennight, Sergeant-Major Read was stopped in Limerick by a man, who asked him ff he was to be a witness in Hill's murder? Read answered in the affirmative: on which the man snapped a pistol at the Sergeant; but, finding it would not go off, decamped down a side-street, and escaped.

In his recent address to the Team Quarter-Sessions Grand Jury, Mr. Deane Freeman, the Assistant Barrister for Galway, gave an alarming account of the state of his district. It was enough, he said, to make a man sick to see the state of things that presented itself at the Sessions in Galway, Loughrea, and Portum- na, but particularly in Galway, where the cases from Connemara were so nume- rous as really to crowd the gaol to such a degree as to oblige those unfortunate wretches to sleep upon the galleries and lobbies without accommodation; although the gaol was butt considerably larger than was necessary for the county under ordinary circumstances. Killing sheep and cows with intent to steal the carcases is carried on to such a degree in the Western district of the county, that the cabin of every person in the place may be said to be turned into a felon's shambles. There appears to be no limit to number; for one industrious man showed that he lost two cows and so many as sixty-two sheep; and a widow proved that the only property she had on earth, a single sheep, was stolen by a member of a family in her neighbourhood, and killed; and they were caught in the act of destroying the members of the sheep, to avoid detection.

Two men, John Quinn and John Foley, promeding to the lands of Ardara, in Leiteltn, to execute some orderatiom the land-agent, were met in the high-road bianotber dressed ass woman, hitVing his face blackened. After desiring Foley to go home, the man told Quinn to kneel, in order, that he might be shot. Foley ran away, shouting murder; but Quinn, instead of 'kneeling, pelted the assassin with atones, causing him to miss his aim, preventinthihs from firing his second pistol, and eventually driving him off. Several men at weekclose by did not offer to interfere.

The Cork Southern Reporter mentions, that at Castletownroche, on the 6th instant, a widow who kept a lodging-house was found, with a little girl, her niece, strangled in bed. The murder is supposed to have been committed by two men who slept in the house on the night of the 4th instant.

The Very Reverend Dr. WEnnery delivered from the altar of his chapel in Tralee, on New Year's Eve, a very timely address, in which, though denouncing the vices and follies of the poor, he gave a word of wholesome advice to landlords.

He began by showing that murder, violence, and injury to property, must ope- rate to increase the present misery of Ire ',laid. The murderer gains nothing, fre- quently not even the fancied advantage for which he committed the crime. He will be punished, if not here, at least hereafter. He administered a rebuke to literary agitators. Reliance is not to be placed on the press of the country: the writers in newspapers do not always believe what they publish, but are led by vanity to put forward, not what they really believe, but what they think palatable to particular classes, whose applause they seek to gain. Such writers, and their writings, will pass into oblivion, leaving the country more miserable and discon- tented than they found it. A remedy for the prostration and misery of Ireland is to be found in the sin- cere and active cooperation of all classes. Government can greatly assist; but it is out of the question to suppose that either the Queen or her Ministers can con- tinue to feed millions of poor people in Ireland. They can indeed do mach by making Ireland a portion of England: they can give a portion of the public works, public places, and public offices, to Ireland; they can improve the fisheries; and they can pass laws to bind more justly together the proprietors and tenants. But the great body of the people must contribute largely. They have duties of which the first is " to seek the kingdom of God and His grace"; next, to gear with patience the privations under which they labour. They must farther shake off the torpor that generally belongs to the Irish character; and labour with all their might to learn how to till the soil properly. There is not a single farm in Ireland which may not be made to produce treble its present amount of food. The day of the lords of the soil is a heavy one. They must descend from their high position, and come nearer the people in affection, kindness, and pater- nal care; raising the people up towards themselves, encouraging them, and show- ing them how to act. 1 Ims will a harvest of gratitude be reaped, and Ireland be rendered more prosperous, moral, and happy, than she has ever been.

Other Roman Catholic priests are aiding to enforce order-

" The Roman Catholic clergymen of Magheracoolmoney and Drnmcheeran," says the Fermanagh Reporter, "have, on the past Sunday; advised their con- gregations to remain within doors after night; and expressed it as their determi- nation, should a necessity aria; to organize a rural police, a peace-protecting force, to assist the regular constabulary in maintaining peace and order; in fact, do every- thing rather than let the district be proclaimed:* A correspondent, whdse accuracy is guaranteed by the Dublin Evening Mail, narrates a strange scene in a chapel at a place called Ballaghader Teen, in the county of Mayo. Mr. Joseph Holmes is a resident proprietor in the same neighbourhood, on the other side of the line separating the county from that of Sligo; he is a magistrate in both counties; and has ful- filled dangerous duties as an improving landlord, and an active administra- tor of relief during the distress. This is the narrative— Having received many friendly intimations, a short time since, that the parish priest, Mr. Tighe, had made repeated attacks on him at the chapel, and that his life would be attempted by assassins who had arrived in the neighbourhood, he was prevailed-ea, by the entreaties of his friends, to leave the country for a short Deried, till the passing of the late Government measure, when he returned. These tads coming to the knowledge of his brother, Mr. A. Holmes, who resides in Eng- land, the latter paid a hurried visit to this country; and on Thursday last (old Christmas Day) presented himself at the chapel at Ballaghaderreen; and having asked and obtained permission from the Reverend Mr. Tighe to address the con- gregation, a very numerous one, was accommodated with a place at the altar. Re declined addressing the people till Mr. Tighe stood at his side; a second priest stood at his left. Ballaghaderreen is within a few miles of Strokestown and El- phin, the scenes of the murders of Major Mahon and the Reverend Mr. Lloyd. The following scene then took place.

"Mr. Tighe—' Mr. Holmes has expressed a desire to address you, and I have given him permission to do so.'

" Mr. Holmes (advancing to the front of the altar)—' My friends, Mr. Tighe, your priest, has given me permission to address you from this altar, and I avail myself of it. I have travelled five hundred miles to say five words to you: pray, therefore, attend to me. You do not all know me, but you know my brother, Mr. Joseph Holmes. (" We do.") Is there amongst you a man who can as that my brother has ever done an unkind or an unjust act by him? Is there, I say? If there is, let him hold up his hand. Is there amongst you a man who can deny that for the last two years my brother has been your slave? If there is, let him speak. (A pause.) During the last two years, my brother has ex- pended 20,0001. in provisions, to keep down the markets here, that you and your children might not starve. lie has, daily, for the last sixteen months, fed 150 of your children at his school-house. He has turned his house and offices into a provision-store for your accommodation. Is there a man among you that can deny this? If there is, let him speak. And what is the return he has met with? Do you require to be told? Why, when he left home a month ago, it is notorious that the assassins who were to murder him had arrived in the parish, and were harboured amongst you! There are those amongst you that know it.

I can account for the presence of these miscreants. They were attracted hither by the inflammatory harangues of your priest here. (Pointing to Mr. Tighe.) I tell him so to his face.' [Tremendous uproar in the chapel. Cries of Turn him out I—he is a liar I' a scene of great confusion, during which the curate in vain attempted to address and appease the people, followed. At length Mr.

Tighe succeeded, after many ineffectual efforts, in obtaining a hearing.] `Mr. Tighe—' It is false that I made any attacks on Mr. Holmes. There have been houses levelled in this parish, and poor wretches turned out; but I never attacked Mr. Holmes.'

"Mr. Holmes—'I know that you did; and I tell you at this altar, to your face, and in the presence of your congregation, that it is your attacks on my brother from this spot that have brought these murderers to this parish.' [Here the uproar recommenced; and some of the more violent of the congregation ap- peared disposed to pass over the rails to the altar; the priests endeavouring to re- strain them.] "Mr. Holmes (advancing in front)—' I am not afraid of you. I came here to tell you these truths alone, and am not to be deterred by five hundred of you.'

"Mr. Tighe-e-' My friends, this is.the. kayo of God: let es hays no more of this. Mr. Holmes has charged me With attactueen his brothere-whtelfTrdesijoi: If be has anything more to say. let him address you outside the chapel.'

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" Mr. Holmes having declinedejcpilay further address to the people, left the chapel, surrounded by a mob; who re ed from any act of personal violence, but sa-

luted him with groans and rations on his driving away."

The Evening Mail publishes a genuine specimen of dehortation against outrage, actually delivered not many years back from the altar, by a Ro- man Catholic clergynlan-

" I am ashamed of you. By the vestment, I am. Yoa have no more con- tideration than the dog that's struck with a stone. He runs after the stone, the sinseless baste, to bite it; and, if he does, what does he do but only break his iceth for his pains? The hand that threw the stone is still free to throw another. (Murmurs of indignation.) " Now, isn't that the very way with you ? If a poor fellow that can't live without a bit of land, no more than yourselves, cornea in over another's head, he is tracked like a hare, night and morning, from the market and from the chapel, ever till you find your opportunity ; and maybe, after all, 'tie when he'd be sitting at the fireside, with his wife and children, you come down upon him like a soot- drop. (Dead silence.) " And that's what you call justice. That's the sort of lastice you did upon Tim Fogarty—(Exclamations of" Sorrow mend him!"}—for which poor Johnny Gunther suffered; Lord have mercy on his poor sow) I [Here a universal cluck of horror and commiseration, with crossings and genuflexions to no end, interrupted the orator's discourse.] Yes, you call that justice; and where's the man that put Tim Fogarty in possession all this time? (Sensation.) I think I see him the road in his gig, with nobody to guard him but a spalpeen of a stable- . .; and not one of you dare so much as keep a hat on your heads as long as he is m sight. Ye main-sperrited crew t Is it any wonder your priest should be ashamed of you ?"

Numerous " county meetings" to advocate tenant-right have been held in Cork, Kilkenny, and Monaghan. The Monaghan meeting was dis- tinguished by the presence of Mr. Sharman Crawford, and by an uncommon union of Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Repeaters, and Orangemen.

A deputation from the Congregated Trades of Limerick sought an in- terview, on Thursday sennight, with Mr. Smith O'Brien, to endeavour to effect a reconciliation between the Old Repeaters of Conciliation Hall and the Young Ireland Confederates. Mr. O'Brien, however, was inexorable. He denounced the Repeal Association as " Catholic " and not " National." There would be no reconciliation until the Association should be dissolved and its organization remodelled. Mr. O'Brien disclaimed any wish to be a leader; hinting a modest doubt of his own fitness for that distinction.

The Nation of Saturday contains an announcement that Mr. Mitchell has seceded from any farther connexion with that journal as a writer. The " split " with Mr. Duffy, however, is declared to be amicable. Mr. Mit- chell has stated his reasons in a letter, of which we subjoin an extract: he tells much that he desired to do, but was prevented from doing, in the co- lumns of the Nation, by the more discreet Mr. Duffy- " The failure of the 'Irish Council,' the hurried calling together of the English Parliament, the bill for disarming the Irish people, and the horrid delight with which that bill was hailed by the landlords of this country,—these things rapidly brought our differences to an issue. The effect wrought upon me by all the events I saw passing, was a thorough conviction that Irish landlords had finally taken their side against their own people and for the foreign enemy; that all the symp- toms of landlord nationality' which had deluded us into the Irish Council,' and had kept us so long vainly wooing the aristocracy in the ranks of their country- men, were a deliberate fraud—were, in fact, a demonstration intended to act upon the English; and that the Disarming Bill was the first fruit of a new and mots strict alliance between traitors at home and foes abroad.

" I desired to say all this to the people plainly. I desired to point out to them, that this infamous bill, falsely entitled for the prevention of crime,' was merely an engine to crash tenant-right, and all other popular right, and to enable the landlords to eject, distrain, and exterminate in peace and security. I desired to preach to them, that every farmer in Ireland has a right to Ids land in perpetuity (let' law' say as it will): that no landlord who denies that right ought to receive any rent: that tenant-right, however, though the universal right of all Irish farmers, never had been, and never would be, recognized or secured by English law: that there was and will be no other way of establishing and securing that right, as in Ulster, except by successful intimidation—that is to say, by the de- termined public opinion of armed men: that, therefore, the power calling Itself a

Government,' which called on the people of Ireland to deliver up their arms, under any pretest, must be the mortal enemy of that people, their rights, their liberties; and their lives. I desired to warn my countrymen, accordingly, that if they should carry their guns to the police-stations when ordered by Lord Claren- don, they would be putting weapons into the hands of their deadly foes, and committing virtual suicide. I desired to preach to them that the country is actually in a state of war—a war of 'property' against poverty—a war of law' against life; and that their safety lay, not in trusting to any laws or legislation of the enemy's Parliament, but solely in their determination to stand upon their own individual rights, defend those to the last, and sell their lives and lands as dear as they could. " I desired also to show them that the New Poor-law, enacted under pretence of relieving the destitute, was really intended and is calculated to increase and deepen the pauperism of the country; to break down the farmers as well as the landlords by degrees, and uproot them gradually from the soil, so as to make the lands of Ireland pass (unencumbered by excessive population) into the hands or English capitalists, and under the more absolute sway of English government. In short, I wished to make them recognize in the Poor-law what it really is—en elaborate machinery for making final conquest of Ireland by' law.' I therefore urged from the first, that this law ought to be resisted and defeated; that Guar- dians ought not to act under it, but in defiance of it; that ratepayers ought to offer steady and deliberate passive resistance to it; and that every district ought to organize some voluntary mode of relieving its own poor; and for this parpolie, as well as to stop the fatal traffic with England, that the people should determine to suffer no grain or cattle to leave the country. "I desired that the Nation and the Confederation should rather employ them- selves in promulgating sound instruction upon military affairs—upon the natural lines of defence which make the island so strong, and the method of making those available—upon the construction and defence of field-works, and especially upon the use of proper arms; not with a view to any immediate insurrection, but in order that the stupid' legal and constitutional' shouting, voting, and ' agr- tating,' that have made our country an abomination to the whole earth, should be changed into the deliberate study of the theory and practice of guerilla warfare; and that the true and only method of regenerating Ireland might in course a time recommend itself to a nation so long abused and deluded by ' legal humbug."