NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE Constitutional army of Portugal has evaporated : its leaders have fled, no one knows whither, and the troops of Don Miguel are in possession of Oporto ; where the inhabitants are rejoicing in their loyalty, as if they had never heard of such a thing as the Provisional Junta.

It was rumoured in the course of the week, that the Constitu- tional force had retreated to the North in a body; and some hopes were entertained that General Saldanha, Count Palmella, and others who had embarked in the Belfast steam-packet off Oporto, had designs of joining them in furtherance of some secret design. The Belfast steam-packet left Oporto on the 5th instant, and has not since been heard of*. No opposition whatever was offered at Oporto to the Miguelite forces. Vessels have arrived in this country since the entry, the passengers of which state, that there is every appearance of tranquillity. There is a disposition, in the last accounts from Lisbon, to ridicule the fears of the British mer- chants at Oporto : and in all probability it is the intention of the existing authorities to protect British persons and property as far as they have the power. 1 he accounts from Oporto, which a few days ago were filled with horror at the atrocious usurpation of Don Miguel, are now replete with adulation of his " Majesty," and vituperation of a few Radicals, who, they aver, have lately been disturbing the peace in that quarter.

A gentleman who arrived by the mail from Plymouth this morning, reports that a steam-vessel, supposed to he the Belfast from Oporto, was seen making for the harbour on Thursday evening.

The Russian army has not made any considerable advance in point of distance: its direction, however, is a novelty, and gives a new turn to speculations upon its ultimate success. Instead of making for any of those passes by which the Russians have al- ways hitherto attempted to penetrate into Roumelia, it now ap- pears to be the intention of the Emperor to proceed by the coast, and thus pass along the shore where the chain of the Balkan ter- minates in the Black Sea. If the Sultan, therefore, be assembling his forces at Shumla, as it is reported, he will find one division of the Russians in front proceeding towards the usual pass, and an- other behind him on the route to Constantinople. This novel plan has arisen out of the naval superiority of the Russians : it is ex- pected that a communication can be held between the army and the fleet, and that supplies which it would ohterwise be impossi- ble to procure, may thus be furnished. Many difficulties will pre- sent themselves in the way of the Russians: there are several places of considerable strength in this direction the coast is des- titute of ports, and altogether of a dangerous character.

It is stated in the Paris Papers dated July 16, that information has been received that the Sultan accepts the mediation of France and England, and that an Envoy from the Porte had set out for Corfu.

The Lord High Admiral has been suddenly summoned to town from Portsmouth. His arrival is supposed to have sonic con- nexion. with the intelligence that a considerable addition to the Russian naval force has sailed for the Mediterranean.

There has been an insurrection in Colombia, headed by Pa- dilla, which Bolivar has succeeded in putting down. Twelve offi- cers; it is said, had been shot at Ocana.

Tranquillity prevails in Mexico. The Mexican papers contain the speech of the President Victoria on the closing of the Session of Congress on the 21st of May. Among other topics, he states with confidence, that the exertions of Government to support the credit of the country will be henceforth effectual

The success of Mr. O'Connell's experiment, as far as it has gone, is encouraging his partizans to proceed on the same system of " agitation." The whole ministerial members for counties are now threatened with the fate of Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. It has become the maxim that "continual agitation" is the only way to carry the Catholic question. • Agitation of that member, the tongue, is un- doubtedly kept up with great rigour: every Irish paper abounds

with reports of eloquent speeches.

MR. SliElL ON THE STATE OF IRELAND.-" 1 do not hesitate to say, that in no page of history there will be discovered such an example of consoli- dated passion, and concentrated energy, and of systematized action, as is at this moment presented to the contemplation of every political observer, by the actual state of Ireland. From the palace of the proudest peer amongst us, to the lowest hovel of the meanest peasant in our marshes, one single undivided sentiment prevails. The language in which utter- ance is given to the national feeling is diversified, according to the condi- tions of those who employ it ; but whatever may be the difference of phrase, I will venture to assert that there is but one great political thought which occupies all ranks and classes of our body. A man might well wager with a surety of success, that if he were to enter the mansion of the first nobleman of Ireland, and the abode of the humblest serf, lie would find, that in the banquet-hall of the one, and at the potato-meal of the other, the wrongs of the country were equally the theme of fami- liar comment. But let me not omit one main and essential circumstance which constitutes the leading feature in the great incidents which are passing before us. Look at the Catholic priesthood (loud cheers.) Behold the flame which bursts from the altar—hearken to the voice which issues from the sanctuaries of religion, and addresses itself to the millions who bow down before the temple. The ministers of our church (so far from denying, I proclaim and make a vaunt of the awful fact) have put them- selves at the head of the population, and array and lead them on. An adversary, who reads the words which I now speak, may exclaim, This, at all events, is candid ;' so it is, and in frankness there is much wisdom. For wherefore should we disguise that the clergy of Ireland have enlisted themselves in the cause of the country, and bear its standard ? Let Pro- testants rail at this infusion of politics into religion, or religion into politics, as they will. The fact may be deplorable, but it is not the less awful ; and statesmen should not expend their time (and moments have in this crisis become of value) in declaiming against the influence of the priesthood, but in considering the magnitude of that most important and momentous fact. The clergy were first swept away by the popular pas- sions, and afterwards became their guides. The priests (and they are citizens as well as priests) were pressed into the ranks, and then became the leaders of the people. When a priest complies with the popular will, he may direct and control it—but if he opposes it, his power is gone. Of this truth he had instances in the county of Clare. One or two of the Catholic clergy, friends and relatives of Mr. Fitzgerald, exhibited apathy ill the national cause, and have become objects of execration and contempt. It would be easy to drive them from their altars. But whatever may be the origin of the profound sympathy which is experienced and manifested by the priesthood of Ireland, the fact itself is beyond all question, and with the fact alone, and not with the reli,gionism of the matter (if I may coin a phrase) I have to do. I speak of the fact as a leading feature in this strange condition of things. Let Governmentlook to it. The Irish people are not only organized, but that organization in all its details is minutely perfect. Every parish in Ireland has a captain at its head. When Candide arrives in Paraguay, he meets a reverend colonel and a reverend brigadier-general at every step. The array of the Jesuits was not better disciplined than ours. ' Is it not strange (some one will say) that you tell us all this V I answer, I tell you this, that you may think well upon the pass to which you have brought the country, and that you behold the features of our political condition in all their strength. My argument is a simple one ; the country is in a state of most dangerous organization, and the greater the peril, the more imperative the reason for a change of that system from which these results are derived. I there- fore draw away the veil ; I throw off all disguise. I put aside all sophisti- cation, and I bid the Government contemplate our condition, and look out a little into that future, of which the past and present afford such alarming omens. Where is all this to end ? The public passions must be either retrograde, or stationary, or progressive. Will they be retro- grade? Will the tide which is now rushing on, but is not yet at full flood, go back—or is it not rather like that sea which feels no returning ebb ?' What man knows so little of human nature as to say, that the mind of Ireland will recede of itself from the point of agitation which it has reached ? Is there any just reason so to think ? Let us look a little back, and endeavour to find in what has already taken place, the means of calculating what is to come. I do not mean to traverse many years of retrospect. I refer merely to what we have all seen, and to events in which we have been ourselves the actors. During the last eight years what has happened ? The Catholic Association arose. Its first be- ginnings were humble indeed. We were not only derided by our enemies, but many a brother Roman was found to leap over those walls of mud, which the Romulus of the Association (if I may so call my friend) had constructed. But gradually the edifice which he was mainly instrumental instrumental in raising, was lifted into a nobler fabric. All classes of Catholics felt at last that it was only by a manifestation of national power that any thing useful for Ireland could be accomplished. -We became inseparably united. The Catholic rent was devised. (Loud cheers.) It was not barely money that was collected. A levy of generous sentiment was made upon the hearts of the people. It was a noble tax raised on the virtue of Ireland. Every man who paid his small contribution felt him-

self affiliated with his countrymen, and it became a boast among the peasantry that they paid the Catholic rent. The effects of thisnational sub- scription were soon apparent. The tyrant landlord, and the corrupt magistrate, trembled before us. A system of protection was established, and we became the vindicators and redressers of the people. A remark- able event showed how much had been done in raising the moral character of Ireland. The elections of Waterford and Louth called up the spirit of the peasantry, and the Protestant aristocracy were in an instant overthrown. The simultaneous meetings, which I had the honour of suggesting, came next, and seven millions raised up their arms together. Let me not pause upon this great incident. It speaks enough in its own behalf, and requires no comment. I hurry over other inferior circum- stances, all of which, however, furnish illustration of the state of moral and political feeling which has been created amongst us, and I come to the great event which is now taking place. The election of Mr. O'Connell is

the crowning and consummating incident. It has more than any other

developed our resources and our power, and given a deeper insight into the mind of Ireland."

MR. O'CONNELL ON HIMSELF AND HIS SON.—" In the last publication of the Courier there are two calumnies which I think I ought to notice ; both become the party they originate from, for they are both gross false- hoods. One is a repetition ef the gross invention, that I was bought by a silk gown to consent to the Wings What a blockhead I as not to get it. (Cheers and laughter.) The other falsehood was invented for the occa- sion, that 1 had entered into a stipulation for my son. I would rather follow his hearse, much as I love him, much as I think he deserves that love. (Cheers.) It is not the erratic instinct of a parent's affection that makes me think so, for he worked well at the late election. (Cheers.) But I would rather follow his hearse to the grave—if I could draw my limbs after it—I would rather weep over his grave than that he should receive a single shilling of the money of the enemies of Ireland ; or that I would stipulate for any advantage to him caused by my abandonment of the cause of my country. (Continued cheering.) No. It was a foul lie—a lb to serve the cause it was suited to, a genuine English Tory lie—a lie of the basest faction that ever enthralled or degraded England—a lie of the fac- tion that has debased England among the nations of Europe. For now do we first find war, and England dare not speak of it. No—The Courier itself now dare not talk of crushing Ireland. If it did the three per cents. would not be worth half-a crown. (Cheers.) The debt is our ally—it has raised the Tories to power; but it hangs in judgment over them. The people of Ireland feel that their strength and security is in peaceful means —they will do that which I stated yesterday. Put a civil excommunica- tion upon the bad parties in both countries. The Dissenters and honest reformers, of which there are many, and many in England, are discon- tented with the Tory faction ; and when I get over to Parliament, which will be about the seventh of next February, not only will deputations from every county in Ireland attend me there, but I will also have a de- putation from many of the towns and ci ies of England. Some, I am told, doubt the wisdom of my not going there immediately. It may be said I am losing the period for excitement. I am not ; for I promise The Courier that the spirit which now exists will not evaporate—it is net that kind which requires to be confined by a cork, and will then sputter forth and subside for ever—it is a rational spirit which tills the people of Ireland, and they will be deceived who think it may escape in thin air. It is not vox et preterea nihil. There is a voice to be sure; but it is raised from the sound conviction and firm persuasion of the people, that they are wronged, and that they may he righted, but by the only mode they will adopt—a constitutional course."

At the meeting in Dublin, where Mr. O'Connell—" M.P." as the Irish papers always add—made his first appearance, and ut- tered the above words, he announced with triumph, that the "Rent" for the week ending July 12th, amounted to two thousand seven hundred and four pounds.

Mr. Valentine Blake, of Menlough Castle, has addressed the Galway electors, soliciting their votes at the election arising out of the advance- ment of their representative, Mr. James Daly, to the Peerage. He says that he will not, if elected, take the usual test oaths, and offers himself as the instrument whereby the important question as to the necessity of taking those oaths shall be decided.—Mayo Free Press.

The Subletting Act is gradually reducing the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland, and throwing the land into the hands of large farmers. Where- ever the tenantry are not numerous or violent enough to overawe the landlord, he is cautiously getting rid of them, and instances on every road occur of the poor man's cabin being thrown down and fences levelled to make way for speculative graziers and extensive dairymen.—Morning Herald.