Dr. Murray has published a letter to the Clergy of
his diocese, which has kindled exceeding wrath in Orange- Tory breasts; but it appears to be a moderate and Christian-like epistle,—as will be believed when the following passage is selected for comment by the Dublin Standard as one of peculiar atrocity.
"You are the zealous and indefatigable successors of those who preserved in- violate the sacred deposit of faith committed to them, though assailed on that account by such a seriesof heartless persecutions as I trust will never again dis- grace any country or any age : you are not now, as they were, hunted like wild beasts from the field of your pious labours, and forced to seek refuge, for the preservation of life, in fastnesses and caverns."
This is termed flinging "a brand " among the combustible materials of which Irish society is composed. It is, however, a good sign that the Irish Protestants are angry and ashamed at allusions to the former persecutions of the Catholics.
At a Tory meeting held a few days ago in Cork, Mr. Kyle, son of the Bishop of Cloyne, stated on the authority of the Honourable Ed- mund Phipps, brother of the Lord-Lieutenant, that Lord Mulgrave had avowed his intention of starving the Irish clergy into accepting an allowance of 300/. a year, which he considered the maximum of income a Protestant clergyman should enjoy. The Morning Chronicle denies the possibility that Lord Mulgrave should have said any thing of the kind; and it is utterly incredible, whatever the Honourable Edmund Phipps or Mr. Kyle may assert. The Chronicle also remarks, that this talk about starving the Irish clergy comes with a bad grace from the son of a Bishop, who, in addition to the revenues of the diocese of Cloyne, contrived to obtain MOO/. a year from the Church Revenue Commissioners for his management of the suppressed because sinecure Bishopric of Cork and Ross, which he formerly held. The Standard repeats its belief of the starvation story; but it will probably be con- tradicted from authority.
The Reverend Mr. O'Callaghan, Vicar of Clogheen, county of Tip- perary, has offered his parishioners a bonus of 20 per cent, as an in- ducement to pay their tithes without resorting to legal proceedings. He has not received a shilling from the bulk of his parishioners, who are Roman Catholics, since his appointment to the union of Clogheen, nearly two years since.
According to the ark Southern Reporter, the Reverend Mr. Nun-
son, of Derry, had a quarrel and a boxing-match with his own "rebel- lion ruffian," John Conston. The two first rounds are thus described-
" First Round. They commenced with a very cautious sparring, the Ruffian being evidently afraid of the Parson's superior might. He danced about the ring for many minutes ; so that his Reverence could not make a single blow tell, until after two or three well executed feints, he touched on the nob, and down went Rebellion.—Second Round. This round was a more sprightly af- fair, both going to work as if they had taken each other's measures In the first. The Parson, whom I shall occasionally call the Lilywhite, from the colour of his cloth, let fly a left-banded lunge at the Ruffian's jugular ; which was stop- ped most scientifically, and returned by a well-planted chopper on the wing, that tapped his Reverence's claret freely. Derry took it kindly, and finished the round by flooring Conston with a tremendous cross-buttock."
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